Yes, I am a feminist!

This statement is usually accompanied by a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, awkward moments or rolling eyes, followed by the question: But why?

Naturally most of the people assume that being a feminist means hating men, not shaving legs or exercising militant stereotypes where furious women point fingers at you and scream slogans about opression, domination and payback time. Well no.

For me being a feminist means smashing gender stereotypes and fighting inequality. Being a woman or man doesn't mean you need to fit into the uncomfortable and socially prescribed role if you don't want to. But many do because of the social pressure.

It's not about all women of the world having a sucessful career nor about all men becoming caring housewifes. It's simply about recognising that "women" and "men" are not unique categories. Not all women want to have a family and not all men want to be providers. And personally I don't see a problem with that.

Being a feminist means noticing the existing power relations and the structure behind them. Equal rights are not just about the laws, but also about all the social structures that affect us and our surroundings, constituting invisible "natural" order which is in fact as artificial as it can get.

So yes I am a feminist. And I think it's about time to claim feminism back. It is not and shouldn't be a fight of women for their rights. It is a fight of the society for the gender equality. Globally.

Confessions of internet user

As internet user there are some things I don't expect to happen when I visit a website. And by "don't expect to happen" I really mean "it annoys the hell outta me". For example :

• the music that starts playing when I visit a website,
• the music that starts playing everytime I refresh the page, even if I turned it off the first time,
• the main navigation dissapears every time I visit any of the webpages,
• pop up ads (possibly in flash with loud music) appear out of nowhere and follow my cursor,
• special characters change in bizzare unreadable signs thus making the text completely impossible to consume,
• having to read long text with few or no paragraphs,
• having to read somebody's mindflow for 10 minutes before I get to actual information,
• having to look for contact info for more than 10 seconds,
• having to deal with the search field or e-form that doesn't work,
• discovering the dead pages,
• "news" that was refreshed a year ago.

Having a website is overrated. Unless you can take care for it properly, don't embarrass yourself by having a lousy one. This might also help.

So, how is your German?

This is a sentence I hear quite often (apart from two most annoying common ones: what are you doing in Berlin and why). My usual answer is: besser.

Eventhough I am still planing to take an intensive course, I learned a lot just by listening and trying to speak. I must say the latter is much easier after a beer or three. Of course I make lots of gramatical mistakes with die, der, das and others, but it doesn't really matter cause they don't pronounce half of the letters anyway.

I love Berlin slang. It's somewhat soft, melodic and sometimes also funny. E.g.

Bin ick kino? = Why are you staring at me?

Ick mach dich Krankenhaus = I will beat you up. (funny only cause it means literally I will make you a hospital)

With everything else I improvise. Like today at the hairdressers. She can't speak English so I showed her a picture. Actually I showed two pictures of completely different haircuts and said: Etwas wie so oder so.

She went on on explaining on what would be good and what she's gonna do. Every now and then she would ask me something. I understood most of the things and when I didn't I just answered with "Ja".

The result is a nice haircut for only 7 eur. So yes, my German is improving :)

Local Natives

Yesterday's concert of Southern Californian indie band Local Natives was indeed one of the music highlights. Only a week after the German release of their debut album Gorilla Minor they peformed in Berlin's rather small but nice alter place called Bang Bang Club. And let me tell you, oooh, and aaah doesn't even begin to describe it.

Expectations were high and were partially satisfied by an excellent rock pre group who's name I didn't manage to catch. Needless to say the club was packed with excited people and so was the stage.

Local Natives were not performing at all, it seems as they were completely melted with their music, enjoying every minute of it, and so did we. They mastered their instruments as well as the genre. Positive surprise and a band that is definitely worth keeping an eye on.

Unfortunatelly I didn't make any photos as I found concert much more enjoyable that way, but here is a taste of their live performance. Very likable!

Freedom

..usually come with uncertainty. Of future, desires, finances and often also relationships. But for those who crave for it, it's really not the question of choice. It's more about either feeling alive or being imprisoned by other people's expectations.

It is not an easy decision to make, to step into unknown when it would be so much easier to grab already known reality which leads to certain but prescribed future. A golden cage at the reach of a hand doesn't mean much when you want to fly.

So here I am, not sure of what will happen or how will I be able to realize my goals. No guarantees, no promisses, no laid down paths to follow. But I do know that I really like to fly.

Sometimes...

...clouds can brighten your day.

What will 2010 bring?

Who knows, who cares. Looking back is a bit pointless when u can't really change anything and looking forward only makes sense if u can see the future. Fortunately I can't. It's much more exciting this way.

Life can often seem like waiting in front of the closed door. Luckily, unlike the cute dog on the picture, we are not wearing a leash ;). So just go for it.

Happy 2010 ! (with recycled wishes from 2007 and 2008)

Fuck the pain away!

Nope, it's not about rebound, it's all about concert of Peaches in Berlin. Definitely one of the top 3 concerts ever, right after Rammstein.

It's hard to say what exactly was so great about it cause it was pretty much everything. Of course it also helped to have two rather lousy groups performing before.

Hawnay troof was some kind of funky wanna be Michael Jackson meets The Beegees. Only offtune. Rich lyrics included "You're my momma, I'm your brother/cousin?" and "I'm feeling it." So yeah, definitely not a keeper.

Snax was slightly better at singing,  but much better to listen to than to look at.  All that manic jumping on stage made me think someone underestimated their daily drug intake.

But then she came. Simply amazing performance, not just because of the costumes, stage diving, laser show and walking on our hands, but also because of extremely addictive energy. Yeah, I'm definitely a believer.

Sorry, no pictures this time. I was too busy jumping.

Dear Santa...

Recent Obama's Nobel prize got me thinking nothing is impossible. So I'm changing my strategy. Forget eteric experience and miracles on the 34^th street. We are in financial crisis for f***k's sake and this is no time for modesty!

So dear Santa, please remember, whatever you decide to bring, think big. By buying lots of gifts you will help our underfed economy and, more importantly, me. Since the luggage limitation or border control doesn't seem to be a problem for you, just bring me as much as you can of:

1. Natureta sauerkraut - because it's sauer enough to make jota. I know you'd imagine I can also get good sauerkraut in Berlin, but not really. 
2. Natureta spread with red pepper - in case you're wondering if I'm a fan of this brand, you're right. So while you're at it toss in some gherkins, red beet and ajvar. Even though I could get decent substitutions for the latter three, I'd rather have the good stuff.
3. Lemon flavoured Cedevita - cause there is nothing like instant quasi vitamins early in the morning. Yum!
4. Zdenka sir - First of all, I can't believe it doesn't have a website. Tradition with a taste of irony. I still want it though. Now I know there's been some fuss about different sizes in Slovenia and Croatia, but I'm not picky, so just bring both. 
5. Cockta - I take it this one doesn't need much explaining. Think a looooot. Now double it.

I know it is the thought that counts, but unfortunately thoughts make a lousy breakfast.

yours unfaithfully

Cherry

Modern romance

I'm ever so grateful to Facebook for educating me about what a romance means these days.

So next time I'll be rubbing my cleavage towards somebody's torso while they grab my ass, I have to remember. It's not foreplay, we're just discovering romance.