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Best of Berlin
Von Eric T. Hansen | 22. Februar 2007 | 17:11 Berlin ist hässlich, arm, unfähig und voller Verrückter. Das allein ist schon Grund genug, hier zu leben. (EN) |
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Why do I love Berlin? This is Reason #598: the Dodohaus.
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The Dodohaus is a little ground-floor apartment turned
bar. In Germany, you get tax breaks if you form a club with some kind
of cultural aspect, so a lot of bars register as clubs for, in this
case, the promotion of culture surrounding the dodo. The owner, Rainer,
was born in Africa and lived for a while in Mauritius, so there is a
stronger connection to the dodo than just the posters hanging on the
wall and a tax break.
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He called me one day and asked if I would read out of
"Planet Germany." I didn’t know what to expect. I certainly
didn’t expect it to be this small.
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It was literally a living room. So I did my thing and
we talked afterwards, and that was that – but then I hung on a
little and watched. It wasn't until everything was over that the real
Dodohaus came to life.
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The regulars gathered around the piano. One guy played,
his girlfriend sang, another guy played guitar. They went through half
of the "White Album" and all of "Hair." Everyone
joined in. Some of them danced. The children danced.
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The older women sat against the wall with their hands
in their laps and gossiped. The English guy with the droopy eyes got
a dreamy look and floated off into some little pleasant world. The black
African danced and clowned around.
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The sad-looking Iraqi beauty talked about some important
subject and smiled at the choruses.
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The unemployed East German raved on and on about his
vacation trip to Florida and New Orleans and showed off his souvenir
joke sunglasses.
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he big Polish woman, the Indian (Pakistani?) woman,
the gray-haired, serious-minded German 68-generation woman…
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There were so many nationalities, so many different
experiences, so many different dreams and disappointments and …
lives there. Where else do these people just come together as if it
were the most natural thing in the world and sing and talk and joke
and drink together?
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| It was such a Berlin thing: During the day you're out there scraping
together (or not) money and arguing with the neighbors, but at night you
get together in a bar and that's like another family, you are kind and
heartfelt here in your second living room, and you don’t leave without
a hug and a kiss.
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| I think they pick up a love for it when they're students – when
they are open to the world and curious about people of the wierdest kind
and don’t have money to be picky or pretentious, and you get a taste
for it, and if you're lucky enough when you're older you find a bar like
this in Berlin and you make it your second living room.
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That's Berlin. The best of Berlin.
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