For all the worrying I’ve done about not being able to find
work, a couple of weeks ago I actually quit my Wednesday afternoon teaching job
with the girls. I hadn’t seen them for
four weeks because of the Easter break and the visit from my niece. I’d had performances from the brat at our
previous two sessions and the last time I’d seen her I’d left her simmering in a
red-faced rage after one of her tedious tantrums. This time she didn’t even
wait until we were out of the school yard before acting up. She refused to answer anything I asked her, sticking
her fingers in her ears, shrieking and screwing up her eyes when I spoke to her. Then she stood stock still and refused to
move. When I finally did get her home I decided
that the money I was paid for this nonsense was nowhere near sufficient
compensation. The next day I received a very angry text from the other
one’s mother complaining about the fact that I’d quit the job but completely
failing to acknowledge that the brat’s antics had forced me into it, only going
so far as to admit that kids can sometimes be ‘a pain’.
On a more civilised note, I have been working on the book
translation. I’ve also had another
article published on Slow Travel Berlin’s website – unpaid but at least I’m
writing – and I’m gathering material for a few lines about the city’s latest
bookshops for another article.
I’ve also started to reapply myself to my fiction writing. I had a prolonged period of self-doubt,
feeling that everything I wrote was sub-standard, but I’m beginning to emerge from
that and last week my main project reached almost 85,000 words.
A couple of Saturdays ago I went to the launch of SAND
Journal, Issue 11 at the 1820 Bar in Rosa Luxemburg Platz. It would have been very easy to miss this
venue – there was just a door in the wall with a small plaque bearing the bar’s
name. Once through the door, I took a staircase
down to a dark, smoky basement where beer garden benches and a couple of battered sofas were arranged facing
the stage. The evening kicked off with Will
Studdert, the winner of The Reader’s short story competition reading his winning
entry ‘Horst Wessel Stadt’. After this a
couple of poets took to the stage and finally another prose writer, Kasia Juno van
Schalk, read a short story. I particularly enjoyed the fiction. The entrance to the event was three Euros or free with the purchase of
the journal so I bought the journal and spent much of the next day dipping into
it.
Another month then of reading, writing and employment
anxiety. April also included Easter, a
birthday party, a couple of meetings with Twitter
friends, another visit to Guinness, Books and Records at Curious Fox (which
is becoming one of my favourite Berlin events) and some very dramatic weather.
Wintry-looking scene at the beginning of the month
The same place a few days later
Double rainbow for our friend Albert's birthday (and he's not even a Korean dictator)
