Christopher Street Day

IMGP4898-2

One of the biggest parties in Berlin every year is the Gay Pride Parade, also known as Christopher Street Day. Christopher Street Day (CSD) Parade is an enormous outdoor Gay / Lesbian Pride Party which has taken place every summer in Berlin since 1979. The festival is named after the Stonewall Riots of 1969 in New York City which was directly caused by a police raid on a gay bar on Christopher Street.

IMGP4918-17

Amongst the largest Gay Rights parties in the world. Straight or Gay, when you’re there you’ll find costumes of all varieties and colors and styles, Huge Tractor Trailer type floats with sound systems, and plenty of live music, and DJ sets, and most importantly — plenty of Beer and happy people.

IMGP4930-24

This year’s theme was Normal is “other” (Normal ist Anders). Sort of saying that no one has a normal love – and that all love is “different”.

IMGP5009-85

IMGP5102-148

I have to say that by far, it’s one of the most enjoyable parties in the city (they march several kilometers – thus the photos of the INSANE SHOES they rocked the entire parade walking in) – but make no mistake, there are plenty of political agendas put forth here too.

IMGP4971-55 IMGP4998-75

IMGP5034-100
IMGP5010-86IMGP5027-96

Among this year’s ajendas were the rights for Gays to adopt children (they can already get married in the eyes of the law – if not in a church), putting forth better equality laws to protect people the world over – regardless of race, creed, religion, or sexual orientation.

IMGP4943-34

This year, my friend, Jean was in town, and I convinced him that we had to go to the parade, expecting that he’d want to leave after a few hours. Once he got there, he too had a great time – agreeing to stay from the beginning to the end – nearly 3 hours worth of parade. One of the things that he noticed, which I noticed at my first CSD was that there aren’t any protesters, just party people. Likewise, there were entire families that had come out to the party – just to teach their kids and encourage them to be more open minded.

IMGP4921-19

Even though I’m straight, Many of my closest friends are Gay, and I love them for being who they are. I feel like by attending, I show my support for them and their rights just as much as my own.


IMGP5074-130

After all, I believe that love can come in many shapes and sizes, and where it appears, only the heart can ever know.

For more pictures and the complete slideshow, you can see below or click the link here.

Share

Berlin is So Out of the Box… and the Closet..

In the US, we’re pretty conservative. More so than most of the western world – and Utah, well, let’s not even discuss the conservativeness of the state whose predominant religion has people covered from knees to elbows by their undergarments (don’t even say the word sex!).

The thing with Berlin is that there is always something going on – especially in the Summer. Tonight is the start of the World Cup in South Africa (I went to a Bar with a couple of my classmates – Jamil who is South African, and Yan Li who is Chinese) to watch the opening match. Jamil is so happy and proud of his country for having the opportunity to host a world cup – he’s been bouncing off the walls for the last couple of days. It’s great, and I don’t blame him. It’s one of the most positive things in the news from Africa as a whole for many years.

Anyhow – On the way to the Bar, I saw the following poster (taken by the cell phone camera) which made me stop, take two steps back and think “Did I Read that Right?!?” and go back for a look to confirm “Yes, Yes, I did see that right.” The summary was a thought of the folks back home are NEVER going to believe this – because not only is Berlin so OUT of the BOX and comfortable with sexuality that they allow live Porn shows… – but it’s also LIVE GAY PORN show. Yes, Berlin is Out of the Box, and Out of the Closet.

Berlin is so out of the box, they advertise live porn- on the street!

The guys both chuckled at my pause to take a picture, but seriously, I think they understood why I had to do it. On a side note, this weekend is also the Christopher Street Parade (Gay Pride) and the school I attend is in the “gay district” where they’re having a huge street fair, thus the tent in the right hand corner.

Share

Back to School; Ireland update

As many of you know I’m currently on Sabbatical. This means I get an extra month off work for my 10 years of service with my company.

It’s a bit sooner than I’d planned to take it, but it works. In the end, I have decided to go back to school – taking intensive German courses. These courses are 5 days a week, 4 hours a day of nothing but studying German. It’s been great, and I have made lots of new friends and classmates. I wish I would have had the time, money, and opportunity to do this sooner.

The good news is that I’m doing well, and despite knowing alot of the vocabulary already, it’s re-learning the grammar properly that’s giving me several a-ha moments. Well, that and the spelling/saying the words properly – something that the teacher and the others correct me on – and something which no matter how many tapes, computer programs, TV programs I watch is able to do. All in all, I’m sure that I’ll be better off for the classes.

On the other front, I heard about a week and a half ago that I did get my work permit for Ireland. It’s the same job as I’m currently doing, but after a very long process it’s good to know that it has come through. No word yet on when I’ll be moving to Dublin – hope to hear on that soon – since I have to get everything wrapped up – but isn’t it just the case – I go back to start learning German – and will be moving soon to another English speaking country? Ahh the Irony!

Share