Ist dieses ein Ethernet Kabel?

Well, I keep thinking I'm going to blog daily from here in lovely Berlin, but as my hotel (please read as hostel) charges more for the internet than it does for my room, so I'm only able to get online from the theatre. In any case, I've had quite a few things happen that I thought, "I can write about this!" so here is my attempt to recap my week in Berlin, also known as the on-the-job training I should have gotten a year-and-a-half ago!

I suppose I should begin my recap with our week in Birmingham, which went by in quite a blur. We played a bit of "are we going/aren't we going" for the 2 weeks prior, so getting everyone on plans and things was put on high speed for the entire week leading up. On the Sunday morning before I headed down to AL, my mom called to tell Em and I that our grandmother had passed away. This news, though not entirely unexpected, was still incredibly upsetting, especially as I was facing being out on the road throughout all the services in Green Bay. But thanks to a worldful of support by everyone in on or around my show, I was able to join my family in GB for a quick trip. Being surrounded by that much love and family (and whiskey) is always a wonderful comfort. I'm proud to say Sus and I made it through our readings without too many tears shed!

Needless to say, that sort of knocked me off my company manager game, so I thank my stage manager and wardrobe assistant for helping me through the rest of the week. Before I knew it, I was on a plane bound for Berlin!

I arrived in Berlin on Tuesday afternoon, exhausted, but no worse for the wear. Thankfully, Maria, the CM I am replacing, was there to meet me at the airport and take me to the hotel, where I promptly fell asleep on the couch watching "I Love New York" on MTV Europe. Listen, when your English choices are so limited, you'll watch anything!

I braved the U-Bahn to the theatre later that evening, and when I came up the steps at Ernst-Reuter-Platz, there was a shining beacon of that wonderful American commercialism that everyone loves to hate. Ah yes, a Starbucks, bringing the biggest smile to my face since I had left the US. Here's what I love about Starbucks, I'm pretty sure it's only there to appease the American tourists to Berlin. When you walk in, the entire menu looks the exact same as it does at home. That is to say, it's all in English! Amazing! I tried my very best German to order a venti latte, only to be told halfway through that, "it's okay, we all speak English here!" Oh yes, you are sorely mistaken if you don't think this guy is my new favorite person in all of Europe! The show here is not much different than the show I've grown to love in the US. A few different songs, but for the most part, the same. We don't have a feed here in the CM office, and I was too busy most of the week learning things that would have been REALLY handy back when I first took this job, but whatever.

I did find it quite amazing though for without the theatre part of this job, it quite bleak. I basically had quite limited interaction with the show itself until Saturday afternoon when I shadowed the SM just to get a take on things. Immediately, even with this silly show, I perked up and felt a million times better. I was able to stop feeling homesick and jet-lagged and isolated and was able to look from the wings and think, "I can't believe I'm standing backstage in a theatre in BERLIN working in theatre!" And as I've said before a million times, if that thought can't sustain you through the worst parts of this job, it's quite likely you're in the wrong career.

In any case, Friday I did venture out to Potsdamer Platz to see how it had changed since my last visit there 8 years ago. The most welcoming part of coming off the U-Bahn stop was a pair of familiar eyes:

Oh my Blue Man! I walked around a bit taking in a little of the Berlin Film Festival (sadly, no George Clooney) and bought a book to read. Then headed over to the theatre. Good times.

So now, it's time to pack up the show and end the European tour here. I officially take over as CM tomorrow when we arrive in the UK. Good times. Here's hoping my tv has more than CNN, or I might lose my mind. I will say this for the CNN International Edition. The other night, around 2:30am (stupid never-ending jet lag), the announcer person was like, “Up next on CNN, The Daily Show World Edition.” I said to myself, “Wouldn’t it be great if it really WAS The Daily Show and not some lame CNN world wrap-up?!” And the next thing I heard on my tv was the blissful sound of Jon Stewart speaking directly to me. It really WAS The Daily Show – World Edition! Oh Jon Stewart, you make my life so much better!

More reports from Jolly Old England soon!