Best Conference EverStaße

So, though it was a while ago now (so long ago that I have almost written up all the evaluations and finished writing one short report on the event) let me, for those of you that aren't on my work mailing list, recap my first work conference.

I don't know if you know this but, I went to Berlin (again) a couple of weeks ago for work. We were putting on a conference called... Ok it had a really long, convoluted name that I still have to look for on our website when writing about. You can google my workplace to read about it. Because of the all aforementioned stuff I have been doing since I have returned am only going to tell you some of the highlights and post some stolen participant pictures…

Highlights:

• Congratulating one another on loud burps in the prep-committee room.

-Our comic book would be Awesome!!

-We had soooooo much work to do two days before the participant's arrived.

-But we finished it in style.

• Meeting 43 super awesome (I went there) people... This isn't even including the Vice President of the German Parliament. That's right, I met him! (and by "met him" I mean - I sat on the other side of a room from him while he answered questions about stuff and things).
• Touring the Reichstag WITH a tour guide. I don't know if you know this about me, but I L-O-V-E tours of places. I think this was ingrained in me by the family's numerous trips to forts in Western Canada. Did I mention it was the Reichstag though??? This building has a 1.5 hour wait in the down season! We had a private tour! A PRIVATE TOUR. Breathe… I think the rest of the people in my tour group were pretty sick on me saying things like "OH MY GOD look at this" and "OH MY GOD I can't believe I am here" and and "THERE IS A HOLE IN THE TOP OF THE BUILDING!" They can suck a toe though because EGAWD That building is so interesting… There is left-over graffiti in it and the Parliamentary House itself (or whatever you call it, I took POL SCI 101 five years ago) is just incredible - public galleries, glass ceiling, pedways. WILD! I can't get over how interesting that building was. You should all go see it.

-"Whoa! Everyone - STOP! It is the building we are in... but small!"

-"OMG look at how big that eagle is"

-"Wasn't that the BEST tour you have EVER been on? Can we nap on the grass so that we can dream about how fun that tour was???"

• The size of this elevator!

-Nothing says I love you like standing too close to one another.

• Learning what it means when a man tries to sell you tickets into the other side of the ruin bar... when no one else needed tickets to get in (Could he have chosen someone more naive?) I know a guy in Berlin if you need "tickets".
• A fridge full of beer that I had nothing to do with.

-Welcome to Europe: Where all events include beer...

• Learning to speak German: "Schnell, This conference is graveystraße, but would be better with more sleepplatz"
• Telling a participant you would like to write a song for everyone... being too busy and instead them having write a song for us. Cute! Tear, sniff, sigh... (I don't think that bullet point makes sense, but I am leaving it in)
• Catching people looking for the Ash Cloud in a blue sky.
• Only one person going to the hospital.
• Only awkwardly kissing one person hello because I thought we were going for the double kiss and she thought I was going for a hug. Ugh.
• Digging in a dumpster (It was a German dumpster, I could have eaten out of it, it was so clean) so that people could do this:

-When life gives you lemons, make solar panels, reconcile with your neighbours, and solve your country's internal economic problems.

-Could they look any more polite?

-These captions don't make any sense because none of you were there... Well they were teams, they had garbage and constitutions and had to make shelters. More importantly we changed the rules on them constantly. It was cute.

-A shout out to Lauren, in Toronto, for making this game up with me... It was a success!

In other news, I have the best job in the world.

I spent two days longer in Berlin after the conference. The first evening I spent with a small contingent of Ash Cloud Squatters. We made a giant meal and then I SLEPT! It was lovely. The next day I wandered the entire city. I saw the East Side Gallery, shopped for shoes, went into 500 vintage stores, walked along the river, and coveted new neighborhoods to live in.

I am sure I did more but I didn't have my camera with me.

Oh! I napped in the grass and ate a tofu burrito. I am not even a fan of tofu but I haven't seen anything like that in so long I was overly excited.

-Look! Another picture I didn't take but how cool is that tower?? Pretty neat hey?! HEY LOOK AT HOW COOL THIS CITY IS!

-I also didn't take this picture... but I was might have been near by when someone else was.

I took the 12 hour train ride for the fourth time, this time with 30 song books, a stack of paperwork, t-shirts and a computer in my backpack. The train stopped on the furthest platform from the exit in the train station and I literally had to rest three times before I even exited the building. In my defense, books are heavy and the Keleti Train Station is probably four blocks long.

I had two nights rest, I think, (sorry... I blinked and then it was May. Time is whizzing by), and I had a Canadian friend come for a visit, swiftly followed by a second one.

More to come another time about being a tourist in Budapest. Now back to my usual routine of being extremely (this time with more sunlight and tanning) busy.

"Feminism" Lost in Translation

There was some sort of "art" display going on the other day... Well, I think it would be hard to categorize this as art, so maybe it was just a historical display of sorts. We couldn't get past the unarmed guard or tape and I was too lazy to go back once it opened. It could have been to do with International Women's Day or perhaps just laundry detergent. After some minimal research on the display I feel like I can now judge this exhibition and it's intentions.

Apparently it was called: "Greatest Innovations for Women"... Or something spectacular like that. I probably shouldn't have done the research because it got me all angry to the point where I had four Simone de Beauvoir books, the Feminist Mystic and the Female Eunuch in a basket on Amazon.com. FYI you can't ship books to Hungary which is probably a good thing in terms of my bank account.

So without further ado I present to you:

"Things that Make Women Pretty, Appliances, and a Pant Suit"

-To be fair the washing machine was a really important invention in terms of the work load women had in the home and what they were able to accomplish because they didn't have to spend all that time on laundry. Thanks "Politics of Gender 101".

-I can't really argue that much with this one either... Right, Hilary?

-Ah, the luxury of a hoover (with it's own security guard) how convenient! I hate it when I go to get the vacuum out and it has been stolen, again...

-Where would we women be with out the Mascara wand? Still using tooth brushes to put mascara, stupidly squishing mascara into our eyes with our fingers? Not wearing mascara at all? What tiny eyes the women of the past must have had!! No wonder they weren't able to own property.

-Somehow I doubt this represents Lipstick Feminism.

-This was really a only a revolution in wrinkle free pants... Something I clearly have never partaken in nor have any interest in taking part in.

-Hair volume! How did women manage to get the vote with flat hair?

- Women's equality was only realized when they figured out how to grow the right leg.

-The Padded Bra - Making boobs the same shape since 1913...

-If I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your revolution

I keep writing rants and new list of things that could have or should have been displayed and then deleting them. Maybe it was just too hard to make giant impressive statues of statutes, laws and divorce papers... and how do you sell laundry detergent that way?

But it has to be said - where the hell was the Pill? Isn't that the ultimate symbol of the feminist movement? Wasn't it a pretty important moment in history when women could stop having babies all the time? BLARG!!!

Oh and the Tampon (how the home-made paint sketch made it into that wikipedia article is beyond me).