In Berlin

So, these are the kinds of things that happen to me:

I go to a concert. Incidentally, it's a particularly awesome event - one of the "living room concerts," private events held in people's living rooms and organized by an Australian woman with an impressive number of contacts to local musicians. There are two fabulous singers, one interesting poet, and a great blues jam/electric organ session afterward.

At said concert, I run into someone from Ithaca (my hometown). No, not actually someone I know from home. I met this guy (let's call him B––) because his distant cousin was once my high school English teacher (have I lost you already?) and she put us in touch after seeing an article I wrote for the local paper about being an Ithacan in Berlin. We met up once a couple years ago for coffee, but never crossed paths again.

He was at the concert because he knew the poet; I'm friends with one of the singers. Hey, B-- said, you should talk to K-- here. She lived in Ithaca for a while too.

So I talk to K-- and it turns out, not only did she briefly live in Ithaca, but her best friend here in Berlin is a musician who went to Oberlin. My college.

K-- is interested in starting a bulk food buying cooperative (I'm already having nostalgic flashbacks to the many cooperatives I've loved in Ithaca, Oberlin, Berkeley...) so a couple weeks later, I find myself at a vegetarian brunch/coop brainstorming session at K--'s apartment, surrounded by a crowd of inspired, health-food-loving, socially concerned people who totally remind me of home.

There, I also meet K--'s friend A--, the musician from Oberlin. Hey, A-- says, I'm meeting up tonight with the Oberlin people. You should come along!

And so I find myself that evening at the pay-what-you-want wine bar, hanging out with a bunch of classically trained musicians, several of whom I'd sort of vaguely known existed and were in Berlin, but never crossed paths with in all these years.

The Berlin-Oberlin crowd includes R-- (did meet her once, when a mutual friend from Oberlin was in town and visited both of us, but never saw her before or since), as well as S--, who I remember distantly as a friend of a friend from freshman year. Oh, and whose dad just happens to be a world-renowned conductor, so the conversation is dotted with references to world-famous musicians S-- knows.

These are the kinds of things that happen to me.