Low- Wage Workers

I recently wrote about the Atwood novel Cat’s Eye and how I had run out of Atwood (I have since found one at the local library, and one I had overlooked at school, not Surfacing which I really want to re-read, but still) luckily I found a book on the shelves at home that looked interesting and again found myself revisiting jobs of the past, Calbeck’s and the other grocery stores that kept me employed before I responded to the call.

The book was Nickel and Dimed – Undercover in Low-wage USA by journalist Barbara Ehrenreich. The premise is for the journalist to explore life working and living on the wages that keep millions of Americans in poverty. The author leaves home and heads to three different locations where she tries her hand as waitress, cleaner, and finally Wal-Mart associate. What she finds are hardworking people who are barely able to survive, struggling to find housing, to buy food, to pay for health care.  

At the same time in class our songs unit has become a focus on ‘Songs for Change’ and we have been talking about various movements and songs related to those movements, watching a documentary on YouTube narrated by Chuck D (yes!) which chronicles the modern history of protest in pop. Hearing all those union songs, learning about Joe Hill, listening to Pete Seeger, it was inspiring to hear about songs that may have actually influenced some change. But then I thought about the low wage Wal-Mart workers and about the Russell Brand interview I watched recently (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YR4CseY9pk) where he comments on the environment, the poor, and the division of classes, and I wonder: what would Woody Guthrie say? 

Berlin 2

 The non-soccer highlight of the trip was the walking tour we took on Saturday night, another one of the parent chaperones is a teacher and he took on the role of tour guide. We saw many impressive buildings on the walk but they aren’t what I will remember the most.

One of the things Leanne said she remembered about Berlin from her first visit 13 years ago were all the cranes, Berlin is still a city under construction which makes it an intriguing combination of old and new. Alexanderplatz was where our walk began and it feels very new and modern, and is at the base of the Berlin radio tower that served as a point of reference to help us figure out where we were. After the tower, which has a rotating visitor platform and restaurant, we stopped to visit Marx and Engels. Though communism has left Germany, Marx and Engels remain as a reminder and a draw for tourists who clamour to sit in Marx’s’ lap.

Further down the street we came to the Brandenburg gate, I’ll let Wikipedia do the work: The Brandenburg Gate (German: Brandenburger Tor) is a former city gate, rebuilt in the late 18th century as a neoclassical triumphal arch, and now one of the most well-known landmarks of Germany. 

As the tour progressed I became appreciative of the fact that we were seeing it all at night, different lighting makes for a different experience and a night viewing felt right, especially as we came to the Holocaust Memorial. The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe is a 4.7acre expanse of concrete slabs arranged on a sloping field, the shadows at night gave it a haunted feel and there was something very powerful in the simplicity, perhaps owing to the scope of the field.

Beyond the walking tour we also toured around a lot looking for soccer games, they never seemed to be where they were supposed to be. Owing to the fact that we were the largest group of non-players, being two parents and a younger brother, we were assigned to the public transit team for the games on Saturday and Sunday. This was okay as we got to see parts of the city we wouldn’t otherwise have seen and there is something about the Berlin trains that made me feel like I was in a movie. Each time I saw one I got the feeling that I was in a futuristic story, one where peace is new and people are wildly expressing themselves in their new found freedom, and the city is under constant rebuilding. Perhaps such a movie was made and filmed in Berlin and I just don’t remember the name, maybe it is a combination of different stories, or maybe it is the mix of new and old, the abandoned buildings with smashed windows, the ultramodern seemingly constructed of glass, and the cranes; whatever it was it gave me the feeling that I was in a story that was not my own. Maybe it was the tricksters.

Berlin

We have just returned from a weekend trip to Berlin with Jesse’s fodbold (soccer) team. Apart from feeling very tired we are also happy to have had the opportunity to take such a trip.

The trip was a soccer trip so most of what we did was soccer related but we also saw some sights and as a result of some difficulties experienced in finding the locations of the games we saw more of the city than we otherwise would have. The first game was against the Union Berlin under 11 team, Jesse was overwhelmed and neither he nor I could believe how good they were, wow. There were several plays I would have loved to watch in replay and these kids are ten? This game was behind the stadium where FC Union play (second division Bundesliga team) so after the boys’ game we headed to the stadium for the match between Union and Karlsruher. We felt a bit nervous because of the police presence outside the stadium, three hours before the game and already the streets were lined with security and police vans with officers in what appeared to be riot gear, I found myself wondering if this was a safe event for kids.

The game itself was fine (0-0), I couldn’t see as well as I would have liked to, but the atmosphere in the stadium was incredible. The majority of the stands are standing room only, and we were included amongst the standing, not so good for kids viewing but probably a part of the reason the atmosphere is what it is, people just don’t get as excited when they are sitting down, but standing up the singing and cheering never stopped. Our kids especially enjoyed the chants as ‘Union’ chanted and sung by Germans at the games sounds like ‘Onion’ to English ears and I have to admit I enjoyed chanting ‘onion’ myself.

After the game we made our return to the hostel in shifts, we had a van that took three trips, and this time we were on the first trip, hovering above us as we made our exit was a police helicopter which prompted many a fan to brandish their middle fingers. The van was only able to make two trips to and from the stadium because a police blockade kept the third group in and the van out. I’m not sure that anything really happened but I guess with a game at 13:00 and plenty of pre-game imbibing there is always potential. I found myself remembering the Vancouver riot and figured that what seems like over the top police presence is maybe just how you avoid such an incident.

I know they look like normal ten year olds, but the boys in white are actually super soccer robots.

Cat's Eye

I just finished re-reading Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood, I seem to be revisiting Atwood while in Denmark, which is partly owing to the reading selections available to me and partly because I finally read Oryx and Crake last year and it has made me want to revisit Atwood. Cat’s Eye is about a painter who returns to Toronto for a retrospective of her work and while in the city of her childhood she revisits the past and remembers childhood and childhood relationships. Since reading Oryx and Crake I seem to find clues that Atwood was heading in that direction for some time, the father in Cat’s Eye and his predilection for the doom humanity has wrought upon itself is a natural precursor to the world of Crake.

Beyond that I have also been going through a ‘retrospective’ of my own along with Atwood’s Elaine, remembering childhood friends, wondering how we all make it through relatively unscathed. At times the neuroses of the character became my own and I feared for my children too, when us adults are just faking it what chance for our children? Elaine remembers that those in charge were older and were supposed to know what they were doing, but then, as she got older those in charge were closer to her age and she knew…

My retrospective involved googling someone I grew up with, opening an e-mail from a high- school friend (I’m on the list, they are business related, I don’t always open them), and one morning on the bus I got lost in thoughts about my high-school job. Suddenly I was feeling quite strongly about Ron and Linda who were my bosses in the produce department at Calbeck’s. They were really good to me, not like the hockey coach guy who took over from them and had me written up for having an ‘attitude problem’, funny Ron and Linda never had any complaints. Who had the attitude problem?    

I can almost let go of that anger now, but replacing that anger is disappointment, I am out of Atwood and feel that it is unlikely I will stumble upon an English copy of Surfacing any time soon.

Hallowe’en done, time for Christmas

Hallowe’en is a new holiday here, we didn’t have any trick or treaters, but we did go to a community event in a small nearby village. We carved pumpkins, saw a play in the church, walked through a haunted forest, and enjoyed dinner in the community hall, a building with the word ‘frihed’ (freedom) in large letters over the door. I did not miss North American Hallowe’en in the least; in fact this version was better as candy never even entered into it. I understand that there is a holiday here in February that is like Hallowe’en, there is dressing up, and candy, and something about a cat in a barrel? We’ll see if it matches the excesses of Hallowe’en Canada style. I like candy, but filling a pillowcase with the stuff just doesn’t seem right no matter what the date.

So now that Hallowe’en is over it is time for Christmas and Carlsberg has released its Tuborg Julebryg. It was released on the first of November and if I understand correctly it is free at first, but I’m not 100% sure what that means, I know you can’t go to the store and grab a 6 pack and walk out without paying so I assume you have to be in a certain place to take advantage. We tried one at the Hallowe’en event but had to pay for it. We also learned about Christmas traditions at a colleague’s house when we went for dinner on Friday, sounds like there is a lot of singing, and a lot of eating. The tradition that I was most interested in was the rice pudding with almonds; if your dish contains a whole almond you get a present. Our hosts’ youngest daughter was so excited when remembering times when she had the almond that we couldn’t help but get excited too. You are supposed to act casual so no one knows you have the almond, stick it in your cheek and reveal when all have finished so no one gives up hope.

Our holiday plans will see us in Bavaria just outside of Munich in Bad Endorf where Leanne has visited before and kept in touch with a friend from the first visit. She has been spoiling our children with mailed gifts for years and has promised to give us a traditional Bavarian Christmas. I don’t know if they go in search of almonds, but I’m pretty sure what we find will be good.