by Gioel Gioacchino
I woke up in my hotel room on a fresh sunny Sunday morning. Bernauer Straße is usually relatively quite, but on Sundays becomes a hot spot of activities. A huge flea market at Mauerpark attracts tourists and Berliners alike creating an exciting and busy atmosphere.
Today is a particularly special day. After a surreal and adventurous Friday night (biking around Berlin under the rain…), I took the bold and wise decision not to go out on Saturday night taking some time to catch up on my sleep. Recrear.beta has been exciting but very energy intensive and today is the very first day we all get some time for our own to relax, explore Berlin and get ready for another week of work.
I am investing my time chilling at the ‘waffle house’, a cute coffee shop not far from our hotel that I have designated as my office. I am pretty disappointed because after 20 minutes in line to order a Latte, I realized that there is no wireless available. But it will definitely not be the lack of the web to ruin my enthusiasm; I am having the greatest time.
Berlin makes me happy. I feel in harmony with myself as I observe the people around me eating delicious ice cream, laughting and small talking. Four girls in their 30s in the table next to me are chatting about their performance at the karaoke at Mauerpark (I strongly recommend a quick YouTube research on this epic weekly event), and on another table two guys who look as if they just walked out of a magazine are eating big ice-cream cones and playing with green finger toy monsters (I swear).
We are very excited about the big fundraising event that will be hosted next Friday at Yaam – a pocket of Africa/Caribbean vibe in Berlin. Yaam is an urban beach directly next to the East Side Gallery with sport facilities, bars and restaurants. We will be organizing an afternoon of volleyball tournaments, concerts and more with the goal of fundraising to cover part of the costs of Recrear.beta.
Berlin is stealing everybody’s heart at Recrear.beta. It’s a young, responsible and spontaneous city. It is easy to feel at home and to find space for your own. Whether you are interested in music, art, social justice or food- there are a million opportunities.
I cannot think about a better place to launch Recrear as we want it to be- engaging, young and proactive.
Happy Sunday!
