“Guten Morgen Berlin, du kannst so hässlich sein, dreckig und grau
Du kannst so schön schrecklich sein, deine Nächte fressen mich auf.
Es wird für mich wohl das beste sein, ich gehe nach Hause und schlaf mich aus
Während ich durch die Strassen laufe, langsam, schwarz zu blau“

Wow.
It seems unreal, but no longer than 3 days ago I was dancing it off in front of the Lollapalooza stage in Berlin Tempelhofer Feld, where Peter Fox and Seeed were throwing an enormous show. Next to me, my buddy Markus was waving his arms, shouting to the sky and going completely crazy, but I had to stop for a second. In the middle of that crowd, that sort of human carpet jumping up and down, where no one seemed to feel the tiredness of the past two days of festival, it finally hit me. “I am going to Asia, tomorrow.“ Holy shit, my dear friends, that was heavy.

You know, my departure for Myanmar had been in the back of my mind for ages. I had talked about it with everyone, over and over, I had booked my flights, I had even packed my things; but I always felt it like something very big coming up, like an expanding shadow, a big thing without a real shape. It was shapeless for me, I couldn’t imagine it in a concrete way. Please, don’t get me wrong, I was super excited, I couldn’t wait for it to actually be there, and I’d say that I wasn’t scared at all. Not of malaria, not of dengue fever, not of a new country, new continent, new language, not of the military dictatorship, not of living alone. I was open, positive and thankful for this incredible opportunity, but still it wasn’t real yet. It became real in that moment, 8 hours before my train to Frankfurt, while jumping to Seeed’s music. If I was scared of anything, I was scared of leaving Europe and not seeing all the important people in my life for one entire year.

And here I am now. The dirty streets of Berlin are far away, and I am sitting on the roof of the big white house I am temporarily living in. It’s night, the temperature has finally dropped enough for me not to be sweating all the time, and I’m using a candle, because (of course) there is no electricity. The power went off in the whole city a few hours ago, seems to be a pretty normale thing down here…

Funny/interesting things about Myanmar
– No one knows this country in Europe, but it’s actually twice as big as Germany
– Myanmar is still kind of a military dictatorship
– 154 different ethnicities live in Mynamar, and there has been some sort of civil war going on for the past 60 years
– In Yangon, the place where I am, there are 7 billion people (!)
– It’s freakin’ hot here! During the hottest month (April) the average temperature goes up to 38-39 °C
– Myanmar people are small (way smaller than me) and run around with umbrellas all the time: they use them against both the sun and the rain, depending on the weather (that actually can change very fast)
– Every fourth car you see in Yangon is a taxi
– In every mall, shop or cafe in Yangon you only here Rihanna, Ellie Gouldin and american pop music
– more funny facts in my next article!

But back to here and now. From this terrace I have an clean view on the breathtaking Shwedagon Pagoda. If you google it you will find a thousand of pictures, but believe me, no picture comes close to her real appearance. A golden, circular needle pointing at the sky: this giant needle seems to be stinging the clouds, as if she were a uniqiue expression of how human beings can get high, closer to the gods and the heavens, reaching up but still maintaining grace and elegance. She changes completely depending on the light, so you will admire something different if you go there at noon, at sunset or at dawn. Martin Schalcht, the author of the book „Gebrauchsanweisungen fuer Burma“ that I am currently reading, writes that „a journey around the whole planet would be worth it, just to see her“. This is the Shwedagon Pagoda.
And please notice that I am writing all of this without having been there yet! I am planning to go there this weekend, I’ll try to take some good pictures with my brand new super awesome camera (btw thanks mummy and daddy).

Alright, I know that I basically haven’t written anything about my life here, my first days, my job, the people that I met. But there will be time for that, I promise. Right now, sitting on this rooftop, gazing at the stars above me and at the golden aureola of the Shwedagon Pagoda, my thoughts go backwards more than forwards. I strongly believe in the power of memories, because they define who we really are. I let some fresh memories overtake the sense of excitement and curiosity for this new place: these memories lead me back to Germany, to Werbellinsee, to the kulturweit-Vorbereitungsseminar. I had an amazing time there, and I wanna thank all of the 249 volunteers who shared those 10 days with me. I have met quite a lot of cool and interesting people in my short life, but never have I found so many wonderful personalities in one place. Special thanks to some great deep-talk-partners, you know who you are, and to a girl with a sexy accent and beautiful eyes.

Jep, that’s sort of what goes through my mind at the moment. Well, actually there’s a lot of other stuff, but I won’t take any more of you time. I’ll keep you posted!

Paul