Rundgang! That's all anyone is talking about right now. It's this huge event for the university, basically like an open house and a fundraiser and a big party all rolled in one. The foundation I work with is putting on a big art auction to raise money-we've included our stipend receivers, past artists in residence, professors from the university, and even some well known artists. But, as I'm learning, dealing with artists is sometimes a headache since they can be particular, not to mention most of them have no concept of time or doing things in a timely manner. Today, I met Matthias at the venue and helped him unwrap allll of the artwork we moved in there yesterday. That took AGES. I didn't realize what a delicate process that is-there are special ways of wrapping and unwrapping everything and then we had to carefully fold and label all the packing stuff so we could repack the art when it's sold. Plus it was stifling in the room, so we were getting a little short.
I like Matthias though, and we've (thankfully) moved past the initial rough patch we had when we first met. I think Matthias had made up his mind about me, but after working so closely together the last month and a half we've really built up a good rapport, and I can take his sense of humor. One problem we have though is that Matthias either doesn't understand or doesn't listen to a lot of things I say. A lot of times when I'm talking or explaining he'll just start saying "Sure sure sure sure sure" while I'm talking which is SO annoying. And then he completely misses everything I say! I got really annoyed with him today while we were trying to finalize the list of the artwork we're selling. I was asking for specific details regarding the titles, dates, dimensions, etc. and he would start giving me the links to the photos or completely different artists. I lost my patience a bit and told him he had to listen to me carefully because I was getting really frustrated. Sometimes it helps if I switch to German, but mostly it's a communication problem. Oh well. He's still a nice guy.
A good example; today Matthias mentioned to me they'd be selling drinks at Rundgang. I was hungry, exasperated, and quite annoyed with a quadruple saran wrapped painting I was trying to unwrap and I grumbled, "I think Rundgang is DRIVING me to drink." Matthias gave me a quizzical look and said back, "Oh, but drinking and driving is never a good idea! Quite illegal in Germany!"
haha what do you say to that?! "Yep, you're exactly right. It is."
After we unpacked and set up the art we had to deal with Frau Tafel for a while. That wasn't so bad, but she and Matthias don't get along, and sometimes it feels like they argue with each other just for the sake of arguing and I just wanna be like, stop acting like you're 4! Just do it! But you know, artists and sensitive, peculiar personalities seem to go together so I can't really say I'm surprised that a workplace with 4 people can get so dramatic. But, as the foreign intern, I just sit back and watch them interact and wait for instructions. Especially now, there's always something I can escape to and take care of.
Tomorrow we set up the last of the pieces, finalize the lists, and start putting the finishing touches on before the opening on Thursday. Long weekend ahead with lots of work...but I've been promised some days off during the week to make up for it!
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