Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Friday, August 15, 2008
Germany continued...
On Friday night, while out and about in Berlin, my cell phone was drunk dialed no less than eight times by a Swedish woman. She wouldn't stop calling so I passed her around from friend to friend and everyone had a go at talking with this woman. Finally, she said that she just wanted to "wish Martin a happy birthday." Now, this sort of thing has happened before. While at the farm I accidentally text messaged a wrong number. The return texts I received were quite bellicose and belligerent. I wonder who these Swedes think I am? It's a mystery but apparently I'm an asshole who just had a birthday.
I spent a sunny Saturday cruising around the city by myself. I saw many things that I had not bothered to visit last time: a photography exhibit by Hiroshi Sugimoto at the New National Gallery, the victory column, and the back of the parliamentary building. It was basically a day spent reading all around the city with time in between spent taking photographs. Where there once was sunlight, a particularly favorite street of my was darkened by the skeletal beginnings of a new office complex. I crossed the Spree in front of the Bode Museum and watched part of a open-air performance on a theater boat. Beside the boat swam a family of eight swans. For dinner I stopped at my favorite cafe, the Oranium, and had Brie toasted with a sesame coating and served with spiced salad, jelly with cream, and a slice of watermelon. Perhaps I dined above my status, but it was my one and only sit-down meal in a Berlin restaurant for the trip.
For the rest of the time, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, I was with Gabi and Felix, her son. We worked on weeding and mulching the garden, Felix and I watched youtube videos together, we went shopping, saw a movie, ate our meals together, and went to a lake for a swim. We baked some brownies and were thoroughly stumped as to what the German equivalent of Vegetable oil would be. We settled on sunflower oil, which still had a bit of a taste - the search for the perfect oil goes on. My last day in Berlin, Gabi bought herself an awesome skirt and me a rockin' jacket. There is no other way to describe this piece of clothing. It is simply too original! After Felix had gone to bed, Gabi and I had a glass of "bio" wine over some "girl chat." Even though we both had to get up early the following morning, we stayed up, burning the midnight oil.
And THAT was my trip to Berlin. When I got back to Sweden, it was with a rush of good and elated feelings. Travel is happening a lot lately. If you haven't been watching the calender, perhaps you missed the fact that I return to America next week. I don't really know what to think about that exactly. Good to be home, good to see family? I will only be at home a short time before starting a new chapter of my life in Austria. Ah, how time keeps pushing onward.
I spent a sunny Saturday cruising around the city by myself. I saw many things that I had not bothered to visit last time: a photography exhibit by Hiroshi Sugimoto at the New National Gallery, the victory column, and the back of the parliamentary building. It was basically a day spent reading all around the city with time in between spent taking photographs. Where there once was sunlight, a particularly favorite street of my was darkened by the skeletal beginnings of a new office complex. I crossed the Spree in front of the Bode Museum and watched part of a open-air performance on a theater boat. Beside the boat swam a family of eight swans. For dinner I stopped at my favorite cafe, the Oranium, and had Brie toasted with a sesame coating and served with spiced salad, jelly with cream, and a slice of watermelon. Perhaps I dined above my status, but it was my one and only sit-down meal in a Berlin restaurant for the trip.
For the rest of the time, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, I was with Gabi and Felix, her son. We worked on weeding and mulching the garden, Felix and I watched youtube videos together, we went shopping, saw a movie, ate our meals together, and went to a lake for a swim. We baked some brownies and were thoroughly stumped as to what the German equivalent of Vegetable oil would be. We settled on sunflower oil, which still had a bit of a taste - the search for the perfect oil goes on. My last day in Berlin, Gabi bought herself an awesome skirt and me a rockin' jacket. There is no other way to describe this piece of clothing. It is simply too original! After Felix had gone to bed, Gabi and I had a glass of "bio" wine over some "girl chat." Even though we both had to get up early the following morning, we stayed up, burning the midnight oil.
And THAT was my trip to Berlin. When I got back to Sweden, it was with a rush of good and elated feelings. Travel is happening a lot lately. If you haven't been watching the calender, perhaps you missed the fact that I return to America next week. I don't really know what to think about that exactly. Good to be home, good to see family? I will only be at home a short time before starting a new chapter of my life in Austria. Ah, how time keeps pushing onward.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Back from Tyskland
The first thing I noticed when back in Sweden after my week in Berlin was the air quality. It smells fresh and open here; whether because of the cool breeze or lack of humidity, I am not sure. It might seem strange to start this entry with talk of Sweden after having already spent so much time here but I am still learning of this strange northern country.
But back to Germany...
Berlin has a peculiar trait affectionately dubbed the "Berliner Luft" (Berlin air) by its' denizens. The air reeks in Berlin. It smells of all the cuisine of the world mixed in one room, of said cuisine rotting under the streets, of cars and trollies, and all things worth mentioning as well as those that aren't. The wind carries everything imaginable through the city. Even on the outskirts of Berlin, in the district known as Tempelhof where I stayed, the smells drift down from the narrower streets up town. It's unique yet easy to forget and it wasn't until I was back in Sweden that I thought, "dang, it smells fresh here."
I took an afternoon flight to Berlin using Germanwings, a very affordable and convenient airline. I arrived early at the airport, which is my style when traveling alone, and decided to splurge on a novel to help pass the time. I chose a Swedish book called The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (a completely bogus title for a book originally called "Men who Hate Women" in Swedish) for 99 kronor. Anyway, it is EXTREMELY GOOD and it reads fast; I finished it in the five days I was in Germany and you know I didn't spend the whole time there reading.
At the airport in Berlin, two friends were there to greet me. It was uplifting to see their faces after so long. Heather, somebody I hadn't expected to see in Berlin ever again and John, a Witt-er who I never anticipated meeting in Germany. Together, we traveled to my host's house in Tempelhof via the S-bahn (street train). When we arrived at my host's home we poked around the neighborhood listening - and smelling - for a barbecue that we were invited to attend. Our searching proved fruitless so I desperately made the decision to visit the neighbors who, out of the 5 people in the family, I had tutored three of them. I hoped that they would maybe be able to tell us where the barbecue was. Instead we three were directly invited inside - almost as if we were expected - and fed much food and German beer. They didn't know where the party was but entertained us instead. It was great fortune that brought us together because I wasn't able to see them again during my stay.
Around 9:30pm we left to try and find the party one more time. We returned to find a map lovingly taped to my host's door and I was joyfully reunited with my host of last fall, Gabi (pronounced gahbi). The night was spent under an ivy consumed lattice with more food and much jocund conversation.
That was Thursday. Friday I met up with my friends on Friedrichstrasse, a very long and popular street that crosses the Spree (pronounced Shpray) an connects to many pubs, restaurants, and theaters. We shopped and walked around, enjoying the familiar sights (and smells). At noon we went to the Opera House Cafe, on a street named "Under the Linden Trees", for an expensive tea and to look at their many fantastical tortes. I got to meet some of their new classmates, including a guy from CA who had recently been to Slovakia visiting relatives. The four of us then continued wandering and ate Curry Wurst for lunch (I am officially in love with Wiki for having that entry) before loosing John to a insane voyage to Amsterdam.
Heather and I eventually parted with the CA dude and went back to my house for a jacket, the evenings being unexpectedly chilly. Around 11pm we met up with a Taiwanese friend of mine in a more lively section of town known as Kreuzberg. All said and done, I didn't get home until 3:30am. Even at that, I was the FIRST one back - two other girls are renting from Gabi at the moment and I am more of a homebody than all of them.
Ah, and now this writing is becoming something that I hate - a raw rundown of things that were totally enjoyable and worth writing with more flavor and energy. I will continue more with adventures from Germany tomorrow!
For now, I am full of delicious Indian food and ice cream. Carl bought me a book today (is there anything that could make this heart swell more than the gift of a book? I think not). ;) And now I'm whiling away the evening hours chatting with friends, writing a blog, and about to watch some Japanese TV.
Nighty Night!
But back to Germany...
Berlin has a peculiar trait affectionately dubbed the "Berliner Luft" (Berlin air) by its' denizens. The air reeks in Berlin. It smells of all the cuisine of the world mixed in one room, of said cuisine rotting under the streets, of cars and trollies, and all things worth mentioning as well as those that aren't. The wind carries everything imaginable through the city. Even on the outskirts of Berlin, in the district known as Tempelhof where I stayed, the smells drift down from the narrower streets up town. It's unique yet easy to forget and it wasn't until I was back in Sweden that I thought, "dang, it smells fresh here."
I took an afternoon flight to Berlin using Germanwings, a very affordable and convenient airline. I arrived early at the airport, which is my style when traveling alone, and decided to splurge on a novel to help pass the time. I chose a Swedish book called The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (a completely bogus title for a book originally called "Men who Hate Women" in Swedish) for 99 kronor. Anyway, it is EXTREMELY GOOD and it reads fast; I finished it in the five days I was in Germany and you know I didn't spend the whole time there reading.
At the airport in Berlin, two friends were there to greet me. It was uplifting to see their faces after so long. Heather, somebody I hadn't expected to see in Berlin ever again and John, a Witt-er who I never anticipated meeting in Germany. Together, we traveled to my host's house in Tempelhof via the S-bahn (street train). When we arrived at my host's home we poked around the neighborhood listening - and smelling - for a barbecue that we were invited to attend. Our searching proved fruitless so I desperately made the decision to visit the neighbors who, out of the 5 people in the family, I had tutored three of them. I hoped that they would maybe be able to tell us where the barbecue was. Instead we three were directly invited inside - almost as if we were expected - and fed much food and German beer. They didn't know where the party was but entertained us instead. It was great fortune that brought us together because I wasn't able to see them again during my stay.
Around 9:30pm we left to try and find the party one more time. We returned to find a map lovingly taped to my host's door and I was joyfully reunited with my host of last fall, Gabi (pronounced gahbi). The night was spent under an ivy consumed lattice with more food and much jocund conversation.
That was Thursday. Friday I met up with my friends on Friedrichstrasse, a very long and popular street that crosses the Spree (pronounced Shpray) an connects to many pubs, restaurants, and theaters. We shopped and walked around, enjoying the familiar sights (and smells). At noon we went to the Opera House Cafe, on a street named "Under the Linden Trees", for an expensive tea and to look at their many fantastical tortes. I got to meet some of their new classmates, including a guy from CA who had recently been to Slovakia visiting relatives. The four of us then continued wandering and ate Curry Wurst for lunch (I am officially in love with Wiki for having that entry) before loosing John to a insane voyage to Amsterdam.
Heather and I eventually parted with the CA dude and went back to my house for a jacket, the evenings being unexpectedly chilly. Around 11pm we met up with a Taiwanese friend of mine in a more lively section of town known as Kreuzberg. All said and done, I didn't get home until 3:30am. Even at that, I was the FIRST one back - two other girls are renting from Gabi at the moment and I am more of a homebody than all of them.
Ah, and now this writing is becoming something that I hate - a raw rundown of things that were totally enjoyable and worth writing with more flavor and energy. I will continue more with adventures from Germany tomorrow!
For now, I am full of delicious Indian food and ice cream. Carl bought me a book today (is there anything that could make this heart swell more than the gift of a book? I think not). ;) And now I'm whiling away the evening hours chatting with friends, writing a blog, and about to watch some Japanese TV.
Nighty Night!
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
A Recap of Days Past
Rain has finally come to Sweden! For the past few days Sweden has been one long and dreary rain cloud. It started on Sunday and just now broke. Rain coupled with the cold wind has created cool temperatures in the mid to lower 60s. I'm wearing a sweater as I type this! Very peculiar summer weather, in my opinion. Yet it tempts me - future summers spent in Sweden where the cool weather hides? Who knows. I DO know that if I ever return, it will be to an occupation! This lassitude wears me thin and if what they say is true, that you only live once, then I need a preoccupation. That problem, thankfully, is in the distant future.
The rain kind of threw a wrench into our plans for the weekend. On top of the precipitation, Carl had to spend significant time studying Chinese for a retest he has in a couple of weeks. Undaunted these days, I gladly spent Sunday studying with him (I was locked in a battle with Japanese, of course). ;) I spend a lot of time rereading all the texts in my book. I'm slowly relearning and sometimes learning all the kanji (the Chinese pictographs in Japanese writing). A distant dream of opening my Japanese copy of Stargirl, by Jerry Spinelli, and READING the thing leads me onward. It's a hard road but I have the time.
Monday started off cloudy and humid. The two of us went into Stockholm for two reasons: to visit the Vasa Museum and get Carl to a dentist appointment. Now, the Vasa Museum won points for Sweden in terms of awesome-ness. Zoo? DON'T do that. Go to see the Vasa, a Swedish battleship that sank on its maiden voyage to the bottom of the bay, resurrected some 333 years later and placed in a museum built for one. I personally found it ironic - Sweden capitalizing on a failure of the past - but that hunk of wood is 'wow'. It's monolithic and opulent, adorned with intricate carvings and sculptures. No wonder the thing sank! Read up on the history at the website; I found it interesting.
Yesterday, already Tuesday, it was rainy and cold again. We spent another four or so hours studying at home base in Flogsta. I helped Carl build some charts to help lead him through the world of Chinese words before returning to my own language battle a bit frustrated by my slow pace. We didn't really do much other than that. Mobility is a bit limited when you only have one bike and no raincoats. We had dinner and watched a few movies, listened to the wind and the rain. I was quite satisfied to stay indoors in the warmth. If I were an animal, what would I be? I can be quite active when it's sunny and I'm full of food or sugars. Throw me in a warm room and I turn to putty. Not a sloth... Not a squirrel... I guess I'm just a 'Katie.'
Tomorrow I depart from Sweden for the first time. I'll be heading over to Berlin and will be greeted by a Berlin friend and a Witt student of '09 studying abroad. I have nary a clue as to what I want to or will do. Missing the Olympics (don't they start very soon?) has me down but maybe I can mooch TV from somewhere. Mostly I'm just ecstatic about seeing the place and friends. I could very easily loose myself in the streets remembering good times. Gotta watch out for that.
My trip only lasts 6 days. Too much and too little. I'm almost finished here and already the days are folding up and filing themselves into memories faster than my internal secretary can process them. ALWAYS. Always, everything happens at the end of a trip. Is this the curse of a procrastinator? But how can one consciously procrastinate from TIME?
Carl is back at work again. I'm left alone to wait for tomorrow when my adventure starts as soon as I get on the train to the airport. Anxious and excited. I feel strange, delicate. Like the last leaf of fall, waiting alone on the tree branch as the wind picks up. It's good. This is good, I tell myself. Finally moving. I'm readying myself to blow away.
p.s. Check the album for new pictures!
The rain kind of threw a wrench into our plans for the weekend. On top of the precipitation, Carl had to spend significant time studying Chinese for a retest he has in a couple of weeks. Undaunted these days, I gladly spent Sunday studying with him (I was locked in a battle with Japanese, of course). ;) I spend a lot of time rereading all the texts in my book. I'm slowly relearning and sometimes learning all the kanji (the Chinese pictographs in Japanese writing). A distant dream of opening my Japanese copy of Stargirl, by Jerry Spinelli, and READING the thing leads me onward. It's a hard road but I have the time.
Monday started off cloudy and humid. The two of us went into Stockholm for two reasons: to visit the Vasa Museum and get Carl to a dentist appointment. Now, the Vasa Museum won points for Sweden in terms of awesome-ness. Zoo? DON'T do that. Go to see the Vasa, a Swedish battleship that sank on its maiden voyage to the bottom of the bay, resurrected some 333 years later and placed in a museum built for one. I personally found it ironic - Sweden capitalizing on a failure of the past - but that hunk of wood is 'wow'. It's monolithic and opulent, adorned with intricate carvings and sculptures. No wonder the thing sank! Read up on the history at the website; I found it interesting.
Yesterday, already Tuesday, it was rainy and cold again. We spent another four or so hours studying at home base in Flogsta. I helped Carl build some charts to help lead him through the world of Chinese words before returning to my own language battle a bit frustrated by my slow pace. We didn't really do much other than that. Mobility is a bit limited when you only have one bike and no raincoats. We had dinner and watched a few movies, listened to the wind and the rain. I was quite satisfied to stay indoors in the warmth. If I were an animal, what would I be? I can be quite active when it's sunny and I'm full of food or sugars. Throw me in a warm room and I turn to putty. Not a sloth... Not a squirrel... I guess I'm just a 'Katie.'
Tomorrow I depart from Sweden for the first time. I'll be heading over to Berlin and will be greeted by a Berlin friend and a Witt student of '09 studying abroad. I have nary a clue as to what I want to or will do. Missing the Olympics (don't they start very soon?) has me down but maybe I can mooch TV from somewhere. Mostly I'm just ecstatic about seeing the place and friends. I could very easily loose myself in the streets remembering good times. Gotta watch out for that.
My trip only lasts 6 days. Too much and too little. I'm almost finished here and already the days are folding up and filing themselves into memories faster than my internal secretary can process them. ALWAYS. Always, everything happens at the end of a trip. Is this the curse of a procrastinator? But how can one consciously procrastinate from TIME?
Carl is back at work again. I'm left alone to wait for tomorrow when my adventure starts as soon as I get on the train to the airport. Anxious and excited. I feel strange, delicate. Like the last leaf of fall, waiting alone on the tree branch as the wind picks up. It's good. This is good, I tell myself. Finally moving. I'm readying myself to blow away.
p.s. Check the album for new pictures!
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Wind-up Energy
It's been a few days and I'm not exactly sure where to start. This post might unravel with little attention paid to chronology. I apologize and will my best to keep things in a straight line.
In retrospect, one of the best and healthiest things that happened to me over the past few days was accomplishing everything that I had set out to do. It really was only doing laundry and spending time at the library studying Japanese but I did them both - pushing myself to stay on track.
At the library I learned that I'd forgotten a lot of Japanese, which I had expected, and yet remembered more, which I had NOT expected. Granted, I recognized the hard path ahead of me, the path of relearning, but i didn't feel overly daunted. I do have an honest love of studying Japanese and that love impresses me and burdens me with hope.
Before leaving the library, I stopped by the children's section for a book that might aid my study of Swedish. I picked up several books and each had cartoon drawings of brash naked boys. Even though I no longer feel pious and pickled about the human body, I just don't feel like looking at that effigy of un-grown masculinity. I also thought that maybe I was in a 'special' section of the child's library. Bemused, I opted for a book with loads of animals and a hairy professor in it. Safe topics, surely?
A thunderstorm had picked up and I had to wait in the overhang with other patrons as the rain washed down. It hadn't rained in a few days and I imagine the Swedish soil is growing desperately thirsty. But today it is raining as well and even though I felt like going to the library, I'm staying inside to avoid the cold wind and rain. Writing a blog seems like the perfect thing for today.
The rest of the day was mundane, if I recall. I did laundry. A few drunk people tried to scare me from an upper floor of the building. I watched Master and Commander, read from a book, and slept.
Sometime during that day, I hashed out my travel plans for Germany. Next week I'm going to Berlin for around 6 days. I'll be staying with friends and my old host family and visiting my old haunts - or, rather, haunting my old haunts. If it were possible to feel nervous, excited, and calm all at once, then that would be me. Lord, those four months in Berlin were some of the best in my life and I'm still trying to figure out why. But I do know the half of it - great friends, great teachers, great food. It's all wrapped up in an intangible feeling of joy, love, and peace.
I had tried to make plans to visit my family in southern Germany; a retired post master and a skilled housewife. Yet they, as I said, cannot host me. It was a shame. I'd found a ticket for 0 kronor to Frankfurt. Ah well, my roll at the slots didn't pan out perfect.
So I'm going to Berlin again!
Last night I took the 9:15pm train back to Uppsala from Stockholm. Behind me a Swede was talking in his cell phone and I felt like I was riding right in his lap. It wasn't necessarily bad, rather comforting. His voice was low, sad, and it came around me like an old friend whispering in my ear while we shared an embrace after a long absence. I imagined him to be young and for a brief moment, I felt as if we were somehow connected. For the past few days, I've felt dreamy and open; riding an impenetrable cloud.
I was in Stockholm because I was spending the day with a Belgium girl with a penchant for coffee, who I had met on the farm. We crammed our day with so much! We talked smack about the crazy lady who 'ran' the farm, went canoing around the archipelago, ate meat, shopped at a million souvenir stores, ogled the huge cruise ships, drank beer, drank coffee, hashed out her path to one of the airports around Stockholm, and finished up with Turkish pizza. She's studying Biology and in three years, when she's finished up, we playfully made plans to WWOOF around the world - hitting countries like Japan, Australia, Russia, America, Romania, Hungary. We're still not set on the particulars but it would be cool to spend a week or two in each place before moving around the globe. We're each taking friends. Any takers?
I got home and was still overly full from the food. After some time on the internet, I finally managed to rest for about two hours. Awakened at the unholy hour of 2:30am by my childhood affliction of foot cramps, I was pressed once more back to the internet where I chatted with a friend, read this poem, and wrote on a friend's wall. I have a friend from Wittenberg, a mostly Facebook friend, who is an artist with words as well as with his hands. Every once in a while, I feel like being an artist too and we banter philosophical thoughts back and forth. Last night, feeling empowered, I wrote this:
I used to stand at the mouth of a life resembling a cone. The walls pressing ever inward, converging on a dark and distant point in time. Yet now I've found my way to turn around and see life as an ever opening array of unknown possibility where talk of light and dark, day and night - as if they were sentient forces - makes me sigh outward, because I believe they are no longer so definable for me.
With that, you are pretty much up to date with my life. I'm debating the merit of running in the rain or braving the weather and biking in to town. Or maybe I'll just rest here... and read a bit.
In retrospect, one of the best and healthiest things that happened to me over the past few days was accomplishing everything that I had set out to do. It really was only doing laundry and spending time at the library studying Japanese but I did them both - pushing myself to stay on track.
At the library I learned that I'd forgotten a lot of Japanese, which I had expected, and yet remembered more, which I had NOT expected. Granted, I recognized the hard path ahead of me, the path of relearning, but i didn't feel overly daunted. I do have an honest love of studying Japanese and that love impresses me and burdens me with hope.
Before leaving the library, I stopped by the children's section for a book that might aid my study of Swedish. I picked up several books and each had cartoon drawings of brash naked boys. Even though I no longer feel pious and pickled about the human body, I just don't feel like looking at that effigy of un-grown masculinity. I also thought that maybe I was in a 'special' section of the child's library. Bemused, I opted for a book with loads of animals and a hairy professor in it. Safe topics, surely?
A thunderstorm had picked up and I had to wait in the overhang with other patrons as the rain washed down. It hadn't rained in a few days and I imagine the Swedish soil is growing desperately thirsty. But today it is raining as well and even though I felt like going to the library, I'm staying inside to avoid the cold wind and rain. Writing a blog seems like the perfect thing for today.
The rest of the day was mundane, if I recall. I did laundry. A few drunk people tried to scare me from an upper floor of the building. I watched Master and Commander, read from a book, and slept.
Sometime during that day, I hashed out my travel plans for Germany. Next week I'm going to Berlin for around 6 days. I'll be staying with friends and my old host family and visiting my old haunts - or, rather, haunting my old haunts. If it were possible to feel nervous, excited, and calm all at once, then that would be me. Lord, those four months in Berlin were some of the best in my life and I'm still trying to figure out why. But I do know the half of it - great friends, great teachers, great food. It's all wrapped up in an intangible feeling of joy, love, and peace.
I had tried to make plans to visit my family in southern Germany; a retired post master and a skilled housewife. Yet they, as I said, cannot host me. It was a shame. I'd found a ticket for 0 kronor to Frankfurt. Ah well, my roll at the slots didn't pan out perfect.
So I'm going to Berlin again!
Last night I took the 9:15pm train back to Uppsala from Stockholm. Behind me a Swede was talking in his cell phone and I felt like I was riding right in his lap. It wasn't necessarily bad, rather comforting. His voice was low, sad, and it came around me like an old friend whispering in my ear while we shared an embrace after a long absence. I imagined him to be young and for a brief moment, I felt as if we were somehow connected. For the past few days, I've felt dreamy and open; riding an impenetrable cloud.
I was in Stockholm because I was spending the day with a Belgium girl with a penchant for coffee, who I had met on the farm. We crammed our day with so much! We talked smack about the crazy lady who 'ran' the farm, went canoing around the archipelago, ate meat, shopped at a million souvenir stores, ogled the huge cruise ships, drank beer, drank coffee, hashed out her path to one of the airports around Stockholm, and finished up with Turkish pizza. She's studying Biology and in three years, when she's finished up, we playfully made plans to WWOOF around the world - hitting countries like Japan, Australia, Russia, America, Romania, Hungary. We're still not set on the particulars but it would be cool to spend a week or two in each place before moving around the globe. We're each taking friends. Any takers?
I got home and was still overly full from the food. After some time on the internet, I finally managed to rest for about two hours. Awakened at the unholy hour of 2:30am by my childhood affliction of foot cramps, I was pressed once more back to the internet where I chatted with a friend, read this poem, and wrote on a friend's wall. I have a friend from Wittenberg, a mostly Facebook friend, who is an artist with words as well as with his hands. Every once in a while, I feel like being an artist too and we banter philosophical thoughts back and forth. Last night, feeling empowered, I wrote this:
I used to stand at the mouth of a life resembling a cone. The walls pressing ever inward, converging on a dark and distant point in time. Yet now I've found my way to turn around and see life as an ever opening array of unknown possibility where talk of light and dark, day and night - as if they were sentient forces - makes me sigh outward, because I believe they are no longer so definable for me.
With that, you are pretty much up to date with my life. I'm debating the merit of running in the rain or braving the weather and biking in to town. Or maybe I'll just rest here... and read a bit.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Restored Hope in Humanity
Yesterday I hit a snag trying to get back to Uppsala from Rimbo, the location of Carl's work. I'd purchased a general ticket that would work out in the boonies as well as with Stockholm transportation (yay!). But when I boarded the bus and handed the driver my ticket he spouted some Swedish, to which I replied:
"English, please?"
*driver stares*
"Engelska?"
*driver stares some more*
"I'm sorry, I don't speak Swedish..."
*driver stares more and more*
At this point I was reaching for my ticket, ready to depart, and quite certain something was not connecting in the driver's brain, when a young lady behind me explained the situation. The ticket, for whatever reason yet known, only works for half the distance and an additional 60 kronor is needed (about $10). Now I was out of cash and just figured on finding an ATM and boarding the next departing bus when the girl offered to loan me the cash and come with me to an ATM in Uppsala after arriving.
There you go! Humanity 1; Demon bus driver: 0
The girl was really nice and in Uppsala we found an ATM where I paid her back no sweat. We had fun chatting; she's studying to be a nurse and works in the maternity ward of the city hospital. Very nice girl. She also told me that the bus driver had obviously understood English, but either wasn't comfortable communicating with it, or was being obstinate. She seemed frustrated by the guy as well, who had done the exact same thing yesterday. Meh. So all you who wish to travel to Sweden, EVERYONE speaks English EXCEPT maybe the bus drivers.
Today has been really relaxed. After waking up, I walked to the grocery store for some milk along with some very thin and bitter yogurt (goes well with müsli) to go with breakfast. I spent the remaining morning battling monsters and Genesis copies on my brother's PSP. The game, Final Fantasy: Crisis Core, is really good with great graphics, sound, and battle mode. It's keeping me busy.
I'm slowly making travel plans to Germany but they definately aren't happening fast enough. I called my family in DE but they are still locked in familial misfortune and can't host me. That leaves just Berlin. I'm searching for some cheap hostels and poking around Berlin friends for a place to stay. My old host family is doing renovations on their home and won't be available until the 11th - 1 day after my friend leaves Berlin. So I have to scramble and find a hostel for the 7th-10th.
My goals today are laundry and library!
"English, please?"
*driver stares*
"Engelska?"
*driver stares some more*
"I'm sorry, I don't speak Swedish..."
*driver stares more and more*
At this point I was reaching for my ticket, ready to depart, and quite certain something was not connecting in the driver's brain, when a young lady behind me explained the situation. The ticket, for whatever reason yet known, only works for half the distance and an additional 60 kronor is needed (about $10). Now I was out of cash and just figured on finding an ATM and boarding the next departing bus when the girl offered to loan me the cash and come with me to an ATM in Uppsala after arriving.
There you go! Humanity 1; Demon bus driver: 0
The girl was really nice and in Uppsala we found an ATM where I paid her back no sweat. We had fun chatting; she's studying to be a nurse and works in the maternity ward of the city hospital. Very nice girl. She also told me that the bus driver had obviously understood English, but either wasn't comfortable communicating with it, or was being obstinate. She seemed frustrated by the guy as well, who had done the exact same thing yesterday. Meh. So all you who wish to travel to Sweden, EVERYONE speaks English EXCEPT maybe the bus drivers.
Today has been really relaxed. After waking up, I walked to the grocery store for some milk along with some very thin and bitter yogurt (goes well with müsli) to go with breakfast. I spent the remaining morning battling monsters and Genesis copies on my brother's PSP. The game, Final Fantasy: Crisis Core, is really good with great graphics, sound, and battle mode. It's keeping me busy.
I'm slowly making travel plans to Germany but they definately aren't happening fast enough. I called my family in DE but they are still locked in familial misfortune and can't host me. That leaves just Berlin. I'm searching for some cheap hostels and poking around Berlin friends for a place to stay. My old host family is doing renovations on their home and won't be available until the 11th - 1 day after my friend leaves Berlin. So I have to scramble and find a hostel for the 7th-10th.
My goals today are laundry and library!
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
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