(no subject)
houseguests can be good. especially when everybody can laugh together and shop together and when everybody likes "bowl coffees," which are basically cafe au laits in gigantic bowls that after drinking one you reflect on exactly when in your life you have drunk such a big milky delicious coffee...had ted and my sister staying with me while my parents stayed in a hotel in the schanzenviertel. it was a great week, but exhausting. it didn't help that it rained with a bitter, bitter oceany wind that never seemed to stop interspersed with hot muggy grey grey still air and flashes of intense sun that mocked us as we were wrapped up in scarves and toques and long socks. i really loved showing off this amazing city and dining in crazy german restaurants every night and the generosity of my parents and dear schwester was amazing! felt special and loved. we had some fun random times...
erika and i found the FC ST. PAULI fan shop which was basically an old graffitied shack on the edge of the playing field and bought some delectable things. hamburg's st. pauli soccer team is like the punkrockest soccer team ever, with the fans all being grizzly old punks that strut around town wearing their black hoodies with the skull and crossbones motif with old jeans, a jean jacket, a black toque, and a bottle of astra in their hand. this team is extremely leftist and is notorious for once beating bayern-munich in an exposition game, when bayern-munich was the best team in germany and st. pauli one of the worst (they are in a seperate league). they are still so proud of this feat that much of the gear in the shop was t-shirts with the famous 2 - 1 score silkscreened on them. even though i have never been to a game and always wanted to but never got around to and now i am leaving in two weeks and the season is over (i think?), this team feels super close to my heart as i live basically in st. pauli. i am a proud st. pauli girl!
ted, erika, nika and i saw "viva l'american death ray music" play at an insane bar off the reeperbahn that is as big (as small?) as my bedroom on the friday night they were here. this show BLEW US AWAY. my god! i saw them play once with josh at the 3B tavern in bellingham years ago and they did not disappoint. that band is one of the best ever, and we were squished so close to them while they were playing that basically the bass player kept almost hitting erika and i, which we definitely did NOT mind. he wore a starched white shirt and grey suit and was electrifyingly hot, and kept asking nika to translate things he was saying into the mike and it was cool. VIVA! the singer also charmed us with his gynormous silver wishbone that he wore around his neck, his vampire-ish teeth and his banana belt buckle. seriously krank, man.
so i had my official last day of work today, and it feels great. i am free! when i showed up yesterday, my mentorin was like, "oh, you still work here?" so that shows that yeah, i will be extremely missed. i am ecstatic to be done with that school! i will never, ever teach english again. ever.
i have 15 days left in this city and my stomach feels empty and strange when i think about it. of course i am excited to be home again but i'm not too sure if i am ready for it. i have said my goodbyes to berlin but don't know how to do the same to hamburg. i remember watching amber walk alone down grindel allee on her last night here in december and thought, shit, that will be me in a few months. it was a beautiful and quietly cold night and that walk home beside the towering kastanien trees and the columned buildings of the university was for her the actual start of the end. her little steps seemed to get shorter and slower as the walk went on and then i hopped into the s-bahn and before i knew it she suddenly disappeared out of my sight.
i want my goodbye to be as simple and as beautiful as that.
erika and i found the FC ST. PAULI fan shop which was basically an old graffitied shack on the edge of the playing field and bought some delectable things. hamburg's st. pauli soccer team is like the punkrockest soccer team ever, with the fans all being grizzly old punks that strut around town wearing their black hoodies with the skull and crossbones motif with old jeans, a jean jacket, a black toque, and a bottle of astra in their hand. this team is extremely leftist and is notorious for once beating bayern-munich in an exposition game, when bayern-munich was the best team in germany and st. pauli one of the worst (they are in a seperate league). they are still so proud of this feat that much of the gear in the shop was t-shirts with the famous 2 - 1 score silkscreened on them. even though i have never been to a game and always wanted to but never got around to and now i am leaving in two weeks and the season is over (i think?), this team feels super close to my heart as i live basically in st. pauli. i am a proud st. pauli girl!
ted, erika, nika and i saw "viva l'american death ray music" play at an insane bar off the reeperbahn that is as big (as small?) as my bedroom on the friday night they were here. this show BLEW US AWAY. my god! i saw them play once with josh at the 3B tavern in bellingham years ago and they did not disappoint. that band is one of the best ever, and we were squished so close to them while they were playing that basically the bass player kept almost hitting erika and i, which we definitely did NOT mind. he wore a starched white shirt and grey suit and was electrifyingly hot, and kept asking nika to translate things he was saying into the mike and it was cool. VIVA! the singer also charmed us with his gynormous silver wishbone that he wore around his neck, his vampire-ish teeth and his banana belt buckle. seriously krank, man.
so i had my official last day of work today, and it feels great. i am free! when i showed up yesterday, my mentorin was like, "oh, you still work here?" so that shows that yeah, i will be extremely missed. i am ecstatic to be done with that school! i will never, ever teach english again. ever.
i have 15 days left in this city and my stomach feels empty and strange when i think about it. of course i am excited to be home again but i'm not too sure if i am ready for it. i have said my goodbyes to berlin but don't know how to do the same to hamburg. i remember watching amber walk alone down grindel allee on her last night here in december and thought, shit, that will be me in a few months. it was a beautiful and quietly cold night and that walk home beside the towering kastanien trees and the columned buildings of the university was for her the actual start of the end. her little steps seemed to get shorter and slower as the walk went on and then i hopped into the s-bahn and before i knew it she suddenly disappeared out of my sight.
i want my goodbye to be as simple and as beautiful as that.