I love this tradition of tying your gym shoes together and throwing them onto telephone wires. That's how you know school is out for summer in San Luis.
Nico sleeping on the porch.
The mission.
The fountain in front of the mission where I almost drowned as a kid! I can't walk by without thinking about that.
My first latte art in a year, poured at Linnaea's. I can do better though...just wait.
The creek where I like to read, unbothered. For hours on end. It's nice to be home- sort of!
danke für den schönen Schal. Ich habe ihn stolz durch ganz New York getragen. Leider hat er meiner Freundin Rochelle so gut gefallen, dass sie furchtbar neidisch auf mich war (wie alle), und wir haben die ganze Woche nur über den Schal gestritten. Diesen Streit habe ich zwar gewonnen, aber wie du siehst hat es mir unsere Freundschaft gekostet. Also danke nochmal. Wirklich.
So, as I am no longer in Germany, my blog needs a new take on life other than that of a "penniless Californian exchange student." I guess I'll just cross out "exchange." Bing! Done.
I have been away from the fatherland for twelve days now (What? That's all??) and although I am always there in spirit, my spirit doesn't have internet access, so that's no good. I can't blog from Germany about dancing to electro, macking on my boy or having cultural/linguistic misunderstandings all while using charmingly incorrect phrasing (I will nerve them, it made fun, we telephoned, he was making Feierabend, the city was full of Amis) anymore! You may need to read that sentence again.
I am home now, and cannot live in Germany again for-at the most blindingly optimistic-one year. Although this horrifies me, I am trying to deal with it maturely and not begin all sentences with "when I was in Germany..." This is extremely difficult especially considering last call is around 1:30 here, and everyone just seems to accept this.
I am also officially a full-time student as of today. I realized when I went to talk to the counselor that I am nearly finished with my silly AA degree. I have to take three more classes for a degree in Liberal Arts, and one more (World Politics) for an International Studies degree. Then I can go on to do much bigger, more expensive learning. Just hopefully not here, because I have decided I cannot afford American universities.
(Oh! Embarrassing thing of the day: When I got to my parents' this evening I told my stepmom I had signed up for "Astrology" to fulfill my science requirement.)
I am also employed, having got my job back at Linnaea's. I'm starting next week. I made my first cappuccino in a year the other day, because I went in to order one and they asked if I wanted to just make it myself. My hands were shaking as I pulled the shots and steamed the milk, afraid I wouldn't remember how to do it and everyone would judge me if I couldn't pull off a perfect rosetta (I'll have to post a picture of what I mean).
Anyway, I guess I just wanted to say, there are a few changes in the works. Stay tuned.
After peacing out of New York, a short stay in San Francisco with this kook...
Coopie giving the death stare at a San Francisco park
...made it temporarily okay that I was not in Europe anymore. I've missed him!!
I am still living in denial about being back home. I cannot shake the impression that I am only here on vacation and will be going home to Germany. Not going to happen! I live in California I live in California I live in California. Ahhh, I still can't seem to swallow that.
San Francisco's Velo Rouge, hub of delicious pizza, espresso and levitating bicycles
View of the city from the park
Free, self-cleaning public bathroom
(pictured: Paul, Tiffany and Cooper)
A bridge (not the Golden one...)
I had forgotten about San Francisco's bipolar, sunny/freezing/sunny weather. In this city, summer seems to prefer certain areas and completely ignore others. Oh well. Big Sur was waiting, where my Grandma put me up for the night before I made my way further down the coast.
View from my Grandma's guest house, the Hawk's Nest
The windy, turn-y, cliff-y ride home this morning. I always have nightmares about falling over the side of one of those cliffs. Maybe you can't tell from here, but it's a long way down!!
Finally, at noon today, I arrived back in San Luis Obispo. My hometown. It's a strange homecoming, as my dad's side of the family is in Los Angeles at my cousin's wedding. So I am just sort of wandering the San Luis streets by myself, feeling like I am walking through a sunny, flowery dream. I have absolutely nothing to do but hang around. I am currently sitting on my sister's porch, accompanied only by this stinky beast:
"Pepper, I'm back!" "Feed me."
My sister is in town because she has to work, so when she gets off this evening we are going to go "out" together. (While I was gone, she had the audacity of turning 21 without me.)
Of course, going out in San Luis is silly because all the bars close at 2 a.m (which after Germany seems utterly ridiculous). So the bar scene is really intense, with everyone in a big rush to get hammied before last call.
Oh well, out here in California we have the house party to make up for it. Sort of.
Do I really live here?? Can I go back to Germany now??
Brunch at the Artisanal Fromagerie, highlighted on the Food Network's "The Best Thing I Ever Ate--Cheesy Episode." We broke our fast with gouda and stout fondue, blackberry and mango mimosas, crème brûlée and coffee.
(By the way, brunch is such a scandal! Why is it okay to roll out of bed, show up at eleven (thirty...), stuff your face with all of your favorite things about breakfast and lunch, drink alcohol in the morning and be treated like a queen? Fantastic all-American invention.)
A dragonfly alighted on Lady Liberty and then proceeded to catch and eat the head off of an inferior normal-fly, resulting in a nature shot which ought to be published in the Natty Graf.
The dragonfly's cute little face (the black is housefly leftovers).
Walking to SoHo, we admired the Flatiron Building.
Chris and Rochelle by the water
First glimpse of the real Statue of Liberty...
The dragonfly was that cute!! Look at him smiling for the camera.
Sundown by the water.
Nighty night, New York. I am beat from walking all over you.
Coney Island with ChrisnRochelle, Erich, Fouad, and Jimmy today. What is this place?? Hahaha.
They are counting the seconds until they can gluttonize on hot dogs again.
Rochelle makes a difficult decision
Cooling her toes in the Atlantic
Said goodbye to Erich today!! No way. Now we have to wait until September to be ridiculous, dance to electro in the kitchen and have heart to hearts at six in the morning.
Really tall buildings. AC. Ice water. Free bathroom usage. Amis* on the streets, Amis in the U-Bahn,* Amis on the television. What a weird place!!
Drinking on the street isn't a thing, but you can see the calorie count of your muffin before entering the bakery. That's handy, to finally use this word correctly.*
I feel like a foreigner!! And not just because (as I've quickly realized) I associate all officialdom (hotels/the bank/police/service industry) with the German language and keep having to stop myself from talking to shop clerks, tellers, waiters and strangers in German.
ChrisnRochelle, first night in town!
Look at this nonsense. Funny that the number on the label is not the price.
Furry...?
What? Was macht der Kölner Dom auf Manhattan?
Eiffelturm, gleiche Frage.
Erich and Fouad, the ying and yang of coolness.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, great place to spend a humid afternoon.
Dear Anna Weltner,
Thank you for your booking!
We confirm your reservation made through hostelworld like follows:
arrival:13.07.2010
nights:1
rooms / beds: 1 double room ensuite
Please check if this is what you wanted to book and contact us directly if something is wrong or needs to be changed.
Again we'd like to point out that we are in the MIDDLE of the REDLIGHT DISTRICT … So, now You know. We have “warned” you.
We think that it is safe and rather entertaining, but we like our guests to be happy, also with the location. So if you like to cancel your booking (because of this or other reasons) please do so up to 24 hours before your arrival in order to avoid cancellation fees (price of the 1st night).
***
....And so I will spend my last night in Germany!!!
Micha peaced out today. (Night shift back in Erfurt.)
I am staying in Berlin until Tuesday.
Then it's off to NYC, SF, BS and finally SLO.
Oh well. Some photos for distraction.
Micha in Erfurt before Spain creamed Germany last week (after photo not provided)
Ostrich man made of sand (at a sand sculpture exhibit in Berlin yesterday)
Discovering the self-timer in Dresden's Frauenkirche.
TV sand mountain, Berlin
Making a difficult decision at Dresden's Sheune, one of those cafe/restaurant/venue/Biergarten/dance club places. Note the man in the wine.
It is crazy until you feel it too: Basically summing up my current existence. Thank you, toilet at Rosi's, for your poignant wisdom.
Saw some friends for the last time yesterday and today.
My heart is double-broken now and Sunday isn't even here yet.
Bought some new books to fill the ever-widening void in my (espresso-black) soul.
I know I wasn't s'posed to do that but they are really mini, and I think I might take Coopak Shakur's advice (see comments) and send them by boat.
I bought the pocket-sized Alles ist erleuchtet and Der Junge in gestrieften Pajama. True, I could read these books at home in my native tongue, but I would rather read them in German. I could stuff them in my pockets and they won't make my suitcase any heavier. Yeah.
(Built-in bonus: if someone spanks me I won't feel it!)
Said goodbye to Martin today and he gave me a cute scarf with the colors of the German flag. He is such a model person. I like him.
It gave me a sick feeling to see him go.
Will be gone from Erfurt indefinitely in 24 hours. I still haven't realized it.
Not close to done packing, oops.
The weather couldn't be any geiler, but my head is a gathering stormcloud and I am raining on the inside.
The Erfurter Sprachschule owes me 710 Euro. Should I be worried? Maybe I will call and nerve them.
Last night Germany got creamed by the Spanish. Erfurt took it personally. Tears were shed. Looks like they won't be Weltmeister this year.
I am spending my evening in Erfurt with Mirjam and friends in the Dubliner, the same little pub where I spent my first evening in Erfurt. I will be an emotional wreck and I really hope Micha still likes me after witnessing my emotional wreckage.
I am seriously a little worried about that. Okay, more like a lottle.
What to pack? What not to pack?? Can I live without German-language Harry Potter? German-language Murakami? German-language 20,000 Leagues under the Sea?The Metamorphosis? The Berlin Stories? Um, nööö. Hallo!? This is breaking my heart. These books have been some of my best friends over this year. It's too bad they're so heavy.
Admittedly, Einführung in die Interkulturelle Wirtschaftskommunikation wasn't exactly pleasure reading, but it was a big part of my life and I spent a really long time trying to understand it, as you can see from my notes:
STREBER 1
STREBER 2
Oh, sadness! I am waxing so nostalgic and gooey. (Of Montreal is kinda helping though, gotta say. Plan to dance crazily in my room by myself when this verdammt mess of packing is behind me.)
Two days until Berlin.
Seven until New York.
14 until San Francisco.
Would be happy if I were not an emotional disaster! There, I said it.
Once in Linnaea's a guy told me the coffee was "as black as my soul." Now I feel I can add that my suitcases are as heavy as my heart. Yack. I miss you already, M-dog.
(Es ist doch ein schönes Bild, bitte hasse mich nicht)
Thoroughly enjoying my last days in E-town; visiting a stalactite cave in Saalfeld (upon Micha's invitation) yesterday and getting a visit from the wonderful Bianca today.
Bianca, German but married to an American, is a friend from my hometown of San Luis Obispo. Seeing her in Germany (and speaking German with her!) was quite the trip.
Pikkies from both adventures to come soon, I think.
In attempt to distract myself from my distress over, well, what I last posted, I was reading a Spiegel interview with a sci-fi author Daniel Saurez. His depiction in the thriller Daemon of a very near future in which a murderous "bot" network controls humanity, is (so the article said) one eerily close to home, given the massive amounts of data voluntarily shared by millions every day via social networks Twitter and Facebook, data which is already being scanned and researched by "bots" in order to more effectively sell us things, and/or otherwise manipulate our soft little brainies.
At the mention of Facebook, I had to take a quick FB break. Great news awaited me! I had been tagged in quite a nice photo. Which had already been commented on once. Mmm, warm, narcissistic fuzzy. Could such a fuzzy ever really cause harm?? It just doesn't seem right...like a radioactive teddy bear.
Could it's soft edge cut you, as Rilo Kiley once warned in the song "A man/me/then Jim?" (Of course, Jenny Lewis was singing about what she called the "slow fade of love" in that song, but the lyric does have more than one, for lack of a better word, application.)
Anyway, it's kind of gross, but I feel like I have to admit that
I have come to regard people who don't use Facebook as sort of saintly figures I respect but couldn't hope to emulate.
I have twice dreamt about getting new FB notifications, or, as German Facebook calls them, neue Facebook-Benachrichtigungen.
I also realized it's a little bit disgusting that I had been reading to distract myself, then got distracted away from my main distraction. So I went back to my article, in which Suarez signed off with the words,
"A very small group of powerful people is deciding what's going to happen with your data, and they're using bots to help implement what they want to do. That has nothing to do with democracy. It's all about efficiency. And that's the really scary thing about it. I'd prefer we don't take that trip. Otherwise, this could really end up being a hellish world."
Oh GOD. Only two weeks left in Germany, starting today. I don't like this. I feel queasy. I can't even enjoy the moment because I am too busy eulogizing it already. Every moment for me is a snapshot in time which my brain is busy framing, categorizing, archiving and nostalgizing. (My brain is going, "Look, Anna, wasn't that a nice time you had in Germany? Those were the days.") Whatever I do now, I am not really doing it, I am "making a memory;" posing for my mental pictures.
This can't be right! I keep seeing acquaintances and going, "By the way, I'm moving back to the States soon. Good-bye, in case I never see you again!"
I only just bought my ticket to California yesterday (from NYC, where my program ends, not from Germany). I was putting it off for a long time. Now, it's time to think about packing, good-byes, catching flights, getting my job back at home and starting the Fall semester in boring old boyfriendless America.
I realized recently, with a sick start, that I have 12 days left with Micha. 12. I am leaving from Frankfurt on the 14th, a Wednesday, and am staying with Erich in Berlin for 2 days before that. So I have to say goodbye on the 12th, the Sunday after this one. Next Sunday!! Fuckkkk. Sick to stomach. Not liking this.
Okay, trying to think of something positive about the situation:
A week in NYC with Chris 'n' Rochelle on the way home
Visiting Cooper in San Francisco on the way home
Possibly seeing my Grandma in Big Sur on the way home (it's a long way)
Sometimes I wake up with a weird, nonsensical phrase in my head, and this morning was no exception: "Upstairs, there's an Irish pub with a moonlight pistol. Don't be violent!" And so I began my day.
It wasn't the first time I woke up with something completely odd in my head. The best one happened when I was a kid and my mom was trying to wake me up, and I grumbled, "Why are you trying to get a shark to smile?" Then I heard laughing and woke up, and realized I had just been talking dream-nonsense, and I got super mad and embarrassed.
A writer living in San Luis Obispo, Calif., Anna likes cuddly animals, electronica, human absurdity, espresso, infobabble, sweet dreams, bicycles, German, good stories and traveling around.
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