“I can’t see anything. I’ve got the bows up… I’m going!” -Donald Malcolm Campbell, CBE, British Land and Water Speed Record Breaker
Yesterday, I bid adieu to Hamburg Germany for what might be the last time, at least in the sense of living there. The city was nice but it was just absolutely not for me. I couldn’t handle the massive city, with no escape. I felt locked into a concrete jungle and caged into a loud, grey, starless world. In addition to that, it rained all the time, and not even consistently, which somehow might have been better.
In Hamburg, it rains every day, usually two or three times at a minimum of anywhere between five minutes and 4 hours. You can never predict when or for how long, you just know it is coming. I hated the way it would be sunny, I would walk down the road and before I even see the clouds, I am being rained on because the cloud snuck up on me like a cartoon character walking on their tip-toes making a light piano noise with each step. Too many times I would walk out the door on a sunny day and come home after frantically jumping on a bus and sloshing home in wet clothing and shoes. It was just annoying. I used to say I loved rain. Now I learned, I love rain, predicitable, occasional rain not a no holds barred, rain whenever and however long you desire.
Luckily for me, on another cold rainy day in Hamburg, I had a shining bright spot. One of my closest friends, Chloé, is traveling in Germany for a while and she landed in Hamburg. So I “surprised” her before she left. It was so lovely seeing her, the last time I saw her was when I went to France. (Which I need to do again) I was going to meet her at the bus station but we happened to run into each other on the sidewalk while we were going to the station. We talked for maybe forty-five minutes to an hour while waiting for her bus which was expectedly thirty-five minutes late but we were luckily able to talk for longer and catch up which is something we shouldn’t complain about. She is genuinely one of the sweetest and lovely people I know and while I will eternally be stuck in the grammar-zone, (Totally different than the friend-zone, it’s a lot like it, but apparently only can exist between two friends of different native languages. Somehow I managed to not only get in the friend-zone but so far in the friend-zone, we had to make a new type of friend-zone), I am just happy to have her in my life now and hopefully for much longer.
Today was all about working then setting up my new apartment. I slept basically on the hardwood floor last night but I have my mattress now, sadly no furniture, but I will deal with that later. I will get my bed set up, figure out a way to use my desktop without, you know, a desk. Then I need to find a way to get a desk, wardrobe, bed frame, and desk chair to my apartment without a car. Luckily, after that, I will be able to put the personal touches on my apartment, posters, maps, lights etc and that is when I will really be set. I can’t wait to have that all settled so I can share it.
Last night, I ran into something that I will talk more about in a future post, maybe during this month but maybe not. When returning my rental car(van), I found the Airbus/European Space Agency buildings and it got me so happy and excited. It felt like a good omen to a new city and a new life. I need to be positive and make life be what I want it to be.
I worked all day today from a Starbucks, I used my hoodie as back support in what might have been the most uncomfortable chair I spent eight hours in but at least I was able to get things done and that’s the key. I will try to find a better place tomorrow though, however it is more than likely I will not.
All I can think of right now is the LEGO Saturn V, 1:114th scale rocket that was delivered today. It was a bit of a hunt to go and find but It was easily worth it because of how long I had to wait to finally get my hands on it. It’s also a bit embarrassingly expensive but it’s the perfect showpiece that should tie my room together when it is all eventually organized.
There isn’t much that annoys me more than people being lazy and refusing to think critically in the slightest way to solve a problem. For example, at Starbucks, someone had a smoothie and a sandwich that looked like peanut butter and jelly. When they finished, they just stood up and left the glass and plate with the crust/ scraps of sandwich there. This plate and glass sat there on this little table (a table for two people) for about two or three hours. First, that annoyed me because you have to walk past the little drop off spot on your way out. However second, and much more importantly, people would walk to this little room that I was in and see that every other table/seat was taken except this one table. Every time, they would look at the table, look around, look back at the table and then walk away to try and find a new place. This happened so often, to the point where I started counting and I got distracted watching the table and peoples interaction with it. Finally, I counted until I got to ten people unable to solve this puzzle when I finally broke. I locked my computer, stood up, walked across the little room, picked up the plate and glass and brought it to the drop off spot. Returned to my little table and before I was even able to log in to my computer and turn back on my music, two people walked in and decided to sit down at the table. It was something that took me less than twenty seconds that could have prevented that table from being completely wasted and blocked off from usage for multiple hours.
Please, friends, I know you can just walk away from something like that and find a new seat, no problems, but why not just take a little effort that the other person refused to take and move the plate. It’s not that big of a deal to put in that little effort.
The rest of my day:
The Beautiful, Fancy, Lovely, Perfect, in 1969 pieces but soon to be in 3, Saturn V.
I’ll be right back….. gotta build this.