buy sugar

The morning that I left for Bard, Mama told me that I look like an Urban Outfitters model. Sima asked me what I was going to do after college and Потемкин tried to get attention but a belly rub was an unrealistic dream. Yosef promised to try to call me more, as he does every year (and we did talk for almost an hour last night). I got salt&vinegar chips at the rest stop and Papa got tea. 

the kitchen in this house is quite nice. we don't really socialize & we have a similar level of expected cleanliness.
functional.
the fact that I do not have any sugar, however, is not.

Rosh Hashanah is always a bit lukewarm at Bard (the undercooked tilapia, the doughy challah, the one bottle of saccharine Manischewitz for each table of ten) but Le'shana Tova. Yesterday I joined the tennis team, though I can only make it to 3/5 practices a week and have to miss some of the meets.

we'll meet again

dinner at curry house with Shinno and Bianca

I’m back from Bard. Goodbye’s and sweet promises to meet up over the summer. 

Last movies:

1.       大紅燈籠高高掛 (Raise the Red Lantern – Chinese): we watched the first half with Chinese subtitles. Kelsey did most of the translating since she studies it, and Kalena helped with her knowledge of Japanese.  I watched the rest on my own after I found English subs.
2.       Trainspotting!
3.       About a Boy: because we needed to watch something that did not require any thought to process. Finals, after all.
  

Papa picked me up on Monday and we got home at 3am. The next day I drove Mama to the airport (she’s in Moscow now!) and when I came back Yulka had picked up Sima from gymnastics. We sat on my bed listening. Today I picked Sima up from school because he got sick but he’s on the bed next to me reading Calvin & Hobbes now.

A month ago I had a dream that Shinno and I were walking around this red city. Except at some point I realized that, even though we were walking straight, we kept coming across the same guy (someone who goes to Bard) looking through a dumpster. The city was actually one small planet.  The guy was trying to salvage items to sell – I’m not sure to whom, it seemed to be just us three on the planet, even though there were quite a few buildings to live in. When I asked Shinno about the dumpster guy, he said “he finds enough to sell throughout the week, and then on Thursday’s, he’s gone” – meaning that by Thursday he would save up enough money to shoot up on heroin.

 

пивная 01

21 У маминой подругой Наташи квартира рядом с Новодевичьим Монастырем, так что мы втроем с Симой пошли там гулять, а потом пошли пить чай. В последнею ночь я приехала обратно к родственникам на Ленинский проспект. Я не хотела уезжать, и воля что либо делать оставила меня, а Даша старалась меня убедит приехать в Китай город в Пропаганду, но я не могла, и пошла встречаться с ними в Пивной 01 у метро Университет. Там был Дашин парень Саша, и Наташин Джон, из Канады, и его друг, американец. Я совсем не этого хотела; я не хотела английский, я не хотела новых людей; ничего в конце концов расслабилась. Пиво, гренки – Москва, Москва, они все жалуются на тебя, но я не хотела тебя покидать; может быть это потому что мне не грозит в тебе жить?

--

Mama's friend Natasha has an apartment by Novodevichy Monastir. The three of us; Natasha, Sima and I, went for a walk there before heading inside for tea. The last night I came back to stay with my relatives on Lenin-sky Street. I did not want to leave, and the will to do anything abandoned me, and Dasha was trying to get me to come to Kitaj City to cafe Propaganda, but I couldn't and went to meet them at Bar 01 by the metro Universitet. Dasha's boy Sasha was there, and Natasha with John from Canada, and John's American friend. It was not at all what I wanted: I didn't want English, I didn't want new people; in the end it was fine. Beer, toast - Moscow, they all complain about you, but I did not want to leave; perhaps because I am not faced with the prospect of living in you?

эскалатор

English variant under the photo.

Московский эскалатор, это такое место, где целуются. Лестница выравнивает разницу в росте. А эскалатор, это такое лестница, на который не надо ничего делать, что бы попасть от пункта А до пункта Б. Тем более что в Москве эскалаторы длинный. Вот и целуются.

16 Я с Дашей встретились на минутку с Андреем, но он сразу ускакал на хоровую репетицию, и мы в Люди как Люди. После этого я пошла (а именно, умудрилась потеряться по дороги от кафе и позвонила у Саньки разъяснить дорогу) в музей «Огни Москвы», у них там был субботник. После этого я поехала на спектакль «Дар» по Набокову. Даня пригласил меня, Симу и Лизу в театре Фоменко. На метро я поехала не самым эффективный способом, из за того что голубая линия разветвляется. В набитом вагоне  меня старался пощупать старик. Я чуть не опоздала на спектакль. Спектакль длился четыре часа, но постановка была интересная. Туда пришли еще Даша и Наташа, которые узнали про него от меня. Еще там была Катя (которая тоже учится в США, в Брауне) она мне помахала рукой, но потом исчезла. После этого я, Даша и Сима пошли в кафе с французом, который клеился к Симе, но Даша сразу ушла провожать Наташу. Я осталась с Симой и французом, который в России живет уже 20 лет, и который очень не хотел, чтобы я там была, меня перебивал, каждый раз, когда я открывала рот.
17 У меня были на этот день просветленные, культурные планы, но я заснула и проснувшись оказалась в гостях у Саньки и его семьи.  Саньку я немножко поучила рисовать, и показала мою любимую книгу английского алфавита, так как ему было скоро сдавать IELTS. Позже приехал к нам дядя Илья.

The Moscow escalator is where people make out. Stairs even out height difference. Escalators are stairs on which you don't have to do anything to get from point A to point B. Especially since in Moscow the escalators are long. So people kiss.

16 Dasha and I briefly met up with Andrey, but he ran off to choral rehearsal, and we went to a cafe called People like People. After that I went (or - managed to get lost on the way from the cafe and had to call Sanka to clarify the way) to the museum "Lights of Moscow", which was getting a...spring cleaning. After that I went the play "Gift" based on Nabokov's novel. Daniel invited me, Sima and Liza to the Fomenko theater. In the metro I took the most inefficient rout, in part because the cyan line splits*. In the stuffed metrocar, an old man tried to feel me up. I was almost late to the play. It was an interesting production that lasted four hours. Dasha and Natasha came as well, they found out from me. Also Katya was there (who also studies in the U.S., at Brown) she waved at me but then disappeared. After that Dasha, Sima and I went to a cafe with a French guy who was hitting on Sima, but Dasha left right away to escort Natasha. I was left with Sima and the Frenchman, who has lived in Russia for 20 years, and how really didn't want me to be there, and interrupted me every time I opened my mouth to speak.
17 I had these wonderful culturally enlightened  plans for the day, but I fell asleep and when I woke up wound up with Sanka and his family. I taught Sanka how to draw a bit, and showed him my favorite English alphabet book, since he was about to take the IELTS. Later in the evening my uncle Ilya showed up as well.

*In Boston and New York, the green line holds D, B and some other trains. In Moscow, all the lines only hold one route, they don't split. Except for this one spot, which splits for two stops.

я всегда верю людям

English-language varient at the bottom.

6 Я пошла в гости к подружке Насте которую не видела четыре года. Так как местность я плохо знаю, я пошла самым длинным путем. Зато по дороги увидела куст, в котором сидело 50 воробьев, и услышала как один человек жалобно рассказывал другу «я сегодня утром сморкался сморкался, и вроде помогло, а потом опять...»

Она болела, но на следующей день уезжала в Париж, до того как вернутся к учебе в Эйндховен. Так что подождать пока она выздороветь не могли. Мы познакомились восемь лет назад. У них дома кошка, и две прекрасные рыжие рыбки; одна поменьше, а та которая побольше регулярно переворачивается жирным брюхам к вверх. Пили чай, из чая разливалась, растекала: речь, жизнь, искусство.

7 Днем я прогулялась к Черемушкинскому рынку, там нечего не купила. Вечером погуляла в последний раз с Ильей, до того как он уехал обратно в Израиль. Очень хотелось маслин.
Еще я поговорила с моим братиком Симой по чату:

я: сейчас я слышу салют. и лай собак

он: тосътъ тебе не мешатъ?

я: ? ты знаешь что такое салют?

он: нет

я: fireworks

он: понятна

я:  тут его много, красиво

он: я знаю что салъут красивый!

я: ну, мало-ли, может ты так не думаешь

он: нет я всегда верю лъудем

8 Утром меня покатали по Москве на машине родители Насти, так как если передвигаться только в метро, получается очень фрагментированная карта города. Рассказали про архитектуру; новую, старую, и шпиль, который на главном здание МГУ, на котором Сталин настаивал (и, конечно, получил). После этого мы пошли в Мультимедиа Арт Музей. Там была выставка Чарли Чаплина. Конечно смешно приехать из Америки и смотреть Чарли Чаплина.  Была одна интересная анимация, но я не помню как зовут художника.
Потом я пошла на каток, с Симой и ее друзьями. Упала, повредила ногу. Я даже вроде сообразила как правильнее кататься! Но проверит особо не смогла. Конечно было не удобно, все ушли с катка из-зо меня. Я этого не ожидала.  

 6 I went to my friends Nastya’s house, I hadn’t seen her in four years. Since I don’t really know the area, I ended up getting there the longest way possible. On the bright side, I saw a bush that was filled with 50 sparrows, and hear how this one bloke was complaining to his friend “this morning, I blew my nose and blew my nose, and it seemed to have helped, and then again…”
She was sick but leaving for Paris the next day, before returning to her studies in Eindhoven. So we couldn’t’t postpone meeting up. We met eight years ago. They have a cat and two wonderful orange fish; one is smaller, and the one that is larger regularly floats fat-belly side up. We drank tea, and from there spilled, streamed; speech, life, art.

7 During the day I went for a walk at the Cherominskij open market, and didn’t buy anything. That evening I took a last walk with Ilya, before he left for Israel. I really wanted olives.

Also I talked with my brother Sima on chat:

me: right now I hear fireworks. And the bark of dogs.

him: so I shouldn’t get in your way?

me: ? do you know what fireworks are?
him: no
me: (fireworks in English, since he just didn’t know the Russian word)
him: understood

me: there’s a lot of it here, it’s pretty

him: I know that fireworks are pretty!
me: well, maybe you have a different opinion.

him: no I always believe people

8 In the morning I got shown around Moscow in a car by Nastya’s parents, since if your only mode of transportation is the metro, you end up with a very fragmented map on the city. They told me about the architecture: new, old, and the spike at the top of MGU, which Stalin had insisted upon (and, of course, got). After that we went to the Multimedia Art Museum. There was a Charlie Chaplin exhibit. It’s rather funny to come from America and look at Charlie Chaplin. There was one interesting animation, but I don’t remember the name of the artist.

After that I went ice-skating, with Sima and her friends. I fell and hurt my let. I think I figured out how to improve my skating! But I couldn’t properly check theory. I felt a bit bad when everyone left the rink because of me- I wasn’t expecting it.

Berlin to Boston

Just dropped Yosef off at the orthodontist, need to start thinking of actual things to do other than sleep. I wrote part of the following in the airport, part of it yesterday in my bed.

Epilogue 

It is 5:09 am. I woke up at 2am, and by woke up I mean finally stopped tossing and turning in the heat of a bed that is two and half meters off the ground. It wasn't miserable, I actually rested, but it wasn't sleep. I finish off what was left of my kefir and left. I went to Oranienburger Tor but it was locked, and a few minutes later it a city worked came and unlocked it but I had realized that the next metro didn't come until 4:17. I went down anyway and stayed until I woke up a bit more, staring at the mice calmly lapping up from little pools of spilt water, and then decided to take the bus (which, when I looked at the instructions I had written out, I realized that that was what I had intended to do anyway, but it took me half an hour to get around to it.) Bus N6, where I got off with a girl that quickly realized we should cross the street to get to the next bus, Bus 128, on which a really drunk guy fell off the seat and was left with a bleeding head, and I arrived at Tegel at 4:40, and clearly it didn't take too long to check my bags and get through security. I lied to them about having cosmetics: I have a small tube of toothpaste somewhere in there, but they didn't find it, and I didn't have a plastic baggie. Life of crime over here. The reason I had it was because of a fantasy of staying in Berlin; it involved an overbooked plane and the possibility of me not getting my checked bag back (it weighs 19.7kg) but that dream was shredded by the reality that my first flight isn't actually delta; it's KLM, which is small and not overbooked at all.

It's getting light out. I have my boarding pass which covers both my flights but I will need to get a bus ticket in NYC to get to Boston. The flight is boarding. 5:31.

~~~~

 The first plane I talked to a guy from Norway; Berlin, EU, Norway, Catch 22. He was a med student and we got off the plane together but our terminals were in different places. We never introduced ourselves. In the Amsterdam airport I kept nodding off. I walked around briefly and sat down again, and some woman from Iran started talking to me; she started telling me about how her daughter is a professor in Toronto and how she has a baby so she goes with her to all these cities for conferences to watch the kid. On the second plane I sat next to this guy from Long Island, who was coming from teaching English through Peace Corps in Rwanda. He was really drained; he was going to a wedding but his Peace Corps ends in November so he has to go back. At some point I realized I couldn’t talk anymore and plummeted quickly into sleep for a couple hours. We talked some more after I woke up, switching to lighter topics than his Rwanda experience. We never introduced ourselves either, but his name was Patrick, as I gathered from some narration. I got off the plane and got myself a bus ticket to Port Authority. While waiting for the bus, I met a man named Peter from Dodoma, Tanzania, a veterinarian who was going to a conference, his specialization being poultry disease control. I got to Port Authority and started looking for another bus, but first I bought my first piece of food on USA soil; and incredibly sweet cinnamon bun that I could only eat half of at first, my hands covered in sugary goop. The first bus I found was 36$ so I kept looking until I found one for $20 that left in an hour, and the bus driver told me it was fine that I didn’t have a ticket yet, even though Megabus to Boston typically involves buying the ticket ahead of time. So I found some shade and tried not to be overwhelmed: it was culture shock coming to NYC, the skyscrapers stacked on top of each other, the noise, the dirty streets lined with liter. I came back and waited on standby with a guy who is part of World Teach, doing Management of the Asian sector. Waiting was dramatic: they didn’t let some girl on because she had a bike, and it apparently says on the site “no bikes” but it had never been a problem for her before. She let out a whelp of desperation “what am I supposed to do!?” her face matching in tone to her pink helmet. Some other guy had a ton of bags and you have to pay $20 extra for every bag over one. On the bus I asked the guys in front of me if they knew when the bus reached Boston: around 8:50. I fell asleep for an hour and when I woke up one of the guys started talking to me: Ryan who goes to Boston College, studying Comp Sci and Finance. He switched to sit next to me. At some point he said something about me being intelligent and I made a face 'fuck no' and said "no"; it was so blatant. We did end up at South Station at 8:50, and when I exited the station I was relieved; Boston is a lot less overwhelming than NYC. Some lady asked me if all the taxi's in Boston are more-or-less the same, but I've never had a reason to take one. Then Папа picked me up and I was home.

Incomplete Farewells

Yesterday I woke up and had to pick out ants out of the honey again. I played tennis with my dad and then visited Yulka at her still-under-construction house. This morning the first time I woke up it was 5 am and I heard hooting. In Berlin, this would have been pigeons (I think, or at least that was everyone’s best guess,) but here it was the distinctive pattern of the barn owl. 

Part 3

On the 24^th I woke up intending to the last two museums I hadn’t been to on the Museum Island; Neues Museum and Altes Nationalgalerie (as opposed to the Neues Nationalgalerie and Altes Museum, which I had already been to.) The latter was closed for construction but I enjoyed the broad spectrum of Egyptian work at the Neues Museum; it was a lot more diverse than what I had seen before. Later I met up with people at the mensa, and Marcel got me a good-bye coffee, and it was the first coffee I had had in two months. Hannah, Bengi, Ruben, Ruben’s brother, and Laura, went for a walk, and I got gelato at Hackesher Markt, and we sat on the grass of the park nearby. 

 

The next day I woke up at 6:30 and didn’t fall back asleep. It was my last day in Berlin and I was worried about the flight and saying goodbye. I went to the Altes Nationalgalerie and then can back and said goodbye to Katrin (she gave me a piece of quiche she made.) I bumped into Anna who also lives at The Convent but we didn’t say bye because she assumed she would see me later in the day, but we never did.

After that I met up with people (Hannah, Lynn, Ruben, Ruben’s brother) and we went to the aquarium by Zoologischer Garten in hopes of escaping the heat (it didn’t work.) Then I went back to Tierpark to pick up my sleeping bag and rushed off to dinner at The Convent with people from the first flat (minus Tilman, he was off on holiday) but Christian and Sasha and Andreas and Charlotte (who doesn’t live there but still) and it was nice though it still felt incomplete in the end, even after the food and hugs. I guess goodbyes never feel complete. 

Not a Ghost

Epilogue (Part 5, the end of this silliness, and yes more stories of not meeting up with people)
I'm a little confused about the order about the last few days, but something like this:

Friday I went to Tierpark with Hannah and Maria stopped by to say goodbye. I spent most of Saturday writing, resulting in this multiple-part text.

I went back to the first flat some point and had tea there again with Christian and Mitya (Sasha's friend who works for the UN in...Slovenia, Slovakia? he said both but they don't even touch, so I must have misremembered, or maybe I'm ill-informed of something important, probably both), and finally relinquished my keys, so I can no longer go sneaking around the flat. Christian and I were both a tiny bit sad at this moment - me mischievously so; I liked being a ghost.

I went over to Hannah's and Caroline stopped by and we watched Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (yes, a children's movie).

Saturday night I slept over (meaning that we went to bed at 10:30 and then talked for three hours), and Sunday morning on of Hannah's new roommates moved in, she's French. Caroline came over again to say bye, and Nina asked us to come down as well and we all said our farewells. We finished watching Pulp Fiction (one movie I've actually seen before) and then we came over to my place after which we wandered over to the flea market by the Bode Museum, which is mostly antiques. I looked a pocket watch that you had to wind up, but it was forty-five euro and I didn't think I could haggle it down to affordability from there, most things where significantly cheaper, I just happened to pick out something expensive, as usual.

 
Monday wasn't very productive either since all the museums are closed. I got groceries and went to Tierpark because of a day mix-up. Ben was there to do laundry. I talked a lot to Katrin (just finished her masters at Potsdam Universität to be a teacher, subjects Spanish and Poli Sci) during the day and we made couscous salad and pankäse together for lunch. 

Tuesday I went to the Gemäldegalerie in the morning. Ben was supposed to possibly meet me at the East Side Gallery with his family at three, but I ended up wandering it alone, which was nice except for there was a giant cloud that decided to rain right over just that bit of the wall. When I started walking it started to rain, when I finished walking it stopped. I had my camera on me this time though.

For food I decided to explore slightly. I got off at Jannowitzbrücke, because I never had before, and followed the direction where other people seemed to be headed. There was a street with a few Asian-food places, some grocery-stores and barbershops. I got myself a crape und grün Tee, and savored it. I headed to Tierpark since Michael's goodbye dinner was soon, and we went to a Thai place on Friedrichshain. It was good to have a solid goodbye, so many people just up and left.
 

Yesterday I went to the Bode Museum. After that, I was supposed to meet up with Laura and try to crash a class. Module two of the Deutschkurse has started, and there are classes offered in the afternoon. I didn't meet up with Laura but tried to go to the art course anyway, partially because Hannah's new roommate from Malta was there so I knew one person. One of the three professors was the tour guide from the last module, but it was still too awkward and I left.

Karl-Marx-Allee

Part 4
    Thursday night we were going to have a last-hurrah at a pub called (I'll fill it in when I remember) near Karl-Marx-Allee. At half past six we met at Friedrichstraße and went to the pub. The program had started by going there (but I hadn’t attended) during the first week, so it was supposed to bring everything full circle. It was cozy, the walls old and we filled up almost all the space, if not just with our bodies then with our noise.
I ended up having extended debates with a bunch of the Alabama kids. It started with me discussing racism and beauty with one Carolina, a Mexican girl in my class who studies…political science or international relations? She was telling me how to be diplomatic "I respect your opinion, but I disagree" and me "but I don't respect their opinion."

    "They just want their welfare checks. No offense Hannah, you're one of the good ones" and of course Hannah wasn't happy (that was from the first night at the Fritz, when I didn't go.)

And then Chris, who is from Alabama started in two, and another one was hovering and said “I can make you think what I think” and Chris said “oh, she’s a tough one.” I was just curious; these people live in the same country as I am but have a totally different perception of so many things. They would switch off after they got tired of talking to me, get themselves another beer. I rolled with it, seeing where it would take me.

They tried proving to me they were not racist. They also told me Black people in the North are totally different from Black people in the South, and were talking about “good” and “bad” Black people. I can’t even. And this is probably the more open minded, willing-to-travel group of Alabama University kids. It just baffles me. One of them even said that he’s taken a multitude of classes on the subject (the one that was cocky enough to think he make me think what he thinks. I honestly wonder if part of that was because I’m of the more pliable, fairer sex.) They aren’t uneducated, and I didn’t get the impression that they didn’t have any capacity for thought. They are the most foreign people I have met on this trip.


After I had tired them (and my vocal cords) out I finally spoke to the Russian kids in the group. I didn't realize they hadn't known I spoke Russian, I know Nikolaj did, but when he told them they had filtered it out, or thought he meant broken Russian. A girl who goes by Olivia had thought I was French the entire time. I talked a bit to Sasha (the oldest of the group,) who asked me, among other things, if anyone regretted moving to the USA*. And then again later I waited on the platform with them, Ivan had taken a beer glass with him from the pub, Nikolaj and Sasha and an Italian kid who knows Russian and Mario who is also Italian but doesn't know Russian. And others. There was a lot of last-moment-socializing going on.

*Dasha had asked me as well, and then Katrin- one of the people in the part of The Convent I live in now, also asked.

They went back Tierpark, Mario and I headed in the other direction towards where we live. He's one of the older people in the program, about forty, a likable translator and I had talked to him a few times before. I rehashed a lot of what I had been thinking about: language, culture, foreignness, belonging. The silt on that river never settles.

dream of screams and smell the flowers

Part 3
    I woke up before my alarm the next morning, the exhaustion that had been in me that week carried onto the next week as well, the stress and excitement leading my mind to think that sleeping from one am to six am is the ideal schedule, even as, after a week of this, my body reeled against it.

    I think Monday was another day where Tilman saved me from not eating dinner? Yes, eating risotto and talking about the slow food movement which he had presented on for class. After class on Tuesday I moved out of the flat into a different part of The Convent, and then had a farewell tea with Tilman und Sasha. I cleaned the room but left a few things there (laptop, sleeping bag, sandals, and then later I realized I also left all of my shower things in the bathroom.) Minne Fruende said that they were going to watch the Bourne movies at Tierpark but I never came. Instead I slept restlessly for an hour, waking up from a dream in which a girl had hypnotized me, and every time I tried to come out of hypnosis she would flutter from behind me, screaming. The rest of the day consisted of using the key I still had to pick up my shower things, awkwardly trying to speak in German to the new people I now had to meet. I told them people here speak English too well, so now I'm practicing with them, but it's painful for both parties, I think. I'm trying. Wednesday the same thing happened; the lack of sleep, the awkward German, me not coming over the Tierpark to finish the Bourne Series. I had forgotten to eat dinner after a light lunch and couldn't sleep because of it, got up after one am and downed an entire container of kefir. I don't remember doing anything else but getting let out of class after most people had finished lunch and then having lunch with Ben because he was late after skyping with his girlfriend, two days in a row.

    Wednesday night I was determined to get sleep, and fell asleep around eleven, still woke up at six but stayed in bed for a while longer, and felt, compared to the other days, somewhat rested. During the day  Rosie and Laura and I got off at Temeplhof and I got stamps (the clerk responded to my German with French) and then we sat in a cafe talking about culture. I got some flowers* there to leave in the flat, and then on the way home a baguette and plums, as well as some food for myself. The last few things I got at a wine store that has a lot of fruit standing outside, I walk past it every day but because it's not a standard supermarket, and so doesn't feel anonymous, I had avoided going in. The guy working the cashier was nice though, so I guess if I ever feel tempted to buy wine I will go there.

*(They look like lupines. I nearly got a really large set of lily's, but I think that would have been much, and anyway, they remind, at least Christian, of home, and I knew that would happen, somehow. He said that the literal translation of their name into German is finger hat (so I got blau Fingerhuts, but smaller than any pictures I found on the internet.) In Germany you give unwrapped flowers, and I just left them there and they had been debating whether they were for them for a few days, because of the bouquet paper. By Saturday, when I came to pick up the remains of my things, they were standing in a vase, but some residue of the question of their origins still remained.)

Getting to Berlin

I didn't sleep well the night before but I had the stroopwafelsYulka brought from me from Germany with my parents as a parting tea-before-bed event. It seemed fitting.
Папа drove me to the airport and we checked my bag and he walked me to security. I had to get patted down, I think because of my hairclips because after I took them out the following two checkpoints went smoothly. 
My trip went from Logan -> JFK -> Amsterdam -> Tegel in Germany.
I was waiting in JFK and wrote the following:
It's interesting how no matter where you go faces become familiar - you see a person once; standing to get bags checked, riding in the airtrans, boarding a plane - and when you get off and see them again; bag pick-up or waiting for another plane-they are someone you already someone you know, you might notice some personal details- a guy with sprained angle and great cheekbones, a girl for whom an airport-worker found a ring that was lost, a curly-haired boy and traveling with his father, a couple who's origins I could not identify. Even if it's just one person and three other  and all of them soon will be forgotten, but for now they are familiar.
(the guy with the cheekbones turned out to also have a final destination in Tegel)

Two airport ladies were really helped me figure out how to get to the Delta area. I waited in JFK after picking up my bag (there was a marine there-I feel like I always see way more army men in the airport than anywhere else. Also an Asian woman and her child were wearing flu-masks, which I thought was odd.) and got some food and went through security again. I talked to an old man on the plane to Amsterdam. He was going to Norway, he had red eyes and faded brown-green eyes, black birthmarks sprinkled on his brown cheeks, and an arm that had been severely damaged so I helped him open packets of food. The plane-pasta was actually okay. By the time I got off the plane my back was in a lot of pain, because I had been trying to use the food tray as a place to put my head and sleep. It looked really pretty from the sky, the little streets and little houses.

After landing we had to run. There was a stewardess waiting for us with the flight number and Berlin written on it. You would think that a one-hour overlay would be calmer than speed walking across the airport, speed getting-checked in security, speed stating my business in Berlin. There were about 20 of us, which was the majority of the people on the small plane to Tegel.When I got on the plane I realized that, though my phone could pick up on the European airwaves, it did not want to use them. Not to send a text home, not anything.

Flying down to Tegel I noticed the eight electric windmills, and brightly colored houses.
Once I got on the ground I realized I had forgotten the instructions Sasha (who I'm renting a room from) had given me as to how to get to where I was living. Thankfully Tegel allows for 5 minutes of free wifi, so I wrote it down and wrote him an e-mail saying my phone wasn't working.
I took the bus. I was confused as to how to use the ticket because on the mbta you just tap it if you have a charlie, or feed it to the reader if you have a ticket, or feed it money if you don't have either. I had bought a ticket at the machine, but you need to get it stamped and it's not right at the entrance to the bus, but a few steps further. I felt dumb and I was exhusted.
On the metro I got a lot of weird looks. My suitcase is huge (we don't have a medium sized suitcase at my house: and the small one's zipper popped open when I tried to stuff everything in there) and an orange hicking/camping backpack. I got off and sat down under the bustop area. It was glass and I figured I would be visible there. So I sat there. For a while. And this lady was sitting there too, and the a man came over and they were talking. And looking over. And talking. Until they finally asked me if I was waiting for the tran (first in German, then in English) and then they helped me by first letting me use the phone (but it, of course, turned out I had written down the wrong number) and then by helping me find an internet cafe, the woman only spoke English and Swahili, the man knew German as well. The internet cafe was 1.50 for an hour (I payed .50 since I was there for less.) I wrote down the address and e-mailed Sasha. He wrote back saying that he had to go to work at 11:15 and I said I'll go back to the bus stop (but he didn't know what I meant by that.) I didn't even know what time it was because (once again-of course) I rushed out and didn't think to look at the time on the computer, and it didn't say the time on my phone.
He still didn't find me and it was raining and somehow nobody knew that meant can I borrow your phone. I teared up a bit out of desperation. Finally I just got a cab and then I stood in the archway of the building next to it (because it had a deeper archway and thus kept me from the rain). Three people used a key and walked in the building. As the door was closing, I slowed it down so it wouldn't shut all the way.
Got my stuff, and walked in.

Inside turned out not to be inside. It was like an outside corridor into a courtyard in the middle. Two doors in the corridor. I stood there and very soon a young woman asked me in German something and then it turned out she could speak English (thankfully I live in student housing, so people can speak English) She rang the apartment for me and got one of Sasha's apartment-mates, Andreas, and I got let in. It was about 1 by then, I had arrived at the airport at 8:25.
Christian (another of the apartment-mates, and there's a fourth person who I haven't yet met) and Charlotte, who was visiting them, turend out to be really really nice.
At this point, after being so upset and so tired I was incredibly relieved. And the apartment is really really nice. I e-mailed home to say I was okay and then we had tea and strawberries and good bread with butter and honey and it was really lovely. I showered and I tried to stay awake and then slept for an hour. They had invited me to play futball so I got a knock on the door when it was time to get up and I quickly changed. Went downstairs and met up with a bunch of people at the courtyard entrance and walked over to a park that had an enclosed red-surfaced area to play. There were two little boys there so we played with them too. People would stop and watch us play: a boy and his father, a couple on a walk, two high-school aged boys with beer, and then it started to really rain and we played until one more goal and walked back.
We came back and once again I tried not to fall asleep but then did anyway, for two or three hours. Woke up, ate a little bit of pasta that Christian offered me (but I didn't want to take a full serving...) so I ended up eating a sandwich they had given me on the Tegel flight, and went to bed around 12.

I woke up a little before 9 today and made tea and ate the banana and baked-good (the rest of my  Tegel plane meal) and then felt sleepy again. A little before 10 I got a knock on my door and finally met Sasha. He is going to show me how to get to various places. Christian studies theology and Andreas studies economics, Charlotte I supposed studied something like political science, by her accent I think she's from England but she recently lost her job (sortof...the person she was working for decided to go back to her area in Germany, and the new person is a little bit crazy, so even though he offered her a job she turned it down, but she has an interview tomorrow.)

We are on the third floor and I look down I can see the courtyard and across the windows of the chapel, and the bell rings (often, more than once an hour.)


I think that is all for now.