Back Home
Dear Constant Readers,
As it is, I'm back in America, after a long trip back from Germany through Canada, just like the old explorers.
This is the second time I've tried to write an entry on my blog here, but the internet at our home went kerplunk, and dare I say what happened to my laptop's wireless? I dare: NOTHING! Now that we installed wireless at home (which lasted a grand total of two days) I learned that my wireless is still broken on my computer, which prevents me from taking to to the local coffee shop to connect and catch up with my friends I made during the last year.
But I just found a computer at my dad's office, so I'm back writing a blog, which is what I really wanted to do for those of you who are looking forward to hearing from me again (a couple of you have already sent me messages regarding this).
Now that the backstory is done, I'll get to the main story:
My last day in Germany started out quite confusing and a bit stressful. About a month ago I put a lot of money onto my cellphone, so I wouldn't run out before I needed it to, for any old thing. As the days were winding down, it learned that that was a wise move, but even so, when things got done to only a Euro or two, I started to get nervous, since I still had people I wanted to contact to say good-bye to, and only a limited amount of phone power. To make matters worse, my battery was already dying, and my charger was packed.
Packing seemed to be a never-ending process, and as I finally finished, just a while before I was start to check out of my room and go to friend's appartment with some other friends, one of the suitcases' zipper broke. So I taped up the break and hoped all my clothes and German wine wouldn't go spilling all over the airplane's belly like a ruptured spleen.
After all that was taken care of, I met a few friends: Elena, Alicia, and Julia (Italy, Austraila, and Germany, respectively) in town and we all went to a caffee. I also wanted to say good bye to William, from Belgium, but he was late meeting his group, so I figured I wouldn't get a chance to see him, either.
The person I really wanted to say good-bye to, however, was Iona. Indeed, we had planned to hang out all night, but she had fallen ill, which caused me to change all of my plans only a day or so before. However, she sent me a message saying she was taking some medication, and that I could come over to her dorm for a little while and have dinner with her and her boyfriend.
I dropped off my left-over supplies she requested (cleaning material, mostly) and gave her some T-Shirts of mine as gifts that she wanted. We talked for a while, and I ran into William and got my chance to say good-bye to him (as well as have a three-way theological/philosophical discussion between him, Iona, and myself) and then Iona, her boyfriend Herman, and I all had chicken and rice for dinner. In the process of this, I found a charger for my phone, and got to use Iona's cell phone to call Paz, whom I was staying with, to let him know I'd be over soon.
But Iona and I didn't really want to say good-bye to one another, and it proved very difficult to get away from one another. But it was during this moment when I hugged her that I realized, considering everything I was stressed out about, everything in the day worked out, not exactly as I had planned, but things turned out fine, still. In some ways, even better than I had expected. At it was proof once again, to me at least, that things will work out.
I made a few very close friends during the year in Germany, and Iona was certainly one of them. I don't really believe in ranking good friends: X is a better friend than Y, because the situations are different. Sometimes it is clear-cut, with some people you are just closer to. But in other cases, one person is the best and closest friend I have, while at the same time, another person also fits that very description. I think that's just how the human heart works: I think there is usually one person you'd go to first, but there are times when you need to go to someone else you trust and love as much as well. To those people whom I love, thank you for everything. Even to those who I wasn't as close to, I still value that relationship we made. Sometimes even if that relationship was reciprocated in our very twisted sense of humour! :-P
I got very little sleep that night, because I was on a couch that was half as long as I am tall, and I kept knocking over stacked boxes at the foot of it, which sounded like thunder everytime they fell.
But I made it to the bus on time, and Elena was waiting for me to see me off, which I appreciated.
Anna and I caught the bus to Frankfurt, and at the airport said good bye to one another. From there on out, it is very uneventful for me until I got home. On the plane I watched "The Hunt for Red October" and "Children of Men" and in Montreal, I had a 16 hour layover, which I was *not* happy about at all, but in the interest of exhaustion, and not wanting to get lost in the city, I stayed in the airport instead of sight-seeing. I bought a book by Stephen King ("Everything's Eventual") and watched two movies: one was "American Psycho" which Dylon bought me for my birthday. Actually, I was very nervous to see the movie, and I don't like disturbing movies, but I was very pleased to see this movie wasn't nearly as tough as I thought it would be, in fact I was quite happy to see, despite being very very dark, it also was a very amusing comedy (which is not to say I want to watch it very often). The other movie was "Twister", a classic in my book.
I got two hours of sleep (only one good one) but they made a world of difference. I got on the plane at 8.35 and got home around noon in Denver.
I was 30 minutes early, so my family wasn't there when I arrived, and I was happy to see them when they showed up, since I had no way to contact them short of a pay phone.
I was happy to see them, but didn't feel that great rush of joy to go rushing towards them. I think that is just a testament to how happy I was to be in Germany, and on some ways, how independent I've become since I started traveling when I was 16. I still love them, and always will, but I've become one to blaze my own trails, I think.
Also, America is my home, but so is Germany, and I think I'll have more homes before I get called home to Glory. At the moment, I would rather have stayed in Germany just a little while longer.
Being home is not as strange as I had anticipiated it to be, but then again, I didn't anticipate it to be too odd, at all. I am a bit disappointed to see that hearing English everywhere isn't as novel as I had hoped. But then, I guess I adapt to languages quickly, anyway.
So far I've only seen one friend, Evan, since getting back. To be honest, I'm actually very nervous to see my old friends again. I'm nervous to see what has become of us, and where do we pick up, and have we changed so much that we are strangers. Are these groundless fears? Most likely so. But nevertheless, they are bugging me at some level. That is the most surrealistic part of coming home for me.
I'm back into my languages, like I said I would, although I'm a bit unsure as to how to go about it all. I'm reading some short stuff in German, as well as reading a book about the Maya in Spanish, but I am starting to feel like I'm being washed over it all like a man in an itty bitty rowboat in a storm. I'm dying to get to French and Norwegian, but I don't know if I can do it. I need to get to Esperanto to, but it is also proving a challange.
Tomorrow we leave to Estes Park, Colorado for a few days. Mom hopes it will be a good break for us. I kind of would like to stay at home, but as I'm not doing much right now, getting to the mountains could be nice. I guess I'm just a little burned out on backpacking at the moment, and when she said we are doing that, that's what entered my mind.
Well, I need to wrap this up and then lock the office up, since I'm here alone. But I hope everyone is doing fine, especially those of you who've just gotten home.
I would name everyone I miss, but it would be too many names, and you know who you are.
Everyone take care, and have a good rest of your summer.
Til the next time I write (or hear from you),
Tristan
As it is, I'm back in America, after a long trip back from Germany through Canada, just like the old explorers.
This is the second time I've tried to write an entry on my blog here, but the internet at our home went kerplunk, and dare I say what happened to my laptop's wireless? I dare: NOTHING! Now that we installed wireless at home (which lasted a grand total of two days) I learned that my wireless is still broken on my computer, which prevents me from taking to to the local coffee shop to connect and catch up with my friends I made during the last year.
But I just found a computer at my dad's office, so I'm back writing a blog, which is what I really wanted to do for those of you who are looking forward to hearing from me again (a couple of you have already sent me messages regarding this).
Now that the backstory is done, I'll get to the main story:
My last day in Germany started out quite confusing and a bit stressful. About a month ago I put a lot of money onto my cellphone, so I wouldn't run out before I needed it to, for any old thing. As the days were winding down, it learned that that was a wise move, but even so, when things got done to only a Euro or two, I started to get nervous, since I still had people I wanted to contact to say good-bye to, and only a limited amount of phone power. To make matters worse, my battery was already dying, and my charger was packed.
Packing seemed to be a never-ending process, and as I finally finished, just a while before I was start to check out of my room and go to friend's appartment with some other friends, one of the suitcases' zipper broke. So I taped up the break and hoped all my clothes and German wine wouldn't go spilling all over the airplane's belly like a ruptured spleen.
After all that was taken care of, I met a few friends: Elena, Alicia, and Julia (Italy, Austraila, and Germany, respectively) in town and we all went to a caffee. I also wanted to say good bye to William, from Belgium, but he was late meeting his group, so I figured I wouldn't get a chance to see him, either.
The person I really wanted to say good-bye to, however, was Iona. Indeed, we had planned to hang out all night, but she had fallen ill, which caused me to change all of my plans only a day or so before. However, she sent me a message saying she was taking some medication, and that I could come over to her dorm for a little while and have dinner with her and her boyfriend.
I dropped off my left-over supplies she requested (cleaning material, mostly) and gave her some T-Shirts of mine as gifts that she wanted. We talked for a while, and I ran into William and got my chance to say good-bye to him (as well as have a three-way theological/philosophical discussion between him, Iona, and myself) and then Iona, her boyfriend Herman, and I all had chicken and rice for dinner. In the process of this, I found a charger for my phone, and got to use Iona's cell phone to call Paz, whom I was staying with, to let him know I'd be over soon.
But Iona and I didn't really want to say good-bye to one another, and it proved very difficult to get away from one another. But it was during this moment when I hugged her that I realized, considering everything I was stressed out about, everything in the day worked out, not exactly as I had planned, but things turned out fine, still. In some ways, even better than I had expected. At it was proof once again, to me at least, that things will work out.
I made a few very close friends during the year in Germany, and Iona was certainly one of them. I don't really believe in ranking good friends: X is a better friend than Y, because the situations are different. Sometimes it is clear-cut, with some people you are just closer to. But in other cases, one person is the best and closest friend I have, while at the same time, another person also fits that very description. I think that's just how the human heart works: I think there is usually one person you'd go to first, but there are times when you need to go to someone else you trust and love as much as well. To those people whom I love, thank you for everything. Even to those who I wasn't as close to, I still value that relationship we made. Sometimes even if that relationship was reciprocated in our very twisted sense of humour! :-P
I got very little sleep that night, because I was on a couch that was half as long as I am tall, and I kept knocking over stacked boxes at the foot of it, which sounded like thunder everytime they fell.
But I made it to the bus on time, and Elena was waiting for me to see me off, which I appreciated.
Anna and I caught the bus to Frankfurt, and at the airport said good bye to one another. From there on out, it is very uneventful for me until I got home. On the plane I watched "The Hunt for Red October" and "Children of Men" and in Montreal, I had a 16 hour layover, which I was *not* happy about at all, but in the interest of exhaustion, and not wanting to get lost in the city, I stayed in the airport instead of sight-seeing. I bought a book by Stephen King ("Everything's Eventual") and watched two movies: one was "American Psycho" which Dylon bought me for my birthday. Actually, I was very nervous to see the movie, and I don't like disturbing movies, but I was very pleased to see this movie wasn't nearly as tough as I thought it would be, in fact I was quite happy to see, despite being very very dark, it also was a very amusing comedy (which is not to say I want to watch it very often). The other movie was "Twister", a classic in my book.
I got two hours of sleep (only one good one) but they made a world of difference. I got on the plane at 8.35 and got home around noon in Denver.
I was 30 minutes early, so my family wasn't there when I arrived, and I was happy to see them when they showed up, since I had no way to contact them short of a pay phone.
I was happy to see them, but didn't feel that great rush of joy to go rushing towards them. I think that is just a testament to how happy I was to be in Germany, and on some ways, how independent I've become since I started traveling when I was 16. I still love them, and always will, but I've become one to blaze my own trails, I think.
Also, America is my home, but so is Germany, and I think I'll have more homes before I get called home to Glory. At the moment, I would rather have stayed in Germany just a little while longer.
Being home is not as strange as I had anticipiated it to be, but then again, I didn't anticipate it to be too odd, at all. I am a bit disappointed to see that hearing English everywhere isn't as novel as I had hoped. But then, I guess I adapt to languages quickly, anyway.
So far I've only seen one friend, Evan, since getting back. To be honest, I'm actually very nervous to see my old friends again. I'm nervous to see what has become of us, and where do we pick up, and have we changed so much that we are strangers. Are these groundless fears? Most likely so. But nevertheless, they are bugging me at some level. That is the most surrealistic part of coming home for me.
I'm back into my languages, like I said I would, although I'm a bit unsure as to how to go about it all. I'm reading some short stuff in German, as well as reading a book about the Maya in Spanish, but I am starting to feel like I'm being washed over it all like a man in an itty bitty rowboat in a storm. I'm dying to get to French and Norwegian, but I don't know if I can do it. I need to get to Esperanto to, but it is also proving a challange.
Tomorrow we leave to Estes Park, Colorado for a few days. Mom hopes it will be a good break for us. I kind of would like to stay at home, but as I'm not doing much right now, getting to the mountains could be nice. I guess I'm just a little burned out on backpacking at the moment, and when she said we are doing that, that's what entered my mind.
Well, I need to wrap this up and then lock the office up, since I'm here alone. But I hope everyone is doing fine, especially those of you who've just gotten home.
I would name everyone I miss, but it would be too many names, and you know who you are.
Everyone take care, and have a good rest of your summer.
Til the next time I write (or hear from you),
Tristan
posted by Tristan | 12:38 PM
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