Hello world,
It has been over a year since I have posted anything on this blog, and the longer that gap becomes, the more terrified I become of posting anything. Reading over my last entries, I am convinced that anything I post now will seem pedestrian and dull. But I must write. And so, in an attempt to avoid pedestrian, I will instead reverse direction completely and become pompous and lofty, full of grand ideas and themes.
Here are the bare bones of the situation: Less than one month after graduating college, I got a full time job. I am working as a cashier (although I have also played the roles of buyer, merchandiser, and sales associate in the past month) at a store that sells cookware and holds cooking classes. I live in San Diego, California, surrounded by adventure opportunities aplenty. I somehow managed to find the only living situation in the entire city that I can afford, and I live here with two pretty cool girls who also just graduated college.
Sometimes I wonder if I have made the right decision, or if i am "settling" for less when I should be striving for something greater, like, oh I don't know, researching birds in Alaska, or becoming a doctor, or spending a year in Europe, or working at a national park, or alright since you asked yes those are all things that people I love are doing right out of college. Hardly fair standards to judge one's life by, I would say. Nor do I believe that my friends are judging me for my decision to be a cashier. They may not understand it completely, but I know that they still love me.
It is hard to explain the joy of mundanity, and when you try to explain it, it suddenly loses its joy and becomes weak and pale. That's because it isn't mundanity, not at all. It is the feeling of learning that one of your fellow cashiers likes Doctor Who, and suddenly having a new realm of between-customer-conversations thrown wide open. It's hearing yourself explaining the many uses of grapeseed oil to a customer and realizing you sound like you know what the heck you are talking about. Even cooler is realizing that you DO know what the heck you are talking about. And I may not be saving lives, or doing research, but I am learning every day, and I love the crap out of that.
I have an entire new vocabulary now, and I love that I can expound on
things which I have always been interested in but never knowledgeable
about. It is really cliche to say, but it really is the little things in life, and right now, almost all of my little things are in order. I'm living close to my family, I am making friends in beautiful San Diego, making a moderate amount of money, and for the first time, experiencing the hazards of paying rent and being alone in a new city. It is different from the newness of travelling, although there is definitely a touristy aspect to it.
It is the newness of learning where the closest grocery store is, and then where the closest Trader Joe's is. It's mourning that I moved away from a familiar network of jogging trails only to discover that I have moved in right across the street from a canyon threaded with new ones to explore. It's figuring out which coffee shop is the best to go for a scone and chai in the mornings on my days off, and being told by new friends where to get the best milkshakes. Deciding what to cook for dinner is particularly fun, because I have a shop full of compatriots who never tire of discussing what's for dinner. I may have landed in a most dangerous position, because this is the one store where impulse-buying will be an actual problem for me. Additionally, deciding which yoga studio to join has been a particularly enjoyable struggle, as most studios offer cheap promos for newbies. Probably most importantly for me has been the process of slowly weaning myself off of my gps, and forcing myself to learn my way around this twisted city of canyons and coastline. Do I sound like a lame mastercard comercial, or what?
In conclusion, though people (read: my wonderful gang of over-achieving friends) may be confused when I tell them that I am working full time as a cashier and couldn't be happier, I am being sincere. Maybe this will help you understand. Heck, maybe it will help me understand. (Half of the reason I am writing this is to work things out for myself, though 90% of the reason I am publishing it is so that everyone knows how lofty my ideals are.) Though this may not be my home forever, I am certainly content that it should remain my home for the foreseeable future (at least one year because I am about to sign a lease!). Please come visit me, future movers and shakers, and I will take you to the zoo and show you the baby pandas.
Well, its midnight, so I am going to look at this tomorrow with less tired eyes, and see if I still don't find this too unbearably unjustifiably whiny and platonic to let other people read. Right now I am going to go to sleep, as I have work in the morning. And I can't wait to go.
Friday, August 30, 2013
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
An overdue update: Berlin and such
Hi everyone! I arrived home last week, so my motivation to keep up this blog about my past adventures has waned. I am still inclined to complete it, if only for my own benefit as a writer, so I hope that you will continue to read!
Let's jump back to my time in Berlin. I arrived on the 12th of June, but it was getting too late to do anything touristy, so I just went out and walked around the city center. I was really surprised by how beautiful the city was. It was also really clean, which shouldn't have been a surprise. This was Germany after all. The city had a really open, moving, growing feeling, and even though there was widespread construction, it still felt alive and bright.
The next day I went on a free walking tour offered by New Europe, a really great company. The tour guides are paid only in tips, so they are always on their best behavior. It was an awesome tour, I learned a lot, we even went to the unmarked parking lot above the bunker where Hitler and his wife committed suicide. Walking through the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe was really an experience. It is brilliantly constructed to give this frightening feeling of disorientation. The ground dips beneath you and suddenly towering blocks of concrete surround you on all sides. Other people come in and out of your field of vision, seemingly fleeting and insubstantial, on their own invisible paths to nowhere. Just when you begin to think there is no way out, the ground begins to rise again and you can see the street beyond the concrete. The monument has sparked some controversy, because of its size and its elusive meaning, but I think it does a brilliant job. It explores the lack of control, fear, and disorientation without attempting to capture or portray something "realistic," an impossible feat as these events are beyond understanding.
On my last day in Berlin, I walked myself into exhaustion, but the most memorable part of the day was the Berlin Zoo. I really enjoyed wandering around and for the first time in a while I really just relaxed, forgot about deadlines and schedules, and looked at animals! I'm not sure about the quality of those enclosures, but as I said I pretty much just let myself enjoy the fun animals. I saw Gorillas getting fed, giraffes, elephants, lions, tigers, monkeys of all sorts, and had a generally lovely time.
Then I went to the East Side Gallery, the longest surviving section of the Berlin Wall. It has been completely decorated by artists from all over the world, so it is a really fascinating walk. Here are a few of my favorite panels.
I was pretty sad when it was time to leave Berlin. Even though I ran around frantically trying to see everything, there is still so much I didn't get a chance to see! Berlin was honestly one of my favorite places, it was beautiful and clean and thriving. The wall came down a little over 20 years ago, there are still bullet-holes in some of the buildings, and there is construction everywhere, but the city is healing and growing and the culture that is developing there is fantastic. I can't wait to go back!
Let's jump back to my time in Berlin. I arrived on the 12th of June, but it was getting too late to do anything touristy, so I just went out and walked around the city center. I was really surprised by how beautiful the city was. It was also really clean, which shouldn't have been a surprise. This was Germany after all. The city had a really open, moving, growing feeling, and even though there was widespread construction, it still felt alive and bright.
The next day I went on a free walking tour offered by New Europe, a really great company. The tour guides are paid only in tips, so they are always on their best behavior. It was an awesome tour, I learned a lot, we even went to the unmarked parking lot above the bunker where Hitler and his wife committed suicide. Walking through the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe was really an experience. It is brilliantly constructed to give this frightening feeling of disorientation. The ground dips beneath you and suddenly towering blocks of concrete surround you on all sides. Other people come in and out of your field of vision, seemingly fleeting and insubstantial, on their own invisible paths to nowhere. Just when you begin to think there is no way out, the ground begins to rise again and you can see the street beyond the concrete. The monument has sparked some controversy, because of its size and its elusive meaning, but I think it does a brilliant job. It explores the lack of control, fear, and disorientation without attempting to capture or portray something "realistic," an impossible feat as these events are beyond understanding.
On my last day in Berlin, I walked myself into exhaustion, but the most memorable part of the day was the Berlin Zoo. I really enjoyed wandering around and for the first time in a while I really just relaxed, forgot about deadlines and schedules, and looked at animals! I'm not sure about the quality of those enclosures, but as I said I pretty much just let myself enjoy the fun animals. I saw Gorillas getting fed, giraffes, elephants, lions, tigers, monkeys of all sorts, and had a generally lovely time.
Then I went to the East Side Gallery, the longest surviving section of the Berlin Wall. It has been completely decorated by artists from all over the world, so it is a really fascinating walk. Here are a few of my favorite panels.
I was pretty sad when it was time to leave Berlin. Even though I ran around frantically trying to see everything, there is still so much I didn't get a chance to see! Berlin was honestly one of my favorite places, it was beautiful and clean and thriving. The wall came down a little over 20 years ago, there are still bullet-holes in some of the buildings, and there is construction everywhere, but the city is healing and growing and the culture that is developing there is fantastic. I can't wait to go back!
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Munich, but mostly other places around Munich
Lords and Ladies,
Welcome back to my blog. Very exciting I know. Today I am going to tell you the fantastic tale of my time in Munich, which involved me not spending very much time in Munich at all. It is a tale of extreme contrasts, of woe and of wonder, of terror and triumph, of horror and heroes. It begins with a day trip to Dachau.
This was the woe, terror, and horror part I was talking about. It was exceedingly uncomfortable and altogether depressing, but it was an experience I believe every person should have to face once. Once. Not twice, nor thrice. I am definitely not going back. There were times when I wanted to curl up on the ground and cover my eyes and my ears. Mostly I just wanted a hug. A word (or several) of advice: DO NOT ATTEMPT ALONE.
One good thing came from that day, and her name was Chelsea. Chelsea is from England, and I met her on the Dachau tour. We were chatting on the bus ride home, and the talk turned to food that we missed from each other's countries. Eventually a bargain was struck: she would send me packages of hobnobs, jelly babies, and after eights if I would send her packages of nerds and other hard to find sweets from the states. I think this is going to be a wonderful and fulfilling relationship, don't you?
The next day was considerably brighter, emotionally and atmospherically. I went on a guided tour to Neuschwanstein Castle, which turned out to be only about 2/3 as beautiful as the scenery surrounding it. The castle has a purposefully fairy-tale feel to it which is added to by the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of the man who dreamt it up, Bavaria's last king, Ludwig II. The government has never released the files concerning what really happened the night that Ludwig, a strong swimmer, supposedly drowned in waist-high water.
After the castle itself we walked out to this bridge, the one that I am standing on in the picture, to get this glorious view of the castle and its surroundings, before walking back through the gorge to the bottom of the hill, where we took the train back to Munich. I made another friend on this tour, and we went together to get currywurst for dinner. Not my favorite, but I felt compelled. I'm going to keep this short and sweet, because right now I don't feel like going into my three-day adventure in Berlin. Enjoy!
Welcome back to my blog. Very exciting I know. Today I am going to tell you the fantastic tale of my time in Munich, which involved me not spending very much time in Munich at all. It is a tale of extreme contrasts, of woe and of wonder, of terror and triumph, of horror and heroes. It begins with a day trip to Dachau.
One good thing came from that day, and her name was Chelsea. Chelsea is from England, and I met her on the Dachau tour. We were chatting on the bus ride home, and the talk turned to food that we missed from each other's countries. Eventually a bargain was struck: she would send me packages of hobnobs, jelly babies, and after eights if I would send her packages of nerds and other hard to find sweets from the states. I think this is going to be a wonderful and fulfilling relationship, don't you?
 | |
| ACTUAL THING |
After the castle itself we walked out to this bridge, the one that I am standing on in the picture, to get this glorious view of the castle and its surroundings, before walking back through the gorge to the bottom of the hill, where we took the train back to Munich. I made another friend on this tour, and we went together to get currywurst for dinner. Not my favorite, but I felt compelled. I'm going to keep this short and sweet, because right now I don't feel like going into my three-day adventure in Berlin. Enjoy!
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