Today I left for London. I'm going to stay for a only few days, but somehow it felt like leaving for good. I'm not sure what it is, but even my luggage felt heavier than it was. I weighed it and the scale said 17 kg. Twenty I'm allowed, so it should be alright.
When I woke up this morning I felt like shit, but I blamed it on the Muskelkater that I have. It's crazy, I played badminton on Friday and my body is still aching. And my nose is drippy, too. Am I getting old? I'd actually like to disbelieve that for a few more years. I think it's just lack of sleep. The night before, Bassam celebrated his thirtieth birthday. Everybody was there and we had a mighty blast. I came back home at 4:30 in the morning and slept for only four hours. I wasn't sure I could still drink out late and get up early the next day. Felt aweful, but I proved my point.
Also I had this translation job, I finished it today, a dozen pages from German to Korean. It wasn't exactly fun, but I've had way worse. I won't complain, since its outcome will cover my trips to Munich and London as well. While translating this morning, two kinda funny things happened. I don't think there's any sort of meaning to them, but I still think it's funny.
I went downstairs to get some coffee. I filled the pot and sat down at the kitchen table. While I waited for the water to boil I thought about Korean construction sites and automatic coffee mashines. I took my cup of instant brew upstairs with me and settled down at my desk. I started translating and sip by sip the coffee mug showed its true color. I leaned over to stretch my back and then it happened. A drip of nasal fluid dropped into my coffee. I was so distracted, I started laughing a bit. I looked into the black, but couldn't find anything, so I decided not to drink it.
The other thing was a pigeon. I heard a coocooing sound and looked outside. A gray pigeon had landed on my window sill and was looking into my room. I don't think it knew me, but I felt a little uncomfortable being watched like that. As an attempt to shoo it away I waved at it, but all it did was tilt its head a little and say 'coocoo' again. I tried to be friendly, but now I wanted to scare the shit out of it. I looked for something throwable within arm reach, but there was nothing soft enough to not harm the window. Then, when I ran out of options and stood up, it flew away.
A couple of years ago the Deutsche Bahn had exchanged all the comfy-seated trains with ugly semi-automatized ones. Today though, the day that London was calling me, they send one of the long forgotten old ones to bring me to the airport. The whole ride I thought about my little language skills colliding with the real actual English. I thought about it so much that when bumping my suitcase against some lady's leg I said 'Oh, I'm sorry'. I guess, you could say that in Germany, too, but I really meant it in an English way.
At the airport I made use of my temporary German passport substitute for the first time. I showed it and they let me in. The bag turned out to be 17,8 kg. The guy who operates the x-ray box thought I was some Japanese champion of something, I didn't quite understand what he said. I nodded and said 'Yes, that's me'. He seemed like a nice guy, I didn't want to disappoint him. At the bookstore I rebought the book that I'd lost in Munich. Same edition, same cover, same price; and the boarding ticket is my new Dunkin Stamp card.
The flight beeing an evening flight exposed the world the way it'd look like if there was no sunlight. I mean, yeah, night does pretty much the same thing, but seeing the lights of a city from above when everything else is pitch black was pretty impressive. Stansted Airport is small and super easy to understand. Plus, the restroom in the baggage claim area doesn't smell like piss, but kind of chlorey, which reminds you of the local Hallenbad from your youth. Nice move, Stansted.
I took a train to get to the city, it took about fourtyfive minutes. The ride was comfortable, but I think I was unnecessarily overconscious about my luggage. I got off at Liverpool Station and finally met old Patrick. Last time we met was in October, in Germany for the Buchmesse in Frankfurt. Since then a lot of stuff has happened and I'm super psyched to hear all them news. Good to see you, bruder.
A couple of years ago the Deutsche Bahn had exchanged all the comfy-seated trains with ugly semi-automatized ones. Today though, the day that London was calling me, they send one of the long forgotten old ones to bring me to the airport. The whole ride I thought about my little language skills colliding with the real actual English. I thought about it so much that when bumping my suitcase against some lady's leg I said 'Oh, I'm sorry'. I guess, you could say that in Germany, too, but I really meant it in an English way.
At the airport I made use of my temporary German passport substitute for the first time. I showed it and they let me in. The bag turned out to be 17,8 kg. The guy who operates the x-ray box thought I was some Japanese champion of something, I didn't quite understand what he said. I nodded and said 'Yes, that's me'. He seemed like a nice guy, I didn't want to disappoint him. At the bookstore I rebought the book that I'd lost in Munich. Same edition, same cover, same price; and the boarding ticket is my new Dunkin Stamp card.
The flight beeing an evening flight exposed the world the way it'd look like if there was no sunlight. I mean, yeah, night does pretty much the same thing, but seeing the lights of a city from above when everything else is pitch black was pretty impressive. Stansted Airport is small and super easy to understand. Plus, the restroom in the baggage claim area doesn't smell like piss, but kind of chlorey, which reminds you of the local Hallenbad from your youth. Nice move, Stansted.
I took a train to get to the city, it took about fourtyfive minutes. The ride was comfortable, but I think I was unnecessarily overconscious about my luggage. I got off at Liverpool Station and finally met old Patrick. Last time we met was in October, in Germany for the Buchmesse in Frankfurt. Since then a lot of stuff has happened and I'm super psyched to hear all them news. Good to see you, bruder.
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