Poland
Yo I'm all up in Poland right now. I did not expect to get this far east! I'm staying with Magda, a friend from my program in Beijing last summer. I'm here with her, her sister, her two cousins from San Diego, and her grandmother. The latter just cooked us some deliciousness. Right now is the furthest I've ever been from understanding the language of the country I'm in.
Craziness in Leipzig last night. Kyra and I met up at Sol Y Luna, a mediterranean restuarant. They win top honors for decor and atmosphere from me. Seating options include standard sidewalk-side Rihanna-style (under the umbrella) tables, big wicker chairs with bar tables, couches with coffee tables, and circular lounge-beds with lap tables.
We had drinks there afterwards with a friend of Kyra and his Ukrainian girlfriend (native Russian speaker, Jon where were you!?). Moved to an establishment two doors down with a friendly host and good drinks, and were joined by some other guys from the company. All English-speaking and pleasant. As German-speakers joined the table though I felt increasingly self-conscious about forcing English conversation with my presence. Then a bachelor party showed up.
Apparently the local custom is to dress up the groom-to-be in a paper jumpsuit, draw random (possibly obscene) things on it, and send him out wasted and entourage'd onto the streets to hawk pieces of his jumpsuit and random crap. They came over to our table drunk and hilarious. I have no idea what they were bantering about, but everybody who did enjoyed it, and I had a blast guessing.
From there, Kyra and I were kidnapped by her friend Claudia and her two friends, Matse and Peleas. They brought us to a bar with billiards. Team America and Team Germany split two games. The place was dead though, so we left there to go back to the guys they had kidnapped us from, throw down some grappa, and finda dance club.
I don't have a clue what the timing of all this was, but we must have been dancing for two hours nonstop. The place had my favorite music setup: a hip-hop room and a house room. Ventilation was lacking. I realized that the awesome thing about being a white American boy dancing to American hip-hop in a Germany club is that it's my music. When I do the same thing in the states, I always feel at least partially silly dancing along and singing the words, because white boys look and sound ridiculous doing that. In Germany, however, I have the strongest claim to the music. It's my language, my country, and even though my flow needs work, the Germans sound more ridiculous than I do rapping along.
I'm looking forward to more experiences like that one. Perhaps on nights when I don't have to wake up at eight to catch a train.
Craziness in Leipzig last night. Kyra and I met up at Sol Y Luna, a mediterranean restuarant. They win top honors for decor and atmosphere from me. Seating options include standard sidewalk-side Rihanna-style (under the umbrella) tables, big wicker chairs with bar tables, couches with coffee tables, and circular lounge-beds with lap tables.
We had drinks there afterwards with a friend of Kyra and his Ukrainian girlfriend (native Russian speaker, Jon where were you!?). Moved to an establishment two doors down with a friendly host and good drinks, and were joined by some other guys from the company. All English-speaking and pleasant. As German-speakers joined the table though I felt increasingly self-conscious about forcing English conversation with my presence. Then a bachelor party showed up.
Apparently the local custom is to dress up the groom-to-be in a paper jumpsuit, draw random (possibly obscene) things on it, and send him out wasted and entourage'd onto the streets to hawk pieces of his jumpsuit and random crap. They came over to our table drunk and hilarious. I have no idea what they were bantering about, but everybody who did enjoyed it, and I had a blast guessing.
From there, Kyra and I were kidnapped by her friend Claudia and her two friends, Matse and Peleas. They brought us to a bar with billiards. Team America and Team Germany split two games. The place was dead though, so we left there to go back to the guys they had kidnapped us from, throw down some grappa, and finda dance club.
I don't have a clue what the timing of all this was, but we must have been dancing for two hours nonstop. The place had my favorite music setup: a hip-hop room and a house room. Ventilation was lacking. I realized that the awesome thing about being a white American boy dancing to American hip-hop in a Germany club is that it's my music. When I do the same thing in the states, I always feel at least partially silly dancing along and singing the words, because white boys look and sound ridiculous doing that. In Germany, however, I have the strongest claim to the music. It's my language, my country, and even though my flow needs work, the Germans sound more ridiculous than I do rapping along.
I'm looking forward to more experiences like that one. Perhaps on nights when I don't have to wake up at eight to catch a train.
posted by duke at 23:03
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home