Miami und der ganze Rest.

Since I am writing a lot I got used to the American standard paper format called letter and now all of a sudden A4 looks weird to me... just like the other day when I had a 0.5l bottle in my hand and it looked so small and not, well, normal. I guess this is a sign that I am assimilating pretty well and the things that I found to be different from home now seem more like 'home' to me.

Now that the semester is almost over – not even two more weeks left – I think about how it will be not living here anymore. The last couple of weeks nothing special happened, I guess daily life set it and I feel more and more comfortable with the life here in Binghamton. But then again: it's almost over.

We had a dinnerparty in our backyard this Saturday, we invited all of our friends and everyone brought something special from their country of origin (the Germans made Milchreis with Appelmus und Zimt und Zucker und dazu Bratkartoffeln), since most of our friends have an international background. That's something I really like, you meet native speakers but most of the time their family originated from another country to the US – you get to hear so many interesting (family) stories and realize Germany is kind of boring when it comes to multicultural ethnicity.

I'm going to miss the language(s), the openness, the kindness and interest of the people I encountered. Our house (although I found out, that we have mice) with it's spaciousness and green backyard as well as the classes I am taking with some of the weirdest people, but at the same time smartest, I've ever met.

The longer I stay here the harder it gets to imagine a life differently. 

But before it's time to say good-bye to Binghamton I will do some travelling.

So, tell me, who in this room is going to Miami? Uhum, thaaaat would be me.

Initially Sina and I planned on going to Montreal but then the bus is really expensive so Sina looked up places that we could fly to with that money... she came up with Miami. It took me about five minutes to decide between yes and yes. Flight and hostel are already booked and summer dresses and sunscreen bought.

After Miami I will visit an old friend, Danny, whom I met while working on the Kibbuz in Israel, in Columbus, Ohio. I'm excited to see him again and also to see another part of the US. I am playing with the thought (is that really an expression or should I stop translating literally from German into English?) of going to Chicago after Columbus, but I am not sure about that yet. We'll see.

I'll be back in Binghamton at some point to go camping with Riva, Katharina and some other friends of ours up in Canada (here:
http://media01.bigblackbag.net/27406/portfolio_media/lwsm_halliburton_2009_1068.jpg).
Aaaand if everything turns out the way I am planning now, I'll be visiting Paula in Ecuador. Das Beste zum Schluss.

That's all there is for now.

Ah, but! A picture I wanted to show you for a long time, but I was always too lazy to take it.

seen in the window of the dry cleaner around the corner.



You have to take care of your stuff.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvgN5gCuLac


xxx Astrid