Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Not long before I leave DC now.

One business trip to Chicago and one just-for-fun trip to Boston in the last two weeks and now its suddenly less than a month before I take off from America for good. I have long forgotten Europe really. No military superpower? Not on my map. No right turn or red and no ridiculously light beer? Not on my map.

I have definitely not dealt with the issue of leaving yet. Neither emotionally or practically, I mean, my life is here now; my girlfriends that I talk to the television with whilst drinking tea, my stupid drunken friends who pick up street signs and take them home on nights out, my clubbing European friends, my beer snob friends, my lazy friends and my smart friends. And 15 pairs of shoes. How am I meant to leave any of that behind without having a little corner of my heart aching forever? And to add on to that; DC. Adams Morgan on Saturday nights and the Diner on Sunday mornings, Foggy Bottom metro, my lousy apartment with only one stove plate working and only two spoons, Georgetown, Dupond Circle and Kramer Books, the little park on 23rd, all the annoying interns, Eastern Market tomatoes, the Saloun, Madams Organ, the homeless man with a Frisbee on K st? My life as I know it will come to an end.

Ok, so my heart is now already aching a little bit in one corner writing this so I must return to work. At least I am going to V fest in Baltimore this weekend and seeing the Police, the Beastie Boys, Amy Winehouse, LCD Soundsystem, Peter Bjorn and John, and M.I.A. and that should heal me. Temporarily at least.

Ps. European friends and family; I do really love you. Please don't delete me from your phonebook/email address book/facebook/life/memory after reading this. The US is pretty cute. You should come and visit.

Thursday, July 12, 2007

My mum is worried..

So, after the previous blog post about partying on Shelter Island I get the best email from my mum, and I quote (translated from Swedish):

Daughter, now you actually have to calm down a little bit. Believe it or not but people your age does actually become alcoholics. This isn't looking well, so sharpen up. All this partying will get you tired, you might not notice it now but you will see it in the future so please calm down. Did you email Louise? Love Mum.

I love her. And I love how she after lying into me switches tone completely and just go: "Did you email Louise? Love Mum." She is a brilliant human being. I called her up directly after reading it and asked what that emailed was about, and she laughed and said: "I knew you we weren't going to like that". Well, she knows how to get me. The only thing is I think I am turning into my mum more and more for every day that goes by. We both moved abroad young (I was 16 to Scotland, she was 17 to Berlin), studied and lived there for a long time (she moved back when she had me at 36) and even if she doesn't tell me I knew she had a good time at those beer places in Berlin. Probably as much of a good time as I am having right now. So Mum, don't worry: You Turned Out Just Brilliant!

Monday, July 09, 2007

4th of July part two

I can think of a handful of signs that indicate I had a very good (and very American) 4th of July weekend:
1. I was on water more than I was on land.
2. I was wet more than I was dry.
3. I was drunk more than I was sober.
4. I was outside more than I was inside.
5. I have a lot of salt water in my hair and sand between my toes. At work. On a Monday.
6. I have quite a few serious scratches on my legs from flipping with a small catamaran.
7. I have quite a few burn marks on my arms from being stung by jellyfish.
8. My nose is pink from the sun and my eyes are dark from not sleeping.
9. I haven't eaten anything that wasn't chargrilled since Wednesday.

I feel like I did it justice. Having said that, I was actually quite disappointed in the DC 4th of July. I was imagining a large majority of people I would meet to be wrapped in an American flag with a hand on their heart. At all times. I was expecting spontaneous (not just planned) parades on all streets and small flags to be waved around everywhere. It really was mainly like any other Wednesday. No flags, no parades passed by my apartment. I also missed the fireworks, but I guess that was my own fault for taking so long to get ready for a night out in Adams Morgan.
Anyway, the expectations were then saved by the weekend on Shelter Island, NY (in the Hamptons ca.). There I actually saw fireworks on Saturday, and spent the rest of my time on board different kinds of boats, mostly on a party raft my cousins built (I kid you not it has a VIP floor, a toilet and several bars, it is also almost falling together after seven years in full 4th of July use - I will post a picture when I get home). I was also on a Hobie Cat (the catamaran we flipped), two different row boats, some ferries, as well as a canoe with a tiki torch wired to it. The sun was always up, the sunset was always pink and the beach was packed. We danced salsa on Saturday and swam on Sunday. I left Manhattan at 4.40 this morning and went straight to work when I got to DC. God bless America.

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

4th of July!

Yay, I am so excited about tomorrow! I dont know what to expect but I am very excited about it! Yay!