#30 Boston - A Bit Mushy - December 31, 2004
Hello my friends!
I was welcomed back by the lovely city of Boston with heaps of snow (figures, the minute I leave town the snow comes down in piles) and with the warmer weather today those wonderful accumulations of mush and slush that line the streets. Try to manage that in high heels! The celebrations for First Night are well under way - my only worry being the ice sculptures that could possibly melt before I will be able to admire them. Linda and Roger have picked out for a program for tonight and my new friend Arlene might join us as well. I look forward to a nice celebration tonight and a relaxing weekend to follow.
The elevator company still has not retrieved my keys, and in the next segment of this series of somewhat unfortunate events, the caahh, my beloved Ella, is not showing any signs of life. She will have to be resuscitated on Monday and taken to the car doc in Arlington.
On the good news front, my brother has a new computer keyboard and his comma-less life is over!
I returned last night from Germany, after an absolutely exhausting trip, which involved a 9-hour flight from Zurich to Washington, DC, a delay and a serious jogging experience across Dulles Airport in order to catch the connecting flight to Boston. Nine hours in a plane with movies that I either had seen already last week or that were not even worthy of B movie status was arduous and a serious test of patience.
I had a wonderful Christmas holiday in Germany - for some reason I experience the holiday in my hometown community as gentler and softer - not to say that it is not equally commercialized in Germany. It was wonderful to spend time with my brother, his girlfriend and her family. Being back in Neuenburg is always as if I have stepped into a parallel universe - everything is familiar, memories are everywhere despite the changes in our little town, and despite the fact that I live thousands of miles away. En route to my aunt's place I walk by the house where I was born, I see the cobbler's place, an old, bedraggled hovel of a house that is no longer inhabitable. I remember going in there as a kid, walking up the tiny gnarly staircase, shoes everywhere, and picking up shoes (I still don't know how he ever found them in the mess in there) from the cobbler, who rarely spoke more than a few words.
On Monday this week, we had yet another meeting of the Schoki Club - a group of friends of mine that I have known since kindergarten. (For my English-speaking friends, Schoki is hot chocolate - makes a lot of sense doesn't it?). At some point during the evening we decided to head for the restaurant Salmen, which had recently been remodeled and is now a fairly decent place to eat and have a good conversation. That is true, however you still find some of the more serious addiction dipsomaniacs who stagger past you on their way out. One lesson learned this evening is that those business plans that you start hatching after a drink or two with some friends who are in equally good spirits, might be just a tad more unrealistic once daylight hits. Nevertheless we did have a blast of a time, and I still think about our "novel" idea of having bookstore/coffeshop/eatery (Spaghetti once a week!!).
Another activity I enjoy when I visit home is to watch winter sports on TV. German and Swiss television channels constantly feature ski and winter sport events, and you have seen nothing until you have witnessed a stadium full of 52,000 spectators (flags and all) cheering on a biathlon event! Unbelievable! I myself am totally partial to ski jumping which has been my favorite since I was a kid.
Of course, this past week has been overshadowed by the tragic events in Asia, and we were just beyond belief and beyond comprehension of what has taken place. A family who lived across the street from my dad lost their house in Sri Lanka, but fortunately everyone was safe and they have the comfort of being able to return to a home in Germany. Many people did not have that chance.
My friends, I wanted wish you a great start into this new year! May it bring you lots of adventure and fun, laughter, friendship and most of all, lots of love. Think good thoughts, and let's hope that all this suffering will be followed by many acts of kindness and a small miracle here and there.
Wishing you all the best,
pet:)
I was welcomed back by the lovely city of Boston with heaps of snow (figures, the minute I leave town the snow comes down in piles) and with the warmer weather today those wonderful accumulations of mush and slush that line the streets. Try to manage that in high heels! The celebrations for First Night are well under way - my only worry being the ice sculptures that could possibly melt before I will be able to admire them. Linda and Roger have picked out for a program for tonight and my new friend Arlene might join us as well. I look forward to a nice celebration tonight and a relaxing weekend to follow.
The elevator company still has not retrieved my keys, and in the next segment of this series of somewhat unfortunate events, the caahh, my beloved Ella, is not showing any signs of life. She will have to be resuscitated on Monday and taken to the car doc in Arlington.
On the good news front, my brother has a new computer keyboard and his comma-less life is over!
I returned last night from Germany, after an absolutely exhausting trip, which involved a 9-hour flight from Zurich to Washington, DC, a delay and a serious jogging experience across Dulles Airport in order to catch the connecting flight to Boston. Nine hours in a plane with movies that I either had seen already last week or that were not even worthy of B movie status was arduous and a serious test of patience.
I had a wonderful Christmas holiday in Germany - for some reason I experience the holiday in my hometown community as gentler and softer - not to say that it is not equally commercialized in Germany. It was wonderful to spend time with my brother, his girlfriend and her family. Being back in Neuenburg is always as if I have stepped into a parallel universe - everything is familiar, memories are everywhere despite the changes in our little town, and despite the fact that I live thousands of miles away. En route to my aunt's place I walk by the house where I was born, I see the cobbler's place, an old, bedraggled hovel of a house that is no longer inhabitable. I remember going in there as a kid, walking up the tiny gnarly staircase, shoes everywhere, and picking up shoes (I still don't know how he ever found them in the mess in there) from the cobbler, who rarely spoke more than a few words.
On Monday this week, we had yet another meeting of the Schoki Club - a group of friends of mine that I have known since kindergarten. (For my English-speaking friends, Schoki is hot chocolate - makes a lot of sense doesn't it?). At some point during the evening we decided to head for the restaurant Salmen, which had recently been remodeled and is now a fairly decent place to eat and have a good conversation. That is true, however you still find some of the more serious addiction dipsomaniacs who stagger past you on their way out. One lesson learned this evening is that those business plans that you start hatching after a drink or two with some friends who are in equally good spirits, might be just a tad more unrealistic once daylight hits. Nevertheless we did have a blast of a time, and I still think about our "novel" idea of having bookstore/coffeshop/eatery (Spaghetti once a week!!).
Another activity I enjoy when I visit home is to watch winter sports on TV. German and Swiss television channels constantly feature ski and winter sport events, and you have seen nothing until you have witnessed a stadium full of 52,000 spectators (flags and all) cheering on a biathlon event! Unbelievable! I myself am totally partial to ski jumping which has been my favorite since I was a kid.
Of course, this past week has been overshadowed by the tragic events in Asia, and we were just beyond belief and beyond comprehension of what has taken place. A family who lived across the street from my dad lost their house in Sri Lanka, but fortunately everyone was safe and they have the comfort of being able to return to a home in Germany. Many people did not have that chance.
My friends, I wanted wish you a great start into this new year! May it bring you lots of adventure and fun, laughter, friendship and most of all, lots of love. Think good thoughts, and let's hope that all this suffering will be followed by many acts of kindness and a small miracle here and there.
Wishing you all the best,
pet:)
posted by My Boston at
11:32 AM
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