you're in good hands, Nikita

ностальгия

2007-08-01T17:49:00.000-07:00

This is my brother's elementary school. I would have gone here if I hadn't moved the summer before 1st grade.

This is the ice rink where I learned how to ice skate. It's right next to the school.

The short balance beam in the center of this playground is where my brother broke his arm. He was 9 or 10 and I was 4 or 5. I still remember it clearly. He ended up running away from the hospital in his gown and everything because he hated it so bad.

This is the driveway our apartment balcony overlooked.

And this is our apartment balcony. Second from the bottom.

I used to play here all summer long.

I remember skinning my knee real bad falling off my bike right next to this slide.

It's all seems so distant. There are a million memories between now and then but I still remember so much detail. The wierdest part is walking around and remembering the feelings I had. Not the physical ones but my emotions. Recalling those feelings helped me realize why I am the way I am today. The last 13 years of my life influenced me but I think my strongest emotions have been with me since day one. One can change their behavior but perspective remains the same. It's funny how much a little courtyard can define me 13 years later.

Ленивый Вторник (Lazy Tuesday)

2007-07-21T03:57:00.000-07:00

I don't know why Tuesday is such a great for laziness. Who am I kidding? Everyday is a good day to be lazy. I think Lazy Tuesday has a good ring to it. On this particular lazy Tuesday, we went to buy Ceroga rollerblades. We bought him a pretty snazzy pair of recreational skates with a color scheme almost identical to my freestyle pair. Then my parents and I continued the rollerblading lesson I started yesterday with Ceroga.

The rollerblades are an early 9th birthday present. He's a pretty big boy for almost 9.
Nothing else of significance happened cause it was a Lazy Tuesday and Wednesday was even less interesting so I'll just skip it.

ролики!

2007-07-21T03:22:00.000-07:00

I finally got to explore my home town a bit today. Ceroga, Andre Hapugin's younger son, put on some rollerblades with me and Ctopka showed me his school. I was teach Ceroga on the way there and he's a really quick learner. When we go to Ctopka tried the skates on and I told him to practice standing on one leg. I didn't manage to get any pictures of Ceroga but you can see his kneepad in this picture.

I also showed them how to grind and they filmed for me.

In the evening, we went to a classy restaurant called Res-Pub-Lica.

Peeing on Tom and Jerry's face was ultra classy.

Another Siberian sky at 11pm.

купатца в классна реке

2007-07-21T02:05:00.000-07:00

Breakfast today was a Russian-style pizza. Of course, it was nothing like pizza but it was a tasty creation anyways.

Afterwards we hunted for a nice spot a river to soak up some sun. The river was fantastically cold. We would jump in, swim till we got cold, get out, lay down till we get dry and hot, and jump in again.

Afterwards was a 10 hour ride home. Nothing amazing happened except that I actually managed to fall asleep in a car for once. Too bad it only lasted 20 minutes. We got to Novosibirsk at almost 2am and went straight to sleep.

телецкое озера

2007-07-20T14:25:00.000-07:00

We went on a boat ride around the lake right after breakfast.

China, Russia, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan come together in the Altay Mountains. I guess everyone wanted a piece of this beauty.

The first waterfall our guide us showed could only be enjoyed from the boat.

For the second waterfall, we had to disembark and hike.

The hike was short and they took money from us for using the wooden walkway that took us over the tic-infested brushes.

Near natural attractions like this waterfall, Russians love tying pieces of cloth to the trees. Some just tear the strips right off whatever their wearing, others come prepared. The idea is that if you leave something behind you'll have a reason to come back. This tree illustrates how much of a tourist trap this waterfall is.

When we got back on our boat, our guide offered to take us to a second waterfall for an extra charge. We weren't in a rush so we took him up on the offer and it was well worth it.

We were the only people there for most of the time and we spent a lot of time there soaking in the tranquility.

We even got our feet wet.

We made it back in time for lunch. At the resort we were staying, breakfast, lunch, and dinner were included and everyone was served the same thing. I don't know what to call this style of service but its great cause it eliminates the stress I often experience when I don't know what I want but am forced to decide from a menu of a hundred choices.

These cows wandered the resort like the owned the place. Normally, there would be somebody playing volleyball here but this afternoon it was the cows turn to hang out.
After lunch, we tried searching for a beach away from our resort because my parents didn't like the beach that was right next to our rooms. We took a walk along the lake but after I got bit by one too many of the vicious flies that can make you bleed. I turned around early and went back to the beach next to our rooms and read there until they came to pick me up 3 hours later for dinner.

After dinner we took a walk along the beach in the opposite direction. We walked past a couple of people having camp fires on the beach and decided to make one of our own.

On the way back we saw a bar on the beach so we stopped in for a beer. They turned the music on real loud and it turned into a dance club. The people there could dance a lot better than at our resort and we stayed all the way until closing.

On the way home I almost stepped on this ugly little fellow.

Алтай

2007-07-20T13:54:00.000-07:00

I spent the night in the dorms as a figure of speech. I actually stayed up the whole night working the blog expecting to sleep on the 10 hour ride to Altai. The folks picked me up at 6am and as always, I had difficulty sleeping in the car so I listened to Russian rap and read most of the way. When we got there everyone was real excited about the beautiful location.

We got there just a little too late to catch lunch but we did catch a free dinner that was included in the resort package.

After dinner we walked around the resort soaking in the nice cool air. It was very refreshing after the everyday heat that we've been experiencing the last few days. There were two old rusty ships permanently docked as reminders of the origins of the resort so we had a little photo shoot with them.

I love sunsets in Siberia.

The fog rolled in over the lake and looked absolutely gorgeous.

After the walk we headed back to the the tent we had dinner for a little discoteca. Don't let this picture fool you, Russian's can't dance. Or atleast no better than the posers in the American dance clubs.

My mom told me that her massage left her feeling too relaxed for dance and it didn't make any sense to me. I was trying to get her to dance with me the whole night but she ended up saving herself for her brother.

последний день в юрге

2007-07-19T13:03:00.000-07:00

Last day in Urga. We cooked some more pirojkis for the road and say our final goodbyes. My grandma decided to bring all the clay figures me and my brother made in our childhood. We couldn't take them from ourselves but a picture is worth a thousand words.

Russia is funny because all this country villages are right next to the cities. Wish I had a picture to illustrate this point. I saw 20 story sky scrapers in the middle of neighborhoods like these.

If you thought American gas station toilets were bad and because no Russian travel blog would be complete without a photo of a "little house". Believe me when I say this is the rule not the exception. I could make a whole book out of these.

I also love how they don't tear down the old buildings but remodel the old.

Can't say much about this one except that Russians love their roots. Even if those roots happen to be just a generation ago.

Once again, Russian cloud kick @$$.

There are stores in Russia where they fill different size beer bottles straight from the tap. How awesome is that? From half-liter to four-liter bottles.

I know these bread, potato, tomato, and cucumber dinner pictures are getting repetitive but look beyond them to see the real Russian treats.

After dinner, I went skating with my cousin and her boyfriend. She's definitely a more able rollerblader than him. That's why he's flipping off the camera.

They took me around their university and I finally found some decent art.

пирожки

2007-07-18T05:29:00.000-07:00

Day after my birthday, they wanted to go to the river and I almost went but at the last second I thought about how hard it rained yesterday afternoon, how how it was today, and how perfect conditions it has become for mosquitoes. I told them I didn't want to go because of the mosquitoes and they didn't heed the warning. I had barely started reading the book my grandma gave me as a present before they returned complaining about the mosquitoes. On the things to do in Russia we still had to cook and eat some perojki and drink vodka after a nice hot banya (wet sauna). Unfortunately, I barely took any pictures so all I have is this picture of how perojki are made.

I also have a picture of myself after I getting out of the banya but I think that is more of myself than I would like to post on the internet. Instead, I bring you another awesome sunset from my uncle's balcony.

разменял третий десяток

2007-07-18T04:17:00.000-07:00

"разменял третий десяток" is how one would say "I'm in my twenties" in Russian but it really means "I've changed into my third decade". The way I see it is "I'm approaching thirty." I guess it's time to get a move on because I'm sure before I know it I will be approaching a hundred and, yes, I'm confident I will live to be atleast a hundred. Got to believe it to make it happen. My family asked what I wanted to do for my birthday and I told them I just wanted to make it a normal day. Approaching thirty after being a teenager isn't anything I would want to celebrate anyways. I have to admit, it's great a excuse for a feast.

My little cousin made the dough.

The women sculpted (<=direct translation) the pelmini.

They even allowed a man operate the stove for this special occasion. He handled it like a pro.

They decided it would be nice to take a photo of me and my grandmas with my uncle's officer hat on.

Funny how just a few minutes later my dad's mom was explaining to my mom's mom how you can't treat kids like toys but I guess once its a two-way thing it's treating kids like playmates.

I think the hat suited my mom's mom much better.

A couple of real men putting real meat on real metal sticks.

Before.

After.

We sat outside for the occasion and everyone stood up to dedicate a toast to me. I've never celebrated in this fashion and I think it's quite fun. My favorite toast was from my dad, "Never stop trying new things."

Once again, the sunset looks awesome from Valera's balcony.

One more time.

I don't want to grow up! I like my youth. Why can't I stay this young forever? What am I going to do for money once my parental scholarship is over? Where am I going to go to make a dozen acquaintances an hour after college is over? Most importanyly, what am I going to do to vent stress when I can't senselessly throw myself rollerblades-first at urban obstacles anymore? I guess I'll have to use my frustration with the world in a more productive way. I'll be damned if I don't play escape artist for as long as I can though.

аллергия на первый класс

2007-07-18T03:59:00.000-07:00

Andre and I agreed to wake up at 8 am today so he could go to work and I could go skate but when my internal alarm went off at 8am I really didn't feel like getting up. I got up anyways but nobody else showed any signs of life so I drank a liter of water as a preventive preemptive strike against a hangover and went back to sleep till noon.

Another Andre, my mom's cousin, came to see us and have some tea at Raya's apartment.

He shared his plans for the future which included building his own house with the help of a new truck.

We caught a taxi to the Novosibirsk train station but missed the first train so we hid under some shade and drank juice to deal with the heat.

My mom bought first class tickets again despite the fact that I had terrible allergies on first class last time. This time was no different. Even the way my allergies completely quit every time I went to any other wagon. I would run to the bathroom to blow my nose but by the time I'd get there, my nose would stop running completely. Atleast I got a picture from the bathroom window.

After a nap at Valera's, we started making pelmini to prepare for my birthday. Didn't get any photos of us making pelmini but my mom did get a photo of me enjoying some right after the stroke of midnight.

My dad was returning with his mom at 3am, so I stayed up and tried to catch up my endless blog on my seemingly endless adventure. I didn't have internet so I was just writing to notepad and collecting photos. Surprisingly, their train was on time and everyone was glad to see each other.

с днем рождения райка

2007-07-12T14:57:00.000-07:00

By the time I woke up, Andrey and Raya already left to buy groceries and other necessities for Raya's birthday party. They began cooking at around noon and it took them almost 5 hours. Andrey, Raika, and Veronica made a variety of beautiful and yummy appetizers and salads.

During that time, my mom and I went out to look for a birthday present. We stopped by the movie theater first because I had an urge to watch the new transformers on the big screen in Russian. It was over an hour to the next showing so we had plenty of time to shop around in the mall underneath the theater and elsewhere. The very first place we looked was a little mall stand selling all sorts of junk but we noticed a couple of elegantly designed and framed wood cuts that we both really liked but we decided to play it safe and walk around for another hour. We walked around till we couldn't stand the heat anymore and then ended up returning to the first mall stand we visited. Is it just me or does this happen to everyone? It seems like every time I'm looking for a present like this I'll find it in the first 5 minutes but wander around for an hour only to find out there is nothing better or I'll take 5 photos of something just to make sure I have a good one and four out of five times the first one is the best one. Atleast when shopping with presents the extra time spent increases your confidence. Wish I had a photo of it but all I have is Raya hiding behind the flowers we got for her after the wood cut.

I think she had fun posing with her presents.

So much fun we had to hold her down.

I was actually one of the last people to show up because of the Transformers movie but I got back just in time.

Vitka, the guy on my left was teasing me about my Russian-American background and kept pouring me vodka to the rim. I dodged many toasts by leaving to upload photos and work on my blog. Vitka would come grab me sometimes and everytime I would have a full shot of vodka ready and waiting for me. I never missed a step so I never refused but Raya was falling over herself within the first hour.

The others weren't far behind either. They started singing and a whole lot of them decided to rehearse an old pioneer song. Pioneers are the Russian version of boy scouts and girl scouts. Check out Andrey in the back keeping the spirit alive.

They provided their own entertainment with games and songs. In this game, the person behind the picture doesn't know what fairy tale character he/she/they are and they can only ask yes/no questions to figure it while everyone laughs at them. When they finally guess they get to make any person in the audience perform one of their wishes.

My mom and Raya have been getting along greatly for 30 years.

At midnight, all the guests had left and my mom and I started cleaning. It didn't take long and afterwards we continued the party with just the four of us. My mom went to sleep at 2 but Raya, Andrey, and I stayed up until almost 5.

иван купала

2007-07-12T13:28:00.001-07:00

Today is a special day. It's 7/7/07 but more importantly its еван купала, a Russian holiday that is celebrated by an all out free-for-all water fight between everybody. I prepared the night before by placing a water bottle next to my bed but luckily my uncle forgot what day it was when he woke up. Two minutes later, he remembered and got me good but I still had my defenses up and got him back.

We caught the train to Novisibirsk and I found out I'm allergic to first class, seriously. It didn't stop me from enjoying an old fashioned train ride on the Siberian railways. It also didn't stop the passengers on the passing train from spraying water into our open windows and getting us wet. I told you it was a free-for-all.

Andrey and Raya met us right outside the train and after a 10 minute metro ride and a 5 minute walk we were at their place. I don't know if I've ever used the Novisibirsk underground before but it certainly beats San Francisco and London in every respect. After a light lunch, we caught the bus to the Novisibirsk zoo and on the way there I saw a boy standing on the corner with his mom spraying passing car after passing car with his water gun.

In addition to animals, they had wooden and stone sculptures at the zoo.

This is a stone sculpture of a bull with a basket of flowers hanging off his horn.

We saw some very exotic animal but I swear this bird couldn't possibly survive in the wild cause it looked like its colors were painted on.

King of the jungle.

This is the coolest monkey I have ever seen. Not that I've seen that many monkeys but I am a monkey so I should know.

I admit that I was very depressed at first. I couldn't help feeling terribly sorry for all the animals in cages. Some drunk bastards were going around spraying animals with water guns too.

Atleast the animals still have each other.

I forgot all about the pity I felt when we got to the feline section of the zoo. I'm definitely a cat person. They are just such gorgeous creatures.

I hope I'll be a cat in my next life.

This is a liger, the offspring of a male lion and a female tiger. Ligers look badass and they are the biggest cats on the planet.

Andrey and Raya's cats are still my favorite cats in Novisibirsk.

After the zoo, we went home for dinner and waited for the temperature to drop before venturing outside again. Outside their apartment are two junked cars sitting on top of a garage. Nobody knows why but they looked pretty cool in this lighting.

About half past 7, Andrey and Raya took me to the Novosibirsk "skatepark". On the way there I saw people get whole buckets of water dumped on them from a bridge.

It was actually a bikepark because there were cracks everywhere to get your wheels stuck in. It wasn't skate friendly at all but there was a grind box off to side about 10 meters long that provided me with grinding pleasure for two solid hours until I couldn't jump anymore. The park sat on the river and provided a beautiful view of the other side of Novosibirsk.

I was shot the butt by a kids water assault rifle when taking this photo. His mom tried scolding him for it but I was hot as hell from skating so I encourage thekid to soak me completely.

Maybe it was all the adrenaline from skating or the festive spirit in the air but I was feeling really grateful for my Russian roots that brought me here on this lucky day of 7-7-07. Its strange how in America I'm Russian but in Russia I'm American. It's like neither culture will ever fully accept me. Even though I spent most of my life in America, I know I can never be American. It's nothing against America its just not who I am. It finally hit me that this is my true home. I was born here and I was raised by this culture and I'll be damned if I don't spend more time here, learn my culture, and find out what it means to be Russian.

томск

2007-07-12T11:37:00.000-07:00

Today, Valera drove my mom and I to Tomck to see my two cousins, Irina and Lena, and their two sons, Andre and Artyom. On the way to Tomck, we picked up my cousin, Nasdya, from her summer camp, Pioneer's Lodge. I took some pictures to show what kind of town I've been staying in for the last week.

The last one was taken in Tomck right outside my aunt's apartment, where we all met for a 5 hour lunch.

My younger nephew is so cute. He's only 11 months but look how big he is!

My mom adores her grand-nephew.

If couldn't tell from the last picture, the older nephew, Andre, loves taking photos.

He is also very jealous of his younger cousin who gets all the attention.

Everybody keeps saying how much I've grown but I can't agree. I still feel pretty little.

My mom brought her nieces (my cousins) mp3 players as presents but already had one so Andre got hers instead.

I think Nasdya had more fun teaching him use the mp3 player than teaching him how to read.

She's a good teacher, I have to admit.

On the way home we stopped by the river to gather some good stones for the sauna.

We brought our bathing suits because we thought of taking a swim to deal with the heat but it was too late by the time we were heading home. My uncle said the river is dirty near Tomck and cleaner close to Urga. When we got home, we could only handle a light dinner of traditional Russia variety.

The day left me exhausted so at around 11 I took this photo of the sunset and called it a night.

ещё чай и мороженое

2007-07-11T01:23:00.000-07:00

Had a pretty fancy breakfast but I wonder how much longer I can survive on bread, butter, ham, cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers, tea, and sugar. I guess everyone else looks healthy enough so I'll be just fine. It tastes great so I can't complain.

We were invited by my mom's mom for tea again. My uncle gave us a ride to town. It was a hot day and I'm sure it was just the first day of a heat wave that would last the rest of our trip. My mom and uncle took me to an ice cream stand from their childhood. Well not exactly childhood but still a long long time ago. I know this is just my opinion but traditional Russian ice cream is so much better than Italian gelato. Too me gelato is too sweet and isn't as creamy as this traditional Russian ice cream. My mom loves it too.

We all enjoyed some Russian ice cream on a stick at my grandma's but my grandma left her's on a plate and it melted quite a bit before she got started. After some tea, the heat felt hotter so I went out to rollerblade a bit. Yesterday I saw a ledge with perfect construction for some grinding action. I put one coat of wax on it and it was already sliding better than most. A lot of the youth rollerblade in the town of Urga but none with skates like mine. I should have charged the for the photos or videos they were taking with their phones. An old lady ruined my fun because like most people she was terrified of things she didn't understand. She asked if I saw all the little kids around. I tried being really polite and telling her that of course I did and thats why I patiently wait until there is no one near the ledge. She said she was going to call the police. My uncle is a high ranking officer in Urga and his son was with me so we just laughed and said his dad will show up to encourage me. Somе security jerk-off showed up and asked me the same question as the old lady.

JO: Don't you see the little kids?

Me: Of course, don't you see I have eyes?

JO (trying to be intimidating): Well...listen here –

Me (interrupting): If I couldn't see them how would I be doing what I'm doing?

JO: Go skate at the skatepark.

I don't think I was being that rude. It was a friendly conversation by Russian cultural standards. Being polite never got nobody nowhere here (Russian language likes to stack negatives too). My mom says people are scared of friendly people here. The skatepark he was talking about is an asphalt field a little bigger than a basketball half court but only four pieces of metal in it. Their arrangement doesn't make any sense either but I guess I can't complain about it except the fact that if it wasn't there I might have been able to skate that awesome ledge a little longer.

чай с моей бабушкой и домашняя работа

2007-07-08T08:57:00.000-07:00

My mom's mom (моя бабушка) invited us over for tea (чаи). тётя нина brought дядя гена и дядя гpиша. In this picture from left to right is my mom's mom, my mom, and тётя нина.

And here is my cousin, Nasdya, my uncle, Valera, and дядя гена.

And here is дядя гриша, me, and my cousin, Slava.

Valera, Slava, and I went back home and my mom stayed at her mom's apartment. Valera put us to work.

During the winter, the windows were closed to keep the snow out. Now we want to open them but keep the bugs out. So we built these fancy bug screens from raw materials.

Once the job was done, I captured the everyday Siberia clouds that you won't find in California in a hundred years.

I prepared myself a fantastic dinner.

Finally, I played with Timka and went to bed.

с днем рождения валера

2007-07-08T07:23:00.000-07:00

After the airplane, we enjoyed a scenic and nostalgic ride through Novisibirsk and the country side with my uncle, Valera.

My cousin, Masha, was at home preparing a birthday dinner. Since I've been unemployed for quite some time, I jumped at the first opportunity for some old-fashioned manual labor. Real rewarding.

Valera built the house with the help of his family. It's a good house and it has a good view of the sunset from the patio.

They have a 2 month old kitten. It's so tiny and cute.

Valera's birthday feast.

Valera reading a giant birthday card.

Cheers!

Lighting the birthday candles.

Cutting the birthday cake

My cousin, Slava, bought some fireworks as a special surprise for the special occasion.

German trains and siberian planes

2007-07-08T06:43:00.000-07:00

It was a long day of trains and planes with nothing exciting again but that's Germany for you. Here's a photo of another fine piece of German architecture to make up for it.

This is the train station. Can you find that fine German architecture in this photo?

German trains are awesome. I was reading and kept raising my head thinking we had reached our destination because the trains are so smooth that you can't even notice that you are moving at all.

A glimpse into the future. I will definitely see much more of this in Siberia.

Grafiti next to the train tracks. I'm really glad all over the world the youth use these blank spaces as canvases.

Another glimpse into the near future.

Just a nice landscape.

A million cheers for castles!

Leo trying to hack into the wireless at the airport.

My mom and I enjoying our last taste of German beer. I ♥ purity law.

Alright, that's enough

2007-07-08T05:25:00.000-07:00

I was very pleased to wake up only mildly hurt when contrasted to the complete memory loss I experienced last night. Realistically, we did nothing worth mentioning today. In Siberia, the roads aren't that great because they get frostbite every winter and since we were headed that way, I got my skates out and enjoyed the good asphalt while I could. We burnt DVDs of our photos and gave them to Roman and a few of his friends from the university. I keep hearing that people find pleasure about reading about other's adventures. I can understand why but at the same time it seems like torture. I guess everyone is a little masochistic.

Here's the only pictures from the day cause like I said. Nothing worth mentioning happened the day after such a party.

Roman's Birthday Party

2007-07-07T11:24:00.000-07:00

I think the pictures will tell a better story than I ever could cause I'm not even sure how I got back to Schwenningen.

The party was in the middle of some classic Ruskie woods.

There were two fire pits but neither of them looked suitable for cooking until my mom came up with a genius idea.

The idea was pretty simple: 1) Take some bricks that were laying nearby and put them on the corners of the small fire pit. 2) Take the grill off the big fire pit and put it on the bricks. My mom's so smart!

Someone thought it would be a good idea to put some aluminum foil on the grill. I told them their idea was amateurish (retarded) and unheard of. Their plan failed fast when the hot air from the pit kept puffing up the foil and making the sausages roll off. Aluminum foil also deflects heat.

First toast. Let the party begin.

Another toast (more drinking).

Raise your hands if you love Roman.

Dancing.

More dancing.

Posing, not dancing.

Climbing.

More climbing.

???

More proof that I'm king.

Flying.

Dancing at high elevations.

Puppet master.

Making friends.

They said let's make a bonfire and sent me to the forest.

I love fire.

Oh what a feeling (dancing at higher elevations).

I swear she pushed me off put what do I remember?

Atleast I got this picture of her as revenge.

Finally, dancing on the table.

I think I blacked out before this picture.

My next memory was drinking tea here.

My memory skipped to Roman and I walking up the stairs to his apartment here and that's all folks!

Second Video Post

2007-07-07T10:24:00.000-07:00

At Roman's university there is a few pretty fun rails. I found this one to be the funnest (you're no fun if you think funnest isn't a word). First I tried something called a backside royale two or three dozen times and never managed to slide the whole rail. The first clip is the closest I came. The second clip is something called a topside soul. Tell me in a comment which one you like more and why. I'm very very curious. Video quality is not a criteria.

I guess this is Germany

2007-07-07T04:18:00.000-07:00

I'm going to do something I've never done before. Are you ready?

I'm going to make a post that spans more than one day since Germany is that boring and heeeeerrreeee we go!

When we first arrived in Germany, it struck me as a very advanced place. Take this smoke station for example.

My mom's cousin, Roman, picked us up from the airport. The first thing I noticed is that everything was so clean and well organized. It's like a country run by perfectionist. Being a perfectionist myself I really appreciated the attention to detail but only got one good photo to demonstrate this. Look at how perfectly designed this little building at the airport is. So simple, so crisp.

We got on the autobahn and everybody was going really fast and naturally this type of thing excites me. Unfortunately after about 3 minutes we got stuck in traffic. We tried waiting it but gave up after 20 minutes and got off the freeway to have dinner. Found a pretty traditional German restaurant hidden on the second floor of some old building. Don't have a picture of the building but I did take a picture of our food.

When we finally got to Schwenningen, it was late so we went to sleep without a drop of German beer. Atleast we had a good laugh about the name of the town though.

The next day we had a fair share of good German beer but let me start with the morning. We strolled down the street to the university a couple blocks away. (Everything in Schwenningen is a couple blocks away.) We checked out the tiny campus and geeked out on the internet for a hot minute. Once I caught up on my life on the world wide web, I went down to the courtyard to chat with some of the students. Most of them spoke English well and were friendly enough but something about them struck me as strange. In Italy, strangers would help keep the conversation going. In Germany, it was a one man job as if they don't know how to talk to strangers. They seemed friendly enough at first but then I realized it was just good manners. I guess people only meet each other through association here and that was a major shortcoming for me. When their lunch break was over I laced up my skates and warmed up a bit. I was surprised and very pleased to find out that I could still jump. I know some of you reading may think otherwise but I absolutely hate spectators. If you're going to watch me as if I'm a street entertainer, you better pay me some money or atleast make with a conversation. There were only a couple people left in the courtyard but I had already tried chatting with them and decided to skate anyways. Of course, they just came to spectate without paying me any money or chattng with me. I think that if you are that curious, say something, don't just stand there making me nervous. I think the best chat I had was with a student named Martin near the end of the day when I got a hang of German culture a little. I mention him because by coincidence I ran into him later.

I met my parents, Roman, and some of his friends at Roman's apartment at about 4. His landlord brings him a bottle of Russian champagne, a pack of cigarettes, and two foldable chairs. It was perfect timing because we had just ran out of places to seat people. It wasn't so perfect timing for the champagne because it cause us to convince Roman to skip German class for the occasion of his birthday. After the bottle was done, Mike, a friend of Roman's, offered to introduce me to some of his friends whose apartment he was planning on using to do his laundry. This is where I meet Martin again. When Mike and I get to his friend's apartment, one of his friends turns out to be Martin's girlfriend and he's on the way to pick her up. He gets there and doesn't even give me a hi. This makes me wonder about German personal attitudes in general.

A few more errands and we meet my family at a beer garden. We enjoy a variety of beers and a German version of pizza which is nothing like Italian pizza but still fantastic.

Ancona to Roma

2007-07-07T00:31:00.000-07:00

We woke up ridiculuously early for the 4 hour drive to the airport. Along the way we saw some cool stuff.

We enjoyed our visit very much and were hesitant to leave. Hesitant is an understatement. I simply didn't want to. I was thinking about skipping the plane but remembered I had much more to see.

Third Lazy Tuesday

2007-07-07T00:21:00.000-07:00

It was our last day in Acona and as usual we woke up as late as possible. We were lagging exceptionally that morning. Before we went to the beach as we usually did, we stopped by a cafe for some gelato and to take photos with our gelatos since I realized I didn't have a single picture with a gelato.

Near the cafe was Disneyland d'Italia.

When we got to the beach we were too tired for swimming and all fell asleep. I took some last photos of this heavenly place and we said goodbye and headed to downtown to

We ran into Mario still in his suit and he seemed delightfully surprised to see us.

We came home and did the best thing an Italian could do in this hot weather. Enjoy an oversized pizza with a cold brew.

Everything's turning into a blur. I need to blog more often.

2007-06-26T04:38:00.000-07:00

Woke up hurting a little but I think a morning in Europe when I'm not hurting a little is more notable. I met Martina and some of her friends in downtown and we caught the bus to the beach. Did all the standard beach stuff. Swim, tan, throw a ball around, play cards, get pizza, get ice cream, read, put on lotion.
I caught the bus back and met the gang in downtown.
Drank some coffee, went home to take care of home business, and went out to dinner. We had reservations so I was expecting a fancy place but instead it we went to a fish market with some tables and chairs set up.
Our host was a funny guy. When I asked where the bathroom was, he pointed me to the sea.
We didn't order and were served whatever happened to be done cooking at the moment. Look closely at my hands.
The host would walk out with plates of food and just serve whichever table was done with their last plate he served.
We ate a lot of seafood and drank some really great white wine. Anne suggested stopping by a coffee shop after dinner but it was actually an old communist bar.We were all already pretty tipsy but the evening was only starting.
We headed to La Zaretto (The Hospital) club and danced the night away.
My dad is a rockstar.
We were the life of the party. Everyone couldn't stop staring but we nobody dared compete with our moves. We owned the dance floor.

Sunday

2007-06-26T03:50:00.000-07:00

Went to the beach again and on the way there discovered that the grass isn't always greener on the other side but it is greener on the hill over there.

I also discovered that they don't actually eat all these sunflowers. They're grown for their seed oil.

Stretched out at the beach comparatively early and we got burned.

Then we had fairly intense match of foosball. Actually, Mario and I didn't let them score once until we had 6 goals and they still had 0. I think we scored on ourselves out of pity.

I want Super Mario's magic. He turned tuna and pasta into a gourmet meal in minutes.

This is the Absinthe, also known as the Green Fairy.

It's supposed to have some poisonous chemical that makes you hallucinate but I had two and I felt okay. Well not that okay but better than most nights.

Simple Saturday

2007-06-25T11:24:00.000-07:00

I think we all felt a little hurt on Saturday morning from the excitement of the previous night.

We woke up a little late and were in no rush to go to the beach. I think we finally got to the beach a little before 3.

Anne and Mario taught me all sorts of Italian phrases at the beach to improve my game.

When we got home, Mario cooked us a feast and we ate, drank, talked, and were generally very merry.

Today was my ideal day. No worries, pure bliss.

First night at the beach

2007-06-24T03:23:00.000-07:00

After dinner we went to an outdoor bar called La Zaretto. It's Italian for hospital and it used to be the place where sick sailors would be quarantined at the port until they got better or died.

I made friends with a few college kids studying in Ancona and Bologna and they took me to an outdoor dance club on the beach.

When we got there I asked the wrong random girl if she spoke English because she did and I wish she didn't. She turned out to be somehow connected with the people that brought me there but before I knew that I told one of them what I thought of her. Her boyfriend over heard and told her. She wouldn't leave me alone after that. I would leave a group and she would show up later to tell me how I was so wrong about her. I would leave the group again and it would happen again. I wandered further away and made friends with some kids sitting away from the music and closer to the ocean. Only one of them spoke English but I pretended I knew and understood Italian.

When I decided to go find the friends who brought me there, I couldn't do it but I did find out that I got pretty lucky with finding and English speakers at all. I must have asked like half the people there. When we left at 3am, the party was peaking and the beach looked as packed as a real night club. I wish we could have stayed longer but one guy drank too much and got sick. Lame. I tried asking for a bottle of water for my sick friend but the bartender tried taking advantage of my American status so I went found the friendlier bartender and he hooked it up for free. The friendlier one served me my one and only drink earlier that night of almost straight vodka. It was a great night and I learned a lot of Italian.

Greatest day of the year

2007-06-24T03:02:00.000-07:00

It's the longest day of the year and my mom's birthday. We went to a pebble beach this time and played an Italian card game, Tre Sette.

Anne and I lost an important match and had to go buy beer and pizza but we got my parents back later and they had to buy as gelato.

After the beach we went to Mario's (Anne's boyfriend) parents house for dinner.

Anne and I played with our cameras most of the evening and they called us paparazzi.

The Caves

2007-06-23T14:03:00.000-07:00

Thursday morning we went to a rock beach called the caves.

I met Anne's boyfriend's godfather's daughter, a nice girl, Martina. She spoke english well enough for us to chat until we had to go. Anne said she was a good girl which is supposed to be pretty rare. After the beach, Anne took me to the doctor because I didn't completely fight off my strep throat. He prescribed me some new antibiotoic and a spray that was supposed to help with the swelling and pain. My American doctor didn't prescribe anything to me for the pain which kinda irritates me because when I saw the doctor in America I was seriously in about 100 times worse condition. I consider myself lucky to catch the symptoms early enough to avoid the sleepless nights, difficulty breathing, and general pain. Afterwards we took a walk to the pizzeria. We ate our pizzas at home with some beer, a timeless combination. (Author's note: The whole your not supposed to mix antibiotics with alcohol thing is a myth. Don't believe me? Google it or ask your doctor. I asked a doctor in America and a doctor in Italy. Both said it doesn't make a difference. Italian doctor said the food I eat could be more of a problem then booze.) After dinner, I took a shower and called Martina and we met near her house for some gelato. I skated to get there and the looks I got from people who have never ever seen rollerblades were classic. We took a walk to piazza di papa (pope's plaza) and then we both went home because it was late.

Napoli to Ancona

2007-06-23T11:59:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, we drove across Italy. West coast Napoli to East Coast Ancona. The drive through the countryside was beautiful. Here are some of the thing I managed to pull my camera out fast enough to capture.

Future first mortage.

Falling down the rabbit hole.

We stopped by a beach about 100 km before Ancona to catch some sun but I didn't take any pictures. When we got to Ancona we got off the wrong exit just for the fun of getting lost yet again and ended up on top of the hill overlooking the port.

We stayed at our friend Anne's apartment, which she shares with her boyfriend Mario but he was out on a business trip to Rome. There was also a scorpion near my bed that freaked me out a little because I've never seen a scorpion in real life and I'm also pretty scared of spiders but spiders are still scarier cause they move faster.

Her neighborhood was simply gorgeous. I loved the colors on the buildings and how the people started to come out at sunset and how the peak of activity was around 2 or 3am everywhere.

I took this picture from the roof of their apartment building.

We spent the rest of the evening drinking wine and talking about life, love, and universe.

Leo: love is oneness

Anne: you're so full of shit Leo

Second Lazy Tuesday

2007-06-23T10:51:00.001-07:00

I declare Tuesdays my unofficial rest and recover days. My parents caught the train to Napoli but I was too terrified. I slept until the afternoon. Tried going out to find some people who speak English but I was mostly unsuccessful. I managed to order a huge Pizza Pocket for super cheap. It was a full meal within itself and, of course, tasted amazing like everything else Italian. I started to feel heat stricken walking around on the streets and retreated to my air conditioned hotel room to catch up with my internet life until my parents got back from Napoli. They went to some underground tunnels below Napoli that used to provide water for the city.

We loved the restaurant from last night so much that we went again.

Grandpa Pizza!

Huge chunk of mozarella cheese wrapped in a crispy thin pasta. Caserta is known for its exceptional mozarella.

"I'm gonna eat you, little lamb"

It's not the angle, that wine glass really is the size of my head. Yes, MY head.

Napoli here we come.

2007-06-23T10:40:00.000-07:00

It's Monday and I have internet once more. We didn't do anything special today but drive to Napoli, get lost, drive through Napoli, get terrified, leave Napoli. We checked into a hotel about 20 km outside of Napoli in a Camorra-run city, Caserta. They control Napoli too. Camorra is mafia-like organization in Italy. We got some good advice about where to get dinner from a police officer who was probably in the Camorra too. The pizza was baked in a fire oven pretty close to our table. The place was called Massa and was pretty fairly priced for everything it had to offer. We ordered two appetizers, I ordered a Calzone for the main dish. We were full after the appetizers but couldn't stop eating. Their house wine was amazing. I wish I could take some home with me. It tooke us nearly two hours but we finished all of our food and went home and passed out immediately.

Thank God for Skating

2007-06-22T10:09:00.000-07:00

Woke up, ate breakfast, layed in the sun.

Parents wanted to go walk around Rome and see the sights like the Vatican and the Colliseum. I was dead tired from the night before but agreed anyways. I dragged my feet the whole day and got a few pictures before my camera battery died. Here they are:

And here are my dad's pictures from the rest of the day:

Roma Day One

2007-06-19T15:08:00.000-07:00

Our flight was short and customs went smoothly. Once outside the terminal, the heat started to set in. I told my dad that Italians are fun to look at because they work so hard on their appearance he said hes glad somebody noticed. They all looked the same though, pretty flamboyant. I think my hat made me stand out because everyone else had too nicely styled hair to be wearing a hat. I think hats would also prevent them from stylishly wearing their sunglasses on their foreheads. Renting a car took about two hot hours. I was starting to sweat just sitting in the shade.

We finally got our car and drove to our hotel to check in. I immediately went for a poolside nap to enjoy the sun I so dearly missed while we were in London. The lifeguard spoke a fair amount of English and suggested a few places where I could find more Americans like myself. When the sun dipped behind the hotel building, I went to the hotel room to take a shower and found my dad napping like a baby.
We caught the 7pm bus to the center and I was completely awestruck.

I couldn't stop taking pictures, I thought it was the most amazing city ever.

I really liked this statue. I want it outside my house if I ever get one.

Before it was actually dark we enjoyed a sweet deal on dinner. 9.50 Euros for pasta or pizza, salad or brucheti, and a glass of wine. It was a touristy spot but still the best Italian food I've ever had. After dinner we grabbed a gelato cone to split between us and my parents took the bus back to the hotel. I stuck around and took a walk around in search for some night life. The two most popular suggestions were a pub called The Drunken Ship and a club called Anima. I got to where The Drunken Ship was supposed to be but couldn't find it so I asked the police officer where it was and he told me they had some trouble with the police. I said, "I'm in the wrong place, eh?" and strode off towards Anima. I was told there would be a younger following but I don't think there was anyone under 25 there. I befriended some consulting group from NYC that got sent to Rome for a 2 day paid vacation. Most of them were ghastly boring but atleast one of them bought me a drink. The guy who bought me a drink was too drunk to remember who I was by the end of the night. A lot of drunken things happened that night that I don't think I should share with the internet. Some locals helped catch a night bus home and I finally got to the hotel at around 4:30am. The only problem was that all the doors were locked and I couldn't find a buzzer to wake someone up to let me in. I thought I was going to have to climb into our hotel room but decided against it for two reasons. 1) I wasn't sure which balcony was ours. 2) I wasn't confident I could even pull it off. I walked around the hotel testing doors and managed to find one that wasn't completely closed and that was the end of the night.

Crazy Taxi

2007-06-19T14:51:00.000-07:00

We had to wake up at 4am to catch our 7am flight to Rome. I actually woke up a little earlier to claim the shower. We packed, checked out, and met our taxi driver. He was the best driver. He ignored all the useless laws, spotted cops blocks away, cornered perfectly. He got us to the airport in half the time it took us to get to our hotel from the airport. I knew it was a minivan and our speed was probably unsafe but I didn't feel uncomfortable for one second. Simply spectacular driving. I salute you, early morning taxi driver. It reminded me that the Ferrari I saw parked in the middle of the Heathrow airport is wasted on poor drivers. I saw people entering the raffle but I was the first to actually look under the hood. I was very disappointed to see that it was only a V8.

Chicken Vindaloo

2007-06-19T13:47:00.000-07:00

Friday evening was the first time I saw anything close to a blue sky. The brits would probably call this sunny. I couldn't find the sun all week and Friday was no exception.

After seeing advertisements of some British energy company at every tube station in London the said, "A woman enjoys some chicken vindaloo to celebrate turning down her heating one degree," I got inspired to try some Indian food in London. We walked around for awhile and were unable to find any Indian restaurants that actually served any kind of vindaloo at all but I did find this convertible beamer that was doing a half decent job of going JDM. Chameleon paint isn't really JDM but I thought it looked cool anyways.

After checking out 3 or 4 restaurants we settled on one in a rather pretty neighborhood. The food was great and we each had about a liter of a beer called Kobra.

If my memory serves me correct. Kobra is the kind of beer you drink in a 40 oz bottle chilling on the corner with your homeboys. Maybe thats why my dad was moved to order the second round of these huge bottles. We each definitely had more than our 40 oz share.

Strange Coincidence

2007-06-15T10:34:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was playing with the idea of being a skate instructor at Woodward camp, the biggest skate camp in the world, next summer. I wasn't sure on how I was going to accomplish this goal. Strange coincidence, on my daily trip to BaySixty6 I ran into another rollerblader from the States who has been skating for 7 years like me. He was from New York, the state not the city, and we were practically on identical ability levels. After chatting for awhile I discovered that when he returns to the States from his vacation he is going to be teaching at the east coast Woodward skate camp. He said I could definitely do it too if I just send it an application and bug them by phone every week. Watching him skate inspired me to try some things and by the end of the session I was comfortable spinning fakie 7s (translation: come in backwards, two full rotations, land backwards) over a fun box. It's something I always wanted to learn but having someone like him around really motivated me. Our hotels were pretty close to each other so we caught the train back together and exchanged contact information. I was hungry to the point of side cramps but the beer I picked up on my walk back helped settle that. Got online and started chatting with the blurberati for ideas on where to go tonight. Jason Bull gave the best suggestions on where to find the "hip youngsters".

Skating yet again

2007-06-15T10:18:00.001-07:00

I woke up Thursday with an incredible headache and a mysterious pain in my knees. I think I was running down the stairs of the tube station too fast. My parents were dead asleep even after I got back from breakfast. After loading myself with as much food and liquid as possible to fight my hangover, my parents began waking up and I went back to sleep. I woke up around noon and they had gone on another sight seeing excursion. I went skating at the BaySixty6 skatepark again and met a British bloke named Simon. I also met two brothers from Las Vegas who were in London on Holiday as well. The younger one was 13 years old but he felt so much younger than the 12 year old who has been coming to the skatepark to watch and chat with the skaters this week. It feels like kids in London mature much faster than America. My dad says its just city kids but I believe that something about the American way of raising children in general. I skated with Simon for awhile but he wasn't a true rollerblader. On and off skater who doesn't seem to enjoy the sport half as much as me and my friends from home. I hanged out with him for a few hours after skating anyways and learned how to imitate his accent and picked up some british slang words like bare, buff, and brass. I don't know why they all start with a B when the British don't even bother pronouncing constants. We tried looking for a party but most of the kids our age were busy with finals. We took tube to his house, ate some food, watched a skate video, and I went home in search of some alternative form of entertainment. Got back to the hotel and spent some time on the internet trying to figure out what to do and decided I should just go to downtown to explore the night life. This turned out to be a little of a disappointment since everyone was much older than myself and much better dressed. I felt far too out of place to enjoy myself and took the train back. On the walk from the tube station, I picked up a 4-pack of italian beer and was enjoying it all to myself surfing the web in the hotel room until the parents came home. My mom joined me in the beer drinking and we went to sleep. Didn't take any pictures today. The London weather is starting to get to me.

The Legendary Peter Bunter (Pics soon)

2007-06-15T04:03:00.001-07:00

Wednesday night we visited Leo's long time comrade, Bunter. He has been taking care of my dad since he was about my age.

We caught the train again.

We brought him three 4XL Tall tees from Foot Locker because UK Foot Locker doesn't sell shirts his size. On his front door window was displayed a shirt we gave him last time we visited and a sign that read "Bunter's T-Shirt Museum". The small print of the sign on his door read "Entrance fee: 1 new T-shirt (family discount)"

Once inside he handed me what I swear was the best beer of my entire life and put me to work on cleaning chairs for us to sit on while we barbecued outside. I enjoyed the work after being unemployed for almost two weeks.

Everyone helped with the cleaning but I don't think cleaning could ever help tame the jungle that Bunter calls home.

His backyard was a bicycle heaven/eden with endless bicycle parts. His collection has shrank since our last visit 6 years ago but it's still quite impressive.

We drank a lot of beer. Here is a picture of my dad posing with his bottle of Hobgoblin.

We barbecued with the aid of some highly advanced technology.

The night was a blast and I feel Bunter helped our family bond by forcing us to be perfectly honest with each other.

Then we drank some more and his lodger, Kurt, showed up to join the party.

After this point the night became quite a blur but I do remember Bunter describing the time he had to carry Leo and his friend out of a bar for picking a fight with Scottish guards. Maybe they were Irish. Who knows? Leo surely doesn't. Bunter walked us out in the tattered remains of the shirt he recieved from us during our last visit. Unlike the shirt, we made it home in one piece.

More Skating (First Video Post!)

2007-06-14T04:59:00.000-07:00

Woke up real early on Wednesday morning to enjoy the great breakfast our hotel offers. Afterwards, geeked out on the internet and got some good suggestion for places to see in Florence, Italy from a friend who just finished a semester abroad there. Now I just have to convince my mom to go to Florence for a couple of days on the Italy part of our trip.
You wouldn't believe it but I got a haircut too. No point in posting a picture because it still looks the same. Parents went to the skateshop next door and rented some rec skates with the cute little brake pads in the back. I think it only made them wish they had their own skates even more. They skated over to the XBox skatepark with me to take pictures and videos.

Lazy Tuesday

2007-06-13T01:16:00.000-07:00

I slept like 10 hours and woke up bright and early for free breakfast. It was the best free breakfast I've ever had. They served everything except hot water for tea. Afterwards I hoped on the lobby computer and started putting together this blog. I made a lot of posts but didn't quite catch up. The parents took a walk to another park in the area and I went back to sleep again. After I woke up I continued working on the blog but still didn't catch up. We agreed to meet at the hotel at 4:30 to visit a friend so around 2 o'clock I skated over to Bay Sixty6 skatepark again for a quick hour of skating. I got lost on the way there and started asking the locals how do I get to the skatepark. I felt like they were leading me away from where I was going and I tried to make sure its the same one I was looking for with one of the locals and he said "Yea its the only one around here just follow the street until it curves at the park and cut through the park". I guess in London everything is smaller and around here has a much tighter definition because I ended up at a different park.

The guys at the park looked like some old school skateboard shredders so I didn't bother skating it. They had some funky London Punk hairstyles too and were smoking some nasty smelling weed.
I finally made it to the park and this time I remembered to bring my wax. Since I got lost I only spent an hour there before I had to go back to the hotel. I met with the parents and we caught a train to Woking to visit our family friend, Olga. The same one who dropped us off at the hotel.

In Woking, I saw a Skyline. I told the guy I love his car and he said thanks and smashed off.

Olga's apartment was really cozy and there was a small lake for us to walk around right before sunset.

Cannons, Animals, Sights, Guinness, and Underground

2007-06-13T00:40:00.000-07:00

Monday morning we went to downtown by foot. It's probably about two miles but it took us two hours because we were following my dads lead and he wanted to hit every backwards alley humanly possible. Of course, I took it easy on my skates. We started by walking through Hyde Park again and came across the noon gun salute.

If ear plugs weren't invented before cannons, they were definitely invented at the same time. In this last shot, I tried getting ahead of the cannon line to take a picture of the smoke and got knocked off my feet taking this picture. Right after, I got bothered about my wheels for the first time. I pretended to be foreign, nodded, and smiled dumbly. Nearby there was a monument to Animals in War that I liked.

A little ways down the street was a rich neighborhood. I don't know why I took this picture but there's a Bentley in it.

We found this nice little alleyway to stop and have lunch.

We stopped at the park and had a smoke.

We went to some historic square in downtown and I decided to jump around.

We walked to Thames river and I took a couple of pictures from the bridge. West and East.

Afterwards, we headed to the pub for a nice pint of Guinness.

My parents headed to see Monty Python's Spam-a-Lot in the Theatre District and I went to catch the tube. I was so lost in the station but three 17 year old girls helped me figure things out. I was a little tipsy when I got back to the hotel and tried asking our receptionist about night life in the area. She didn't seem to understand English very well and I bet my American accent didn't help any so I just called it an early night.

Bay Sixty6 Skatepark and Henry VII pool

2007-06-12T05:27:00.000-07:00

Sunday Night: I found that there is a decent "indoor" skatepark nearby. It used to be called the PlayStation Skatepark until XBox bought it and renamed it BaySixty6. Supposedly part of it burned down a few months ago and just yesterday they reopened the section that burned down. The part that didn't get burned down was pretty fun but the part that got rebuilt looks like something out of a video game. It didn't make any sense. There were a few rollerbladers but nobody to buddy up with for some good ol' street skating. Everyone was really friendly, even the skateboarders. I noticed there was a posting up for inline skate lessons being taught by someone named Emma. I asked the two guys working, Todd and Matt, what her deal was and apparently she used to be sponsored or something. Todd volunteered her number to me but I thought that would be a little wierd and I didn't have a phone of my own anyways. Next time I go to the park, I'll ask to use his phone to call her. The guys also gave me a tip to go check out the area across the river from the Embankment station. They said there would be some rollerbladers there.

After I got back to the hotel, I went to the pool and felt like a king. The pool water is really clean so I could open my eyes under water without feeling that oh-so familiar chlorine burn. There was a sauna too. I didn't have tokens to operate it but it was still hot from the last user. I got real comfortable in there and almost fell asleep if I hadn't been awakened to an elderly lady coming in.

Hyde Park

2007-06-12T02:29:00.001-07:00

On our block there is a skate shop. It's not much but it's better than nothing.

Atleast they were able to tell me where I can buy some heel supports for my skates. We followed their directions and bought some and for the first time I put on my skates in London. We head over to Hyde Park where I see more recreational rollerbladers in one hour than I see all year in Alameda. No joke.

My dad puts on my skates and saves himself from falling quite gracefully.

Stroll through the hood and Greek lunch

2007-06-12T02:15:00.000-07:00

After checking into the hotel. I took some photos of the scenery from our fifth floor room.

Afterwards we took a stroll around the neighborhood and ended up at nice Greek place. After 1 meal of airport food and 2 meals of airline food, this place was a piece of heaven. The dishes were beautiful too.

Smoking cigarettes and drinking beer in a nice restaurant is a luxury without comparison. It's only my first experience but I'm going to miss it when London goes smoke free on July 1st. Hippies.

First Flight

2007-06-12T01:26:00.000-07:00

Intentionally, I slept the minimal amount before my flight Saturday morning. My brother suggested we take some pictures at the skatepark before the plane.It was a good oppurtunity to test out the new skates so he gave me a lift to the park. I only got to skate for 20 minutes but he took some great pictures and I discovered my skates were missing heel support. When we got back, I packed some last minute items and went to the airport. We had great seats on the flight with plenty of leg room. I fell asleep almost immediately after take off but got woken up for snack time. Some sort of pretzel substitute for peanuts. I ate the peanut sized pretzels and went back to sleep. Half hour later, I got woken up again for dinner. After dinner, I couldn't fall asleep again so I stayed awake for the whole flight. I should have been pounding free beers but for some reason didn't. The white wine on the plane was pretty tasty. The concourse (thingy connecting plane door to terminal) was broken so we took a bus ride through the airport.

We got picked up by our family friend and went to our hotel.

Last Minute Errands

2007-06-12T01:00:00.001-07:00

Friday, I woke up feeling like a normal human being again. I knew it was just the drugs but it was all the same to me. I went to Laney to have them mail my final transcript to UCLA. Went to my high school to pick up my high school transcript and took it to the Peralta District Office to have my IGETC ("I get Cs!") certificate mailed to UCLA. All thats left now is my parking application. Once all that was done, I dropped off my prescription and went to an excellent skate shop called Aggressive Mall in Mountain View. I spent about 4 hours there chatting with other skaters, shopping, putting together my new skates, and skating the rails in the back of the shop. I bought a nice shirt for the Vatican which said "THANK GOD FOR SKATING" in huge shiny gold letters, one line for each word. Since I got carried away at the shop I didn't make it back in time to pick up my prescription and had to go to Oakland Kaiser and talk to them. Finally got home at around 8pm and enjoyed a nice last night with the family. Stayed up until 6 am packing for the trip and trying to take a preemptive strike against jet lag. I watched 28 Days Later too.

Week before depature(part 2)

2007-06-12T00:59:00.001-07:00

My sickness caused me to sleep in one to two hours bursts on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday night. A painfully swollen throat kept me from talking, eating, and sleeping. Three of my five favorite activities so I was pretty miserable. On Thursday morning, I woke up feeling exceptionally miserably so I scheduled an urgent care appointment for 4:10 pm. I got there at 3:45. Doctor saw me at 5:30pm. I'm a pretty patient person usually but the Alameda Kaiser building was over air conditioned and I didn't bring a sweater so after an hour I was cuddling with myself inside my shirt for warmth. When the doctor saw me he immediately knew what was wrong: Strep throat. GASP! He prescribed some antibiotics and told me to take benadryl for the pain until I pass out and sent me on my way. I was already drinking Theraflu religiously with ibuprofen, and dipping into my stash of vicadin for the pain. When I got home, I jumped into bed and tried to sleep but felt this great burning sensation all over my body so I threw off the blankets. I feel like I was still on fire and had my brother check my temperature. I was at 102 point something and I don't even remember last time I had a fever. Seriously.
My brother left for hockey and I kept checking my temperature every 10 minutes or so and it kept going up. By the time my mom got home it was 104.1. She got pretty scared and took me to the ER where I got prescribed even more drugs. Yay.

Week before depature

2007-06-12T00:11:00.000-07:00

So the next few posts are going to be like a prequel.
I'll admit that the going away party the Blurb gang threw me left me feeling pretty hurt. I was already feeling sick before EZ5 but the morning after felt more like general sickness than alcohol overdose sickness. Nobody believed me and said I was just hungover. Consequently, I avoided drinking the rest of the week. Except this one time. I ate breakfast and napped by the pool till mid afternoon.
Sunday morning, I realized I had a lot of money in my bank and only a week to spend it. No doubt, I got to work and took a couple of the younger rollerbladers from my town to Novato for a nice Sunday afternoon skate session. Felt sick the whole time but stayed medicated to keep my mind off it. When I got back I went to the park to watch some friends whack a softball with a metal bat and spin on the merry go round till we all got sick. Watched Shaun of the Dead. Great movie.
Monday, I tried telling my mother I wasn't feeling well and she jokingly asked if I was still recovering from my going away party. I recalled how I came home that night and broke something almost immediately so I shut up and didn't say anything more. I felt like I had a pretty nasty sore throat but I continued telling people I was just recovering from a hangover. I knew it was bullshit but I didn't want my friends to think I was sick. I was having problems breathing and swallowing but I couldn't let people think I was infectious quite yet.