Sleepy Mornings

Work finished a little less than a week ago, and even before then, I was waking up at ungodly hours and rushing out of home. Which all means that I'm traveling again. Or wandering, maybe. Because traveling should be when you leave home, do something fun, and come back to it again. But I'm not coming back to Lyon to live.

I've spent this entire year leaving Lyon, and then coming back. Life would be exciting for a weekend, a week maybe, and then it would be me and my messy desk in the kitchen at home, me walking across the courtyard to work, me in my (stiflingly) hot office trying to focus despite the crazy May heat. But now I'm not coming back.

I'm not coming back to Chicago, even. Not really. My current travel buddy is a good friend from Chicago. He's not even living there, anymore, but I'll visit him towards the end of the year, just like I hope to visit all my old friends (old here means "from college", because that's how it is. I've known them for a while, now.) And on my way, I'll be sure to see my old city. But just to pass through. And that's alright.

So what this all means is, I've got my big pack, and a bunch of satellite stuff. Bulgy computer cases of tea and presents, a huge "eco-friendly" reusable grocery bag with my alpine hat, a whole bouquet of bags with my extra clothes. Makes me wonder where it all came from. And these satellites are spinning off piece by piece. The bags went to my dad, a computer bag will go to my friend, another friend will grab the hat, maybe . . . and I'll be left with my pack, and a computer bag of presents, which will be my life in Lyon, condensed to a small residue. For almost three months.

And I'm not complaining. I'm really not. It's bitter-sweet to look back, and exciting to look forward. So now I'm sitting in front of my computer, and I have a chance to look back a little bit.

We're in Berlin now. We're staying at a friend of my friend's, a really cool German guy who's lived in Berlin for the past few years. He knows so much about everything, especially about how the city has been trying, a bit chaotically, to piece itself back together again since the fall of the Wall. So we wander, and we hang out. We've seen palaces and gardens. We've eaten kebabs, the universal, and cheap, German street food. Last night, we heard the Berlin philharmonic from the choir's seats, which are right behind them. Two Japanese ladies went to the concert in kimonos, which was pretty cool.

It's a lot of experiences. It's fun. I'm looking forward to the rest, and not yet noticing that I don't have anywhere to "go back" to.

Well, I will next year in California!