corners

I searched through my dirty laundry for a pair of socks to wear to work today, and I realized it was time to visit my friend Leah who has her very own washing machine in her apartment. Vie Glücklich! So, started the day. The usual walk to Hauptbahnhof with Luke. We were actually a bit early. I was looking forward to a cappuccino for the ride, reading Lord of the Rings on the train. We arrived to find it was going to be late, which hasn't happened in a few months. So we took our time getting our coffees and pastries. I asked for a Quarktaschen, but but a Croissant...I ate it anyway. The bus to take us to school had already come and gone, so the teachers there conspired as to how to get to school, quite miserably, calling taxi companies and trying to get someone to take us to school. I told Leah I was tempted to get back on the train and head back to the city. A taxi finally came and we all crowded in. On the way, our cab drive drove rapidly through the tiny town of Starnberg, which prompted us to grab on to the "oh shit" handles as they are called in the South. Leah and I got a kick out of that. As soon as I arrived, I was asked to cover another class for the sub who was also late. I taught 2nd grade...count it! So began the day. At lunch, I ran into Leah again. We were both fixing salads and I suggested we eat outside for lunch since it's been fucking amazing out lately in Germany. That's when I brought up the laundry idea. So the day went on and we spent the afternoon making 16 puppets for the kids, which is incredibly hectic...I was about to say fun. But it wasn't really. Then my after school activity of mixed games, which was equally as crazy. They must be putting something in the Brez'n to make these kids act up so much. So, I caught the bus back to the Bahnhof to find that I had missed the train because the bus was late. I got another cappuccino and walked to the back of the station to have a cigarette. I felt like I was in high school again, sneaking off alone to have a moment of cool to myself, to enjoy my smug satisfaction and absorb myself with such thoughts. I thought about the anticipation I had of looking up and seeing someone I knew walking in the street. Some customer from the coffee shop, someone I had seen around campus or at the bar, but I couldn't convince myself how impossible that was. How far away I am from everyone rarely enters my mind. I rode the train home and listened to my German lessons while eavesdropping on the two old ladies talking across from me. I got home thought about the meal I promised to cook for Leah and realized that I really didn't want to. Sushi sounded better. So, I walked down the block to her house with my Santa Claus bag of laundry over my shoulder. I put in a load and we walked to find some sushi. During dinner we practiced our German and felt a bit dizzy as the conveyor belt, moving different food items around the restaurant droned past us. We decided to look for a local bar to practice our German in. She had stumbled across one earlier in the week. We walked around the Frauenkirche and towards Odeonsplatz, then back towards Marienplatz and the Viktualienmarkt. We found a place, not her place, though. We ordered beers and sat, smiling at each other at the little corner of our city we had found. With four people sat in the bar, one Italian man practicing his own German, and us listening, understanding most of it. Then, the bartender lit up a cigarette, defying the Smoking Ban in Munich. The Italian man offered us a cigarette and we sat, smoking, speaking German about who we are and where we came from and what we do. Another adventure. Another corner discovered that couldn't be found sitting in my apartment.