I’ve gotten used to the constant underscore of a language I don’t know, whirring by like a subway underneath me as I walk on the familiar sidewalk above it. I don’t know what any of it means but I can recognize some vibrations: the occasional vibration.

My buddies, their celebrity couple name is MaNoble, they invited me to dinner with their German friend (returning from Atlanta) and we went to a place called Bok and ate Japanese. You see, it was on Thursday that I was able to finally clear up the rooming situation and book a place through AirBnB.

Our reservation for November, which was affordable and on the perfect side of town, cancelled on Monday. And I spent the next three days scouring, out of all the options, for the best situation (location + price).

At long last, I booked a place for ~$850 bucks, which was more than we wanted to pay, but here we are.

On the way to dinner, Nobie and I saw a passport photo booth in the train station. She needs her passport photos taken for a specific assignment, so we went into the booth that 7 euros (SEVEN EUROS!) was left in the machine. 5 pictures cost only SIX EUROS so we went for it. Only to realize that the reason the money was left was because our benefactor put in the money to see the flash didn’t work, and left. So we took Nobie’s picture with our own flash from our camera and hoped it would work.

It will not be suitable for her passport photo, but it IS a hilarious 5 pictures that harken back to Blair Witch Project.

I was going to go out of town and meet MaNoble in a neighboring town, Lüneberg, but I slept in (don’t ask me how long, okay 2pm) and didn’t get going until 3pm, at which point Thomas asked me, “are you leaving because I am home? Because you always leave when I get here.” To which I rebutted “Oh no. It’s just because I just got out of bed.” #Funemployment swagger.

I ended up staying at home with Thomas and drinking beer. But before that I went to the bookstore in Ohlsdorf. That’s when I discovered Ohlsdorf. It’s an adorable neighborhood/subway stop just in City Nord (the North City) and it is charming and cute and I just loved it. I found it because I google-searched the bookstore.

I needed coffee and so I wondered up to Ohlsdorf for… no reason? Oh yes, looking for a coffee shop. I saw an open cafe with a threatening row of cheesecake from outside. Cheesecake means coffee.

The barista flicked a dead bee off of the counter as I ordered. I was still charmed.

I told Thomas to wake me up by 11am. He knocked at Noon and I made myself sit up on the couch and play solitaire, my rebellion against wakefulness. He told me to take a shower to help me wake up. I did and I broke the shower head off. They don’t swivel or adjust here. You have to take them off of the thingy. I don’t know but I broke it.

I left the house only to go to get a cappuccino and then walk through the Cemetery with Thomas. It was more than a cemetery, it was a beautiful park where several groups or couples lingered throughout the languorous trees, shedding leaves like I’ve been shedding hours off of daylight from oversleep.

We traipsed along the water and I got some good pictures before we returned. The sniffle was coming in strong by the time we got home and I was grateful for tissue and the fact that I got out.

I’m at the mercy of my host, Thomas, who is letting me stay for free (in his bedroom) as he slumbers on the couch. He says he can sleep anywhere because he was in the army. I can’t sleep anywhere but I’m logging lots of bizarre dreams now that everyone in them is a matter of a continent away.

Yesterday, I broke his showerhead. I thought I could tilt it up. I could, in fact tilt it up, but not before snapping it and watching a steady stream flow over my head like a rainbow and dousing the adjacent wall.

So we bought a new one today to the tune of $50.

There was no jaunt to the local hardware store. It was a bus, subway and walk away and then it was figuring out what pieces we needed. It’s not A) buy a new showerhead. It is A: figure out what pieces we need, new hose, new nut trivet thing, and new head. They were all the size 1/2. Now it just perches on the shower head facing the opposite wall. It doesn’t quite fit but he says it is fine. Why do I fuck up shower heads? In the US, they swivel. Here you have to pull it off of the wall and wave it around yourself, I guess? I get that it’s a faster way to bathe your whole body but why can’t the damn thing be content to stay on the wall and SWIVEL.

I ate nutella and pretzels for dinner. Then I drank a beer. Myocardial Monday.

But I did walk for 2 hours today so I am less concerned? How long does this excuse work?

On Saturday I found my local coffee squeeze. It is called a “backerai” and

I know two things: it is open on Sundays, it is cheap, and the barista douses it in cacao powder and I like it. It reminds me of being in Italy and I like that, too. Yesterday I watched wasps positively swarm around the donuts in the afternoon. The door to the shop was open and I felt like I was being pranked because no one else noticed or cared. Thomas came to meet up and he told me “this is usual” and I thought “now get out of here. get right out. The FDA would swarm on that shit, too.”