a change of perspective

Travel changes your perspective on yourself and on life in general. It is really disconcerting to step into another country in which you look like a foreigner, sound like a foreigner and everyone knows it. Its an interesting mix of imprisonment and freedom all at once. Its also a giant leap out of your comfort zone. Realizing that you are going to have to look and sound like an idiot whether you like it or not can take you down a notch. It's funny and frustrating and an experience like none other.

Switzerland, is full of bikes and Alps and cathedrals, at least Zurich was. Since I was bumped to an earlier flight (and got a free plane ticket and to sit next to a very fat man who had lived in Athens many years ago) I ended up having over 8 hours in Zurich.

I caught a train out of the airport which took me straight to the city. I walked tentatively out of the train station since I thought I might be in the middle of nowhere, but I was right in the heart of Zurich!

A beautiful river runs through the middle of the city and there are cobblestone street running everywhere else.

Bikes are free for residents of Switzerland to use and they are everywhere. Non-citizens can also rent one for free, but they have to put a down payment first. The weather was rather crisp, I suppose because of the proxmity to the Alps.

I wandered in and out of a few cathedrals, including Fraumünster Cathedral with stained glass windows by Chagall. I was so exhausted, it being about 3:00 am my time, that I fell asleep in Grossmünster Cathedral. I felt pretty safe taking a nap since it was a church after all.

I ate lunch on a bridge overlooking the river and a little old Italian man took a photo for me.

After wandering up the cobblestone streets I found a park overlooking the city. There were a bunch of men playing a giant game of chess! Some of the streets seemed to go straight up, and almost all of the buildings had flower boxes outside of their windows.

Mowgz

A few nights ago Mowgli was hit by a car. We didn't think she would make it at first, she was bleeding from her nose and mouth, but she's doing better now. She's moving around more and while she's still not eating or drinking much she is breathing better. We're praying she keeps getting better and like MJ says, she's a tough cookie.

windowtable

I finally finished it! It was a window; now it's a table. The pictures in the panes are from a bookstore in downtown Harrisonburg. Unfortunately I'm not very good at building furniture, so it's a little wobbly, but it's finished!

Annie

Annie's visit to Harrisonburg:

• Dave's
• riding bikes
• sitting on the porch
• ShitTaco
• The Magik Maker
• Matt's ridiculous wrong number
• sleeping on the porch
• Taco Truck

Just read Annie's blog post about it....it says it much better.

P.S. Annie, google "Taco Truck Harrisonburg"....your blog post is the listing!

harrisonburg sunsets

Harrisonburg has some of the best sunsets.

On another note; interesting reading:

• Fear and Loathing in Prison - The lives of inmates in Pocohantus State Prison. The link is to one of the posts describing what it feels like to be in prison. Pretty interesting.

• Gu.e - good writing, good reading.

progress

I told LittleNeighborBrian that we were all moving away. He said "what?!! why?"; I told him it was because we were all done with school.

I asked him what he had been learning in school; he said, "progress" and I ask him what that meant. He said "You're all done with school and you don't know what progress means? Sounds like you didn't learn nothing".

Brian wasn't too upset we were all leaving when I told him the girl who owned the Playstation would still be here.

stencil art

I keep seeing stencil graffiti in Harrisonburg; maybe they used to live in Knoxville. I was mowing the lawn and found one right outside our house.

Turned out it was our neighbor Derek and Sinnabun...