United States of America

San Diego

Alright, here it is. English speaking country – English blog entry.

After the comforting news of my luggage still being stuck in Mexico City and the guy at the lost & found telling me to “come back tomorrow”, Milan picked me up at the border (let’s call it the tortilla wall) and we drove to his apartment where I put on some of his shabby clothes (which turn out to be mine anyways – at least the pants he “borrowed” a long while ago). After that everything becomes quite blurry, because we got inappropriately drunk, after not having seen each other in like nine months.

I went back to the tortilla wall the next day, hitchhiked to the airport and after waiting for 13 hours which felt like ages (I bought and read an entire book in that time) my backpack arrives. The heavy weight of it felt like a huge relief to me.

The next day we hung out at the recreation center on SDSU campus, i.e. jacuzzi time. Woody (my buddy whose couch I crashed a few years ago when looking for apartments in Long Beach), Milan and I ran the town that night in San Diego. Big time.

Every now and then my friends and I like to listen to electronic dance music.

Los Angeles

That weekend Woody and I headed up to Westwood to hang out with Will (befriended back in 2010 at what will always be the best Cinco de Mayo ever) at UCLA. His apartment is where I based myself over the next few weeks to mostly chill, but also check for options to get to Asia and spend my time in a meaningful way there (more later).

It feels good to be back in a familiar environment – no hostels, no sightseeing and people that I’ve been friends with for years. Thus, the days passed quite unspectacularly; we hung out on campus and in bars becoming regular patrons at BrewCo. and Barney’s Beanery – the latter had me cheering for Bayern and Dortmund in the epic Champions League clashes against the Spanish teams in hope for an all-German final. 7-0! Everything has been said and written about it. What more can I add? I love that team and the games that start at 11.45am local time left me double p’ed: plastered and pleased. 

I watched these showdowns with Doug, Will’s German born American roommate, who took me to his classes on Modern Middle Eastern history and German. I also got to hold a guest lecture on colloquialisms in the German language which turns out to be more like a 20 minute talk – still very enjoyable to create a structured plan for a class and follow through with it. Feels a bit like the tutoring for undergrads I did back at University of Cologne. BrewCo saw me chanting the US national anthem in my US flag t-shirt on Karaoke night; much to the delight of the attending crowd.

Aggregate UCL semi-finals result: Germany 11 - 3 Spain

I also visited CSULB campus these days where I met former professors and caught up with my friends Andrew and Sebastian. I did day trips to Laguna Beach as well as bike rides (Will, your bicycle is awesome!) to Santa Monica, Mulholland Drive and the Hollywood Hills. On one of these occasions I visited an Apple Store to inquire about what I should do with my water damaged, cracked and Wifi-connection refusing iPhone. “Oh well, you’re out of warranty. No biggie. Here’s a brand new one to replace it. That’s only $150. Swipe your card right here.” I’m amazed by that kind of customer service. God bless America.

Santa Monica Pier

The Hills I

The Hills II

I count 28 white Chucks states. Nerver mind: Mericuh!

Mericuh!

Las Vegas

Self explanatory

I was invited to go with Eli on a Vegas trip. I met him a few weeks earlier in Nicaragua, an actor from LA, and he was going to Sin City to organize a bachelor party and had a few days to spare before that. For two nights we were booked into the latest fancy add-on to Vegas’ plethora of outstanding luxury resorts: The Cosmopolitan. This altogether being my fourth trip to Vegas, I knew how to sneak a few free drinks from the waitresses while pretending to be gambling on slot machines. Actually, I did spent quite some money on that damn DaVinci’s Diamonds game which generously had a $500 Christmas gift in store for me back in 2010 – not so much luck this time. Also, Doug had asked me to put a bet on red 23 at the first roulette table I came across. Done deal! I put a dollar down, but the dealer handed it back to me uttering the words: “$10 minimum bet inside the table”. I was flipping through my wallet for a bigger note when the aforementioned red 23 popped up on the screen that very instant. It was a feeling like I’d just been punched in the gut and I walked away, shoulders hanging. Doug, I failed you!

Mini-Oktoberfest at the Vegas Hofbräuhaus replica

Other than that: What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas…

However, thanks to Eli for letting me tag along on that trip. I also wish I could’ve stayed longer at your Bacon & Bourbon party that weekend, for I really like Bacon. And Bourbon. 

As night draws near..

Back in LA I sent out a few emails to volunteer organizations and made further plans for travels in Asia. When everything had been set up I bade farewell to the Westwood crew and soon after found myself on a bus up to San Francisco just in time for the weekend. Ready to kick it again with Milan, before I was to catch a plane to Hong Kong that next Monday – an award ticket on a direct 15 hour flight with United that I booked with my miles: $110 J

San Francisco

After an excruciating 7 hour ride, I made it to Milan’s crib in Oakland early Saturday morning, where I found him and his former San Diego roommate Kurtis still hung over from last night’s endeavors. While I was having a chat with Milan’s girlfriend Diamond over a coffee the two came back to life and after a while we made plans for the remainder of the day.

Ever since I first visited San Francisco I was meant to come back and ride a bicycle across the Golden Gate Bridge, just as I had done it a few years ago with my dad. Milan never really bothered about sightseeing since he moved out here, so he was happy I could show him around a bit. We eventually ended up renting bicycles at that very same place I went to last time and then rode the hilly streets of beautiful San Francisco. Quite challenging; particularly for weak and fragile Milan with these tiny pins of his.. :P

That afternoon we first went to Lombard St and watched the cars going down the curvy, almost spiral road and then took off with views of Alcatraz in the background to the Ghirardelli chocolate factory for some free giveaways to munch on. From there the road going by the bay leads us up to the bridge which we then crossed after having stopped for a ton of times to take that one “moneyshot”. Out there it was rather windy and cold and since two of us had decided not to bring any sweaters (smart move, guys) we pulled right into Sausalito and warmed up with a mug of coffee while waiting for the ferry to take us back to downtown SF.

Fünf

Go there for free chocolate!

Kurtisy of #KurtisFlirtus

The next day Kurtis left and Milan, Diamond and I went to a nice American diner style restaurant where plenty of Mexicans seemed to enjoy their Cinco de Mayo family gatherings over not so Mexican food. On the way back Milan must have run over a hedgehog when the New VW Beetle’s tire burst right there on the spot leaving us stranded on the shoulder of a freeway exit. After being confident to fix the problem rather quickly and replace the tire with a spare one from the trunk I realized that you need a special tool to release one of the six lug nuts on the car’s rim. “Yeah, I noticed the other day that we were missing that tool. I was going to replace it...” Nice! The tow truck arrived 3 hours after the 20 minutes the agent said it would take for it to arrive. We bought a twelve-pack and chilled at Milan’s. The next morning he left for work and I was packing up my stuff to catch a BART to the airport. Maiky’s on the road again. See you in another life brother!

These dudes wear shades to protect them from intense rays of... fog.