Performed the Saturday thing and went to Munich. Yesterday was a nasty rainy day, but the sun is shining today, cooperating with my plans. The S-Bahn into Munich races through green countryside and village scenes until gradually things turn slum, every flat surface getting graffitied over, and then finally it has had enough and plunges underground and stays there, beneath the streets of Munich. There is a transitional period from countryside to city in which brightly graffitied walls peek out from behind layers of trees and hanging vines, like some sort of ancient Mayan ruins.
I was alone this time and wandered off course into the Turkish part of town. But after a while I started finding the places I was after, clothing stores, second-hand stores, shoes stores, etc. No Lamborghinis or Versaces this time. Saw a cool pair of bright red shoes for only 25 Euros. Tried them on, hmmmed, walked around in them, left the store, came back. They were cool, but a bit Ronald-McDonald, and after a while I decided I would get a pair of purplish Kangaroos which were a little more subdued. But they didn't have it in a size large enough for my big American feet so I'll have to find them elsewhere.
Moving on, I found a righteous pair of orange-lensed sunglasses for 5 Euros and snapped those right up. They will be my inside sunglasses, since it seems like my contacts give me terrible problems if I don't shield my eyes somehow. Especially when programming...I've taken to wearing glasses all the time at work now because it got so bad.
There was a neat poster shop near the Hauptbanhof with lots of art posters. I had decided I would start decorating my room a little, as it looks like a monk's cell or something. It is also the smallest room of the 7 in Startlodge. Before I came, a Korean lived in this room, and it's just the kind of cell a Korean guy would not mind living in.
By this time I was getting pretty hungry. I ended up breaking down in front of a self-proclaimed "Tex-Mex" place, and got myself an enormous cheeseburger. This thing was epic. It had everything in it, and then some other stuff like chili peppers and cucumbers and what-not. It was a dribbling mess, falling apart as I ate it, just the way they should be. At this point two blonde American sorority girls walk in this little joint, no doubt attracted to the words "Tex-Mex" like moths to a porch light, and ordered tacos. They didn't make any attempt to ask the lady behind the counter if she spoke English, they just started right in with it and expected that they would be understood.
They left, and I decided to catch up with them. Indeed, they were Americans as I had guessed, two girls from Boston touring Europe after graduating from college. I had't talked to an American in three weeks. Back home cute sorority girl-types make me nervous anyway, and with these two it was even worse; I was a bumbling fool and they eventually went off in another direction.
What did we have in common anyway? These two were tourists, just barely skimming the surface, and I a person who has plunged in head-first by comparison. The only German word they knew was "Danke." Of all things, "thank you," as if they had ever once said those words in English and actually meant it. Watching them order their damn tacos made me feel guilty, guilty to be an American over here and inflicting my native tongue on people, but they probably didn't think a thing of it. They were from the mightiest nation in the world, and they were ::::sorority girls::::. I cannot imagine any greater display of disdain, of utter contempt.
Well I suppose that's what I get for breaking down and having a cheeseburger. Next time I won't give in to my weakness.
But enough of this, the day is just beginning. It is still sunny, so I think I'll take my bike for a ride out in the country. Tonight the few of us Startlodgers who are around for the weekend are going to the pubs in Munich. A busy day!
Posted by Alan at May 8, 2002 04:30 PM