Moving on

Well, I'm traveling again. Although I guess I never really stopped traveling, spending so much time in one place (Holland) began to feel more like home than adventure.

I'm writing from a bus. It's 7:55 am and we are currently driving through Hamburg, Germany. Like the majority of the world I've only read about Hamburg in history books, so I feel a thrill of excitement driving through it in real life.

Yesterday was my last day in Sittard (where Freek studies). Freek and I hung out and then a big group of his friends (and mine now too) came to his apartment and we all ate dinner. They bought me a few farewell gifts and then walked me to the station. It was pretty amazing being escorted out of Sittard by 10 or so people. I'm very lucky to have met them and I hope/plan to see them again.

We got to the station with plenty of time to spare (so we thought). I needed to be in Utrecht by 11:55 to get my bus and it's a 1:44 train ride to Utrecht. I was fully committed to not repeating the Poland fiasco.

Well, we said our goodbyes, doing the usual rounds of hugs etc. And then we noticed my train (which we thought wouldn't leave for two more minutes) was closing up it's doors and preparing to leave. So, my last half a minute in Holland was spent sprinting toward the one open door, yelling desperately for the conductors to have mercy and wait.

I made it and settled in for the ride. Then, I realized that the ticket Freek and bought me was a 'korting' (discount) ticket, meaning that I either had to be a student in Holland or I had to be traveling with a student. I was neither traveling with a student nor was I a student. It is possible to pretend to be traveling with a student, however, the last time I tried this I ended up getting kicked off the train, so I decided honesty was the best course of action. I found the train conductor and explained the situation. She was sympathetic and said it would not be a problem. And so I was on my way.

I arrived in Utrecht without further incident. I had an hour and five minutes until my bus was scheduled to depart. I spent almost all that time walking around trying to find where the bus was supposed to depart from. I asked four or five different people and got four or five different answers. Finally, in a rare act of brilliance, I decided to read the bus stop signs. It turned out I had walked by the EuroBus stop four or five times. A common mistake, I'm told.

Almost immediately upon arriving at the stop I struck up a conversation with a man from Somalia. He was a bit intoxicated, but very open and kind seeming. Soon we were joined by a man from Afghanistan Both men were no longer in their countries of birth.

It was pretty amazing to have a real conversation with these two men. I'm a bit embarrassed to say this but the man from Somalia was the first black person with whom I've had any real substantial conversation. They were taking the same bus as me and we ended up riding together.

Me and the man from Afghanistan talked quite a lot. He was very open and extending. At first I wasn't sure how it would be considering the whole fact that my country is occupying his country and his countrymen are killing and being killed by my countrymen. But it turned out to be no problem. As he said, “Every man has a mother”.

Still, it's hard to reconcile the fact that guys from America, my beloved country, are fighting men from Afghanistan, his beloved country. And there were sat on a bus going through Germany talking and sharing food.

Anyways, the ride was pretty amazing. It turned out there was another man from Somalia on the bus, we all shared our food and talked. At one gas station the man from Somalia bought us all drinks. He explained that the custom in Somalia is that the first one to get to the counter pays for everyone else.

I slept a few hours, however, it wasn't the best sleep I've ever had. The bus seats aren't all that comfortable and it was crowded. My friends got off in Hamburg, so for the next hour or so I'm on my own. I will be in Kiel, Germany for four days. Tonight I am staying with friends of the German couple that I met in India. I don't really know where I'm going, I have their address and their names but nothing else. So I guess there is another adventure coming up.

Anyways, I will post this as soon as I can, and I will try to keep everything up to date.

Heina!