Haircut

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[listen to Uncle Tupelo - Graveyard Shift]

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Forgot to mention that I had my hair cut last night. Michelle and Esther, thank you so much! It really doesn't look so bad at all. Feel sorry about Esther - she cut her finger.

Was happy to see the first real snowfall yesterday night. Made a baby snowman at Helen's, who had made an excellent red bean soup. Xie xie!

Philadelphia

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21 days of pure, unsalted American life.
Body and mind?
Still ok.
I think.

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Preliminary remark.
Face it. Blogging is for people with too much time on their hands. Unfortunately, I am in no such position… So, my dear readers, I trust you will excuse me for being at once late with and incoherent in my writings.


Made a very nice trip to Philadelphia last saturday. Almost arrived late for the bus, weren’t it for my roommate Ben, who woke me in the middle of a (irrelevantly saucy) dream. Ate a banana, took two Perdolans to lighten my hungover head and off I went.
A little over an hour later, Philly greeted us with its impressive skyline. (Thought this sentence would suit a travel blog.)


China, Mexico, Japan and me went straight for water (the consequence of the party I will talk about later) and lunch in a lively roof-topped food market. I loved it, for some reason. Loved the hustle-bustle, the activity, even the smell, and found myself surprisingly tolerant towards other people. I had one of those ‘intercultural’ moments, I think. Ate at a buffet with an elderly black women to the right, and Esther (China) to the left of me. Nice buffet. Nice conversation. Nice, happy Esther.
Walked several miles (yes, miles) through the city. Philly is clean, with wide sidewalks and an overall spacious feel. The architecture is fascinating, even the historical buildings (which I always thought unconvincing copies of European models) impressed me. I got surprised several times; by subtle and funny decorations, by enormous paintings clad against blind apartment walls, by ‘postmodern’ art - which for the first time in my life didn’t feel displaced at all. I will try to put some pictures on this blog, some things just have to be shown.





Final destination of the walk was the Museum of Art, for which we arrived late. Didn’t bother me at all. I was still loving everyone and everything around me. (Might have to do something with those two Perdolans?) China and Mexico took some very nice pictures of Philly, standing on top of the stairs leading to the Museum of Art. By the way, those stairs reminded me a lot of that powerful scene in “Rocky”; can any of my well-educated readers confirm that it was actually shot in Philly?





Reunited with Japan and part of China, we went for dinner in Chinatown. Managed the chop-sticks fairly well. (To those who were present: I really did manage those chop sticks well. It was all acting.)


I’m getting too chronological again. You don’t like chronology, don’t you, reader?

Yes, I’ll talk about that party.
It was great fun.


By the way
Made vegetable soup the other day.
Tastes like vegetable.
It’s terrible.

looking = sucking?

(W.P.)

How does one see a thing better when others aren't there?

Is looking like sucking: the more lookers, the less there is to see?

Observations, conversations

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[listen to The Cure - Killing an Arab]

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Dear readers

Two observations for today.
One, it is extremely cold.
Two, the campus came to life.

About the latter:
It's funny all students wear Lehigh clothes. Can't imagine myself wearing a Katholieke Universiteit Leuven boodie without feeling slightly odd.
Most students are quite rich, too. There's a 35000 dollar tuition fee here, so it shouldn't have surprised me as much. But it did. Yesterday evening.
The campus is situated on a hill. Most university buildings are at the bottom of it, fraternities and sororities (student societies) are at the top. That's where the money is too. I was climbing my beloved Montclair Avenue for the fifth time that day, when three BMW's roared by, coming down from an uphill frat. Then a hummer passed, followed by a Mercedes, a Honda (I admit, doesn't fit the picture); then another BMW, two Chevrolets and a Bentley. The last BMW had screaming chicks inside, yelling "fuck you!" at passers-by. Wouldn't have bothered me, if it weren't for the cold and for the fact I just realised I was limping up my dear hill with a busted knee for nothing. Cursed the 'bitches'. Cursed the rich. Cursed America.

But I was quick to temper myself. The American is very friendly, too. He keeps the library open till 2 at night, and he gives me free software. He invites me to play in the university theatre. He offers me beer, and makes interesting conversations, of which an example:

- America: "You know, sometimes, they exagerate, don't they?"
- Me: "I don't know, never noticed a thing."
- America: "Yeah, that's what I'm saying!"

"no one conquers who doesn't fight"

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Still drunk from yesterday's beer.

first week

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[listen to: Absynthe Minded - I Am a Fan]

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Friday night, fifth day in Bethlehem. Number 646 in Montclair Avenue finally starts to feel like home. Shopping cart in living room, dirt in kitchen, beer on table, more beer in fridge. Didn't think I'd actually be living here upon first entering the house last monday night.
It's been a busy week. Lots of new things. Lots of impressions, which prevent me from making a clear image of what's been happening the past five days. Try and do so anyways.

Monday. Had a nice flight, talked to a home-educated sixteen year old from Maryland most of the time. Quite interesting. Passed New York City by night; magical experience, almost gave me an orgasm! Could also have been my bladder exploding. Some friends picked me up at the airport, where I met my fellow-countrymen and housemates Ben and Wouter.
Tuesday. Woke up too early after a bad night's sleep. Couldn't wait to see Bethlehem by daylight. Made first walk through the city and noticed how steep Montclair Avenue actually is. (Our house is right at the top of a 25% hill - not joking!) Walked through Lehigh University campus site for the first time, which I didn't expect to be half as big. Later on the day we met up with Geoff, who was in Belgium last year. Ended up drinking beers - lots of them. Resulted in interesting discussion, with one American vividly suggesting a very 'practical' solution for the 'Iraque problem', which I won't bother with repeating here.
Wednesday. Another bad night, but woke up in an extremely happy mood. Spent all day with the other international students at Lehigh. Very nice day, met some very nice people. Invited all the students to our house and had some pizza. Again ended up drinking beers. Hilarious moment: Himanshu, an Indian student, forgets to hold his beer and baptises our carpet.
Thursday. Good night's rest, the jetlag finally started to vanish. Visited the library and ate pizza for the fifth time on a row. Walked a little through South Bethlehem with Myrna from Mexico, in search for coffee. It got very cold and dark at the end, so we went back to our house and had some pizza. Washed clothes for the first time of my life - turned out quite well.
Friday. Felt so good I thought I'd try out Lehigh's gym. Overestimated myself; muscles hurt. Arranged some practical things for university and must say I'm getting excited about classes.
Today. 11 in the morning. Wondering why I'm such a slow writer. Just spent an hour remembering what I'd been doing this week.