here and now

"Not all those who wander are lost," Tolkein

Festivals

Somebody somewhere planned out this summer really well. I made it to Germany for the end of the World Cup, then went to Pamplona and on the way there or back could have seen the Tour de France. Before I forget let me tell ya that the fireworks that they had in Pamplona were incredible, best Ive ever seen and they have them every night for week, its crazy. Anyway I made it back into France in time for Fete National which is their France day, then I stopped in Avingon for a huge theatre festival by accident. So far Ive met people from all over Europe, North America, Korea, Australia and there were a ton of people from Mexico in Spain.
So Ive enjoyed German hospitality that I could have never gotten from a hostel, hung out with a bunch of crazy folk from Scotland, Mexico, Ireland, and the US. One night me and a guy from Australia slept in a really small schoolyard in Hendaye France, in Marseille I played cards with some Canadians and two Swiss girls, and the next day got a ride from the Canadians to Avingon, and today Im going to a wedding forthe guy that I helped move a few weeks ago. Sunday we are going to Ruggan, which I horribly misspelled just now, a famous German island for a week of camping. Hopefully I can keep my new camera stabilizer dry.

pictures of bulls actually running

see all the people, they are way scarier then the bulls
chant to san fermin for a blessing
the smoke is from the first rocket meaning the bulls are loose
here they come and the smoke is from the second rocket saying they are all on the way
now i thought there were 6 bulls and i think there were on the day i ran but on this day there was 12
pandemonium after they are past
here they load a guy into the ambulance who is lying on his stomach on the stretcher. i dont know what happened but guessing is kinda fun
new pamplona from the hill where the arena is and most of the old city, and thats just a small pic of new pamplona, they call it a really small city anyway

the day after i ran, when i watched

okay to make sure this gets posted ill break it up a bit, captions are under the pics and click on the pics to see the full size

this is where the bulls wait, its pretty small and i hear they get kinda angry in there
another pic of the pit
the gate
this is the square where me and a whole bunch of other people waited, the bulls come from the left of the pic
this is looking towards where come from and behind me and to the right is the arena
thats the arena in the background

here is where most people get hurt including the american who was paralyzed, the bulls that ran are already put in their pens and these are bulls they send out one at a time for the crazy people to play with. i didnt actually go into the arena when i ran cause they control how many people get in and i was way way up the street that was blocked off as soon as the bulls went past. plus travelling alone i had no interest in increasing my odds of injury
thats my sash wrapped around my arm and the pic was actually taken in Marseille France

the day i ran (kinda)

the street i was on when they ran past without trampling me
see the kids on the far right sitting on a fence well the fence went from there to the street corner on the left (the white building) and they remove it after the run, this was where i would have jumped the fence had the bulls been coming straight for me which they didnt
looking towards where the bulls come from and the previous picture is behind me, this is where i stood until i could see the bulls
this is where everyone has to wait until 745am and then they can go to other points along the run, if they go too soon to the other places the police will kick you out. they also close the gates to this run area at 730am so if you sleep in youre outta luck, the run itself only starts at 8am
a really cool irish guy took this pic, he had never run before either and so we kinda stuck together

Change my shorts

I finally used a real washer to wash my clothes and undershorts and then it stalled a bunch of times so hopefully everything is clean. I heard yesterday that my parents sold a house so I assume there is someone else living in my childhood home by now. Oh and my dad got a job so thats really good news, i hope life settles down for my parents soon its been quite the stressfull few months. I posted some pics earlier but they were from way back so Ill be posting more soon dont worry.
Theres something about going an a really long train or bus ride that makes a person want to document exactly how long everything takes to prove to everyone we have incredible endurance. So instead of talking about that Ill share something I wrote during one incredibly long wait in a really hot and smelly train station in France where nobody spoke my language and I was really hungry and tired and probably smelled aweful.

my favorite toys - ipod and digital camera
most useful - bike
most annoying - bike
most useless - sweater
wish i had right now - peanut butter
heaviest - bike and tools
favorite clothes - shorts and a button up shirt
dirtiest - the same
wish i had - unlimited library at my finger tips
wish i knew - spanish, french, russian, german
could know the quickest - french
thing besides food i will probably buy next - flip flops
thing i want the most - a shower
hours waiting in train stations on this trip to spain upwards of 16

pictures with words

i havent updated for while and www.fotothing.com/afoolproofplan only lets me load 10 in a day so here are a bunch of pics from the world cup party thats Inga and me sitting on a couch
Thore sitting on the same couch
Max and me rejoicing that Italy won, not really but kinda
Mareike and Svenia self portrait (the only boring normal faced one, but they deleted the rest)
Max and Thore Welt Masters
random German pride

two the women of my life

because of one i am and have the other
to mom and her daughter

sorry the time for this has past
i hope these will not be the last
days to mark your births
and poems for your mirth

five and twelve i did not know
nor time of day but for the tower
this the week that follows
a visit not in my power

slowly this poem has gone
from inspiration to putting on
here it shall charm no more
and peacefully fall to the floor

i love you girls very much, mom a little more for she bore me in her belly but melissa almost as much cause she can make my belly hurt with laughter.

simpler down there

im not sure there could be anything better then this right here right now. its 11:30, 20 degrees outside but it has that nice warm clean feel, not humid, and im listening to old greg mcpherson, without a shirt on i might add. today was good, really really hot, but good. i fixed my bike again cause the other night i searched out another skatepark and popped a tire within 20 min of getting there. (note for other bikers, tubes in Germany are expensive 6 euro). after fixing my tire i biked downtown (about 3km) to look for a cheap shirt, then raced back for 6pm. when i got back max was already eating some supper so i joined in then we left right away for his parents house about 15km away. we made it there in about 35 min just in time for haircuts from a friend of the family. after our trims we did some handstands and then ate supper again before biking home.
last night we went to a football party, well it was 5 girls and max and me. once again i wished i knew german but it was good anyway cause they were all really excited and loud, at least until italy scored and then scored again, crushing germanys hopes for the cup.

so i gotta go cause max needs his sleep and im right beside his bed but ill throw in one more mental picture.

on the way home tonight we took a detour down this road lined with dense green forest that broke out into some fields that were dotted with those ginormous windmill generators. it was picture perfect, the sun was setting, the fields were lush and green, and the blades of the generator were whooshing past.....thats right i said whooshing, the next time youre driving down the highway and you see one take the few minutes to stop and walk right up to it just to hear the whooshing.

little bike rider

I finally dialed in my bike, the brakes and chain needed adjustment, it has probably been the most usefull thing I brought cause we cycle everywhere. Of course it gets a lot of looks because everyone out here has mountain bikes or nice old stylish cruisers. Yesterday I rode around until I found the skatepark here, its pretty small and there was nobody there and not really any sign of bike riders but kinda fun anyway. Then in the late afternoon we watched (on tv) Germany beat Argentinia in a close match decided by penalty kicks. That evening was Mareikes brothers graduation ball which was a really good time even for me cause they let me dance. I may be terrible at it but I think Im getting better and its so much fun I dont really care how bad I am. Today we helped one of Maxs friends move and nearly all of the church young people showed up to help, which was good cause most flats dont have elevators and the one place was on the fifth floor and the other on the third. Tonight we go to Maxs parents by train to pick up a car for the weekend. I feel like writing something different at the moment but Ill have to save these thoughts till later I guess.