Sensory experiences of an occupation

It is night, it must be 3 or 4 am at least. And it is cold. We are all bunched together on the intersection right next to the occupation, and a drumcircle is playing. A drumcircle is always playing. The world could be going down but they will continue beating those drums until the ship has sunk completely. People are prepared for the worst. Everybody is wearing bandanas in front of their faces to protect against the media and against the teargas that they are expecting. Some people have gas masks on, or goggles, or both. I am standing in between all of this, bandana strapped in front of my face, a hoodie pulled over my head. It’s late, and I’m slightly tired, because I had no sleep the night before.

Choppers are hovering overhead, shining on us with big white beams of light. We are in between tall office buildings, and people are screaming protest songs. It feels like apocalypse. But it also feels powerful.

The reason we came was because the camp was in danger of getting raided again tonight. We are the manpower to make sure no aggression happens, and no mass arrests. The fewer people there are, the more dangerous it is. Supposedly.

The intersection we are on is called Broadway and 14^th street. On one side is the camp, which is almost empty. I don’t understand why we are not in the camp, to protect it. Somebody tells me that last time everybody who was in the camp got arrested. I don’t want to get arrested. I’ll lose my visa and get deported. All I want is that this camp stays intact, and that no useless violence happens. But it doesn’t seem very effective to protect the camp from outside the camp. We march in circles around it, and end on the square again.

Rumors are that the riot police is coming. They are preparing to cattle us. I don’t know exactly what cattling means in this context but I can imagine it perfectly well. Yet still, nothing is happening.

Suddenly, at the far end of one of the streets, we see a line of cops marching our way. And in the other street also, and the other street also. All around us, police in riot gear are steadily walking in our direction. They look so much stronger than us. I’m getting slightly freaked out, but one of the people I am with tells me that they have to give a warning first and give us a chance to leave before they arrest us. That’s a relief.

The crowd is rather passive tonight. Oakland is not a place for passive protests, that’s what we have San Francisco for. I’m not wearing a bandana for nothing. Oakland is supposed to have a critical mass of people willing to fight for their goals. The police are standing all around us, and we are blocked out of the camp.

This is just silly. Basically, the camp is taken in already. They won. Whoever is in the camp is on their own now. People are taking pictures of the police, and talking into them. There is one cop who is chewing gum and who keeps on smiling at whatever the protesters tell him. It seems really perverted. Here we are, in an intersection, surrounded by police. They have batons, and teargas, and they have used it before. We need an uproar to save the camp. But the police is just standing there, and nobody is doing anything but screaming insults. A friend I was with made a police man cry. The big waiting begins.

After an hour or so, the police move into the camp. On the intersection people are getting more aggressive, screaming “pigs” at the police, and asking them to let the people inside the camp go. Everybody in the camp is sitting on the floor, passively, and they are getting arrested, one by one. It’s a very sad view, especially since there’s nothing we can do.

I’ll go to more protests, I’ll protect more. This was a silly night, and no more of this should happen. It should be more strategic. More effective.

Tomorrow (or today) at 4 pm people are gathering again, and the camp will be reoccupied. “You cannot evict an idea whose time has come”.

Unfortunately I wasn’t ready, I was sleepwalking. The crowd wasn’t active enough. I walked back to the van and as soon as my head hit the pillow, I fell asleep.

More to follow.

Oakland General Strike

November 2nd is a day that will stay in my memory for ever.

It was a day of joy and drumcircles, and distopia and fear.

Last Wednesday I skipped my classes, and joined the Occupy Everything movement for a day to join the General Strike in Oakland, California.

It was one of the most beautiful things I had ever been allowed to witness.

Have you ever seen 10.000 people walk peacefully in a protest? People, young and old, of all colors and sizes, walking for a common purpose.

That day, the occupied square (that is normally called Frank Ogawa Plaza) was called Oscar Grant Plaza on Google maps, after an innocent black man that was shot there by the police a while back, in broad day light. This was the name the occupiers had given to the square.

It was a general strike, and whoever was allowed to strike by their unions, joined us at oscar grant plaza. There were places where the employers told their employees that they would fire them if they went on strike (such as supermarket branch wholefoods). In the morning they found their supermarkets tagged with huge graffiti letters saying "strike". It was reported that of all the teachers who were teaching that day, 25% called in sick.

I joined the movement at 4 pm. All day there had been marches to the banks, some windows were smashed,

but it had been generally peaceful. There was a flashmob where people sung "we will survive-capitalism" on

the I will survive-tune.

At 5, the biggest march started. It was a march to shut down the port of oakland, one of the largest ports in the united states, the place where all the goods (and thus capital) flows into the country.

It was beautiful to see this many people walk together peacefully, accompanied by live bands and honking of cars and trucks (not sure whether that was supportive-but hey-everybody cheered). Walking in

the crowds, singing occupy-songs, you couldn't see the beginning -nor the end- of this large human snake

pushing it's way through the four laned streets, heading for the ports.

The police was no-where to be seen (yet). Though we were quite sure that there were some cops in plain clothes amongst the crowds of protesters. They were dressed like hippies and looked really awkward and obvious.

We walked past a primary school where the children were outside on the playground screaming "occupy".

We walked and walked, and after about 40 minutes we reached the port of Oakland. At every exit a group of people remained behind to block the streets, to prevent cargo from coming in or out.

I walked on, together with my housemates and friends, and after about 1,5 hours we got to one of the last gates of the port and the remaining group of people, including us, put up our camp (or, sat down on the streets and blocked the entire intersection).

It was a confusing occupation, and a happy one. News from the other gates was brought to us by organizers on bikes, who would call a "mic-check". When they call mic-check, everybody repeats what this person says, resulting in a huge human microphone. It's a very strange method of conveying information, but seeing that there were about 300 people at our square it was kind of necessary. Rumors went about of riot cops being here or there, and about people getting hit by cars and ending up in a hospital. It was all very confusing, and we didn't know what to believe, so all we did was stay on the intersection and wait until the 7pm shift would come.

Every time a truck came, everybody ran and blocked the streets. A human barrigade, 5 lines thick, would stand in front of the trucks, and they would have no where else to go but to turn around.

In the meanwhile, while waiting, I painted my fingernails and toes, ate some apple with peanut butter (we didn't really think about packing propper food, so all we had was a jar of peanut butter and some fruits) and there was a danceparty in the middle of the square. It was bizarre, boring and exciting at the same time. A flock of geese flew over and everybody cheered.

At 9 we got the message that the port was effectively shut down, that the workers were sent home (but would still get payed for the night), and that we all ought to get back to Oscar Grant plaza.

So we walked. And instead of walking back those 1,5 hours through scary wide streets of the port, we walked the other way, close to the highway. And there was the police, hidden effectively from our views. They prevented us from going on the highways (not that we would ever want to do that) but did not cause us any more trouble. They just stood there, grimy looks on their faces, and we stared back as we walked by.

It was a peaceful day, and we had archieved our goal. It felt more like a festival than a strike, and whatever the news reported about this day, just know that it was generally peaceful-apart from some small incidents. Back in Oscar Grant Plaza we were tired and slightly lost, and hungry (peanut butter isn't all that filling) and a group of us (including me) decided to go home.

I texted a friend I was leaving and he answered that things were about to get bad. I was secretly completely aware of that.

In the car, 15 minutes on the highway on our way home, we got a text message from one of our housemates who was still there. "I'm in the occupied building. Police is shooting teargas. We're all still fine."

One of my housemates with an iphone checked the internet. She said that tires were set on fire on the streets. The riot police had turned off all the lights around Oscar Grant Plaza and were ready to take the occupiers out of the building. Two arrest busses were parked onto broadway. The media helicopters that had been hoovering above the site all day had left, supposedly to "get gas".

Basically, the riots had started.

This is when the fear hit us. Two weeks ago the same thing happened, just when the media left, things got bad.

Two of my housemates that were in the car with us decided to drop us off at home and go back to support the people who were still there.

When we arrived home we put on a live stream of the events at oakland, where 200 cops in riot gear were swarmed around the camp, standing side by side. Teargas was being thrown. A homeless man was shot by a rubber bullet, and he made the most painfully whincing noises i had ever heard a grown man make. A slogan of this movement is "this revolution shall not be televised". It's true. The traditional media do not give a good representation of the events. But we have the internet. And people with android phones filming everything, with thousands of people watching.

A person on the internet appropriately discribed the riots that evening as an 'apocalyptic dystopia with a drumcircle'.

We stayed up all night, watching the live stream, half wishing we were there to help, half happy we were not getting shot by rubber bullets and having to run from teargas all the time.

Two of us had a midterm on Tursday. They probably didn't do all to well.

My housemates came home safely the day afterwards. My friends were fine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=r4jYdCaHrjQ some footage of the people marching-taken from a chopper (100.000 people is a *bit* exaggerated I would say. But I think 10.000 is a reasonable estimate)

This is a small video I took while marching towards the ports

This is the end of this post, but not the end of the story.

And here is a video compilation I made of that day's events:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fQ6gLS2iqg

PLEASE WATCH THIS IT'S AWESOME:)

To be continued.

Animation for occupy everything

A small video I made in my animation class about the occupy everything movement.


With some super awkward running cycles because Flash failed on me so I had to use After Effects instead, which was really not ideal.

It's not perfect, but I like it:)

A slightly larger version can be found in youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Vn39l_XoOg

Weike

Occupy everything

Something happened yesterday which really upset me, and now I figured I should probably tell you something about it.

As you may well know, Wall Street is currently being occupied. And maybe you know, maybe you don't (though you probably do, because it has spread all the way to Maastricht already), but the Occupy movement has spread all over the United States, to where I live, in California.

The Occupy Everything movement is everywhere, even in the little town of Santa Cruz. It's very interesting how things work, how the movement is organized. Basically, all over the US, people are tenting in the financial districts of their town, attempting to overthrow the system that is benefiting so few, and making so many people suffer. It is interesting that this is happening here because I always saw the US as a hegemonic power where everybody is rich and fat and consumerist, before I got here. I thought they were the *cause* of all the problems, not that they actually suffered themselves. I thought wrong. Truth is: I have never seen so many poor people, homeless or otherwise, *anywhere* where I have been. The social security in this country is...not so good, to be subtle about it. I know quite some people who can barely get by, and that's not the barely get by that I see in the Netherlands, it's more serious here. When you have no money, that means you have no money. at all. And you steal things, or dumpster, or clean somebody's super disgusting kitchen for a very low amount of money. Quite some of my friends live off food stamps, and cannot get jobs. Santa Cruz is a very particular place in that respect, becaus it's a student town where the rents are high and the jobmarket is overflowed.

Anyway.

I feel rich here, even though I never really considered myself to be rich.

They say here "we are the 99 percent". 1 percent of the US population owns 40 percent of the capital, 1 percent is in prison (this is something that I cannot grasp...but I cannot believe how much of a police state this is, and for what kind of petty crimes you can get emprisoned-I mean: just spend that money on social security and everything will be better! But I guess that's a socialist tendency, and socialism is a dirty word here). I'm not American, so I can't count myself in one of these categories, but I am definitely not as disadvantaged as some of the people here.

Anyway, two weeks ago, I went to Oakland to occupy, in solidarity with the movement. And. Wow. I had only seen the Santa Cruz occupation, which was *fun*, but more in the *giggle that's funny* kind of way. Occupy Oakland is BIG. There were about 50 tents set out in the middle of the financial district, with at least 100 residents, changing from time to time, and it was like a small hippie village inbetween the office buildings.

I was only there for one night, so I didn't really get to understand how exactly it worked, but what I did get to see was amazing: Everybody comes together every night in a general assembly, and talk about what they want to be changed, and plan marches and protest actions. It is really a site for political action.

And meanwhile, the place itself is really organized. There is a Free food tent, a Dishes tent, an Internet tent (you have to bike to generate electricity though), a First Aid tent, a children's tent, an Arts and Crafts tent and what more. It was really a proper hippie village. The inhabitants were-as far as I noticed- people in their 20s and 30s, students, hippies, some really old people and some junkies, and it was generally a very pleasant atmosphere, very peaceful.

I made a small video of it:

Anyway, what upset me was that last night, Occupy Oakland got raided. A ridiculously large team of cops came at 4 am and arrested everybody present at the site at that moment, and 83 people got arrested.

http://jpdobrin.com/blog/2011/10/photography-of-police-dismantling-occupy-oakland/

Here are some pictures somebody took of the arrests. The police sprayed teargas and threw flashbombs at the protesters, and it was all very violent. As you can see the the entire infrastructure was just brutally ripped apart, tents are shredded, complete chaos.

I know you can't blaim it all on the police, but the police is pretty bad in this country.

Fortunately on the day itself, a huge protest was organized and 1000 people showed up and marched, and they reoccupied the square (or are re-occupying) as we speak. I'm kind of curious to join, but I'm also not very keen on trying out how much tear gas hurts or to get my visa suspended.

Anyway.

Things are happening here.

Oakland is planning a general strike on the 2nd of November.
http://www.occupyoakland.org/2011/10/general-strike-mass-day-of-action/

That's just. Wow.

This movement might actually change something.

First Rain

What do you do on the first real rainy day of the year?

Hm?

That's right, you take off your clothes and run naked all over campus.

I always felt that this was the right thing to do, but at UCSC this is a genuine tradition. There are a couple of rules: -it has to be on a school day, -it has to rain the entire day and rain really much from 6-9 pm. Then, at 10, everybody (hundreds and hundreds of people) gathers in front of Porter college, strips off their clothes, and starts running, all over campus, passing by all the colleges, going inside the cafés, libraries, screaming "Let's get naked", and it all ends in one big splish splash party in the pool.

Anyway. That's what I did. I happened to be on campus at 10 pm, a case of pure nerdy luck (that's what you get when you study till 10), saw all those naked people running on the streets, blocking all the traffic and making hella noise, I took off my clothes, followed all the bouncing boobs and shiny buttocks, and ran. It was absolutely wonderful. I lost my underpants somewhere on the way. And I ended up getting a hitch home in a car full of naked strangers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JLMJ9mLukE here's a video someone made of today's naked run.

Oh gosh. UCSC is amazing. :)

The Garden of Eden

Really exists, in case you were sceptical after the last post.

I went there yesterday again, together with Liz, one of my housemates. It wasn't too sunny of a day, unfortunately, but I decided to take a swim in the frrrreezing water anyway. Because I'm tough. Rawr.

I assumed that the train tracks we had to walk by for 40 minutes of the hike were not used, because that's what the guy who brought me to the Garden the first time told me. Well, I can tell you, there *is* a train going on those tracks. A damned slow one, going about as fast as a byciclist. But still, we had to jump down a rather steep hill to dodge the train. And hide. because the train was full of tourists and obviously you're not allowed to tresspass there. So anyway, *adrenalin rush*. I sitll find it hard to believe that that actually happened. *giggle*

Two video's to show you how beautiful The Garden of Eden is:)

This is a little song to listen to while looking at the video's (thanks to Dutch friend Elizabeth, I would've put it as background music to the video's but I'm too lazy for that right now. Please put it on though...the video's are really painful to watch without background music (because then you can hear my voice:P)):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LcL7MAqwOc&ob=av2e

Video 1: me seeing a ground squirrel (Knabbel en Babbel!) and getting excited. I can't believe how embarrassing it is to listen to yourself babbling to a ground squirrel. But anyway. Some pretty views as well.

Video 2:

Me jumping into a water hole:). It's actually more scary than it looks, there is only one small part which is 9 foot deep, everything else is shallow, so you have to aim quite precisely when you jump:) yay!

There are a lot more places like this around campus, I think I want to make hiking in a random direction a biweekly thing, because we don't have such forests in Holland:) The US *are* quite beautiful indeed.

University College of Sorcery and WitchCraft

Dear Friends,

I am afraid that I have sold my soul to Magic Land and they won't let go of me till Christmas. And even at Christmas it will be difficult to leave the Land of Wonders, but by that time all the guards are stuffed with turkey and chocolate-pumpkins and other Christmas treats that it will be easier for me to escape. I hope.

It is a land of forests and banana slugs and secret caves and drum circles at full moon. The name for this land of wonders is UCSC, University College of Sorcery and WitchCraft (why it isn't called UCSW is a mystery to me), but it is known to muggles as University of California, Santa Cruz. However, I like to call it the College of Advanced Magic and Other Glittery Occupations, because that's what the lady with the stardust in her hair that I met in the forest said it was called before the Magical Reformations happened.

I live off campus because living on-campus would cost me too much; like all the childhood memories from before I was 5 years old, or the color of my hair. All I have to pay off campus is dollars, pfff. Silly muggles. They don't know what really has value in this world.

Some of my non-muggle housemates have shown me around on campus in the past few weeks, but the campus is so big that I still have trouble finding classes (how do you get from the one side of campus to the other in 15 minutes when there's a FOREST inbetween and your broom is broken? I can tell you, this is near impossible).

The College of Advanced Magic and Other Glittery Occupations is situated on the top of a hill in the middle of a forest in Santa Cruz, California.

Adventures I have had on Campus:

#1

I saw a deer. And got really excited. I stood really still, and tried to approach it carefully. In the background was the noise of a bus passing by and a loud bang of some sort. The deer didn't even flinch. I decided to walk normally. Wave my hand. The deer didn't seem to care much and grazed on.

#2

I saw another deer. And another. And another.

#3

I saw a racoon

#4

I saw a really big lizard when I was reading in one of the fields.

#5

I went into the Porter Caves.

Close to Porter College is a field. And next to that field is a forest, with a small path leading down. This path leads to a concrete patch with a hole blown into it, and if you look into that hole, there is a ladder leading down. And down there there are some small caves. Apparently people have parties there, in the muddy dampness. I went there with Grant (an ex-housemate) and we followed one of the tunnels till the end. At some points we had to crawl over the ground through the clay-like mud, only lit by the faint light of a torch. When we hit the end of the tunnel, we shared a chocolate chip cookie in the dark and crawl-walked back. In winter the tunnels flood with water and we're planning to go there with wetsuits on and put floaty candles in the water and just stand there because that's beautiful.

#6

There was a pond with big fish and one of the fish sucked on my finger. Ewww.

#7

I saw where the older generation magicians live. There is a trailer park in the middle of campus where the more established witches and sorcerors have put up their camp. The camp is full of beautiful vans and caravans which are wildly decorated and beautiful. I met a girl there who will teach me how to surf, the authentic muggle-way. Woot!

#8

I went hiking to the Garden of Eden. I left from campus with a small group of students and we walked for an hour, through forests and next to train tracks and down the hill the entire time (not realizing that going up was going to be much much harder without a broom) and eventually we came to the Garden. The Garden of Eden isa small valley with white sand beaches and a river flowing through (forming a small narrow lake) and rock walls that you can climb on and then jump off of them into the freezing water. I only took pictures with my non-digital camera, but I'm planning to go again tomorrow and then I will post some pictures here, I promise:)

#9

I went to class, which was scary because the courses I will take are really hard. It's gonna be one tough, tough quarter. I might not update much, but I'll try my best.

Much love,

Weike

a little bit of Santa Cruz and a lot of Elves

So yes people. I live in Santa Cruz now. In a wonderful co-op called Zami!. I will write more about this co-op some other time, when it's not 2 'o clock in the morning. Right now I want to show you another co-op that I visited when I went to Berkeley two days ago.

Berkeley. The town of hippies. And where else to find those hippies than in a student cooperative?

It was very spontaneous. I decided that I wanted to go to a particular co-op that some of my housemates had told me about. A co-op with a treehouse. And naked Fridays.

So I took my sleeping bag and a backpack, and went. Knocked

on their door, and asked whether I could surf their couch. It was the best idea ever.

This co-op was called Lothlorian, after elf-land in the Lord of the Rings, and the inhabitants are appropriately called Elves. It is a huge co-op where 60 students live (compared to Zami-with 17 inhabitants- that's huge:P but there are also co-ops in Berkeley with 150 students).

(Fun fact: before Lothlorian was Lothlorian, there was a sex cult living in the house, and the members believed that aliens would land in Berkeley, so they made plans of making a flying saucer to join them in peace)

And...well...the place was "awesome, dude". It was exactly the kind of hippie experience that I was looking for. When I arrived they were just having dinner. Delicious vegetarian stuff, a LOT of it, seeing that 60 people and random people off the street such as myself have to be fed from it. I walked into the house and was blinded by colors. Murals in all the colors of the rainbow (and beyond) were covering every square inch of the buildings. And I thought that MY co-op was colorful! Pha! It was a laugh compared to this one:) A lot of these murals turned out to have been made by one guy, who is really cool. He was a business student, but whenever he goes to Lothlorian he immediately changes his suit for a victorian dress or other long vintage dresses. He made beautiful and grandiose murals all over the house in a manga style. If you look at the video later, pay good attention, all the murals which have all the colors of the rainbow in them are made by this cool guy.

I intended to stay for one day, but I stayed for two. I would've stayed for even longer. I'll tell you about some of the things I did and didn't do.

Day one:

I didn't do much but I arrived rather late. I was promised that I could sleep in the treehouse, which excited me a lot! Like WAAAAAH THE FREAKING TREEHOUSE! The treehouse there is like none of the treehouses you've ever seen. It's completely safe! It even has a firealarm:) Now you may think, ahh how boring, but believe me: it's still pretty cool to get to sleep in it. Which I unfortunately never did.

I pretty much stayed up all night (till 4), drawing in my diary in the common room while sitting into a conversation about killing whales, and another one about How to Save the Planet Earth. It was very enjoyable. When I walked up to the treehouse with a big smile on my face there was already someone sleeping in there. With pain in my heart I slept on one of the many couches that night.

Day two:

Because I didn't get to sleep in the treehouse on day one (and because there was so much more to be discovered in that house, and because I really liked the people) I decided to stay another day.

I went around Berkeley with a really nice guy from the house and we put up posters all over the city and campus to make people aware of the occupation happening in the financial district of San Fransico on Saturday (bring a tent!). It was slightly illegal and fun:) (oh no, this is on the internet now-does that mean that I can never get a job anywhere anymore?:P)

I took a unicycle from the basement and unicycled around, happily.

I very cleverly put my backpack and sleeping bag and some on my clothes on the mattress in the treehouse, so that no-one would take 'my spot' tonight.

I participated in a very long massage train on a staircase ("this is what staircases are made for!"), which felt very hippy-esque, and it made you relax as well.

I went dumpster diving with a couple of guys, drinking wiskey and rum as we went. It was heaps of fun:) Dumpstering is when you go to the dumpsters of big supermarkets or bakeries and take the garbage-which -if carefully selected- is usually food in a perfect condition. One of the guys who was dumpstering with us was so enthusiastic that he ran towards the dumpsters as if they were candy heavens:) I didn't actually actively dumpster, but I stood around and nodded casually at the police cars as they drove by. We got quite a good catch: a pie, some fruits and veggies, and two full bags of fresh bagels!

One of the guys lives in a hippie van that he lights with candles. Can I just...cry of happiness right now? I want to live like that!

We all went home after rolling in some extremely soft bushes (but the sidewalk was not so soft, unfortunately. Awch. ) and did the dishes. Oh yes, we did the dishes. At 2 am.

I didn't want to go to sleep because it was going to be my last night but when i did eventually run up to my treehouse (notice how I say 'my'), there was someone sleeping in it again. In my sleeping bag this time. Awch.

I refused to sleep on the couch though. So eventually I ended up sleeping in a bed on the roof on the very top of the building, with a blanket that I'd found. The moon was full, it was misty and beautiful. Totally. Dude. :) hihi.

A video-tour that I made of Lothlorian (It's a fun video, so watch it!):

Dear Lothlorian (and the people inside), I miss you already. Come visit me in Santa Cruz:)

New York Goodbyes

Irene, it was nice meeting you:)

Hurricane Irene had degraded to a nice and mellow tropical storm by the time it hit New York. She was supposed to arrive at 10 in the morning on Sunday, which of course meant that my flight, scheduled Saturday at 4, had to be cancelled. Hurrah to chaos.

Some flares of conversations that I had with New Yorkians or things I heard elsewhere:

(a person working in a supermarket): "It was worse than christmas!"

(Two girls in the subway): "We believe that all bad things come in numbers of three, so first the earthquake, now the hurricane, and then...September 11th or something!"

hihi.

(radio) "Make sure to have enough water, food, a flashlight with batteries, barricade the windows, DO NOT GO OUTSIDE, oh and fill up your bathtubs!"

Spread the fear, that's right:) and fill up those bathtubs.

(Mayor Bloomberg): "There were no reported deaths or serious injuries. (...) on Saturday night, only 45 people were arrested, down 300 from the average 345 on a normal Saturday."

If we would have hurricanes all the time there would be hardly any crime:P

Anyway, a short fotoimpression of how fun Irene was:

-the day before...gloomy...there was someone flying a kite and I was jealous.

-no more water in the shops (oh wait, look at the small waterbottle-who saves him?)

-6 in the morning: drip drip drip from the ceiling.

-During/after the storm: There was some slight damage, some old trees that snapped off like twigs, so it wasn't all for nothing. Personally, I was quite scared being in the park at that time.

-Windy:)

-POPCORN. And movies. I think me and Paul's mom watched 4 movies in those two days. And rearranged all the furniture in the apartment out of boredom:)

-The day after... Sun sun sun:) And then I left...WOOOSH! To California:)

Downdate: A sleepless night in New York City

Note: This is a random piece of text which is filled with details which are utterly unimportant. If you don't like reading such texts, stop reading now.

I'm in New York City and I cannot sleep.

I've had too many impressions today, my mind is overtaxed and I need some time to calm down, take a deep breath, and make my eyes go sleepy. I'm eating a hot dog and grapes, 'cause those are the only things in the fridge. Quite a good combination, actually.

I find it funny how much I disliked New York City on my first day here. Maybe I just disliked travelling alltogether. But whether it's travelling or NYC, I think it takes time to get into them, you have to get used to them to appreciate them.

My feet are itchy from walking too much. They, too, are overtaxed.

On my second day here, I met up with a guy from Maastricht (Milosz), who was already here for a week. He told me about the people he met (he told me about the girls, especially, and how "interesting" they were). And I was jealous. How did he meet people? How do you get to know people in New York? I didn't know, and felt kind of truck in the Mexican-Chinese part of Brooklyn where Pauls mother was hosting me. Not literally stuck, it was more that -wherever I went- I felt uncomfortable and wanted to go home. New York can be threatening, unpleasant even. But that's not because of New York. New York can't help it. You have to make things nice.

The moment I walked away from Milosz I made a decision. I decided I would stop being scared, and meet people. Somehow. I mean, travelling alone is not my speciality. Sometimes I just end up sitting in the park all day reading a book -which is nice- but I don't want this all the time.

So I walked away from Milosz, who had gone to bed (it was 1 am), and stepped into the subway. That is, after asking where the subway was to some young people who were hanging out on the streets. Subways are hard to find, you have to know where they are. So in the subway I went, and I did something silly, something not-so-New Yorkian. I swiped my subway card, but I didn't go inside. The reason of my hesitation was tipping around on the floor before my feet, making soft noises. The reason stood still, looked at me with small, watery eyes, and then walked on again. It was a rat. A fairly big rat, too, and even though I quite like rats, I was wearing sandals and didn't want to risk anything. I dind't mind the wait. My metrocard, however, did.

When I finally tried to get through the turnstile it had locked again. I swiped my card. "Just used", it said. I looked around for a card machine-but there was none. That, and I had no money on me. So I went back outside, to the people hanging on the streets, asking for another subway. They told me the whereabouts, and I went. One way or the other, I was feeling happy. Now I am often happy-but I was happy that the neighborhoud- wonderful by day yet rather gloomy by night- wadn't frightening me. It was like I was getting used to New York.

So I went into another subway and swiped my card. "Just used", it said. Argh. Hmbl. I wanted to ask the guy at the ticket offce to help me, but he was fast asleep. What a job.

I looked around, helplessly, and a boy walked by. He saw that I had some difficulties, and kindly offered to buy me a ticket, which I- happily, of course:P-accepted. And so I went. Into the subway, at last. "Thank you so much", I said. The guy shrugged his shoulders and said you're welcome or something, and walked to the platform. I walked to the platform on the other side, then realized that it was the wrong one, and walked back. Another guy, black-haired with glasses, familiar-looking, walked up from the other platform. "It'll take like 20 minutes before it arrives", he said, "want to share a cab? Where do you need to go?" I realized it was one of the people who was hanging out in front of the cornershop before. I told him where I had to go, and seeing that it was kind of in the right direction, we went together.

I find sharing cabrides with random strangers much more exciting than waiting at a platform in a ratty subway.

We shared a cab, and he brought me to another subway closer to home. I walked down, smilingy, grabbed my book, and waited. An older guy, medditeranian looking, was standing next to me and smiled at him shortly before going back to by book."It's great, New York, don't you think?" he said, happily, with a strong italian accent. We started talking. He was a very nice. His english wasn't very good, but he was happy. Happy and italian.

While I was talking to him, the guy from the cab walked down the stairs and put a piece of paper in my hand. "In case you want to meet up sometime before you leave", he said, and walked away. The italian guy grinned at me and we continued our conversation.

We talked probably for an hour till I was at my stop and left the subway. We had agreed that we would meet the next morning and he would show me around.

I was sick of walking around the city alone.

The italian, Paolo was his name, turned out to be a lovely tour guide. It's always funny to be shown around by somebody, but walking aournd in Manhattan with soemone who calls you 'bella' all the time is even more amusing. We went to times square, and watched. It was crowded. Very crowded. I didn't like it much. A boy came up to us, tablet in his hand; "would you be interested in going to a musical?" he asked. I secretly like musicals (it's not so secret anymore now, is it?). So I said yes. And he ended up selling me (only me, Paolo wasn't very interested), a ticked to see 'Rent' the day after. He walked us all the way to the box office, a couple of blocks further, chatting. He was also very nice. He gave Paolo his phone number in case he would change his mind and wanted to see Rent as well. Later, in the subway, Paoplo gave his number to me. His name was Ari.

At night I figured, oh what the hell, that guy seemed nice, I don't think I can bear another day hanging out with paolo (nothing against paolo, but he was very italian), I'll text Andrew. And while I'm at it, I'll text Ari as well.

*

I went to the Metropolitan museum of Art with Ari today, after which I went to see Rent. It was overwhelming, and fun, and wonderful. Tomorrow night I'm meeting up with Andrew.

New York City is smiling at me. Or the guys are, at least. But it's in a fun way, not intimidating. Yesterday a guy at the bank told me that he was so sad he was working today, 'cause he would've loved to show me around. Hilarious, really. Must be the long blond hair.

And so it goes. It sounds like dating, and maybe it was (I've never dated so I woudn't know). I knew it wasn't dating and I hope that the guys knew it too. All I know is that I've never gotten that many phonenumbers of guys than I did in that week in New York. 1, 2, 3, 4. That's quite a catch, even it it wasn't dating.

But I take it as it comes, travelling on my own is much more exciting this way.

I'm feeling sleepy. Time for bed.

Paul explaining something at the white water river close to the Niagara Falls

I personally like this video-though I know that nothing happens in it. It's a video showing the white water river-the water which comes from the Niagara Falls. Paul is explaining something, which he always does. I like him when he does that...but the river is also really pretty without his comments:)

Just imagine going down this river on a raft. Or in a *regenton*, which a lot of people did. With your head sticking out. With your pet dog. With your beloved. People did this. Our idea was to make a round steal construction, with a plexiglass ball inside, then some oil, then another plexiglass ball with a heavey weight at the bottom. And then you sit in that, and you go down the river. Safe but still exciting :)

Toronto -een fotoreportage