It's not a crime to live a good life

What constitues a good life?

For me?

It's 1:48 pm and I've managed to spend a lovely morning conversing with the adorable Jim over freshly squeezed orange juice, a creme cheese and salmon bagel and a delicious latte, lunch over real good Belgian fries (!!! I've stopped eating fries ever since I moved out of Belgium, but Sketch has brought them back in my life for good!!!) and my favourite beer in the whole wide world, the African Mongozo Banana, all the while discussing some exciting exciting development in my future professional life. 

Am now chilling, waiting for news about a class I'm supposed to be giving at 3:30 (not sure there'll be enough people), finally about to put some of my thoughts from back in March in writing for the public to read and am sipping a refreshing freshly squeezed grapefruit&orange juice.

Oh, and between the two meetings I managed to buy one of my most beloved Escada scents 25% off.

It truly is a good life.

*      *      *      *      *

One of the issues that kind of clicked in my mind during the last trip is my attitude towards money. About three, four years ago I've started shifting towards not buying things and trying to own as little as possible, with the later-done travels only pushing me further and further in the direction of this new lifestyle. I've come to a point where I would barely go shopping, hate going to the mall (with the abundance of everything around and the amount of waste and useless material things we produce being, quite frankly, overwhelming), decided I didn't want to have a lot of money. Just enough to pay for my basic needs, thus I wasn't really looking forward to be making more than necessary. I've always been good with money management (not having much and wanting to do much teach you that in no time) but never really took the time to figure out how to become wealthy. I don't come from a rich family but somehow that's never been on my agenda. And then I spent a couple of days in Munich.

Munich is a beautiful city and unlike many other beautiful places, it has a completely distinct vibe - the vibe of money. I always say Munich is a place that breathes money. You can see it in the carefully restored buildings, in the fancy restaurants and not so fancy bars (still more expensive than everywhere else in the region), in the people's clothes, walk and brands of shopping bags they seem to always carry around with them, in the cars parked in the streets (a Porche parked on basically every corner of the city center, alongside the countless Audi, Mercedes and a Mini Cooper to break the pattern from time to time), in the shops luring you inside with all those countless gourmet goods displayed on the shelves. One of which was a spice store branded by a famous German chef, which Paula, her mom and I visited during our Saturday afternoon stroll around. I was looking at all the exoticly-sounding spices and dressings and their prices thinking to myself: "If I don't have enough cash, I will never be able to enjoy such things and will loose out on so many exciting tastes the world has to offer". So there I was, between the African vanilla pepper and the intriguing figue and chestnut mustard, realizing I did want to be rich. Not because money is important to me but because I want to be able to afford to discover what is out there. Be it unusual food, far-away locations, crazy sports or the best available education for my children if they should care to pursue that path, I want it. And without money, much will stay out of my reach. 

It's been a kind of a circle - coming from "I want money to have things, everyone wants money." as a child/teeneager, through "I don't want to be ruled by money, I want just enough, I don't care for it much." in the early twenties, to "I want to rule my world, certain things I want in it are expensive and there's nothing I can do to change it, but I can sure rule the money I'll have." after almost a quarter of a century in this crazy place we call Earth. And as Jim very wisely summed it up today - it's not a crime to live a good life. It's ok to be wealthy and comfortable, it's nothing to be ashamed of if you want to be able to afford the good stuff. But most of all, you have to consider who you are first - having money and owning things should never define you, that's not where your self-confidence and self-esteem should come from. Just understand why you want to have money, what motivates you to work for it and what paths you're willing to follow to get to where you aspire to, how they fit the image of the human being you want to be.

*     *     *     *      *

Oh, that 3:30 Zumba class? Cancelled! Which means I can enjoy my juice that much longer and have some free time, a concept I haven't been familiar with the last couple of days.

Ah, thanks God it's not a crime to live a good life!

Time to go east (aka home)

The last leg of the trip's about to begin, let's hope hitch hiking gods are as generous as they've been this past week.

Arrived in Frankfurt (Oder) last night and spent the night at Paula's parents place. I feel so stupid and ungrateful for not being able to even properly hold a conversation with them. I guess another piece of motivation to go back to German. But wait, where was I? Frankfurt, yeah. My allmighty friend Google Maps shows me I've 500 km to go. 

Easy peasy.

If you live in Thessaloniki

Every time I realised something interesting, I'd think about writing it down but somehow Greece wasn't the place to do it. Have spent a laid back afternoon in Munich's English Garden and finally managed to write a bit. So here it goes: if you live in Thessaloniki,

*
You smoke a lot.

Like a lot lot. People in here are literally constantly rolling one cigarette after another, which drives us non smokers crazy. Even though the government introduced a ban on smoking inside pubs, restaurants etc. the people of Greece decided it’s stupid and are cheerfully displaying their disapproval. You’ll find “no smoking” signs everywhere, granted, but there’ll be so much smoke inside the place that you’ll barely be able to see it.

*

You go out a lot.

Like a lot lot. It is amazing that with beer price starting at round 6 euros, the whole Europe going on about the Greek crisis and EU pumping money into the country, the pubs and tavernas are full, any time of day or night. As one of the Greeks I met put it: “That’s just the Greek mentality – we might not have money to travel or buy things, don’t save, but we will not stop eating out and going out”. 

And they definitely have places to go out – lots of pretty cool clubs and pubs, always full of people (maybe apart from Monday night).

*

You regularly meet with your friends in one of your favourite tavernas.

So what is this taverna thing, I hear you ask. Well, Greeks are very particular about the division between a taverna and a restaurant, so they’d constantly correct me when I’d call it one. I think it was hard for them to understand that I come from a country where we don’t have this type of a place. Tavernas are such a huge part of Greek reality, it’s hard to imagine Greece without them. As one of the guys put it: “Tavernas are one of the reasons Greek people like Greece.” And well, it’s not like it’s hard for me to understand why – they’re a brilliant hang out place! How the Greeks put it – you go to a restaurant to eat and satisfy your hunger. Plus, they’re expensive. 

You go to a taverna to sit talking to your friends while drinking and eating, which normally takes hours. And that’s about right, even if you’re not hungry, you’ll order so much food that you can’t just not eat. Not when it’s there on the table, looking so treacherously delicious. And the cool thing, especially for a foreigner, is that they only have traditional Greek dishes in very reasonable prices (anywhere between 3-5,5 euros per serving). The surprising thing is, they basically never have any kind of a dessert on the menu. For that you’ll have to go to a patisserie (and boy, will you love going there!). Depending on a place however, they might bring you a bit of something sweet with the bill, f.e. some Greek halva.

*
Once eating out, everyone shares everything.

It’s also a very Asian thing – unlike in Central/Western Europe and the States, the Greeks will order many different dishes (f.e. 2 people will order 3 different things each for the whole group) and once the food arrives on the table, you just dig in and help yourself to a bit of everything. 

I love this style of eating because 1) you get to try so many different things 2) it seems so much more familiar and friendly when everyone can just dive in with their fork and eat from a common plate. Of course, if there’s f.e. a salad, you’ll just put some on your plate and eat from there, but if there’s some meat in a pot, everyone will just take a piece straight from there. 

*
You won’t refer to Greece as Europe.

It’s said to be a typically British thing to be referring to the rest of the Old Continent as “Europe” while excluding GB, which I guess is understandable in a way, as the island’s separated from the rest of us. However, why the Greeks do it, I’ve no idea. I first realized this when we were out in a taverna, talking about different eating habits and Chris, looking at the table and our plates, said: “You see, that’s another difference – you in Europe put your bread on the plate, we in Greece put it on the tablecloth.” And, surely enough, Reni, Dora and I all had bread on our plates (and thus struggling with the lack of space!) while Chris had his next to it. I’d noticed that before he spoke of it, so what interested me more was the “You in Europe” part of his statement. I’d later hear it many more times from other Greeks I talked to.

*
You won’t flash toilet paper after using the toilet.

Again, something that made me think about Asia straight away. On the first and second day I’d see a “Don’t put paper in the toilet” sign in different places but I just assumed they meant paper towels that you use for drying your hands and it made sense, as we have the same signs in our restaurants. However, I was later at one Greek’s house and there was a small piece of paper on the bathroom door with a “Please don’t put toilet paper into the toilet” writing on it, which made me stop and realize that they actually meant … the used toilet paper! Turns out the water pressure is rather low, so their toilets get stuck a lot and well, there’s always a small bin waiting for you by the toilet seat…

*

You probably have some family or friends living in Germany.

I would have never thought that there were many Greeks going to Germany but apparently it is so. Be it immigration for personal/professional reasons, studying or travelling – lots of Greeks fly down there. Also, lots of German tourists come over here, so if you want a part-time job in Greece over the summer – it would be about time to spruce up your German!

*
And you’re in the construction business, you might have a hard life.

Ok, so I knew I was in Greece – one of the cradles of our civilization blahblah but I didn’t actually realize I was in the cradle of our civilization until we randomly stumbled across some big ancient ruins in the middle of the city center. 

 

It’s one of the cool things about Thessaloniki (but I’d assume other Greek cities as well) that you never know what’s around the corner (ok, maybe apart from the fact that you’re sure to find a pharmacy or two) – an old style building, a kind of a modern Greek block of flats, a kind of a colonial building or ancient ruins. 

However, it does make construction work so much harder, building roads and tube lines especially. They have started a huge investment in Thessaloniki to build a tube line but once they started digging, they found some ancient ruins (surprise, surprise) and the project just got dropped. 

And I mean it quite literally – they basically left everything as if they were about to take up work again the next day (I’ve heard has been like this for a couple of years now).

*
You’re a friendly and generous person.

Or at least I’ve had the luck to come across such, be it my host and his friends, other CSers or randomly met people. So if you’re looking for a relaxed place where you can lead the good life for a while – enjoy sun by the seaside, eat well, drink in style and hang out with open, friendly people – go on and book your flight to Thessaloniki!

Closure

Goodbye Dortmund.

Job magnet

So, my first solo hitchhiking trip is over. And I'm alive!

Started  at around 13:25 in Nicolassee. I got there on the S1, which took me 40mins from the West Station. There's a McDo-petrol station combo that was supposed to be great for catching a ride to Michendorf, which in turn is considered THE spot for hh east.

It wasn't that great - nobody wanted to take me for some time and then a married couple took pity on me and made quite a detour to bring me to the spot. They dropped me off and only then did someone make me realise I was on the wrong station (in the direction of Leipzig and Magdeburg instead of Frankfurt Oder). 

I did have this one moment of doubt when we passed the Frankfurt Oder exit on the highway but decided the driver knew better. Well, apparently, they don't always do.

Luckily, the person who made me realise the fact was a Polish guy, nice enough to make, yet another, detour and take me to the right spot. I got out (was sooo tempted to go to Belgium with him, though! Haven't had THE fries for months now..) and saw some other hhers. Their stories weren't too optimistic - waiting for long, all cars packed, nobody gives a (..).

Decided to take it slow. Got myself some "food" at McDo and headed to a nice spot by the exit of the car park. 7 or 8 cars later a niceeee Audi with a Polish couple offered to take me to Poznan. They travel a lot lot, so got to hear about places like Mexico, Jamaica or Dundee, Scotland, where they live at the moment. They were getting off the high way before Poznan and offered to drop me off at a gas station, which turned out to be a small car park with a toilet and not much else. 

I was considering getting worried whether or not I was gonna get out of there in the following couple of hours but one of the 3 cars on the spot, with a Polish-Belgian couple from Liege onboard, was happy to take me along, although only till Konin. It was so cute to see how worried they were about the son they'd left home alone for the first time ever (they guy's 18).

I got off at another gas station, asked in 4 cars to hear a no-no, got myself a snack and saw Warsaw plates on a car a girl was ready to take out of the parking lot. At first she seemed skeptical - the car was pretty much full, but I guess she was in a good mood, as she started rearranging things and I fit nicely with all the stuff at the back. Together with a friend she was coming back from Denmark, where they were on a week-long cruise. Turned out they were lawyers, engaged in a lot of cool projects. They asked about me and my travels, got a bit curious about my future guide career and soon were asking for my phone number - they're thinking about taking some of the people from their bar association on MICE like trips and would be looking for a person to help them out.. 

(hence the job magnet thingy, in O's words)

I was the first person the driver has ever taken aboard, the friend also said she never took anyone. By the end of the trip they said it was educative and interesting, and that they'd start taking hhers from now on. Great! 

Oh, and they dropped me off right at my building :)

All in all, the whole hitching thing actually took me less time than getting to the bus station, taking the bus and then getting back home from the bus station. Plus, saved me 30 euro and got me to hear interesting stories. 

Hitch hiking - welcome to my world!

Best hitch ever

Got out of Warsaw on a local bus.

Managed to put my backpack down and my thumb up.

A bus pulled over.

I get to see the plates - the magnificent D at its beginning.

Spot on - we're going to Berlin!

.      .       .       .      .

On a band tour bus.

With a full mini bar, a coffee machine and a microwave.

Beds.

DVD and video games.

Oh, Milka and Pringles on board as well.

Need I say more?

Plentiful

Plenty of things.

First international hitch hiking, first music festival, first canning, first dumpster diving, first tenting.

New friends met, new bands discovered, new ideas born, new urges to be satisfied arose.

Old friend met, old projects revised, old thoughts rushing in.

Millie's cookies again, philosophy again.

A friend got raped. 

Loosing it

Am sitting at home, when I shouldn't be sitting but packing or making sandwiches or something, and thinking about how cool it is to have friends all over the place. How cool and how oh, not so cool to have them! 

I mean, come on - in the last 3 or 4 days have been invited to Germany, France, Italy, Spain.. and would love to go call upon all the amazing people I know there, even have a cool route in my mind that would start tomorrow and finish somewhere at the end of September, but I can't embark on it due to my Warsaw commitments. Man, I must really be loosing it if an internship, which could be doable via Internet if I played it right, and a vision of working with a cool travel company seem like too big a commitment..

Anywho,

my bus to Berlin leaves at 6am from a place that will take me at least an hour to reach, so I should leave in less than 7 hours. In which time I should make my backpack, prepare my breakfast, lunch and whatever else I can eat while on my way to Germany, get some sleep, take a shower and clean my room. 

I guess tonight I'll just settle for food and the backpack, will sleep on the bus itself (after all got 10 hrs to spare) and tidy the room in July.

That's settled then, I can go back to writing.*

*

Am beginning to work on Magu Bee's travel stories, this time in my native language. Man, it's so hard to write in Polish!