Bums

Living and working in Minneapolis, I see and talk to a lot of bums. You know, the people who are most likely homeless, really stinky, and are way too talkative for their own good?

For example, I was in the library bathroom downtown yesterday, and one homeless woman (didn't even see her, so I can't be sure she was a "bum," but she told the whole bathroom she was homeless, so I'm not even assuming anything about her) waited to use the last stall. She explained why:

"I spend a lot of time here because I'm homeless. I only use the last 2 stalls because the camera can see you in the other ones."

There I am, in the 3rd stall to the end, peeing. I look up, and what do you know?

A camera. I stuck my tongue out at it and waved.

The bum I see second most often is not actually homeless. I call him Chair Guy. The first handful of times I saw him, he was carrying a folding chair. I think he lives in the mill district, which is strange, because that's a pretty nice area. And he has no teeth, lays on the sidewalk while waiting for the bus, and has nothing in his backpack, which he can never get all the way on his back, and it's always open.

Anyway, I was sitting across the aisle from Chair Guy in the front part of the bus, staring absentmindedly at the ground near him, when I saw a Hershey's chocolate egg fall out of his pants.

I was very confused, but he didn't notice. The egg proceeded to roll away from him. I know it was just because the bus was moving, but it really looked intentional. Like when the Ring of Power bounces away from Gollum. I had to try really hard not to laugh.

I probably should have told Chair Guy that his egg left him. But I'm an introvert, and his mouth was really bloody and gross. Anyway, the egg rolled back up to the front of the bus when Chair Guy got off.

Unfortunately for Egg, PersonGettingOnTheBus stepped on it the same stop Chair Guy got off.

Tragic Ending.

My Day: Part I: Transportation

Today, I headed up to Roseville to attend our annual family canoe trip (more on that in My Day: Part II). It wasn't particularly eventful getting there or back, but it took FOREVER so I had a lot of time to think.

I left my apartment this morning at 5:15am to be there in plenty of time for the 5:45 bus from St. Olaf to Minneapolis. I remembered everything but a towel this morning, but it turned out I didn't really need it, so it didn't matter as much. Impressive for waking up at 4am after getting less than 3 hours of sleep.

Anyway, as the bus left Olaf in the dark of the morning, with traces of light beginning to highlight the clouds, I noticed how annoyingly bright the St. Olaf streetlights are. They also contribute greatly to light pollution. I actually closed my eyes because they were so bright. This, of course, would normally make me fall asleep like nothing else. However, I had had some coffee, so I just stared out the window and watched the day wake up.

Then I took a few Metro Transit buses to get to my aunt's house. On purpose, I got off the bus right next to another aunts house who lives about half a mile away. I got me some golden retriever loving on my way there. However, one of her two goldens scratched my arm a bit, getting what I hope was mud on it. Ah well, they're darling.

Anyway, my mom and one of my cousins met me halfway down my aunt's road. It was nice to see them coming toward me. At my aunt's house, more dogs! Her husband's two beagles, and her giant Great Dane/Black Lab mix (appropriately named Moose) sniffed me up and down until I went to the bathroom to wash off the dog spit and mud from my other aunt's house. Gosh, I love dogs. Must love dogs: one of my requirements in a partner.

Anyway, I'll go on about the canoe trip in the next post. I'm just getting all the transportation themed news events together in one post.

So, on the way home, I caught the Northfield bus from St. Kates. I am not particularly fond of Northfield Metro Express buses, and waiting to be picked up from St. Kates is one of the reasons: Every driver stops at a different corner. I never know where the bus will park, or what direction it will be coming from. Super annoying. Luckily, I didn't have one of the douche-y drivers who barely stop when there's no expected pickup. He actually parked where he's supposed to, and pulled up to me when I saw I had a boarding pass in my hand and was headed to him. Thanks, Cheech.

Anyway, the bus ride home was also uneventful. The sun set as we left downtown Minneapolis. Then something weird happened. I was listening to a song, and suddenly I started crying. I guess this is a song that has always gotten to me, and I must have been so tired and sore and sunburned that the emotions welled up more easily. The song is Cancer by My Chemical Romance. It's a short song, but one that is emotionally poignant to most people, I think. I've put a link to the lyrics at the end of the post.

Anyway, I got home safely after a long, awesome day.

Cancer - My Chemical Romance

Turn away,
If you could get me a drink
Of water 'cause my lips are chapped and faded
Call my aunt Marie
Help her gather all my things
And bury me in all my favorite colors,
My sisters and my brothers, still,
I will not kiss you,
'Cause the hardest part of this is leaving you.

Now turn away,
'Cause I'm awful just to see
'Cause all my hairs abandoned all my body,
Oh, my agony,
Know that I will never marry,
And baby, I'm just soggy from the chemo,
We're counting down the days to go
It just ain't living
And I just hope you know

That if you say (if you say)
Goodbye tonight (goodbye tonight)
I'll ask you to be true (cause I'll ask you to be true)

'Cause the hardest part of this is leaving you
'Cause the hardest part of this is leaving you

Trip Day 5!

Today, we had an early departure of 9am! We boarded the bus and headed to Koper, the main port town on the Slovenian coast. I should mention that the Istrian region of Slovenia has 2 names for everything: an Slovenian name and an Italian name. This is because on the Istrian peninsula, there has been a lot of intermingling of Slovenes, Croats and Italians, and there is a large Italian minority on the Slovene part of the Istrian peninsula. So Piran, our main town is Pirano in Italian. Koper is the Slovene name, and Capodistria is the Italian name. It means ˝Capital District˝as in the capital district of Istria.

Anyway, we went to our lecture at the University of Koper, where we first listened to a talk from the Rector of the University. After he gave his brief introduction of the school, a professor of anthropology gave a lecture about Istrian identity. Then one of the American Foreign Service Officers from the Embassy gave a little talk about American-Slovenian relations. Finally, we met with the staff at American Korner, the office for students who want to study abroad in America. Considering college is almost free in Europe, and they are less strict about attendence, not many students want to travel to the US.

We then went to lunch in Koper as a group and after went for a walking tour of the city. It is really small. It used to be an island, but they filled it in about a hundred years ago. The bus then drove along the coast back to Piran, with our talkative tour guide narrating our journey. There were some great views of the vinyards and valleys next to the ocean. The hairpin turns in a coach bus were a little weird, but Boris the Bus Driver is capable and we are still alive.

There are also these super tall clumps of grass. They remind me a little of pampas grass, only way taller and in smaller clumps and without the fuzzy tops. I'll post a picture if I can get one, but it's hard to do from the bus.

For dinner, we went to this place where you can get a 5 course meal for €7. We didn't do that, but it was still pretty cheap (€12) for spaghetti with salmon, wine, a crepe with chocolate and tea. I would get something else for an entree next time I go there, but it was very delicious overall.

Excitement!!!!

Last night, we had our first meeting for getting ready to go abroad in January.

Even though there are a lot of things to be excited for, I am really excited to pack. I will be an awesome packer. 1 carry-on suitcase and a backpack for a month. No checked luggage for me!

Also, the hostel and institute we will be staying at/studying at both have wifi, so I am definitely bringing my laptop.

I've decided to use of my free weekends to go to Venice. It's about 2.5 hours away from the institute we are staying at in Piran, Slovenia.

We are also taking a bus tour of Croatia and Bosnia. I will be going to Sarajevo. I am really excited. And nervous. There is so much real history there. Not like here in America where there are very few monuments or museums dedicated to the bad shit that happens/ed here.

There are no monuments to the genocide against the First Peoples. I'm not used to this. When I went to the Holocaust Museum in France, I almost puked. It was so intense. In America, it's easy to just ignore it and picture it happening far away but never where you live (even though it did).

The bombing of Sarajevo only happened less than 20 years ago. I was alive during this. I innocently started school, got a dog, was a kid. How can life just go on when people are being killed, slaughtered?

How can it still be happening now? I'm still sitting comfortably in my apartment while ethnic violence is perpetrated. Kids are dying. People are scared and trapped.

God, what a shitty post.

What a shitty world.

Wedding Bells and Bongos

I had a good weekend. Friday afternoon I hopped on the Northfield Metro Express. That took me to the airport, where I got on the light rail and headed downtown. I walked across the river (Like Jesus, you ask? No, there was a bridge involved) and went to meet Mom at the Picosa nightclub, where there was a live salsa band playing. We didn't do any dancing, but I certainly enjoyed watching everyone else dance. The best dancers there were Eugene the bouncer and the hostess. They were really happy to be dancing, and it seemed they danced together a lot while working. She also danced with a couple of the regulars and the dance instructor while Eugene was making the rounds, but she seemed to be more comfortable dancing with Eugene. It was fun.

The next morning, I got up and went to Anoka to catch the 852 to downtown Minneapolis again, this time to meet my brother at 4th st and 1st Ave. However, he went to 4th st and 1st ave on the other side of the river. Havoc. It took us about an hour and a half to find each other. Anyway, we then headed to my dads house, stopping at Dunn Bros to use their wifi, then the liquor store so I could buy some champagne for Dads and CVS so brother could pee.

Then we went to Dad's and Stepmom's (oh man, she's no longer Dad's Whatever!) for their wedding. It was a nice backyard ceremony, about 20 people there. Their pastor was a bit of a weirdo. They found him on the internet... Anyway, the ceremony was good. They were both a bit nervous. Dad talked really fast and Stepmom messed up and laughed a lot. She acts drunk when she's nervous. Dad gets really serious when nervous.

After the ceremony, everyone had lunch and drank a lot and there was a bonfire and a lot of cigarettes and stories and catching up. I saw friends of Dad's I haven't seen since I was a little kid. Brother and I talked to our new Grandma and Uncle and Aunt. The bees were everywhere, but no one got stung. Brother and I decided we should leave soon when Big Joe and Dad started pretending to make out. Usually it's Dad's twin who pretends to make out with Dad, but he's been sober for 8 months. Kudos to you Uncle Gray! Keep it up!

New Apartment

Yesterday, I made the journey to Northfield to sign the lease of my new apartment. I am renting a two bedroom with my friend Sokun. We signed the lease, then went to move some of his stuff in. We live in number 100, on the 3rd floor. Luckily we have a wide stairwell, so we were able to carry things up easily. We also found a couch in our garage, but apparently it's janky, so Sokun didn't want to bring it up. WM is taking it away unless another resident wants it.

Our fridge is short, but spacious. Our toilet is broken, but being fixed tomorrow. Our range hood needs fixing, but will also be fixed tomorrow. Our carpet squares aren't glued down (but that's not really a problem). Other than that, it's a really nice place. Oh, also, both of our names are spelled wrong on the lease. It's still legally binding, though. Just funny. My last name is Jorden (Jordan) and his name is Sokum (Sokun).

I'm very excited to move in on Wednesday. : )

However, the journey back from St. Olaf was fraught with mild inconveniences. Sokun dropped me off at MOA for the light rail, and I went downstairs to the transit station, intending to put money on my Go-To card. Apparently there was a Twins game that night, because there was a line about 20 people long waiting to buy tickets. Good lord. So I waited in line for about 5 minutes when I remembered the morning bus driver accidentally charged me for disability, only 50 cents instead of $2.25. So I still had 50 cents left on my card! Joy! (With the Go-To card, if you have any money on it, it'll just go into the negative when you charge the ride, and you pay it off when you put more money on your card). So I went to the Go-To pole, and a Metro Transit officer was leaning on it. Ugh... I just politely asked him to get off the pad, scanned my card and got on the very crowded train.

Luckily I found a seat. Unluckily, the train was really crowded. The woman sitting next to me kept staring at me in the reflection on the glass that was in front of us. The bike rack area was full of standing Twins fans, so bikers had to hold their bikes upright because there was no room for them to put them up, or even to let them sit with both wheels on the ground. (BTW, don't stand in the bike rack area. Just move down the aisle. it's really rude). Anyway, I eventually made it back downtown, where I put money on my card for the transfer home.

It was also really cold outside. Earlier in the day, it had been nice and sunny, if a bit breezy. By the time I was heading home, it was cold and cloudy and windy. I took refuge in the Central library, where I decided to go to the bathroom. Out of the 6 stalls, one was occupied, 3 had piss on the seats and 1 had crap on the seat. As I was walking back to the empty one, someone else took it. So I waited for the person in the occupied stall to finish (she left pee on the seat...), and carefully went potty (after wiping the seat down thoroughly).

Then I went to Dunn bros, and bought a chai latte and picked up a Lavender magazine. The chai was a little cold, but warmer than I was at the moment, so I didn't complain. I walked to the bus stop, balanced my chai on the railing, hopped up myself, and started to read. About halfway through my chai, it fell off the railing. That's more my fault than anything (I really should have been holding on to it), but it was still aggravating. Then not one, not two, but three other people waiting for the bus pulled out cigarettes and started smoking. They were both a respectful distance away, so it'd be rude of me to tell them to stand elsewhere, but like I said, it was windy. So I walked further away, and then something good happened: I ran into Nik, a friend of mine from high school, who was also waiting for the bus. We chatted pleasantly on the bus.

And that was the end of the mildly inconvenienced journey home.