As you guys might remember I was going to a Christian church today for a 9am service just before my bus out of town. This was to experience some of the religion in the Bible Belt, and it was a lot livelier than I'd imagined - but just as naive. First of all, the church wasn't even a church. It was an abandoned room taken over by Christians. The benches were replaced with normal chairs and instead of a podium there was a stage with instruments and a microphone. This made me a little suspicious and rightfully so: for the first thirty minutes I had to endure the worst Christian pop-rock about how the savior came down to earth and how He was going to save us and bla bla bla. And get this: there was a screen above them so the Church-goers could sing along, karaoke-style. When I even saw that one of the dudes has a shirt that said "Satan is a liar!" and that the crowd actually did sing along, it was difficult for me not to roll my eyes and pray that this would be over soon (pun totally intended). Unfortunately we had to go through an hour-long sermon after that by a preacher who wanted us to shake hands a lot and explained the story of David and Goliath using many weird pop-cultural references. At 10:20am it was over (praise the lord!) leaving me to say goodbye to Penelope and Loren who'd taken me to the service, and get on the bus to Little Rock.
So now I'm here in Little Rock that seems to be a pretty cozy little town right off the bat. I took a short look at the high school that I'm going to tomorrow and it's huge. Like HUGE! But at least now I can find it...
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Roller Derby
Just got home from Roller Derby and can positively say that it might be the only sport that has ever interested me - I even know the (very simple) rules by now! Hell, for a second I even felt like a native Oklahoman (is that what they're called) as the local team fought against the (much better) L.A. girls. Ok, this might not make a whole lot of sense to you, but basically I went to see a bunch of girls rollerskate tonight and it rocked my whole world. Oklahoma City is hereby cool. "A sport of contrasts" what was Loren called it and he's right. Roller Derby is definitely a sport of contrasts. Honestly it's just as much about the personality of the skaters as it is about the sport. I mean, the rules are so simple that there needs to be something else to it.
As you probably guessed I went there with Penelope and Loren, who took me to see the bombing site afterward. I'm so glad I got to go there at night, because it was so beautiful with all the lights on. It was definitely a lot more impressive than the rather bland memorial to Kennedy in Dallas. That is for sure.
Now I'm back after having finally been to an Irish bar with my two comrades to stuff our faces with French fries. So good! But I should probably go to sleep now. I have to get up early in the morning: Little Rock awaits!
As you probably guessed I went there with Penelope and Loren, who took me to see the bombing site afterward. I'm so glad I got to go there at night, because it was so beautiful with all the lights on. It was definitely a lot more impressive than the rather bland memorial to Kennedy in Dallas. That is for sure.
Now I'm back after having finally been to an Irish bar with my two comrades to stuff our faces with French fries. So good! But I should probably go to sleep now. I have to get up early in the morning: Little Rock awaits!
Oklahoma City
I'm in Oklahoma City and it's better than what everyone says. And here's why: you got to know where the things are around here. Luckily, I've stumbled upon some people who do know and yesterday I had such a good evening because of them. There are four people: Christine and Jacob, Penelope and Loren. Yesterday we went out for dinner first at a place called Iguana - this place even had a party bus that went to all the parties in Oklahoma City. Something I didn't completely understand since it was a normal restaurant. Ok, so it was on the hip side, but having a party bus attached to it is a bit much. After this we went to this place called Cuppies and Jo's which was a normal house that was turned into a cupcake place. According to Christine there were a lot of cupcake places all over town, so they must really like their cakes here in Oklahoma. Finally, we ended the night in a bar inside a dome, where the drinks were terribly expensive but also terribly good, so it all evened out.
So in the morning I had the best French toast in the history of Oklahoma (and maybe even man) and then went on to Bricktown to see what that was all about. Well, it's not about much, let me tell you that. Thankfully, I had learned from my four local friends the night before that I only had to go down Western and then make a right at 30th street to get to the Art District of the city. Pretty good decision right there. Even though the art district isn't huge, it was still cozy and on a summer's day (which it is today, weather-wise) it was a good day for that.
Further down Western is the "cool" part of Oklahoma City and it was actually the best part I've seen so far. Again, not huge, but trendy enough to have some good coffee houses and shops and so on. I must say I've enjoyed myself so far.
And tomorrow I might go to a church before hitting the bus. I kind of want to see this Christianity for myself.
So in the morning I had the best French toast in the history of Oklahoma (and maybe even man) and then went on to Bricktown to see what that was all about. Well, it's not about much, let me tell you that. Thankfully, I had learned from my four local friends the night before that I only had to go down Western and then make a right at 30th street to get to the Art District of the city. Pretty good decision right there. Even though the art district isn't huge, it was still cozy and on a summer's day (which it is today, weather-wise) it was a good day for that.
Further down Western is the "cool" part of Oklahoma City and it was actually the best part I've seen so far. Again, not huge, but trendy enough to have some good coffee houses and shops and so on. I must say I've enjoyed myself so far.
And tomorrow I might go to a church before hitting the bus. I kind of want to see this Christianity for myself.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Oklahoma City
Last time I wrote here, I was still in Austin, but that's no longer the case. I hit Dallas for one night and now I'm here in Oklahoma City to have a blast and spark some happenings! Or something like that... Unfortunately I also wrote you a long, long entry that I can now not get on any computer than my own, so in short I will tell you that because of some freedom-loving Greenpeace boys (one of which was the spitting image of Julian Casablancas - something that really fascinated me) I am now a member of that organization as well. It made sense at the time. It still does actually, especially since the weather in this country is really freaking me out!
I also did eat at that place, Guero's at the end, but it wasn't the experience I thought it'd be. Just wasn't divey enough, I guess.
But when I left Austin I was sad. That place really did get to me.
But now I'm in Oklahoma, and it really is a state of cattle. When I was sitting on the bus here I saw a bunch of, you guessed it, cattle being transported and I really felt like I was, wait, you guessed it again, Oklahoma. Let's see what this place has to offer now...
Nadia
I also did eat at that place, Guero's at the end, but it wasn't the experience I thought it'd be. Just wasn't divey enough, I guess.
But when I left Austin I was sad. That place really did get to me.
But now I'm in Oklahoma, and it really is a state of cattle. When I was sitting on the bus here I saw a bunch of, you guessed it, cattle being transported and I really felt like I was, wait, you guessed it again, Oklahoma. Let's see what this place has to offer now...
Nadia
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Austin # 2
It’s been a while since we’ve spoken (or written), and I have many things to tell you. Last time I had just been to the University of Austin, and now I’m soon to leave. This fills me with great anguish.
Let me first tell you of the stores they have in this city. The best ones are on “my” street, and there are especially two that have gotten my interest. The first one is a candy store. This might not be of any interest to you, but wait till you see this one. It’s old-fashioned and it feels like the fifties have come back with a vengeance when you’re there. It really is a fascinating place. I even got to take a picture in there, because it is indescribable. So is the second store, but that’s not because it’s cool, but because it is so very, very creepy. Consider the Leatherhead family from Texas Chainsaw getting their own store. Then you can imagine this one. It’s got cut-off animal heads on the walls and dirty bottles for sale. In this store, named “Uncommon Objects” (damn right they’re uncommon), there are dolls with no heads and old, old furniture that could use some dusting. It really is a scary place!
The women here, it seems, are also having some troubles with their men. Monday night I didn’t sleep until late because I just had to listen in on a conversation in the other room (that walls are very thin here). Two female friends were talking about the man to one of them. They said things like “huge fight” and “such an idiot” and “you know what he said?” and so on. But this is nothing like the next morning, when I was awakened by an angry woman’s voice in the other room screaming “you just don’t understand!” Of course I had to figure out what that was all about, but it wasn’t difficult because this conversation was LOUD. This girl was obviously on the phone with her boyfriend. Apparently this is the story: Late last night she drove Sybill home. The boyfriend doesn’t approve of Sybill, but the girlfriend thinks she is “so full of life”. However, Sybill is no longer full of life and is now an overweight alcoholic. I don’t exactly know how, but somehow the boyfriend got quite upset about this whole driving-home business and sent the girlfriend some angry texts. The same texts they were now discussing. She called him a jerk a lot and cried. Those women sure don’t have it easy here.
It was snowing all Tuesday. Actually the weather was so awful which is unexplainable, since it was downright summer when I got here. Not very satisfying. This resulted in me writing a lot of Freckles in a coffee shop downtown. I was determined to see the Texas State Capitol Building though, and hurried over there to see the pink-granite building that is a sight for sore eyes, as they say. And it is. The coolest thing about it though, is all the photographers that seem to be around it taking their pictures. When I came home I saw that my neighbour had a do-not-disturb-sign on her door, and I felt a little bad for her.
In the evening I ate at a place called Woodland that played great country music and had the whole diner/restaurant thing going on. I’m still too afraid to go into the local eating dive, Güero’s, but I think today will be the day where I finally get myself together and just go! After this I again walked downtown. Now the weather had become much better, and it was no longer snowing. Good. I walked to the legendary 6th Street and into the Alamo Drafthouse where they had a showing of the old Craven horror-flick The Hills Have Eyes; a totally sold-out showing and I’m just happy that I bought my ticket on the first day here. It was a pretty awesome showing with people who’d seen the film as many times as me. It was like the delta sorority in Animal House, and it was just plain great. Actually the Alamo itself might be one of the coolest cinemas around in the entire US. They have a single showing of a premiere film and everything else is just kitsch, camp, cult and so on. But not only is it a cinema, but it’s also a drafthouse (hence the name) and a restaurant of the more suspicious kind. I loved it from the first time I saw it. And since it was placed directly on E 6th St it was even be an experience to walk down to it. Let me tell you guys about E 6th St. It’s a good place. It’s not the best that Austin has to offer, but it’s a concept within itself. The entire street is based in dives, bars, and downright sleazy stores. Oh, and then the visitor centre is there, too. Every night that place is a party filled with beer and country music. And then if you walk back up to Congress Ave it’s like it was never there. I think that’s amazing. So basically: if you want to get drunk in Austin, head for the 6th. And still, it’s nowhere near scary. It’s nothing like walking down Gothersgade in Copenhagen is starting to be; no, here it is all cozy and somewhat safe. And actually Austin is pretty much like that. Cool and safe. There are no threats in the air here, not even after midnight. It’s all good.
Anyway, when I got back to the motel I wasn’t tired, so I sat for an hour or so in a diner, drinking a cup of coffee, writing Freckles, until I finally went to bed at 1:30am. Pretty good evening and night, if you ask me.
And now it’s Wednesday. Tomorrow I have to get back to Dallas as a stop on the way to Oklahoma. Blows. I really wish I could stay here. I am beginning to really love Austin, and I wish I could just go here whenever. But enough of that now; I just went on a hike near the lake that divides the SoCo area and downtown. They have a hiking trail there and it’s a beautiful walk down the river where you can look up on both sides of the city. For half a mile or so I was even followed by a squirrel.
That’s all for now. Take care, all.
Let me first tell you of the stores they have in this city. The best ones are on “my” street, and there are especially two that have gotten my interest. The first one is a candy store. This might not be of any interest to you, but wait till you see this one. It’s old-fashioned and it feels like the fifties have come back with a vengeance when you’re there. It really is a fascinating place. I even got to take a picture in there, because it is indescribable. So is the second store, but that’s not because it’s cool, but because it is so very, very creepy. Consider the Leatherhead family from Texas Chainsaw getting their own store. Then you can imagine this one. It’s got cut-off animal heads on the walls and dirty bottles for sale. In this store, named “Uncommon Objects” (damn right they’re uncommon), there are dolls with no heads and old, old furniture that could use some dusting. It really is a scary place!
The women here, it seems, are also having some troubles with their men. Monday night I didn’t sleep until late because I just had to listen in on a conversation in the other room (that walls are very thin here). Two female friends were talking about the man to one of them. They said things like “huge fight” and “such an idiot” and “you know what he said?” and so on. But this is nothing like the next morning, when I was awakened by an angry woman’s voice in the other room screaming “you just don’t understand!” Of course I had to figure out what that was all about, but it wasn’t difficult because this conversation was LOUD. This girl was obviously on the phone with her boyfriend. Apparently this is the story: Late last night she drove Sybill home. The boyfriend doesn’t approve of Sybill, but the girlfriend thinks she is “so full of life”. However, Sybill is no longer full of life and is now an overweight alcoholic. I don’t exactly know how, but somehow the boyfriend got quite upset about this whole driving-home business and sent the girlfriend some angry texts. The same texts they were now discussing. She called him a jerk a lot and cried. Those women sure don’t have it easy here.
It was snowing all Tuesday. Actually the weather was so awful which is unexplainable, since it was downright summer when I got here. Not very satisfying. This resulted in me writing a lot of Freckles in a coffee shop downtown. I was determined to see the Texas State Capitol Building though, and hurried over there to see the pink-granite building that is a sight for sore eyes, as they say. And it is. The coolest thing about it though, is all the photographers that seem to be around it taking their pictures. When I came home I saw that my neighbour had a do-not-disturb-sign on her door, and I felt a little bad for her.
In the evening I ate at a place called Woodland that played great country music and had the whole diner/restaurant thing going on. I’m still too afraid to go into the local eating dive, Güero’s, but I think today will be the day where I finally get myself together and just go! After this I again walked downtown. Now the weather had become much better, and it was no longer snowing. Good. I walked to the legendary 6th Street and into the Alamo Drafthouse where they had a showing of the old Craven horror-flick The Hills Have Eyes; a totally sold-out showing and I’m just happy that I bought my ticket on the first day here. It was a pretty awesome showing with people who’d seen the film as many times as me. It was like the delta sorority in Animal House, and it was just plain great. Actually the Alamo itself might be one of the coolest cinemas around in the entire US. They have a single showing of a premiere film and everything else is just kitsch, camp, cult and so on. But not only is it a cinema, but it’s also a drafthouse (hence the name) and a restaurant of the more suspicious kind. I loved it from the first time I saw it. And since it was placed directly on E 6th St it was even be an experience to walk down to it. Let me tell you guys about E 6th St. It’s a good place. It’s not the best that Austin has to offer, but it’s a concept within itself. The entire street is based in dives, bars, and downright sleazy stores. Oh, and then the visitor centre is there, too. Every night that place is a party filled with beer and country music. And then if you walk back up to Congress Ave it’s like it was never there. I think that’s amazing. So basically: if you want to get drunk in Austin, head for the 6th. And still, it’s nowhere near scary. It’s nothing like walking down Gothersgade in Copenhagen is starting to be; no, here it is all cozy and somewhat safe. And actually Austin is pretty much like that. Cool and safe. There are no threats in the air here, not even after midnight. It’s all good.
Anyway, when I got back to the motel I wasn’t tired, so I sat for an hour or so in a diner, drinking a cup of coffee, writing Freckles, until I finally went to bed at 1:30am. Pretty good evening and night, if you ask me.
And now it’s Wednesday. Tomorrow I have to get back to Dallas as a stop on the way to Oklahoma. Blows. I really wish I could stay here. I am beginning to really love Austin, and I wish I could just go here whenever. But enough of that now; I just went on a hike near the lake that divides the SoCo area and downtown. They have a hiking trail there and it’s a beautiful walk down the river where you can look up on both sides of the city. For half a mile or so I was even followed by a squirrel.
That’s all for now. Take care, all.
Monday, February 22, 2010
University in Austin
Hey everyone,
Just want to let you all know that I won't be posting here for the next couple of days... I gotta pay for the Internet here, you know! But I already have new things to tell you like;
I got into an American university today and it was incredible. It was the University of Texas, Austin or something like that and outside it looked like any university. Just bigger and with their own huge football field. Inside though it was deeply fascinating. There were posters of sororities you just had to join (all called something like Alpha Kappa Phi etc.) and there were dudes with signs saying that everyone should vote for them as the president for something at the next university election. Nobody paid much attention to them though. I almost asked one if I could take apicture, but decided not to in the end. He was standing next to a lot of competitors for the presidential title, and my request might have made him somewhat unpopular. Can't have that.
And then there were every kind of food chain in there as well. I mean, you apparently can't have an American university without a Wendy's and a Starbucks. But I did love it a little bit, and I did shallow all shame and took many pictures. It was just too good not to.
But anyway, I won't be here for a little while. Until then,
bye
Just want to let you all know that I won't be posting here for the next couple of days... I gotta pay for the Internet here, you know! But I already have new things to tell you like;
I got into an American university today and it was incredible. It was the University of Texas, Austin or something like that and outside it looked like any university. Just bigger and with their own huge football field. Inside though it was deeply fascinating. There were posters of sororities you just had to join (all called something like Alpha Kappa Phi etc.) and there were dudes with signs saying that everyone should vote for them as the president for something at the next university election. Nobody paid much attention to them though. I almost asked one if I could take apicture, but decided not to in the end. He was standing next to a lot of competitors for the presidential title, and my request might have made him somewhat unpopular. Can't have that.
And then there were every kind of food chain in there as well. I mean, you apparently can't have an American university without a Wendy's and a Starbucks. But I did love it a little bit, and I did shallow all shame and took many pictures. It was just too good not to.
But anyway, I won't be here for a little while. Until then,
bye
Austin
I'm in Austin and not only is it 24 degrees in celcius here, but it's also the coolest place in the state of Texas. It's gotta be! Seriously, you are so missing out if you don't get here once in your life.
So I already love Austin and I also love being out of Dallas - for now. When I had to get a ticket at the Greyhound station, I was "serviced" by the fattest woman I've seen so far. And she was grumpy, too. When she saw me, she only looked and said "yeah?" with a heavy sigh following. I told her I was going to Austin, and she typed something into her computer. This took about forever, but I was patient and waited the five minutes or so. In that time she managed to sigh heavily every time she took a breath and when I looked at her she was doing all these strange grimaces, like she wanted me to know how much she hated her job. Anyway, suddenly she got up from her chair and decided to leave me and the line that was forming behind. No explanation, nothing. Just her leaving the post. So we waited. And waited. And waited. Until she came back. She looked at me and said "C.V." I didn't get this and said something stupidly polite, like "excuse me?" and she said, louder: "C.V.!" I was starting to panic, and started to guess: "you mean the bag?" and asked her and she decided to yell "C.V.!" Finally I understood that she meant my I.D., but dude, what a woman. When I had that ticket in hand, I was happy to get out of there.
And now I'm more than happy to be here. I live in the SoCo area, where the hippies roam through the various coffee shops and seconds hand stores. There's music everywhere. People are sitting on the streets strumming their guitars, and I can positively say that I love this place.
Yesterday before I went to bed I tood my computer and decided to write some of my novel by a coffee place called Jo's right next to where I live. From there you can see all the lights from the boutiques and you can feel the life that is the SoCo area. Lovely.
Nadia
So I already love Austin and I also love being out of Dallas - for now. When I had to get a ticket at the Greyhound station, I was "serviced" by the fattest woman I've seen so far. And she was grumpy, too. When she saw me, she only looked and said "yeah?" with a heavy sigh following. I told her I was going to Austin, and she typed something into her computer. This took about forever, but I was patient and waited the five minutes or so. In that time she managed to sigh heavily every time she took a breath and when I looked at her she was doing all these strange grimaces, like she wanted me to know how much she hated her job. Anyway, suddenly she got up from her chair and decided to leave me and the line that was forming behind. No explanation, nothing. Just her leaving the post. So we waited. And waited. And waited. Until she came back. She looked at me and said "C.V." I didn't get this and said something stupidly polite, like "excuse me?" and she said, louder: "C.V.!" I was starting to panic, and started to guess: "you mean the bag?" and asked her and she decided to yell "C.V.!" Finally I understood that she meant my I.D., but dude, what a woman. When I had that ticket in hand, I was happy to get out of there.
And now I'm more than happy to be here. I live in the SoCo area, where the hippies roam through the various coffee shops and seconds hand stores. There's music everywhere. People are sitting on the streets strumming their guitars, and I can positively say that I love this place.
Yesterday before I went to bed I tood my computer and decided to write some of my novel by a coffee place called Jo's right next to where I live. From there you can see all the lights from the boutiques and you can feel the life that is the SoCo area. Lovely.
Nadia
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