******: Oberaegeri

Showing posts with label Oberaegeri. Show all posts

June 2008 pt. 1

June 2008 was principally marked by the end of Spring quarter. I was glad that the quarter was over because it had been strangely difficult for me. All of my intellectual gears were rusty after being out of school for a year and transitioning was a struggle. Socially, I was looking for friends and confidants because of my general feelings of displacement -- most of the friends I had come to know since I had moved to Athens had left a year earlier with graduation. If I had taken a more orthodox path in college, I would have graduated with them in the Spring of 2007. So knowing that most of them were already out in the "real world" was a strange thought paired up with the reality that I still have some way to go before I can enter a more advanced "adult" life.

That and transitioning from being in a band was overwhelming. Most of the goals I had in my mind being a musician were changing. Change is the only constant in life and I could certainly feel it all around me but mostly within myself. I was looking for serenity or at least some where and some one that I could really sink into and figure out some things with myself. When I told a lot of people that I was spending most of the summer in Switzerland, the general reaction was eye-rolling misunderstanding but coupled with people just trying to be nice. It does sound impractical, far-fetched, or escapist to go somewhere so foreign and far but for me, being with my family (particularly my parents) centers me. It puts me at an equilibrium where I can remember where I came from, who I used to be, and perhaps give me nurturing and encouragement to decide where I am going. It just so happens that going "home" for me is about 5,000 miles away in the Swiss Alps. I have come to terms with whatever people's opinions/judgements are about my life and in the end I don't really care. If someone judges me negatively for aspects of how my family works, it is something I will generally disregard.

June was difficult for me because it was all about getting into productive habits. When I lost my job back in January, I fell into a nether-world of laziness and messiness. My life seemed pointless and chaotic for awhile because I had felt like the rug was pulled from under me. Going home for the Summer was all about getting in the habit of making healthy decisions for me and wrapping myself with a big blanket.

*****Flower Stand*****

The first couple of days for trans-atlantic flights are always hard for me. This was on the day after I arrived in CH. My mom and I went out for a walk around the village where she and my dad live. This was a flower stand along the way.

*****Swiss Dairy Cow*****

*****Oberaegeri Farm*****

The landscape and outdoors are breath-taking where my parents live. It is heavily agricultural, although my parents live in a newly developed condominium. The name of their town is Oberageri and it has been around since the 16th century. It is mind-blowing for me to see some of the buildings when I walk around the village -- they are often marked with the year they were built and a lot of them read years in the 1700s.

*****House-Horsie*****

This artwork was painted on the side of a house that I saw on our walk.

*****Cyber-Caitlin / Cyber Ricky*****

Caitlin bought a Mac computer shortly after I left to CH and we communicated through iChat's video chat feature. It was a good way to keep in touch, to see each other face to face. I still missed her very much but at least we could see each other.

*****Kitty*****

Neighborhood tom-cat.

*****Clouds*****

*****Psychedelic*****

*****Woah*****

Back Home

Dad picked me up at 8:30 AM but I was through customs by 7:30. I feel burning in my nostrils like they have been inflamed over time -- whenever I make a transatlantic flight. I walked through customs with my four pieces of luggage -- my suitcase, backpack, guitar, and violin and waited there in front of the sliding doors for the next half hour. I stood and watched everyone around me while I thought of how to act while watching everyone around oneself. Women were crying out of joy and possibly nostalgia as they hugged over an steel rail. Swiss men in red track suits posed with arms crossed waiting for their teammates to come through customs. It was about five minutes before three other Swiss track and field giants wheeled through the customs doors with 20 ft. long parcels. They had to have been the polevaulters of the team -- there is no other instrument of track and field that could conceivably be packaged in a 20 ft. long case.

I stood and watched a woman about my age wait with her mother. She had short trimmed red hair and it was slicked down a little bit -- maybe she was wearing mousse -- and she wore a denim jacket and well-fitted jeans. I was imagining why she was waiting there and then a few moments later an older man with short white hair and white beard walked through the gate with an oversized package. Rafting in British Columbia was what I thought he had just returned from and the only german I could pick up was him telling his daughter how beautiful she looked. I just stood there taking turns looking at the floor, sliding doors, staring at nothing and everything all around me.

***Dad***

Dad showed up and we went walking. I shook his hand and told him how tired I was. Dad stopped for a cappucino and I for a water and then we went into the silent car of the train. In a lot of the Swiss railcars, I have noticed that there is a "Silent Area" for trains. It's as quiet as a doctor's room in there -- what's fascinating is that I can barely ever hear the train itself move when we are at full speed. This mode and technology is so perceivably easy from the inside. Too easy. I don't trust it.

The train ride was swift -- we moved through Oerlikon, Zurich HB, Thalwil, Baar, and then finally to Zug. I was trying out my new camera and tried to set the shutter speed low enough to get my father's reflection off the train window and the movement from outside as we were approaching the tunnel

***Oerlikon Station***