Wonderful Mysterious Living

I told some of you that the weather has been pretty nice. Well, I jinxed myself. Although it was only about a 2 hour timeframe, these snowflakes were huge! This was Tuesday. It all turned to slush once it hit the ground and after awhile the snow turned into rain. I can't complain at all though, today was pretty much spring. 

This Thursday they let me use power tools. Watch out.

I cut wood for the mini wood burning stove with a saw for an hour and then used a needle scaler for three hours on the deck. Well, two different needle scalers. The first one broke...whoops. Needle scalers are used to get old paint and rust off of metal. You'll immediately understand why I protected my ears in watching the video below, but I started off without the goggles. After a paint chip flies into your eye, you find goggles. You can see the bristles of the wire brush I was holding in the picture. When you can't get all the rust with the needle scalers, you brush it with the wire brush. After brushing this one particular spot with the wire brush, I mindlessly threw the brush in front of me. Of course, it went in the hole in the deck where the anchor chain leads to the water. Luckily the chain is big enough that it stopped the brush from falling into the water and at a point where I could stick my had down to retrieve it. 

http://youtu.be/t6f-Smtph8Y

This barge type boat goes by every time i'm on the boat. It is transporting soil. I was drawn to this barge the first time it went by, I simply stopped to watch it go by. About an hour or so later, it was on its way back without the soil. It was obvious that it had dropped the soil off at its given destination, but this intrigued me. In about another hour here comes the barge, now carrying sand. The given destinations are not that far apart, yet they choose to transport things on the water. It makes sense, but I was unaware that transportation happens on water at such short distances. 

I think the greatest part of this barge is that it's really relatable to life. I love its consistency. It is almost like it never stops. We are doing the same work in ourselves as the barge. Constantly transforming ourselves by getting rid of or simply moving all of the dirt/sand/shit out. Sometimes we are traveling empty, content with our current status. Sometimes the load is heavy and sometimes light. I do not know where the boat gets its resources and where it transports them to, but that is also like transforming ourselves. We don't always necessarily know where the shit comes from or where it has to go, but we simply just do it. 

Life lessons on the water.

After work on Thursday, I was absolutely exhausted. But I had to go on a school field trip to a start up company called hubraum. This field trip took me to a part of the city I hadn't really been to. It was in Schönefeld. Despite my delirium from exhaustion, I found myself in love with this part of town. It felt and looked different than everywhere else I have been.

And many parks and play places.

Although everywhere in the city has amazing graffiti. I'm not sure if this gnome counts, he looks pretty intentional even though he was on the side of a basketball court. 

If I hadn't had any obligations, I would have played on this amazing playground. I know, I'm 21 and it may have looked creepy, but I wouldn't have cared. 

All the graffiti is art!

The precision is amazing to me. This almost looks animated. 

And check out this architecture! I have no idea what this building is, but part of me hopes it is a residential space so that one day I can live in it. 

A beautiful church. 

An awesome modern building that surprisingly turns out to be a school building. 

A wide open space where children's imaginations can turn a training wheel bike into a hyper speed automobile. 

The most welcoming cup of hot chocolate. 

After the field trip I ate Vietnamese with a girl named Audrey who lives across the hall. Although another level of delusional from the wearing day, I had a wonderful time. The food was off the chain. Seriously, I've never had Vietnamese before and only got fried rice and chicken. It tasted like heaven. Maybe my physical and mental state had something to do with this, but I'm telling you, you need to hit up your local Vietnamese place. 

On the way home i found it amusing that all you could see was this person's boots. Also plays into the anonymity of city life. You walk by so many people, so many faces, so many stories, so much joy and so much pain, yet almost all of it goes unnoticed. A mysterious place, the city. I think I like it. 

 <3 Abigail