This morning I went to school to pick up my prints and get a receipt for all my expenses in the print shop over the semester. (Actually, I ran all the way there because I didn't want to take forever. Mom and Joanna, that's about 2.5 kilometers . . . it was a little tougher because it was late morning and the sun was hot, but I kept it up surprisingly well.) I also printed out my Abmeldung, which is my change-of-address form for Hamburg's city record to tell them that I will no longer be living at Georgi-Haus.
I was supposed to meet Indra at the Stadtpark at 1, and I didn't leave school until almost 12:30, but I decided to walk back home instead of taking the train because the day was so nice. On the way I witnessed a slightly scary moment. There were five girls (I think at least a couple of them were sisters) running in an asphalt lot at the edge of the little community park near Georgi-Haus. There is a big permanent billboard sign set up at the corner of the lot there. It has two vertical struts holding up the sign with two diagonal struts connected to those for counterbalance, and there are four big cement blocks anchoring the struts to the ground so the sign won't fall over in heavy wind. You can walk under it, but you have to pay attention because between the vertical and diagonal strut on each side there is a horizontal bar connecting the struts, about four feet off the ground. So these girls were all running top speed, chasing each other or something, and right as I got to the sign they were coming towards me from the other direction. They went to run under the sign, but one girl (who was probably about nine or ten) didn't see the horizontal bar because it was just above her eye level. She went running under the sign at top speed and BAM! Her forehead slammed right into the bar and the impact knocked her flat on her back on the asphalt. Of course she grabbed her head and burst out crying, and the other girls all screeched to a stop to see if she was okay. The oldest girl, who was maybe fourteen or fifteen, helped her get up. I stopped too, because I didn't know if she would need first aid or something. But praise the Lord, that girl had a hard head, because she only had a little mark on her head, no cut, and her only other injury was a skinned elbow. I'm sure it hurt like the dickens, and she'll probably have a pretty nasty bump on her forehead from it, but thankfully she wasn't bleeding or unconscious or anything. I stayed long enough just to be sure everything was okay and then continued on my way. But man, it scared me when the bar knocked her flat like that. (Emily, it reminded me of that time when you were four years old and you clonked your head on that metal bar at the bank!) I was really glad there were no stitches or major first aid required. Hopefully she's okay now, poor kid.
Anyway, I finally got home and changed into my swimsuit. I was late meeting Indra at the Stadtpark, but we had a nice afternoon anyway. It was windy today, so we spent longer intervals lying in the sun and shorter intervals swimming. The wind reminded me of the ever-present afternoon wind at SoCal beaches . . . preparing me for chilly afternoons working at the pool when I get home, I guess.
Indra went home to Hanerau for the night because she leaves for her trip to Hungary on Sunday and her parents wanted to see her before she goes. (By the way, her trip will last a week and she is going to a special music academy program. She qualified for it through her Gymnasium, or advanced-level high school, because she was and still is a good student. It will be the first trip she has taken by herself, kind of like coming to Hamburg was for me. Although in her case, she won't be gone nearly as long as I was.)
Speaking of coming and going, I've only got one week left until I come home! God willing, I'll be landing at LAX at 7:30 pm next Wednesday. I'm sad to leave Hamburg, of course, but I'm also excited to see everybody in California! By the way, to any lap swimmers or pool staff who are reading, I was telling Indra about you today and I didn't realize until now how much I miss you all! Don't worry, just one more week and I'll be back to bother you guys again. :)
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