All Along The Watchtower

Wow, it has been quite some time. I have to be honest, I don't even remember the last time I shared my life on this blog. Tons of things have happened and I am excited to jump right in.
Besides the little ones like a new spark in my love for the TV series Mad Men(which leads to an unhealthy desire to drink whiskey and make sexist comments..), having bought, tailored and worn a suit, finding more and more joy in cooking or experiencing homesickness here and there - my life is great.
But clearly, that's not all of it.

To start things off: In the last 2 months or so I finally had the chance to see a little bit more of the United States. I first went on a 2 day trip to NYC via Megabus to see a great friend of mine and his family, then I also spent 4 days in Chicago meeting with 2 of my friends. That's it? Nope, my sister visited me spontaneously last week, it was awesome!

The New York trip has been planned about 3 weeks in advance when I heard from my friend Julius that he'd be "in town", asking how far/expensive it might be to come from NYC to DC for a couple of days. But then I knew what to do. Seize the moment, get cheap Megabus tickets(I can only recommend Megabus.. fast, cheap, free WiFi etc.) and finally see (what I thought might be) the greatest city in the world. Spoiler alert - I was wrong. But to that more later on. I hopped on the bus around 8am on Sunday and went off. My friend, his mom and his sister picked me up from the NYC bus stop and big hugs(see the upper pic) were exchanged before exploring the city.
I've heard a lot about New York. And yes, I have to agree to one thing: It IS quite impressive. Never ever have I seen anything like this before, such diversity of people and buildings. Wow. I was stunned, it was a little bit overwhelming but you're getting used to it.
Because of our limited time we spent the 1.5 days only in Manhattan, but it was amazing. I still feel a little bad because I did not have to spent any money because Julius' mom is probably the most profoundly generous person ever! Thank you!
And for the record.. we didn't spent the night in a hostel outside of NYC but in the famous old-school Manhattan hotel 'Waldorf Astoria'. That was epic, just check out the lobby:

I will never forget this weekend. It was absolutely amazing! I saw most of the important things like the Empire State Building, Times Square, Statue of Liberty, Rockefeller Center, Madison Square Garden etc. but the best thing about this trip was definitely spending time with my friend and his family. Catching up, doing way-too-easy crossword puzzles and laughing about insider jokes from 6th grade. We had a beautiful time! Oh, and we were visiting a fancy apartment right at Wall Street which was just crazy! 

Yeah, that was NYC. 

Here some more impressions(and big hugs)

You really thought I was done? I am just getting started..

My next trip was on a long weekend at the beginning of May. After my NYC trip I was even more excited to go because I enjoyed the first trip so much. I boarded my flight around noon on Friday and the excitement got even bigger.

I met with my friend downtown and after a little snack we started exploring the city. Walking down the Michian Avenue was great, the street goes all the way from North to South Chicago along the beautiful Michigan Lake. Unfortunately the Millenium Park was closed but right in front of it you can find the  "bean", it was really cool! 

We slept at Chicago State University in a dorm which was crazy because it took us almost 1.5 hours with the bus to the college which is in one of the most dangerous parts of Chicago all the way down in the South. On Saturday and Sunday we saw all sorts of stuff. Being up in the Sears Tower, doing the riverwalk, exploring the Field Museum, the Navy Pier - good times! I had 2 personal highlights though..

We ate Pizza on Saturday night at 'Giordano's'. The famous stuffed Chicago pizza is indeed amazing. It was probably the best pizza I ever had, after 3 slices my belly was full and satisfied. So much cheese, you gotta love it! 

On Sunday morning we decided to go up the huge Hancock tower and have brunch there. Not knowing what the price might be, we were a little surprised. Good thing: The food was more than delicious! Bad thing: The price was... let's say... funny. But it was a great experience for all of us. I can only recommend the fancy Signature Room at 95th of the Hancock tower! Halleluja!

These are just a few of my impressions from Chicago including selfies and heights! I love the city so much!

It was one of the best weekends of my life and could not have been better! The city is much better than NYC! At least for me! I loved the air, the Michigan Lake, the people and the lack of tourists! 

I am trying to rush through here, I hope you guys don't mind! If you have read all the way to this point, you are very brave and will be rewarded! By some more awesome photos later on! 

Like this one:

A sleepy me(it was 5:30am) and my housemate preparing for the annual 'Heart of L'Arche Breakfast'. It was great, we were hosting fundraisers for our community so we had to dress up! 

Next amazing event: I got a very spontaneous visit from my sister, which was awesome! She stayed for a whole week and we had a wonderful time! I love her very much which I hope you guys can see in the pictures that will follow. We did some touring through DC but I was glad that seeing everything of the city was not our main focus. 

This is us meeting at the airport, the selfie was a must!

Scary, I know.

Too many selfies, right?

There it is! The White House! So exciting! Whohoooo! Best building ever!! Whooohooo! Not...

But the pic was a must!

Hehe.

Business!

ICECREAM PARTY WHOOP WHOOP

Abe Lincoln!

This was as we heard that Hamburg hit a goal in the second relegation game.. the capitol was not that important anymore!

I hope you enjoyed this little slideshow. I will end this post with a photo of me in the sexiest apron of all time! I am looking forward to watching game 3 of the Western Conference Finals, hope OKC will get it together, but still an hour until tip-off! 

My next post will definitely not take me 2 months to finish! I will be home in 1.5 months so I will probably do a wrap-up of my year in the states in June. Looking forward to it!

Have a great week and enjoy life!

Grace

Hello world! I am alive!

It's been a whole month without an update.. I am sorry, but first there weren't many things to share and then things suddenly got so crazy here that I did not find the time to sit down and actually do it.

Last month was pretty amazing, though. I don't know where to start, but I just came back from the guitar store, where I played the greatest instrument I ever picked up! I had to take a picutre. Marting D-45. Beautiful! And it is only 8000 bucks, no problem for me!

I went to 2 NBA games this month and it was glorious! Because a good community friend showed me a website where you can get tickets at affordable prices, the seats that we had were amazing both times! I even had the opportunity to say hello to John Wall, the 80-million $ point guard from the Wizards! Whoohoo!

Wow, it is Saturday already.. We just had the craziest week here and I truly need my days away. Last Saturday our community celebrated the so-called 'Solidariday/Solidarity Night' that happens annually at L'Arche DC. First we had a bazaar where we sold self-made things for our solidarity fund, then had a talentshow where everyone contributed followed by pizza and ice-cream! We played 'Trouble' by Taylor Swift and changed the lyrics a little bit.. fun times!

Later that evening 2 of my highschool friends from Germany visited and we had a blast! It was absolutely fabulous. Georgetown, museums, my first I-Hop brunch, an eagle, a lot of coffee.. yo! Why do I mention the eagle? Why not?!

We were so damn lucky with the weather we had. Just a few days before it looked like this outside..

I am feeling very good. When I right now think about leaving this place in 4 months, I have this weird feeling in my belly. I don't know, I miss Germany and all its beauties, and I miss my friends and family.. but right now - right here - is the perfect place for me. 

Man, this is actually stressing me out in the past 2-3 weeks. Where to go after all this is over. I will apply to several universities in Germany which was my plan for the last few years, and at the end of the day it's all working out that way. But what has been on my mind lately, like a year from now is studying here.Financing it on your own is nearly impossible, so I am figuring out if there are some options that I have not considered. Can you blame me for trying?

Got this in the mail today.. it make me freak out even more..

I am enjoying my life over here and I miss you all very much, I hope to see you very soon! Yes, you! Who is reading this right now!

Catch you later!

PJB

Unbound (The Wild Ride)

..is one of my favorite songs! I was thinking way too hard about a cool headline for this post,  I got frustrated and didn't want to keep on doing it. So now I sit here listening to this song, which Avenged Sevenfold originally wanted to call "Disney World Acid Trip". Crazily good!

It has been a long time, it feels like an eternity since my last post. There were so many things happening that I don't really know where to start. As you could imagine, I was playing a lot of guitar, doing the usual NBA watching and Dave Matthews stuff and all.. but there was also one of the most overhyped events I have ever experienced! The American Superbowl. Wow, what a party! I like how especially on social media everyone, literally EVERYONE turns into a football expert. Guys, I know it's a cool event and all, but you don't have to pretend you know stuff about football! I know you have not seen one game of the regular season, it's alright!
So I watched parts of the game because I was sharing time(my favorite substitude for "working") that evening and there were crazy things happening in our house so we could not fully enjoy the game, which was fine. I did not have any connection to either of those teams, so it wasn't really interesting. It was a funny blowout though!

Ok, I want y'all to see this, it's called "Honest Trailers" and it is a thing on Youtube, just check it out! I think I watched all of these videos at least twice, it is hilarious!

The next thing is, I get really, really excited about the NBA playoffs this year. There are so many dangerous teams out there, not only 2-3 but this year there are like 6-7 contenders.. and some surprising teams like the Phoenix Suns! I watched Kevin Durant, my favorite player live in the Verizon Center on February 1st and it was so much fun! It was funny because there were actually more Oklahoma City Thunder fans than Wizards fans.
And then last Sunday I spontaneously bought a ticket for the Wizards game against the Sacramento Kings, not in the highest section like I usually do but for the lowest! I never saw the action that close, it was absolutely amazing!

I decided to actually stand up like everyone else at the national anthem.. I get goosebumps, but psh, don't tell anyone!

So all in all it's going pretty well over here, I am skyping with my family and some (new) friends and I find more time for myself in the past month because life got less busier. I try to get DMB tickets but cannot decide where to go.. traveling plans are in progress and I am welcoming some friends over in early March, that's going to be a lot of fun!

Oh, and it started snowing about an hour ago. It is already white outside and there were some warnings about a lot of snow coming in. I am prepared, we just went to Giant(a grocery store) to get some treats to get us through the next days. L'Arche also scheduled a Valentines Day party over in DC tomorrow with the theme "beach", but it'll probably be moved to next week. It's a shame, my outfit is ready:

Have a lovely week and take care of yourself!

What a month!

Hello again, after another long break of writing an update I am finally excited to do it more regularly!

We went through some very stressful times at 6th Street but things seem to be more smooth and relaxed as ever. Snoop Dogg would say. "We rollin', dawg, shizzle-di-fizzle!"
My last 2-3 weeks were pretty cool! I saw even more NBA games at the Verizon Center, it was awesome! I went to another Detroit-Wizards game with community friends(we got the tickets for free, hehe) and it was an exciting game, even though the Pistons got the upper hand.. it was still close until like 13 seconds to go.. then I saw the Philadelphia 76ers on MLK day!
I have to say: Martin Luther King Jr. Day is probably the best American holiday that I've experienced so far(and I did it in spectacular fashion), it is a holiday not about eating or selling things.. it is about one of the greatest human beings to ever set a foot on this planet! I loved it, the halftime show and the overall atmosphere in the arena were fantastic! It wasn't about basketball anymore, even though that was one big part of it.
It still brings a smile to my face when I sit there and see people cheering when someone hits a 3-pointer or blocks a shot, because Basketball and sports in general brings people together! I love it!

Speaking of NBA games... I spent a long time thinking about it, but I have to do it. My favorite team are the Oklahoma City Thunder.. not only because of their best player(Top 3 in the league) Kevin Durant but because of the whole team.. I witnessed most of his great performances on screen this season and now I got a ticket for the game in DC.. I have to admit: it was 60 bucks for relatively shitty seats. But damn, it's the Thunder, man! Sorry for the blurry quality but, who cares?

Well, this was a short update about my NBA experiences... there weren't too many mentionable things in the last 3 weeks, I had some relaxing days-away that I spent at home(or being in the Verizon Center) and at the local guitar store. I also cleaned my room on Sunday. And I don't mean "clean", I actually mean "clean". Clean mean. Mean clean. Charlie Sheen, keen. Hakeem the dream. Hehe. Sorry for that!
Yeah, it looks awesome. I did like a half-a-year-I-really-need-to-clean-thing, it took me about 2 and a half hours. Not believing me? I feel ya.. but it happened!

My musical habits haven't really changed, I listen to a lot of DMB but also Tenacious D and some oldschool things like Doors, Led Zep and Phish(not too oldschool, I know). So damn good.
I think I forgot to tell you that I started watching Downton Abbey with my housemates. It is such a great series, trust me! We will actually start with the second season tonight. After the OKC-Spurs game.. I gotta go!

Have a lovely week everybody!
Peace & Love

PJB

...and finally a happy new year!

Puh, I actually can't remember the last time that I posted something on here, must have been last year or so.. Well, 2014 is here and I could not have started better! I went to so many basketball games and even had like 5 days off over new year's just doing nothing. I'm telling ya, even though it sometimes can get a little boring if you really have nothing to do at all(but waiting for the damn government to get going with your Visa..) but I used the time to rest, process and of course play my guitar.
A few years ago I think I wasn't really bad, but whenever I played an expensive guitar I could not really tell much difference between expensive and cheap ones. But now I take a ride to my local guitar store about 10 minutes ago and play a lot of guitars from price ranges and I can tell the differences, not only the sound of the guitar itself but also my skill-level. Playing a song on a 4800$ Taylor 914ce is a significant difference to rocking out on a 150$ Yamaha.. Both ways it's fun, though!

A few days ago I found this(hope y'all can see it in Germany) and I almost cried! One of the greatest concerts of all time, I mean, look at the crowd and the venue!

We celebrated a birthday of our housemates on Tuesday and on Thursday we (actually just me and another housemate) celebrated Dave Matthews' Birthday! Amazing!
I hope to give a more detailed updates in the next days, now I let you all have a lovely night in Germany or a lovely evening in America or wherever you are!

Good night!

PJB

Happy Holidays!

Hello world! Yeah, I am still alive, believe it or not, but I was so busy that I did not find time in the midst of life at L'Arche to get a new post going. But here it is, I actually felt kinda bad that there was no update or any Christmas wishes from my side. Sorry 'bout that.

But here I am, celebrating my first American Christmas with the community. It was great! There is no big difference to Germany besides that Christmas Day is usually a bigger day than Christmas Eve(24.) as the time to open the presents and everything. Oh and the Americans are all about lights. Lights everywhere. In Germany I felt like you had one or two crazy weird people in your neighborhood who seemed to take the Christmas lights a little too seriously. But here literally everyone is going crazy about those damn lights. But that's okay, everything is a little bigger and over-the-top-ish than in Europe I suppose.

I am doing very well, I got some (bad quality) pictures from my holiday impressions.. well, actually it's just some random snapshots. I got a photobook from my parents, like the coolest thing ever, about the first 20 years of my short life! Here are 2 of many highlights!

So this is just our fake-tree with way too much bling-bling.. right?

I got some nice presents from lovely people...

My new mug.. sorry for that

...and my new awesome shirt(don't pee your pants, it's real)

I hope you like what you see! I am right now enjoying a game, OKC is playing the Bobcats and it is pretty intense because Russell Westbrook is out due to knee surgery.. why do these superstars always have to have knee problems? Shit..
And tomorrow I am going to see the Wizards taking on the Detroit Pistons at 7 pm.. live, in person, for real! Oh, and on January 1st it's gonna be against the Dallas Mavericks with Dirk! ..And on the 5th of January against the Golden State Warriors, all in the Verizon Center, I am so excited!

I am celebrating life, as you should also do!
Take care!

Back on track!

Aight guys, it has been over two weeks! PJB is back with a lot of information.. nothing really important but still some things I want to share!
First of all: another German friend visited me a week ago and it was really good to see her again after a few months! We made a trip to DC, went to a museum, some monuments - and Vapiano. Same as in Germany, I know, but always great! It could have been better because we were both feeling a little bit sick - for whatever reason.
The past 2 weeks have been so stuffed that I am grateful for all the free time I can get. I am actually enjoying some time alone while writing this, listening to/watching one of my new Dave Matthews Band live DVD's!

Oh and also my parents sent me a huge (care) package from Germany! Wrapped up Christmas presents, some clothes and way more important: A German beer glass and German chocolate! I was craving the good stuff(Americans are terrible at making choc, no offense)!
What also was in the package:

How great is that?! I feel like a twelve year-old.. which is actually a good thing!
After having felt like a grown-up with discovering my love for cooking and having the ability to actually fix toilets or take care of finances etc... it was great!

I wanted to share more pictures with you guys(a great Christmas picture of all my housemates in the makin'), but I worked so much in the last 2 weeks that I did not really take too many good ones..
Oh I almost forgot: Thanksgiving was great! We ate the usual turkey/stuffing/pumpkin-pie things and I felt a little sick after all that. It was an honor to spent one of the most remarkable American holidays with L'Arche! Looking forward to bringing the tradition back home(yeah I know it does not really make sense as a German, but I love turkey)!

So lovely peeps I now need some rest and the live version of "The Dreaming Tree" from the DMB is coming up(it's f**king insane!!) and I have to be prepared!

Since it's Jim Morrison's birthday, this is the end:

Love y'all!

PJB

These Days!

Wow, it was a long time I posted something on here, sorry for the long delay. I know you guys would sit tirelessly in front of your computers waiting for some new post so I don't want to hesitate anymore.
A lot of things happened this week, 2 amazing of these standing out! But first a short overview: I'm doing good. The last 9-10 days(since last post) were really packed and tiring but that's okay. I dealt with it really well, so I finally got to go on my -early- weekend.
I have off-days yesterday/today(Friday) and tomorrow/today(Saturday) which was desperately needed. Sunday I'm going to share more time with my housemates, but this yesterday a friend from Germany came to DC/VA, going on like a 3-month US-trip and visited me.
He is staying in my room for a few days and we explored DC together, this time a little further than I did before. We're gonna do that tomorrow, too, probably later at night when it gets darker, visiting the Lincoln Memorial and probably the Jefferson Memorial. I think I never did so much sightseeing like I did today.
This is me doing the 'what the hell'-move in front of the Washington Capital. It was a lot of fun.

We walked for like 6 hours straight making a short break at Fuel for some hot wings/tenders - I feel so American sometimes...
Sharing that with you, you are probably thinking like 'huh, he eatin' meat again, man?`'
YES! Since Wednesday I am finally eating it again. I proved myself to be able to become a vegetarian and also did something for my health. I feel really good having done that kind of experiment, but I'm also glad to be 'able' to eat disgusting fast food etc. again. Oh, and also bacon. Baaaaacon. I love bacon.
I am enjoying it but I am trying to not eat as much meat as I ate before the month-long hiatus.

So, where were I. Ah, right, the sightseeing-tour! We saw plenty of stuff, I also had my first museum experience today at the National Air and Space museum.
We had a lot of fun, and we also (of course..) went to see the White House. I feel like it's my new home..
This is us. Bam! Note to my German friends: come visit me to be part of such an awesome super-duper-mega picture like this one!

I think this is it. I don't want to bother you with the usual I-listen-to-Dave-Matthews-Band-all-day-long king of stuff. It's like a disease..yet it's only positive.
Have a great weekend everybody, I hope I won't let you wait too long for the next update..

To end it smoothly: Bartender please..

'Papa misses you!'

Well, that's what the advertisement for Papa John's Pizza says. Why do I share random things like that? I don't know! But what I know is that my past week was most def' one of the best weeks I ever had in my entire life! Despite a lot of transition, uncertainty and stress concerning work, I still managed to not get affected by that too much.
Me and another German L'Arche assistant went to Baltimore on Thursday to go to a concert of Less Than Jake and we used the time before the concert to explore the harbour and the surrounding area a little bit(my first time at the Cheesecake Factory, I still feel sick..). It was awesome!
While the atmosphere and even the look of especially DC feels a little sterile, Baltimore feels like home! It reminded me a lot of Hamburg in Germany. Just take a look at that picture!

I missed the fresh, cold air and the water to be honest!
So we went through the city(which is considered to be one of the most dangerous, at least in some parts) and it was awesome. The concert also was a great experience, we saw Less Than Jake(seen 'em before in Germany, though), Anti-Flag -yes they are still alive- , 'The Masked Intruders'(?!) and Get Dead. The last 2 are not really popular at all but they were still pretty good. It was so much fun!
This is a picture of us with The Masked Intruders, I will never forget that!

..I also got this nice autograph from the frontman and singer of 'Get Dead'(hell, I never heard of this band before). I suppose that this is his name:

Fun times, yay!
Oh, I also went to my first NBA game on Friday night, we got tickets for free! I went to the Verizon Center in DC with 4 friends from L'Arche, it was amazing! We saw the Washington Wizards taking on the Brooklyn Nets including Paul Pierce 'The Truth' and Kevin Garnett. It was magical, my first NBA game - and an overtime win for the home team. We all loved it! The picture down here shows the Verizon Center like an hour before the game. Yep, the DC fans are probably the least interested fans in the NBA. But that's ok, at the end of the game everybody was standing and it was very loud!

Yeah, that's it for now, I think. I used the rest of the weekend(today is 'Veterans Day', I don't understand why people celebrate stuff like that) to just rest and enjoy my free time. More DMB CD's are ordered and new songs are learned. Gotta do what you gotta do. Life is hard but Dave makes it quite more enjoyable.
I am sorry for the long post but it was a long week and I hope you still like my blog. If not, I don't care, haha!
Hope you are having nice days, I enjoy my last 8,5 days as an official-vegetarian! I'm craving chicken tenders/wings and crap like that.
See you soon,
Love

PJB