amw

Last night was the most perfect welcome back to Europe i could've imagined. It wasn't the Europe techno tourists read about in brochures, it wasn't the big Berlin nightclub with thousands of sweating bodies and 32 hours of debauchery. It was a small venue with a bunch of local kids and their cliques. It reminded me of my own highschool years, in so many ways. I took the train out to Bad Homburg and walked 20 yards to the club, which was a converted railyard building. Got there at midnight because i didn't want to miss the train and there were about 20 people there. I think there were probably only 100-150 all night, no doubt because there was a big (1000+) party going on in Frankfurt at the same time. In fact, when they kicked us out around 5am i overheard some of the kids planning to continue down at that party. But i didn't want Dora Brilliant @ Tanzhaus West, i wanted two techno icons collecting a paycheck in the suburbs.

Yes, i forgot about smalltown Europe. It's not near as redneck as Australia or North America, but it has its own character. They want to move to America! America is where you can make it big! Life is so much harder in Europe! Maybe that's where i get it from, my childhood fantasy America where everything is like the movies. And wow, what a novelty, not only a traveler coming to visit their local nightclub, but a transsexual too. Why don't you get your boobs done? Why don't you wear more make-up? Transsexuals are fine, you just need to be outrageously femme, because that's the way it's supposed to be.

We bombed the shit out of Frankfurt in the war. Of course i say "we", although my mother's side was on the receiving end. I spoke to an archaeology major who said if you take the U-Bahn around town you can still see the craters. "Most people here, they don't know, we just built over it." And a 16-year-old who traveled 100km just to see Heckman - "he plays the hard techno i like, this minimal is too slow". Originally from Poland, she wants to move to America to be a soul singer, like Christina Aguilera or Amy Winehouse. And the girl can sing! At a certain point i realized i was listening to Heckman before most of the people at the party were born.

The girl at reception asks why i am in Frankfurt, when i ask where the fuck i can get food on Sunday (i also forgot the stores all close). From Romania, she wants to go to America too, "or maybe Canada, it's better". "Frankfurt is so boring, there is nothing to do here." And maybe she's right. But i'm on vacation, i'm hungover, i spent 45 minutes shivering at the Bad Homburg train station this morning, clutching the beer i bought to go, smoking the last of my cigarettes, waiting to get back downtown. I am smoking much more here, perhaps it's the culture.

The Hbf. was still buzzing, people going wherever they're going, people coming home. I love that tight leather jackets and buzz-cut punk hairdos are still a thing in Germany. I saw someone in skiboots carrying skis. It's 25 degrees out (80F). I could probably see the same thing in Toronto, or New York, or any other big city. But in any other big city i wouldn't have to go to the fucking train station just to buy some cheese and salami and rolls for lunch. And actually in any other big city they probably wouldn't sell those things at the train station anyways.

All these little things are flooding back, memories of my youth - not only in Europe, but even in the UK and New Zealand. Your side salad is bigger than the rest of your meal, and it actually has vegetables in it. People make their own sandwiches for the train ride, from fresh bread, cheese, salami. In Canada i'm teased for having an opener on my keyring, here people drink Beck's on the platform like it's Coke. God forbid you let 16 year olds drink overseas. Here the club has a 16 year old policy (with letter from the parents - pff, whatever). I guess i was raised European without really recognizing it. Or perhaps without really appreciating it. I've been away so long, i've been a foreigner for so long, it's fucking bizarre to me how comfortably i fit in here.

This morning at the Hbf., just off the train from the club, sketchy as fuck, someone asked me in broken Deutsch how to get a ticket. I tried English, but German was his second language. So i helped him navigate the machine and get a ticket. Two foreigners in a foreign train station, both speaking a second language, just trying to get where they want to go. And i was the one who knew how. So weird.

Now i need to find another hotel, because i only booked 2 nights, and there are no rooms available on Monday. I didn't think i'd be so jet-lagged/hungover. I have no idea where to go, but i have a backpack and a cellphone and i will be just fine.