Like strangers in their own land

Wednesday

11:07 pm

When I first set foot on Danish soil, I thought to myself, "this'll be a piece of cake", seeing how we're Danish citizens and knowing that the Danish system will take good care of us. Well, give it a week and then you realize it's not that easy. To register as a person who is going to live in the country again, you gotta have yourself an address. We were fortunate to stay with someone we have just met and I tell ya, me and my sister both feel a great deal of shame and gratitude towards the couple who glady lended one of their rooms to us. Seeing our mom leave in a train enroute for Germany (and then flying back to Canada) made my sis break in tears, even though we hate her for many things that happened in the past. Just before she left, she told us "you know, even if you hate me now, I know you'll always come back to me and say, 'sorry mom, you were right and I was wrong', and I'll know you'll miss me even if you say you won't." Naturally, I thought to myself "ugh, here we go again with this crap". I don't know what my sis thought about it, but her eyes started to become overly hydrated and I realized something. She already missed our mom. I can't and won't blame her or get mad at her for doing so, I completely understand my sister. She doesn't want to be here. I didn't want her to be here in the first place too. My sister felt alone, scared, and sad. There wasn't much I could do but try to talk her through it and get her to feel a little better about our situation. Flashbacks about the past started to seep through my thoughts about a similar situation.

My sister and I were in Manila's airport when we were told by customs that they couldn't let us through the gates because we all (yes, all 3 of us. me, my sis, and the customs guard) just found out that me and my sis have been illegally living in Philippines! Well would ya look at that. Since we were minors and couldn't be arrested, we just left in confusion. My sister then started crying the way she cried at the train platform. I could never forget such moments. It felt like as if my sister was totally breaking down and I had to do something about it, even though I was the younger sibling, I felt an enormous task upon my shoulders as I tried to comfort my sister back then. I had cried a little. Not like a short burst of sobbing, but a few, silent tears, running down my cheeks, followed by my nose running slightly. Knowing we had to keep strong, I wiped my tears with my sleeve and thought what we could do. I'm not going into much detail about it, but in due time, it shall come.

Back to the present, the day was mostly covered in clouds but it was bright nonetheless. it seemed my sister had decided to pull through and I told her to stay optimistic about our situation. This was the time to become adults. This was the time to man up and say "I will accomplish this myself with no help from parents and become my own person!"

Started walking down the street. We kept talking about our situation. "I don't feel like I belong here!" she said. "I don't feel home here in Denmark, even though we were born here, this isn't what it used to be." Of course it wasn't what it used to be. People and places change with time and there's nothing we can do about it. It's all a matter of taking life into your hands and making something out of it while we are given the chance. "We gotta keep a cool head on this. We gotta focus on what to do next and we'll just have to take a small step at a time. We can do this." I felt like an officer addressing to his worrisome troops in the field that now is not to give in to fear. I felt like I've truly become my sister's older brother. It's tough to not have someone to look up to much but later discover that that someone actually look up to you at times. I have felt, a tremendous amount of responsibility, being rested upon my shoulders.

We went back to our "hotel" where me and my sis sat on our beds. We began to ponder on the thoughts of actually doing paperwork by ourselves for the first time. We started getting that feeling again. That feeling where you feel like you're all by yourself. But I pressed on. I kept it in my head that we have to do these things and that's the way life was. Life is never fair. To some, it sucks so much ass that they kill themselves. They were weak, and it's sad to see that nobody strong enough came to help them up when they needed it most. Never give in to fears and doubts. Never....give up.

From the Black Falcon....to the Land of Fairytales

Tuesday
9:23 pm




Have you dreamt something that really was interesting and you want to remember it but the instant second you wake up you forget it? I’ve had that happening a lot to me before. The dream has to really stand out from all other dreams. Last night, as my head was lying in my uber-soft pillow that could easily be flattened, I had a weird dream. I dreamt that I was in Wal-mart with my mom looking around. I wasn’t quite sure why we were there but we were there. Then I suddenly saw this airplane. I’m not sure if it was a real plane or toy plane but I flew it. Again, not sure if I flew it from the inside or by remote-control... it was weird. Then we get a call from my friend. She called to ask if we would help her set up a farewell party for her mother. We agreed and it’s really a blur after that. I’ll just fast-forward to what I remember next. The next thing I can remember is that it was night time. We were just pulling up to the place of the farewell party and saw my friend standing outside the parking lot. I got out , walked up to her and noticed she was sad. Possibly crying. I asked what was wrong and she said that too much money had been spent on the party and she went negative. She asked for help there and I agreed to help her. Then that was it. Nothing more happened. My mom woke up and, it seemed like instinct, I quickly woke up, followed shortly by my sister. After getting up straight, it felt like adrenaline flowing through your body. Like you were ready or something. It was as if we were waiting for our mom to wake up and when she did, we’d try to make it seem we woke up at the same time. Calmly yet quickly, I put on my socks, put my boots on and tied my laces tightly as I liked it. I took my shirt and put it on. Grabbed every little thing that could fit into my pocket; my usb flash drives, my pack of Listerine breath strips, my MP3 player and headphones, and my wallet. I then traversed down the squeaky, uneven, wooden, steep stairs that gave you this paranoid feeling that you’re waking up the other inhabitants on the other floors. Kinda like that thing where you’re trying to sneak around a house but it has wooden floors and every step you take seems like it’s coming out of a boom box at its max volume level. I always think that during the night time where everyone is sleeping, things that make sound are very loud. From the TV, to the PC, to the microwave beeping “You’re food is ready” seems loud enough to wake the entire house and probably even the next door neighbours. Just before the last flight of stairs to the main floor, the perfect distraction is set before my eyes. A CAT! It was trying to avoid me by continuing upwards before I was trying to call it and got its attention. I therefore pet it and it seemed to like it. I’ve always wondered, I’m so good with cats yet I’ve also got a thing for dogs. I finally reach the main floor and I just have a couple of short flights of stairs left to the breakfast hall when suddenly, another distraction is laid upon me. It too crawled on all fours but this time, moving down those accursed wooden, squeaky, uneven floors. A BABY.......and his dad. Apparently, his dad was trying to teach him how to get down the stairs by himself and when he noticed me, he just smiled and chuckled...kinda nervously. I don’t know why, but I just stood there for maybe 2 minutes watching that baby, watching me, watching him, watching me, watc...yeah you get it. Whenever babies look at me, they always have this face that tells me that my face looks interesting to them. Now, they react in 2 different ways when encountering me. One, they see and they smile which ultimately leads to laughing, or Two, they just look at me with a dumbstruck face wondering “what the hell is this creature?” I don’t know what that happens. Maybe I’ve just got this thing where babies just see me as an interesting object. Anyways, I quickly realized that I had just been standing there for awhile watching this kid like as if I’m some kind of freak. So I tried to make my way past the baby and his dad as fast as I could. Once I finally arrived to the breakfast area, I grabbed the usual breakfast since day one. 3 buns, a couple of butter bars, a couple slices of cheese, some of that turkey ham ( I really don’t know what that crap was but it tasted good), and a glass of some of their lovely orange juice that I really fancy. But like I have mentioned before, the glass was way too small for me to consume large volume of “OJ”. I just finished eating and our mom joins us for breakfast. It was 7:59 am when I set my alarm to 9:00 am to remind us of our train departing at 9:28 am. My mom told me to get the keys to the secured lockers which our large and heavy baggage were in and get them out. So I went upstairs to our hotel room and my footsteps seemed louder. It had this deep thump sound, as if I was stomping while climbing up to the top floor. Got into the room, took my smaller bag, my shoulder bag and on my way. Took the old-looking elevator down because I just felt like it. Made my way to the “HauptBahnHof” or the Central Train Station, but had to go through light rain. It wasn’t bad, because it was sort of the way I wanted the weather to be. Grey, cloudy, light rain....fog would have completed it. I like the old-style streets Europe has. Cobble stones on the ground as sidewalks and sometimes an entire road was of cobble stones. I really enjoy that.
Dropped in 10 Euros in each of our lockers for a total of 20. Damn expensive for security. Nonetheless, I got our stuff out just as I was told, and now I waited. While waiting, I saw this woman. She had just stopped in the middle of a somewhat small hallway to make a phone call from her cell phone. I couldn’t recall what she wore but I could recall her facial features. She looked weary. Her hair a little bit messed up and had a frown on her face. She finally got a hold on someone on the phone and sounded a bit worried. I got bored of watching her so I began to look around the main tracks that were behind her and noticed tiny people. No, not really tiny people, People of different sizes, obscured to look like they’re small because they were far away. They reminded me of ants. Sometimes, I think we really are tiny creatures like ants and there are bigger beings somewhere out there. If you think about it, if you went billions of light years away from earth on another planet and took a picture of the sky, only 1 of those dots in the picture (and yes, even the faint ones) would be earth. Not to mention the fact that there are other billions of galaxies like ours floating in space. I watched a video about how small we are and insignificant in size compared to the universe and God. For awhile there, I actually zoned out and noticed that the woman I was observing had already left and my sister and mom came into focus. We then proceeded towards the track that our train would come to. We didn’t wait long for the train to come. Once the passengers stepped off, it was our turn and the platform was crowding with people to get into it. So we tried to hurry up a bit but my sister wasn’t strong enough to carry one of the huge luggage up to the steps. Fortunately, there was a gentleman who helped her. He looked around 40 years of age. With hair turning greyish and a small beard. He had been watching us while we were waiting for the train to come and could see the magnitude of how heavy all our stuff was in altogether.
Already about 10 or 15 minutes into the train ride, we’re surrounded by fields, shrubs, small patches of forests, and passing by small towns. Surprisingly, the interior of the train was quite, quiet. It wasn’t electric but yet it was still quiet enough for a person to sleep. My seatmate is the same guy who helped my sister carry that heavy piece of luggage. We never talked to each other during the whole trip. I guess we both weren’t that kind of person who can talk to any stranger they meet. Quite a bummer for me because that meant I wouldn’t (and never had) the courage to just walk up to a person of the opposite sex that I seemed interested in and just say “Hi” at the very least. Half the time I see that as pathetic of myself. But I always try to stay positive and say that I will have my time and that it will come in the most natural way that was intended for me, even though I sometimes lie that I enjoy being single. I do enjoy sometimes, but it’s actually hard not to think about what it would be like....and with that I also ask my intentions. “How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word.” – Psalms 119:9. Anyways, The various kinds of vegetation repeatedly pass by. What really caught my eye were the fields that had these red flowers among the tall grass. From a distance, it looked like red powder sprinkled on a soft, green, blanket. It looked just stunning. It was like you’re watching a masterpiece up close...maybe on a HD TV screen. The sky was a beautiful match to it too. It wasn’t sunny, which would also mesh in very well, but it was cloudy. Not so much that it would block out most of the sun and make it seem like it’s going to rain a little bit....although it did rain earlier but we were moving out of worse weather so yeah. There was another sight that caught my eye. In the midst of tall trees and shrubs, I saw to my left side, an old building. Not like an old square, boring building that you’d see in old places. I’m talking about a building that kinda looks like a small castle. It was made of bricks and was almost completely hidden behind all the vegetation. Its colour was white and it had a dark-coloured roof. Both of those things that I saw probably look like something out of a painting or something. If not, then I probably would track down where those places are....and paint them myself. Even though I’m not much of an artist, but I believe everyone who thinks they can’t ever be an artist just need a little inspiration on where to start and what to do. “......sometimes, it just takes a little, push.” – Heath Ledger’s ‘Joker’, The Dark Knight. After about maybe 2 hours of doing a cycle of falling half asleep and waking up while listening to my MP3 player, we finally reach the ferry that the train will be transported into. I was amazed when my sister told me a few days earlier that the train actually gets on board the ferry. The train stopped and we were told to stay outside the train while we were out in sea. We stepped out and I was walking alongside a meter-wide passage that led to the elevators and stairs to the upper decks of the ferry where we were met by motorists and truckers who also drove into the ferry to cross into Denmark. I stood at the side of that train and said to myself, “no way”, with wide, open eyes. So wide, it was as if I drank a can of Monster first thing in the morning. Ferry ride felt long, but at the same time, short. I kept walking outside the viewing deck to take snapshots and videos but if you factor the ferry’s speed, wind speed (which went to the opposite direction), and temperature, it wasn’t really pleasant to stand outside while trying to see what’s ahead of the ferry from the side. I think I even saw bits of snowfall....and I was wondering if I really did see snow falling and I got what I asked.....had a snowflake land right in the middle of my eye. It wasn’t really anything but the wind really was harsh. A few hours later and I finally saw it, for the first time in 7 years....Denmark. Home of the famous Danish pastries, The Little Mermaid, and H.C. Anderssen. We were told to go back into the train and off we went. I saw glorious Denmark again and it was kinda weird. I didn’t feel tremendous joy that I would cry or start feeling so very patriotic about myself being in my home country. I just watched, as I smiled a little. I wanted to look at everything that I was passing by. It seemed kinda interesting as if I was visiting for the very first time. A few hours passed by and I was arriving at Copenhagen’s Central Train Station.
10 minutes till we would arrive in the Central Train Station. My mom told me to prepare my huge duffel bag near the exit of the train and my sister’s as well. It seemed it triggered everybody to do the same. The 2 brits in front of us, the guy beside me, the rest of the people in the same car, all getting their luggage from the top or behind the seats. We even had an organized plan on how to do this quickly and less painfully. My sister would go down first with one of her smaller luggage, along with my back pack, and her shoulder bag. My mom would be carrying her luggage. I would bring my huge duffel bag down first and my sister would watch after it since she’s already down. I would then go back up and bring her huge luggage that she couldn’t carry. It was kinda hard since many people tried getting off quickly as well with their luggage. It wasn’t such a big deal, in fact, it was hardly anything. Only this next part was, I had to drag my huge duffel (which fortunately had wheels), strap my backpack (which weight maybe 10 or more kilos already) to my back, and carry one of the ladies’ smaller luggage (which weighed around 10-20 kilos...somewhere in between) by hand. It wasn’t bad, it gave my shoulders quite a workout but I managed to.....well, manage. The train station was exactly how I remembered it to be. Small dirty, orange tiles that were set diagonal, not square to line up with the platform. We proceeded to the elevator where we went up to the main floor and there it was....the grand hall! Its old steel construction was still there, but the station had new speakers. I looked around and I saw that same McDonald’s, where one of our bags were stolen. That bag was filled with papers and documents which I think contributed to the delay of our Canadian citizenship applications. Anyways, I try not to dwell on the past and I wasn’t psychologically scarred by that incident. Our mom’s friend found us before we even tried looking for her. She helped us with our stuff and we kept them in secured lockers that were significantly cheaper than Hamburg’s. We then focused on where to stay so we went outside and it was raining. It wasn’t raining hard, just in between light rain and showering. After being told by 2 hotels that they were fully booked because of a Science Convention going on, it started to pour with the addition of wind. I really didn’t mind it because I was actually comfortable but the ladies were complaining. We then decided to go eat out at a Vietnamese restaurant at a place that I remembered I had been to. After we ate and refreshed, rain let up a little bit and we decided to continue hunting for a hotel and finally found one with a reasonable price. Booked for 3 nights, relaxed a little bit, brought our some of our luggage here and indulged in French Hotdogs from the 7-11 around the corner. Also watched “Kiss kiss bang bang” starring Robert Downey Jr. which was a friggin’ hilarious movie! Now one thing that separates Denmark from Germany is the TV. TV programs that are originally in English are dubbed in German in Germany. Here in Denmark, they just put subtitles instead of ruining the experience. I then became bored after watching the entire movie and decided to watch “Wanted” on my laptop which lasted to oh about 4 am. At 3 am here in Denmark or Germany, the sun already tries to get up before anyone else does and it was very hard to sleep at that time. Note to self, sleep before midnight next time.

Day 4...... sprechen sie deutsch???

Sunday

2:44 pm

Ever since I came into Germany, I knew it was going to be hard to interact in this new environment. My sister had told me of her experience of the last time she went to Germany. She told me how nobody spoke english and that her friend, who was showing her around, was her only link to communication with the population. It was quite hard to figure out stuff. I think it was on the first day we were asking ppl how to operate the automated ticket dispenser and destinations and people were just walking by ignoring us. We luckily did find some people that understood english but it's pretty tough not knowing the language.
I'm a pretty optimistic guy most of the time. When it comes to learning German, I don't think it would be so hard. I've always tried to compare a few Danish words to German and sometimes it turns out to be the same meaning. On the elevator at this "BEEFANG HOTEL", it had a sign on it saying "AUFZUG". I wondered what that was. I saw other labels such as "RAUCHEN VERBOTEN" with a drawing of a cigarrete and an X over it so "rachuen" would mean smoking and I knew what "verboten" would mean. It almost sounds like "forbudt" which means "not allowed" in english. So total conclusion is, "Rauchen Verboten" means "No Smoking". Then at the train station, the elevator had a paper taped on it saying something about the elevator which I assumed it said "ELEVATOR IS OUT OF ORDER". Then I saw that word again, "AUFZUG". So my conclusion, "AUFZUG" must mean elevator. Then I imagined myself understanding the language. It would be so awesome. That made me decide that I'll learn the German language while in Denmark.

Day 3....

Saturday

9:57 pm

Woke up as close as I could to my target alarm time this morning but failed. I made it to the 6:30 to 9:00 breakfast though. The food was good. Only complaint was the bread, which was weird when cut in half, the dough in the middle would curl into a ball which was annoying, and the glasses. They were too small for me to drink large volumes of orange juice but nonetheless good. Checked out at around 10 am and went out to the train station and paying a little more to store our big and heavy bags. So we tried to kill time by whatever. While paying for storage, cops came by and were searching an opened storage box with someone's bag inside. They took it very seriously and treated it as a suspicious package. I personally think they thought it was a bomb. But it turned out to be nothing. After awhile, our mom went into an internet cafe to check her emails and figuring out our next move. We found out that buying a ticket on a saturday is twice as expensive and that when we would arrive in Denmark to take another train, we would get stuck because nobody would work on a saturday. So we decided to stay in Germany a few more days......until Tuesday to be exact. Anyways, back to the internet cafe. Our mom was in there for 2 hours chatting and checking her emails while me and my sis wait outside with our smaller bags. We weren't even sitting, we stood for 2 whole hours! That made me kinda grumpy. I just tried to stay sane by checking out passing females downstairs.

Germany is something and I've really noticed a difference between girls in Canada and Germany. Young girls in Canada (aged 13-16, around that age) dress up as if they are 18 and above. 18 year old girls look kinda worse, but not all of them. Here in Germany, girls are actually beautiful. The hair is beautiful, what they wear isn't a copied trend. But there are some people who are like rockers or anime freaks that I saw. Another difference I've noticed, is that guys look kinda better in Canada than here in Germany (excluding the clothing factor, German guys look kinda weird, but do have style). But remember, this is just my opinion by experience and what I say may not (or may be) true.
We then spent the next few hours walking around shops surrounding the Central Train Station. While walking, we saw a guy picking up a wooden cross and started singing "Oh Come let us Adore him..." in German. I immediately knew he was singing that song and that was kinda weird. Then we went into the nearby "New Yorker" store and got easily bored. I then walked outside in front of the entrance and saw that same guy, only this time, he was preaching while carrying that wooden cross. Another guy came up to me and said something in German and I told him I didn't understand. He then told me in english "lucky you". I replied, well I'm a Christian and I can't understand him. He then told me that the preacher was talking about Jews and the Holy land and he thought he was crazy because Jews and the Cross don't mix. I explained a little bit and then he asked where i came from because of my good english. I explained, we stopped talking, then he left. The preacher goes on and on, I go in and out, bored out of my mind. I decide to video tape a little of the preacher to show my church the initiatives the preacher was taking. While filming, I noticed several people stopping by to listen and some were kinda laughing at him, probably thought he was crazy. If only they understood and took the time and heart to listen. We then continued along the crowded street, moving away from the preacher. Darn, if only I understood German. It was about 8 pm and we met up with a friend at a fruit/vegetable juice station that also served cooked, mixed veggies as meals. She gave us a discount on tuna snack wraps and cappuchino which wasn't too bad. In fact, I had worse. Just pop a couple of sugar bags and I'm fine. we then waited for her to finish her shift for the day to help us find a cheap hotel to sleep in. We looked in an area which had a few sex-shops. I think there were a couple of hookers around too...not too sure but I kept my eyes straight. we checked prices on a couple of hotels but we were on a cheap budget so we found this crappy hotel. I won't mention its name because I feel some pity for the establishment. First of all, it smells....really weird. From the front desk, to the rooms, to the washrooms that all tenants have to share. It just smelled weird or nasty depending where you are...and of course our mom's digestive track wasn't much friendly either. But for the price (70 euros), we were near 24-hour restaurants and near a five-0 station (lol police station). The smell I can handle. I just want to sleep and relax. Our mom goes out for half an hour or so and I try to lock the door. It wouldn't lock. I then ignored it for later and looked at one of our towels and noticed that there was a strand of pubic hair! Me and my sister were both like "yuck!". Our mom comes back in half an hour or so and tells us that due to the price being cheap, we wouldn't be having breakfast in the morning. Me and my sister were kinda shocked but we just accepted it. Besides, we could always eat out. I told my mom about the lock so we tried to see if we could fix it. When we moved a metal piece that seemed out of place, the lights suddenly went off. My mom sent me downstairs to the weird smelling frontdesk to tell the guy that our lights went off. He then went into a utility room and did something. He then came out and said it should work. I went upstairs and turned on the lights. Gosh, what an inconvenience. Well, it sure was an interesting day. Can't wait to kill time in the Red light district...which means some drinking and perhaps partying. I don't know if I'll get to meet someone but from what I've heard, many people don't speak english here. So I doubt I'll do anything and just drink and watch. I might exchange a few emails but yeah, nothing much is expected.

From The Red Maple Leaf to the Black Falcon....

Friday

2:13 Am.

The Aircraft was being pushed backwards and it was 6:13 pm when my diabetic seatmate told me "..we're leaving 2 minutes early..." and in a kind of exciting expression, tapped his gold-like watch. I briefly smiled and quietly said "haha yeah". Flight AC 878 bound for Zurich was scheduled to 6:15 pm. I know I am kinda a punctual guy, but I wouldn't go off saying "OMG WE'RE 2 FRIGGIN' MINUTES EARLY!!!! HAHAHAHAH OMG SO EXCITING!" Not that it bothered me, just found it interesting. A moment later, my mind flashes back to the last time I flew in a plane.
Then I felt the plane moving forward, finally taxiing towards runway behind a couple of smaller planes scrambling to their runways. A few minutes later, we've stopped. I wonder if people know what's actually going on during that time. Just for those who didn't know, the aircraft is actually put on full brakes, and the pilot is increasing power to the engines. Just like a rocket about to go boom. By the time the brakes are released, the plane's acceleration increases very fast and in just a minute, the pilot pulls up and everyone feels some g-force kickin' in. I looked to my right where my sister was in the aisle seat, looking kinda sick from the feeling of being pushed into your seat. I kinda laughed at that. It was quite fun, especially when the pilot banked to the left to head east.

I couldn't really say anything much positive of Air Canada, food was alright, but the first hour and a half kinda sucked ass. Everyone's entertainment screen started booting up and showing us the welcome screen. I looked around and noticed that everyone was trying out the touch-screen ability and moved the pointer over to select ENGLISH, but nothing happened. Then the stewardess' voice came over the PA and announced that "...the system is slower than it usually is..." and they had to reboot it which they said would last about 10-15 minutes. More like 1 hour. When it finally came back online, I immediately looked for movies to watch. There were many boring titles to choose from, but the first that caught my fancy was "Watchmen". It was quite good. My friend, who had already watched it, said that it was more like a porno than a movie based on a comic I've never heard of. I didn't really think it was like porno, even though there were scenes that shouldn't be watched by young people. The story was hard to understand but it made sense later near the end of the movie....of course, almost all confusing movies are like that! haha.

While watching the movie, the flight goes into a few turbulences. One lasted for about 30 minutes but it was cool. I thought about the time when my mom went flying to Hong Kong and said how scared she was from strong turbulences one time. Makes me think about my dream that I had. I dreamt that I was in a plane, and crashed, but nothing violent happened. It was quiet and smooth. I felt like falling asleep, but didn't.
So movie was done, and it just got dark. My seat mate is taking his diabetic test to see what his blood sugar level. That was kinda a first for me. I feel tired, but at the same time I didn't feel like sleeping. So i browsed what other movies there were and the only interesting movie I thought of watching was "Street Fighter" The Legend of Chun-Li". It was ok at first, but then I could tell the writing sucked ass. So I stopped watching it and looked for TV shows to watch. I was really hoping for "House" but instead the only thing I would be watching was "CSI" and "CSI: New York".

Time flies by and the pilot makes a smooth landing. As I exited the plane, I saw a few stewardesses and the Pilot saying farewell to passengers. I wanted to congratulate the pilot for such a good flight despite the lax of entertainment during the first hour, but I didn't. I just said "bye". My mom, sister and I stopped by the nearest washrooms we could find (and it wasn't easy finding them). I had to stay and guard our bags while the ladies were in the washroom, taking forever as usual to freshen up. I think I waited about 10 or 15 minutes till my sister came out and I finally went in the men's room. Did my business and washed my face. I looked at it in the mirror and noticed my tired eyes. I thought to myself, "I just flew for 7 hours and 28 minutes, and I was awake the whole time".

The Zurich Airport wasn't bad. It was actually cool. We found out the gate for our next flight and needed to take some train to the next terminal. I didn't realize it at first, but it turned out to be a MAGLEV!!!! It was so quiet and smooth. While we were on the move, several TVs appeared to the left (outside) and going by them so fast, we saw some advertisement. It was so cool because the picture was kinda smooth so yeah. Pretty neat.

Our next flight to Hamburg's Airport was nothing special....because I finally had some sleep. I woke up by the time the plane's wheels touched the ground. hahaha. Exited the 737 outside and picked up by bus. Once inside, we picked up our luggage that was checked-in and boy did we have a lot of stuff. We later found a train going the the Central Train Station "HauptBarhnhoff". Stuffed our luggage in security lockers and checked into a chinese hotel called "HOTEL BEE FANG"..... haha (insert animal hiss here). Slept one night already, had breakfast this morning, went around the train station and to a friend's house about 2 kilometers away. Right now, going to sleep. Gonna sleep now since it's 2:55 am now and wake up between 6:30 and 9 am for BREAKFAST! yummers. I shall check back in here once I arrive in Denmark and get settled in.

Until Next time.....

- Px Nielsen