Active Sitting

Today was alot better than yesterday. I've come to the firm conclusion that I feel infinitely better when I have direction and things to do. The objective for today - buy a guitar, swiss ball, fish from the fish market, and anything else that tickled my fancy.

To start with, aided with a greater understanding of German than I did last week, I managed to find a much larger musical instrument store. It just so happened to be at the very end of the Reeperbahn. So I walked through the infamous red-light and party district during the middle of the day. It's almost unbelievable how many strip bars, peep shows, adult stores, eroticic attractions, and the like there are. There are just too too many. And this is just on the main strip, off the side streets there's even more. It's not like a kid being lost in a candy shop, it's more like a man lost in a bra shop: He knows what everything's for but damned if he has to make the choice. I probably can't accurately describe the pure sense of being overwhelmed, and even then it sounds like I got a kick out of it. I didn't. There's only so much bright blue and red neon breasts a man can take, during daylight even.

Moreover, I found the place that Ben Harper will be playing in come November. It's smaller than most of the erotic clubs and stores on the Reeperbahn. Made me laugh, and consider that it might be a really awesome gig then. Should look into purchasing tickets really.

Gratefully I made it to the guitarshop. Which was kinda cool, but my god these things are expensive here. I cheap jalopy guitar for €79 where I could buy it in New Zealand for dirt cheap. Plus even the top line guitars were around €599, bit much really. So secure in the knowledge that a guitar is probably a no go for the moment, I decided it'd be time to purchase the swiss ball.

That I did. And a pump to go with it. Sadly though I didn't buy the needle valve needed to really pump the thing up. So currently I'm sitting on an almost full swiss ball, inflated with the aid of an emtpty pen cartridge and natural breath. It's kinda squishy. There's a reason €2.95 pumps are that price - I had more luck blowing it up myself. A solution will be reached hopefully.

After purchasing the swiss ball, being a bright sunny day, I decided I'd stroll along to waterfront and go to the Fischmarkt for some fresh fish for dinner. Along the way, an old German fellow stopped me and asked for directions. Instead of doing the expected "I'm sorry I don't speak much German" routine, I played along and found out where he needed to go and gave him some directions. When he asked me where a certain street was, I admitted I wasn't from Hamburg and didn't speak much German. At that point he thanked me and said my German was good, and then continued on his way. Made my day.

The waterfront, though, is nothing amazing, apart from a cool breeze on a hot day and tons and tons of people. The view is mainly of industrial works on the otherside of the harbour. Theres huge dry docks though, and the ships they house are enormous. Looks pretty cool. There's also a specially designed and built theatre for "The Lion King - the Musical". I found it rather laughable really.

The best thing was simply being outside on what turned out to be a fantastic day. Sadly, the fischmarkt doesn't think a bright sunny day with people is a day to be open, being a Saturday is more important. It's not such a bad thing I suppose. I got a great two hours walking from one part of Hamburg to another and back again. The suntan was thrown in for free, so no complaints here.

The weird thing is, and for those of you that I've talked to recently this is just too weird, I saw Christof from Osnabrück and his girlfriend along the waterfront (Vis Moot people). It was across a crowd, but I spied them nonetheless. This is weird because I've never just bumped into someone I know in Hamburg, and weirder still because they're from Osnabrück. But for all my longing to bump into people I know, I didn't stop them or even make myself known to them. I'd like to think it's because they were having a little argument, which they were, but it's probably because they mightn't remember me, or more likely, not as fondly I as remember them, and two: why they hell would they expect to see a NZer in Hamburg.

This lead me to thinking about what the guidelines are for stopping people you know in the street and whether there's any boundaries for awkwardness and so on. We've all experienced that uncomfortable meeting in the street, whether it be realising that you've moved on from where that other person is, or just because you don't like them and they don't get it. What's the courtesy involved and where does the line sit? I for me couldn't come to any conclusion, but then again I'm reknowned for stopping people in the street. So why the difference here? I think it's purely a lack of recognition factor combined with having to do it all in English in the middle of a German crowd. I don't regret not stopping them. Does that make me a bad person?

Another site I saw were beach clubs that are set along the waterfront. People drag in tonnes of sand to create little beach paradises along the water's edge. It looks quite cool, and I'll have to drag some people there soon me thinks.

Anyways, today's been great. Here's hoping for more good times.