I ended up in very north Lakeview/Lincoln Square tonight for a friend's birthday. I took a cab home and could not help but compare myself to a test hampster in a very small plastic cage. There I was in my cab ride home, the all faithful "Which way?" test the cabbie pulls to see if you are a townie or not and if he can rip you off.
I replied with a very stern "Lake Shore is fine."
Every building, every place, every street I pulled from deep in my memory thinking, "When have I been here?" Most of the places I passed I knew, but I had to jog my memory. The silence of the cab was too much and I put on my iPod and blasted some German pop music while staring at the upcoming skyline, finding myself missing Germany, even though I was on Lake Shore Drive.
I had waited a year to be on that road, and when I was on it all I thought of was Germany. In that exact moment, I wished I was in Berlin again and in a cab home from the club at 7 am...home to my european bed with crisp white sheets, large pillows and the sunlight peeking through the curtains. In Berlin, I would fall asleep after a glass of water and maybe a couple minutes on the balcony, alone, and happy that my next day would be filled with brunch and coffee. In Chicago, my day tomrrow is apartment hunting and a Sox game...definitely not as glamourous.
The buildings are larger than I remember, there are more lights than I could conjur up in my memory and I couldn't believe the amount of activity. Pulled up aside many a car and averted my eyes, so as to not let anyone into the moment I was experiencing - complete and reverse culture shock.
I went to order a beer tonight and completely forgot that you leave your tip on the bar. My Amstel Light was $3.75 and I handed the bartender a $10 and said "Make it five." He looked at me strange and there it was, returned exact change on the bar. I actually felt offended because he didn't want my tip. After staring at the change, and staring at him, and staring at the change again it finally occurred to me to leave it on the counter. I left the one dollar bill, walking away and feeling totally defeated.
I replied with a very stern "Lake Shore is fine."
Every building, every place, every street I pulled from deep in my memory thinking, "When have I been here?" Most of the places I passed I knew, but I had to jog my memory. The silence of the cab was too much and I put on my iPod and blasted some German pop music while staring at the upcoming skyline, finding myself missing Germany, even though I was on Lake Shore Drive.
I had waited a year to be on that road, and when I was on it all I thought of was Germany. In that exact moment, I wished I was in Berlin again and in a cab home from the club at 7 am...home to my european bed with crisp white sheets, large pillows and the sunlight peeking through the curtains. In Berlin, I would fall asleep after a glass of water and maybe a couple minutes on the balcony, alone, and happy that my next day would be filled with brunch and coffee. In Chicago, my day tomrrow is apartment hunting and a Sox game...definitely not as glamourous.
The buildings are larger than I remember, there are more lights than I could conjur up in my memory and I couldn't believe the amount of activity. Pulled up aside many a car and averted my eyes, so as to not let anyone into the moment I was experiencing - complete and reverse culture shock.
I went to order a beer tonight and completely forgot that you leave your tip on the bar. My Amstel Light was $3.75 and I handed the bartender a $10 and said "Make it five." He looked at me strange and there it was, returned exact change on the bar. I actually felt offended because he didn't want my tip. After staring at the change, and staring at him, and staring at the change again it finally occurred to me to leave it on the counter. I left the one dollar bill, walking away and feeling totally defeated.
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