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It's been almost a month now. There are things that have changed in me and around me. As mentioned before that was a physical move to this city as well as a psychological move inside of me.
Out of the sudden and not only because of the Code Camp, I am surrounded by fantastic people of different nationalities. Just today I made my morning tea and possibly did everything wrong according to brits and tea-lovers but not science (okay - I did it half wrong): teabag in the cup, milk in the cup and pour hot water over it - told my fantastic South African classmate to look away. This anectode reminded me of the one time we had lunch in Shanghai at the Shanghai bakery (I do miss that place and it has long closed before I left) and I ordered a seafood pasta and got offered Parmesan, which I happily poured over that food and this made my super liberal Italian friend slap his head and sit in disapproving silents for a minute. Love that!
I love walking out of my appartment and having the Eisenbahnstraße (infamously presented in this German short documentary that is worth a watch and it's also funny how differently the comment section of youtube sees the video) around the corner with Döner, Turkish supermarkets, a couple of cheap bars and a huge park that has actual people walking around and using benches and the facilities and all that. It's also worth nothing that the street and area around is also semi-affordable and the creative people and students find that an attractive place to be and so do I.
I love getting through the city on my bicylcle from one corner to another in about 40 minutes, the same was true in Shanghai.
I love little and bigger markets that pop up here and there and the streets fill with friendly people that stroll around. Even the night of the Festival of Lights had thousands of people gathered and I rarely saw groups of angry, dumb groups in Thor Steinar and or similar attire, which is somehow accepted and normal and a common sight when more than 50 people gather in any city or village in Erzgebirge for whatever apart from the Stains in Sun, some Hardcore shows (not all unfortunately) and very creative gatherings, university events or events that help you understand and participate in democracy (as that is needed, not only in East Germany, but I hope you do get my point).
I love having places that hold concerts everywhere, parks, gyms, theaters and cultural places in walking distance. That way I already came to watch a rehearsal of Kleist's Herrmannsschlacht (in German) and I loved every second of that. I even loved going to see a soccer match for once...
I love having authorities in walking distance and the ability to arrange appointments there online.
I love still having a lot of like-minded exile-Erzgebirge-friends around.
I love Leipzig.