(Dette bliver sidste SF opdatering)
4th of July (Uafhængighedsdagen) blev fejret ved at tage i parken først og kigge på dansende mennesker og bagefter til Marina og kigge på fyrværkeri. Marina ligger ned til vandet med udsigt til Golden Gate Bridge og er ret turistet. Der var lidt for mange mennesker, men vi fik taget nogle gode billeder. Jeg var der med min house mate Pilar fra Colombia og hendes venner og fætter.
Om Fredagen (5.juli) var jeg til Art Murmur i Oakland sammen med Jessica (house mate). Det er en gadefestival med kunstudstillinger og live musik som er hver første fredag på måneden, og jeg har ville tage til det hver måned, men der er altid kommet noget i vejen for det, så nu lykkedes det endelig. Folk siger, at det har været meget bedre tidligere, men fordi der har været skyderier til arrangementet har de været nødt til at begynde at lukke tidligere på aftenen. Jeg synes dog stadig at det var et rigtig godt arrangement. Det var overskueligt og der var enormt flotte udstillinger fra forskellige dygtige kunstnere. Generelt er der rigtig mange dygtige kunstnere i Bay Area og SF Academy of Art er meget stort som tidligere nævnt.
Den sidste uge på Glide gik med at få afsluttet projekter og skrive en evaluering som jeg sendte ud til alle jeg har arbejdet med, som kort beskriver hvad jeg har beskæftiget mig med og lært i de sidste seks måneder. Om torsdagen sagde jeg farvel til deltagere og arrangører af Men in Progress, og der gik det rigtigt op for mig hvor stærkt et netværk vi havde startet op sammen. Om fredagen, min sidste dag på Glide, havde vi et lille pizzaparty til ære for mig i Walk-In Centret - det var hårdt at skulle sige farvel, men det var en rigtig fin afslutning på et helt fantastisk praktikophold. Jeg fik rigtig mange fine ord med på vejen, og min vejleder skrev og sendte min endelige vurdering til skolen og undertegnede.
Jeg gik derfra for sidste gang med en god følelse i kroppen - et afsluttet kapitel i mit liv som jeg altid vil tænke på med glæde, masser af ting jeg har lært som jeg kan bruge fremover, og inspirerende arbejde og kollegaer som har været en stor del af mit liv dette halve år. Jeg føler mig klar til at skulle videre nu, selvom det var hårdt at sige farvel.
Fredag aften var vi fire drenge fra huset (Sid, Jeremy, Michael og jeg) som lejede bil og pakkede til weekenden. Vi kørte afsted mod Yosemite lørdag morgen ved 4tiden. Vi havde læst, at campingpladserne enten har måneders venteliste, eller også er det først-til-mølle, så vi var fremme ved 8tiden for at få en plads. Efter vi havde sat telt op og pakket ud og spist morgenmad tog vi en lur for at være klar til at udforske stedet. Vi kørte et stykke tid, holdt ind ved forskellige udkigspunkter, bl.a. Tunnel View hvorfra man kan se både El Capitan og Half Dome som er de største og flotteste klipper. Efter at have dokumenteret og blive betaget af den storslåede og smukke udsigt kørte vi ned i dalen og hoppede i floden. Vandet var koldt og meget klart - man kunne fornemme at det var smeltet sne fra bjergene, og det var perfekt når man havde siddet i en varm bil og kørt på snoede veje et godt stykke tid. Når man svømmede imod strømmen skulle man arbejde ret hårdt for bare at blive på samme sted. Da jeg ville gå et stykke op ad floden for at få nogle ekstra gode billeder snublede jeg på de glatte sten, så hele kroppen kom under vandoverfladen undtagen min højre hånd og kameraet. Kameraet overlevede heldigvis på mirakuløs vis grundet mit fine stunt.
Efter at blive kølet godt af i floden kørte vi mere rundt i parken og holdt ind ved et souvenirsupermarked for at købe is - ja den er god nok, souvenirbod på størrelse med et supermarked, super amerikansk og frastødende. På vej tilbage til campingpladsen holdt vi ind og samlede brænde, og ved 19tiden kom vi tilbage og begyndte at forberede mad. Det var perfekt timing, for vi nåede lige at få det lagt på grillen inden det begyndte at blive mørkt. Det var fantastisk at forberede alting ude i naturen og tilberede det over bålet, vi spiste bagte kartofler, kylling (for kødspiserne), blandede grønsager, bønner og majskolber. Jeg havde desværre glemt mel til at lave snobrød, øv! Efter vi havde spist drak vi øl, vin og rom og dansede rundt om bålet til vi blev trætte og væltede i seng.
Næste dag vækkede Sid os med frisk kaffe fra bålet, og vi lavede morgenmad sammen og pakkede bilen og drog ud på nye eventyrer. Vi blev enige om at vandre til en sø oppe i bjergene. Efter de første 5 meter faldt jeg fordi jeg hoppede på en gren som knækkede under mig. Jeg havde en cola i den ene hånd og kameraet i den anden, og jeg slog min næse på en af delene, så vi måtte lige tilbage til bilen for at stoppe blodet inden vi kunne starte. Kameraet overlevede heldigvis også dette styrt! Da vi var halvvejs opdagede vi at gåturen var mere end dobbelt så lang som vi troede, så vi endte med at vandre omkring 20 km ialt, brugte et par timer ved søen og blive kølet ned inden vi vandrede tilbage. Trætte og tilfredse og med solbrændte skuldre begyndte vi at køre tilbage til SF, civilisation og mobildækning. Det var en fantastisk tur, og lækkert at være væk fra byen og tilbage i naturen i godt selskab. Yosemite var den sidste ting som jeg tænkte at jeg bare skal se inden jeg forlader California. Det gik op for mig hvor stor parken er, og at man sagtens kunne have brugt flere dage derude.
De næste dage står på pakning - jeg skal være ude af mit værelse i morgen, men har fået lov at stadig overnatte i huset mens Søren er her også. Han ankommer onsdag aften, så vi har lige nogle dage så han kan se byen inden vi rejser til Mellemamerika.
Jeg håber det bliver muligt at opdatere bloggen undervejs og lægge billeder ud, hvis vi kommer forbi steder med internet.
Håber alle har det rigtig godt !
Niels
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(This will be my last SF update)
4th of July was celebrated by first going to the park watching dancing people and then to the Marina to watch fireworks. Marina is close by the water and the view of Golden Gate Bridge, and is quite touristy. There was a little too many people, but we took some great pictures. I went there with my house mate Pilar from Colombia and her cousin and friends.
On Friday July 5th I went to Art Murmur in Oakland together with Jessica (house mate). It's a street festival with art galleries and live music which is held every first Friday of the month, and I've been wanting to go each time but something always came up, so now it finally worked out. People say it used to be way better but after there's been some shootings at the event they had to end it earlier in the night. I still think it was a great event though, it wasn't too big and the exhibits were really great. Generally, there's a lot of great artists in the Bay Area and the SF Academy of Art is really big as earlier mentioned.
I spent the final week at Glide ending projects and writing an evaluation report which I sent out to everybody that I've been working with and that briefly describes what I've been working on and learned in the past six months. On Thursday I said goodbye to participants and organizors of Men in Progress, and then I really realized what strong community we had built together. On Friday, my final day at Glide, we had a pizza party to celebrate me in the Walk-In Center - it was hard having to say goodbye, but it was a good ending on an absolutely fantastic internship. People expressed their gratuity of having me, and my supervisor wrote and sent my final statement to my school and I.
I left from Glide for the last time with a good feeling - an ended chapter of my life that I will always think of with joy, lots of things I've learnt that I can use in the future, and inspiring work and colleagues that have been a big part of my life these six months. I feel ready to move on now although it was hard saying goodbye.
Friday night four of us from the house (Sid, Jeremy, Michael and I) rent a car and packed for the weekend. We left for Yosemite on Saturday 4 am. We had read that either the camp grounds have months of wait lists or it's first come-first serve, so we arrived around 8am to get a spot. After putting up our tent and unpacking and having breakfast we had a nap to get ready to explore the area. We drove for a little while, pulled over at a few view points, eg. Tunnel View from where you can see both El Capitan and Half Dome which are the greatest and prettiest mountain rocks. After documenting and having been astonished by the amazing and beautiful view we drove to the valley and jumped in the river. The water was cold and very clear - you could sense that it was mainly melted snow from the mountains, and it was just perfect after having sat in a hot car and driven the curvy roads for a while. When you swam against the stream you had to work really hard to even stay at the same spot. As I was walking up the river a bit to get a better picture I tripped on the slippery rocks so that all of my body was under water except my right hand that held the camera. Luckily my camera survived as a result of my elegant stunt.
After being cooled down in the river we drove around the park a little more, pulled over at a souvenir supermarket to buy ice - yup, there was a souvenir shop on the size of a super market, super american and distasteful. On the way back to the camp ground we pulled over to collect firewood and we were back around 7pm to start cooking. It was perfect timing as we had just put everything over the fire as it was getting dark. It was amazing to prepare everything out in the nature and cook it over the fire, we had baked potatoes, chicken (for the meat eaters), mixed veggies, beans and corn. Sadly I had forgotten to bring the flour to make snobrød (bread on stick). After the dinner we had a little beer, wine and rum and danced around the bonfire until we got tired and crashed in the tent.
The next morning Sid woke us up with fresh coffee from the fire, and we cooked breakfast together and packed the car and went on new adventures. We agreed on doing a hike to a mountain lake, but after the first 20 feet I tripped because I was jumping on a stick that broke under me. I was holding a cola in the one hand and my camera in the other, and I hit my nose on either one of them, so we had to go back to the car and stop the bleeding before we could go. Fortunately my camera also survived this stunt! As we were half way in we realized that the hike was more than twice as long, so we ended up hiking about 12 miles total, spent a few hours by the lake and cooling down before hiking back. Exhausted, satisfied and with sun burned shoulders we headed back to SF, civilization and cell phone reception. It was an amazing trip, and great to be away from the city and back in nature with good friends. Yosemite was the last thing that I felt that I had to see before leaving California. I realized how big the park is and that we could easily have spent more days out there.
The next days will be about packing - I have to be out of my room tomorrow, but I'm able to still stay overnight in the house together with Søren when he arrives. He arrives on Wednesday night so we have a few days where he can see the city before traveling in Central America.
I hope I'll be able to update my blog on the way and upload pictures if we get to places with internet.
Hope everyone is doing great !
Niels
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