it is difficult to sum up the last couple of days. i will continue to say that i don't think i've ever been happier. i appreciate and thoroughly enjoy each destination i have visited. but having this prior...attachment, if you will, makes this departure more difficult than the rest. i sound like cheap romance.

i arrived in berlin with no concrete list- i didn't want to get wrapped up- i simply wanted to experience. i probably could have made more use of my time then wandering (though I did have destinations at some point). but any regret is overcome with the opportunity i was granted to see the nooks i would have missed otherwise. so no regrets. a return to berlin is not a question but a fact.

it isn't a surprise that many aren't blown away by berlin. i don't think berlin wants to blow people away. its going back to that whole nature of berlin (see first post). there is a mutual respect for one another's space, time, and tolerance. people are aware enough to be considerate. they are low-key but headstrong. there is individuality as much as there is community, but nobody's shouting about it. Discovering each other for curiosity of character in relation to your own is more thrilling than putting on a show (done quite often back home). But that's just 6 days worth.

now i hear berlin say "london, paris, amsterdam, you take all the credit. we don't need to be noticed because this is berlin, and we don't give a sh-t what others have to say about it. "

bis spater, berlin!

my flickr is up and ready for you to view bits. i had to edit the juicy stuff. you want to see the rest you gotta really be special to me or you gotta go yourself. ;)

BERLIN

i have never experienced such elation from a single place. despite minor irregularities its entirely what i'd expected. experiencing the transition from being in 'outskirts' to the more central tourist area is interesting. the perplexity diminishes and comprehension grows. regardless i find myself unscathed. the reaction is still a respectable one, unlike the remarks I receive in new york from those who actually SHOULD know better. but you can count on America to be such an oxymoron. (receive that as honesty not bitterness).

arrived in berlin. a long and hazy trip but the initial result is quite gratifying. though i could barely carry a conversation with the locals, it hardly feels foreign. some might not appreciate the stark nature of berlin, but it's what i love the most. deutschland is an honest delivery of character, no frills. this quality is both profound and deliberate. its this undeniable charisma that has led me here after nearly a decade of patience.

through that decade i found myself searching for someone who questioned nothing and embraced everything. that's as bad as it is lame, but it's as honest as the man who crinkled his face in attempts to read my korean name on my passport.

:) hallo, berlin.

<3 Lab.

http://www.oyemodern.com/images/uploads/products-elik/elik-prism-n-ox-lrg-10.jpg