Published Sunday August 6th, 2006

Hmm..

From my view on my bed here in this room in our apartment in a complex owned by my grandparents, I see both of my sisters Andrea and Daniela laying in their beds playing pre-installed games on their identical iPods over the glow of my laptops screen while listening to the same song over and over and over and over and over.

Last evening, Sunday evening, my aunt and uncle Otto and Rutt came here for dinner as well as their son Reto and their daughter Sabrina and her boyfriend Remo. For dinner we had all sorts of various cured and serve-cold meats with bread and cheese. Mmmmm. So very good. We talked and talked, like people tend to do when they’re invited over for dinner. I enjoy both Reto and Sabrina’s company very much.

One of the things which absolutely sucks most for me about living 10,000 some odd kilometers away from literally all of my relatives, is the absence of my cousins. I really like my cousins and unfortunately I rarely get to see them, and rarely get to enjoy their company. I suppose it’s kind of similar to having your family be out in the Mid-West of the USA, but even if they’re out in the mid west it seems to me like as a whole the family is more accessible instead of divided by an ocean and a continent. Perhaps that’s just me trying to dramatic-ise my personal scenario. I don’t know. What I do know is that I often wish that my extended family, my cousins, played a greater role in my life thus far.

There is one positive thing I have to look forward to as far as cousins are concerned. Today, just a few hours ago from my understanding, Daniela’s awesome boyfriend Damon picked up my two cousins Anna and Ursula as well as one of Ursula’s friends. They’ll be staying at my family’s house and will already be there when we return this coming Saturday. At least I’ll have some cousins with me when I’m back in Camarillo. I wish I had more time that I could spend with them once I’m there.

Unfortunately I have stupid work and school to go to. * sigh. * I feel bad/guilty asking for days off from work because I just took 4 weeks off to go to Switzerland, and I can’t easily ditch my first few days of class at the start of a new semester. It sucks. Argh. I like my job, and I rather like the money, but I frequently find myself wishing that I didn’t have this chain around my ankle holding me down in Camarillo, keeping me busy throughout the week when I do not have school. Same thing goes for school. I have made enough money working to just not work for a while, but I don’t want to give up my job, and I sort of like expensive things.

My cousin, Christopher stopped working recently. He’s turning 30 and he’s single and just decided to not go to work anymore and to look for something new (eventually). He’s calculated that he can live without working for at least 5 years. Lucky bastard. We saw him today when we visited my mom’s Sister and her boyfriend.

We (my entire immediate family, count:5) left at around 11.00 in the morning and drove out to Frick nearby Basel near the border with Germany. We arrived at my aunt, Hanna’s boyfriends’ home around noon-ish where we met up with both of them and Christopher, Hanna’s son, my cousin. We enjoyed a good lunch and sat around the table until around 16.00 at which time we went for a little walk during a break in the almost non-stop rain since last Sunday a week ago.

We left again at around 17.00 and returned to our apartment. Dinner ensued, and now I’m here on my laptop yet again.

5 days left. :-(