CH1. Life Goes On 32: One True Passion for Books and a Hike

Hello, Tim!
As I am writing this, I am already back in Germany for a week. It feels great to be back, getting responsible once more for my own life, but it still takes some time to get back into the mindset I had three weeks ago. I would have to make this a rather short letter even though there are still tons of things to write about, as always.
Two topics, maybe.
Three, at most.

The Hike

In the middle of one of the classes, I received a text from Johaness, who was apparently in or around our dorm, asking if I would be free on Saturday late afternoon. Curious of what he was having in mind, I replied with a yes and inquired further. As it turned out, he was planning to do a hike and asked whether I was interested in coming along. He showed me a natural sight-seeing place among the mountainy areas around the castle, presented as a little spot on Google Map. It was called the Felsenmeer, the "Stone Sea" literally. He said that he hadn't been there before and would want to visit it in this hike, connecting it with the Königstuhl, one of the most famous mountain peaks in Heidelberg, and going back down. Being more than two months apart from the previous hike with the other guys of the sixth floor, I was really more than ready for anything. It was about time to pick up this thread of connection with Nature, anyway.

Starting on time, we took the train to the mountain feet and started at around one in the afternoon. The wind was gently traveling, picking up whenever it felt like doing so. I wore only a long-sleeved T-shirt with the sun kneading its heat into the land beneath it like you would to salt into a piece of dough. Still, knowing that the wind will get the best of me sooner or later, I had another of my shirts prepared. The ground from below was a bit wet and muddy, most of the footing being a mixture of soil and fallen leaves that were decomposing. I told Johannes that it was good to have worn my old pair of shoes thanks to his forewarning before leaving the dorm.

Along the way

My left knee was hurting a bit from the jog that was decide on a whim from the previous day (which was another story) but minutes into the walk, it was more like a dull thud in my bones and was rather easy to ignore. The mossy stones were scattered around the hillside where you can see from the sides.  They had definite edges and corners, something you would guess coming from a person's hands. You might overlook them when you get a bit too absorbed with where you should be landing your feet, but when you have a friend who's been engaging in such activities for years, the person would be giving you a headsup and tell you when and what to look at. 

Fungi, for example.

On a Saturday morning, it wasn't really realistic of me to expect to casually see people doing the same track, but when we reached what seemed like a privately-owned warehouse for log-harvesting machineries with a drinkable water fountain next to it, we started seeing several people coming and going. On the mountains all are equal on the same height, and we acknowledged one other's presence when eyes met. With the directions carved onto the stones, we were able to navigate our way (it was more of what Johannes did, given that I still don't really have a so-called sense of direction) towards the Felsenmeer. Reaching around 400 meters of altitude (with the even ground of the Heidelberg city being of an altitude of 100 meters or so) the pathway, though maintain the same width, narrowing down and widening up again occasionally, we were more weaving among the natural mossy stones, contrasted by how we were only walking by them next to the track in the beginning. 

Landmarks on the way.

At one point, the soil became really muddy, and even though I did say that my pair of shoes were old, I didn't really want to have wet socks as well. The directions from the dwarfish stones pointed us to a marked area that told us we were about to enter a natural preservation area. No feeding the animals, no riding horses, keep your dogs on leash, etc. it read. On the downward slope we treaded down, taking in the sceneries. Supposedly this was the work of a glacier that was there when no one was there to witness, but the bigger-than-head-sized rocks were piling and scattering, the moss atop marking the static position they were set in place long, long time ago. Still, the rocks altogether painted a picture of unmoving activity that made people stop and appreciate the office done by the nature. 

It feels like a little push can upend everything.

There was another sign at the entrance of the Felsenmeer, and when we came back to the entrance, it told us we were just another kilometer until reaching the highest peak of Heidelberg, the Königstuhl ("the King's Chair," by the way) Continuing up, the knotty feeling in my thighs were more stark, but I was holding well together.

Upon arrival in Heidelberg three months ago, there were different people telling me about the peak and the view down below you get from high on top, I was finally there. There was a hotel still under construction, three TV towers (two of which was likely to be from the US military), and many tourists coming from either the other tracks that were connected to the location or simply from the mountain train. But the view was gorgeous. You really see everything from above - the castle, the garden, the houses - even the school was not hard to spot! Close to three in the afternoon, the sun was actually about to set in an hour or so, but the remnants of its golden warmth was still bathing the places where our feet were set. Johannes handed me two apples for snack - sweet with the floral scent resembling a pear, somehow.

We took the mountain steps back down the ridges. With the thighs and the kneecap thrumming, it was  actually more uncomfortable (agonizing) to hike downwards than heading up once again, and the fear for losing ground and tumbling down in a rolling fashion was way more present, making it an excruciating effort to pay attention to where your next step should be put. Through the castle, down the stairs, we were back again in the Altstadt. Deciding that walking back would be a perfect way to relax the strained muscles, we set off again. With Johannes' GPS-connected watch, we could retrace our steps and the roads taken on a digital map, and here it is.

With the Königstuhl being the peak, we hiked up for about 567 meters in total.

With some self-evaluation, I would say that I was catching up fine in the slopes. Seemed like Johannes will have more plans for hiking in the future, mentioning one with picnic and more than twelve hours involved, I would feel inclined to join.

Dear Evan Hansen: The Novel

Wow, it really has been for some time. I didn't realize I was that far away from books until this week. Sure, I had noticed the pattern even two years ago: I had been buying books in England, but I never really sat down and read one there. It was almost the same here in Germany.
It wasn't just about the school work. Also the time I wanted to spend with the guys in the dorm and the classmates alike. The time I spent in kitchen, cooking the whole daylight away. It is the minutes piled up pining over the same papers I could get myself to finished. The hours whittled away talking and watching stupid videos on Youtube. It's the time I transcript and filter my mind onto the blog. The feeling of needing to belong with the people back in Taiwan. My family. My friends.
My books.
When asked to scribble a list that has all your preoccupations of the day, everyone would be pulling out their own list in no time. The only difference that was there for me at this moment would be whether you saved some space for books.
Reserving a small piece of the pie doesn't work for me, either. There was a time I used to mandate myself into reading thirty minutes a day, but a lot of the time would be spent dozing off because I would set the reading time too close before bedtime.
I can only make it seen all the time. Books has been and will always be -but with a matter of magnitude- a source to my food for thought. I beat myself up with a sense of dread when I consider to have read too little, and that is a quality I wish not to lose. See it, as a part of saving some time for yourself and the words of the author.

Dear Evan Hansen was originally a play written by Steven Levenson. It talked about how an assigned letter became the core of a torrid cyclone that swept Evan Hansen's life, for better or for worse.
The book, through the eyes of the protagonist, expounded on the matters of depression, the need to be understood, be seen but be hidden. We are lucky people not to be exploited by the mental disease, but the depicted lonesomeness can be either resonating or contagious. You'd catch a glimpse of how the people around you don't seem to have the capacity to get where you're coming from, feeling like nobody when compared to the others. Not every one has gone through the same "I'm invisible" phase and not every troubled soul has outlived the false realization, but this is a book that is telling you that there will always be someone behind you, someone you will find if you know to turn your head and look, that your feelings are valid, and that you will be found.
I once watched the recordings of the Broadway show starring Ben Platt, and it got me a bit emotional with the soundtrack that I chose to listen to during reading the book.
It took me around several hours in three sittings to finish the book, and there were some parts that were really painful that I had to temporarily put down the book and really let out a pent-up breath.
I am the drama king when reading, after all.

End

I think it would be nice to tighten up the strings of my mind here- I know there are somethings like the delayed flight from Taiwan and my departure, the incident that led to the white wheels on my new luggage case, etc. to hammer and titter about, but it is time to put my uploading back on schedule.

Chapter one would be ending soon.

Sunset at four.

Sincerely,

Hugo