Chapter 167

I woke up around 10. My Facebook was flooded with birthday wishes in various languages, it warmed my heart, and I gave a quick reply to every single one of them.

The grand departure was planned for the next day, so I went to run some errands on my skateboard with the dog trotting along, first I went to a big department store full of cheap stuff to buy a big storage box, camping utensils, duct tape and whatever else caught my eye in the aisle. Carrying that stuff in my backpack and in my hands, I went to the car mechanic. We dropped the car there yesterday so they’d make us spare keys, and I got them. Then I drove home and spent most of the day packing. When I go on a “normal” trip, I can stuff my odds and ends in my 35-liter backpack quickly, I know exactly what to bring and where to put it, after travelling so much in the past fifteen years. But now, for a road trip, I didn’t quite know how to operate but I took my time and when 5 o’clock rolled around, the car’s trunk was full of camping gear, bags of clothes, food and other useful stuff.

I went to pick the girlfriend up from her work and after getting home I left for BJJ practice. It was a good one and after rolling, all five of us were sitting or lying on the ground, speechless, exhausted as we were. I changed my clothes and rode to the bar, where a big group of my expat friends were sitting around a table outside. One guy asked me if I was sunburned, but no, it was a red rash in my neck from getting choked with the rough fabric of my gi.

I got a German white beer and joined them, after my second beer the girlfriend came back from her chess class and we ate at the Japanese izakaya across the street. Afterwards we went back to the bar, I was too full for a beer but a coworker bought me a Laphroaig peaty scotch for my birthday, it was delicious.

Some people mentioned the possibility of going to karaoke, I tagged along. Five of us got a room and sang a bunch of songs and then I left at around 2. I got home, put my sweaty BJJ rags in the laundry and watched a bit of YouTube at a low volume while I waited for the load to finish.