Honky Town + more substantial summary/reflections on the tour.

Good morning from Hong Kong. I've only spent a night here, but I've already managed to have dinner with my aunty and most of her family, which was full of happy times. 

So what's there to look forward to in this place? Mostly shopping and eating, I imagine. Wooooo.

That's enough about the future. On to the past. Namely reflections on the tour.

The tour was amazing. I particularly liked the mix of mostly depressing days, and almost always fun nights. I don't know about everyone else, but the mix kept me from being overwhelmed by all the death and destruction that we were reliving in the death camps and mass graves. 

These fun nights only came about because of the people on the tour though. And most of these people were absolutely amazing. For the most part, kind-hearted, generous, fun, and funny, and I'm glad to have met them. I'm already starting to miss them, and I think I'm getting withdrawal symptoms because of it. The symptoms manifest themselves in things like thinking that Scarlett and Sarah were shouting for me from the back of the plane I was on, hearing what I thought was Flick being outraged at something, thinking Sam was shouting 'oi' at me at the airport, and thinking that I heard Louise laugh on the plane. It's not happening anymore, so don't call a doctor or anything. 

A substantial part of the goodness of the tour was due to the people on it, and it wouldn't have been half as awesome without them. Thanks guys. 

My favourite part of the tour is a toss-up between Chopin in the park and the random jam session in Sejny. Chopin in the park because Chopin's music is beautiful, the setting was beautiful, and it contrasted wonderfully with what we'd been seeing and visiting on the tour up until that point. Chopin played again while we watched The Pianist on the bus on the last day of the tour, and I thought it was a coincidentally amazing conclusion because of that. Both Chopin in the park and The Pianist almost made me cry. The jam session because of the awesome randomness of it all, and the mad clarinet solo. 

My least favourite part was probably the (mostly self-inflicted) chronic lack of sleep. Most days were something like 2 o' clock sleep, 7 o' clock wake up. But yeah, even this was a consequence of having fun most of the time, so really, it's not a complaint. 

I think that my actual least favourite part was leaving everyone, and having to adjust to being without the mob. Oh, and Louise getting hospitalised. That was kind of a worrying episode.  

Most random/fun thing was probably going clubbing in Lithuania. What. 

Or the random gay guy in said club who was hitting on Sam and telling him that his drink was spiked, while he was drinking from said drink. Or the ensuing talk about life and stuff that Sam and I had in my hotel room bathroom. 

Or having about five run-ins with the police. Street cred level 100 right here. Don't mess with me, cos I'm a real G. 

Or that time we broke into a concentration camp. Irony level 100. 

Or raving to 'Call Me Maybe' on an open-air minibus to and from dinner in Krakow. 

Or going on random H&M raids in various countries. 

Or going for a highly impulsive and unnecessary walk in a thunderstorm in Warsaw with Sam, Sarah, and Jamie.

Or finding that amazing rooftop bar in Berlin.

The random moments were numerous, and probably the most fun. 

Despite all the amazingly fun times had, I did manage to get a bit of learning and reflection in regarding the Holocaust. I still don't understand how people could have done such a thing, and I've kind of learned that there is no explanation. The entire Second World War was a horrible aberration that can't be explained. The destruction, the death, the Holocaust, the horrors in Asia, the atomic bomb. I did find it incredible that Germany seemed to have confronted and more or less dealt with its role in the War, whereas Poland has more or less not. 

A warmer part of the education was found in learning more about Jewish culture, which I did not have much of an idea about before the trip. Very interesting stuff.

Anyway, that's enough about the past now. Time to engage my brain again and start doing actual stuff soon. 

But man, they were fun times.

These could be the best days of our lives.

Word of the Day: Fun