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One week later there is a party at Paul's
house. Since
Eli and I have become close friends over the past few days we go
together. The party is surprisingly
entertaining. Everyone keeps wondering about Germany. I have
already been asked a
bunch of weird questions: do we
have vacuum cleaners, cars and houses? Is there
sex in Germany? Of course not! Germans grow on trees.
Paul has set up for
karaoke in the garage, something you
would hardly find at a German
party. There is no alcohol, since it is a 'parents home'
party. I am soon introduced to the three different kinds
of parties. First there is the 'parents home' party where you do
not officially find any alcohol as
it is illegal under the age of 21 -
people do tend to meet outside though to secretly drink or smoke out. The second type
of party is the 'home alone' party - there the parents are gone for
the night and
a few people just hang out and get drunk. The worst' parties are the
'drug' parties, thrown by high school graduates who live on their
own. The HCS host is Lexy who is over 21. His
parties usually involve alcohol, drugs and random sex. Lexy is famous for
his parties.
Anyways, since Paul's parents are home
-
and watching like dogs - there is no
way you can possibly do anything illegal. I hang out with Scott
for the largest part of the evening. Soon I am told some extremely wild stories
about how he is trying to sell me drugs. (which must have somehow
slipped my German inability to judge situations and people). But
I suppose that's just the way HCS functions. After all this is the
Christian desert, there is nothing going on to talk about -
people have to gossip
and exaggerate to stay entertained. ************* Monday after the
party Paul asks me
out on a date. Since I do not have anything else planned, I accept.
I end up having a
boyfriend when I go home the same evening. Thanksgiving is the
next day. It reminds me of a bunch of people being stuffed like turkeys. *************
As Paul is one of
those people who always have to be doing something, time goes by pretty fast until Christmas. We mostly hang
out with the other guys, spending a lot of time at the 'spot'. The
'spot' is a ledge in the middle of nowhere - THE place
to get drunk.
Since the legal drinking age in the US
is 21 we also spend an awful lot of time waiting for beer - which once
you get it tastes
horrible compared to German beer anyways. Liquor stores
always ask for ID so we usually have to go 'tab'. For this you sit in a
car in front of liquor stores and try to track someone down who is
over 21 and not a cop to buy you some alcohol. In Hesperia this can take
up to 3 hours, especially when me, Jay and Paul go. We almost
never get lucky! (A grateful toast to the legal drinking age of 16 in
Germany. And cheers to the bars and stores that sell alcohol to
even younger people!)
Jay is an interestingly strange person. He adores and lives after
THE DOORS
front man Jim Morrison. He is pretty good at it too. Usually he is
either drunk, stoned or both. He treats his cute freshman girlfriend like crap
- same with his friends and everyone
else. For some reason he is always nice to me and me, him and Paul
love to talk about Jim Morrison and the philosophy of life.
Things keep going smoothly - not taking my fights with Paul
and my host family into account. Without the smallest effort I
continuously get very good grades. After school we meet at the spot. I am the absolute
king in drinking beer - which isn't exactly hard when everyone else gets drunk off one to
six bottles of beer.
************* Just like in Germany, Christmas in the
US is pretty boring. You open your presents one day later
on Christmas day, the morning of December 25th. I spend most time on the phone with Scott Brandow who has
become a close friend and Paul, who requires psychological
support for his family problems. For the first time I actually
realize how
conservative and stubborn American parents are. And Paul's
family is just like all of our other friends' parents. They neither
listen to nor understand him. He keeps getting trapped in this
enormous chain
of lies to hide his drinking and smoking. They exceedingly influence
the life of their 18-year-old son and go out of their way
trying to control his actions and decisions. Eventually they even
try to use me to attain
their goals. Of course they are nice. I love them dearly, they are
my second family. But they have no clue what is really going on in their
son's life. And he sure knows why he does not tell them. American
parents are strict, but that only attracts the kids more and
uncontrollably
to what's forbidden, illegal and new.
The next big thing is Homecoming, a banquet at the end of the
basketball season in January where the school votes for the Homecoming
queen and her staff. Jennifer wins which is really cool.
She is not only pretty but also extremely friendly and deaf (not
as if that has to do with anything). The banquet takes
place on a ship down at Newport Beach (now how awesome would
that have been if only The O.C. was known as a TV show back
then???). Again, without the dancing, all there is is tons of food. Me, Paul, Scott, Heather and Linda spend the night at El Torro with Heather's parents. The next
day we hang out at Laguna Beach. The air is pretty cold,
considering it is supposed to be warm in California. But way more
comfortable than the weather at Hesperia, where it is even colder than
in Germany. What kind of desert is this? The climate is cold and
windy. We even get heavy showers and little snow - although it
melts down quickly. ************* back
next
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