Sasha:
We all arrived to USA between September 3rd and 5th. Most of the time of our days before the tour kicked off we spent in our secret house, preparing for the presentation/discussion/panel. We stayed in very nice community house in Chapel Hill, NC where our comrades and friends live. Very nice sober environment full of welcoming people skilled in cooking for many.
I came on Saturday 5th and have to say that customs and border security was not that bad. Probably privilege of white middle class looking European with ESTA. I heard that some comrades from our crew had much more troubles than just little interview and a confiscated banana in my case.
First night we were welcomed by a great dinner – vegan home-made pizza and quite many people came to the house to hang out. Very nice atmosphere from the very beginning.
Except having endless discussions and working on our own talks we didn’t have time to do much. Only once we left the surrounding of the house (including tree garden, badminton field and back porch where we spent most of the time).
Once, our sweet friend took us to swim to the river – lagoon. On the way we talked about all the different danger animals in NC or USA. So there is several poison snakes. Some live in the water but most of them are rattlesnakes, kind of. And two types of spider – black widow and brown one which when bitten by the skin starts to die and the wound spreads till you cut it off. You might turn into a zombie. Then typical black and brown bear and so on. A few minutes of walking through the forest we saw some Poison Ivy.
Three very hot days passed quickly and the first presentation and the tour was on the door step.
Kets:
I arrived to the wonderful home in Chapel Hill after having spent a week in the states already, so I didn’t suffer from any jet-lag. I was relieved to have left a big city behind to be surrounded by trees, wooden walls and wonderful (and cute) people. I relaxed, but I was also exited by the anticipation of exiting moments to come. Soon I felt a fiery vibe in the air of our conversations.
The days are spent mostly on these deep discussions and forming of our presentations, but at times we obviously did have little brakes. We went swimming in a river, cooked and shared food and made really silly jokes…
Time flies when you’re enjoying it, so I’m already finding myself a few days into the tour. Hearing what people in many different places have to say or are thinking about is seriously interesting and I find myself getting huge moodswings between being caught by the rich talks and questions, to feeling unable to express my thoughts completely. Though I have the feeling that I will get more comfortable with my own voice after some more days of conversation.