when I woke up this morning for the first time. around 8 am. it’s pitch-black dark outside at this time, I thought. it’s so dark that when you happen to be coming back from one obscure party or another, and forgot your cellphone, and don’t have a watch, and are too tired/ scared/ hungover/ still drunk or not interested enough to ask a stranger for the time, you’d guess it was the middle of the night. and be surprised the subway was running already, and even more astonished at all the people running to catch it. at this time of the night! or maybe morning. but definitely not 8. as in, sleeping-in-it’s-still-later-than-7 eight. never ever would I get up at eight here, or at least I haven’t managed to, so far.
but suddenly the birds were singing. that’s odd, I thought. even though we live right next to the forest, I’ve never heard birds before- I’d been wondering about that… so I got up. I had to check if the night was as black- it was. I went back to bed, when I woke up around 10, no birds were singing. everything back to normal. maybe a dream? maybe spring is coming, my roommate said. she’d heard them too.
about twice a week the sky tears open, and we’re blessed with magnificent sun, making the heaps of snow along the road salivate. we have seen more sunrises and sunsets in the short time we’ve been here than ever before- the sun rises and sets in the middle of the day. the day is actually like one continuous sunriseset. on days like those I run to fetch my camera to finally take some pictures. I want to show my family and friends how beautiful the weather is when it’s not depressing. only my batteries are dead. I’m keeping my sunsets to myself for now.
every two weeks, at some random time in the night, the birds start singing.