In August of 2010, I came to Illinois as a participant of a wonderful scholarship program by the Congress and its German counterpart - the Bundestag. Charlotte & Jonathan - a lovely couple in Sleepy Hollow - are hosting me. I attended Harper College in Palatine for three semesters, and I work at the Harper library and with Kelly. 

I'm grateful for every single day I got to spend here, for the opportunity to achieve a lot, and for the coincidences that made me meet many people who showed me amazing openness & friendliness. I'm so thankful for the inspiration, love, and trust that made my time here so meaningful. 

I'm also thankful for having lived in Illinois. I just love Chicago. 

You might already know them but these are things that I found especially pretty or interesting - that made me love Chicago:

• Carl Sandburg's poems

• Greektown

• that the four statues of horses of the Clarence Buckingham-fountain represent   

Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin - the states that border the lake

• the 12^th Street beach behind the Adler Planetarium where I find little crab-legs

• the beautiful Portage Theater on N. Milwaukee where the final scene with Johnny 

Depp in "Public Enemies" was shot 

• the book "Division Street" by Studs Terkel

• the businesses on N. Milwaukee

• the Chicago neighborhood tours 

(explorechicago.org/city/en/supporting_narrative/tours/tourism/Chicago_

Neighborhood_Tours.htm) to discover real Chicago)

• the delightful smell of chocolate when walking by the Blommer factory on W. 

Kinzie

• the fact that after the fire in 1871 queen Victoria of England sent books to rebuild 

the library that actually had not existed before

• the fact that Lyman Frank Baum wrote "The Wizard of Oz" while living at 1667 N . 

Humboldt

• the John Hancock-tower
• the museum of contemporary art
• the shop of the architecture-foundation on S. Michigan
• the Smart-museum of art on S. Greenwood
• the works of Reginald Gibbons

Awesome things are still coming up. (I'm going to travel to San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, and Oahu. I'm going to spend a couple days in the historic halls of Georgetown University, and I got invited to hold a speech for the State Department. Only three participants of the program were selected to do so, I am very honored.) I am very grateful, but it's awful to think about leaving at the end of July - it makes me incredibly sad.

• a performance of the musical "Chicago" starring John O'Hurley at the 

Ford-Center for the performing arts/ Oriental-theatre

• being called "the kid" by my "American parents"
• creativity-shopping
• driving with great music 
• Ghirardelli-chocolate-muffins in pretty muffin-paper
• "Glee" 
• had 10 inches of hair cut & sent it to "locks of love"
• having met mayor of Chicago Rahm Emanuel
• homemade passion-fruit-ginger-ale at a "big bowl"-restaurant
• letters with the closing "love, ..."
• McDonald's "strawlemonberryade - let your tastebuds sort it out"
• texts from my dear Julia & someone else
• the books 

* by Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt ("Noah's child")

* "Antigone" by Sophocles

* "the colour of love" by Preethi Nair

* "the curse of the darkling mill"/ "the satanic mill" by Otfried Preussler

* "the elegance of the hedgehog" by Muriel Barbery

* "the little king December" by Axel Hacke

* "the wind-up-bird-chronicle" by Haruki Murakami

• vegetarian sushi
• "wet'n'wild"-nail-color "heatwave" from Walgreens
• youtube.com/watch?v=Me7wlASiKUg

"I give you Chicago. It is not London & Harvard. It is not Paris & buttermilk. It is American in every chitling & sparerib. It is alive from snout to tail."

~ Henry Louis Mencken

"Chicago ain't no sissy town."

~ Michael "Hinky Dink" Kenna

"I adore Chicago. It is the pulse of America."

~ Sarah Bernhardt 

(Kelly's note: Cindy loves Chicago so much she got this tattoo a couple weeks ago.)

"The world is a book & those who do not travel read only a page."  

~ St. Augustine of Hippo

"I did not fully understand the dread term 'terminal illness' until I saw Heathrow for myself."  

~ Dennis Christopher George Potter, 1978 

(That clearly means whenever you go to Europe, fly into FRA & come to see me!)

hair brush microphone song 

"... & all that jazz" from the musical "Chicago"

awesome (aw-suh m) - adjective

1. inspiring awe

2. showing or characterized by awe

glee - noun

1. open delight; exultant joy.

2. an unaccompanied part song for three or more voice, popular especially in the 18th century.

su-per-cal-i-frag-i-lis-tic-ex-pi-al-i-do-cious - adjective

used as a nonsense word by children to express approval or to represent the longest word in English.

dictionary.com

Order Books Online:

-When LIfe Stinks, It's Time to Wash the Gym Clothes

-365 Days of Joy

First Thursday of each monthNorth Suburban Library, 6340 N. Second St., Loves Park6:30 - 8;00 pmAll are welcome. Free. Fun. Friendships. JULY 7 = We are going to PLAY!