Walking to the train station

Every morning when going to or from school I walk to the train station. At first thought all the walking was exhausting compared to my 10 minute drive in the USA but I have grown to appreciate it. I will tell you about the little things I have come to notice on the way. I do not notice the big thins, but the little, because for me they are more important. By the way this is all from memory, not trying to tell you everything, only what has caught my attention. First off the walk is about 15 minutes for a slow walker like me. There is one large hill right in front of my house and than the rest is mostly flat. Before I descend the hill I stop to enjoy a small koi pond in front of one of the houses, the fish are always there swimming around. For me it is a miniature version of my grandfathers koi pond. As I continue I notice the exotic colors of various small berries hanging resting on bushes, my favorite are the bright purple ones, I am not sure why. In front of me are the Jura mountains, children in comparison to the alps behind me, yet still full of life. This time of year the tips of the Juras coated with frosty trees while the bottom is home a fall palate. On cloudless days, so almost never, the alps stand behind me. They are flabbergasting, so much so that somedays it is more phathomable to believe that someone painted them on a large canvas than in their actual existence. At the bottom of the hill I am met with a road. As I turn right I can see the black pronto pizza car parked in front of one of the houses. I read the words 'pronto pizza', painted in red, every day and for some reason it stuck in my mind. Next comes a playground. Vacant in the early hours of the morning, blossoming with children by the afternoon.  Parallel to the playground is a field with two goals for soccer. The goals have no nets, they are mearly metal poles marking the difference between a win and a loss for games played by future sport stars. There are no lines on the field and the grass is partially dead. It is a stadium in the mind of children, a laughing stock for teenagers, and a saving grace for tired parents wishing for a moment of rest. I try to see all of these things in they eyes of people around me. I wonder if the others notice the same things. As I walk along further I laugh a little at the dog pop bag station that features the classic evolution picture, as seen in science textbooks, with the addition of a person picking up dog poop at the end. It always manages to make me laugh. There are apartments on one side of the street and houses on the other. Near my next turn is a row of businesses, some empty, others not, but only one catches my eye. This is the 'pool-4-you' building. I know no one in Grenchen that owns a pool, however I am positive that I would go here if I ever needed a custom pool. I wonder how it manages to stay in business. As I cross the street I turn away from a Turkish market towards a building with bright yellow letters and many windows, I believe it reads 'britling' or something of that sort. The letters themselves always suited my fancy better than the actual word. I turn right and cross the street once more in front of an underpass that leads to the city. Here I climb a slight hill, as I walk the sun appears as do the train tracks and many electrical wires. Some days the sun is blood red, others yellow, other not there shrowded by clouds. My favorite days are the blood red days, it is like the sun in 'The Lion King' rising over the Savanah desert to the tune of 'The Circle of Life'. But instead it is me, in Switzerland, about to board a train and go to a town and school that last year at this time I didn't know existed. To talk to people that three months ago had not been written into my life story. I am sure I will remember this sun when I am back in the USA. I may not remember the koi, pronto pizza, or the bright yellow letters, but for me the sun is the symbol of another day in a life that came upon me by chance. It reminds me that if not for a very strange series of events I would not be here to day, and that I am very lucky that my life has played out the way it has.