Collecting trash in Hildesheim. A barefoot challenge.

September 28, 2024.

Good morning, dear human! I have changed the bed linens, and in the process, I thought about how I am slowly moving back towards the extreme minimalism I lived in during my last shared apartment, now that I have returned to a "normal life" in my new flat. It feels like it was unnecessary to acquire all these things for my own apartment. However, what I'm doing now is a different kind of minimalism. In the shared apartment, I used to share things with my roommates. This allowed me to live extremely minimally and own almost nothing myself. Now I have no roommates whose items I can use. Therefore, my current minimalist lifestyle, which I am now further optimizing (e.g., not using the refrigerator), cannot be as extreme as it was back then. Additionally, the integration of the zero-waste lifestyle into my minimalist lifestyle is currently happening as well. 🧐

I have also come up with a little optimization idea: The soap dispenser, for which I had to melt the solid soap into liquid, is hardly used—only when Julia or Mom visit (personally, I wash my hands with water rather than soap to strengthen my immune system and microbiome). Therefore, I save myself the preparation of liquid soap and simply use the solid soap.

It is 9:16 AM, 10°C outside, and I am currently barefoot on my way to the Kehrwiederturm, which is about a half-hour walk from my home. That is the meeting point for the "Living Together in the City" working group for garbage collection.

Today there is a significant difference compared to the previous days when I was walking barefoot: the ground is cold, and I will be outside for a very long time—definitely over 2 hours. I am curious how long my feet can withstand these temperatures. On previous days, I went straight to the café to warm my feet after comparable walks. This time, however, it will be different, and I look forward to trying out the experiment.

I had a hot chocolate at Tchibo and then casually strolled to the meeting point.

An older woman walked past me and commented: "Oh, barefoot?"

“Yes, it's healthy as long as the toes don't freeze,” I replied.

“Oh, that's great," she said cheerfully and very enthusiastically.

No idea how I came to believe the meeting point was at the Kehrwiederturm, but it wasn't the case at all. The actual meeting point was at Bromberger Straße at the turnaround, about 2 km away. So I walked there and arrived 20 minutes late.

On the way at Bromberger Straße, a small child said to their grandmother: “Look, there’s someone barefoot.” The grandmother replied, “Oh, true.”

When I arrived 10 minutes late at the turnaround, nobody was there. I walked a bit into the woods and saw a family collecting something—however, only chestnuts. They had seen a small group prior.

Another man with a stroller told me that he saw a few people at the Tonkuhle in a bush. Soon, I met an older woman who had brought her friends who traveled specifically for the litter collection. I joined them. Two young people caught up with us. We continued to collect litter, and somehow it turned out that I ended up walking with the two youngest in the group. From them, I learned that they know the litter collection initiative from nebenan.de. I don't know this website and will take a closer look at it later.

Together, we searched the thorny bushes and wooded areas for litter and found quite a lot.

The highlight was an older man doing yoga naked. From a distance, I first thought he was a huge crab because he was in a bridge pose. It was a pretty surreal moment when I realized that it was not a huge crab but a person! 😄

In the end, the three of us had a full bag of litter that easily weighed at least ten kilos. The bag was full of glass bottles, large plastic bags that had already grown into the ground, bottle caps, and even an old mustard packet and a Balea deodorant.

Then an older man joined us, carrying a huge bag over his shoulder as if he were Santa Claus. So there we were, eight of us, discussing the litter collection and other things. There was coffee and cake.

It was truly a great event, and I am glad I was a part of it. I met new people and explored the area around the Tonkuhle very intensively.

I was added to the email distribution list and will therefore quickly find out when the next litter collection will take place. I also suggested to the organizer that we should clean the Marienfriedhof, as it is very littered.

After I said goodbye, I tried to call Julia because we actually wanted to go for a walk, but she didn't answer. Since she didn't respond, I went barefoot into the city center. Yes, still barefoot. I did have shoes in my backpack just in case, but after the litter collection, my feet were so warm that I didn't need them at all. The other participants were concerned about whether I might step on glass shards (a typical worry of non-barefoot walkers 😉). But glass is not the issue—I have never had problems with that. Much more annoying were the thorns in the wooded areas that I struggled through to collect litter in the overgrown bushes. But even they were no reason for me to put on shoes.

While I was waiting for the bus at the bus stop, Kurt, the man who collected trash alone, happened to pass by. He had been holding a pile of garbage when he reached the stop.

“Do you always collect trash on the go?” I asked him.

“Yes, that’s an old habit of mine,” he replied as he threw the garbage into the trash can.

In that moment, I thought, wow, I want to have such a habit too. We entered into a brief conversation, and when he asked me what I was doing, I told him that I studied physics and was currently looking for a job. He then gave me his business card and a flyer for an educational platform called Planet N.

On my way to Neustädter Markt, I was on the phone with Julia. She wanted me to come over. Then a young woman on a bicycle came toward me, traveling with a man. Suddenly, she shouted "you jerk" as she passed by me. That was the same woman who was at the closing party of Transeuropa. By the way, the organizers of Transeuropa did not respond to the email in which I asked them to address the unfair exclusion. It shows that they somehow live in their own leftist bubble and are unreliable. I will not support the Transeuropa Festival again as long as the organizers remain the same. (I can feel my anger rising as I write this diary entry).

Back to the girl on the bicycle: I think that’s just her leftist way of expressing her affection toward me. It was definitely funny how she was completely dressed in pink, casually riding her bike, and throwing out that remark. Julia and I laughed about it.

At the market, I then ran into Kurt, who had given me the flyer earlier. He introduced me to another physicist who also helps at the market. Kurt introduced me at the organic stand, and I exchanged numbers with the vendor, Manu. Manu said I could earn a little money here by helping to dismantle the stand. I still need to think about it, as this is a whole new world for me. I’m not even properly in as a weekly market shopper, and now I'm supposed to stand behind the stand and sell. 😄

I also bought radishes and three onions there, unpackaged and organic quality. After that, I took the bus to Julia's. What happened there remains a secret. 🤫

On the way back from Julia: At the bus stop, I just made it onto the last bus into the city center. Two Arab-looking guys on electric scooters asked me about going barefoot. One of them decided to go barefoot shopping on Monday. I told his buddy to join him and see if his friend keeps his word.

I then sat in my café, resting my head on my fist, and thought about what had happened with Julia. I could still smell my fingers and took in the scent of her vagina. I was a bit surprised by her suggestion that we should meet another woman who would have sex with me while Julia would just be there to cuddle with me. It sounds kind of exciting but surreal at the same time. Sometimes I feel like she is able to read my most secret dreams, which I can't even write down in my non-public diary.

Back to the disappointing situation. My inner child thinks: If you don’t act as cuddly as Julia wants, you won’t get a hug when saying goodbye. It felt uncomfortable to leave again without a hug. As if I had done something wrong. I really hope that there isn't a constant up and down between Julia and me, which is typical of a toxic relationship. I will step away if I notice that and the situation doesn’t change despite conversations. 😟

My blood results finally arrived by email. I’m really looking forward to analyzing them. 🤩 But only tomorrow. I don’t have the head for it today. My soles feel like I’ve walked through nettles. Sleep well!

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