Entry 6

A dream chronicled in my actual journal from 28 Aug 2019, Wednesday:

I was in my old apartment bathroom back in Montechoro. Washing my hands, I hear my flatmate’s daughter outside. She greeted me, I think, and at first I didn’t recognize her voice, but when I turned around to the door I see her and was glad to see her, or glad that it was her outside and not someone else, or I was just glad that she approached and greeted me. . . Or all of the above, I guess. I greet her back and we exchange pleasantries. But then she starts to tear up and cry. I wonder what’s wrong. She explains some hardship she has with her mom. She starts to weep more and her face becomes deformed. I try to step out to comfort her, to embrace her. But something held me back, like a hand holding my shoulder, keeping me inside the bathroom. I push forward and step out and into the hallway. As I did so, the daughter stepped back away from me. At first I think she was just startled at my sudden stumbling out of the bathroom, but then when I tried to approach her again, I noticed she moved away from me again. I see behind her to the kitchen, or maybe the living room, where her brother is at and I sense there’s some other person out of sight behind the wall. I was seeing through the doorway and notice they’re preparing something or preparing for something, come celebration. Along the hallway wrapped gifts were lined up. The girl/daughter seemed still in distress. I didn’t come closer to her. She told me she really tried to make things better with her mom. I said to her I’m really sorry she’s feeling this way. Behind me I could hear her mom in her bedroom talking to someone on the phone. I said to the daughter I thought they’re celebrating some birthday party, but, looking at the gifts wrapped in red, white, and maybe a little green, it’s like they’re celebrating Christmas.

It was daytime and bright in the hallway apartment, and the next scene I remember is me walking down the street, still daytime, still bright, I guess outside of our apartment, but the streets remind me of Heidelberg, Germany. I guess I was heading to work because I have my satchel with me that I usually bring. Along the way I see two women get out of their apartment, one was local, a co-worker, I think, but now that I try to remember her or who she was, I don’t know. The other woman I do recognize as one of the Peace Corps volunteers I met back in Mozambique. She had on a sort of big, childish-cute, animal hat, like the face or head of a grey fox, or maybe a bear. I ask her what she’s doing here, in a polite way, if she’s visiting someone, my co-worker I guess. She doesn’t reply, she doesn’t even really acknowledge me. She was on her phone, texting, and she mumbled something to me which I didn’t understand. I thought it important not to react impolitely, not to return I guess the disrespect, and I was already on my way somewhere, like the two of them who were getting into their car. So I just say to her, Good to see you Dr. E (I remembered in the dream that she’s now a physician in ‘real’ life). And to my co-worker I say, See you at work. I pass by them and their car. When I turn a corner I think to myself, where am I going? To the municipal pools? This second part of the dream I thought was the clearest, but now I’m not so sure. It’s definitely the easiest to remember, as I almost forgot the first part.