April, ten years ago, part two: of Christiane F.

Part one, in case you missed it. This was translated from my paper diary from ten years ago, once again.

17th April 1998, God Friday
I was working for the written test in English pretty seriously. Then Kocka [dad’s friend whose head is shaped like a cube] came around and then Danijela [neighbour] with Mihailo [her son, five and half at that time]. It was simply not possible to study anymore, so I spent the rest of the time before school watching Cartoon Network with Mihailo. I was translating three toons for him: Scooby Doo, Two Stupid Dogs and Secret Squirrel. Then he got bored and started exploring my room. He came accross a Green Day poster, pointed to Tré Cool and said: This guy’s hair is ugly! and I smiled at his childish innocence. Then he pointed to Billie Joe Armstrong and said: And this guy is ugly!. Then he noticed the other Green Day poster and recognised Billie again, and commented: This guy is boring, he’s everywhere, I also saw him on TV the other day! And he has a huge ugly fat stomach! I was about to ask Mihailo how the hell he knew that Billie really is a bit overweight right now, but I didn’t have a chance to, as he said was: I have to run home to have fish soup for breakfast! and the next thing I knew, I was rolling over the coach laughing. Not to mention that he also saw Daniella Daze’s video for the song 100% Jesus and said that it’s wrong to listen to that song on God Friday and that the guy in the video should be embarrassed of himself for being shirtless, because many people are going to see that video. I love that child, he’s so funny.

Milanka ran away from school again today because of the English test and Dejana finally finished reading Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo and Ivana B. then gave it to me, with a catch: I had only six hours to read it, because of the spring break starting after today and she had to give the book back to her friend. So, I did not waste one single second and I spend the whole day reading it and pretending to follow classes. The book is very sad. Christiane F. was living in a poor neighbourhod in western Berlin, her mothe wasn’t controlling her much. At the tender age of 12, she was taking drugs and at 13, she was already a heroin addict. In the end, she went to rehab and I do hope that she pulled herself together, because so many of her friends died in hospitals feeling the worst possible pain, or they injected themselves a deadly does of heroin, leaving goodbye messages to the world, warning other young people not to follow their footsteps. Her boyfriend ended up in jail and he said that his dream would be to lead a normal, average life with Christianne. And Dejana seems to be having a thing for that guy, even though, he’s like, 20 years younger than us and so thin. And he slept with old men, too. Then again, I understand her. She used to liken that M. guy from third grade who’s also a heroin addict now. She said that she saw him in a club, rolling on the floor and shaking, having a crisis. I am really sad for all those poor people who can’t seem to find their own way and all of them who died young. After so many stories like Christiane’s, I wonder if she’s really the only person who escaped this? And I wonder if she’s on drugs again? Uroš has the internet and he said that he read some story about her, so maybe Milanka’s brother will allow us to use the internet and find that story to print it out.

Speaking of Milanka, I guess she’ll be glad to know that the English test was delayed, as so many people left school earlier to go somewhere for the spring break. I met her on our way to church (mom always makes me go to church for God Friday…) and I told her to stop cheating, because it’ll be so more useful for her to learn English and I could help her with that. Of course, I’m not judging her, I only have good intentions.

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