10.07.08 - Perhaps More at Home Than I First Thought
It is official. I have been here in Berlin for ten full days, and I have settled in. It is time for me to begin living here now. I guess I should probably explain...The first real sign was when the salami sandwich I had for dinner no longer tasted as good as it has over the frighteningly numerous meals where such a sandwich has previously appeared. My salami binge (which was quite similar to one suffered during my initial weeks in Reutlingen back in 2007) can be, I am sure, blamed squarely on my mother. As a young, growing boy, hard salami was one of those rare treats that only on occasion found its way into our refrigerator. My mother, quite correctly, did not feel that a food made completely of red meat and chunks of visible fat was perhaps the best thing for her sons to consume. I, however, have a weak-spot for stuff. So, whenever I come to Europe, I immediately run to the salami and have myself a party. Well, the party's over. I have hit that point of saturation where my stomach seems to be getting the point across that this is not vacation, and I should probably stop eating like it!
And Mom, please know that, amidst the appalling amount of salami that I have consumed over that past ten days, I have found my way to fresh fruits and veggies from a stand located between my apartment and the local U-Bhf.
Reason number two is that the schoolwork, while still engaging and fun--has become, well, schoolwork. So far, my teacher, Christine Dühring, has made the classroom experience at the Goethe-Institut a real joy. I know I am learning a great deal already--most days seeming so by as much brute force and exposure to this wonderful language as anything else! But Frau Dühring has a knack for high energy teaching that has encouraged me to do my work when I get home. It helps that I really want to get this language under my belt. But still, I do not ordinarily rush home to crack open the books right away and start into the fun. Homework done by 7pm?!? Really?!? Well, that began to change today. Reason being--we have a test tomorrow! All of the sudden I was shocked back into the academia I thought I might have been able to leave behind in Valparaiso or waiting for me in Columbus. Not so much. This evening was spent, quite reluctantly I will admit, re-memorizing tables, grammatical rules, declensions, conjugations, and trying for the life of me to figure out what to do with those damn unregalmäßige Verben! But, as with my prior academic life, the time came when the work needed to be done. And you know what? All the studying and all the homework, while perhaps completed with a bit less unabashed fun than before, was still strikingly enjoyable. Go figure.
Reason number three, I know, is truly the kicker. I feel as though I have a place with the people here. Alex, my "host-dad" here in Berlin, and I talked about music for 20 minutes or so this evening. It was great fun just sitting around talking about who was coming when into the city to play and how much fun it would be to score some lawn seats for a few of August's open-air concerts. This afternoon I enjoyed lunch at Hackescher Markt with seven of my classmates. Our class time today ended with a 90 minute scavenger hunt of sorts throughout Berlin's Mitte district. When we ended near Hackescher Markt, we figured it would be a great time to continue the fun. So lunch it was. Afterwards the conversation continued for me and one of my classmates, Hae Jin, as we rode the S-Bahn back west from the Markt. Along the way, we discussed music (Hae Jin is an organist who has come for a year's worth of study in Berlin), specifically of the organ variety, and did so to reasonable success. I honestly felt like I could have had this conversation with any number of my music friends back at VU, save for the German component!
So, maybe I am at that point where I am no longer just here, but I need to start to really being here. The ever-so-alluring call of adventure has perhaps waned to a point where I have begun to encounter some honest-to-goodness reality. This doesn't mean I've stopped missing home or the many people I feel as though I have left behind. Nor does this mean that I will anytime in the near future cut down on my vacation-paced consumption of good beer and better chocolate. I mean, c'mon, let's be honest here! But I hope that I can start to approach my days as someone who truly belongs here--not simply someone who dropped by for a little while.
bis später, J.
posted by John D. Nevergall @ 16:28
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