Back to Life
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I’ve been back in Germany for three weeks, roughly the same amount of time that I spent in the USA over the holidays. Our trip was all that we had hoped it would be. We basked in the simplicity of navigating a city that we know, in a language we can speak, amoong people who understand us. They are people who understand us in the literal sense (as in,they know what we mean when we say “I’ll have a burrito but can you add extra guacamole and leave out the onions?”) and also in the personal sense. We were surrounded by family members who love us even though we are jet lagged and cranky, and friends who do a great job of acting thrilled to see us. And no one forced us to show off our German to them, which was a good thing, because I forgot everything I’d learned, immediately after stepping into the customs area at the airport.
We knew it would be a shock to move from the bustle of the holidays (nephews and nieces giggling! parents doting! friends buying us drinks!), in the land where everyone was on vacation and everyone seemd to love us and we were surrounded by menus and street signs that we could read sans dictionary, to a place where we had a job to do, and a thesis to write, and a language to learn, and no one to call and catch a movie with. I realized one day last week that I hadn’t left the apartment in 72 hours. I have been using the cold weather as an excuse; temperatures hover around the freezing mark most days, and I can see the wind rattling the satellite dishes mounted on the roof next door. Today it is 12 degrees Fahrenheit. I know you Montanas are scoffing at me but my thick weather skin melted off in Oregon, so I’m a weenie now. But it was also a way to preserve my holiday, and to avoid the challenge of solving a new problem every time I turn a corner.
You’ll see from these photos of the outside of our apartment building that we made some outings over the weekend (I didn’t realize that Nurnberg is home to the largest IMAX screen in Europe – now we’ve seen a documentary about sharks while wearing 3-D glasses). This week I plan to find the local library. Wish me luck.
