I am trying to soak it up as much as possible, but I think one of my silly hurdles is that I tend to zone out when I am wandering the city, taking photos, getting lost. And then I'll get home and realize I didn't learn any new words! What's wrong with me? I've started writing down difficult words I hear or read and practicing them at night. It seems to be getting darker earlier and earlier and, even though I feel pretty safe, I'm not one to wander alone at night. Reading and writing are my city friends.
Since I always tend to focus on issues close to home I'll write about my darling apartment. It's a hodge podge of "leftover" furniture. It's a sublet from the old tenants and I think I have all the chairs, bookshelves and dressers, a futon and a couch they just did not want to take with them. Not to mention my carpet is blue. :) (I was still putting clothes away in this photo, however many have remained camped on my bookshelves)
Since I always tend to focus on issues close to home I'll write about my darling apartment. It's a hodge podge of "leftover" furniture. It's a sublet from the old tenants and I think I have all the chairs, bookshelves and dressers, a futon and a couch they just did not want to take with them. Not to mention my carpet is blue. :) (I was still putting clothes away in this photo, however many have remained camped on my bookshelves)
I love it though. It has a great view, lots of natural light and it's filled with things I brought, even if those things are really just the bare necessities (old Disney tune popping in to my head - just ignore it, keep writing!); those are still things that are familar and I cherish that. Perfume, a pair of shoes, a stolen pair of my mom's socks. Hehe.
I thinks the one thing I am still fighting through (somedays more than others) is that I am all alone here, and want so much to share it with everyone I love. My parents, brother and sister-in-law, my co-workers and friends back in the states (even some who I don't talk to much anymore, if at all, those that are sadly gone from my life forever), and above all my man. It's weird the way an event will spark a desire to tell someone! Here is some of the noticing I've done that I have wanted to share with you (yes, you):
10. Men after work, in their business suits, ride bikes home or grab ice cream cones on their walk to relocate. This flashes images in my head of every single one of them as little boys, and how nice it must be to live in a country where the nesting doll children that you harbor inside you, your younger versions of yourself, get to come along for the adult you's life.
9. There are three churches within a block from my house, and I love the bells all going off each hour come from every direction.... no idea which is singing what tune.
8. The smells on each block, as you walk down each strasse with cafes, grocery stores and bakeries. Everything smells delicious. And I'm trying new foods contray to popular belief.
7. Everything feels like magic. I tend to have mood swings easily - there is so much to be happy about, there is so much to be sad about, there is so much to be hopeful for - and it's exhausting; but here I snap back pretty quickly. A herd of bunnies nearly surrounded me in the park the other morning. How does a herd of bunnies even exist? It was intense and made the rest of my day pretty spectacular.
6. I'd like to share the weekends; they seem so much more exciting here. Maybe it's because I'm not waitressing, so I've recliamed Saturday and Sunday as "me" days. But living in a city, regardless, allows for more opportunities, and possibly at a lower cost. I could have A.D.D. the way I zone out and walk for miles at a time, completely relaxed and calm which so many new things to look at. It may seem focused, but it's not.
5. Back to bicycles. Cars really are very mindful of the swarms of cyclists everywhere! I can get behind a society that rides bikes to work, and people at all walks of life really do here. Men and women in suits and dresses and slacks, to jeans and tee-shirts. I'd say "sweats," but everyone always looks so put together here...
4. and I think I'll vote for that too. Looking nice everyday feels good. It's not me being insecure about laying around or whatever, but a skirt and sweater is perfectly cozy and everyone else here seems to put on something lovely in the morning and I want to share in that. What an instant mood boost!
3. Architecture. Every city offers their own brand of this, but what I love about Berlin is that so much of what I feel is seamless, and neverendingly lovely, was sewn together in the last twenty years. Oct. 3 marks the 20th year of the reunification and what a neat time to be here. There's a 40,000 person marathon on Sunday, and Oktoberfest is in full swing, and this city has bounced back so fast from something so saddening. I think it's proof of the resilience of the human spirit.
2. I'd also like to share in that moment before sleep, when I hear music outside and it's bouncing off the buildings and maybe it's a resturant, or another apartment, or the polizie zooming past, but it's music, and I want you to hear it too.
1. Lastly, I'd like to share the breakfast. Sunlight comes from nowhere and the room's awake, and my little Kueche Tisch hast zwei Stuhl. But you're not here. No one is. Mornings can be lonely.
All my love, from Berlin.
I thinks the one thing I am still fighting through (somedays more than others) is that I am all alone here, and want so much to share it with everyone I love. My parents, brother and sister-in-law, my co-workers and friends back in the states (even some who I don't talk to much anymore, if at all, those that are sadly gone from my life forever), and above all my man. It's weird the way an event will spark a desire to tell someone! Here is some of the noticing I've done that I have wanted to share with you (yes, you):
10. Men after work, in their business suits, ride bikes home or grab ice cream cones on their walk to relocate. This flashes images in my head of every single one of them as little boys, and how nice it must be to live in a country where the nesting doll children that you harbor inside you, your younger versions of yourself, get to come along for the adult you's life.
9. There are three churches within a block from my house, and I love the bells all going off each hour come from every direction.... no idea which is singing what tune.
8. The smells on each block, as you walk down each strasse with cafes, grocery stores and bakeries. Everything smells delicious. And I'm trying new foods contray to popular belief.
7. Everything feels like magic. I tend to have mood swings easily - there is so much to be happy about, there is so much to be sad about, there is so much to be hopeful for - and it's exhausting; but here I snap back pretty quickly. A herd of bunnies nearly surrounded me in the park the other morning. How does a herd of bunnies even exist? It was intense and made the rest of my day pretty spectacular.
6. I'd like to share the weekends; they seem so much more exciting here. Maybe it's because I'm not waitressing, so I've recliamed Saturday and Sunday as "me" days. But living in a city, regardless, allows for more opportunities, and possibly at a lower cost. I could have A.D.D. the way I zone out and walk for miles at a time, completely relaxed and calm which so many new things to look at. It may seem focused, but it's not.
5. Back to bicycles. Cars really are very mindful of the swarms of cyclists everywhere! I can get behind a society that rides bikes to work, and people at all walks of life really do here. Men and women in suits and dresses and slacks, to jeans and tee-shirts. I'd say "sweats," but everyone always looks so put together here...
4. and I think I'll vote for that too. Looking nice everyday feels good. It's not me being insecure about laying around or whatever, but a skirt and sweater is perfectly cozy and everyone else here seems to put on something lovely in the morning and I want to share in that. What an instant mood boost!
3. Architecture. Every city offers their own brand of this, but what I love about Berlin is that so much of what I feel is seamless, and neverendingly lovely, was sewn together in the last twenty years. Oct. 3 marks the 20th year of the reunification and what a neat time to be here. There's a 40,000 person marathon on Sunday, and Oktoberfest is in full swing, and this city has bounced back so fast from something so saddening. I think it's proof of the resilience of the human spirit.
2. I'd also like to share in that moment before sleep, when I hear music outside and it's bouncing off the buildings and maybe it's a resturant, or another apartment, or the polizie zooming past, but it's music, and I want you to hear it too.
1. Lastly, I'd like to share the breakfast. Sunlight comes from nowhere and the room's awake, and my little Kueche Tisch hast zwei Stuhl. But you're not here. No one is. Mornings can be lonely.
All my love, from Berlin.
