Berlin

Every day that I am immersed in the German language is a little different. Here in Berlin, all my college classes - The German Social Market Economy, Modern German Literature, Theater in Berlin, and Berlin Memory Politics are taught in German, which has proved to be quite a challenge...sometimes.

This past Sunday afternoon, I met up with two friends, Brad and Sally, to play some pick-up ultimate frisbee at Gleisdreieck Park. We have been playing a lot together in our first few weeks in Berlin, testing out practices with different teams and getting to know the frisbee culture in Germany.

There are an aboriginal people in Australia who greet each other by asking what direction they are going. This means that in order to have a conversation one must first state whether they are headed northeast or due west. Unlike those of us who speak English and are only vaguely orientated at any given time, these people have a constant sense of their orientation in the world.

I am writing this post from the comfort of a home I lived in from 2016-2017 just outside of Hamburg, Germany. I took a gap year after graduating from high school and worked as an au pair here, looking after two children whose mother was my au pair when I was a child! It was a cool “circle of life” kind of experience because she has known me since I was young, plus she knew what it was like to be an au pair herself.

In just a few days I will get on a plane to fly over the Cascade Mountains and leave Western Washington, where Mt. Rainier seems to float on clouds, and our little bit of ocean is calm and collected in the Puget Sound. Less than 24 hours later, I will be in a taxi heading towards my hostel a block from the Spree, 1.4 km from the Brandenburg Gate, surrounded by significantly more history but fewer mountains.