Time with friends
I’m visiting my home country of Germany right now and it’s always lovely to be here. Despite the fact that it’s often quite challenging to deal appropriately with all the expectations of family and friends, I mostly enjoy being home, visiting familiar places and seeing loved ones. There are some times when I’m exhausted from too much driving around, making plans and coordinating with others, packing stuff and sleeping in other beds, but in the end the good times outweigh the stressful moments and I guess, that’s why we keep visiting each year and still thinking about moving back eventually.
Every year I try to fit in some special time for myself and this year I managed to get away with a trip to Berlin. On Sunday I met with three very good girlfriends and we took the ICE from Cologne to Berlin Hbf. During these last four days we had so many great talks, ate good food, enjoyed lots of different Aperol Spritz’ and Gin Tonics and immersed in the life of this absolutely beautiful, lively, loud, international, creative and crazy city. I love Berlin!
Berliner are unfriendly and ruthless, gruff and opinionated, Berlin is disgusting, loud, dirty and gray, Construction sites and congested roads wherever you go – but I feel sorry for all people that cannot live here. Anneliese Bödecker
During all the conversations we had, there were several strange moments for me, when I realized once again, how much I’ve changed over the last eight years. Views, ideas, philosophy of life have changed compared to those of my friends who have lived their last years in Germany. Culture, politics and life circumstances have been different for us. We had to face different challenges over the years, made different experiences and developed close relationships to unalike kind of people. We have different values and approaches in a few areas of our lives. But all these discussions were so enriching and instructive for me and probably all of us and I wouldn’t want to miss them in the world. I was able to discover a bit of my old me and learned more about my new one. A few times I was overwhelmed by realizing that I feel as not belonging here as I often feel in California. But overall I was just so happy to spend time with my friends in one of my favorite cities in the world and that I became aware of how many great experiences I was able to make in the last years and how wonderful it has been to have the best of two worlds and living a bicultural life. It was a wonderful getaway with my friends and I’m grateful for the laughter, for philosophizing and for new perspectives. Germans might be sometimes straightforward and a bit rude, but I will always appreciate their honesty and genuineness. Your German friend is a friend forever and I’m looking forward to more time with true friends in the two places I can call home!
