Day 8: Departure to another new day 1

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Another first day; first days are the hardest. It is new, unknown, and unpredictable. It creates a combination of anxiety and excitement which feel very similar. So today, I was either a belly full of excitement or anxiety. Normally, I would say excitement because why not, but today, it seemed more like anxiety due to knowing absolutely not a lick of German. The three things that kept repeating in my mind were my dad telling Denise he knew German saying “Ich bin ein Berliner, and sprichst du Deutsch?” and the words “fledermaus” and “Rosinenbomber” (two words Denise taught me). These are all worthless now, but made me laugh. Transportation from the airport to hostel went well. The subway ride had no transfers and good directions led to improvement from London Day 1. Along the rails were what I think were small houses. They were varying degrees of shelters, some very cute: wooden with shutters, a swing set and garden in their yard space. Others were very makeshift with tarps, aluminum sheets of metal and port-a-potties outside. It left me with more questions and no language to ask them in. Our hostel (Plus Berlin) was a gigantic old brick building built prior to World War I. It was originally an industrial factory/industrial school. We were rooming with a woman who came to town to see the U2 concert that night and a Hungarian woman who lived in England for 13 years and is now a scuba instructor in Thailand. She came to Germany to learn German so she can be a bilingual instructor. She was staying in the hostel for 2 to 3 months while going to school during the day and seeing a private tutor in the evening. She frequently was saying all things I have thought about learning a second language…IMPOSSIBLE! But at the same time was learning her 3^rd language, which makes it seem very possible. My lack of language today and encountering many people who switched instantaneously between at least two languages is again a reminder of why I need a second language. We roamed the area around our hostel and ended up at a Thai restaurant. Again, we had to be very simple in our orders and pray for someone to understand English. Fortunately for us, the menu was in both German and English and pointing goes a long way. NOTE TO SELF: LEARN ANOTHER LANGUAGE!

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