This has been an amazing week for me. Shortly after my whole “all logic is coming to an end” tirade, order was finally restored to the universe. That happened to coincide — or, more aptly, was caused by — my parents and one of my sisters coming to visit me here in Berlin.
I woke up very excited on Wednesday and made my way over to work. My parents had taken a night train to come to Berlin, so they didn’t get in until a bit later. At work, everyone was really excited and in a great mood. I was excited because my parents were coming, of course. My boss was also very excited because she was getting married that weekend and because her husband had just arrived to pick her up from London. And everyone else was excited because my boss had been kind enough to invite us all to attend (me included!).
Lastly, the weather was also beyond incredible. The heat wave had been miserable, but this seemed to compensate for it and then some. It’s strange, but the day my parents arrived, the weather was the best I have ever seen in Berlin. It was sunny but not hot and there was a breeze but it wasn’t chilly. My mom joked that they were the ones that brought the good weather. I don’t doubt it; it really was perfect.
Once they finally got into Berlin, my sister took it upon herself to find us a good place to meet up. She is a self-proclaimed “Pinterest expert,” and as much as I hate to say it, she really does live up to that title. She found a charming coffee shop nearby in the Tiergarten. I walked over and first saw my mom. I ran over to her and gave her a huge hug. Then my sister and dad. It was so nice to see my family. It felt like I hadn’t seen them in forever, even though it had only been a few weeks. We ended up having a great lunch and catching up about everything that had been going on these last few weeks — and everything that would be going on in the next few days!
I spent the entirety of the next two days with my parents. Luckily, they were staying at a hotel near my work. I had not expected to stay with them, and so I didn’t bring any clothes. And so I had to borrow some of my dad’s clothes as I stayed with them for those two nights.
Because their hotel was so close to my work, I got the fun opportunity to explore the area much more than I had already. This included the Angel fighting for victory, which is actually very similar to the one we have in Mexico City, only that that one is our biggest monument and attraction, while this one is only a secondary one for Berlin; and the amazing Tiergarten which, embarrassingly enough, I really had not really explored up to that point. My mom and I took the opportunity to go running there. We even explored the “Rosengarten,” which we thought was funny. It was, as the name suggests, a beautiful rose garden. I loved seeing all the people running and biking around the park. Despite being a park in a big city just like Central Park, it somehow felt a lot different.
I really enjoyed showing my parents around Berlin. I also got to introduce them to my favorite Berlin food (my mom loved Ayran (originally Turkish, but now basically considered Berliner Essen), but strangely enough no one liked Currywurst or Dürüm all that much).
It was during this time that my mom took it upon herself to restore order to the (my) universe. She helped me to sign up for a cellular data plan (it didn’t include a phone number at the time, but I have since figured it out — Hallelujah!); to apply for a credit card (which I now have! Yay credit limit + no foreign transaction fee); and to sign up for German classes (which I am now really enjoying!). One small note on the German classes. There is an interesting ethical dilemma here that I’ve spent a lot of time over the last week thinking about, and for which I would now like to outsource the thinking for.
I have loved staying with my host family. They are incredibly kind and generous. The one thing which has been a small point of contention is the language that we speak in. They have only spoken to me in English, despite my asking them to speak to me in German and the fact that learning German was one of my primary reasons for choosing to come to Germany and to stay with a host family. While we were originally supposed to be speaking in German, at some point my host mother realized that this could be a good opportunity for her children to practice their English. My parents even suggested that I might try to move to a WG (community living with German students), but I have enjoyed being with my host family so much that I decided I’d rather stay with them either way.
And don’t get me wrong, I am happy to help my host siblings learn English. In fact, I’ve actually really enjoyed it. I’ve begun watching The Fresh Prince of Bel Air after dinner every day with two of my host siblings. My host brother has even taken it upon himself to learn the theme song so that we can sing it together. I also taught them an English tongue twister, “She sells seashells…” to which they insisted on teaching me a German one, “Frishes Fritze fischt frische Fische”. (NB: I struggled so much with that tongue twister and wasn’t able to get it — until, as it so happens, we looked at it on the first day of my German class!) That being said, however, I was also hoping to be able to at some point work / study in Germany, which no longer seems so realistic.
I’ve had this conversation with a few people here — most of which were learning German and might therefore be a bit biased. What do you think? Is it fair for me to want them to speak to me in German, or is it just a fair compromise that I speak to them in English, since I am staying with them? Do any of you have a suggestion for how to have it both ways? Either way, the problem has been averted as I am now taking German lessons for 3 hours a day four days a week before work. It requires getting up pretty early, but I am happy to do that. After work, I still get dinner with my host family and speak in English.
But anyway, back from that tangent and on to happier things.
With my parents in town, my family and host family all went out to lunch together. It was one of the best lunches I’ve ever had. I loved seeing my family get to know the host family that I’ve gotten so close to over the last few weeks. My siste and host sister even happen to be the same age! We had a great time talking, and even settled the fact that my host brothers (or at least one of them) are going to come visit me in New York sometime soon.
After spending a fantastic few days in Berlin, we took the train to attend my boss’s wedding in Prague, Czechia!
Everything about this little side trip was absolutely fantastic, beginning with the train. It went incredibly fast, even reaching speeds of 160 km / hr. The scenery was beautiful, it was super comfortable, and we even had WiFi. What else could you ask for? I am so jealous of Europe for their high speed rail. We need more of that in the US.
We arrived a few hours later. Prague, by the way, is incredible. This was my first time ever going to Czechia, and I absolutely adored it. The buildings were all incredibly historic and elegant, the people were super friendly, and everything was really cheap! It felt like a miniature Paris. I had been talking with my dad about digital nomads earlier — people who live in another country while working online — and I realized that I could totally see myself living in Prague or some other Czech city, learning Czech, and having the time of my life. I had that amazing-a-time in those short two days.
We spent the first of our days there exploring. We went to a few beautiful museums and walked by the rivers. We went to a delicious restaurant and ate some delicious food. We saw the “cookoo” tower and the Synagogues and so much more. I really fell in love with the city. We also went to the reception, which was incredibly fun. I loved meeting everyone and had some great conversations. Coincidentally, and somehow unbelievably, I happened to meet someone at the reception who was an expert in the super-nieche area of lawfirm-acquisition that my previous employers had worked in too. I don’t know if it actually led to anything, but I put them in contact with each other.
The next day was the wedding, which was incredible. My boss and her husband wrote their own vows and said them in front of all the guests. I’m not usually the most sentimental person, but I really choked up a bit hearing how beautiful their vows were. After that, we had a delicious dinner and a lot of fun dancing. Luckily, there were a lot of people near my age who I got to become friends with. My sister, in another incredible coincidence (I am convinced that this is the universe making up for the disorder), met two girls her age who also spoke French. They loved getting to know each other and apparently one of them is now going to visit my sister in Mexico.
At the wedding, I also got to have some more fascinating conversations. I think it is in large part because my boss works in human rights, but all of her friends who attended the wedding were absolutely fascinating. One of them was a former head of non-digital security at a Fortune 500 company. He was telling me all about the futuristic technology that exists in his space and where he thinks the world is heading. Another was an activist in the States with whom I had a fascinating conversation about the Columbia Israel-Palestine protests, and whom I am now going to visit for a Seder once I’m back in New York.
We were having such a fantastic time in Prague that even after the wedding my parents pushed my bus to Berlin back one day so that I could spend another night with them. We got some food, talked for hours, and just really enjoyed each others’ company. Unfortunately, however, all good things must eventually end. They flew back and I took the bus back to Berlin.
Before then, however, I had a few hours between when my parents left and when my bus left. I decided to wander around Prague and explore some of the parts we had not seen. I was near the bus station, and so got to see a lot of the non-touristic part of Prague. It’s funny how everyone in the city center spoke English and how the signs had more English than Czech — but only a couple kilometers away, everything went back to Czech. I spent a few hours lying down outside an office building in a little park by the river just watching the clouds pass by. The weather had been beautiful and it was not until after my parents left that the Prague sky began to revert back to its standard greyish hue. I stayed there for as long as I could, hearing the river flowing, watching the clouds passing, and breathing the fresh air.