As
is I assume, quite normal when one is wide awake 3 hours or so ahead of
the time set on one's alarm clock, my mind is wondering. We are to take
another trip to Berlin -this time, apartment hunting - and I am
currently thinking of the comparisons between my first German experience
and the one I am currently experiencing.
Berlin and Bernburg. That I would live
again in a place beginning with B in Germany must not be a coincidence
right? They were both located on the eastern side of divided Germany -
at least where I lived in Berlin, and both capitals. Bernburg, the
capital of the district of Salzlandkreis and Berlin, is in most ways,
the capital of Continental Europe owing to the fact that the strongest
leader in the EU is seated there. Although "Capitols" the scale is
incomparable. Bernburg (first mentioned in the
10th century) population 35,000 Berlin ( first documented in the 13th
century) is home to ten times as many, 3.4 million persons.
 |
| Berlin - Fernsehturm |
In Berlin one has a huge selection of restaurants - Indian,
Japanese, Thai and even a Caribbean, a variety of neighborhoods which
offer anything you can ever want. If you want to be around artsy
fartsies. There is an area for that. The rich. Also an area for that.
The young and educated. You are covered. And if you are middle-aged with
a family and just don't want to leave the city, Berlin has a Berzik (as
the neighborhoods are called) where you can live among your peers and
not retire to the suburbs. In Bernburg, there is
one Boulevard albeit lovely and quaint, an old castle which houses
bears (the town's mascot) very little restaurant selection and beyond
7pm is kind of dead. For a town, though it is not bad. I have recently
been to worse.
Many people in Bernburg
speak of their life events in relation to "die Wende". Nach der Wende
(after the fall of the Berlin Wall) is a typical phrase I hear in my
daily dealings with Bernburgers. Although the Wall was a physical
installation in Berlin with a foreboding presence, I have never heard
the phrase being mentioned as much as I have heard it here. Upon
reflection, the times prior to the construction of the wall, during and
after its famous deconstruction may have been very traumatic for
Berliners. One has to contemplate that families who lived just streets
apart, were essentially continents apart within their own city. The
Stasi presence was stronger and more influential. Maybe for the town
folks the trauma, although clearly experienced, may have been numbed.
This is really ever so clear to me when hearing of René's tales of his
mischievousness in his Church. Under the regime, practicing a religion
openly, was all but forbidden. René was baptised, had a first communion
and confirmed without being ostracized (or worse) and one of his best
Uni mates, also from the East is often also intrigued by René's accounts
which he too, acknowledges was very unheard of.
 |
| Bernburg sunset |
The black persons who live in Bernburg
are mainly asylum seekers and male ones. There is also a big African
immigrant community in Berlin, but also African Americans and one or two
Afro Trinis! This leads to most try to categorize me as "something
else". "No! You are not as dark as the blacks here", "Why do you call
yourself black. You are brown!" when they ask more about me. "And
your German is excellent" - a bit of an exaggeration but usually a big
step to acceptance for them and I guess many other countries of the
world. I have also heard "You are beautiful!"after they have been able
to observe me for a while. Of course that last one bothers René (lol).
Although I was anonymous in Berlin, I am a bit of a wonder here I
guess.
 |
| Fields of Bernburg |
But all in all, the province has accepted me and sometimes I get
looks of awe I really have no complaints. That being said I am ready for
another big city adventure. Berlin, here we come!!
Now, to sleep
No comments:
Post a Comment