I’m writing today’s Jeremy’s Journal from Berlin, Germany. I have been since Monday, in fact. Today marks a week since disembarking the plane and taking my first steps on German soil. Or concrete I guess.
I’ve been to Europe before, but never to Germany. And, globally, most of the countries I’ve visited are predominantly English speaking, like the States or the UK. It’s a totally different experience to be in a country whose first language is not English. Obviously. I find myself squinting at the chocolates in the shop to figure out what on earth they contain. I feel a jolt of pride when I remember that Mandel means almond. This morning I accidentally bumped into a woman in the grocery store and instinctually said, “sorry!” I’m sure she understood me, but her polite apology was in German. Of course it was. It was just a reminder that my default was English, not German. I don’t feel like an unwelcome outsider, not at all. But no one else seems to have as much trouble in the sweets aisle.
I once spent two weeks in France, where the minute amount of French I did know didn’t really help me. I remember arriving at a hotel after a miserable day of travel (which included missed trains, public transport strikes and being quite lost) and trying to communicate with the door man that I was looking for my uncle and his two children. All I could manage to say in French was, “Un grand et deux petits“ (one big and two small). Thank goodness my German is just a touch more comprehensive.
It is so easy to focus on all the differences here. The language is different than at home. The fashion, the architecture, the weather. It’s all new. This morning, grocery shopping, however, I found something recognisable. I bought a loaf of wholewheat bread. It looked just like the bread I buy at home in South Africa. It sounds stupid to highlight this, but after traveling to Scotland, Ireland, England, America, I can tell you that none quite replicate the exact size, shape and smell of the bread I know and love. It opened my eyes a little. Yes, this is Germany, and yes, it is vastly different to my home. But the bread is the same. I wonder what else could be?