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Scottmas in Frankfurt
Mar. 12th, 2007 12:10 pmThis year for scottmas, it seemed appropriate to be abroad. fairyhead is off to a no doubt productive day of work, and I'm left to my own devices.
I'm realizing my German is better than I want to think it is, but even with this realization, I'm incredibly nervous about actively using it. I'm not sure why I have this expectation of my own fluency, even when I know there's little expectation of it from others, even though I catch myself thinking sentences in German, or translating what strangers or German TV is saying to Janiene. I don't catch it all, not by a long shot, but I catch more than I expect to, and yet I still won't speak it. Seriously, wtf?
First, let me say Frankfurt is gorgeous! Knowing it was an industrial and banking city, I was not at all prepared for the greenery, the clear skies, and the proximity to water (am Main, I know...) Luckily, our hotel is surrounded by the Gru(e)nGurtel (weird, I can't find the umlaut on a German keyboard), 'green belt', a bike/walking path along a small canal, connected to the main road through a beautiful series of forested paths. It's much greener than I anticipated, and that makes me very happy. I've just spent the last two hours listening to Bach under the trees, alternately reading, trying to write, and ambling with a big, goofy smile on my face. I'm guessing there's some generational gap; some folks, mostly younger, will make eye contact and smile, but older folk seem to look at me strangely (one older cyclist stared openly, turning around as he rode past to such an extent I was worried he might fall over).
Within moments of first hitting the path, in the cool shade of the really amazing trees, a quarter sized clump of vibrantly green moss fell slowly in front of me, so slowly I could reach out and catch it as it fell. Looking up, I could see that it must have fallen some fifty feet above, from a tree slightly behind me. I felt actively welcomed. There was a small pond within a quarter of a mile from the hotel which I circled several times, trying different benches. While reading, the whistling of the wind made me look up and take notice, and I found myself trying to get a feel for the wind in this different place. Suddenly I could see a dried leaf, curled lengthwise into a loose tube, spinning lazily towards me at eye level, across the near end of the water. It flew straight towards me in an amazingly precise horizontal plane, over my right shoulder, and fell immediately to the ground, as though the power had been removed from it. It's good to know the wind is wherever I go.
This evening, I go to Athens to celebrate the last few moments of Scottmas in person, and then to soak up as much of my would be adoptive homeland as I can in two days. Thursday brings me back to Frankfurt, only to turn around and spend the weekend in Amsterdam and back to Frankfurt the following week. I miss you all, but curiously, I don't really miss the internet (yes, I'm aware of the irony).
I'm realizing my German is better than I want to think it is, but even with this realization, I'm incredibly nervous about actively using it. I'm not sure why I have this expectation of my own fluency, even when I know there's little expectation of it from others, even though I catch myself thinking sentences in German, or translating what strangers or German TV is saying to Janiene. I don't catch it all, not by a long shot, but I catch more than I expect to, and yet I still won't speak it. Seriously, wtf?
First, let me say Frankfurt is gorgeous! Knowing it was an industrial and banking city, I was not at all prepared for the greenery, the clear skies, and the proximity to water (am Main, I know...) Luckily, our hotel is surrounded by the Gru(e)nGurtel (weird, I can't find the umlaut on a German keyboard), 'green belt', a bike/walking path along a small canal, connected to the main road through a beautiful series of forested paths. It's much greener than I anticipated, and that makes me very happy. I've just spent the last two hours listening to Bach under the trees, alternately reading, trying to write, and ambling with a big, goofy smile on my face. I'm guessing there's some generational gap; some folks, mostly younger, will make eye contact and smile, but older folk seem to look at me strangely (one older cyclist stared openly, turning around as he rode past to such an extent I was worried he might fall over).
Within moments of first hitting the path, in the cool shade of the really amazing trees, a quarter sized clump of vibrantly green moss fell slowly in front of me, so slowly I could reach out and catch it as it fell. Looking up, I could see that it must have fallen some fifty feet above, from a tree slightly behind me. I felt actively welcomed. There was a small pond within a quarter of a mile from the hotel which I circled several times, trying different benches. While reading, the whistling of the wind made me look up and take notice, and I found myself trying to get a feel for the wind in this different place. Suddenly I could see a dried leaf, curled lengthwise into a loose tube, spinning lazily towards me at eye level, across the near end of the water. It flew straight towards me in an amazingly precise horizontal plane, over my right shoulder, and fell immediately to the ground, as though the power had been removed from it. It's good to know the wind is wherever I go.
This evening, I go to Athens to celebrate the last few moments of Scottmas in person, and then to soak up as much of my would be adoptive homeland as I can in two days. Thursday brings me back to Frankfurt, only to turn around and spend the weekend in Amsterdam and back to Frankfurt the following week. I miss you all, but curiously, I don't really miss the internet (yes, I'm aware of the irony).
