Berlin has been beautiful this spring. We have had mostly sunny warm days. We have been out and about on the weekends, exploring new places, revisiting favorite old places and generally trying to soak in as much Berlin as we can. And there has been plenty to do, with street festivals, food festivals and the Karneval der Kulturen.
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I have been verbally accosted/threatened 3 times in the 22 months we have lived in Berlin. That feels like a lot and it's never not upsetting, but I am getting better at dealing with it. I am always alone when it happens which makes it even more surreal. I wonder, am I a target of some sort? What is it about me that provokes people, gives them a signal- hey let's pick on this lady. It has never happened when I have my camera- that at least I could understand. Usually I'm just a middle aged lady out doing errands.
It's always a jarring reminder that we are not alone in this world. Others are here having their own experience and here in Berlin that often involves yelling. This time I saw the lady coming- an angry woman in her 30's dressed in black with braids and a workers hat. She was aggressively walking towards me at a diagonal- edging me in towards the building. My first thought was that she was going to hit me, but instead in bright day light, on a busy street - she physically blocked me, leaned into my face and screamed at me to give her 5 euro. I said, no. She persisted and got closer and louder. I held my ground, crossed my arms looked her directly in the eye and said-"I'm not giving you 5 euro." She asked me why not- I answered, "because you're rude," wishing I could do better in German. "Wer bist du dann"- she screamed (who do you think you are?) "I'm a lady grocery shopping and now I'm going home," I responded as I moved to pass her. I could now see a young gentlemen heading towards us, He arrived and intervened just as she moved to grab my bag. I walked away quickly continuing on my path towards home leaving him to deal with her. Tears had arrived by then and once safely across the street I turned to look back. The young man was returning to the restaurant he had come from and the woman was walking away. I shouted a tear choked Danke, he waived and went in.. It was a beautiful day in Berlin. It has been a beautiful spring and 10 minutes before this woman accosted me, I was feeling really sad about leaving Berlin. And in all honesty, I am still sad about leaving Berlin. Berlin has placed me outside of my comfort zone in so many ways, and that's good for a person. But now we are headed home back to Maine. We have approximately 9 weeks left here and I will enjoy them. It's a tricky thing to leave a place and it can be tricky to return to one as well. (Neither of the ladies below is the lady who tried to soft mug me.) Last weekend we traveled with the Deutsche Bahn down to L's mother in Pforzheim, probably for the last time. Omi is getting ready to make a move and leave the apartment where L grew up, where she has lived for almost 40 years. I haven't always appreciated Pforzheim, but this time I did. The beautiful weather, the countryside and architecture. The German culinary traditions and visits with friends. I thought often of the many times we spent there over the years as a family. And most of all L's childhood which we unpacked from storage under the bed. It was bittersweet- sad to think we would never be back, but sweet to think of all of the times spent there.
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