abschiedsessen - farewell dinner

"ist das alles?" asked the lone packer for our moving company.

"yep - that's everything," i said. he was finished packing in under an hour.

it's strange to me that we brought so little with us on this "international assignment." the term carries connotations of giant trucks and mountains of paperwork, but here we are, a few days from leaving our "international assignment" and the apartment looks the same as it has for the last 6 months. i had maybe 8 forms to fill out total. we are declaring nothing because we accumulated nothing. it's almost like we weren't here.

6 months is a tiny blip of time in most people's lives. just another semester of school, a season or two. perhaps an exciting and wonderful 6 months - but it's really just a half a year of your life. nothing.

but for me, and for dan, the number of boxes required for this experience is in no way equal to the impact it has had on our lives. there are so many things we have learned - about europe, at least, and ourselves, on a grander scale. heck, i speak german now!

we will take with us many lessons:
a renewed commitment to recycling - it is said that a german can recycle every single part of a tea bag: the paper from the bag and tag, the synthetic string, the metal staple, and the tea itself. we don't go that far, but having a tiny trash can and giant recycling bins has taught us to be even more vigilant that we have been at home. it doesn't hurt that now we know the owner of a recycling company.

the ability to better aid non-native english speakers - we now know what kind of words are useful when attempting to communicate with shaky language skills, and what kind of help someone may need to feel confident when speaking.

an appreciation for the 3 hour dinner - let the waiter take a smoking break every 5 minutes, i'm not in a hurry to get anywhere. lingering over a glass of wine and/or dessert is now a night's entertainment for me. the mid-afternoon coffee and cake tradition is a welcome lesson as well.

putting more energy toward making new friends - it just isn't that scary to put yourself out there. everyone else is looking for friends too.

you can't see everything - okay, i'm still working on this one... the fact that i didn't see the pergamon museum, which is the top museum in berlin, is killing me just a little. so what if i don't really care for that type of art, it's a "must see"! it gives me a reason to come back.

and there are many more lessons we have learned that will show up unexpectedly upon returning to the states, i am sure.

along with our lessons we will take very fond memories of the people we've met and the places we've seen. in the last 6 months we have made great friends with 3 venezuelans, an australian, a french-canadian, many germans, and enjoyed time with many more people from all over the world. we've visited 7 countries. we've used 6 currencies. we have learned from locals about the rise and fall and rise again of one of the world's most dynamic cities. we managed to make a foreign country feel like home.

as we have one abschiedsessen after another, i wonder when or if i will see these people and places again, and i start to get a little sad. then i remember that through this blog and email i was able to communicate with those who mean a lot to us in the states. so why shouldn't it be this easy to stay in touch after tomorrow, when we're the ones who are state-side?

perhaps i'll start a new blog from california: die freudige americanerin: the (re)adjustment of a former expat to regular life.