Monday, March 18, 2013

kick start german

I came to Berlin because I wanted to hear some German. In Montreal I get the odd German movie, the occasional chance meeting. I´d hoped to ease into it gently. We landed at Tegel airport and discovered that our bags hadn´t made the trip from Heathrow with us. Jetlagged, not yet sure how to phrase the problem, I accosted a man leaning on a broom who directed me links dann rechts dann links dann wieder rechts to the Lost & Found. The L & F is the best kept secret at Tegel airport. I had to ask several more times. I decided that asking in German would make the person feel more kindly disposed toward me. Who knows? Someone finally gave the names of some shops that made more sense than all the rights and lefts. I don´t follow directions too well. There was already a long line up. The glass door was to be kept closed. The sign said so. No one was to enter unless someone came out. Presumably there was always someone in there to come out. The line moved only slowly. A woman about 7 months pregnant lay on the bench. There were smudged nose and fingerprints on the glass. R had said he would rely on me to talk German. He was. I just hadn´t expected to have to start so quickly.
Anyhow, anyhow. We´ve seen lots of interesting things in Berlin so far. The best yet was the Kathe Kollwitz museum. Google her.
Our bags were returned this morning.

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