On a journey: East Berlin, Germany

On a journey: East Berlin, Germany

Thursday, November 23, 2006

Happy Thanksgiving

This is my first Thanksgiving away from family and from America. As a matter of fact, this is my first Thanksgiving during which I didn't celebrate anything...or so I thought. In the past, Thanksgiving has always been about food and family. No matter how much grade school teachers tried to inspire us with this story of pilgrims and native Americans and how they sat down in peace to a beautiful meal (well, it depends on who you ask and what the definition of peace is according to the native Americans or the pilgrims!)...no matter how many macaroni necklaces and autumn colored construction pieces of paper we used in classroom projects...it came down to the grub. This year, I haven't eaten anything special (except a delicious piece of cheesecake, courtesy of my landlords...almost as good as Eli's!), haven't been surrounded by family, haven't donned a sari or spent hours arguing/mixing/baking/feasting with my siblings. I didn't anxiously wait in Logan Airport for my flight home to Chicago during which I'd inevitably run into another GBN grad somewhere along the journey. American football might as well be a universe away from me right now. I haven't even been to a supermarket to see turkeys (or tofurkey, for that matter) or pumpkin pie, and I don't know of any place where cranberries are sold in Detmold. But considering everything I've "missed out" on, I feel more thankful this Thanksgiving than I think I ever really have before. Being far away from everything that is familiar makes you think about what you really value in life. Today, I received an extended stay grant from the city of Detmold until July (or until my student visa is processed, which will happen way before July). My American friend here, Annie, also received the same grant. We were so nervous the past few days about if we'd be able to return after the new year to Detmold. After numerous phone calls to the American embassies and even the German Consulate in Chicago (thank you SKYPE) things are finally starting to work out for us. I'm more thankful for this than any amount of food could make me feel. So everyone...in between your bites of food and conversations with family or during football game commercials, take a moment to thank the universe for what you have. We are truly blessed. Happy Thanksgiving.

Saturday, November 18, 2006

Patterns of Thought

My experiences in Germany have been very positive; I really cannot ask for better. But I've been thinking lately about misconceptions we often carry with us, the ensuing generated stereotypes, and what our reasons are for them. Some of these mediums are basic falsehoods: the media, entertainment industries, isolated experiences in one's life that certainly don't speak for everything. Living overseas has brought interactions with many foreigners who want to discuss America i.e. what America is like, etc. These discussions have been a valuable tool for me to learn what someone from a different country actually sees of America via the mediums I discussed above. But what has had tremendous impact is how these discussions have caught me subconsciously making generalizations based on what someone has said. In my life, I've not been a very patriotic person. I come from an immigrant family and so I feel just as connected to India as I do America. Actually, a better way to put it is that my parents raised me to be self-sufficient, meaning that they hoped I'd be able to survive anywhere and in any circumstance. I am forever grateful for that instilled value because I think it has made my transition to Germany somewhat easier than other foreigners around me. I am trying so hard just to see people as people, because I am convinced that we are the same wherever we go. Although our faces look different, our food is different, and we speak differently, I believe that there are warm and cold-hearted people anywhere you go. I guess that I just wish everyone else could try and do the same. People aren't obnoxious to me because I am American - there has been nothing of that sort of behavior. I wish they were less surprised, though, after speaking with me: "You're really American? You are not at all like what I thought of Americans...ah, but you're Indian, so you're not REALLY American." Somewhere, that miniature nugget of 'patriotism' gets riled up, but upon further consideration, I think that whether they are talking about America or not is besides the point. I've heard friends say similar things about French people, and just the other day, I received a friendly email saying, "So, Geeta, how is everything in Germany? Are Germans really as rude as everyone says?" With both the French and German incidents, I got equally annoyed, so America itself is negligible here. Perhaps it's just human nature to see something and assume that everything is like it. I do it all the time...constantly, in fact, because it's such a subconscious process. One of my French friends here, Alice, got into a slight argument with me about where riesling wines come from. I said they originate from the Mosel Valley in west Germany because that's what I'd read, and Alice said, "No, it's from Lorraine, in France!" I immediately got annoyed, thinking, "The French always think they are the best and grandest and I just hate it!" Immediately after I thought that, I realized that I was doing exactly what I'd hoped to not be - using an isolated incident to label all of France's people. It is just TOO EASY to do! I came home and looked on wikipedia.com (a godsend of a tool) and found that Mosel (the German word) is Moselle in France, Musel in Luxembourg, and is called Moezel in Dutch. The valley itself spreads across Luxembourg, France, and Germany - so we were, in fact, both correct! It is hard, when people say things to me such as, "You're a nice person but I hate the United States" to not think, "Screw you, Polish person, you're all closed minded ever-present Communists still today." But it's something that I'm trying not to do in order to enrich my experiences here. If I want world peace (and I still wish for it everytime I blow out candles), it's got to start with how I view the world.

Friday, November 17, 2006

Manchester, England

It was a week of travel for Geeta...well, rather four days. But it felt like a week! I left on November 12, Sunday, for Manchester, England from Cologne to visit 2 very dear friends, Sunny Yang and Sara Wolstenholme. I boarded a train from Detmold at 9:00 AM, arrived at the Cologne/Bonn Airport at 1 PM and then checked in for a 3 PM flight. After an easy easyJet flight (haha) which lasted only about 1 hour, I landed at the John Lennon International Airport in Liverpool. I then boarded a bus which drove 1 hour 20 minutes to Manchester's main bus station, Picadilly Gardens, during which time I met a really nice guy from Berlin. His name was Michel (odd, I know, considering that is a French name), and he had actually travelled all over India and so was eager to talk about what he'd seen. I got onto a double decker Magic Bus (no Ms. Frizzle unfortunately) and then stayed on for about 40 minutes to Withington, a neighborhood outside of Manchester proper. I met Sunny at Christy's Hospital, after having to ring her mobile phone as I didn't know where she'd be. A kind older English gentleman who was crouched in his bathrobe outside "sneaking a fag (cigarette) break, don't let 'em know!" gave me 50 pence because all I had were 29 pounds in banknotes.."there you go, love, go on now and call 'er!" :-) Sunny and I met up, and cooked dinner at her apartment. Really, it's as full house with two other girls - Katya, a Russian pianist who studied in Norway and so speaks fluent Norwegian as well, and Marije, a Dutch violist. After dinner, I finally had a much needed shower and then Sunny and I fell into blissful sleep. We practiced the next morning (the advantage of visiting friends who are roommates - we all need to practice so it's built into our tourist schedules as well - something I'm truly grateful for) and then headed out to Manchester to see a bit of the town. It has a reputation, unfairly, of being this old working class hub with not much to admire - far from the truth! Around the Christmas holidays, it really looks like Dickens' A Christmas Carol, all wreathed and lit up and stately. First we visited the Indian quarters of the city, known as Rushmore to Mancurian (Manchester folks) locals but more cleverly called Curry Mile by students and out of towners. It is literally a mile or two of nothing but Indian everything - mithai (sweet) shops, jewelry stores, even the restaurants are lit up with the typical neon-flueroescent signs flashing names like "Taj Palace" and "Sanaam." We stopped by one place called "Shere Khan" after the tiger from The Jungle Book probably, and had a supremely greasy lunch. I wish someone would explain to me why Indian restaurants kill Indian food so happily with pounds of mirche (hot peppery spice) oil and a general fast food Punjabi flavor that leaves the taste of onions in your throat for three months. We don't cook like that at home, and everyone prefers home cooking...so you think it would dawn on Indian restaurant owners to give people what is simple and healthier, too! We are a funny race, I suppose. I picked up two boxes of Indian sweets from a mithai shop, one for the Wolstenholmes (Sara's family) and one for the Trieselmanns, my landlords in Detmold. The next place we stopped at was the Holy Name Catholic Church - not exactly a hot tourist destination, but I happen to love sitting and soaking in churches, so we just peered in for a breather. We also passed the British version of KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken)...or KANSAS Fried Chicken, and shared a real good laugh over that one. Next was the City Library and then we windowshopped through an elegant shopping district. There were so many nice things to buy - my eyes particularly caught onto knee length boots, which I have been wanting for some time. But almost immediately after noticing a pair, I'd automatically say, "Come on now, Geeta, dollar vs. pound....dollar vs. pound. Just wait a bit." We stopped into a major department store called Selfridges...it was nice and all, but it sort of makes one want to believe in the virtues of communism after awhile :) We had a nice cup of tea (of course, being England and all), and then headed home. Sunny needed to go to a piano concert (Alfred Brendel, a fantastic pianist for Beethoven and earlier Classical era works) with her roommates, and I was to get picked up by Sara. She arrived in a black manual shifting car, and then we drove to buy some Tresemme Deep Cleansing shampoo, as she had just dyed her hair and was really unsatisfied with the color (I have no idea why, it looked great to me...nearly the same dark-blonde color as before). Apparently she'd read somewhere that if you put deep cleansing shampoo on dry hair, it washes out color. That's Sara for you - ready to try just about the craziest thing if her mind is set on it :) We had dinner with her parents that night - it was just so lovely to be there. Sara has the kind of family and house where I walked in and felt completely at home. We even remarked a few days later that it felt like I'd been there for months and months, as I was able to so easily fit into their family dynamic. Her parents are just hilarious, especially her mother, Brenda. She is like the mother from Bridge Jones Diary (same name!) but less weird and more with the times...and she definitely doesn't wear carpets as jumpers haha :). Brenda says whatever comes to her mind, which can introduce all sorts of interesting conversation topics. Later that evening, Anna, Sara's older sister (same age as my sister, Neetu - 25) came home from a gig she was doing in Newcastle, and it was the same sort of gracious introduction I'd received from the others - "It is sooo lovely to meet you finally, Geets!" (That's the other thing - they never called me Geeta, only Geets like how Sar does. I rather like that nickname, too!) We stayed up talking about music and shared great stories about our favorite horrible conductors and whatnot...Anna is a complete riot. She played a lot in Brazil with the Sao Paulo Orchestra and so can speak perfect Portuguese now, along with French. We all went to bed quite late. The next day, we woke up and practiced half the day, and then I went into Royal Northern College of Music with Sara, where she goes to school (Sunny as well). It is a friendly and modern building, contrasting the old architecture of Manchester's surrounding City Centre. I immediately liked the school - it seemed very open and inviting, and the level of students there is phenomenal. Sara had a piano duo class ("you'll be bored to tears, Geets, just go check your email in the computer lab instead for an hour and then we'll get dinner.") and Sunny had a lesson, so we all met up around 7:00. Sara had a lesson at 7:30 with her teacher, Jan Repko, and I wanted to watch, so we scarfed down nasty cafeteria food and then I observed her lesson. There were things that I liked about Jan but mostly, I felt like Sara needs to go elsewhere. She wants to, as well, I think, and understands the reasons why (she's lived in Manchester her whole life and knows it like the back of her hand, she needs to go into 'violinist seclusion' like me for a bit and just hone her fiddle skills, etc.)...she just needs to go when her health is back to normal, which it will be next year. I think she might end up in Germany (!!), in Lubeck, which is not so far at all from me. We always hoped to study post grad together, or in the same country at least! After the lesson, we dropped Sunny at home and then came home to chill out again. The next morning, we woke up and Sunny came over around noon to meet with me so we could explore Didsbury (Sara's neighborhood, only a 10 minute walk from Withington) a bit and have a tea in a cafe. We walked around, browsing through cute shops such as The Cheese Hacket and a Sikh florist's shop where the shopkeeper was kind enough to let me go on 10 pence less than what the price of flowers I'd bought was (I bought them for the Wolstenholmes, along with a card expressing my thanks). Sunny had a quartet rehearsal later that day, and Sara was supposed to, but their cellist Lydia got ill from running around London the past weekend and so their rehearsal was cancelled. It was too bad, as I'd heard lots about Lydia and was supposed to meet her that night when we planned to go out for drinks. Instead, Sara and I spent another hilarious afternoon with her mother Brenda while Brenda tried to book Sara's flights to Germany with my help for lessons in January in Lubeck. We had massive problems hooking up her new printer, too, but the stress was alleviated by Brenda's jokes. Later that night, we were tired again (lameeeee I know, we are so not bar people when we are together....we just enjoy our PJs and Ben and Jerry's ice cream!) and so stayed in to watch a bit of Anchorman and eat ice cream. I quickly went to Sunny's to say goodbye, headed back with a black taxi cab, and Sara and I said our goodbyes. They thankfully become less teary as time goes by because we see each more frequently now...and I think that after 4 years of solid keeping in touch, we know that we are basically friends for life...actually it's not that 4 years even means anything. I knew that we'd be friends for life when I first met Sara in Aspen, the first day. I knew the same of Sunny. Funny how you just feel these things intuitively. I fell asleep by about 1 AM, and then awoke at 3:20 AM TODAY (eek, actually tomorrow) and then proceeded to make the same 12 hour journey back, only 3 hours longer this time because the stupid Deutsche Bahn (DB, Germany's rail system) was delayed for 1.5 hours on the tracks to Bielefeld. I was a very tired and ragged mess when I came home around 6 PM, and am somehow still standing on my feet typing this email. Overall, it was a fantastic trip to Manchester...full of Victorian houses, Christmas decorations, Geeta faking an English accent (it worked most of the time with locals! And Brenda told me it was actually quite good...she predicted that one month's stay in their house and I'd have it for real haha) and most importantly, great great friends. I am off to bed now. Bis spaeter!

Sunday, November 5, 2006

Busy times here in Detmold. I am at an internet cafe and trying to write this journal entry in the midst of searching for a flight to visit Manchester, England and am also looking with my friend Frederika for a bus to Berlin for the weekend of November 24. Being in Detmold for a long time can get to you like cabin fever can get to you anywhere, I think - you just need to get out every now and then and break the monotony of your routine. It will be nice to travel in Europe :) Frederika, Dante, and a Polish flutist, Jagoda, came over last night to watch Amadeus. It's a fun film - not my absolute favorite, as I don't like how they distorted many of the facts about Mozart just for dramatic purposes. I mean, the real story of Mozart's life was dramatic enough! It was fun, though - I cooked miso soup and rice for dinner for everyone...Europeans are not so used to eating rice or any Asian food for that matter, so I had to explain how to eat the miso soup, as comical as that sounds. They liked it, I think, although I was nervous. You never know how tofu will go over with newcomers. We did not have any classes last Wednesday, Nov. 1, as it is a national holiday - Aller Heiligentagen, or All Saints Day, a Catholic holiday that is still celebrated in parts of the world. It is ironic though, as today, Germany is the least religious out of European countries, according to BBC.com. Not that I know how to judge such a thing, but perhaps the less organized and orthodoxically practiced religion in a country, the better. A blasphemous thing for me to say, I suppose, but I just think that everything gets complicated when people try and live their faith too dogmatically. I also met my friend Mathilde's parents and younger brother and sister who came to visit from Belgium for the day. They were all so nice...enforced the fact that I wish I could speak French, though. Not that I have any regrets over the 7 years of Spanish I studied - I am very happy to be nearly fluent in Spanish. But French would be nice as well. I am reading A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy at the moment and I wish I had a Babel fish to stick in my ear so I could be fully fluent in any language. For those of you who have no clue what I am talking about, pick up the book - it is a great read. It reached 4 Celsius here a few days, ago, which is a maybe arond 40 F...but it felt much colder with the windchill. I have a real knack for picking regions of the world with nice climates to live in...Chicago, Boston, Detmold, what is next? Siberia? We also finally found a violist for our Schubert String Quintet, Anton, a Russian. Jagoda says that he isn't such a nice person but is a good violist and is dependable. We'll see how this all works out - 4 ladies and 1 gent in a chamber group is a bit questionable. I also bought a bag of Spekulatius, or gingerbread, from the market here in Detmold...it was so incredible. Arya, Frederika and I finished the entire bag in one afternoon with tea. Whereas I don't really like German food at all because it is way too heavy and greasy for my Indian digestive system, I really like the desserts and pastries here. I plan to bring things like peanut brittle and real American chocolate chip cookies back to Germany so my international friends here can experience them :) Okay 1 minute left at the internet cafe. More later. Be well!