So, we're home now. Man, 20 weeks sure can go by fast. Am I happy to be home? I am. Being away from home is, of course, one good way to appreciate what you have. Much as I have enjoyed being away, it is good to be back in our home with our pets, and good to see our friends. Summer in West Lafayette is always good, and we also have a few trips scheduled to see family. Aidan enjoys being back to his room with his toys. So, there is much that is good about being home.
Hurricane Aidan passed through his room, liberating all toys
An extended stay in another country also gives one a good chance to learn how others see us. The European picture of Americans is, alas, less than flattering. Yes, they like President Obama - I've had a number of Germans spontaneously bring this up in conversation. But beyond that, I wonder if they draw conclusions about us from their consumption of American products. I previously mentioned Pop Tarts, processed cheese in a can, and Swiss Miss hot chocolate as items on store shelves in the "American" section. The American brand of car I have noticed more than any other is the Hummer. In a store I saw this toy:
Yes, they decided that a toy gun is stereotypically American, so they slapped on a "Manhattan" brand (it's worth noting, though, that the toy guns for sale here are far more realistic than those sold in the US). Also while out running one day I saw this:
Yes, Hooters is coming to Berlin. But, it's not like this is being inflicted on an unwilling public - there is clearly a market for this stuff. I bet that Hooters will do well here, just as does the Hard Rock Cafe. So yes, the mental model of the US might be guns, gas guzzlers, sexual titillation and crap foods, but someone here is buying it - and not just displaced Americans. As a recently naturalized American all of this makes me defensive, makes me want to attack Germany's flaws. I want to shout, "Yeah, we may eat nasty processed foods, but at least we don't let small children ride in the front seat of the car like you guys! So there!" However, this is probably not the healthiest attitude.
A number of you have asked me if I'll miss Berlin. The obvious answer is yes, though it's hard to tease apart how much of what I'll miss has to do with Berlin, and how much to do with other factors. This was, after all, not just one experience, but three. It was a chance to spend 4+ months living in Berlin. It was a chance for me to take a break from the stresses of work. And, it was a chance for the three of us to enjoy a lot of family time. It's hard for me to break apart these different aspects in assessing how cool an experience this has been.
There are many specific things I will miss. I will miss Aidan's excitement at discovering something new in the city - a new park, a new restaurant, a new U-Bahn station. I will miss hearing him play in German, as he readjusts to an English-speaking environment (although, one week later he's still playing in German). I will miss the markets at Christmas and the sidewalk cafes in spring. I will miss German cheese, chocolate, and beer. I will miss the mind-boggling diversity of architecture. I will miss the Zum Topfgucker restaurant, owned and run by two of the friendliest Berliners I've met. I will miss not having to drive anywhere. I'll miss the buzz of the city on a busy day, I'll miss the calm of the city on a Sunday afternoon - I'll miss enjoying both of these with a glass of wine on our balcony, and I'll miss the sound of students practicing piano at the arts university across the street.
Aidan's favorite thing about Berlin - riding the train
The friendly owners of the Zum Topfgucker restaurant - best German food we've ever had
There are, of course, things I will not miss. I will not miss German cashiers, I will not miss obnoxious cyclists, I will not miss this country's general incompetence in the art of making a good hamburger. But despite that, the easy answer is yes, I shall miss Berlin. I really do like this city.
A while back I alluded to trying to nail down my thoughts on Berlin. As someone who has now spent about a year in aggregate living there, I've come to appreciate what a down-to-earth city it is. While it certainly has its nicer neighborhoods, it is on the whole fairly modest, as big cities go. I think that's one reason why I find it comfortable to be here.
However, I think my thoughts finally crystallized in the last few weeks, as I prepared a walking tour for a group of American students. The world has many great cities, and most market themselves accordingly. New York thinks of itself as the greatest city in the world, boasting the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty. Paris is the city for romance, with the Arc de Triomphe, Montmartre, and the Eiffel Tower. These are Great Cities, with Great Things, and they're not ashamed to say so.
In Berlin, however, everything comes back to two painful themes - Nazis and the Wall. And so a city that is, at heart, modest and laid back, is nonetheless underpinned by complex history. Consider the generations of people here. The oldest saw the rise of the Third Reich, and perhaps participated in it. Their children then had the job of dealing with the evil their parents' generation had inflicted upon the world. They also had the job of rebuilding a city so heavily bombed that just last month another unexploded bomb was unearthed in the very center of town. The next generations after that saw the city and their nation divided, with Berlin existing as a unique little island where the world's political tensions all concentrated to a focal point. East Germans lived in a state where a nontrivial number of their own neighbors spied on each other, some voluntarily, some under duress. Then the Wall fell, and some of that truth came out, and many of those who had been leading privileged lives of power were now regarded with scorn. The rest of the world looked at the failed East German state and considered it only in terms of its awful government, without regard for the culture the people had developed. Indeed, much of that culture was then swept away, replaced by a foreign culture that many of the people had been raised to think of as hollow. And now, 20 years after the fall of the Wall, we have a new generation of young adults who have known only the unified Germany, who have been told over and over that their history must be remembered, that they must learn from it.
Berlin is the epicenter of this remembrance. Remembrance is its main industry, drawing tourists from around the world to come see chunks of the Wall, remnants of the Reich. Sightseeing busses line the streets around major memorials, letting people hop off and hop back on before they flush out the bad feelings with an afternoon of shopping on the Ku'damm. I claim no immunity from such behavior, and I don't mean to look down on it. However, it's also too easy to be cynical about it. The city is what it is, the history is what it is, and while many tourists are here for a little historical voyeurism, I hope some do engage in actual remembrance. After all, both history and psychology tell us that the evils that have transpired here are not uniquely German evils; rather, they are examples of humanity's capacity for inhumanity, and that capacity knows no national boundaries. That doesn't absolve Germans or Berliners of their past, nor do they seem to expect it to do so. Rather, they own the role of Berlin as a place of memory for the past and lessons for the future.
An East Berlin border watchtower. Guards had orders to shoot to kill without warning, and they did. That guard in the window is just a dummy, but I assure you, it sent a shiver down my spine.
One of the city's current slogans is "Arm, aber sexy" - literally, "Poor, but sexy". I love that, not necessarily for itself but for the honesty therein. Can you imagine other cities taking that approach? "New York - loud and obnoxious, but lots to do." "Paris - teeming with foreign tourists, but romantic." Berlin is just honest that way, and in the end I see Berlin as a uniquely honest city. There are some younger people who want to shed the chains of the past and move forward, protesting that they didn't do all that bad stuff and they shouldn't have to be constantly apologizing for it. However, the majority of people realize that simply moving forward is neither possible nor right, not given the nature and magnitude of what has happened here. They are conflicted about having their history ogled in the the way people stare at a gruesome car wreck, but they understand that their history inflicted too much to be forgotten, and offers many lessons for the future, lessons for people everywhere.
Berlin is modest. Berlin is honest. These are the reasons I like it there, these are the reasons I will be back.
I just wish they could cook a decent hamburger.
Signing off...
