I come from a pretty small city; there are only about 70,000 people there. Back home I could go just about anywhere and I would run into someone I knew. My family actually started to make fun of me because we could never go out without me seeing a friend or acquaintance. I got very accustomed to being at a store or the local coffee shop and striking up a conversation with the workers because I knew the people and enjoyed interacting with them.
Now I live in Berlin, where there are 3.5 MILLION people; Berlin is 50 times larger than my hometown! Talk about a change of environment. The city is huge and there are so many people. It hasn’t been the easiest of adjustments, but I’m getting there. I think the hardest thing was just not being familiar with my environment or the people around me. It was hard to go from a place where I could talk to anyone to a place where I could talk to almost no one, #languagebarrier and cultural differences. Also my mind would play this mean trick on me where I would see someone and think it was someone I knew back home. To the people back home who are reading this, I’ve probably seen your Berlin doppelganger because I’ve seen a lot of people who look like people from home. It is in no way logical that anyone from back home would be here but I think my mind was just looking for that sense of familiarity.
As time goes on though, I’m seeing less and less of “people from home” and Berlin is starting to have some familiar faces. Every morning on our walk to the U-Bahn station, Kelsey, Beth, and I see a mother and her young daughter on their way to school. And on the morning commute we recognize people that we typically ride the train with every day. From going to events that our language school hosts, I am starting to see people from language school while I’m out in the city. This might not sound like much, but it’s making Berlin feel more like home. It’s been a very humbling experience to go through this transition; God has been challenging me and teaching me a lot. And even though there are times that I question why I left such a great community back home, I know my home community is still with me through prayer, support, and encouragement. I’ve stepped out of what was comfortable because God has a great plan and it’s why He’s called me here.