At the beginning of the month of July, my parents came to visit! It was very exciting to spend time with them and catch up on the past 9 months or so that I have been in Berlin. During the time they were here, we traveled together to the Black Forest, which is in southwestern Germany. We stayed in a nice little hotel about 15 minutes by car outside of Freiburg, and from there traveled throughout the Black Forest and a little bit in France. Since my parents don’t speak German, I knew that every once in awhile I would have to translate for them. One thing that I noticed in the course of doing this was how comfortable I felt. We were in a region of Germany that is vastly different from Berlin, and yet I felt perfectly fine speaking to people and getting around. It made me marvel at how far I have come in learning German in such a short time. When I first got to Germany and couldn’t speak German, I had to rely on patterns of behavior and prior knowledge that I had gained in order to get anything done. For example, I knew exactly where the grocery store near my apartment was. When I would go through the checkout line, I expected that the person at the counter would say the same things every time. The routine is more or less the same as in the US: “Did you find everything ok?” “23.50 please.” “Would you like a receipt?” And so I was ready to deal with these things. But when the person would say something different, I was totally done for. That is when it became a game of pointing at things and trying out a few words in each others’ languages that we weren’t totally sure were right. But now I can generally hold a conversation about almost anything. Of course I still have problems with accents and people talking too fast, and there are still many words I don’t know. But this experience helped me to realize how much more comfortable I am here than I was just 9 months ago. And so I am thankful to God, my teachers and leaders, and the many people praying who have helped me in my development.
But as I start to head towards my second year here, it is time I made myself a bit less comfortable. It is great to be able to speak German with people when needed. But now I want to get much more involved with Germans in Berlin. It would be easy to avoid them if I wanted to; there are many expats, even Americans in Berlin. But I didn’t come here to meet Americans. If I wanted to do that, there are 350 Million of them back in the US. I also have some great teammates, who I consider to be very close friends. I hope to be able to continue hanging out with them. But I also want to meet the people who are going to be in Berlin for the long haul. These are the people who are connected to the heart of Berlin; they know how it moves, what it feels, what it is thinking. I want to learn from them, hang out with them, and maybe introduce them to the One who can transform their lives and through them the neighborhoods of Berlin.
Thank you again for all your prayers and support.
Blessings,
Robby