Thin Places, Thick Places (Series)
Day 27
Wrapping it up in Berlin.
I thought I would try to write this during the day because I've been writing at night and I literally need to check my...everything (grammar, spelling, words, content)...because I fall asleep a number of times while typing.
Today, Berlin and our group struggled to get along. Berlin has been rather welcoming, overall. However, today it's been difficult to get certain logistics wrapped up. I've needed train tickets and couldn't navigate the website. So, we ended up taking a train to the central station at which I could get tickets.
About 2/3 of the way through our transaction the customer service lady literally rubbed her ever-reddening eyes and face with her hands, shook her head as if there was a cockroach climbing through it and rolled her eyes. Apparently I have that affect...sigh.
Language and culture barriers are the culprits. YET, this is why Taylor and I wanted to bring the kids out into the world.
We take EASE and being accepted for granted.
It is important to BE a minority in a place. I mean that with zero disrespect to minorities. Guess what, we're ALL minorities SOMEWHERE in the world and we all need to find that place and experience it.
Further frustration at our cultural and linguistic ignorance (or maybe it was something else) was conveyed when we took a taxi. Same taxi, second time, within 15 minutes of the first trip.
It was clear he didn't want to taxi us. He literally rolled his eyes.
Don't get me wrong. I'm NOT saying Berliners are mean or unhelpful. We've experienced some amazing people. Still, it was one of those days when we had little success feeling or experiencing success.
That is the essence of travel. Hold things loosely, keep a damn good sense of humor, stop and breathe to regain a sense of centeredness.
We take a train tomorrow to a sweet little town two hours away called Halberstadt.
To be contined...
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