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I really like it here. Moving to another country is never easy, but I'd say we've had a pretty soft landing, even if most of the people I know here are out of town right now. I have a poem incubating in my head about how learning a new city is like learning a new language: you create small islands of knowledge, gradually increase their size, and then a bit at a time link them together.
I'm starting to settle into a good routine. Wake up around noon, make coffee, do some freelance work. Then spend the rest of the afternoon working on pictures, poems, and other writing. Run a few errands/explore the city before/as it gets dark out, and then come back home to do an hour of yoga.
Yoga has really helped a lot. I messed up my back pretty badly a month before I left Chicago, and traveling to London and here, hauling luggage, only made it worse. So I've been taking care to practice some yoga every day, and it's really helping. Not just with my back, but with overall well-being. Transitions can be emotionally difficult for me, but yoga and daily meditation help me stay centered and grateful.
I am so lucky: I know this. I love living here, I am doing something I have always wanted to do, and get to be in an amazing city that might not ever be the same again. Now definitely seems like a great time to be in Berlin: so much good music, art, and people, there's just energy in the air, even when it's gray out. I know, I am still in the "very excited to be here" phase and will probably end up bored and jaded, but I hope not.
Comments
Seems I always have something to say about your posts. Just really enjoying them, so please keep 'em coming!
Anyway, I can tell you with a certain amount of certainty that you won't get jaded about your new home anytime soon. The more you see and learn, the more there is to see and learn. Did you get bored and jaded with Chicago or did you just keep discovering great new aspects of that little town in mid-America? It just gets better and better! Savor every moment.
Posted by: Aidan | February 18, 2006 03:08 AM
I am definitely savoring! That's one of the reasons I love poetry and photography: they make me examine and remember, make good use of the role as outsider.
As for Chicago, I guess I did get kind of bored there, but only of certain things. I didn't get bored of my friends; the last year really brought a lot of people together, and I could never be jaded about some of the amazing people I was lucky to get so close to.
I guess it just comes down to the fact that I lived there for 6 years (not counting my years growing up in Evanston), and it was just time to move on. I always kind of figured I'd settle down in Chicago though, it's my home and my family is there. I just needed to go away for a while so I could come back.
Posted by: j3s | February 22, 2006 01:19 PM
i went to my 1st NIA class in so long over the weekend & it was great. i brought claudia (it was a grand opening out on west hubbard with free classes all day), too.
realized how much i missed it & am currently trying to find an evening or weekend class. i wish my teacher wasn't so daytime focused, but hey, it's her job, so it works for her...
Posted by: miss ellen | March 7, 2006 09:20 PM