Auf Wiedersehen

Germany is in the books. Over and out. Tons of fun while it lasted. Now here I sit on a cold, wet, autumn evening in downtown Paris transitioning to my next assignment for work. I left Germany today having spent close to the past three months there; a reasonable amount of time but, in a way, part of me thinks it inaccurate to feel that I am leaving an adopted “home” as I did when I left Spain and Brazil. The language factor is one reason for that feeling. I am embarrassed to admit that I barely learned any German over the past two and a half months. It’s horrible, but that’s the absolute truth. I never really pushed myself to learn because of the prevalence of English throughout the country and thus never the need to learn for mere survival. But that, in a large way, created a disconnect from the local culture. It gave me a constant “visitor” feeling so I knew that it was just a stopover for however long. The second reason was the constant on-the-go life that my team and I had. Any given week could have involved two or three six hour drives from Stuttgart to Berlin or Hamburg to Frankfurt. So not being established in one place for too long certainly makes it easier to move on to the next destination.

But all that said, I will certainly miss Germany. I will miss the order and organization of things there and of course the cheaper prices compared to the rest of Western Europe . Over the past several hours since I boarded my train in Cologne to come to Paris, I have seen a noticeable shift from tidy, organized, pleasant Germany to “the rest of the world.” My train stopped briefly in Brussels and when pulling into the train station there an announcement came on saying (in five different languages) “pickpocketers may be working on the platform or in the station. Please be careful.” That announcement would never exist in Germany. Quite frankly I was surprised it came on in Belgium where I also associate trust, safety, and order to run the show. And being in Paris I notice much more commotion than any large German city. Even in Berlin, Munich, or Hamburg (the three largest German cities) the streets are quiet after 8 and the pace of activity slows down. In Paris there’s more of a buzz extending later into the night.

I’m in Paris until early to mid next week when a new phase begins for a new project that I have been assigned to. I am in the process of applying for my visa to……Russia! I’ll be in Moscow for about three months during, yes, the dead of winter. It’s nuts. Everything about it. Russia. The freeeeezing cold which I don’t do well in. Being in the heart of the former Soviet Empire. An entirely new language that exists outside the Western alphabet even. Talk about needing to speak the language to survive! A completely foreign culture and identity that is neither European nor Asian; a hazy mix between third world and developed market where the visible remains of communist standards of living are still so prevalent. It’s such a foreign and distinct culture that the concept of going there really excites me, no matter how cold it will be! All the more exciting is that I’ll be doing a report on their oil and gas industry – talk about an industry central to a country’s livelihood. Russia literally goes to crisis and collapse mode when oil prices shoot down. But, and I stress a big “but” I’ll believe I’ll be going to Russia when I actually clear customs in Moscow. Until then, as my last minute China-to-Germany revision proved, everything is up in the air.

So for here and now, I’m in Paris for a little under a week. Time to enjoy the weekend and take in all that the city of lights has to offer.