Memory Lane
10/02/2023 11:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
izmeinaOn Friday 10th February 1989 exactly 34 years ago, I began a new chapter of my life when I got on a plane in Dublin and just over an hour later landed in Hamburg in the north west of Germany.
It was a one way ticket.
There was a woman waiting for me at the airport with Hans a neighbor since her husband was occupied at the time with other Ministry business.
I had signed up more out of curiosity than anything else for an Irish - German work exchange program.
While there was no shortage of Germans wanting to live and work in Ireland, there was not much demand in the other direction.
Most Irish people see Germany as a place to drink beer or make big money. Shit jobs like aged care or child care would definitely not be on the agenda.
The nursing home where I would start work the following Monday was run by the local Lutheran church so that's how Liz got involved.
Although we'd never met in person until that day, I'm sure we talked over the phone, we clicked straight away. I referred to her as my Fairy Godmother.
Later I would call her Molly Weasley since she was like her in so many ways and she was also one of 2 people who introduced me to the Potte books.
She said that she was glad that the first film left in the line from the book
"There is no Good and Evil. There is only power and those too weak to seek it."
As a die hard Animal Farm fan (and George Orwell in general), that was all it took to get me hooked.
Of course, the giant baskets of hidden alchemical, Biblical & mythological Easter Eggs certainly did help.
It's strange remembering all this now because Liz died last July. I hadn't seen her in person since 2006 since my planned visit to The Burrow in September 2020 was cancelled due to the odd bug or two.
I had hoped to talk about before and after The Wall and all that but I'm using the Tweet Stone which is quite laborious since I have to hunt and peck each letter instead of touch typing.
I'm hoping to visit Germany in 2024 but it just won't be the same without Molly
Strange how an arbitrary decision can leave so many ripples.
But I do know one thing.
If I had played it safe and stayed in Dublin, I'd have spent a lot more of my life regretting not going. Especially when the Wall came down only 9 months later
It turned out that I was actually on holidays at the time but since I'd just come back from Hamelin of Rat fame and Munich, I was definitely too broke to go to Berlin aside from the fact that half the country seemed to be trying to get there.
The main east west border was a giant traffic jam and no banana in Aldi was safe from the Ossies and their Trabants.
It seems so long ago now but also like it was only yesterday.
Strange days indeed.
It was a one way ticket.
There was a woman waiting for me at the airport with Hans a neighbor since her husband was occupied at the time with other Ministry business.
I had signed up more out of curiosity than anything else for an Irish - German work exchange program.
While there was no shortage of Germans wanting to live and work in Ireland, there was not much demand in the other direction.
Most Irish people see Germany as a place to drink beer or make big money. Shit jobs like aged care or child care would definitely not be on the agenda.
The nursing home where I would start work the following Monday was run by the local Lutheran church so that's how Liz got involved.
Although we'd never met in person until that day, I'm sure we talked over the phone, we clicked straight away. I referred to her as my Fairy Godmother.
Later I would call her Molly Weasley since she was like her in so many ways and she was also one of 2 people who introduced me to the Potte books.
She said that she was glad that the first film left in the line from the book
"There is no Good and Evil. There is only power and those too weak to seek it."
As a die hard Animal Farm fan (and George Orwell in general), that was all it took to get me hooked.
Of course, the giant baskets of hidden alchemical, Biblical & mythological Easter Eggs certainly did help.
It's strange remembering all this now because Liz died last July. I hadn't seen her in person since 2006 since my planned visit to The Burrow in September 2020 was cancelled due to the odd bug or two.
I had hoped to talk about before and after The Wall and all that but I'm using the Tweet Stone which is quite laborious since I have to hunt and peck each letter instead of touch typing.
I'm hoping to visit Germany in 2024 but it just won't be the same without Molly
Strange how an arbitrary decision can leave so many ripples.
But I do know one thing.
If I had played it safe and stayed in Dublin, I'd have spent a lot more of my life regretting not going. Especially when the Wall came down only 9 months later
It turned out that I was actually on holidays at the time but since I'd just come back from Hamelin of Rat fame and Munich, I was definitely too broke to go to Berlin aside from the fact that half the country seemed to be trying to get there.
The main east west border was a giant traffic jam and no banana in Aldi was safe from the Ossies and their Trabants.
It seems so long ago now but also like it was only yesterday.
Strange days indeed.
