Berlin

Today, I’m heading back home to Riga. The past three weeks were wonderful – thank you, Berlin!

I am surprised that some Germans pronounce ciao – the preferred everyday word in Latvia for saying hello and goodbye – in excellent Latvian. Yet Latvians can only say the German word tschüss with the proper intonation if they speak the syllables of the word čūska (snake) individually. First čūs (in the shop for example) and then ka silently to yourself once you’ve crossed the threshold. A friend of mine taught me this method and it really works.

Back home again, Riga seems so small. It’s as if I could “put it in my lap and cuddle it,” as a Latvian song goes. Yet the very next day I am surfing the Internet, by the way the fourth fastest in the world, and notice it perceptibly. At least in my dreams I am already planning my next journey to Berlin. I wish that Berlin were somewhere beyond Daugavpils, a Latvian city 218 km from Riga. In spite of the little stones that mauled my new boots for three weeks, I feel as if I’ve become dependent on the Berlin U-Bahn, the size of the city, the exhibitions and the public spaces without observing eyes.

Perhaps it’s all different? The very first day following my return I notice that the people in Riga jog just as stalwartly as those in Berlin. Much has changed during my three-week absence.




More entries from Undīne Adamaite’s Berlin Journal:

Berlin, 5.1.2013: Neither a False Tourist Nor Truly a Local
Berlin, 6.1.2013: Sunday Rest in the City
Berlin, 7.1.2013: The Berliners’ Lightness of Being
Berlin, 8.1.2013: At the Tagesspiegel
Berlin, 9.1.2013: A Monthly Portion of Courtesy
Berlin, 10.1.2013: A Play in a Foreign Language Remains a Façade
Berlin, 12.1.2013: At the Theatre in Knitted Caps
Berlin, 13.1.2013: An Intermediate Summary
Berlin, 16.1.2013: Fired with Premium Fuel
Berlin, 19.1.2013: Blind Date
Berlin, 21.1.2013: Old Fashioned and In Demand