The following photos taken at the Bruderhaus Diakonie (link to the website in English), and the surrounding area. It was a place we loved and will go back to visit many times.
Living in Germany has caused me to ponder what life will be like when we aren’t living here any more. Cody always scolds me when I get all Debbie-downer about all the conveniences we now enjoy that we will undoubtedly, sometime at the end of next July, have to live without. It should be noted that when I talk about the conveniences here, I am mostly talking about how accessible everything is by foot. I get no small thrill out of being able to walk to bookstores, coffee shops, specialty grocery stores, regular grocery stores, H&M, the bank, farmers markets, the hospital, doctors offices, and giant fields with open views of the city within 30 minutes of time. And so, when I’m being extra vigilant about my mood and attempting to think positively about our situation now and in the future, whatever and wherever that may be, I ask myself what I want to learn about living here that I can carry with me back to the U.S. As I continue to read through Gretchen Rubin’s thrilling book, Happier at Home, I was pleased to find this quote by Gertrude Stein, which perfectly encompasses my thoughts and feelings at the moment:
“Anything one does every day is important and imposing and anywhere one lives is interesting and beautiful.”
Our current lifestyle certainly seems cause for envy, and undoubtedly, we are experiencing no smal amount of excitement and adventure as we live in a new culture and speak a different language. But I am also reminded that, to many, there is nothing new and special or all that exciting about living here. I am sure some people here yearn for wide open streets like that ones that made my jaw drop when Cody and I were honeymooning in Salt Lake City, Utah, or new buildings that were a bit more handicap accessible or had better plumbing, or maybe a house of ones own. Whatever the case may be, I am certain that it's the skill of looking upon my home and my work with a fresh glance and an inquisitive attitude that will make it feel important, imposing, interesting, and beautiful, and not the specifics of where I am or what I am doing.
Very true, Mary; thanks for posting this. We are still finding adventure here, even though we've been here a few years.
ReplyDeletethanks, heidi! i'm so glad you feel that way about your current home. it has definitely changed the way I perceive our life here, and I'm certain, the way we will perceive our life after we've left.
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