Abia am implinit o luna de cand sunt in Berlin si descopar aproape zilnic lucruri noi. Lucruri care imi plac. Prietena mea, mutata de 5 ani aici, imi spune ca asta e darul acestui oras – de a se reinventa.

Nu stiu voi de cat timp locuiti aici si ce anume v-a incantat pana acum, dar pe mine anticariatul ambulant din fata Universitatii Humbold ma fascineaza ori de cate ori trec pe acolo. Pur si simplu nu pot trece indiferenta fara sa-mi bag nasul in cutiile alea de carton, adevarate comori cu povesti. Miroase a carti, a albume de arta, a discuri vechi. Nu din astea noi, in culori stridente cu titluri argintii. Nu! Miroase a coperta usor decolorata sau cartonata, dupa caz. Nu-mi pot refuza impulsul de a arunca macar o privire.

Asa imi spun, doar o privire. Care apoi ocheste cateva titluri cunoscute, apoi aluneca pe cotoarele unor alte carti, pe numele altor autori, pana cand, nereusind sa rezist curiozitatii, incep sa dau paginile una cate una. Intai un Nietzsche, apoi un Edgar Allan Poe. Apoi un Orhan Pamuk. Cateva carti despre istoria Berlinului, un Phillip Roth, un album despre Picasso si unul cu arta in perioada renasterii. O carte de retete tailandeze si Micul Print. Nu ma pot abtine. Sunt prea multe si prea bune. Sunt carti care au facut istorie si care se vand in fata la Humbold ca rosiile la supermarket – doua la 3 euro.

Din cartile scrise in engleza citesc cate un paragraf. Din cele scrise in germana, insa, inteleg doar cateva cuvinte, dar visez sa ajung sa citesc Herta Muller si Elfriede Jelinek in limba care le-a consacrat.

Prietena mea imi traduce un aliniat dintr-o carte. Auzind, vanzatorul incepe sa-l injure pe Berlusconi, un fascist! “Nu, nu suntem italience, vorbim limba romana”, radem noi. Vanzatorul, un personaj pitoresc cu plete si o caciula de blana pe cap, se mai tempereaza, ba chiar il umfla rasul. Noi luam alte carti la rasfoit. La fel si ceilalti din jurul nostru, atrasi magnetic de muntele de hartie imprimata cu povesti .

Rar pot pleca fara sa cumper ceva. Pentru ca e prea frumos. Si, daca mai e si o zi insorita, in care frigul nu da ghes, cutiile de carton parca ma prind de haina si ma tin acolo.

The first week at Deutsch Akademie is finished. Not just anyhow, but with pantomime! This was one of the Friday exercises that made us all laugh.

I had to be a doctor and a hairdresser. For a second, the colleague next to me was really confused noticing I started touching his hair. Tomoko, my Japanese colleague was a dentist, Alexandra from Macedonia was a supermarket and Piotr from Poland was…the television tower from Alexanderplatz!

We’ve played more games and played tricks to each other, while leaning new words and repeating grammar in the same time.  During those games, I suddenly realized something funny – we are so different, but, somehow, so similar.

No matter where we come from (Spain, Italy, Ukraine, Poland, Macedonia, Romania, Korea, Japan) no matter some are engineers and some bartenders, some like modern dance, some football or chocolate croissants, life brought us all in Berlin and, at this point, for all of us learning German is a priority. We were all listening to the same Marlene Dietrich song, took the same notes from the blackboard and prepared the same homework. I left my thoughts behind and joined the game again, because my colleague was acting out something new.

This colorful mix of people around makes learning German so entertaining! Because yes, entertaining it’s exactly how the whole first week was. Looking forward for the second!