Ich liebe dich, Berlin.

It's been a little over a week since I arrived in Berlin, and already it begins to feel like home, even though my German skills are iffy at best. I've had multiple conversations with complete strangers, who, when their attempts to start conversation in German are flouted by my "Entschuldigung, ich verstehe nur ein bisschen Deutsch" (sorry, I only understand a little German), are unfazed and proceed to meet me in the middle as much as possible, so that our conversation becomes a muddle of English and very broken German.

Our first show on Montag Abend, Reise! Reiser!, was like, as Christopher had warned us, being thrown in the deep end. For me, it began with the man next to whom I sat down, who began speaking to me in very fast German. When I offered my usual phrase (it's becoming a theme, I say it at least once a day and usually more here), he asked me what other language I spoke and switched to perfect English, then proceeded to offer to translate anything I needed. While I didn't take him up on the offer for various reasons, I am continually struck by the number of times complete strangers go out of their way to make conversation or help me. There was this gentleman at Reise! Reiser!, as well as Thomas who was managing front of house, a custodian who started chatting with me in the elevator, the man seated behind me in Berliner Ensemble who clearly wanted to tell me something about the architecture of the theater (the only one who, when I said I wasn't fluent in German, proceeded to effectively end all communication- and I desperately wanted to know what he said!), and the woman who sat down next to me on the train who, when I repeated the usual, immediately lit up and asked me (in German) if I spoke Russian (and then proceeded to talk to me in German and a little English when I said no). And then, of course, there's the lovely Andrea, who gave us cake on her birthday to welcome us to Berlin in Claerchen Ballhaus at our first dinner as a group.

I joke about how my parents may lose me to Berlin for good, but between the people, the beautiful city, and the fact that shows here are fantastic AND play to sold out or nearly sold out houses as a general rule and the city's budget to support theater each year is multiple hundreds of millions of Euros... I may not be kidding after all. But I have to learn more German first...

The view of the city from our window