Three years in Germany

Wow, can it really have been a year since this post??

Time is spinning away faster and faster, it seems, like a penny in one of those donation-funnels at the store.

To those of you who have watched more years spin around than I have: does it keep doing this?

Do the summers keep stepping on each other's heels?

I can think of a few possible explanations as to why this third year in Germany has sped by so quickly. For one thing, I've been even happier than in the previous two, and you know the relativity formula for happiness. One reason is that I have so enjoyed our large, airy apartment with its inviting balcony, and realized what a profound influence living quarters have on your quality of life. Every time I sit down in my comfy office to work, I am accompanied by the lively activity right outside these glass doors: kids playing, visitors going to see their friends, folks leaving for work and coming home from work, neighbors cooking or watering their plants... I've especially loved watching said plants go through their pageant of seasons, like the trees and parks in the old version of "SimCity."

For another thing, my Mom spent over ten months here in Germany, and having her so close by really helped to soothe that raw spot of being so far away from all you guys. Thanks for this last year, Mom!!!

And maybe for another, I've really found my groove with work. I've been doing this just long enough to not only get really good at it -- so it's much more effortless than ever before -- but I've also been able to pick and choose the jobs that I really want to do, and to carve myself a comfy niche to occupy in each one. I feel useful, skilled, and appreciated -- something not everyone gets to enjoy about their work.

It's still just a point along the whole career path, though. It's slowly becoming time for me to really get cracking on that PhD: not only because I would indeed like to make a contribution to the field of teaching English as a Lingua Franca, but also because it's simply the next logical career move. Language jobs around here are almost exclusively on an independent-contracting basis unless you've got that Dr. title, and I don't want to be a freelancer forever.

Fortunately, I already have a pretty good idea of what I would like to study and who I plan to approach for potential advisors. I'm aiming for next spring to begin harassing professors into taking me on. Stay tuned...

So maybe all this satisfaction is simply a natural consequence of really getting settled in. I'm all set to pay my first German income taxes this year (last year, I didn't make enough to pay anything at all!) and thank goodness, it looks like I saved enough to cover the amount due. (Another hazard of freelancing!) I'll renew my visa this month, and get my German driver's license as soon as I get back from the States in a couple weeks. In October, Bert and I will go on a bike trip for his birthday; we'll buy a couple things for the place; we'll have a bachelorette party for one of my best friends; we'll consider celebrating Thanksgiving; we'll make Christmas plans.

I guess, in short, you could say the last three years have forged me a life: a career, goals, friends, and a wonderful partner. It hasn't happened quickly, or smoothly, or predictably; really getting settled in somewhere takes an awful lot of time.

But I think I can add to this post something that I couldn't quite say last year. And that is: Germany really has become my home.