Auf Wiedersehen

A recurring theme in all my classes this week has been ,,Was bedeutet Heimat für Sie?" or "what does home mean to you?" Heimat is not necessarily home, though. If we were to go back a few decades, there was a serious nationalistic bent to the term meaning something like 'homeland' or 'fatherland.' Today in Germany, there is much conversation over definitions of the term and what it means for specific people and groups.

In each of my classes, there was a specific spin to the question. In my German conversation class, the challenge was, obviously, to convey our personal thoughts in German. My "Jewish and Muslim Berlin (JaM)" class visited an exhibit on Heimat at the Jewish Museum, which explored the notion of Germany beginning to embrace its relatively new immigrant culture, and grappled with the meaning of and creation of home for minorities in this country. PoM (Politics of Memory) discussed the place of memory in one's Heimat - how important is collective memory in creating a narrative and shared heritage for a country and a people? Is it important at all?

When asked to draw my Heimat, I ended up with a picture of the Golden Gate bridge in the background with a larger outline of California layered over it. Next to California was my abstract representation of the coastline of Israel. I drew five hearts on my paper - two in California, two in Israel, and one in between. My two CA hearts, as one might guess, were placed in San Francisco and Stanford, while the Israeli ones were in Jerusalem and in Etzba HaGalil (the region of Northern Israel where I've worked for the past two summers). The one in the middle, was intentionally smaller, and was placed in Germany. I drew it smaller because I feel like Germany and I are still getting to know each other. The 12 weeks I've spent here have been incredible, and definitely warrant Germany having a huge place in my heart. That said, there is so much I still want to explore here - so much I want to learn and see. My language skills have, admittedly, improved, but my German is far from fluent. I've made wonderful friends here with my peers from Stanford, yet my German friends are much more distant. I drew my German heart smaller than the rest because I expect it to grow so much more in the coming years. I know that I will be back and I hope Deutschland is ready for Doria, Part II. Indeed, Berlin has become one of my homes and I look forward to see how both it and I change in the future.

Because I really can't believe that my time here has run out (I'm actually not even finished packing), I don't feel like I can clearly reflect on my experience in Berlin as a whole. For that, you'll have to stay tuned for later posts. What I can say, is that by the time you read this, I will likely be back in California. My winter break consists of a workshop with the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Collective, numerous appointments, work, relaxing, and, of course, burritos.

I hope that my plans for the next three weeks will also include you, and that we can find time to sit down to see each other before you and I go in our separate directions once again. The Blackberry will be up and running in about 36 hours (hallelujah!) and you know how to find me, should you be so inclined to look.

With heartfelt appreciation for traveling with me throughout this incredible quarter,

Doria