here comes a change.
Jens accepted a job offer in Berlin. We're moving!
We have a few weeks here to wrap up at work and pack up our lovely apartment. Then, we travel. Our last day of work will be November 1 (since Friday the 2nd is a Ghanaian holiday).
The plan so far:
A week in Ghana, seeing some sights. I've never even left the south of the country.
4-6 weeks doing we're-not-sure-what. Certainly looking for a place to live in Berlin.
A week or two with J's family over Christmas.
Get to Berlin. New year, new job, new phase of life!
He's leaving his 5-year-strong employer for an exciting startup. I'm leaving my job here and trying for something completely different. Details are yet to be determined.
Naturally I'm excited-and-scared. Berlin was a dream of mine just a few months ago. After we visited Germany in August, I realized my German was pretty darn good, and that (southwest) Germany (in summer) was nice. I had a week of family and a couple days of shopping. And somehow, that translated into "Let's Live Here!" (or somewhere nearby.)
Now I'm nervous (of course) because I haven't ever used German for extended periods of time. At least with French, I have 1 1/2 hours of chatting every week in my class-of-one at work. It's hard work, and my French has dramatically improved in confidence and fluency. It has to, when I'm the only student in the class. With German, though I sat in class four nights a week, I could cruise through an hour of class without speaking.
I'm sad to leave the community here. I'm nervous about going from a country where everything is relaxed to one that couldn't be more uptight unless they were Swiss. In Ghana, if something doesn't happen as expected, it's God's plan. It will happen in God's time. In Germany, I don't think things are that simple. On the one hand, things WORK much more often and much more easily. On the other, sometimes it's very nice to be laid-back.
I'm nervous because I'm leaving an office with people I like. A place I know. Year-round warm climate - still haven't gotten tired of that. And we'll be jumping straight into the middle of winter!
I'm nervous because I was in bad health when we left Ireland but have been almost cold-free since we moved here. Did I catch those colds because of the temperature in Ireland, and will I get them again in winter in Germany? Was it just the horrible AC units at my job in Dublin? Was it the weather fluctuations, changing 10 degrees within 5 minutes? What will it be like in Germany?
My manager and I told the rest of my department at our weekly meeting 2 weeks ago. People were quite surprised. It's only been "potentially real" in my head for the last 3 weeks, too! Less than a month ago is when J was in Germany for the last interview. Before that it was still hazy. It was only two weeks ago that he signed his new contract. We always thought we'd leave within the next year - but not within the next month.
I found a note from the Head sitting in my departmental inbox, accepting my resignation. Touchingly, she wished both me and Jens the best. I don't use "touchingly" lightly - I really was moved by her taking that little step to confirm his name, spell it right, personalize my note. And most amusing was that she got Jens's name right, but completely missed the ball on the date of my resignation letter. Someone else must have resigned on January 12, because that's what's on my note.
These are the types of things that will happen in Ghana, and in this context it's charming. In Germany it would be unthinkable.
We've already started packing up the house, organizing books into keep and give/sell piles, and I'm throwing away almost all of my two years' worth of accumulated German notes. But keeping the textbooks. Here goes.
