when society is a long way away

So, we are now living in a little farming/artist community called Fischerhude in Germany. It’s very beautiful here, a fairytale like self sufficient village with old farm buildings, lots of cobbled streets and picturesque countryside. It isn’t city living anymore for us. Pity nobody speaks English.

So here, Ezekiel has never been more happy rushing around, stroking the neighbours horse, shouting “Duck duck!” every time we cross the little bridge, playing with the thousands of acorns, going on the garden swing. I could go on. I, also, love it here. But the quietness of the nature I still have to get use to, when you spend everyday in a city and you can go and buy a pint of milk anytime you like, or spend your afternoons in coffee shops and reading papers in coffee shops with crowds of people. Here, you get up and walk with your son to the little shop, waiting as he jumps in puddles, saying hello to the odd passer by, feeling like it could be 1807 as you see no car in sight only farmers going about their daily work. You arrive at the little shop and buy a couple of stamps to send off…and here it comes…job applications.

I guess we are naïve, but we didn’t imagine we would struggle again. I thought that was all over, those grey days of worrying how you are going to pay the electricity bill (and when its 1 degrees at 12pm and only October you need to pay it!). I assumed, somewhat foolishly, that some job would just fall into my hands and I could spend the rest of the time writing, or drinking a glass of wine playing chess, or whatever.

Its funny. Here, so many friends come by, always some invitation to a little get together, or to visit someone in another city. My social life hasn’t been this great since my Rock Hill college days, but then you look at the pennies as you want to order another beer and you remember in England how there was always money for whatever. I didn’t come to Germany to work in a factory, but right now I don’t have a choice about it. But then, such magical evenings when the stars are so bright, and it’s so dark outside with the fresh air, our little boy so happily asleep with his little teddy bear, and you live in such a lovely village, only 30 minutes drive from Bremen (a big city), that it’s the kind of place you have been dreaming about for many, many years.

So, that’s where I am right now. Yes, we have only been here 3 weeks, and life sparkles with overwhelming brightness to be in Fischerhude, but I hope we can “afford” to stay here. The cultural differences are also more strong that I thought.

>>>> “Man, woman, and child” by ???? , British Army Radio (hmm, German radio is very bad unless you like Phil Collins and Tina Turner!), long long long nature walks, coffee on the porch at 11pm under bright stars, 3 weeks without internet, tv, telephone, clock, bored by BBC world service radio (I guess I am not as cultural as I thought), starting to miss being able to drink tea in a café.