The lone (non-soldier) black American man in Frankfurt felt a tap on his foot.
Are you kidding me? He thought to himself. I sat on the back of this tram for 2 reasons. One, I figured I'd get a better view of the city from three sides. Two...cause no one's back here!
He turned to see whom was invading his space and saw the "hey man...you all right" faces of two German guys in what looked to be their early 20's.
One of the guys then gestered the universal "sleeping sign" (hands together on one side of the face), while the other held his hands out, palms to the ground, as if to say simultaneously, "we mean no harm" and "dude, you look out of it."
"Konstablawache," he then said.
The black American nodded with wide, slightly sarcastic eyes that said, "I know."
He then caught himself. Obviously these guys mean no harm or ridicule. They're just objectively concerned. It's actually nice they thought enough to let you know what stop the tram was at. Besides, you do tend to zone out. Just now you were thinking about how you used the subway closing down as an excuse to stay at home last night when you're forgetful self forgot that you could have taken the tram. Thinking about how in skate videos, there would always be small text in the lower right or left corners of the screen denoting either the skater or the location of where the tricks were being done. Given the places I've gone, and how at times, if those little locational subtexts were to be shown at the bottom of the "normal" things I do doing the day (which in many ways are identical to how they are done or look in America), it would give the boring things I do out here some charact--
He caught himself zoning out again. He politely shook his head as if to say he wasn't sleeping and replied, as sincere and serious as possible, "Danke."
He then rested his head back against the window-pane of the tram and continued zoning out.
No more than two stops later, he got another tap on his foot.
Come on now.
This time however there were no gestures, just incomprehensible German.
The reflex to demostrate somehow, oftentimes bluntly, that he was sober, was trumped by the swift realization that he was in a foreign country. So he fell back to his "international" instinct, smiled and asked, "Sprenenzie Englisch?"
The guy who spoke earlier then chimed, "a little."
The black American had to chuckle to himself for a second. Their idea of "a little" means that there are some three and four syllable words that either escape them at the moment or they may ask you to repeat because you said it too fast. But verb conjugations or tense...no problem!
"I wasn't sleeping."
"Oh, with your head against the...car.... Well, where do you get off?"
"Huh?"
"We will tell you when your stop--"
"Bornheim."
"Oh...that stop is far...after ours."
"Oh. It's ok...I wasn't sleeping, just thinking. I mean, here I am, all the way...on the other side of the globe."
"Where are you from?"
As if you can't tell, he thought. "America."
"Ahh," he chuckled, "funny thing about America. Me and my girlfriend want to go to New York. But she is Greek."
He paused.
"Greece is not one of those...main...countries. You see, Germans go to the airport, they stamp your passport...90 days," he said with a waive of his hand. "But my girlfriend, they look at her passport, and send her back."
"Really?"
"Ja, I don't know...America thinks...something...I don't know. We want to go though."
He paused again and looked at his friend.
"No, we love America," he said with a sincere smile and thumbs up, "they are just strict if you are not from one of the big countries."
"That's interesting."
Suddenly looking up and outside, the silent of the two tapped the verbose one and said in German that this was their stop. Exiting the tram, both said chao to the black American who then replied the same.
After the doors closed and the tram pulled off, the American thought not about immigration/visa/passport clearance issues in the States, but of how many blogs he now has on deck.
There's "Tatort" the German CSI-equivalent show/movie that was being shot in front of our building all day--the fake gunshots of which always caught us by surprise...then had us running to the window to see the final scene happen again for like the umpteenth time. There's also the wonderful conversations I had with several of my office colleagues after work today over Apfelwein in Sachsenhausen (mainly involving WWII and the German/Nazi-stigma). Not to mention Idiosyncrasies #2 (which I have been faithfully compiling since the first installment). Wait...haven't written a 3rd person...anything, since like college. Hmm....
He smiled.
I think they'll like it too....
Cheers.
Are you kidding me? He thought to himself. I sat on the back of this tram for 2 reasons. One, I figured I'd get a better view of the city from three sides. Two...cause no one's back here!
He turned to see whom was invading his space and saw the "hey man...you all right" faces of two German guys in what looked to be their early 20's.
One of the guys then gestered the universal "sleeping sign" (hands together on one side of the face), while the other held his hands out, palms to the ground, as if to say simultaneously, "we mean no harm" and "dude, you look out of it."
"Konstablawache," he then said.
The black American nodded with wide, slightly sarcastic eyes that said, "I know."
He then caught himself. Obviously these guys mean no harm or ridicule. They're just objectively concerned. It's actually nice they thought enough to let you know what stop the tram was at. Besides, you do tend to zone out. Just now you were thinking about how you used the subway closing down as an excuse to stay at home last night when you're forgetful self forgot that you could have taken the tram. Thinking about how in skate videos, there would always be small text in the lower right or left corners of the screen denoting either the skater or the location of where the tricks were being done. Given the places I've gone, and how at times, if those little locational subtexts were to be shown at the bottom of the "normal" things I do doing the day (which in many ways are identical to how they are done or look in America), it would give the boring things I do out here some charact--
He caught himself zoning out again. He politely shook his head as if to say he wasn't sleeping and replied, as sincere and serious as possible, "Danke."
He then rested his head back against the window-pane of the tram and continued zoning out.
No more than two stops later, he got another tap on his foot.
Come on now.
This time however there were no gestures, just incomprehensible German.
The reflex to demostrate somehow, oftentimes bluntly, that he was sober, was trumped by the swift realization that he was in a foreign country. So he fell back to his "international" instinct, smiled and asked, "Sprenenzie Englisch?"
The guy who spoke earlier then chimed, "a little."
The black American had to chuckle to himself for a second. Their idea of "a little" means that there are some three and four syllable words that either escape them at the moment or they may ask you to repeat because you said it too fast. But verb conjugations or tense...no problem!
"I wasn't sleeping."
"Oh, with your head against the...car.... Well, where do you get off?"
"Huh?"
"We will tell you when your stop--"
"Bornheim."
"Oh...that stop is far...after ours."
"Oh. It's ok...I wasn't sleeping, just thinking. I mean, here I am, all the way...on the other side of the globe."
"Where are you from?"
As if you can't tell, he thought. "America."
"Ahh," he chuckled, "funny thing about America. Me and my girlfriend want to go to New York. But she is Greek."
He paused.
"Greece is not one of those...main...countries. You see, Germans go to the airport, they stamp your passport...90 days," he said with a waive of his hand. "But my girlfriend, they look at her passport, and send her back."
"Really?"
"Ja, I don't know...America thinks...something...I don't know. We want to go though."
He paused again and looked at his friend.
"No, we love America," he said with a sincere smile and thumbs up, "they are just strict if you are not from one of the big countries."
"That's interesting."
Suddenly looking up and outside, the silent of the two tapped the verbose one and said in German that this was their stop. Exiting the tram, both said chao to the black American who then replied the same.
After the doors closed and the tram pulled off, the American thought not about immigration/visa/passport clearance issues in the States, but of how many blogs he now has on deck.
There's "Tatort" the German CSI-equivalent show/movie that was being shot in front of our building all day--the fake gunshots of which always caught us by surprise...then had us running to the window to see the final scene happen again for like the umpteenth time. There's also the wonderful conversations I had with several of my office colleagues after work today over Apfelwein in Sachsenhausen (mainly involving WWII and the German/Nazi-stigma). Not to mention Idiosyncrasies #2 (which I have been faithfully compiling since the first installment). Wait...haven't written a 3rd person...anything, since like college. Hmm....
He smiled.
I think they'll like it too....
Cheers.
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1 comment:
Fred IV, It is now 9:30 pm (2130) I enoyed reading these blogs. Particularly, I liked that they were shorter; loved the concversation you had with the Japanese girl, and the tour of the BMW facility. What about the word "guts" for interior? I trust you're keeping the drinking to a minimum.
Keep up the good work--blogs and real work. Love you, Mom
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