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Discovering the East

Meißen, 25th of March

After our last snow last week and Imogène's first skiing steps the week before that, spring definitely looks on its way. As I sit in blazing sunshine in our front garden, I do what Germans do on a day like this one: nurture deep philosophical thoughts! Well, mine actually are not very deep: first, with the snow gone, I wonder what I will discuss next in my diary! Secondly, I ponder on whether, 14 years after der Wiedervereinigung, the reunification, of Germany, the German people will ever know a 'spring feeling' in their unity or if the 'chill' in the relationship between Wessis, West Germans, and Ossis, East Germans, will be omnipresent.

Split still running through the country

We are starting to make a lot of Freunde, friends, now, but strangely enough, most of them seem to come from Western Germany. The fact that they have excellent English when most Eastern Germans had to learn Russian certainly facilitates the conversation. Also as a family, we have gained a sufficient degree of autonomy in German and can now engage linguistically in our sozialen Kreisen, social circle. Last week, we were invited to eine Hauseinweihungsparty, a house-warming party, near Dresden. We felt so at ease, on familiar ground and like-minded people that we almost felt zu Hause, at home. But we discovered that most of the 20 guests were Western Germans. Some confessed that they felt alienated in their own country living in the Eastern part of Germany, that it was like living in an 'Expat' community, with continued mutual Misstrauen, distrust, on each side. It is true that people in the East do not appear to open their doors nor their hearts easily, but, after the initial caution, we have been warmly welcome everywhere we have been.

Discovering the Sorbs

We were most impressed by the friendliness of the Sorbs, a Slav folk living in an enclave in the Eastern part of Saxony, with Bautzen as its capital. Their language looks like a mixture of Czech and Polish, and the roadsigns are all in Sorb and German ... a bit like Wales, really! A lady in a traditional Sorb costume - whom Imogène mistook at first for a witch! - was so impressed by our own multilingual background that she gave us a whole pile of books on Sorb history, culture and language.The whole family has completely fallen in love with a Dresden band called 'Delirium', whose roots and musical influence can definitely be found in the East! Listening to them is like being thrown into a pre-war German cabaret mixed with Russian tones and rhythm. We are now committed fans. With an invitation by their singer Cornelia Schumann to Kaffee und Kuchen, coffee and cake, we have another example of Eastern Freundlichkeit, friendliness, and Gastfreundschaft, hospitality!

Sent by: Frederic

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