it's Oktober

(one of many murals in my neighborhood of East Berlin)

...and it's cold. Berlin has plunged into Herbst (autumn). The wind on my face and the leaves falling everywhere make this one of my favorite times of year. If the rain can stay away, I think I will really enjoy being in this city for the blustery season.

I'm a bit sick right now, and as I am between visitors right now, I'm taking it easy for the next week and trying to LIVE in the city instead of feeling like I'm SEEING IT. Ty, my supervisor from my RA job last year was here over the last weekend and then headed off to Prague. We trudged along the East Side Gallery, the longest remaining section of the Berlin wall on this rainy Tuesday morning before he left. Next Friday, my mom arrives for the weekend in the middle of her trip with her sister and mother to visit her family here, and when she leaves on Monday, Matthew flies in around the same time for his weeklong stay. After that, I have trips planned to the UK, Cologne, and Paris. It seems more and more my schedule is filling up, and to take advantage of this week in which I have few obligations is the greatest feeling right now.

Don't get me wrong, I'm excited for visitors and trips. I'm also excited when I find myself alone. When I bike with no map, I learn more about the city than by studying any book or atlas. As I follow my instincts (along with a few great pointers from locals/expats) I find more and more a city full of contradictions: it seems to be opening up its gates to me, while at the same time showing the limited extent of its own walls. Eventually there will not be much city left to see, but for the meantime, I'm enjoying the feeling of familiarity that rests just next to curiosity and adventure.

I'd like to get an accordion. When my German teacher asks me "Welcher Instrument mochtest du spielen?" (which instrument would you like to learn to play) amidst answers of guitar and drums, I always tell her Accordion. And perhaps Ukulele. I already know Trumpet, so if I can get the other two down, I'm all set to tackle any Beirut song. That's all I really need. In any case, Accordion's are pretty big and more importantly-available- here, and I just don't see why I shouldn't get one and start learning tomorrow. Except that it would be impossible to get home. It's up in the air then. Here's my favorite Accordion player in Berlin. I've seen him almost everyday in the one or two spots he frequents.

Accordion music is so completely entrancing to me. It embodies romance, elegance, and creation. An accordion has flair, grace, and mechanical parts. If I wasn't in Europe, I know now that it would transport me here. And it will. When I play it in my apartment in New York.