Cafe crawling in Berlin, Germany
Berlin has been treating me really well. I’ve done almost nothing except cafe crawling and meeting new people everyday for the past two weeks.
Everyone I met has been so lovely and every conversation, a sharing of something special, memories dear to people’s hearts to be honoured, one that will become a slice of history of February 2018.
Today I spent time with two lovely old ladies, Irmgard and Beate. We met at alittle nondescript shophouse at Friedbergstraße. Together with a friendly Iranian fella, Salim, doing his exchange programme, we broke into Persian literature talking about works of Saadhi and Rumi. I stood captivated by their energetic exchange, Salim passionately sharing his favourite poets’ works and Irmgard sparring along, the conversation falling naturally in step, despite us all meeting for the first time.
Anyone who appreciates Rumi is a gentle soul and Salim is no exception. His presence puts me at ease, his light-heartedness disarming. He was a contrast to Irmgard, a feisty 72 year old lady with intellectual sharpness beguiling her age. Beate was the quiet one, happy to sit back but clearly has untold gems and many lessons to share with those who would ask.
We ended up at a random Italian restaurant and I got utterly lost in the German menu. Best way to deal with this is to invite someone to pick a number on the menu! No 15 was feta cheese and spinach salad!
The evening went on, from energetic intellectual exchanges to cozy reflections on our past and intimate sharing of what our lives has meant to us. I listened to Salim’s hopes for the future and nostalgic recountings of Irmgard’s past and can’t help but feel blessed to be witness to such intimacy. We four, were people who met for the first time in a random shophouse, but chatted away the evening like familiar friends - two old German ladies in their seventies, an Iranian student and a Singaporean entrepreneur.
These exchanges are what I really love and enjoy about travelling. The world is really not that big. It might be physically 6,371km across but we are closer together in hearts than we think we are. Oftentimes, we put so many things in the way of happiness and joy—judgement of others, fear of uncertainty—that we lose sight of what’s really in front of us; people on a journey of life with so much to share with the world.
And so I ended my evening with three big cozy hugs and walked off into the frigid Berlin night with warmth in my heart.