Out with the old and in with the New

Happy New Year to those of you out there I have not yet greeted.
It seems that the Holiday season whizzed by in a flash and now I am back at my work thinking about all the new things to come this year.

I spent New Years and a few days before it in Berlin with some friends. It was nice to be in such a vibrant city, so much to see and do, even revisiting places that I have been years before. The Pergamon museum and the Egyptian museum in particular. The only complaint I have is that there is no convenient shopping centre, it is scattered and spread from one end of the city to the next. But oh well that is my own consumeristic heart talking.

The New Years Eve we had dinner at Christine's with a few of her and Andreas's friends and neighbors. One woman Beatrice, had lived a year in Canada and had traveled from Ontario to British Columbia on the train and then all the way to the far west coast of the Island Tofino, where she said it was one of the most beautiful places on Earth.. I have to agree. It it amazing there and with the ancient rain Forrest it is well worth the long trip over the Island to get there.
After Dinner we waited and watched as all chaos broke loose at 12. I experienced this before in Berlin, the hundreds of thousands of €'s being blown up in smoke, and that is just the unofficial ones. I wisely stayed inside this time and waiting out the rest of it. I had made plans to go and meet with my friends afterwards to a party. But by the time I got to Warschauerstr, the lineup was all the way out side the building and onto the street.. and for two hours to no avail could I get inside. So I went home. What a bummer. I got back around 4:30 am and went sulkingly to bed.
Sat was so quiet in the city as we made our way along the streets towards the centre, we were asked by a couple if we knew where the Jewish museum was... I said no but that I had a map.. the conversation when something like this.
Frau 1: your German is really good, most Americans have such a strange accent.
Me: Well thank you, but I am not American I am Canadian.
Man 1: Oh where are you from in Canada? Our Daughter lived there for one year.
Me: Oh really? I come from Vancouver/ Vancouver Island.
Man 1: Really? She also worked on Vancouver Island some place called Mill ... Something.
Me: Mill Bay?
Man: Yes that is it we visited her there.
Me: that is Amazing I grew up 6 km up the road, my parents still live there.
Man: Yes we also went to Tofino, it was so beautiful there, It is very special place on Earth. The most amazing thing was the rain forest I will never forget that.
Me: Oh yes I know, I was talking about it just last night with someone, and I used to work there for about 1 year. It is magical.
.....
Anyway we found their museum on the map and said goodbye. It is nice to be reminded of the beauty and wonders of your home when you have been gone for so long.
We walked down Frederichstraase past Check Point Charley and of course had a SB coffee and then found our way through the maze of huge soviet buildings and up Unter den Linden and to Alexanderplatz.

The rest of the weekend was mostly quiet with spurts of drinking and dining before we flew back to Rotterdam.
Why I wonder do I feel so connected with that country. It is really terrible sometimes when I come back to Holland and feel so disjointed and unhappy to be here, but hey it is a new Year and a new Start or so they say.
Tonight I will go and meet two friends, A Swedish guy and a German girl who met when we all worked together here years ago. They are moving to Sweden to start again. I must say that I feel a little pang of regret when I hear about other people moving away from NL. I guess my own opportunity will show itself when it is time.