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| Cuxhaven, 2013 |
Germany is different at this time of the year. The whole place carries a different aura. Strangers smile at you on the streets for no reason. Couples tend to even fall deeper in love in this time of the year. Joggers fill the roads training their bodies for the summer. Children start to ride their bicycles to school.
Despite the many things which change from season to season, there are few things which stand out for Germany.
Let me tell you a story about the day i lost my wallet. Those who know me will ask, which time?
This is about the first time i lost my wallet:
It was during my good old days when i was still doing my Au-pair. I took advantage of this time to better my German. I went to Rostock, which was the nearest big city to register for the German course at the Uni-Rostock. It is quiet a distance from Rostock to Speck (my Au-pair residence), a journey which took me two and half hours by train.
The registration for the language course costed some money, so i passed by the bank and withdrew money on the way to the university administration. Arriving at the administrations office, there was a long Queue of students in front of room 0.023 all waiting to be attended. This was going to take a while. There was no way i would be done in time, take the two and half hours train back to Speck and pick up my Au-pair kid from Kindergarten at 13 hours. So i decided to go out and give my Au-pair family a call and a heads up that i might not make it to pick Mathias from Kindergarten.
I think i need to explain why i needed to go out...
You see, back in the days, there were no mobile phones like we have today. OMG!... how did we survive?, you want to know...!?
There were what we called phone booths (Telefonzellen) all over the cities where you could go, drop some coins in the slit and make your call. If you are keen enough you might still see one of those here and there.
Anyway, i went out to search for a nearby phone booth, which i luckily found not so far from the administration. I made my call and my Au-pair dad was very understanding and asked me not to hurry, he would pick up Mathias himself.
I went back to the queue and waited until my time came. I presented all my papers and just as i wanted to pay my registration fee, i realized that i did not have my wallet. "Where the hell did i drop it"? i wondered
At the bank, on the way, at the waiting line, at the telephone booth???
Alarmed i went on the search for my wallet. There was everything important in that wallet. From my resident permit, to my bank cards, to the train fare, to my registration fee.... everything!
What was i going to do? How will i get back home? Where is the police station here? What will i tell my family? Million and millions of questions were rushing through my head.
Tears running down my cheeks i ran the same way i had come. Searching carefully not to miss a spot. Through the waiting line to the phone booth...
I did not find my wallet in the phone booth, instead i found a piece of paper written:
[ Haben Sie Ihr Geldbeutel verloren, dann fragen Sie bitte im Geschäft gegenüber] which translates
[ If you have lost your wallet, please ask at the opposite shop]
I could not quite believe my eyes. I took a moment to actually internalize this situation. I could not reckon this as real, because that would mean that someone noticed my wallet while in or out of the phone booth, cared enough to take out their pen and paper, spent their time to write the note and fixed it on the booth wall. They then walked to the opposite shop and actually gave the shop keeper my wallet! Hhhow can that be???
So i walked to the hair salon opposite the phone booth and showed them the written paper. I described the wallet and the hair dresser gave me my wallet back. For real! I was holding my wallet back in my hands. The hair dresser said that a young man had found it. I would have liked to meet that young man and give him a huge hug. I thanked the hair dresser and left the salon with a smile on my face. I was hoping to at-least find my resident permit and my bank cards inside, instead i found everything inside. Every single penny..oh ja, we still had the Deutsche-mark and the pfennig in those days :-).
Unbelievable as it may sound, but this is Germany. A place you can feel safe and secure!!!
For a Kenyan this sounds crazy, because in Kenya the wallet would be gone even before i stepped out of that telephone booth :-).
I value and respect the security in this country so much, and even more i value the honesty of the people.
You don´t have to hold your handbag tight to you body like we do while walking in the streets of Nairobi. You can just walk down the streets of Berlin with your handbag hanging down your shoulder. Walking home at late hours is not a big deal.
I notice that of late many things are changing in Germany, but i pray that this face of Germany will never change.
Lots of luv,
ItsRose_Beth
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