Blankenese

We were invited to attend the English class that Reggie’s co-workers attend each Monday morning. Holgar, Reg’s boss, offered the invitation because he felt we would appreciate some time with the English teacher, Michael, an American from North Carolina. We set out early Monday morning with a list of questions including some as simple as how to operate the washing machine to some as urgent as to how to set-up cell service.

Bombarding Michael with questions served us well. He didn’t seem to mind. He had answers to everything and anything, which fueled my curiosity as to what brought him to Germany in the first place. He began with the ever-so-familiar, “I had always wanted to do something internationally, but I didn’t know what.” (I’ve started my explanation of how I ended up in Germany this way many times.) So, in his early twenties, Michael left his telecommunications job in NC and set out for Scandinavia with the intention of working in telecom. Advice from foreign clients pushed him to buy the cheapest ticket to Europe he could find assuming he could get to Scandinavia cheaply once in Europe. In Berlin, however, he realized that getting anywhere else was nearly as expensive as the flight he’d just gotten off of. So, Berlin it was. He knew no German—and no one. To make friends he stood outside of a coffee shop and asked, “Would you like to have coffee with me?” to passersby. “I met my best friend that way,” he says. Now, Michael has been in Germany for 10 years—7 in Berlin and 3 in Hamburg. He speaks German, has a social network, and has numerous contracts as a freelance English teacher. “I’d say it is the best thing I’ve ever done, but before I say that I have to say it’s the most challenging.” No doubt. What spirit.

Michael even went as far as to include Reggie and I in the lesson by asking the Susat team to provide us with names and descriptions of Hamburg must-see and do’s. The harbor, they said, was a no-brainer and as they described it we grinned proudly as if to say—been there, done that. Next, though, was one hot spot neither of us had heard of. “Take the ferry to Blankenese,” Sabena said, “it’s a fishing village built on a hill.” She and Michael went on to describe Blankenese as a sight lifted right out of the Mediterranean shore, with homes built into a steep hill so that all residents were offered a fraction of the beautiful view of the Elbe River. We added it to our list, and, to celebrate Reg’s last day of vacay before starting work on Thursday, we visited it today.

The view of Blankenese from the water is precisely what Sabena and Michael had described. Reg, having been to Southern Italy, agreed that it mirrored the Amalfi Coast. Me, having never been to Southern Italy or to Blankenese, was just in awe. The shops were as cute as the streets were narrow (and the steps to the water were as steep as those darn three flights of stairs we have to walk up to get to our flat!) Every inch of the city was darling and Blankenese was well worth the trip.