A few minutes ago, I left my mailbox at the department with two German magazines that I hadn’t ordered for. A closer look showed me that they were originally delivered to my head of department, a long-term professor of German. One of them, “German Life”, is published in English while the other “Dasfenster” is written totally in German. All this wouldn’t have made much sense but for the fact that a few hours ago, earlier in the morning, she had mistakenly began to speak rapidly to me in German, again. It usually happened like this: She would come into the language lab with the intention of telling me something, and she would begin to say it in German and I would stare blankly until after the fourth sentence when she’d realize what is happening, and burst out laughing.
Last year, I shared an office with someone from Switzerland who spoke a different kind of German. Although she didn’t manage to switch into the said language subconsciously, she did give me something to look forward to if I eventually decide to learn the language. (Those interested should check out her German teaching website here). Today’s episode has however got me thinking that maybe what a few years of befriending German women couldn’t accomplish, working in a foreign language department eventually would. Maybe, I said. Fantastische! Oh well.
Today, after a spell of indecision and procrastination, I finally got the spray paint and headed to the Wall to make it mine. It didn’t take too long, and it wasn’t too hard. And in the end, I didn’t get any more creative than I already got before. As none of the readers of the last post gave me sufficient ideas, and I never successfully resolved my language conflict, I ended up writing it in German, in the shortest possible way as allowed by the thinning white paint.
And so today marks the twentieth year of the demolition of the Berlin Wall in Germany. To commemorate it on campus, the German arm of the Foreign Languages Department in which I work have unveiled a public art exhibition featuring texts, artworks, pictures, history, (German) music, and most notably a miniature replica of the old Wall. Constructed with wood, and strategically placed at a publicly accessible spot on campus, the “wall” already randomly graffitied stands today both as a reminder of the historic day, as well as the ingenuity of the Department of Foreign Languages, especially of Belinda Carstens – the head of the department who is also a professor of German. Along with the chance to take pictures with the “wall”, students have been encouraged to spray-paint the wall and decorate it with their own graffitis as they see fit, just like was done with the real Wall in those days by angry Berliners and rebels who wanted it torn down. Needless to say, the over twenty feet long wall is already a notable piece of attraction on campus, and will be till the end of the week.
But amidst my excitement to be here at this moment in time, here’s a dilemma I face: I can’t yet figure what I want to write on this wall. Prof Doug Simms of the deparment had taken his time today to draw on it a sickle and a hammer (the old symbol of communism) turned upside down, like it was on the old wall, according to him. A few of the other graffitis on this “wall” reflect each painter’s own sensibilities, and not always related to the politics of the Wall itself. So here I am, thinking (or asking YOU, as the case may be) that when I go back there tomorrow with a brush and paint in hand, what other creative texts or symbols (in any language) should I be writing on this remade wall from twenty years ago beside the obvious personal statement in my mind at this moment which simply reads, in German: “ktravula war hier“?