It could get crazy here tonight. Germany and Turkey are playing each in the semi-final of the European soccer championship. To understand what this means, you need to know that Turks are the second largest nationality in Germany. Some 2.5 to 3 million of them in a total population of 82 million. I'll skip the historical reasons for this and just give you my take on how things currently stand. I've been living here for about 10 years now, and I always get the feeling that the Germans and Turks don't much like each other, yet they would not be able to exist without each other. I'm also not going to try to dissect that one. Personally, I live in a city district with one of the highest percentages of non-Germans. Lots of Africans and Asians of all varieties here. And lots of Turks. I love it. It's an environment I feel completely at home in. Previously, I lived in a district that was comprised largely of upper middle-class Germans. I was miserable. All that sameness and correctness just left me feeling hopeless. There seemed to be no color, no joy. So I moved.
At the moment, I have my apartment window open, as I do every night during the summer. I never watch soccer, but I always know when a goal is scored: Sudden deep male-voiced screams, either of great joy or great disappointment erupt from every apartment building on the block. Then, after half a minute or so, everything is absolutely silent again. It always leaves me feeling safe, as if the world is fully in order and running smoothly. Cold water comes out of the faucet when I turn the COLD knob, and hot water comes out when I turn the HOT knob. The TV remote control works. I can log in and log out from this blog. Sometimes, things just work the way planned.
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