Thirteen years ago, on the 2nd of September 2012, I arrived in Berlin. At that time, I didn't know I would be staying. I suppose as an academic, I was used to, and also expecting, to be moving around, after a couple of years or so, and Berlin at that point was just another one extended stopover. In any case, I remember being wide-eyed at my surroundings, excited at the new things that would come. Looking back to that time, I find that the memories I have of my 9th move are still fresh, even though it's been 13 years since I arrived.
It turns out however that after 13 years, I am slowly planting roots. Why is 13 years significant? Well, it's longer than the 11 years of my cumulative stay in the USA, composed of 2 years in Denver, 1 year in Honolulu, 1 year in Guam, and 7 years in Buffalo. And it's one year away from matching my 14 years of cumulative stay in the Philippines, during 1982-1985, 1987-1988, 1989-1995, and 2001-2005. If my stay in Berlin goes over this number, then that would definitely be amazing.
Even though I've been here in Berlin for 13 years, this city still isn't feeling old to me. There's still places I keep on discovering. Old haunting places are closed, and now there are new things instead. Recently, due to the fact that my sister visited me, I was in the Museum Island recently, where I noticed that there were quite a few museums that were either new, or ones which have always been there, but I still never had the chance to visit. It therefore made me think that I should make a renewed effort to check out my home city once again.
A few years ago, I not only became a permanent resident, but also became eligible for naturalisation. Wow, there's many things that can happen in 13 years. At this point, I have been German for four years now, and so there's more and more aspects of this stay that makes it feel like it's a permanent gig. Let's see.
13 years ago, I arrived in Berlin Tegel Airport with 2 suitcases and a backpack. I took a taxi to Pankow where I rented a room temporarily. In the meantime, Berlin Tegel Airport has closed, and I accumulated more possessions that would fit 2 suitcases and a backpack. I didn't realise I'd still be around this time. But that seems to be the case, und das ist auch gut so.
