Thursday, March 23, 2006

A blend of Germany and Poland

I had a dream last night that I went to Germany with a few other people. The people that I remember the most in my dream were Adam and Lina, a couple who are in my German class. Anyway, we were all staying in this house that was actually called a "cabin" that my Polish host father had. I kept getting confused whether we were in Germany or in Poland because our German "cabin" looked a lot like my host father's house. The rooms were tiny (even smaller than the real house), and I remember all crowding around this tiny kitchen table to eat whilst Adam was in bed. He was sick for the entirety of our stay, so he had to stay in bed.

It seemed like this dream was entirely focussed on confusion. My host father would speak bad German and then fast Polish, and I would get super confused. I was told that this "cabin" was near a big German city, but then I was sure that we were only near the small town, Stoszowice, in Poland. Lina and I, as well as perhaps Olya, all wanted to go and explore this big city, but I got the impression that we were in Poland and that the big city was a bus ride away. After being told again that we were indeed in Germany and not in Poland (despite the landscape looking very familiar to me), I asked how close we were to the German border. My host father either said 45 or 54 kilometres but because German says the second number first when saying a two-digit number and because I never knew if he was speaking German or Polish, I really had no idea how far we were. I figured it must be 45 kilometres because it is a more rounded number, and people are less likely to say 54. Ultimately, it didn't matter because I was confused enough as it was. It was also frustrating, in a way, because I understand most German spoken, and I could barely understand a word he was saying. I wasn't sure if he was saying every second word in Polish or something, but that could have very well been the case.

Adam continued being sick. I have a distinct image of him in this bed right beside the kitchen table, him talking in a raspy voice and having a red nose. I remember seeing and eating the same kind of food that I ate at home in Poland. We kept talking about going to "a German store", but we never did. Maybe it was because we were in Poland? Or in limbo? Or in this weird place that fused Germany and Poland together?

I was debating whether or not telling Adam and Lina about this dream this morning. I don't know them that well -- I would categorize them as acquaintances -- so it was probably a good idea that I didn't.

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