Leaving Oberkassel

I had one last work meeting, 2 hours away in Frankfurt. This meeting was with a group of engineers from different companies, part of an ongoing series we’ve been doing for the last couple of years.

We had met in May, when I was here looking at apartments, then again in September. With a common event such as this to compare, I can gauge how far my German has progressed: not quite as much as I’d hoped, but more than I had feared.

Last May, I struggled to keep up with even simple conversations, and fumbled with trying to say things. This time I was able to carry on a conversation, talking with one guy about his recent skiing trip to Italy, telling him how I was going there also, to do some cycling. I made a joke when he asked if my wife was coming. I said no, I was taking my other wife -- mein Fahrrad (bicycle).

I had an early flight the next morning, and thought about staying in a hotel near the airport. But I wanted to have one last night in Oberkassel. I walked to the grocery and bought some Rostbratwurst that I could cook on the small electric grill I had bought. This was one of the little things that made me feel at home when I first got here.

The movers had come the previous day to pack up all my things. The apartment seemed empty and more like a hotel room than somewhere I had lived. It was good to come back and see it not as mine anymore.

Anxious about waking up on time for the early flight, I couldn’t sleep. So finally I just got up at 3:30 AM and made coffee. I went through the apartment yet again, somewhat obsessive-compulsively, to make sure I hadn’t left anything. In a nightstand drawer I found a money-pouch I had brought with about $50 and a few blank personal checks from home.

Finally I unhooked the apartment key from my key ring and left it on the counter. My car was parked right in front of the apartment – the night before the parking gods had smiled on me and left that space open. I drove off for the last time, leaving Oberkassel over the Rheinkniebrücke.