What once were walls, now are roads.

Philippine Memories and German Delicacies.

Adminisk8or

06/18/2023

Guten abend meine Freunde. Writing in from Germany on this one. Oh yeah, halfway around the world for the first time in a few years!

I could go into detail on the story of how we got here, but it's just about the most boring thing, ever. Long 10 hour flight, another 1 hour flight, layover, confusions, jetlag- you get the idea. We arrived in Berlin and my wife's sister was here to greet us and guide us (she may as well be a native for how well she speaks and knows some of the culture). Yesterday, actually, we took a tour of Berlin, and learned much regarding the artistic and political history of some of the more prominent buildings and people. It was pretty cool, honestly. And I've realized just how little walking I typically do back at home- ask me how I know this.

Excepting the obvious highlight this week of traveling to Germany and everything along with it, there was another outstanding experience for me, personally this week- and it happened for a weird reason. Sunday night, I had an unusual dream in which I met someone whom I initially didn't recognize. She was concealed partly in shadows in this room we were in, and just as I was getting sure I didn't know who she was and was prepared to go my own way, she spoke a word to me in Tagalog, and I suddenly paused. I don't even recall what word she said, but I realized she actually was someone familiar. The only trouble was, even after this (and a few other words exchanged), I was getting very troubled, because although I knew I recognized her, I couldn't recall whom she actually was! After I spent a normal day at work, I came home, and the thought returned to me. Thinking I might have had a clue or two in my possession, I pulled out a box I kept in my closet full of memories during my time in the Philippines. Then came the good part.

The flood of memories came back over me. Ironically, no memories of who this person was, but it became less of a priority, as I went through all these old memories- many of which I had forgotten. Perhaps among my favorite of these memories were a few small pocket-sized notebooks I had carried my entire time I was there. In these, I had written down many a spiritual thought and others- and reading through those things was a roulette, because some of my writings were just common and simple notes from certain meetings I was in, which were good, but left little impact on me, relatively. But then there were passages and thoughts I wrote down that, as I read them back, astounded me- was I really that inspired and thoughtful almost ten years ago? I don't mean to say that in such a manner as to toot my own horn, but I was fascinated by the occasional notes I had made, which, although I was now very familiar with, still made me think from an unusual but thought-provoking perspective.

I suppose there may be no great, underlying, all-important message to that, other than sometimes it's good to revisit old notes, journal entries, or otherwise. I'm typically one who has their eye planted pretty firmly in the present, and I tend to want to keep my vision facing forward, only looking back to occasionally remind myself of progress and the occasional happy memory. But now and again, it certainly doesn't hurt to spend an evening wrapped up in good nostalgic memories, I think.

Until next time, see ya!