Looking back on three Months in Europe

It has been about three months in Germany and today Apra, Ramona and I will fly back to India. Lots of things happened, it was an exciting time but now it is also good to return home. Well, home to our first home, after having spent this time in our second home.

Having spent a lot of time among Germans, I will start by telling you of the weather, just as a normal conversation here always starts. It was wonderful! We had many weeks of wonderful summer weather, sunshine, blue skies and just great temperatures! I noticed however that it seemed to rain more often this year and sometimes very heavily. It was a bit like a monsoon from time to time and whenever it was rainy, it was humid as well, creating the monsoon atmosphere! So maybe Germany is getting another season, a rainy monsoon month?

For Apra, spending this long time in Germany was the best we could do! When we came here, she could understand German perfectly but still often replied to Ramona in Hindi. Ramona frequently made her repeat the same in German but she was not easily making the sentences on her own. Now she talks German fluently the whole day long!

We already think that when we reach the Ashram, she may have some difficulty telling about everything that she experienced because the vocabulary is so much more present in German now! We have heard her speaking like this with the Ashram boys on skype: Hindi grammar and sentence structure but German words! It will be lots of fun!

Of course the time in Gran Canaria was not enough for her to learn Spanish – except for a few words – but the memories that we all have from there are also fantastic! I am sure she will tell a lot about the daily beach sessions and of course the whales and dolphins she saw in the zoo there!

Apra is looking forward to go back, too! A few days ago I told her that we would return soon but of course she doesn’t have a relation to the length of time that has to pass. Four days or a week is not something that she can grasp yet and so she asked a few times ‘Are we going to the Ashram now?’ So nice to see she is also ready to fly back now.

From yesterday on however, it was clear for her. She understands the word ‘tomorrow’ and so she could help Ramona pack her toys without problem. On the contrary, she got so happy when she realized we were preparing for the journey! When Yashendu brought up the suitcases from the basement, she got crazy! She jumped around the flat, screaming of joy and shouting ‘We are going! We are going!’ at the top of her lungs. After calming down a bit, she told us how she planned on cooking parantha with her uncle Purnendu once she reaches there.

Now she is still asleep and we will finish the remaining work, have breakfast and start to the airport soon. I don’t know however whether the airline will fulfill Apra’s special request: she requested to fly in a small plane today!