One of my “resolutions” for 2017, as it were, was to blog more. Now we’re nine days into the year, and it’s taken me until now to even start typing up a post. One reason for the slow start is that I’ve been having some trouble thinking in English lately. It’s an odd feeling if you’ve spent the past decade thinking (and dreaming) more in English than in your mother tongue. Over that decade, English somehow became more familiar to me than my native language, and with few exceptions, I’ve been more comfortable speaking English than German for a number of years.

So why the change, you ask? Good question. I think a lot of it has to do with how I use the language – and language in general – now compared to how I did just a year or two ago. I no longer use (colloquial) English much, at least not actively. I still watch Netflix and DVDs in English, of course, but that’s about it. The time of never-ending email exchanges with friends has passed, to be replaced with twitter and whatsapp messages, and the online communities I was once part of are long dead, too. The loss of the latter is particularly sad. Not only were those communities a ton of fun (team spam party, anyone?), but they also taught me a lot, and not just about language.

Wow, that got maudlin fast. Either way, that seems to be what is happening, but I’m going to try very hard to fight this development. Not at all related, but still more fun than trying to figure out my language issues: I went to see the Christmas Garden at the Botanical Gardens last night. I’d been meaning to for weeks, but kept putting it off for various reasons. Yesterday was the last day of the exhibit, though, so it was then or never. I still almost didn’t go because I didn’t have anyone to go with. I tried talking two friends I’d spent the afternoon with into going, but even threatening to kidnap their seven-month-old was in vain (baby’s dad: “Eh, go ahead”)… The Christmas Garden was definitely worth braving the cold for, though, even on my own. I had most of the installations to myself and took an entirely justified number of photos.

And on the way home, I listened to a Spotify playlist filled with songs from the nineties. That brought back so many memories, and once I got off the train and was walking through the freezing cold, “Lemon Tree” came on and I could not stop grinning. The same happened a few minutes ago, when “Alles nur geklaut” started. (Also, *NSYNC, Aqua, Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, MAMBO NO. 5! A fantastic playlist.) Originally, I was going to use Spotify for the studying playlists when I write my term papers, but I feel this is a much better use. Up next: the eighties!

…now I wonder how differently this post would read if I wrote it again in German.