Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Hello, Saarbrücken!

In Saarbrücken now. We found it and got here in a very roundabout manner which I'll tell you about one of these days. I'm happy because I plan to write my next book here. I have the space to write, don't have to put my papers away every night (and be unable to find them in the morning) because of a very lucky discovery of a fine old apartment near a top-flight French-German school, and with my top-flight editor at my side, I think we're on the track to a very happy and productive new chapter in our lives.

Yesterday I went to the gallery and saw some beautiful Max Beckmanns and a glowing, gorgeous painting of a Japanese Geisha by Max Slevogt. (Make it bigger if you can, and feast your eyes on the luscious shapes and colors.)




Last week we met Dr. Bruno von Lutz from the Deutsch-Amerikanisches Institut.  He was kind, funny, informative, and full of interesting ideas. I've got a lot to learn (like, um, German) and some useful things to teach (support teams and Idea Parties, following a dream in a structured way, backwards planning, what to do when you have 'too many' interests, how you're never 'too old' to go after a dream, that kind of thing).

We talked about me having a blog, and I liked the idea. I'm excited about talking to people from this very special part of Germany and letting you all know what I'm up to as I write my next book and plan my next talks and spread my ideas about how important it is to find what you love and do it.

The town itself is a very pleasant surprise. It may be Germany's best-kept secret. A woman I met last month worked as an actress at the theater in Saarbrücken and she said she loved it here. She spent six or seven years in this area said the people are friendly and easy to talk to. (We've noticed the same thing, again and again.)

But it seems to be a world of its own. People stay here (or return) because their families are here. (That's why most Americans leave their towns.) "No one comes to Saarbrücken and no one seems to leave it, " she said. "We did great productions but no one came from other towns to see us. Fortunately the Saarbrückers love theatre so we always had a full house."

In the beautiful river park near our place we take long walks. People are so friendly and less formal than in some other parts of Germany. Most of them speak both French and German (and English).

This is some town.

More to come. Watch this space.