From 33 Degrees to -3 Degrees Celsius

“Look at Preeti, already buying winter jackets”, teased a colleague of mine.

“But summer is over, right?”, I responded.

“Shh.. we don’t say that here”, remarked my manager.

It was August and as per the weather people in the European Commission, summer in this continent ends on the last Sunday of September. However, I was already starting to see that it was ending as I turned my desk calendar from July to August. The days were getting cooler and wetter. It was my first summer in Germany. Or let’s say it was my first everything (spring, summer, the roads, the trees, the hoardings, the language in the hoardings) and there were more firsts to come — The autumn and the infamous grey Berlin winter.

It has been a year and a half now since I moved to Berlin. I am wondering what I can write about my experience that might interest you. Like when I first went to the supermarket? If you want to get to know the culture of a country, start from the culinary. I remember my first supermarket experience in Berlin. It was one of awe and confusion. I was delighted to see so many berries the moment I walked in. There they were, neatly packed into rows in the cold containers at the entrance — raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, European gooseberries. Now, I had seen some of these before but not all, not…