The umpteenth first time

I am pleased to look back and see what I've done in the last few years. I haven't had the chance to do it for a while since I was more worried about my present and my future. Now, I am only worried about my future, but my present seems to be safe at least for a while. Besides, there was not much distance between this near past and my current situation to get a nice perspective that allowed me to see things clearly and from a relatively external and objective point of view.

As I was saying, in the last few years, I realise I have done so many things for the first time, have tried so many other things, have eaten, have tasted, have listened, have seen, have felt, have met so many people for the first time... I think more than in the previous 10 years of my still young life. I have had first times in a new environment, a new job, with new people, in a new city, in a new country, with a new language... once and again. Hence the title of this entry: I am kind of getting used to do all these things I do for the first time, to my new surroundings, to a different way of understanding life, to finding a place to call home, to live with strange people (at first).

I must admit that it is still an interesting and obviously enriching experience, enjoyable, but this time I am not taking it as enthusiastically as the last few times. Maybe because I look at the mirror and I see that I am a bit tired and need time to recover and enjoy the 'old new' experience to the full. Maybe because I don't get that surprised any more when I see things I am not used to. Maybe because I am already used to see things I am not used to, if one can get used to this. Maybe because this is not the biggest change I have experienced since I am jolting across the planet. Maybe because I feel more and more at ease wherever I go, whatever I do and whoever I am with. Maybe...

So, coming back to this side of the mirror, the first week in Frankfurt has been fine. So has the first week in this flat, the first week at work, etc. I am staying with a colleague for one month as a temporary solution until I find my own place. I am not doing much the days I have had off before starting working and now that it's Easter. I have the same feeling as I had in Manchester: I don't feel like going out and exploring the city where I am going to live. I prefer to discover it by living and being part of it. I am not motivated by the feeling of seeing it as a traveller, but as a citizen. I am happy and keen to settle in to start really enjoying life here. Fortunately or not, I haven't settled in too many places in the last few years to get used to and not to enjoy it to the full.