Foreigned out

What is your name? Where are you from? What do you do in Freiburg? How long have you been here? How long will you stay here? Do you speak German? Where do you live in Freiburg? Do you have flatmates? How do you know [name of host]? Do you...

It seems this is the essence of all conversations I have been having recently. I keep going to parties, meeting new people, asking the old questions. I can just have a script conversation and say it all again. Is that what politicians go through talking about the same stuff, making the same jokes, all the time?

Basically the whole point of these chats are to figure out if both people have affinities and can get along. The questions above are unintrusive and give a glimpse of the other. But as in job interviews the first few minutes tell me plenty. But then I have started to talk. So I can not just leave. I employ various strategies once I get bored: get more food, go to the loo, introduce someone else. I am getting bored of just meeting people, never seeing them again (or really wanting to). Sometimes I luck out and find a fellow nerdy spirit that share a sense of humor and the longing to learn about a lot of things. Perhaps all these other times are for just those ones?

I am also 'foreigned' out today. It is tiring to meet foreigners or Germans that do not really speak English, or French, well enough to have a flowing conversation. It seems most social events I go to include mostly Spanish, Italians or Germans who like to speak their native tongue. The occasional two sentences in English acknowledge my presence before the flurry of unintelligible words resumes.

I wish there would be either some French Canadians around or old friends to share something with. Perhaps I should Germanize myself and join a hiking club? For now at least I keep chatting away, wondering where the salads are and asking myself if there is more to being a foreigner than constantly meeting foreigners.

Cheers.