Europe v. Cologne

Coming on one month before we leave New York and America for good and begin our life in Europe. I am having some trouble saying or writing the word “Cologne” when thinking about the upcoming move, when naming the destination. I am so accustomed to being a New Yorker, a person who lives in the center of the world, and being foolishly proud in some way of having this crazy place as my hometown. I wear it like a badge of honor, saying to the world – I am able to cope with New York – to thrive in it - to love it and almost understand it. And now I am about to say good bye to it and move to a small city in the middle of Germany where the sun doesn’t shine nearly enough and where I know I will be assaulted on a daily basis for being an American and somehow responsible for George Bush and all the ridiculous crap he is propagating in the world. Living in New York – we all KNOW we didn’t vote for him and that the world will be better off when he retires. But the rest of the world often lumps all Americans together (for convenience no doubt) with comments like, “Well you elected him.” And my answer is; NO I DIDN’T! He stole the first election and lied his way into a second tern by scaring 51% of the voters into thinking he could protect them from Weapons of Mass Destruction, which only existed in his speeches, and from the hidden armies of international Terrorism, whose ranks he has successfully increased by giving them a new rallying cry and focus in Iraq! Ok – enough of the ANTI-BUSH rant …
I was writing about my ambivalence in naming Cologne as my new destination, in favor of the much sexier “Europe” and I think I will just stick with Europe for now because I don’t know a thing about Cologne and I genuinely hope to use Cologne, in my remaining years, as a point of departure to discover a part of the world I know just enough about to be curious …