I once crossed Africa with a woman I was trying very hard not to love. In April 1986, I relocated to Munich to start a software company. I was an ambitious thirty-one-year-old physicist, but completely naïve about the country I was moving to. I didn’t even speak German, which quickly became a problem. Coincidentally, on […]
1 – We agreed: Careers first. No Commitment Read More »
As I checked into the residential hotel where I would spend my first month in Munich, I asked the receptionist whether it was safe to walk to a restaurant through the Englischer Garten, the city’s large, mostly unlit central park. She laughed. Munich. 1986. Earlier that day, I arrived at Munich-Riem Airport. At the taxi
An attractive young woman stood in the doorway of my office. She wore little makeup and was dressed strictly for business. “Falkenberg. Sprechen wir Englisch oder Deutsch?” My German teacher. I understood that her name was Ms. Falkenberg and that she wanted to know whether we should speak German or English. I indicated English. She
3 – The Indispensable Colleague Read More »
Swimming in Air: Week 4 Weeks later, we met at a café in the city center. I had missed my regular lesson, and she agreed to a makeup session on Saturday morning — professional and public, she insisted. When she arrived, she crossed the room with an easy self-confidence that turned heads. Mine included. As
4 -My Mind Is German, But My Heart Is Argentine Read More »
Our Chianti had barely arrived when Vivian said, “You know, I’m not interested in anything serious.” I half expected the topic to come up that evening, but I didn’t think it would be the first thing out of the gate. “That’s disappointing. I thought our children would be very handsome. Now I have to take
5 – Like an Argentine Tango Read More »
In early summer, Vivian took me to a tearoom called the Friesische Teestube, the Frisian tea café. Tucked into a quiet corner of Schwabing, not far from her apartment, it was an intimate setting where people read and quietly talked. Its muted lighting and dark wood paneling created a distinctly gemütlich atmosphere. There she introduced
6 – Now I Live to Live Read More »
One late-summer Munich morning in 1986, Vivian and I were walking to the Alte Pinakothek art museum, and I made the mistake of questioning her business skills. “How did you learn to negotiate so well?” I asked. “In Argentina, it’s normal. We negotiate for almost everything.” “I take it you didn’t have much money growing
7 – Men Just Seem to Wander Read More »