An der Grenze

So, I know I am testing your patience - first this English and now a title in German. But I promise this will not become a trend, and... I can explain (but I better make it good so I won't get shot again).
Well, in German, usually you use 'in' for describing where you are. like "in der Schule| means |in the school. But sometimes, when things are lines that zou can't really be "in" - like the beach, or the border - you use "an". So, "An der Grenze| means "at the border". It is like you are touching the border, but not really there.
And that is exactly how I felt last night. We were taken by the festival to a Polish restaurant, at the other side of the river, which is Poland. And although both are now EU countries, there are still border crossings betwean Germany and Poland, Including one that can be walked across - an old bridge in town, which the restaurant was exactly on the other side of. The problem was that the border crossing at the bridge was small, and had only facilities to check people with EU passports; others had to go by car to another border crossing.
So, Osnat (that has a German passport) walked with everyone, and I was taken by car, together with a Russian singer, to the other crossing. It took us a few minutes, and later we almost got lost in the Polish city, and Osnat was somewhat worried by the time we got there.
.
But the real story occured when we came back, together with a Japanese singer that joined us in the meantime. This time we had to wait in the car, at the border, for more than ten minutes, with our passports at the hands of the Polish border officers. It was scary, because we had no idea what was causing the delay, and couldn't even get out the car because we were in "no man's land". I had visions of openning the car door to ask what is going on and getting shot in the back by Polish police. Our hosts fell silent, not knowing why we are being stopped, and all three "foreigners" in the car wondered if they are the reason.
At the end, a Pole came back with our passport, and tols Nina, the Russian, that Russian citizens are not allowed to enter Poland from the EU and come back the same way without a special visa issued in Dresden, but he will let her off with a warning this time. And we drove off, Nina furious at Polish beaurocracy but all of us somewhat relieved.

There is something inherently scary about borders, I tell you. When my computer is functional again, I might upload a new poem I wrote about the other border - the French-German one.

Ronen
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נכתב על ידי רונן א. קידר, 14/9/2006 18:19, ושייך לקטגוריות בשבילנו זו אירופה אירופה, מעברים 10-20-30
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