Luftwhat?!

WHAT’S A LUFTMENSCH?

Luftmensch is a Yiddish word, derived from German. It literally means, “air man” and probably could best be translated into English as “airhead.” It describes a person who has his head in the clouds, a daydreamer (or, as Gal’s father not so generously labeled him as a kid, “an astronaut”).

After we met, we together, misplaced keys, showed up late, forgot things, and lost track of time, and quickly realized that we had met our luftmensch match. And so it was, and we became luftmenschen in love.

Anyway, fate has now brought these luftmenschen to Germany for a year, two generally restless writers now left without a steady job or a place to dump our writing. And so, dear reader (and, most likely, that’s our mothers), we started a blog to keep track of our adventures. Debbie will probably write a bit about the currywurst and white asparagus and Gal will do his best to avoid the Soviet Jews. We’ll upload photos from time to time. And hopefully make you jealous enough to come visit.

So, enjoy, and don’t forget us!

WHY ARE THE LUFTMENSCHEN IN GERMANY?

Before getting too old and spawning, we wanted to run away from our Park Slope lives. So, Gal got a fellowship and Debbie, feeling the competitive edge, decided to snag one too. We’ll be living in a hotel in Bonn until mid-September before moving to the Berlin neighborhood of Prenzlauer Berg in the fall. It’s sometimes thought of as the Park Slope of Berlin—though at least here, when everyone talks about baby yoga and real estate, we won’t understand what they’re saying.

WHO ARE THE LUFTMENSCHEN?

Gal and Debbie are both journalists based in Brooklyn and currently living in Germany. For all you editors out there, we’re available for hire…