in greek, myth simply means story. maybe even a special story, somewhat of a sacred story. i have a story to tell. one of an idealized person i never really had the privilege to know. one who tells me more about myself than about her. i don’t know why she became such a great myth to me. but fact is, she did. and she dominated my little world for quite a while, proving to have quite a great amount of power over me. or was it just me, after all?
it was more than seventeen and a half years ago that i met my myth for the first time. it must have been april of 1991, in the little town of worpswede, north germany, around 30 km away from bremen. i was 13 years old, had overcome my first heartbreak in love, and was mostly listening to tracy chapman and herbert grönemeyer at the time. i was in love with a brunette who studied in a parallel class (she has been mentioned her, anja). my family and me went to worpswede to pick up my youngest brother leo from his musical week. at the time, he still had perfectly straight hair, and as we sat to watch the final concert before leaving for home, he sat right in the center, first row, to play is viola da gamba. right next to him, there was a girl. his age, maybe a little bit taller than him at the time, playing her viola. i remember being mesmerized by her. i couldn’t stop observing her and ignoring leo. even afterwards, when the young kids had a final activity outside, i caught myself looking at this girl the whole time. now, you must know that although i did not know anja, i was always very faithful to the girls at number one. this wouldn’t keep me from staring, but it did keep me from pursuing more interest. of course i did ask leo who that girl was, and found out that he had fallen in love with her that week. good taste! so the one thing i got out of it all was that she was very musical, the daughter of leo’s music teacher, sang very well and was talented on the flute and cembalo (harpsichord) as well. and that her name was eva. what a name!
i remember noticing her as a new student in my school next august. actually, she started going to class with jana and bärchen (their stories will be in here someday), who were my main people in 1990. but at first i was very focused at anja, and then, as already mentioned here, it was imke’s turn on the “throne of my heart” (hahahaha). but it was at another musical event in the spring that eva caught my unrivalled attention for the second time. i was now 14, listening quite a lot to simply red (...). my town’s music school held a yearly event i was more than used to by that time, called “tag der offenen tür” (open door day), where people would visit the school, see class in real time and appreciate musical performances. there was a wooden stage set in the middle of the open garden inside the school, and this was first time that a jazz band organized by my sax teacher bernd reincke performed there. as we played our set, i observed the people who were there to see us. and there she was, leaning on a tree not too far away: eva, now with longer hair than at the beginning of the school year, was watching us – and stayed for most of the set. once again, i couldn’t help but look. just look and admire. i can’t really be exact about the reasons why she just made me look at her. i guess the simplest explanation is beauty. not the kind of beauty that makes everyone and anyone look. a very personal kind of beauty. i mean, she was always good looking. but certainly not the girl widely accepted as a looker. but for me, she seemed to be the most beautiful thing i had ever seen. a feeling similar to one i’d had towards a girl called birte brettschneider when i was still 9 and 10 years old, but stronger. i didn’t actually express the thought at the time, but the feeling was that i had never seen anything with greater beauty than eva tüting.a few months later, imke’s reign came to an end. she just didn’t cut it for me. i was now looking for a new “queen”, and i still remember: it was the first day back at school, august 3, 1992, monday morning. i saw a girl going into the main entrance. it was eva. and then i knew. an era began.
it was more than seventeen and a half years ago that i met my myth for the first time. it must have been april of 1991, in the little town of worpswede, north germany, around 30 km away from bremen. i was 13 years old, had overcome my first heartbreak in love, and was mostly listening to tracy chapman and herbert grönemeyer at the time. i was in love with a brunette who studied in a parallel class (she has been mentioned her, anja). my family and me went to worpswede to pick up my youngest brother leo from his musical week. at the time, he still had perfectly straight hair, and as we sat to watch the final concert before leaving for home, he sat right in the center, first row, to play is viola da gamba. right next to him, there was a girl. his age, maybe a little bit taller than him at the time, playing her viola. i remember being mesmerized by her. i couldn’t stop observing her and ignoring leo. even afterwards, when the young kids had a final activity outside, i caught myself looking at this girl the whole time. now, you must know that although i did not know anja, i was always very faithful to the girls at number one. this wouldn’t keep me from staring, but it did keep me from pursuing more interest. of course i did ask leo who that girl was, and found out that he had fallen in love with her that week. good taste! so the one thing i got out of it all was that she was very musical, the daughter of leo’s music teacher, sang very well and was talented on the flute and cembalo (harpsichord) as well. and that her name was eva. what a name!
i remember noticing her as a new student in my school next august. actually, she started going to class with jana and bärchen (their stories will be in here someday), who were my main people in 1990. but at first i was very focused at anja, and then, as already mentioned here, it was imke’s turn on the “throne of my heart” (hahahaha). but it was at another musical event in the spring that eva caught my unrivalled attention for the second time. i was now 14, listening quite a lot to simply red (...). my town’s music school held a yearly event i was more than used to by that time, called “tag der offenen tür” (open door day), where people would visit the school, see class in real time and appreciate musical performances. there was a wooden stage set in the middle of the open garden inside the school, and this was first time that a jazz band organized by my sax teacher bernd reincke performed there. as we played our set, i observed the people who were there to see us. and there she was, leaning on a tree not too far away: eva, now with longer hair than at the beginning of the school year, was watching us – and stayed for most of the set. once again, i couldn’t help but look. just look and admire. i can’t really be exact about the reasons why she just made me look at her. i guess the simplest explanation is beauty. not the kind of beauty that makes everyone and anyone look. a very personal kind of beauty. i mean, she was always good looking. but certainly not the girl widely accepted as a looker. but for me, she seemed to be the most beautiful thing i had ever seen. a feeling similar to one i’d had towards a girl called birte brettschneider when i was still 9 and 10 years old, but stronger. i didn’t actually express the thought at the time, but the feeling was that i had never seen anything with greater beauty than eva tüting.a few months later, imke’s reign came to an end. she just didn’t cut it for me. i was now looking for a new “queen”, and i still remember: it was the first day back at school, august 3, 1992, monday morning. i saw a girl going into the main entrance. it was eva. and then i knew. an era began.
2 comments:
we all have our myths, sometimes it is quite a relieve to get rid of them, other times it is good to have them...
i hope you are enjoying your time over there...
ps: i remember that i told you the end of seven :-( when you watch dogville let me know, i would love to hear what you thought about the movie...
Eu tinha esquecido como era ter 14 anos e estar apaixonada... voce acabou de me lembrar ;) Tive 3 "mitos" na minha adolescencia. Estranhos mitos, impossiveis mitos, mas fortes. Guardo com carinho cada um... curiosamente, nenhum deles foi meu namorado. Ih, um dia talvez eu escreva sobre isso...
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