Spring is here again!

Sunday saw high rising temperatures and lots of sun in Stuttgart-Vaihingen. Volker enjoyed a break in learning for his exam, sitting in front of our kitchen window soaking up the sunbeams. Alex and Anna took me to the station, and I watched the spring landscapes from the train.
Berlin was warm enough in the evening to have some food and drinks with Kurt the Emil carrier outside Cafe Mirell. Today it will be sunnier even. How lovely after two weeks of winter holidays!

No chance to work

Volker is busy learning for his exam next month, but sometimes he just can't go on and has to take a break. Emily tells him when to do so, by lieing down on the middle of his papers. Dear Emily! She's so smart!

Family meeting in Bodnegg

Alex, Anna and I went to the family meeting to commemorate the death of my mother in law on March 18th, 2007, and to attend the special ceremony held for her in Bodnegg church.
It was a sad occasion to come together again, but it is a tradition well worth keeping.
The gravestone had been set up a few days ago, and the grave will be decorated with spring flowers now. Anna and Alex had arranged a lovely wicker basket with flowers for their grandparents' grave, with daisies, pansies, and forget-me-nots. They will never forget them, they were so kind and dear and cheerful despite the hard life they had had.
Around noon we went back to Stuttgart. Our mood isn't set to any activites like movies or theatre, so we'll have a quiet evening at home. Tomorrow Emil and I will go back to Berlin, for a few weeks until the operation in Stuttgart. Sigh.

Birthday wishes

First greetings came last night from Slave, a friend from Demir Kapija in Macedonia, and Bettina whom I had spent a wonderful evening with at "Da Loretta" - they let us inside and served us tasty beer when the restaurant wasn't even open yet.
In the morning the kids woke me up with coffee to get me ready for the birthday table decorated in the kitchen, with tulips and candles and cake and champagne, plus a parcel from family in Düsseldorf with the sweetest ladybird, a lovely green pearl necklace, a box looking like an old famous children book, and a book I had been given for my ninth birthday which they had found lately. What a nice surprise!
With my new necklace and some matching earrings I had found downtown Stuttgart yesterday, a piece of cake and a glass of champagne, I was ready for the day. And some visits to the doctors. And, well, yes: my shoulder has to be operated on this summer. At least all the doctors congratulated me to this very special day today. ;)
Back home, I found another birthday parcel from my friend Susanne, phone calls from family in Düsseldorf and collegues in Berlin, and lots of cards and greetings from Siauliai in Lithuania, Stuttgart, Berlin, Leuven in Belgium, Dublin, Padova, Leeuwarden (Friesland), Frankfurt, Sofia, Kentucky, Buffalo, and my Finns Elsis, Tilman and Tanja. How sweet!
Now I fed Emil, packed my bag, and I'm off with Alex and Anna to their grandmother's burial anniversary.
So my birthday celebrations are postponed until tomorrow. I'm pondering on an evening of movies at "Corso" ("Darjeeling Limited"? "Horton hears a Who"?) and a drink and food at "Maulwurf". Another option would be Berlin (!) musical "Linie 1" in Theater der Altstadt. We'll see.

Downtown Stuttgart

After a morning of hardcore paperwork I took the s-train downtown to Stuttgart center to some dates I've been looking forward to since a while.
- tax office first (to have that finished for another year),
- then on to a few shops to check on potential birthday presents (a Jacob Jensen watch out of the 800 series? a Habitat lamp for my Berlin living room? a kinky and/or stylish outfit from my old favourite 2nd hand shop "Stars and Styles"?),
- a short stop for a lunch at very reasonale prizes close to my former home in Stuttgart-West (Kübler, a butchers, so no veggies - sigh),
- followed by a nice walk through my former neighbourhod (met my old friend Jo Röttgers there, what a lovely surprise - he's a photographer and working a lot for trade unions since many years),
- to a check-up of my shoulder at the doctors (broken again, needs another operation soon, damn)
- and finally to ver.di to meet my old collegues and friends Heike, Rudi, and Caesar aka Gerd, (ahhh, it's good to have friends whom you know and who know you since many, many years!)
- and to enjoy an afternoon and evening with Heike, exchanging latest gossip, admiring the view onto Stuttgart center from "Cube" restaurant in Stuttgart art museum, and delighting on tasty Thai food at "Noodle1".
A day of ups and downs, mostly ups.
And today on with doctors and meetings, and paperwork, alas.

Agathe Bauer

Since a few weeks Germany is laughing out loud on Agathe Bauer songs, songs the words of which you misunderstand, and the new meanings add special fun. Best of the best is the Agathe Bauer story. Enjoy!

Easter bunnies in the snow

The heavy snowfall that had started early Sunday morning is going on ever since, with only a short break on Monday, which Anna and I took advantage of to do some gardening.
Otherwise we enjoyed good food and good company, visiting Volker's parents on Sunday, whilst Alex was with Annelie and her family. We reunited Monday morning for a great brunch, just the four of us: Alex, Anna, Volker and me.
Since I am not supposed to eat chocolate, a very nice Easter bunny brought a gift from MoMa in New York. How considerate! I wonder how he got it, though... ;)

Happy Easter everybody! And happy Holi, Purim, Mawlid and Newroz as well!

Spring sees lots of festivities and holidays all over the world. Easter in Germany is celebrated even in non christian families with gifts and eggs and delicious spring food like asparagus, strawberries, and lamb. Check for more information on Easter worldwide here.
It's Easter sunday today, when coloured eggs, sugar and chocolate bunnies and small presents are given and preferably hidden in the garden, as is the tradition. Since heavy snow is falling since yesterday evening, I hid the gifts for Anna, Volker, and Alex inside the house - the sweets might freeze and/or get soaking wet otherwise.
There are many old traditions spread all over Europe related to Easter, f. e. fetching Easter water from the well. But in modern times people forget about them.
Holi is a hindu festival, spreading over US and UK lately. I never attended any celebrations (yet), but love the idea of happiness and colours it's famous for. The colours are made from medicinal herbs, thus bringing health, not only bright spots all over your body. This year Holi celebrations started on March 22nd, yesterday, and it's still going on.
It was Purim this week, too, from sunset 20th to nightfall 21st. It's the Jewish holiday to commemorate the deliverance of the Jewish people of the ancient Persian Empire as recorded in the Bible.
On the same day this year, March 20th, Muslims celebrated the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad: Mawlid known as Milad un Nabi, too.
Also on Thursday, at 6:48 am in Western Europe, was the beginning of Newroz or Nowruz, the festival of the new year, celebrated in all countries influenced by the ancient Persian Empire. I attended festivities with friends from the Kurdish communities in Germany, some years ago. It is their most cherished holiday, spent with dances, songs, and often huge fires, to welcome spring.
In all these holidays, families and friends give each other colourfuly wrapped gifts and eat delicious dishes when visiting each other and celebrating together.
So have a happy springtime, all of you, whichever religion you might believe in. It's about giving and taking, friendship and happiness! Enjoy!

A visit to Böblingen continued

When in Böblingen, Volker and I went on to visit Anna at her new working place, the Landratsamt Böblingen. Thursday is the day when the offices are open until 6 pm, to allow the citizens to go there after work.
Sitting at her desk, Anna looks over the Böblingen houses southwards onto the huge and old Schönbuch woods and westwards onto the distant Black Forest. Just lovely!
She likes her work a lot, and we're all happy with her.
P.S. No, she did NOT show us her papers! That was just to make the pic look more like real working situations. ;)

A visit to Böblingen

Slightly longer than the one to Union Island in Second Life yesterday. ;)
Volker and I took the bus 751 leaving at Schwabengalerie, and 15 minutes later got out right in the center of our neighbour town Böblingen. We went up the castle hill (no castle since 1943), had a good look down onto rather ugly after war Böblingen (they had one of the biggest airports in Germany early last century, and that's why the area and all the villages around from the middle ages were destroyed by heavy bombing during WWII), and then went for the few beautiful houses left from 15th century.
The Zehntscheuer is home of a remarkable museum on the peasants' war in early 16th century. More than 15 % of the inhabitants in the german countryside and towns had been fighting for their rights then, especially in southern Germany. One of the most important battles where they were heavily beaten by the authorities' army was on May 12th 1525 in Böblingen. More than 3000 peasants had been slain, and those trying to save their lives were captured and brutally punished.
Some of the finest men had tried to help the insurrecting peasants install democracy, among them artist Jerg Ratgeb. In 1526, they killed him by binding him onto a wheel and tearing his limbs apart by four horses.
HAP Grieshaber, one of my favourite artists, fighting for humanity with his artistic means, held the memory of these people dear, and published wonderful works on them.
The museum shows the history of the events in 1525 from the point of view of the common people trying to defend their old way of life. It's a place to go and learn - not only about this part of the past, well hidden from our view until now, but also to build a better future.

A short visit to Union Island

Yesterday was another one of those lazy days at home. I will have to start doing some paper work soon, but for now I felt like hanging around reading: "Laienspiel", the new book with Kommissar Kluftinger. It was published last week. Anna had bought tickets for the authors' reading at Schiller Buchhandlung in Vaihingen end of next month. They're sold out already.
In between I was curious to see how Union Island was doing, so I logged in to Second Life. The exhibitions are still on, and they're well worth seeing. As a special treat I got myself one of their brandnew specially designed t-shirts.
John was there as well, working, and took a photo of me, wearing the shirt and drinking Berlin beer with green lemonade ("Berliner Weisse"). Later he added it to the "hall of t-shirt fame". So here's me in the shop admiring myself. ;)

Snow!

When I woke up this morning, it looked sunny, but cold outside. Only an hour later a few snowflakes drifted through the air. And now the ground and all spring flowers in our garden are covered in a thick layer of snow. I can hardly see anything through the slowly melting snow flakes on the window. Typical Easter weather! :)

Photos

I tried to take a picture of myself in the mirror today, but didn't manage. I like this pic all the same, since it shows me at the age of 17, 32, 50 and now, ten days before my birthday. I'll be 57 soon.
Wow, that's so close to 60! And only four more years of working. Unbelievable!

My blue teeth

First thing I did today was buy special food to welcome Volker back from New York: lovely almond cake to celebrate, fresh suebian bread, plus an assortment of tasty food we are allowed to eat, like fish and goat cheese.
Whilst Volker was met by his parents at Frankfurt airport and driven to Stuttgart, I went to enjoy one of my favourite occupations: a visit to the doctors, this time to my dentists.
To get rid (hopefully for ever) of my parodontosis, I had agreed to two hours of special treatment, including laser erasing of the bad bacteria causing the inflammation. It was the worst I ever had had at any dentists, especially because all of my mouth was just numb for hours on end. Not to talk about the costs...
Luckily, in the evening I could enjoy the suebian potatoe salad and maultaschen Anna had prepared. And of course delighted on the great pictures Volker and Anna had taken in New York.
One of the side effects of the treatment: my teeth went quite blue. Nice! ;)

Berlin -> Stuttgart for the holidays

Flat cleaned, papers sorted, flowers watered - off we go. Once more to two weeks of family life in Stuttgart, with Emil waiting patiently in his carrier cage in the cramped train, looking forward to his cat friends, especially Justus.
Kurt brought us to the station, carrying the heavy bag, dear collegue, the taxi had been booked a few hours in advance to make sure we got one (strike is giving taxi drivers lots of work, and it's difficult to find a free one in time). Anna and Alex waited for us at Stuttgart station. So it was an easy enough trip.
And now: 15 days of dentists, more paper work, tax office, and other such delightful occupations. Hopefully I'll meet Bettina and Tina and Heike. Maybe I should have a small birthday party? We'll see...

Strikers in my neigbourhood

Ten days of strikers demonstrating, negotiating, and waiting in the cold or - a lot better - in a nice pub close by. One of the strikers' meeting places is Café Kleisther at Hauptstraße. Not far from the BVG office at Kleistpark, and just round the corner from my flat.
It's good to see the strikers in the middle of the city. Most people hate that public transport isn't working, but they rather walk than give in to another year without a pay rise. It's about time now!

We're on strike!

Still no news from Berlin senate aka employers to the public transport workers on strike. Until this afternoon, that is. So we'e still travelling through the capital on bikes, or walking. I'm not, I'm on holidays! :)
To get some ideas on Berlin during the strike, have a look on the great flickr pics here!
And never forget to check the Berlin ver.di-site, please! My union!

B-b-b-b-be Berlin

Wow, it took them months and lots of money (10.6 Mio Euro), and all they got was this! It's the new Berlin promotion, be-be-be-believe it or not!
First problem they got: beberlin.de is already owned by another Berlin group. No shit! So they call the new promotion website sei.berlin.de - which is "be berlin" in german. Now that's a great start, isn't it. Proves they're too stupid to check denic.de or at least google up their own idea. Pffff, how professional is that?
Check here to see what "Spiegel" magazine thinks about it.
But anyway: Now we're all invited to upload our stories, and tell others how great we Berliners are. And of course we should all download the new mobile sound, so typical Berlin!
Unbelievabe! Do they actually think this will work?

No, it's not...

Winter will be back this week after a few warm days. The new hurricane Kirsten will bring rain, wind and even storm. Again. And dropping temperatures. They say there will be snow even. And people are running around with colds.
Of course I caught one already, and try to get rid of it as fast as I can. Only two more days at work, and Easter holidays will see Emil the tomcat and me in Stuttgart. Sun, rain or snow: A cold would be no use then.

Spring is back!

Sunday was a day full of sunshine. So no need to stay inside and do any sorting and cleaning, not even spring cleaning. Instead, I walked along the Berlin streets, like bunches of other people. Still no busses, trams, nor U-trains. But luckily the trains will go on going, no strikes here.
We had arranged for special transports during working days, collegues picking up hitchhiking collegues, and did so even though there was no need. Great to get to know more of the guys you're working with!
I found out when sorting and reading the papers piling up on huge heaps later in the evening, that the Finland Institute is hosting a very interesting exhibition since Thursday. Which I will have to go to and see, and it's easy to do so because of the train strike cancelled: Hel-Looks
And the very first day I will return to Berlin from my Easter holidays in Stuttgart, they start this very special program, going on for weeks: Helsinkiss.
Ahhh, I miss Funland and my finns! And pullat!

Party!

I finally made it to one of Floh's famous parties. He moved to Berlin a few months ago, so he lives really close now. We know each other from Hospitality Club and many meetings around Europe. I had never managed to attend one of his parties, though. Yet.
Rike, another hc-member, met me with her car in the afternoon. No public transport, and we had lots of potatoe salad and other delicacies to carry, not to talk of the three bottles of Köstritzer beer Meenzer from Poznan had asked me to get. So we arrived really early, but the party had started the night before already.
We had to leave early as well, when there were still many people joining. Berlin parties hardly ever get going before 10 p.m. Rike was too tired after a long week of working hard, and I didn't mind at all. I had had the chance to meet old and new friends from around the world, and enjoyed talks on how to best get from India to Germany without flights, students in the 70s and nowadays, wineyards near Traben-Trarbach, and a lot more.
It sure was fun! We left before it turned too crazy for old women. ;)

Happy women's day!

Have a wonderful day today!
It's our day, when women worldwide are fighting together for women's rights. Find more information here.
And don't forget to party! :)

Walking, walking, walking

No busses, no trams in Berlin. Starting next week, no trains either. Cars. Bikes. And people walking. For miles. Through rain, snow, and ice. Winter in Berlin.
Thank you, ver.di! :)
Correction: Thank you, employers! You could stop the strike any day now, if you would agree to a payrise. Which is overdue since many years now!

You are what you share

Now isn't this a nice thought? Just what I believe in since - oh, I can't remember when. Have a look at the video, and tell me how you feel about it. And about "We think" and the power of mass creativity.

Working for the union - by day and by night

Almost ten hours in the office were not enough for me today. I had to join a meeting in the evening. In Second Life. Talking with other enthusiasts about how to improve union island and how to make it a real meeting point for trade union members world wide. We sure had nice ideas and fun, but I'm soooooo tired now!
So if you're curious and want to know more, check here!
P. S. Thank you, John, for the pic! :)

Colour

Colour your world, and it becomes brighter!
The new colours in my flat inspired me to remove a few black and white photos (even though they had been my favourites since many years) and go for colour!
Even pink, unthinkable a few weeks ago.
I feel really comfortable in my newly decorated bedroom, and even the livingroom looks warmer now. Hah! What a difference a week makes...
And changing the interior design, of course.
Cuddled up in bed, I enjoyed once more the great book by antique expert Judith Miller and photographer Tim Clinch on living with colours through the centuries. I love it! :)

Oh Emma!

Emma, the hurricane, crossed Europe today, and hit Berlin on her way. I could hardly walk outside, the wind blew me across the street, not always in the direction I had meant to go. No wonder people were adviced to stay indoors - but of course I hadn't heard these news. From now on, I'll be smarter and check the weather report first!
Most stands on Winterfeldt market were closed because of Emma, so I had to buy my tulips from another seller. Nice colour, pink and yellow, but they most probably will not keep as long as the ones I get from my favourite market woman.
The rest of the day I was busy at home looking for new solutions to old problems, like where to hide my papers, or which lamp would be best in the living room. I'm lucky, some shops will be open on Sunday, so I have a second chance to get ready with furnishing my flat this weekend.
If I can make it outside: tonight Emma hit Schöneberg even harder, trains had to stop, and streets were blocked by fallen trees. Oh Emma!