Getting ready for the surgery

Monday I had to be at Arkadenklink Filderstadt quite early for a talk with the anaesthesist's. They told me what Wednesday would be like, when my shoulder will be operated on. It's a rotator cuff repair. If you dare a close look, try here where you'll find a video, too.
Alex will take me to the hospital early in the morning, and in the evening the kids will meet me at Filderklinik, where I'll have to stay until May 2nd.
No Mayday for me, then, neither in virtual nor in real life, nor witches' April 30th with setting up the May tree and the witches dancing throught the night.
In Berlin, I already missed the finnish market this week, and will miss the congress on 1968, as well as Berlin Beach Camp and Carneval of the Cultures. Sigh.
But I'm invited by Steffen Osvath to his vernissage at Kelterberg this Saturday. That kind of makes up for it.
Wish me luck for the surgery tomorrow!

Garden sunday in Esslingen

Breakfast in the garden, sun shining even more brightly than the day before, cats jumping around the flowers - hmmmm, summer is coming closer!,
Even Justus enjoyed staying outside with Anna taking care he wouldn't run away.
I managed to sweettalk the kids into going to Esslingen garden market with me, so we had another great day of sun, shopping, and strolling around the streets. Esslingen is a beautiful town, with a famous old center, crowded with people this Sunday because of the traditional garden market, and all the shops were open as well, giving special offers, too.
Anna and I bought a handbag each (mine was a belated birthday present), and Anna fell in love with a watering can she simply had to have. It's decorating our garden now.
Tired from all the walking in the sun, we fell asleep rather early in the evening. I hardly saw Alex coming back home from a weekend with Annelie and her family. We would have loved to meet them Saturday on their party at kindergarten Sonnenwirbel, but couldn't make it in time. Next year...

Saturday Surprises

What a lovely day we had had to start the weekend!
In the morning, Anna, Volker and I strolled around the second hand market at Vaihingen university, and got lots of great stuff for almost nothing. I enjoyed the spring sun that much, I stayed longer than the kids. And found a chanel jacket for 2 Euro. :)
It looked like a quiet evening at home, when Anna noticed a message from Bettina on our phone from early afternoon, saying she was just round the corner from our house in the evening, in Kelterberg, listening to the "Neue Chor Stuttgart" and their new program on "Galgenlieder" by Christian Morgensten. Our friend Julika is a member, so three reasons to go and join them.
I was happy to meet them during the program break, and even though I was a bit late, at least in time for the second half of the program. And the meeting afterwards, chatting with Bettina, Julika, her son Juri and his friend. It was almost midnight when I was back home after a great day of nice surprises.
What a lovely day we had had to start the weekend!

1968 - in Stuttgart as well

Thursday was a long day, with getting up early to pack the bags for two months in Stuttgart. After five hours at work, I still had lots to do to get ready in time for Kurt to meet Emil and me, and take us to the main station.
Emil was sweet as always, but glad to be back home in Alex's room shortly before midnight. Anna and Volker had met us at Stuttgart station. The room was made up nicely for us, with chocolate on the pillow for me, and cat snacks for Emil. Must have been Anna's idea. :)
Friday morning to the doctors, giving me the papers I need to go to hospital next week, and the bad news that it will take really long for my shoulder to heal, and it will hurt a lot. Sigh.
As long as my shoulder is fine afterwards, I'm fine as well.
Friday afternoon I met a few friends and collegues at a meeting on 1968 and the trade unions, one of them Manfred Dombrowski (in the picture he's sitting underneath a poster of his teacher and collegue Fritz Lamm). We know each other since almost 25 years now, since my first lessons when he was my teacher in famous and legendary school and holiday resort Springen 1985, in the old and long gone IG Druck und Papier and IG Medien times. It's empty now, no more hot discussions and laughter through the nights at trade unionist meetings since ver.di decided to sell it. Sigh again.
But the meeting was fine, Bruno Schollenbruch helped set another point to the discussions with his reciting from his new program. He's yet another old friend and collegue, we used to live door to door or rather window to window in Stutgart West before the kids and I moved to Vaihingen. Yeah well.
It's great to see them again, and to find they're still holding on to the old ideas. Quite a few of the old folks aka friends and collegues joined the Anstifter. Maybe I should meet them whilst recuperating in Stuttgart...

1968 - and again

"It was the year of years, the year of craziness, the year of fire, blood and death. I had just turned 21, and I was as crazy as everyone else.
There were half a million American soldiers in Vietnam, Martin Luther King had just been assassinated, cities were burning across America, and the world seemed headed for an apocalyptic breakdown.
Being crazy struck me as a perfectly sane response to the hand I had been dealt — the hand that all young men had been dealt in 1968."
Paul Auster on 1968. Read on here!

1968 - again

After work today, Hartmut, Kurt and I met Hanne at the exhibition on Berlin 1968 in Amerikahaus. Hartmut couldn't resist hitting the bell when the numbers were "1968".
After a short look around, we decided we were hungry, and went to Hansaplatz and an italian dinner Hanne had invited us to. We had pizza, bruschetta, and pasta, and good talks with the food. We even began reciting poetry. Dinner, arts and the archive team. ;)
To be continued once in a while, Hartmut suggested. Hmmm...

Dutch Potsdam

Since quite some time I had promised my friend Christel the flat-keeper to take her out to dinner, brunch, an exhibition or something else really nice to do together. So we went to Potsdam tulip festival in the dutch quarter.
We had a great time in the sunshine, walking through the narrow streets, admiring the dutch buildings from 18th century, and the crowd around us didn't annoy us too much. We had Bessen Jenever, fresh herring with onions, coffee and cake outside a cafe, walked around the museum of the Jan Bouman Haus, and enjoyed our time and company in general.
There even were some tulips from famous tulip garden Keukenhof, and an old dutch organ. I loved the members of a dutch tradition group best, wearing 19th century costumes and showing the old ways of working and living.

My new station

They've managed! The new station at Schöneberger Insel, close to my street Crellestraße, will be opening soon!
It only took them like 60 years to rebuild it. The former name of Crellestraße was Bahnhofstraße, because it led to the Schöneberg station. This station had been destroyed during WWII. It was bigger than the new one and a bit more up north.
No long distance trains, not even regional trains will stop here. But s-train No 1, going from Oranienburg to Potsdam. Now it will be even easier for me than before to get downtown. The train stop is only about two minutes away.
The name "Schöneberg station" had been given to another station further south during the 50s, so the new station will be called Julius-Leber-Brücke.
It took them years - to decide, to get the money, to do the work. I often stood on the bridge to have a look onto the progress of the works. The official opening will be on May 2nd. I'll miss it, cos in Stuttgart hospital then. Sigh.

Coffffe!

Starting the day without coffee - impossible! Lots of Berliners seem to think like I do. Coffee helps them make it through the day. Thus there's a cafe or coffeeshop in almost every street, inviting to have a break, sit down, relax, and after a nice strong hot black brew go on with whatever you meant to do. If you're really busy, you might get a "coffee to go" and sip it whilst running. Prizes vary from 40 cts for a simple cup of coffee german style to 4 Euro for a superspecial Latte Macchiato with caramel syrup, whipped cream and whatnot.
Sometimes it has to be a delicacy at "Double Eye", Akazienstraße. On Saturdays the street in front of the small shop is filled with people queueing up to order one of their great and cheap espressos et al, and with people enjoying their hot, delicious, rewakening drink, often with a portuguese cake for the sweet tooth. It's so good, an artist put this painting besides the door. Makes you want some more...

Building nests

After work, I went to the new exhibition. This time on nests, with a 2x2x2m nestlike white cube in an empty white room. After stepping inside, you saw the walls filled with multicoloured postcards, pictures, memories to make it personal and cozier.
Lots of people were strolling around the flat, no room was private, no door locked, the kitchen table loaden with wine, cheese and bread. The artist and a biologist spoke on nest bulding, and since there were so many spectators, they had to hold their speeches twice.
A nice evening to meet with the neighbours and other likeminded people. Such a pity I had to leave early due to a cold I had caught the week before and never actually got rid of so far. Sleeping early might help. G'nite!

Living with art

My neighbour is. Every 18th, at 18 o'clock, her flat is open to the public to have a look at her art exhibitions, and enjoy some snacks, wine and talks. Nice idea!
watchberlin.de made a video about her and the exhibition that will start April 18th: "Die 18-m-Frau!"
I had visited her gallery "18m" some years ago when it was in Wilmersdorf. They showed it on tv then (see for yourself here). Now she moved to Akazienstraße. Very convenient!
So tomorrow I'll go and have an evening of art to start the weekend. :)

Beer from the homeland

In the good old days they had special ways of brewing beer. In Germany, those old fashioned beers are called "Alt" in Rhenania, around Düsseldorf, and Münster in Westfalia. And the beer is soooo good!
I found the shop for organic food at Hauptstraße (Bio Company) sells this really special Alt beer made in Münster: Pinkus.
Münster, by the way, is the town close to which my father's ancestors, the Hubbert family, lived for centuries. Some still do. And yes: Jürgen Hubbert, former famous director of Daimler-Benz, is a relative of mine. Kind of my father's greatgrandfather's brother's grandson, so a cousin. Or uncle?
Anyway: Pinkus Alt is delicious! And so healthy, 'cos organic!

Equal Pay Day

Today was the first ever Equal Pay Day in Germany. I knew about it, but had no chance to get one of those cute red bags they gave away today. :(
Maybe next year I'll be lucky.
And for now I'm happy to be one of the few women to get paid the same as men - well, I'm working with a trade union. And they support equal pay (check here).
Other women work all day, and still struggle. Especially older women have problems to live on their small income or pensions. Whilst men get paid a lot more for the same job. It's so unfair! Let's change it!

Schöneberg street festival

Saturday and Sunday, Schöneberg main street (part of former Reichsstraße 1 from France to Lithuania) was taken over by the people. Food stands, musicians, roundabouts, trays with cheap jewellery blocked one side of the street instead of the normal traffic, smells of hotdogs and candyfloss filled the air instead of gasoline and fumes.
It's nothing special, just a small festival for the neighbourhood. But of course they all came and watched and listened and ate and drank. And the kids were happy.

New hair, new dress - ready for spring!

Saturday was no day to do any weekend cleaning at all - bright sunshine called me outside to the markets. I couldn't resist stepping into a shop or two, to check for spring dresses. Admiring my new look in the mirrors showed me it seemed one of those bad hair days.
Bert had told me about a great and cheap hairdresser close to Winterfeldtmarket, so this is where I went. The result you can see on the pic. New colour - but still curly. The pink and purple flower dress is none of the very expensive ones I had tried on Saturday - I got it at Schöneberg fleamarket today. For only 1,50 Euro. It's just lovely with the sunshiny weather this weekend. :)

Rudi's bike

Yesterday in the afternoon, hundreds of bikes were blocking Berlin Kurfürstendamm. With this art action, Berliners commemorated the attack on Rudi Dutschke, students' leader in 1968, when he went to the students' organization SDS office on his bike. The attempted assassination failed, but Rudi was severely injured and died because of this in 1979.
There were mostly people in their 50s and 60s to commemorate their old friend, who had been fighting with him then, and who never gave up fighting until now for their mutual goals. Younger passers by stopped and asked what it was all about. There were speeches and poems and songs - read more about it on the website of the party "Bündnis90/Die Grünen".
I was happy to find a few well known faces among the crowd, and to chat with them in the pub where we all met later, on the old times and how to build up a better future. As Christan Stöbele said when inviting us to join: Political action and hard work to improve the world cannot be done without friends and enjoying your life together. Now.

Flooding Kaiser-Wilhelm-Platz

The square just round the corner from my house at Crellestraße is flooded again. The small wells started bubbling away yesterday, soon the kids and dogs will jump around the cool water like they did last year. For now, we watch from the distance and enjoy the sight and sound of the sparkling, fizzy miniature fountains. And dream of summer.

News from Simon's cat

Remember Simon's cat? The cutie trying to wake up Simon to get food in "Cat-man-do"? He's back! Click here to see "Let me in": a hungry cat resorts to increasingly desperate measures to get indoors...

Congratulations to two friends

Elsis continued writing her blog in english today, after a long break of six months. Having read her posting, I know why she needed this break. Welcome back, Elsis! I am so glad your health is better. And hopefully we can meet in Berlin again soon.
In Stuttgart, Volker passed his exam today. Of course! He did great!
And now he'll start writing his dissertation, and was offered a job already. Wow! This is awesome, you thing-doer! ;)
Hugs to both of you! You are so great!

Talking history

To learn how others see and and present that famous year 1968, I went to the exhibition "68 - Brennpunkt Berlin" in Amerikahaus today. Twice.
In the afternoon I had a first look around, and really liked what they had collected and the way they showed it. Even though it's mostly about the students' movement - and 68 was a lot more.
A few hours later, I sat in their lounge, listening to photographer Günter Zint. He's a member of our trade union, always busy working, organizing, bringing up new crazy ideas, and making them come true, and - last, but not least - having fun doing it. Since early 60s.
Whilst joining the protests in Berlin he took photos, too, and sold them to german newspapers. They are great documents of the time, and a very important part of the exhibition.
It's still running until May 31st, so if you have a chance, don't miss it!

Spring food

It's time for asparagus and new potatoes again. And strawberries instead of last year's apples. Hmmm, delicious!
Some Gutedel from Auggener Schäf, and there's a lovely dinner to enjoy and relax from a very busy, but nice day at work!
By the way, I discovered a website with lots of recipes for great meals and the german wines to go with them. Check here!

17 again

The movies and documentaries today on 3SAT, all about 1968, were well worth watching. And they sent me back to the time when I was 17.
One of the movies shown was "Zur Sache, Schätzchen". It had been one of my favourites, and it was interesting to see it now, 40 years later. Then it had offered me a glimpse of lazy pseudo-artistic life in Munich, a new world, different from family life in Düsseldorf. Nothing I was curious to experience though. But fun.
Everybody loved it then, the cinemas showed it for more than one year, it won prizes, and was entered to the Cannes film festival even. But the festival was brought to a halt because of the social movements in France in May 1968 (more about it here).
We saw Vietnam, Rudi Dutschke, Martin Luther King on tv, we demonstrated for a better world, without war, without racism, and since we wouldn't wait for the big revolution, we tried small steps, too, discussed about what would be best, and how to do it, until late at night, and started new ways of living and working together.
And all this time we went to the movies and laughed about this film.

25 years ago

This is what Köpenicker Straße looked like when the wall was dividing Berlin. Standing in the same place now looking into the same direction, you'll see the new ver.di building. It stands right where the wall was 25 years ago. See for yourself here.
The photographer Peter Frischmuth took pictures of life in Berlin Kreuzberg in 1982, and then again, at the same places and sometimes even with the same people, in 2006. They are published in his book Berlin Kreuzberg SO 36. Read more about it and see how this part of Berlin changed in the Kreuzberg-Fotoreportage.

Weekend started!

After a week of work during the day and interesting program of meetings (f. e. Maja from Couchsurfing, living in Schöneberg just round the corner) and movies ("Saint Jacques... La Mecque") in the evenings, I enjoy some quiet time at home, just relaxing and reading.
Hartmut and Kurt had surprised me with a wonderful book for my birthday ("Die Leber wächst mit ihren Aufgaben" by doctor and comedian Eckart von Hirschhausen). There's more literature waiting for me on 1968, a very special year in german history.
At ver.di, we're planning to do something on '68, and I'm collecting ideas. Saturday and Sunday are supposed to be rainy days, so just perfect to do some housecleaning and then lie on the couch, reading, watching tv (3sat special program all day Sunday), and brainstorming.

Emil at the vet

We've been to the vet last night after work, Emil and I. He hated having to squeeze into the cage again, but was fine and didn't move when the vet checked his heart. He's a lot better, they found out, and years younger. Next check up is due in six months from now.
Back home, he climbed up his tree, looked down on me from above, and later even played with some string he had seen dangling down from my hands. I'm glad everything we did for him and the pain we took to make him swallow his medicine twice daily worked out fine and helped him have a happier life.

Flying art

Back home in my flat in Berlin, I looked for a place for the gift the Easter bunny had brought me all the way from the Guggenheim Museum, NY.
I found it on the spot: right besides the desk with my laptop, so I can always admire it when looking up. Nice, hein!