Getting better

The weather is (sunshine in my livingroom), and Emil too. The new betablocker worked. He's running around the flat happily, crawling underneath lockers, jumping up and down couches and tables, relaxing on the window sill, looking down into the courtyard.
My flu is still going strong, though, I had to see the doctor. Now I'll be staying at home some more, living on hot tea, lemon, and home made chicken broth. No halloween parties for me tonight, neither in Waltrop with Hartmut, my collegue, celebrating his 50th anniversary, nor at Nah-Bar with CS-friends. Sigh.
Yeah well, autumn viruses, they always get me!

Goodbye, Tempelhof!

Berlin's first and most famous airport, Tempelhof International Airport, closes down. All day long, historic planes were coming and going. The very last flight will leave shortly before midnight tonight. On tv they show pictures of the airport through the years, almost a century, and of the party going on inside the building now, for VIPs only.
Outside, Berliners are crowding and demonstrating. At the main entrance, the noise of whistles and drums shows the protesters' fury and anger. They don't want the airport to be closed. Across the road, artists are celebrating, everybody is invited to join. At the eastern end of the airfield, more celebrations in Neukölln. Close by, near the fence surrounding the airfield, demonstraters are happy the airport in the middle of the city is closed now; they want the former military area to be transformed into a park, bigger than Central Park in New York.
I was feeling a bit better this afternoon, after staying in bed for two days (and nights), so I decided to have a last look. Since it was pouring down with rain, I took the bus to Tempelhof airport, and said goodbye, too. Not demonstrating, I'm fine without an airport close by. I cross my fingers they will not sell the ground and build more skyscrapers or posh buildings for the rich, but give the space to the people of Berlin.

Finally!

Emil is eating again! He had suffered for four days and refused to eat one small morsel and drink one little drop. He had a hard time, and I did, too.
As you can see, from all the delicacies I had offered him today (fresh meat, yogurt, titbits..), he slurped down the Kitekat cat meal. Well, he took a bite or two. But still.
Time to exhale!

Poor sicko!

Emil is sick again. His digitalis tablets seem to make him worse. Now he's quietly resting on the couch, not eating nor drinking, trying to get the poison out of his system. We'll have to go and see the vet tomorrow. I'm worrying.

New guests in Stuttgart

Yesterday, new guests arrived at Pfarrhausstraße: Louis (the black and white one) and his little sister (Emma? Sophiechen? Finchen?). They're small, wild cats, and Anna will try to get them accostumed to life with a human family. She had been asked by Katzenhilfe Stuttgart, and agreed, but was worried about how to tell the boys, Alex and Volker. Both were happy to have new kittens around, so no problem.
They're cute, those cats, hein!
P.S. Two days later, they were renamed Julchen and Theo.

A quick turkish snack

This week doesn't seem better than last: bad energy level, bad weather, bad health for me (not enough strength to fight my cold) and my dear tomcat (heart problems, and his digitalis medication doesn't help at all). Shit!
I only seem to find a teeny bit of time to have a hot snack at the newly opened restaurant at Hauptstraße, close to Kaiser-Wilhelm-Platz, round the corner from my place. The food is great, I like their lahmacun best, 1,30 Euro only, and just delicious! But the pide I had at the cafe was great, too, albeit too rich for me. And the tea was hot and lovely and sweet! You would hardly notice this was a snack I had in Berlin, not Istanbul!

Sunday at home

Emil is snoring, whilst I relax after a day at home. No sun outside, so no walks, but I was feeling fine enough to stay indoors and do some work that had been neglected since so long.
I started with mending and sewing, went on to sorting papers and photos, and finally rearranged my books.
So many I haven't read yet! And I bought "Revolutions" by nobel prize winning author Le Clézio only last week!
Ah well, more cozy autumn and winter evenings to come, to cuddle up on my couch like Emil did all day today, sipping on hot tea, some soft music playing (jazz? most likely), and candles adding to the picture of comfortable laziness in general.
Like that I should easily make it through weeks of work and exercising!

An apple a day

is said to keep the doctor away. And browsing the web helps my health, too, as I learned from researches on older people using the internet. Well, besides social contacts, exercises, and eating healthy food (here you are again back to the apples).
My cold is not better, but not worse either, so I'm up to some walks in the autumn sun, which will improve my mood a lot, take a hot bath to improve my wellness, and cook and eat a nice autumn dish.
Feed a cold, starve a fever! Another old saying, that is so right!

What a week!

It's been ups and downs all through these days: A cold was slowly taking over, reducing my energylevel to something around nil.
All I mananged to do was go to work and do my very best (which wasn't actually much), take Emil by taxi to the vet almost every evening (problems after his surgery, he wouldn't eat nor drink, so lived on expensive infusions and medication - but it helped and now he's fine again), run around dark Kaiser-Wilhelm-Platz to make it in time before the shops close to buy food, vitamines and some medicine for the two sickos, do a teeny weeny bit of shoulder exercise at home, and that's about it.
Yesterday I was feeling too bad to go to work, and spent the day at home. In bed. Emil loved it, of course. Hopefully relaxing this weekend will help me to get going again. And I had so hoped on enjoying a few exhibitions and - last, but not least, sigh - cleaning the flat!

Autumn dish

Sunday lunch was brussels sprouts (my all time favourite), purple potatoes ("Blue congo"), and Teltow turnips, all bought fresh on the markets. Unfortunately, I fried some tofu patty to go with it. Yuk. Never again. I hate tofu.
But the autumn veggies were lovely, and the apples I had for dessert as well!

Autumn celebrations

A week filled with work and sorrow (my dear tomcat Emil had a surgery - nothing special normally, but dangerous for his heart), and a weekend of sun and joy.
Emil is jumping around again as ever, less one tooth. Having it extracted was more expensive than all my travelling this year.
Kürbisfest in Schöneberg around Apostel-Paulus-Kirche attracted families and friends. I strolled along the booths with Sean from Couchsurfing, we enjoyed a concert with merry organ music in the church, and talks and walks around it. We bought apples (old varieties from my favourite apple shop), potatoes (violet), long forgotten turnips from Teltow, fresh walnuts, even a beautiful and warm winter hat in reds and browns and blacks matching my new beautiful and warm winter jacket - but no pumpkins!
Later, I went back alone to the pumpkin festival in the mild evening. Sunday will be lovely, too. Ahhhh, those golden October days!

Tàpies in Berlin

Instituto Cervantes opened a new exhibition of posters by catalan artist Tàpies with speeches, wine and tapas. I told my friends from Couchsurfing about it, and fourteen of us met to enjoy the opening together. Tàpies is a wonderful artist, I admire his works, his humour, and his political actions.
We had a great time, and might meet more often at the spanish cultural center. For exhibitions and movies, maybe next Monday already.

Back to Berlin

My last days in Stuttgart were filled with exhibtions, meetings, movies (Wall-E), and long walks through the autumn woods in Vaihingen. Tonight, I will be in Berlin again. Work starts on Monday. No more vacation until Xmas. Well, time to get going in my job, for a change.
Friends are waiting for me in Schöneberg, too. Whilst I was on holidays, they met and set up Berlin Winter Camp. The homebase of more than 450 members of Couchsurfing and Hospitalityclub will be at Potsdamer Platz. The first wintercamp in walking distance! Come and join us!

Time to celebrate

Volker officially is a lawyer since today. Congratulations!
We had to celebrate a bit with champagne, of course.
Even whilst writing his thesis now, he's working already. So if you need legal advice, don't hesitate to contact him!