German Dream

... that´s the book I´m reading atm.
People from other countries are asked what they think a dream for Germany would make sense and why.

Anne Cameron, Canadian author, so far impressed me.
Why?
Let me tell you.
Let me translate back from Canadian to German to English....

She says: ".... You have to stop to bash yourself.
World War is over! Liberation of Auschwitz has taken place over 60 years ago! 60 years!
And you still bash yourselves as if Germany had been the only country that had gone mad!
Name one country in the world that back then was willing to take Jewish refugees, who hoped to find peace. Canada rejected boat-loads and sent them back!
And besides, it wasn´t the Germans who let the Ukrainian die of hunger. Millions and millions of Ukrainians died of hunger and they died on purpose. And it was not the Germans who threw Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It has not been the Germans who worked Stalins Gulags. Germans have not been in South Africa, Kambodscha or Laos with the United States, the Germans have not been involved in the Palestine-problem and the Tamilen-problem is not their fault either.
You have to find your faith after all!
Okay?
No one is without guilt. And you are not guiltier as anybody else.
The whole world was crazy back then! Make your faith! Children of Germany today have got nothing at all to do with it!"

Guess what...
My parents were kids back then. Didn´t learn much at school, went into the Bunker all the time (how frightening has that been? They never told me! I did ask!)

My Mum´s Dad... yes, he was a soldier. He told his wife (my dear Grandma!) to take the kids (seven!) and flee to Germany with the Wilhelm Gustloff - they surely would have been killed in this tragedy... (I found out by chance!!! In what kind of a family did I grew up?!!! I was shocked!). They waited... "the Russians" in their back.
Yes. Partly I am Polish...
My Dad´s Dad?
He said: No.

No.

This is wrong, Hitler is sick. I do not join.

He lost his job, but that was worth it.

Now... me at age ... ??? 12... had to go with 3 other schools and say "I am sorry for what I did to the Jewish people."

Now...

What have I done to the Jewish People?
What do the Jewish People do to the Palestinian People??? Today even?

I never read - and I never will read - Anne Frank´s book.
It must have been more awful, more awful than anyone can imagine.

The point of this post???

I am German.
And I should not blame myself for it.
This is what Anne Cameron said when she thought of Germany.
And I am willing to follow.

I should go to Canada, throw my fishing-rod and see what I get... Maybe that´s my dream...
(Carnarvon, Old Prawn Jetty!)

Here It Is

One day (!) later (see last post):





Containers are full.
Can you imagine this in 30+C??? Yikes, I tell ya!

And, yes, we pay taxes fot this!

Maybe I take another pic on Monday, let´s see how much is placed beside the containers.
And what are people supposed to do anyways - take it back home?!

Can We Get Rid Of It?

I just found this pic...



This is Ingo standing in the bedroom trying to check if we can recycle...

The darn containers are emptied once a week and you can be sure a few hours later they´re full of plastic-"recycling-stuff" (is it burned anyways? Shipped to Italy to go to the ground of the sea? Who knows...).

Guess every man in this street is standing at the window with binoculars when "Alba" comes to empty a container. To see if it´s plastic. And then everybody runs out with aaaaaall the plastic "gathered" all week. My, do I look forward to summer. Then, you not only see the darn stuff - you smell it, too!

Is recycling as difficult in your place?

(paper and glass is ok, just plastic is not. Might be cause the Cultural Centre Brunsviga brings its plastic there, too - I think they´re not supposed to!)

Siblings-Day

So, my friend asked me today how my Mum is doing.
(From the health point of view: Ok. But.... she still hasn´t even started to pack for her move. To the apartment she owns for nearly 3 years by now. In a town that would be better for her health... looong story)

Family is a difficult thing somehow.

It´s the third year in a row that my family said they wanna come over for my Birthday. And they skip it.
The first two years there was the danger of flooding at my now-SIL´s place. I can totally understand. This year was a lot of snow and not fun driving. I can understand that.

But... it would´ve been nice to come some time in summer, no? Or maybe one Saturday now?

They just don´t. It´s some 60 km one way. I´m not at the other end of the world, huh?

To top it, Bro asked when I will come over again.

Hello? How lazy can one be?! They know I hate driving. They know I´m rather afraid of it since my accident. They have cars, too. And it would mean something to me!

I feel hurt. Neglected.
Yes, SIL is pregnant. They want to get rid of the house (mouldy, due to floodings) and rebuild it. So, Bro is busy clearing out one apartment in our family-house, so they can live there. He can do so in his working hours, btw.
Next year... they can say, hey, we have a Baby? And then? Not possible to come over with a toddler? Ok, I´m getting mean.

Oh, and he just said, sorry he hasn´t much time for me. A friend is turning 30 in two weeks and there is soooo much to do. Yeah. Good, that did hurt.

Now... my friend has established "Siblings-Day" with her sister. They do it once a year (oh, my, they live some 55 km one way ahead, that´s something different, huh? ;-)... no, they see each other on a regular basis, this is "just" a topping)

And she says I should try the same.

I love my Bro. And I miss him. But,... Hurt Pride.

When he was in trouble some 4 years ago, he was here at least once a week. It was "natural" that I worked longer on other days to be there for him as early as possible.
No, I don´t want an everlasting thank you.
But I feel totally forgotten.

And... more important... I feel as if I´m an intruder to the new family that evolves when I suggest a Siblings-Day.
If you have siblings and they don´t live too far apart... would you suggest such a thing? Have you? Does it work? What about their partners?
Does it also work between Brother and Sister?

I could imagine, because that week I was with him in Cologne when he still studied, we had a great time. Fun as well as serious talk. Friendship. Family.

I don´t think he (and my Mum) hurt me on purpose. But they do hurt me...
And yes. I told them once that they do with this.
And no, they don´t read along here.

Frogs Cheer Me Up

Here finally pics of the Frog-Carousel and the Door-Pics:







The Calendar you see to the right ... a last tribute to the Braunschweig Lions.
A great idea to show the players like that and help men to a pressie for their women :-)
First season we will not go to the games.
Has become more and more expensive for less and less service/fun. Louder and louder and louder. Agressive, I don´t like it anymore.



To the left: A letter from Ingo, about 13 years old.
He wove in the words "Iris I love you", how cute is that?
Actually it was a note that we had to babysit my family´s house and Ingo already went there... yeah, that was before having internet at home!
Underneath: A German ad - that woman holds a stubby of VB, why ever...

A Point?

I feel lost.
I´m a bad person. For four weeks(!) Ingo made this dish - and I never payed attention. Cooking... nothing natural to me, I´m like my Dad. In my family men do the cooking.
Plus... I´m really afraid of heat, of burning myself.

That´s no excuse, I know.

Maybe Ingo might find his dream-job. He´s at it for a whole week, and let me know... yesterday.
This weekend is entirely used up for the app, I understand that.

I was to do the cooking. Lots of fight. I took the smaller piece, which was fine. His was not.
I feel sad, misunderstood. Angry, a bit. Still I try to understand. I see it´s my fault. Or, is it?
Guess that´s life.
Sun is shining. I could go out. No motivation.
Hope your Sunday is better than mine.

A lost day, a lost weekend.
Time is precious.

Cuba Is Safe

As all summer will be (maybe two!), because... guess what: Another "pressie" arrived today!!

A pressie that made the sun come out (not kidding, happened!)

Here it is, thank you so much, Flea!!:



You know... here in Germany sunscreens are a pest. True. I tried many. Normal. Sports. Kids. Sensitive. "Non-Greasy".

ALL were greasiest!

You look like you fell in a pit of oil. Not very "sexy"! And anything you touch is oily, too. Steering wheel, doorknob, keyboard...

You ask, why?????
Ingo has an idea: The Germans just don´t any know better.

What does sunscreen mean to us? Let me tell ya:

Sunscreen

Suncreen means: Holiday! Beach!! Sand!
Ummm. Actually we grew up with this: Sunscreen. Sand anywhere. On you breadroll, on your fingers, in your softdrink. Because anything you touch is oily with the sunscreen your´re wearing.
It´s eek.

But...

It also means: Holiday! Sand, beach, sea!

So, after all, to Germans it´s a good feeling.

Maybe industry keeps sunscreen this bad on purpose?

People like me/us, who had the chance to see a bit more of the world, they know better. And... they plain hate and get distressed bout the sunscreen available here!

Well. I´m light-hearted now! I have "the stuff the construction workers of WA" use, prochoice.com.au, right?

Yipeee, Cuba (our next holiday, btw, in a month already) will be fun and un-oily! Thank you, Flea :-)))

Take A Shower?

Maybe not?

Haha, Pressies, again, ohhh, Ingo is such a romantic guy!!!

After years and years we got rid of the ole Gold-fish-scenery and swapped on to this:



You can click to enlarge, please have a look on that "carpet"-thingy as well :-)
(Please ignore my Bras-to-go-to-hand-wash)

Since we live together I can watch "Horror" and all and hence... we couldn´t resist!

Oh, btw, Bathroom...
I "puzzled" this carpet myself (no!! It´s not only for kids!) and you can find us/our names, plus the word "WE" (German "WIR") plus my Bro Helge and his Wifey Alex (yeah, I had to cheat and use numbers upside down):



Anyone in for sharing Bathroom-Pics? If so, let me know?

Rock Da Food

... or: Pressies... again

For my Birthday I got a demo-CD from my Colleague. She´s the drummer of the band MOON:PATROL, you can check it out here.

Don´t like the singer´s voice much, but the rhythm sure is great.

Sooo... since I also know she likes to cook, I just had to get these:


You can click to enlarge

They got a "Cookin' End" and a "Rockin' End", I think it could make a good pressie soon :-)

Hello Goodbye

Well... as said: Hello...



And Goodbye....



Was a good car. (and here you can see his friendly face without snow)
I´m a bit sad I had to let go of that supercool Perth-Sticker...



Well. Ingo said he heard no difference. I do. Sounds totally different to the "old" Polo.
At first I thought the new one looks agressive. Maybe he does. Fact is: It´s higher quality.
Actually I wanted a yellow Volkswagen Fox but any comfort is an extra, so I was suggested to stick with Polo.
Skoda Fabia was no option, either. The new design is so darn ugly, I don´t wanna see that for three years!
Yes, has to be VW-family, so... Polo.

The partner where we get the cars is in Hildesheim. And... that´s where I studied. And... that´s where the super-yummy Falafel is still to get, after all these years, that´s a good sign, huh?

YUM.
Maybe I´m getting old, though. By no chance I could eat it all!



Yes. That was the first thing we did in the brand-new car. EAT ;-)
Yes, Ingo was the first driver, not me.

I heard from WED on it´s supposed to get warmer. Yes... next week, gah.

Pressies II

About a year ago I wrote this post.

Will you believe it, my friend did the very same thing this year, isn´t this too weird?

True story: On Monday I was in that tiny shop and held this cutie in my hands:



Ingo, just like last year suggested I don´t really need him (yes, him, "Moritz" is his product-name).

Tuesday among other I had him as a late B-day-pressie!

In this case you could argue that, according to what is written on the back you should not buy it for yourself:



Really, both, P. and Ingo claim they didn´t talk about it.

Weird, weird , weird.
hehe, and oh so nice and practical! :-)

Hmmmm, looking forward to next year´s pressie!

Happy Valentine´s Day

... to you.

I´m Rich!

Just found this:



This is a cleaning cloth for glasses. Yeah, aaaages old, still has the Deutsche Mark as currency.
Dates back to the days when my Mum and Dad had a second store in Hannover!

It says, "More worthy than money is your eyesight and hearing" (my Dad was also into hearing aids, besides being a Goldsmith, Optometrist, Watchmaker and Businessman).

1000 German Mark... man... must be from the late 70´s that cloth!

What do you think about our "family-logo"? I loooove that 70´s font :-)

Helau II - Love To Detail

This year they even came out with a (free) magazine for carnival!
(Lion: We´re the city of Henry The Lion, that´s why)... Oh, btw, due to the cold weather: Lion-Costumes are out!



Here the parade will march:



It´s cute how much love into detail you find here!

Even the Ringerbrunnen, see the original:



They even let you know how many spectators will be and how high the amount of thrown sweets will be where! And where the loos are. Helau!

We´ll probably watch in on TV!

Cause...

This is it here:



Number Plate all frozen!

And go for a walk together, haha... one after the other!




It´s not fun anymore... Do I have to mention? It snows :-(
Monday we have to drive to work... Really, if it wasn´t for the cars, for driving, I wouldn´t mind too much.

Helau?

This is really the weirdest winter I can remember... This Brunswick article (German) describes the fiasco. Cities and Citizens have run out of salt, there is ice everywhere, hospitals are more than full with people with broken bones.

(Still there are many cyclists on the "roads"!!! To top that, most wear no helmet and have no lights, not even when it´s dark. Sadly, I´m not kidding.)

In Germany it´s carnival-time, Braunschweig will host the biggest parade in Northern Germany this Sunday and the city tries to get rid of the ice with power shovels - at least at the major places.

Hannover even has "Ice-Sheriffs" that control the city and hand out fines from 75-5000 € for not-clearing.
Plus, they give away a mixture of sand and salt for free.

Hamburg now has an "Ice-Hotline", people can point out the most dangerous places and the city will try and solve those problems...

Gah-haaaa....

... A Girl´s Best Friend

... that´s supposed to be Diamonds, right?

When we left the house this morning, it looked like little Diamonds were spread all over the snow, soo beautiful.

Must´ve been extra-cold whilst snowing, and no, my cam can´t capture it and to fetch Ingo´s... we were in a hurry, him heading off south, me north, through the darn chaos.

Beautiful, yes, but pleeeeease, can it stop now???
(Doesn´t look like it, snows like crazy atm)

I prefer other Diamonds anyways, the ones that come from the heart and can as well be a tiny, tiny mouse:



Pressie from Ingo, yay, so sweet (and useful), here´s another pic:
(Reason? None, just us, ... or me :-)...)



Inspiron Mini with tiny Mouse, that fits :-)

Good...

... I/we (*) took off rather early, due to the weather (still bad, I don´t wanna bore you (!!!) with details). No one came to work!
7:30, I closed my door anyways (direct colleague doesn´t work on Fridays) to call my doc to make an appointment (routine - still... this is rather personal, huh?).

When I was done, I opened the door again and short after...



"Your door was closed, I didn´t want to disturb... Good Morning! :-)"

He did come back "just" for that!

See, this is part of why I love my job!

Am I lucky, huh?! Yes, I know it, and I am grateful for it!

Hope you have/get colleagues like that, too! Life is too short to lack of fun and... warmth (?) at work...

(*) I am very happy, too, we´re both the early-type-of-guy! I have so much luck with my "partner"... :-) We both love heat, hate snow...

Day To Remember

...only, hopefully, not a day to come back!



This was the worst ride ever this morning.
The roads were icy, and it was raining.
On the radio they warned all the time that it´s very icy on the roads, schools are closed, public transport is off and reminded people to only use the car if absolutely necessary.
Haha, funny...

Breaking? You need a looong way, and the anti-lock braking system sets in often.

Some drivers go fast, though, as it it was summer.

It took me 15 minutes to do a left turn.
All the busses were not running, hence all the guys who went in for their shift came by car - pure chaos, from three sides.

All in all I came to work safely in 45 minutes.

My colleagues started later and needed 2 1/2 hours for the same route. Accidents had happened and there they were, stuck in traffic.

Everybody arrived safe, though.

It was really anything but funny.
I know, yes, we have winter - but... here we´re not used to strong winters like that anymore, counties aren´t prepared and can´t help, it´s a cold and dangerous mess.

I hope it gets warmer very, very soon!

I Didn´t Do It!