Hallo,
gestern um 23.10 ist das Flugzeug auf Antananarivo gelandet. Ich bin von Marburg etwa 20 Stunden gereist. Einerseits war die Reise persönlich erschöpfend. Andererseits habe ich beim Flug Paris – Antananarivo zwischen zwei manchmal unangenehmen Personen gesessen. Beim Essen pupsten sie mehrmals einen schlechten lang verbleibenden Geruch. Und im Flughafen von Antananarivo haben sie nicht ihren Platz behalten, sondern sie sind vor anderen einfach vorbeigegangen. Personen wurden deswegen wütend, aber das war ihnen ganz egal. Diese unangenehmen Passagiere waren weder Deutsche noch insbesondere Madagassen. Ich mag es nicht, wenn jemand die schon eingesessene Ordnung nicht respektiert. Aber als ich gesehen habe, dass Ausländer sich das Recht geben, die Ordnung eines anderen Landes nicht respektieren zu dürfen, verblieb ich einfach wie versteinert. So wirtschaftlich stark sein Land sein kann, sollte man sich nicht so verhalten meiner Meinung nach. Ansonsten läuft der Anfang meines Aufenthaltes sehr gut. Wie schön, meine Familie und Freunde wieder zu treffen.
Viele Grüsse,
Hery

Zwei Länder in einem Tag! Sowas kommt nicht so oft vor.Obwohl die beiden Städte ja gar nicht so weit von Freiburg sind bin ich trotzdem noch nicht dazu gekommen sie zu entdecken.Basel stand als erstes auf dem Plan.

Die Tage zuvor waren immer bewölkt und verschneit, doch an diesem Tag ließ die Sonne sich sogar für den größten Teil zeigen. Der erste Eindruck war eher skeptisch, da man von der Autobahn als erstes nur Industriegebiet sah. Jedoch war ich sehr überrascht und beeindruckt als ich dann in der Innenstadt war.Mir gefiehlen die Gebäude am meisten! Die meisten noch so alt und genau deswegen so besonders. Die Stimmung die in Basel herrschte war wunderschön. Alle Leute schienen freundlich und haben den sonnigen Tag draußen genossen. Ganz besonders hat mir ein Straßenmusikant gefallen. Mit viel Gefühl hat er spanische Melodien auf seinem Schifferklavier gespielt.
Weiterhin habe ich den bekannten Tinguely-Brunnen gesehen, jedoch vereist.

Auf dem Heimweg habe ich gemerkt das Frankreich nicht so weit weg ist und ich noch ein bisschen Zeit hatte. Ein kleiner Umweg über Mulhouse.
Eine sehr entzückende kleine Stadt, aber nicht ganz so ungefährlich. Ganz knapp bin ich einer Dachlawine entkommen.

Diese zwei Tage haben ein bisschen abgelenkt von dem vielen lernen.

Jetzt bin ich aber durcheinander, denn “home” hatte bis jetzt nur eine Bedeutung für mich. Zwei Wochen habe ich zu Hause verbracht und bin erst gestern nach Deutschland angereist.

Beim Fahren fühlte ich mich psychologisch niedergeschmettert, mit meinem Haus zusammengesetzt, trotzdem während der Reise hatte ich mich nicht auf meine Emotionen konzentriert, sondern die Definition “Zuhause” analysiert, denn eben Heimweh verursachte ein Gefühl der Einsamkeit und Fremdheit, deprimierte mich.

Das Wort “Zuhause” hatte meinem Verständnis nach feste, genaue Assoziationen mit meinem Zimmer, mit Familie. Wenn man aber akzeptiert, dass das Zimmer nicht nur im Elternhaus sein kann, und dass Familie auch Freunde, Kommilitonen, Mitarbeiter oder Mitbewohner seien können bzw. die Menschen, mit denen man Alltagserlebnisse teilt, dann kommt man schnell zum erweiterten Verständnis der Definition von ” Zuhause”. Diese Gedanken haben mich endlich zu Idee gebracht, dass wie auch Wohnsitze, kann man auch mehrere Zuhause haben, ebenso kann man die Orte haben, die man als Zuhause bezeichnet, die eigentlich nicht unbedingt ein Form eines Hauses trägt. Für mich ist es die Hauptstadt Litauens (Vilnius) und der Kurort Litauens (Palanga).

Da fühle ich mich wohl, stehe mit beiden Füßen auf dem Boden, da jede Gebäude, jeder Mensch tief ins innere des Herzens eingeritzt ist. Diese Gedanken haben auch Anwendung gefunden am Ende meiner Reise, wobei ich meinen Verwandten SMS gerschickt habe, benachrichtigend, das ich schon zu Hause bin.

Trotz der Mehrheit der Heimorte muss ich mir selbst widersprechen, denn es gibt doch eine Prioritätenreihe, die zu Elternhaus zurückruft, die mit Nostalgie, mit Landessprache u.ä. zu tun hat. Am diesen Tag wollte ich in meinem richtigen Zuhause sein, denn die Orthodoxen feiern am 6. Januar Weihnachten, das man auch bei dieser Richtung der Christischer Religion mit Familie, Eltern und Geschwistern verbringt. Schade, dass Weihnachten in Deutschland nur Christisch-Katholisch angesehen ist, ausschließend die Möglichkeit für Orthodoxe wenigstens ein Feiertag mit Familie zu verbringen.

Das ganze Leben ist eben so, für Mehrheit geeignet… Das ollte man aber mit Verständnis beurteilen: Man kann nicht Feiertage aller Kulturen mitfeiern, man muss auch arbeiten

It’s all a question of wanting I guess. No no not of wanting, of waiting. Like of wanting or waiting to leave and come back and remembering who you were while remaining who you are. Your self will never leave you, so why should you worry? Well you do worry. You worry because you always leave something behind, and yet you’re going somewhere new. Somewhere new and appealing, but will you not miss the old? The old memories and miseries and clashes and get togethers and waitings. Each flight is like full of hope and past and future and dellusion. Dellusion.

You thought about staying next to my shoulder. Yesterday.

IT

All those things which you left behind. You had already lost them before forgetting them, remember?
Airports then, airports are like the space of no time. The in-between space of your ear, the very only and exclusive space where the present is not perceived, rare species. Otherwise, mind you, otherwise I’m a believer. A believer in the present and a skeptic, per extension, since I’m extreme, as far as the past and the future are concerned. The past and the future only exist if one thinks about them, their existence being completely dependant upon thinking. Thinking, then, thinking needs to take place at a certain moment, now, at present, so I assume that the present is the only thing that exists, the only human construct which is close enough to reality as to be an independent entity and whose ability to change, what defines it, makes it appear almost real. I refuse to believe that the past and the future exist if one does not perceive or think about them. And perception, once again, is present-bound. So, no present? Then no past, no future. Relativity lover.

You’ll think about staying within my temple. Tomorrow.

IS

All those things that you are getting now, you feel them? Too late to perceive them. On your toes.
But airports. Airports are the exception. They’re like the line in the middle, the fine thread where you stand without knowing whether you’ll fall to the left or to the right, upward or backward. Like the unique piece of land where the present does not count. No wonder that airports are human-made, artificial. The present then, the present moment might as well go on strike there, so unwelcome that it is. It is precisely for this reason, because the present at airports is no wanted guest, that decisions are best made there. Because they constitute the only reachable isle where your decisions are not biased or minuciously guided by your present perception of things but rather by past events or future opportunities. Wanna be rational? Then go to an airport and decide there. And yet, I am convinced of it. I am telling you, don’t you dare not think present.

Because I am leaving you. Today.

NOW

One usually falls backwards.
A shame.

Maybe, you know, maybe I do believe in destiny. In destiny as in something huge and great and powerful and non-existant that merely exists because it gives me hope. It was all a question of waiting you know? Time’s over, space does not exist any more. Maybe I was actually supposed to care about it, to cry without it, to go away. I am tired of people who go away, even worse if the end’s a begining, always the same story. I only looked back once.

Always the same story. I think it’s a protection strategy see? Like I go away before anyone else has the opportunity to do so leaving me here, suitcase on the floor, straight up, ears waiting, mouth shut. Always trying to pretend, that I don’t care. That I didn’t care about the ones that went away, that I am ok with myself for myself and within and without and at myself and so on. Well I do care.

Well I do care. I do care that you, and you, and you, and you go away. Tired of having to start from scratch and even feeling the need to pretend that it is all fine cos, you know, feeling the need to pretend to be happy is all we do. Oh yes, I’m happy, everything alright with me, what kind of today’s world citizen would I be if I were not happy, or pretended to be so?

I pretend to be happy. And, in doing so, I might convince myself that I am. A static hole in the middle of chaos, of people running, coming and leaving and not even looking at me cos, oh well, I was not that important in the end, and they didn’t have time. Time. To look into space and see the chaos I had organized, in my inner self, cos other’s won’t notize. She’s strong they’ll say, she knows how to deal with it. She’s used to everyone leaving and to having to make the effort once and again.
She doesn’t care. She’s strong.

She’s strong. Well I’m not. I’m not and I feel like I need to go away anytime someone does. I mean someone that matters, not that many anyway. Like it makes no more sense to stay because, you know, a certain place is not the same without the people who founded it, when you first arrived here. Staying, mind you, is not that easy. But I’ve learned my lesson. You leaving? Well then line up, don’t you dare come too close or I’ll bite you, I’m not interested in you and you should know. Stupid strategy.

If you build up a crystal wall between you and those in front of you, remember not to look too often mesmerized at the sight of it, not that it turns into a mirror and you end up seeing nothing but yourself. There will always be someone coming from behind to touch you on your left elbow.

And you know.

Sehr verehrte Leserinnen und Leser,
Liebe Constipendiaten,
Am vergangenem Sonntag, bin ich eben in der Vandalen-Ausstellung im Badischen Landesmuseum zu Karlsruhe, quondam Residenz der Großherzöge des Landes, gewesen.
Es war wirklich schön und empfehlenswert. Eine gute Museographie, schöne Exponate und eine ruhige Atmosphäre. Es ist ja so unangenehm wenn man von kleinen „vandalischen“ Rentner oder Erstklässler überrumpelt wird. Oder noch schlimmer, wenn ein Faux-pas in Richtung des Meisterstückes (zum Ehren des Obligationenrechts lassen Sie uns „Eichen am Wasser“ von J. I. van Ruisdael als Beispiel nehmen) eine Legion Museumswächter in Bewegung setzt. Hier war das nicht der Fall. Die Cafeteria war zwar halbwegs gut, aber immerhin ein Mittagsessen wert. Schön fand ich, dass die Weihnachtsblumen,so mexikanisch wie diese „Lederblumen“ ( „Cuitlaxochitl“ ) sind, von der selben Farbe waren, wie die Wände der Ausstellung: dunkelrot.
Kaiserporträts, barbarische Waffen, römische Münzen, frühchristliche Stelen und nordafirkanische Mosiaken ermöglichen einen Einblick in diesem kurzlebenden Reich des Geisimer und seines Volkes auf karthaginesischem Gebiet. Eine schöne Völker- und Kulturgemenge.
Gerade, dass die ehemaligen Hirten und Krieger Pommerns, plötzlich auf der Heimat Tertullians landeten, war eigentlich schon merkwürdig. Kunst,-, Religions-, Zivil,- und Militärgeschichte fanden dort, in dieser Erdflecke in dieser Zeit mannigfaltige Angelpunkte. Aus rechtshistorischer Perpektive waren die Albertini Täfelchen natürlich die Kronexponate der Ausstellung. Es sind Zederntafälchen, die über die Rechtsgeschäfte einer verarmten Familie in einem Latifund am Rande der Wüste im 5. Jhr. berichten. Von daher, sind sie ein bißchen traurig im Vergleich zu anderen lateinischen Urkunden, wie etwa die Tafeln aus Herculaneum.
Arius, für den Gott der Sohn nicht genauso göttlich war wie Gott der Vater ist;der Bischof Wulfila, der die Bibel ins Gotische übersetzte; Belisarius, der treue Soldat Justinians, und viele andere Gestalten grüßten den Touristen.
So darf ich mich, von Ihnen und Euch allen für dieses Jahr verabschieden. Ich wünsche Sie und Euch allen frohe Weihnachten.

It is not fair that you keep on welcoming me, when all I want to do is hate you. Don’t be mad at me, it’s just an inner fight of myself, within and without me, for and against you.

Of course beauty is important, those claiming the opposite are nothing but hypocrites. That I am not beautiful, I mean on the outside, is not fair. But there are worse things.

It is not fair to be disrooted, to be a no-land’s one, to be a no-one. Wanting too much means sometimes having nothing, like having two lands and none at the same time. I have two, or three, or more, and yet none. I have Spain, I have Germany, I have Belgium, France. None. Where shall I go next? Enough concrete names for today. Belonging period’s over.

Maybe belonging is important, those saying it’s not might feel already lost. Like looking on all directions and yet not knowing where to go, too wide a choice might not be good if you’re not too much of a decision-maker.

It is not fair having to be concrete when you don’t want to, what if I’m just up for the abstract? Little details that are not worth it, I mean worth your time. So let us just stick to the abstract. Did you play cards with your grandma when you were little?

Of course height is important, those claiming the opposite are certainy small. That I am little, I mean on the outside, is not fair. But there are worse things.

It is not fair to be a je-m’enfoutist, I am telling you, for not caring is today’s most si ne qua non trend, those not following it will certainy suffer from stress and pain and all those contemporary illnesses without which you cannot claim to be a citizen of today’s world. Like either you say whatever! to almost everything or you’re dead.

Of course caring is important, those not doing so will have to be happy. But, oh well, I guess there are worse things than that.

Now that I care, that I am big, that I am beautiful, now that I have a land. Now that I am.
Unhappy.
Will you now accept me or is the application period over?

On the 8^th of this month, I attended the International Week organized by the Fachhochschule (Technical University) Dortmund. It was a week-long event, but the DAAD South Asia division had a lecture to be delivered by its chief Dr. Dorothea Jecht on this particular day about opportunities for students to pursue higher studies and research in India. I was invited as a guest and also to interact with the students there and give them more information about what it is like to live in India as a student.

I arrived by noon at Dortmund after a long journey through unheard of towns like Warburg and Soest and had the opportunity to travel in a beautiful train called Euro Rail Bahn and also saw countless number of small villages , beautiful fields, cattle and farmhouses all along the way.

At the Dortmund Hbf, I waited for a short while and then Ms. Dr. Jecht and Ms. Susanne Assmann (her colleague) and Ms. Karen Schoch (who is shortly flying to India to work at the MMB, New Delhi) also arrived by another train and we took an S-Bahn to the University Dortmund station. Ms. Assmann was quite efficient in being able to buy tickets, reach the train that was 1 level higher, then go down again to stamp them and still being able to make it back to the train. It was quite stupid of me not to buy the S-Bahn tickets during the time I was waiting for them – it never struck me..

Once we reached, we were received warmly by Ms. Hösch and others and we made our way directly to the FH.The event was jointly organized by Ms. Gisela Mojer and Ms. Dagmar Hösch both from the International Office of the FH Dortmund. We also met Prof. Knust Potter who was the Leader for the exchange programme between FH Dortmund and Delhi University.

It was a beautiful campus and I was fascinated. Dr. Jecht informed me that it’s a typical 70s campus, in that all the buildings were modern styled ones and it differs from most other german universities which have a long historic past and at least one main building is a historic styled architecture.

The Technical and the Applied universities were different buildings but all together on a large – sized area that resembled a large garden. The most impressive thing I discovered was the suspension train or H-Bahn as they call it that link the university’s North campus to the South. It simply flew over my head , when I was talking to a guy and I was shocked – well a train is the last thing you would expect to fly over you. Ms. Assmann further informed me that Wuppertal is the most famous German city for Suspension trains (called here as Schwebebahn). I also met an interesting German guy who said he was a freelance worker for the university and he could talk a few words in Tamil- my native South Indian language! Apparently, he has been to my city a few years back for some work.

The lecture by Dr. Jecht started at around 12 noon and it went smoothly. She clarified many points about the economic, academic and cultural facets of studying in India and it was quite interactive with some people actively participating in a discussion. The main theme of the lecture revolves around a new programme started by her section called, “A New Passage to India” to actively promote the opportunities for students so that they consider taking up studying in India as a unique option. It was also to encourage them to try the cultural and other differences to be experienced as an interesting challenge. Usually Asia is only seen as some exotic land with wide variety of cultural differences but students hardly have any solid information about the actual prospects that exist for them to take up studies there, and Dr. Jecht’s lecture was particularly about that – how DAAD is trying to support and encourage forays into India for students. I also had some interactions with the audience and I was thankful to Dr. Jecht for not putting me into a fix with some complicated question in German – most of what she discussed was quite simple.

Then we had some snacks and we were presented some mementos. I was given a bag that was made from the banner material that was used for some campaign and woven around the dome of the Dortmund church. That was something splendid!

We then setup a small table and handed out information pamphlets to people interested in knowing more about this programme of ours and studying in India. Particularly in focus were the renowned Indian Institutes of Technology and a few other old and very strongly established research centres. I then took a walk around and saw what students from other countries had to show. We then walked around and checked out a new auditorium in the FH. It was quite impressive.

We came back for a discussion session by Dr. Wolff – who had brought together many students, teachers and other workers who had spent time studying or working in different Asian countries like Vietnam, Japan, China (Dr. Wolff himself) and India. So, a small gathering of German students there could get first-hand information about living in different countries in Asia and what are the interesting cultural differences. We participated actively in the discussion giving out our experiences from India ( Dr. Jecht and Ms. Schoch have worked in MMB, New Delhi before and Ms. Assmann had studied in Japan).

We left around 6 pm and reached Dortmund Main station with S- bahn. And then our excitement started. Ms. Schoch just normally went into a Bakery at the station and asked for something to eat when suddenly all of us were forced back out of the shop and out of the station. People were asked to leave the station and there was a little confusion. Some people were coming up into the station without knowing, some with knowing what was going on and most others like us were completely in the dark. We just knew we had to leave and we had to rush. I felt an adventure on the way and with Deutsche Bahn and me, its always so. After Karen enquired with a few cops we came to know that apparently they had found an unattended suitcase in one of the platforms and they were isolating the whole of the main train station – leaving out only a couple of platforms of the S-bahn. So, we made our way back to the S-Bahn platforms wondering what was going to happen next. Outside, Polizei special personnel were piling in and some of the cops were giving instructions to the confused travelers – we heard what we expected – platforms 1 to 16 are being evacuated and isolated. So it was clear that it was no more possible to have a normal return back home. I knew either I’m going to reach early the next day morning or I was going to stay in a hotel.

But it never really mattered to me and I was thinking about the others – Dr. Jecht and Ms. Assmann had to go to Bonn while Ms. Schoch had to leave to Erfurt and she had some heavy bags too, for her flight later next week. So we were contemplating our next move and the Polizei guys were getting impatient after answering so many people – they just asked us to back off and were clearly not in a mood for any further discussions. Ms. Assmann took out her phone for technical support from her colleagues while I was hoping and praying that I shouldn’t suddenly hear some nasty blast anywhere or people running out in a stampede. But the situation was quite under control and the Police deserves credit to have handled it efficiently. We then decided to take a regional train to Düsseldorf with no clear plans as to where to go from there but we knew we had to take this train that was available before it was too late to go anywhere. A lady in the train who was well informed helped us a lot and had immediate answers – which route the train would take and when it would reach a particular station. Ms. Assmann with help from her friend on the phone had our plans made out and I was very thankful to her and also Deutsche Bahn website for not crashing in this time of confusion. Finally, it was decided they would get down midway and reach Köln and then Bonn. Ms. Schoch would eventually travel to Düsseldorf with me. I was thankful to all of them and we discussed for sometime as to what could be the situation now. Then we bid them goodbye and wished them to reach safely.

Thanks to the good alternate plans that were given to me I could hope to reach Erlangen by around 1 a.m. Instead of Dortmund – Köln – Nürnberg – Erlangen, I would be taking up Dortmund – Düsseldorf – Frankfurt Flughafen – Nürnberg – Erlangen instead. So it wasnt a big change and hopefully it should work out, I thought.

I reached Düsseldorf with Karen and I rushed to my next train only to find it 20 mins late. Ms. Schoch decided to check into a hotel since her connecting trains would be very late. Finally I got into my IC train and ordered something to eat from the Bistro Café. Then I spoke to a DB officer on board and he told me he received information that it was just a suitcase forgotten by someone. I wanted to meet that sweet gentleman who forgot something and made a mess out of thousands of people’s travel plans but still I was happy with whatever happened because it showed a strong action and security plan in place when an emergency occurs. I reached Erlangen by 1:30 a.m and took a taxi to my room and fell down on my bed. What a trip it was – almost 11 hours of travelling, almost a dozen trains changed, so many new stations seen, countless villages on the way, a students event at FH Dortmund and to top it all a bomb scare at the Dortmund Hbf by someone who forgot to take his suitcase!

I thought that this week’s article would be the easiest to write after spending the weekend in Berlin, and then it dawned on me that you have probably read a dozen or so articles about the various trips’ to around Germany. Well, personally am not so much of a traveler but if the opportunity arises I prefer embarking on longer trips that last for at least a week, to give me enough room to learn more about the people and their way of life and not just to get a short preview of everything in a hurry due to limited time.

Well, despite being only a weekend trip, I decided not to miss the opportunity and so we set out on Friday evening after the language class with a group of 15 students drawn from different parts of the world; that’s the beauty of such trips, that you get to meet and know someone different from another part of the globe. We left the Bremen Hauptbahnhof at 19:18 hrs and arrived at Hannover for a change over at 20:38 hrs, there wasn’t much interesting apart from the chatting in the Zug and being that it was a Friday evening most of the students were either dosing or trying very hard to stay awake and I am not an exception. We arrived in Berlin at 22:55 hrs and it took us another one and half hours to arrive to our hostel after travelling in one of the longest Straßenbahn that I have ever seen in my life. We were accommodated at hostel ‘’comebackpackers’’ in Adalbertrstaße and from the name it sounded like a place worth coming back to until I saw the bed that was meant to usher me to slumber land. It was a short and slim bed and so for me to enjoy comfort I had to lower the mattress down on the floor and forget the comfort of the bed.

Come Saturday morning as the other students were going for their tour around the city, I decided to visit the local church in Berlin and had a wonderful service with the Ghanaian brethren for the whole day and therefore did not have much to share apart from the warmth and blessings of the worship. My main attraction in Berlin was the zoo and the aquarium visit on Sunday morning, in as much as the weather wasn’t that favorable it could not dampen my spirit. On entry we were first greeted by the sight of an Indian Rhino that is completely different from the Rhino that we have in Africa due to tier flexible skin and the presence of only one horn.

The other animals were quiet familiar to me such as the African lion, which looked bored in its cage, and the leopard which kept on treading up and down its cage perhaps uncomfortable due to the many uninvited guests who were trying to get a shot of it. The birds observed ranged from the hornbill the vultures and the crane birds, I did not have enough time to visit the ostrich stand but that would have been an interesting encounter.

We were ushered in the aquarium with this massive stature of what looked like a dinosaur, well I have never seen one before so I guess that if its not the one then it must be one of their relatives.

The aquarium located in the first floor offered a diverse sample of aquatic organisms from the different continents ranging from the fresh water and marine species such as the trout and the carp and the groupers just to name a few that were familiar and of course the unforgettable miniature coral reefs. The second floor had the reptiles ranging from the crocodiles the tortoise and the geckos and lizard family and the third floor had a sample of the insects and amphibians. However the highlight of the zoo was the white polar bears that I have only seen in the documentaries. We were lucky to get one of the playful cubs entertaining observers with its diving tricks and tossing a carton up and down as it splashes water amid the cheers it was a pity I could not get a shot of it but I guess the parents were not amused.

With only two hours to visit both the zoo and the aquarium I could not visit all the stands and the drizzling rain did not make it any better and off course we still had to check out of the hostel before 12:30 hrs. After the check out we did not have much time so we immediately left for the central station for the journey back home (Bremen) as the Zug was leaving at 13:09 hrs. This is the part of the journey that I don’t want to talk about, why? I had to bear three hours of standing; we had to take a longer route with a changeover at Schwerin and that was the only time I was actually seated from Berlin. However, from Schwerin to Hamburg and Hamburg to Bremen we had to stand, and being a weekend the Züge were filled to capacity and and getting even a place to lean on was a dream. Therefore when we finally arrived at the Bremen Hauptbahnhof at 19:30 hrs there wasn’t much to do apart from heading straight to the room, taking a hot shower and heading directly to bed hoping that it was all a bad dream! In my dream I dreamt that I was heading back to Berlin and this time not just for a weekend but at least a week.

The past week has been quite good and I have now got used to the new place but still getting used to taking the bus to my language school. Being at the bus stop within the right time every day is a good exercise at practicing punctuality and blending into the German system and I would say, well yes I’m taking some really sincere efforts towards that goal (hmm.. ). There is a clearly perceivable change in the weather pattern. We have colder mornings and evenings, which would get even colder as I move towards the dreaded winter.

The atmosphere for this last month has been more relaxed in my language class – which means we get to hear German songs, play more activity-based games aimed at improving our vocabulary and watch a few films.

There were 2 very interesting songs that we listened to this week. The first was a classic by Marlene Dietrich called ‘Sag mir, wo die Blumen sind ‘ (Tell me, where the flowers are.. – its an Anti-war song). I later came to know that she is a very famous singer here. The next song was by a band called ‘Die Toten Hosen’ (meaning -the dead pants- obviously the tendency of music groups to call themselves by unworldly names is universal), the song was called ‘Zehn kleine Jägermeister’ and it was quite funny and entertaining. We also saw a film called ‘FC Venus’ in our class but I didn’t find it great, since it was supposed to be a comedy but was funny only in a few scenes. It is about a football challenge between the football-crazed husbands (the stereotyped guys who still want to be boys) and their irritated wives (the underdogs) in a village and you would get no points for guessing who the winners would be.

On the monetary front it has been quite a pleasant time for me since I had received reimbursements from DAAD (for the trip to the Bonn seminar) and from DB. The latter is quite an interesting story about which I had not written since it is about my trip to Hamburg and Berlin and I didn’t really want to add another travel based- article and anyway Berlin is probably already a thoroughly discussed subject in these pages. Well, on our return, our first train at Berlin was late which meant we had to miss the next 2 connections. We then had to take a train to Hannover and from there another to Göttingen and then a taxi to Marburg. The reimbursement included the taxi charges and a small difference amount since the travel plans were changed into different trains. They had taken only 4 weeks for processing our claim and I must say I was quite impressed! So, though we ended up reaching Marburg by 2:30 in the morning, the trip from Göttingen to Marburg on the Autobahn at the comfortable back seat of a Mercedes taxi and in the middle of the night at a stable speed of more than 150 km/h was amazing and I didn’t really want it to end..

Schools have reopened after Sommerferien and I see lots of school kids on the roads in the noon and also many school buses. School kids in the buses I take are mostly too noisy and naughty and keep pulling pranks on each other and are very much fun to watch! The bus frequency has also been considerably increased in this month.

There was one interesting incident in the Bus no. 7 that I take to my class every day. Two days back, on a usual morning in this bus, suddenly midway the bus had to be stopped since one of the back doors (automatic) failed to stay closed. It kept opening repeatedly and was out of the driver’s control (probably a faulty circuit). I expected him to just drive on after trying for a few minutes to set it. But he gave it a sweet 15 minutes trying to set it back under control and some of the passengers were starting to groan while a few had already stepped out. I couldn’t believe it since, punctuality is very important in the transportation system here but I learnt that the door staying under control was even more important. Finally he let the door as it would be and started the bus, made me relieved, but only to pull over a few metres ahead and ask us politely to take the next following bus!

I returned the Asterix, Tintin and Calvin & Hobbes comics that I had borrowed a few weeks back, to the Stadtbücherei. I have had a great time reading them as its more fun to learn a language like how a kid would. After typing the last sentence and reading through it I feel I’m now constructing English sentences with a German touch to it!

I met Hery our co-blogger yesterday at my place. From the photo of his new residence that he had pasted in an earlier blog I could recognize the building in the background. Turns out that he lives just in the ground floor of the hostel where I live in the 3^rd floor!

My next blog will be about the trip I’m making to Erlangen this week and the meeting with my Supervisor. Bis dann!