Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Three and one is four, let us reach a new shore

We are getting a new baby! It's still the beginning of Tina's pregnancy but we are very glad.
The schedule says 4th of December for the birth so this would mean another winter baby. But we are prepared with all the clothes of little Emma.
We are becoming a real family isn't this perfect?
And we are having enough space in our house. For the rest only time will tell. I would like a boy, Tina would like a girl and Emma does not mind. So nothing can go wrong I presume.
We are looking for names but this is not at all easy.Our favourites so far:

Girl: Rosalie, Helena or Pauline
Boy: Konstantin or Peter (names for boys seem to be more difficult)

Comments are very welcome.

Friday, April 20, 2007

Heading home

We are going home today and we are looking forward to it. There is a lot of stress at work and at home. So we hope to enjoy the weekend.
We will have a cultural event tonight at the Kulturhammer, I have written about it recently. There will be the band "Liederjan".
Then sleep into tomorrow, have nice mum's food, entertainment for Emma and nothing to do but playing guitar, relaxing, shopping........

That how I like it, have a nice weekend!

Friday, April 13, 2007

Only one who knows longing knows what I suffer : Europapokal

The Club will play against Frankfurt next tuesday in the German socccer cup DFB-Pokal.
If they will win the chance for international appearance next year is high. They would advance to the final game in Berlin.
The fans are already singing: Europapokal, Europapokal, Europapokal Europapokal, Europapokal. So long did we have to wait. I will sing with them cause I will be there.

Only one who knows longing
Knows what I suffer!
Alone and cut off
From all joy,
I look into the firmament
In that direction.

Ach! he who loves and knows me
Is far away.
I am reeling,
My entrails are burning.
Only one who knows longing
Knows what I suffer!

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Open letter to Germany

Dear Germany,

if I think of Germany in the night, I am jolted from my sleep. I can no longer close my eyes, and my hot tears flow. Do you know who has written this poem?
I don't feel like crying but I am worried about some things going on in the state of Germany (not Denmark, but see under 1.)

1. Dear Mrs. Schavan (German minister for education and research): I have seen a report about Scandinavian schools on T.V. with my wife (who is a teacher on a Realschule). We could have cried but became angry instead. The situation there is so much better. When will Germany start to wake up and change the school system. We have already fallen behind and there are a lot of role models. Why don't we start to change. At least the separation after the 4 th grade or latest after the 6th grade into Hauptschule, Realschule and Gymnasium is no longer tolerable. We leave behind a lot of pupils who have deserved better. Above all children with migrational background and children with difficult situations in their families. We should pick the up even before school (the sooner the better) and teach them with well educated teachers, who should have studied themselves. And take the best of them there. Only to mention some recommendations.

2. Dear fellow citizens. Maybe global warming has too much become a scenario of scare tactics and a mouthpiece for some dubious scientists.
I don't like to be panicked and paralized by journalists who are only in search of the latest catastrophies to increase their print run.
But on the other hand I am annoyed when people deny that every single person can do something against global warming. Because everybody can. I have learned that while renovation our house. It's even fun and will save us money in future times. So let's start thinking before acting and also: writing.

3. Yes, "Made in Germany" still doesn't sound that bad. We are still export champion but a lot of things are going wrong in our industry. I know this because I am working there. We have lost respect of human beings in their companies. Only numbers are interesting. You get a number in the industry as well. A telephone number in my company. If someone is fired or leaves the company the next hired employee "inherits" the number. Isn't that fine? Nobody has to remember a name but only a number. Hey 4711 are you still there? .............

4. Dear Bayern München. Maybe you are the damn best soccer club in Germany. But Germany isn't by far the hub of the soccer world. Look to Spain and Great Britain with humbleness, Mr. Hoeneß! So you have won the Champions League in 2001? Who else of the German clubs in the last two decades? Okay Dortmund in 1997, but that club is close to bankruptcy. And if you do not look out our the "Club" (1. FC Nürnberg) will outstrip you. In Bavaria!! But I will see your game tonight and maybe you can convince me that the best is yet to come for German soccer.

5. Dear Weather. Stay as you are.

6. God bless the German cars. The Chinese nickname of Dirk Nowitzki is German fastcar. You will see what you get when he is going to overrun his opponents in the NBA finals. After becoming the first German MVP.

7. Journalists. Turn around and stop your negative coverage of almost everything. We need courage and self confidence more than ever. We need children. We need a future and I think there is still a chance that we will have one. I'm not talking about the tabloid Bild-Zeitung. That does not count at all.

Megacities: Tehran

In the ongoing series on megacities of the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Iranian author Amir Hassan Cheheltan writes about Tehran:
"Perhaps you could describe Tehran this way: it's violent, but totally under the control of smog and noise. It's full of junk and kitsch, petty crime, paradoxical frivolity and political folly. The city is void of memory. It has hardly any old buildings, and yet it infects its inhabitants with the virus of nostalgia! Tehran has a million buildings, and yet the aesthetes and psychologists still haven't figured out whether they were put up in conformity with or in opposition to the mindset of its inhabitants."

I'm not living in a megacity and compared with this article my Nuremberg sounds quite normal and mediocre. But I think I prefer living in Nuremberg. But maybe Tehran could be another brick in the wall of my love to travel. At least it should be more save than Bagdad at the moment though I would love to follow the footsteps of Sindbad, too.

For Dirk Fans like me