FUN FUN FUN!!!
Friday, January 30, 2009
watering my bag
Yesterday my water bottle decided to have a mind of its own and spilled the entire contents of itself into my bag. This wasn't as fun as it may sound, 'cos it took me a while to notice, which meant that everything got a good chance at getting wet... including Jack's MP3 player... ooops - it's still drying and I don't have the heart to try turning it on yet. I must've used about a tree worth of paper towels in the uni toilets to make the bag at least carriable home. Then at home I had to put it out to dry - paper by paper...
FUN FUN FUN!!!
FUN FUN FUN!!!
Unix 2009
Poor Unix has been sick after we picked him up from the "cat hotel". Last week I picked up some antibiotics from the vet and he's been getting them this whole week. Thankfully he seems to be better now, which is great. Here's a little video of him this month:
Sunday, January 25, 2009
1096
Yesterday it was 1096 days, or 26304 hours or even just an amazing, roller coaster, lightning fast three years that we've been living in Berlin.
So much has happened in that time that a summary hardly seems possible, or even necessary. It's been fast, difficult, boring, amazing, slow, eye opening, lonely, despair filled, colourful, dark, freezing, empty, busy, wonderful, joyous and a thousand more adjectives that my bilingual brain refuses to cough up.
In a lot of ways I've fallen in love with Berlin - it's a lot like home (Melbourne), and yet very different. It has it's good side - cheap food, beer, lots of culture and great connections to the rest of Europe. And it's bad side - Germans (not to mention their Ruhe - that will need to be another ranting post one of these days) , bureaucracy and Germans ;-) This is something I saw here on a postcard which comes close to summing Berlin up:
Take care everyone
Jack...
So much has happened in that time that a summary hardly seems possible, or even necessary. It's been fast, difficult, boring, amazing, slow, eye opening, lonely, despair filled, colourful, dark, freezing, empty, busy, wonderful, joyous and a thousand more adjectives that my bilingual brain refuses to cough up.
In a lot of ways I've fallen in love with Berlin - it's a lot like home (Melbourne), and yet very different. It has it's good side - cheap food, beer, lots of culture and great connections to the rest of Europe. And it's bad side - Germans (not to mention their Ruhe - that will need to be another ranting post one of these days) , bureaucracy and Germans ;-) This is something I saw here on a postcard which comes close to summing Berlin up:
Die Berliner sind unfreundlich und rücksichtslos, ruppig und rechthaberisch, Berlin ist abstoßend, laut, dreckig und grau, Baustellen und verstopfte Straßen wo man geht und steht - aber mir tun alle Menschen leid, die hier nicht leben können!Roughly translated that works out to:
Anneliese Bödecker
The people of of Berlin are are unfriendly and disrespectful, abrasive and full of themselves, Berlin is repulsive, loud, dirty and grey, building sites and clogged streets whereever one goes - but I feel sorry for everyone who can't live here!When all's said and done we're, very glad that we came here and got to do and see the things we have. That doesn't mean that we don't miss all of our friends and family any less - in fact at times like these it makes us realise how far away you all really are.
Anneliese Bödecker
Take care everyone
Jack...
First Snow
So it's been a while since we posted anything. Actually that's an understatement it's been over two months - now that's properly slack.
We have been, are, to our credit very busy. I've had a major project at work that should have been out the door two days ago - hmm something wrong with that eh ;-) Polina's been studying hard and working too of course.
We've managed a two week trip to Egypt over Christmas and New Year with Matt and Julia which was amazing. I've gotten another year older - so I'll be 29 again again this year ;-)
It's also been pretty cold here, thankfully mostly while we were in Egypt, but I did snap this picture of the first snow of the winter from late November 2008.
We have been, are, to our credit very busy. I've had a major project at work that should have been out the door two days ago - hmm something wrong with that eh ;-) Polina's been studying hard and working too of course.
We've managed a two week trip to Egypt over Christmas and New Year with Matt and Julia which was amazing. I've gotten another year older - so I'll be 29 again again this year ;-)
It's also been pretty cold here, thankfully mostly while we were in Egypt, but I did snap this picture of the first snow of the winter from late November 2008.
Hope everyone is well and had a great New Year.
Jack...
Jack...
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
Signature, PJ Harvey and the Gulag Archipelago
Now that I have a little bit of web-space again I feel like I'm going to post almost every day - but of course that won't be the case. Last year I threatened to do a project where I would take a photo for every day of the year. Well... ahm... it's already the 19th of January and I'm behind on that project. So I decided to try and simplify it by doing a variation on that project by doing a photo-collage for each month - that might be a bit more do-able. I'll see how I go.
Today has been a successful day because I got the official uni signature I wanted - for doing work experience in Novosibirsk these spring holidays. For all of March I'll be working with preschool and primary school kids in a special "developmental" school under the supervision of a Doctor of Psychology. Some of the possible tasks that I will be charged with involve researching and putting together programs for kids and their parents, as well as participating in the diagnostic and analytical process. All of this sounds really cool and I am glad that university signed off on it.
Then later today I received an announcement from a ticket office in the email today, that PJ Harvey is touring Berlin again. She did last year but the tickets were very expensive and Jack's ears were still a bit stuffed, so we couldn't go. But this year we can! The show will be in a church (?!) in Kreuzberg... which is a bit of a weird choice of venue, but hey - it's Berlin!
Last but certainly not least, I've started reading the Gulag Archipelago by Solzhenitsyn. It's a personal (his and others) account about the soviet concentration camps in the period between 1920's and 1950's. I read some of his other fictional works before but as this is a documentary, it is almost too surreal. Perhaps I am already desensitised, but all of the horrors of which he is writing seem too distant... and only to think that they happened not even half a century ago is just terrifying. And now the image of Stalin is being "cleaned up" in the Russian media to present a much less bloodier ruler, who "brought us victory in WWII and discipline to the people". I think they should make this compulsory reading in Russia - to at least increase the chance of those who might think a little about their own history. This is actually a survey I wouldn't mind seeing the results of - which country knows most about its own history?
Today has been a successful day because I got the official uni signature I wanted - for doing work experience in Novosibirsk these spring holidays. For all of March I'll be working with preschool and primary school kids in a special "developmental" school under the supervision of a Doctor of Psychology. Some of the possible tasks that I will be charged with involve researching and putting together programs for kids and their parents, as well as participating in the diagnostic and analytical process. All of this sounds really cool and I am glad that university signed off on it.
Then later today I received an announcement from a ticket office in the email today, that PJ Harvey is touring Berlin again. She did last year but the tickets were very expensive and Jack's ears were still a bit stuffed, so we couldn't go. But this year we can! The show will be in a church (?!) in Kreuzberg... which is a bit of a weird choice of venue, but hey - it's Berlin!
Last but certainly not least, I've started reading the Gulag Archipelago by Solzhenitsyn. It's a personal (his and others) account about the soviet concentration camps in the period between 1920's and 1950's. I read some of his other fictional works before but as this is a documentary, it is almost too surreal. Perhaps I am already desensitised, but all of the horrors of which he is writing seem too distant... and only to think that they happened not even half a century ago is just terrifying. And now the image of Stalin is being "cleaned up" in the Russian media to present a much less bloodier ruler, who "brought us victory in WWII and discipline to the people". I think they should make this compulsory reading in Russia - to at least increase the chance of those who might think a little about their own history. This is actually a survey I wouldn't mind seeing the results of - which country knows most about its own history?
Coughing cats and speedreading
While we were in warm and wonderful Egypt, Unix was in cold and snowy Berlin... in a "cat hotel". So after we got back, we picked him up and the poor cat developed somewhat of a cough/regurgitating reflex and almost completely lost his voice. The fact that now we didn't wake up in the middle of the night due to insistent meowing had its appeal. But the fact that he then became really lathargic (even more than he already is) forced us to face the fact that it was time to take him to the vet. The vet listened to him with a stethoscope for quite a while, which could've been because she wanted to be very thorough or the fact that she had a hearing aid. She then concluded that his heart and lungs are ok, but she doesn't know what's wrong with him - "could be anything". Not the sort of answer one expects from a professional animal doctor, but anyhoo. She then gave him two shots of general antibiotics and a de-worming pill.
He seems to be doing better now, but doesn't have his voice completely back. I know how he feels, 'cos I got sick last week as well and yesterday was at a point of losing my voice - something that often happens to me during colds. So here we are - a homo sapiens and a feline - together in sickness and health.
In other news, I sacrificed my Friday night along with Saturday to do a speedreading course at uni. In the beginning we measured our current speed and mine was at 125 words per minute... which the teacher explained made me equivalent to a primary school child. Never mind - I thought... that's in German, so I am probably like a school child anyway. The course was actually better than I thought - it was full of practical exercises and by the end of it I was up to somewhere above 500 wpm. BUT I couldn't actually understand anything I read. They believe that people can train to read up to 2500 wpm!!! I don't believe it. For starters it's almost impossible to even skim over one word in a line at that speed, and then you only understand the mere gist of what the author is trying to say. Afterwards you still need to read over it, to understand the details. Overall the course was useful because it helped me think about how I read and what I can do better. Whether I will be a speedreader - I doubt it.
He seems to be doing better now, but doesn't have his voice completely back. I know how he feels, 'cos I got sick last week as well and yesterday was at a point of losing my voice - something that often happens to me during colds. So here we are - a homo sapiens and a feline - together in sickness and health.
In other news, I sacrificed my Friday night along with Saturday to do a speedreading course at uni. In the beginning we measured our current speed and mine was at 125 words per minute... which the teacher explained made me equivalent to a primary school child. Never mind - I thought... that's in German, so I am probably like a school child anyway. The course was actually better than I thought - it was full of practical exercises and by the end of it I was up to somewhere above 500 wpm. BUT I couldn't actually understand anything I read. They believe that people can train to read up to 2500 wpm!!! I don't believe it. For starters it's almost impossible to even skim over one word in a line at that speed, and then you only understand the mere gist of what the author is trying to say. Afterwards you still need to read over it, to understand the details. Overall the course was useful because it helped me think about how I read and what I can do better. Whether I will be a speedreader - I doubt it.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
I can officially settle
Yesterday we went to the Ausländerbehörde (Office for Foreigners) to extend my stay in Germany, as it has been three years already that we have arrived in the land of sauer kraut, grilled pork and beer. Back in 2006 I got a 3 year permission to _stay_, which if certain conditions have been met (like doing a German course), would be extended indefinitely. So at about 6:30am, in complete darkness and freezing cold, we dragged ourselves to the most miserable of all places on earth.
Even though we had an official appointment at 7:30, as we knocked on the door of the official woman that was meant to see us, she didn't hesitate to give us a number (700 - reasonably lucky I thought) and make us wait in the waiting room for about 20 mins. Then we got called in to give our documents and fill out forms saying that we are indeed still married for love and haven't lived apart, etc. Then we were given another number (333 - yet another lucky number) and made to wait another 10-15 minutes.
While waiting we tried to cheer ourselves up by coming up with various jokes about this Foreigners Office. One was that basically while you're happy, your misery goes off and lives at the Ausländerbehörde. Another was a business idea - that since there are so many waiting rooms with people waiting sometimes for hours to have a turn, we'd have a DJ come around and host parties for these people, to cheer them up a little. And of course there'd have to be a prize for the person who has waited the longest for that day.
Strangely only after waiting in total for 1 hour we got called in and I was given a brand spanking new permission to _settle_ this time. This one is not restricted, so Deutschland has officially invited me to stay here for the rest of my life... hmm... that doesn't sound right. This also means that it was probably the last time I will have to go to the Misery Office - hurraaaa!!!
Even though we had an official appointment at 7:30, as we knocked on the door of the official woman that was meant to see us, she didn't hesitate to give us a number (700 - reasonably lucky I thought) and make us wait in the waiting room for about 20 mins. Then we got called in to give our documents and fill out forms saying that we are indeed still married for love and haven't lived apart, etc. Then we were given another number (333 - yet another lucky number) and made to wait another 10-15 minutes.
While waiting we tried to cheer ourselves up by coming up with various jokes about this Foreigners Office. One was that basically while you're happy, your misery goes off and lives at the Ausländerbehörde. Another was a business idea - that since there are so many waiting rooms with people waiting sometimes for hours to have a turn, we'd have a DJ come around and host parties for these people, to cheer them up a little. And of course there'd have to be a prize for the person who has waited the longest for that day.
Strangely only after waiting in total for 1 hour we got called in and I was given a brand spanking new permission to _settle_ this time. This one is not restricted, so Deutschland has officially invited me to stay here for the rest of my life... hmm... that doesn't sound right. This also means that it was probably the last time I will have to go to the Misery Office - hurraaaa!!!
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