The oldest old and the Tummy Tub

We're doing 'psychological disorders of ageing' this week in clinical psych. Here's a curious little quote from the textbook* that I found very inspiring: "When researchers have studied people over 95 years of age - often called the "oldest old" - they have been surprised to learn that these individuals are on average more healthy, clear-headed, and agile than those in their 80s and early 90s. Although some certainly experience cognitive declines, more than half remain perfectly alert. Many of the oldest old are, in fact, still employed, sexually active, and able to enjoy the outdoors and the arts."

* Comer R. J. (2010). Abnormal Psychology. 7th Ed. Worth Publishers; New York.

On a completely unrelated note, I was looking through a 'baby-stuff' catalogue last night, and came across what Jack and I thought was the funniest and weirdest thing - the Tummy Tub Bathing-Bucket. It is "das Babybad, in dem sich Ihr Nachwuchs sicher und geborgen fühlt. Ein Entspannungsbad mit vielen Vorteilen für Mutter und Kind. Ihr Baby ist bis zu den Schultern im Wasser und friert nicht. Sie halten Ihr Baby nur leicht am Köpfchen fest und es nimmt sofort eine embryonale Haltung wie im Mutterleib ein. Babys mit Schlafstörungen werden entspannter und ruhiger." (Engl. "the baby bath where your children feel safe and secure. A relaxing bath with many benefits for mother and child. Your baby is up to the shoulders in water and doesn't freeze. You hold your baby only slightly on the head and it immediately assumes the embryonic position as in the womb. Babies with sleep disorders are more relaxed and calmer.")

Need I say more? I mean apart from the fact that the whole thing just looks weird, the idea that you just hold your baby by the HEAD?! And of course babies become calmer and more relaxed - they're afraid you're going to drown them in that bloody thing! Oh... and the woman in the picture really looks like one mean and crazy mummy.

Soviets are naughty

At the moment I'm doing literature research for my bachelor thesis. Right now the title is: "Loneliness amongst older migrants from the former Soviet Union: the role of the social network." However it might still change, while I wait for 101 approvals...

While looking for statistics of how many migrants are there in Germany from the former USSR, I came across a curious publication called "Kriminalität von Aussiedlern: Eine Bestandsaufnahme" (Engl. Criminality of Immigrants: an inventory). It is a 61 page publication by the Federal Office for Migration and Asylum that outlines amongst other things percentage of crimes committed by foreigners vs. Germans. First of all, I was very surprised that something like this actually existed and has been researched. Second of all, just out of interest I searched for 'Soviet Union' and found this little statistic in relation to the land of Hamburg on page 17: "Die Kriminalitätsbelastung der Aussiedler ist im Vergleich zu allen Hamburgern geringer, wobei die Aussiedler aus der ehemaligen Sowjetunion unter allen Aussiedlern auf dem Niveau der Deutschen insgesamt liegen." (Engl. "The crime rate of emigrants is lower compared to all the Hamburgers, however the emigrants from the former Soviet Union out of all emigrants are together on the same level with the Germans.") It is heartwarming to know that we're not lagging behind the locals!

Teufelsberg and more autumn guests

Vika and Tim are visiting us from (well - many places actually)... here are some snaps from dinner and ... well ... trolley.

Last Sat we all ventured out to Teufelsberg (Devil's Mountain). Something that Jack and I were meaning to do all summer. It is a man-made hill in the former west, where all sorts of rubble from WWII has been collected and piled up. Ironically since Berlin is naturally very flat, this hill is the tallest in the city.

Walking there along the Gruenewald forrest was very nice, as the path was covered in golden oak leaves. On top of Teufelsberg there were lots of people with kites, small model planes and gliders. And even a couple of people with paraliders. Those were not terribly successful and didn't really make it further than the bottom of the hill - a bit disappointing, considering that after a short flight like that they have to take all their equipment back up the hill again. It was fun to watch though.

Following Teufelsberg itself we made our way to the adjacent hill with the former US listening installation on top. On our way there we stopped and looked at a bunch of guys doing some downhill mountain biking - some of it looked a little extreme, but they were all wearing very big helmets and looked like they knew what they were doing.

The station has been abandoned after the fall of the wall, but I heard from a friend that you can still get into it, even though it's behind three (in some places) sets of fences/enclosures. The outside fence has been patched up in a lot of places, but without much effort we found a hole to get through it. The material left over covering the buildings is ripped and made very strange sounds in the wind - almost sounding like fireworks. There were quite a few other people there, too... the place is pretty unique... very surreal... lots of grafitti... lots of broken glass around (I think people who get up there throw down bottles from the top). We only went inside at the ground floor - briefly, as it was already getting dark, and you couldn't really see much of what was on the floor. So even though we didn't climb all the way to the top, it still made a very strange impression.

All in all - a very interesting day!

20 years since the wall fell

Today Germany celebrates 20 years since the fall of the wall between East and West. As I am writing this, the fireworks are going off at the Brandenburg Gate and I can just see them reflecting off the windows in the building opposite.

This whole year there have been many exhibitions and events documenting the time before, during and after 1989 (here are some photos from 1989 in the Spiegel). Finally came the big day - today - 9th of November. Berlin is welcoming various former politicians (amongst them Mikhail Gorbatchev), and current ones (Hillary Clinton, Sarkozy, Medvedev and Gordon Brown). Along the route of the former wall a number of TV screens have been arranged, transmitting live the speeches of politicians, music from various world-famous performers and also the fall of the domino stones. These are large domino-like pieces, which have been positioned all along that stretch of the former wall. They have been decorated by school children and were going to be pushed over tonight, symbolising freedom and unity. At the bottom there are some snaps of them still standing up.

When we just came to Berlin in 2006, we were somewhat overwhelmed by the (what seemed to us) very fresh history of the Berlin Wall, WWII and GDR and everything to do with it. I remember one day, when we were walking past the East Side Gallery (the largest remaining part of the wall that was painted over by various artists) we said to each other how amazing it would be to be able to celebrate 20 years of the fall of the wall in 2009, here in Berlin. Who knew that we'd stay here all that time and finally this day arrived.

Unfortunately it has been raining fairly heavily + being winter, it's been fairly cold, so we only ventured out for a couple of hours. But we did walk the 'wall' from Potsdamer Platz to (almost) Brandenburg Gate, together with herds of umbrella-clad freedom-loving public. Overall the spirit of the people seemed positive, although perhaps a little dampened by the weather. It is amazing though to be in this city on this day. It does feel like Germany has overcome something incredible and this new period is marked by a lot of hope for the future.

Hurray to FREEDOM!!!

The photo selection is somewhat scarce and doesn't do justice to the importance of this event, but we blame the weather and our oculus-eligo-phobia (aka my Latin invention for fear of people pocking each others eyes out with their umbrellas).

Domino stones:

Crowd under the rain moving towards the Brandenburg Gate:




And here is a news piece which shows the fall of the dominoes...

Autumnly Berlin

and two cats keeping warm on the windowsill.