Samstag, 31. Mai 2008

Blindness / Confusion / Illusion / Weakness ?!

"Da, sunt numai un calator, un pelerin pe acest pamant! Dar voi sunteti altceva?"

Yesterday after the usual basketball session I went to the harbour to enjoy the nice weather and look at the ships, but most of all to finish reading 'Suferintele tanarului Werther' (auf deutsch: 'Die Leiden des jungen Werthers', in english: 'The Sorrows of Young Werther') by Goethe. It is nice written but I didn't like the story; actually I didn't agree with the decisions and the behaviour of the main character. I should read it maybe again when I will start (if ever) believing in the love between a man and a woman. I find it stupid (sorry ab this) to loose ur head, ur mind for another person. I liked very much how every feeling he had was put into words.

"Prezenta ei, destinul ei, participarea ei la destinul meu, toate astea imi storc si ultimele lacrimi din creieru-mi pustiit." It sounds truly great, but how could it be possible for one to get to this state. Simple terrifying. It goes hand in hand with part of my believes: There is no such thing like love between a man and a woman, but a feeling that takes u to a level where u cannot think clear anymore.
"Doamne! Asta-i soarta pe care ai dat-o oamenilor; ei nu sunt fericiti decat cand isi pierd mintile !"

Am i talking about blindness, confusion, illusion, weakness?
"Tare ma tem ca numai faptul ca nu poti sa ma ai te face sa tii atat de mult la dorinta asta."
People start chasing something (a fiction, an ideal) and when they catch it they don't want it anymore, because they realize it isn't what they wanted / expected to be.

"O, de ce oare a trebuit sa te nasti cu firea asta violenta, cu pasiunea asta nestapanita care te face sa nu mai lasi din mana ce ai apucat o data?"
Wake up and get over it !!!!! I would say..

Maybe my favourite passage in the book:
"Imi pretuieste inteligenta si talentele mai mult decat inima, care e totusi singura mea mandrie [, care e singurul izvor al oricarei fortze, al oricarei fericiri, al oricarui necaz. ] Ah, ceea ce stiu poate sti oricine, dar inima mea e numai a mea! "


I don't know if the reading changed my mood or it was something else too, but i didn't have any desire to go to the french party announced for that evening. Coming home at 10.30 pm I decided around 11.30 to pass by because u never know what could happen.
It wasn't such a big party but I ate some crepes, had some conversations in german, english and spanish and ended up playing basketball at 3.30 am. I lost..damn it. The hair is to be blamed. :P
It is funny 'cause many people told me about the experience of going swimming in the early morning or, different said, during the night. Although i am not such a big fun of the see, of swimming, I think I can understand now their point of view.. by comparing their experience with mine.
The ending?! Again.. expect little and u will be surprised. Hmm.. I think this time I should try to say it a little bit different. More suitable would be: Funny how different the people think and act. You might expect something to happen but u end up 'receiving' something else (i.e. having a surprise - good or bad). Or even if the result is exactly the one you expected you still look surprised. 'Funny'.

"Nu numai mie imi merge asa. Toti oamenii sunt inselati in sperantele si in asteptarile lor."

Sonntag, 25. Mai 2008

2nd Easter in HH

This year the Easter was a little bit different. 1st of all bcs it wasn't in the same time with the catholic one. Therefore in March i was prepared to spend a quiet Easter in front of the pc talking with my family and/or maybe walking around HH in case of nice weather.
Well.. it wasn't actually like that.

I thought on fasting in the last week.. like always. Well it didn't turned out to be so easy like home.
Monday i ate in mensa.. chicken.
Tuesday.. well.. we skip it directly. I hope though i will still remember the reason after some time. :P
Wednesday was ok. I had a dinner with my NIT friends. Indonesian food and lots of tee.

Thursday i don't remember if i went to China Lounge or not, but i don't think so. ( i should write more often here otherwise i forget the details. :P )
Friday it was the party in the mensa where i drank only O-Saft, noticed i knew after all few Germans and where I stayed until 5, of course when the party ended. I went there with the idea of staying only 1h.. ok 2.. ok until 3.. ok.. nevermind.
So.. Saturday was a calm short ( because of waking up pretty late ) day. Because last year i went with Chris to an evangelic-lutheran church to take part in the Easter Gottesdienst ( slujba de Paste ), this year i decided to go to the only church in HH where the service will be held in Romanian (more here). "Let's see if i feel like home."
In the mail i got it was written it will start at 10.30. I was there at 11.30 thinking that the important part starts at midnight like it should. But the question is/was 'Who's midnight?'. Surprisingly they started on Romanian time. :)))))))))

The people?! In one word i would characterize them as 'diverse'. From the high class Romanians to the ones who leave their car in front of the church and are dressed sporty (m) or short dresses and tones of makeup. And of course i shouldn't forget the 'gossipers'.

The service ended at 2 so i was home at 3, woke up at 6 to go to the fish market to buy fresh fruits and vegetables to have a nice Easter breakfast with my 2 new Serbian friends (and their flatmates).

The fish market at 9 am on Sunday:


This is how an Easter breakfast looks like:


..and a close-up on the eggs the serbians painted (using the onion procedure):



The Easter Sunday was ended very nice by Faust (more here). On Easter Monday another dinner in our dorm. This time a Mexican one.

A full week. Many pics. Nice memories.

Samstag, 24. Mai 2008

Every Tuesday eve..

After basketball every Tuesday eve you can find me here..



Kiddin'. Not every Tuesday. Come on. :P
But next Tuesday for sure cause it is Karaokeeeeee. Time to shout once again: 'What's goooooooooooing on?'
And i still have to go once there on the 1st Tuesday of a month cause it is Lady Night. But have to make it there until 10 pm.. or was it 11?!

"Castle" Ahrensburg

I organized an event in April: a visit to a castle in the north of Hamburg in a place called Ahrensburg. It is a small village, since many years part of Hamburg. 22 students. A group of both old and new people, both master and exchange. The countries would be: France, Guatemala, Italy, India, Columbia, Sweden, Turkey, Venezuela, Serbia, Trinidad and Tobago, Mexico, China and Malaysia. Nice, isn't it?

The place can be reached by regional train (R10) from the central station in 25 min. Arrived at the castle i had to talk with the responsible person to arrange everything for the tour of the castle while the others were busy taking pictures with the castle.
The woman who was going to be our guide asked me, being happy to see people interested in the history of the place, 'Do you have time or u are in a hurry?' :P
So although the castle was pretty small she gave us a tour for 1 1/2 h going farther in her stories telling us why the women in that times were holding their fan in a particular way. To hide the fact that she was nervous, maybe because she didn't seem to have the chance to talk in english very often, she made the tour more or less interactive: bringing into the discussion other countries, inviting people to dance on a waltz u.a.
Even if the rain wanted to accompany us back to the train station nobody seemed to be bothered about it.

It was a nice event. I am glad to have organized it.

The 2 posters:

The original idea was to write only 100 pennies, respectively 100 Pfennige, but my boss said they will not understand that it means 1 Euro.. so i put also the 'Euro' word, which brought more confusion bcs people thought the trip costs 100 Euros. :))
Well.. i dont know which one would have been better.

The way to the castle..


And the castle..





PS: The guide told us that actually it isn't a castle because no king lived there, but 'only' a count. More about the Ahrensburg Castle here.

Mittwoch, 21. Mai 2008

Stuttgart

I went for the 1st time to Stuttgart. For an interview. I didn't get it unfortunately but it was a nice experience. ( I didn't get yet the money back for the transport but i hope they will send it soon. )

The interview was with Mercedes Benz Bank for a job in Online Marketing. I would have liked it. I did my best but the nepotism went international. :P
Shortly presented, MBB is Daimler's Bank. What does this mean? It takes care of the financial part of the auto brands like Mercedes Benz, Smart, Chrysler, Jeep and Setra. It also works like a normal bank.

What can i say about Stuttgart? It can be reached in 6 hours from HH on ICE. It has some hills, which can be called mountains if i were to compare them to the 15° slope in front of my dorm. It is a city 'ruled' by Daimler, even if you can find there also other important companies like Bosch for example. You have Daimler Museum, Daimler Station, Daimler ... , Daimler... .
Another particularity is the dialect. Stuttgart is the home of the swabians (rom: şvabi).

Made in Germany. Smoking is allowed only in some places / areas. 2qm are sufficient? Well.. the question would be: sufficient for whom? I dont see a cube but only a plane on the floor so are we talking only ab 2qm? Anyway.. from the category "Made in Germany" hier ist die Rauchzone im Stuttgarter Hauptbahnhof.

Getting there..

Getting ready for the interview. I would continue saying.. a very cool picture. :)

The place where I had the interview. Hmm.. honestly, I could have got used to working there. :P

I could have also got used to seeing in September people picking up the grapes and preparing the wine. :D I just wonder if they are putting it in 1,5l Apfelschorle bottles from Aldi or Plus and taking it to the flea market to sell it like they do home.. hehe.

Made in Stuttgart. I have no idea what these boxes were used for. There was no construction area around.

Made in Stuttgart. 3 were not enough. I know here in HH we have for the fussgänger also 3 ( 2 red ) but still. :D

If u get bored in the tram on ur way to work and u forgot ur Goethe or Schiller home you can find for sure something to read.

As i said before. Everything is Daimler. Central Station is marked.

In the center. The new castle now ministry for...

On the opposite side..

In the middle..

Well.. i dont think i saw something like this home until now... or?

Specific arhitecture (1)

Specific arhitecture (2)

Doesnt it look like Schässburg or.. Hermannstadt or better Kronstadt?

In case u get lost..

Made in Germany or is it only Stuttgart? :P

The view from the room. The 2nd day was sunny.

Made in Stuttgart. In case u get lost and u need a bed..

Made in Stuttgart. Hässlich how i like to say. Was it the art museum?

Hey there, schöne Frau. Isn't it too cold on that stone?


Very nice. Very german. :P

Inside the old castle (1).

Inside the old castle (2). "The Paradise".

Inside the old castle (3). In their own world..

The old castle. Der Innenhof.

Mittwoch, 7. Mai 2008

85 Euros / tooth

I just came back from the dentist. I had to stop going there last august cause i would have needed to declare 'bankruptcy' otherwise.
Unfortunately i had to go back now cause i had a hole in 1 of my teeth.

So.. 85 euros thrown on the window ( through mr. müller's window ). And only for 1 tooth :((((
Grrrrrrrr..