I've just come back from another trip to Halle. It was really enjoyable. The weather was great and we did lots of nice things. Easyjet kinda messed up the end part, but I don't want to rant on and on about it. They cancelled my flight and I thankfully was able to stay with Aidas in Berlin. He was a great host. He made cocktails and we played Jenga. Of course, I will be eternally grateful :) I also met two hilarious guys from Manchester who also were on the fated EZY7226 to Liverpool. We all got redirected to Glasgow and had a lot of laughs on the long journey back. So there was a bright side to the whole debacle. Now comes the whole filing a complaint and getting compensation. I'll let you all know how it goes.
Tomas got me some great birthday presents. Feuchtgebiete (click on the link, they will be translating it into English) was one. I read it in about 2 days. I can't say it was too remarkable after all the hype there was in Germany about its content, but the real shocker of the book (how the protagonist's mother tried to kill her own children) was somehow skipped over and mentioned only when it was time for a convenient ending. He also got me a Polaroid camera. Amazing. I also want to show you this sweet card. I forced him to by it me in Paperchase, but I had a to wait so long to get it. I love it! The same company (1973) also makes matryoshka wrapping paper.
Created: 2008-06-12 18:57,
Tags: birthday,
germany,
halle,
life,
presents,
tomas,
travel,
Comments: 0
Something that I posted on my old blog. This journey still fascinates me. The journey is even easier these days with the new station in London.
It only just occured to me yesterday that I could actually walk out of my house and then to the Wilpshire station and in 19 hours be in Halle.
Ramsgreave + Wilpshire ab 13:46 Departure
Bolton an 14:29
Bolton ab 14:37
Manchester Piccad. an 14:57
Manchester Piccad. ab 15:15
London Euston an 17:28
London Euston ab 17:28
London Waterloo Int. an 18:33
London Waterloo Int. ab 19:13 EUROSTAR
Bruxelles-Midi EST an 22:35
Bruxelles-Midi EST ab 22:35
Bruxelles-Midi an 22:53
Bruxelles-Midi ab 23:40
Hannover Hbf an 05:57
Hannover Hbf ab 07:36
Halle(Saale)Hbf 05.11.05 an 09:51 Arrival
Dauer: 19:05; fährt nicht täglich, 4. Nov bis 9. Dez 2005 Mo - Fr
But now I want to look up an even more amazing journey:
Ramsgreave + Wilpsh. Mi, 13.02.08 ab 14:51
Bolton Mi, 13.02.08 an 15:29
Bolton Mi, 13.02.08 ab 15:36
Manchester Piccad. Mi, 13.02.08 an 15:57
Manchester Piccad. Mi, 13.02.08 ab 16:15
London Euston Mi, 13.02.08 an 18:28
London Euston Mi, 13.02.08 ab 18:28
London St. Pancras International Mi, 13.02.08 an 19:13
London St. Pancras International Mi, 13.02.08 ab 19:34
Bruxelles-Midi Eurostar Mi, 13.02.08 an 22:33
Bruxelles-Midi Eurostar Mi, 13.02.08 ab 22:33
Bruxelles-Midi Mi, 13.02.08 an 22:51
Bruxelles-Midi Mi, 13.02.08 ab 23:41
Berlin Ostbahnhof Do, 14.02.08 an 08:22
Berlin Ostbahnhof Do, 14.02.08 ab 12:40
Warszawa Centralna Do, 14.02.08 an 18:35
Warszawa Centralna Do, 14.02.08 ab 20:25
Moskva Belorusskaja Fr, 15.02.08 an 19:54
Moskva Belorusskaja Fr, 15.02.08 ab 19:54
Moskva Iaroslavskaja Fr, 15.02.08 an 21:54
Moskva Iaroslavskaja Fr, 15.02.08 ab 23:55
Peking Fr, 22.02.08 an 05:31
The train even goes through Yaroslavl! (All trains departing Moskva Iaroslavskaja go through Yaroslavl). As you can see, it's not even that complicated a journey. It just involves one week sitting on a train from Moscow to Beijing! Anyone fancy it?
Sorry about the crappy layout of times/dates. Ich kann nichts dafür! All journeys planned via deutsche Bahn.
Created: 2008-02-11 18:13,
Tags: Europe,
Germany,
trains,
travel,
Comments: 0
Today I'm in the mood for doing things, like writing posts. I've been frantically surfing around recently and I've come across some great things, which I will be feeding to you in small doses. Also there's a great idea in the pipeline, which is making me a bit more optimistic...but more about that later perhaps.
I've seen a lot of stuff to buy recently on sites such as etsy. I've seen some fantastic bento boxes and other Japanese cute stuff that is so adorable. I've seen books and magazines. I've seen clothes and shoes and bags. It's nice to browse and see what to spend my hard earned money on. But do I really need this stuff? Why do I need this book - it's only going to sit on my bookshelf for the next 20 years looking pretty. Why do people feel the need to surround themselves with beautiful things? Why is something vintage better than something new and why should I pay more for it? A couple of websites have caught my attention in this respect: cherry blossom girl's blog and Väärä dikotomia blog. Both blogs are slightly worrying to me. Don't get me wrong, they both are visually pleasing and give sound fashion ideas. However, there's just something disturbing about putting on your own clothes and modelling them on your own blog in a variety of whimsical poses. I still enjoy looking at pretty photos...
So I come on to my next point. Why do we pay so much for things that are worth literally pennies? I came across OK Versand through Zitty's Berlin shopping guide. Basically what they do is import everyday items such as egg holders or envelopes either from developing countries or from former Eastern Bloc countries and sell them at German prices. Their justification for this is that they are supporting fair trade and buying products that otherwise wouldn't be imported into Germany. At the same time they are giving consumers something unique, something beautiful in form, something fascinating. True, they may be sustaining production in countries such as Russia, Indonesia and India, but this is on a tiny scale. It's also true that they are selling aesthetically pleasing objects, but my main question is how much profit are they making from all this?
Created: 2007-10-17 17:33,
Tags: consumerism,
design,
germany,
life,
products,
shopping,
Comments: 2
It was just an ordinary autumn's day in Germany...grey skies, drizzle and no food in the fridge. When we got to the supermarket, we knew something was up. They were giving out some kind of cake, there was free coffee and balloons! I couldn't really work out why all this was happening. Maybe it was because the supermarket chain had just opened their 333rd store (not a particularly famous milestone)...well, who cares? Party in the supermarket! We bought the usual: bread, vegetables, chili con carne mix, fish fingers, cheese, but at the checkout something strange happened. The woman on the checkout gave me a rose! I wasn't expecting that!
Created: 2007-09-27 17:15,
Tags: germany,
life,
shopping,
Comments: 0
Since 1995 the Salzfest (Festival of Salt) has been an excuse for excessive amounts of fun, frolicing, beer and sausages in Halle. The town has always had a strong connection to salt as salt harvesting was once a major industry here, but the festival itself has nothing to do with actual salt. The weekend long festival is just an effective way of bringing the town together, giving it identity and attracting visitors. For me, it's just nice to see the Germans letting their hair down and not being too serious for once!
There was a real carnival atmosphere in town yesterday night and tonight. Both market squares were full of stalls, beer tents and various attractions such as a fire eating show, live medieval music and some guy balancing on a 62m high pole (without any safety ropes). They even managed to squeeze in a huge ferris wheel! Tomas and I just wandered round, taking in all the sights and had a really nice night. We also went back today for a while and bought a small snack:
Created: 2007-09-22 20:24,
Tags: fun,
germany,
life,
Comments: 2
The only reason I bought Neon magazine in the first place was because there was an interview with Franka Potente inside. What I didn't know back then was that this was the pilot edition of what was to become a brand new, radical and innovative concept in the German magazine market.
If somebody were to ask me what was wrong with the magazine market in Britain, I would say that there were too many lifestyle magazines, too many women's magazines telling me what I should be wearing and most of all too many celebrity magazines full of pointless information. When I took a closer look at the copy of Neon I bought back in June 2003 I realised that I couldn't define it, I couldn't work out what it was trying to tell me. And that's the brilliance of the concept. After a bit of research I discovered that the target audience was young people aged between 20-29. An audience that takes a lot of interest in their future, but still wants to hold on to their past. Another unusual and refreshing concept is that it's aimed at neither men nor women, it's written equally for both. Content-wise it covers all areas of life such as politics, love, travelling, jobs, studying, shopping, philosophy and other random stuff that really captures the zeitgeist. It's informative, well-written, stylish, colourful, got some lovely photography work inside and best of all it's actually readable. Since the pilot was released Neon has become has huge success with a large circulation in Germany and Europe. No wonder, there's nothing else quite like it.
I want you all to get a better picture of what I'm talking about so I thought I'd do a mini dissection of this month's edition of Neon.
Let's start with the front cover:
The title cover has the same format and layout every month with the feature articles and main article summarised for the reader. This month's issue is as follows:
Fear of immigrants: 15 years after the arson attack: what's changed in Rostock-Lichtenhagen?
An interview with Michael Moore: the filmmaker talks about aggressive opponents and self doubt
Warning snake pit! Why rumours spread in the workplace and how you can defend yourself against them
My heart is jetlagged: Tricks to take that holiday feeling back home
Title story: How long does true love last? How to stop a relationship from becoming just a boring routine
The main body of Neon is always split into four main categories: "Savage World" (short stories/interviews by and about people and every day life), "Seeing" (topical themes relating to politics and society), "Feeling" (about love, friendship, sex and psychology), "Knowing" (about jobs, health, the body and day to day life), "Buying" (fashion, things, travelling) and finally "Free time" (everything you want to know about TV, cinema, music, literature, gaming and the Internet).
"savage World"
pages 8-9: "nur eine Frage": this is a regular feature which asks for people's responses to a question. This month's question was "which bank holiday would you like to create?"
page 10: "How do you actually...smoke a peace pipe?". This feature always gives useful tips on how to do something that you've (perhaps) always wanted to do but not known exactly how. Previous topics were "how do you actually...build an igloo?" and "how do you actually...diffuse an atomic bomb?"
At the bottom of this page is another regular feature called "German stories". Readers can write in and retell a funny story that they have witnessed in their town. However, they have to do it in 50 words or less.
page 12: Each month a celebrity creates their own mixtape and explains what their chosen songs mean to them. This month it's Dave Grohl's turn.
page 14: every month 20 facts are published that you'll remember forever even though they are all fairly random and generally useless. For example, wind turbines always turn anti-clockwise, up to now no American president has died in May and architecture was an Olympic discipline between 1912 and 1948.
At the bottom of the page is the feature "myth and truth". This month the myth that Hitler is to thank for building motorways in Germany is put to the test.
"Seeing"
pages 18-26: one of the title stories: an investigative article about the attack that happened against asylum seekers near Rostock 15 years ago.
pages 28-32: an interview with Michael Moore and his new film Sicko about the American health care system.
pages 36-37: a collection of short articles about topical political and social issues in Germany and in the rest of the World. This month, for example, there's an article about how students in Freiburg with an IQ above 130 don't have to pay tuition fees.
pages 44-51: an article about the brand new British pressure group who want to stop us travelling by plane.
"Feeling"
pages 54-63: the main title story: how to keep a relationship going without it becoming boring.
pages 66-67: an interesting take on a personal ad where the singles tell the entire truth about themselves: what they like in bed, what their faults are, what their ex partners say about them... I'm surprised that anyone wants them after this :)
pages 68-72: the A-Z of insulting from arsehole to compulsion (Zwang).
pages 80-81: explanations of why humans do certain things. For example, why we find photos of ourselves horrible.
pages 88: why some women act as sweet as sugar and what men think of it. Two writers explain from a male and female perspective.
"Knowing"
pages 109-110: how the Chicago Sun Times let a monkey pick shares and why his investments have made a 37% profit.
pages 118-119: the most useful health questions. This month: Can the oxygen supply run out during a conference? How do anti dandruff shampoos work? Why do some pregnant women have bigger baby bumps than others? Can you drink too much water? All answers are verified by experts :)
pages 120-12: a report about the new wave of moon research and the new space race between Russia, China and America.
"Shopping"
pages 158-159: all the products you need for a rainy autumn's day.
"Free time"
books reviews, film reviews, music reviews, a look at the state of the German charts, an interview with ex-Moloko singer and lots more.
Once every 4 months a fashion supplement is also published alongside the main magazine. It always includes lots of photos, interviews and clothes that no one can really afford (which is my only complaint).
Created: 2007-09-19 13:09,
Tags: germany,
media,
review,
Comments: 0
Well, I've arrived in Germany and maybe this is the start of something great.
On the way to Ikea the other day we had 40 minutes to wait for a bus connection in Merseburg. Wandering around the town we came across a four storey high mosaic homage to democratic socialism. Socialist realism always somehow manages to awake the communist in me, but at the same time reminds me that it probably is a good thing that I haven't just moved to the GDR. However, I found it a bit curious as to why the artist included a (possible) representation of Adam and Eve. If it really is Adam and Eve up there then the artist has created a very bizarre mix of nuclear power and the Garden of Eden.
Hopefully, this will also be the start of a great blog. I'm not sure where exactly sure what the finished product will be, but I'm sure you'll be able to put up with my ramblings and observations for the time being.
Created: 2007-09-12 20:04,
Tags: blog,
germany,
life,
Comments: 1
Subscribe!