Tiger and Little Dragon wondering

Literal video

2009-12-02T09:23:00.001Z

We found that on the Spiegel Online website.

Silly Sunday

2009-09-29T08:07:00.005+01:00

These are the official, premliminary results of our latest election last Sunday. You can find more here.

Falls uns am Wahlsonntag das Lachen vergeht...

2009-09-22T16:29:00.003+01:00

... hier eine kleine Vorsorge, die aber auch sonst wirkt:

Horst Evers und die Arbeitsplatte
(Den Text findet man in seinem Buch: Gefühltes Wissen, was an sich auch schon ein Knallertitel ist.)

Cake business in Kigali or a lovely time in another world

2009-09-22T15:29:00.007+01:00

Since we love books so passionately we decided to write a bit more about books we liked reading. The first book I (little D.) want to write about is

Gaile Parkin's Baking Cakes in Kigali.

This is Gaile Parkin's first novel (let's hope for more). She was born and raised in Zambia and has lived and worked in many African countries. She also worked in Rwanda, counselling women and girls who had survived the genocide.

In the book Angel Tungaraza, a professional cake-baker, has recently moved from Tanzania to Rwanda with her husband and her five orphaned grand-children. While taking orders for her colourful, tasty, artful cakes she listens to stories and confessions and problems of her customers and friends. She often helps them to solve their problems and eventually finds the answer to her own personal struggle. The book is written in a light and vivid tongue. The underlying theme is a basically positive view on the development in a country after the genocide. But the author does not shy away from the very serious aspects of life in Rwanda. One character in the book, a friend of Angel and a restaurant owner, tells about the sad despair of having survived by chance only after she saw her family being killed. Aids is an underlying theme in the book. And even female genital mutilation is raised (which is not a Rwandan tradition).

But it is a funny book as well. One guy in the story sent his maid to ask a neighbour for condoms in the middle of the afternoon. This raised some embarrassment and suspicion about the guy's sex life. In the end it turns out that the maid's English wasn't that good and that she was sent to ask for cardamom instead. Really a laugh.

Another quite lovely story in the book is the story about a baby-girl named Good-Enough. The baby's uncle orders a cake for the Christening and when Angel asks about the odd name he explains it. The baby's mother wanted a boy and got a girl instead. Good-Enough. After some soft persuasion Angel is able to put a new name of the baby on top the cake: Perfect.

'Baking cakes in Kigali' is a moving book. Again, it made me think of our own luck and wealth. And it shows at least a little bit of life in another country. I dearly hope for a sequel novel.

And to make it clear: This is not a book like the Mma Ramotswe ones (The No.1 ladies' detective agency-series by Alexander McCall Smith). I love the Mma Ramotswe books as well, since it made me curious about Botswana, a country which wasn't on my radar before. Now I dearly want to visit Botswana. Better sooner than later! But McCall Smith shows only the bright side of life and avoids all serious matters. Which is not a critisism at all. I just don't like the reviews of Gaile Parkin's book that say 'Mma Ramotswe fans will love this book'. They might, they might not.

A nice way to spend an evening or the secret of Ramen

2009-09-16T06:00:00.003+01:00

Just by chance we bought The Ramen girl at Sainsbury's last weekend. What a lovely surprise!

The film stars Brittany Murphy (Just Married, Sin City) as the American Abby who gets somehow lost in Tokyo when dumped by her boyfriend. She finds herself again while training to become a Ramen chef in a local Ramen shop. Her sensei is a cranky old man who doesn't speak English. Abby doesn't speak Japanese. Eventually, despite the cultural clash she learns how to put passion and spirit into her cooking and her life.

But see for youself:

Last year, when we stayed in Malaysia we used to eat at Ajisen Ramen regularly. We loved it. Went there twice a week sometimes. A shame that there isn't Ajisen in Frankfurt or London. But we have Mosch Mosch in Frankfurt, another Japanese noodle restaurant. Delicious! And they cook Ramen as well.

Ideas for Christmas presents - part 1

2009-09-15T07:05:00.010+01:00

One cannot start early enough thinking about what to buy for Christmas. And since one can buy Lebkuchen and Christmas biscuits and Marzipan Kartoffeln already, we figured we could start with publishing our ideas (and whishes... ;-) ).

Last weekend, while browsing books at Foyles we found this treasure:

Arctic: Jan Vermeer
by Frieda van Essen

Amazing pictures! You can get an impression here. This is one of his photos of Spitzbergen in the book (I stole it from his homepage.):

Jan Vermeer is an exceptionally gifted photographer. And - luckily - he published another awesome book: Antarctica: Jan Vermeer by Frieda van Essen.

The books do not only display pictures, you also learn something about the history of the polar regions. And since the Arctic and the Antarctica are facing rapid changes due to our lack of responsible climate politics this books might make a nice Christmas present. Even an investment for the future. In 50 years time you could show the pictures to your grand-(grand-)children and tell them about a beautiful but then vanished (or at least rapidly shrinking) world.

Cool fruits

2009-09-15T06:59:00.006+01:00

Fancying square tomatoes or peaches? How about this?

It took Chinese farmer Gao Xianzhang from Hebei province six years to create this pears. The pear grows in a plastic mould to get its shape. Cool idea.

Which superheroe are you?

2009-09-06T11:53:00.014+01:00

Little D. is kind of

Superman

She is mild-mannered, good,
strong and loves to help others.

75% Superman
70% Hulk
65% Batman
65% Green Lantern
62% Robin
55% Supergirl
55% Wonder Woman
50% Iron Man
40% Spider-Man
30% The Flash
25% Catwoman

T. is more of

Spider-Man

He is intelligent, witty,
a bit geeky and has great
power and responsibility.

75% Spider-Man
70% Hulk
65% The Flash
60% Green Lantern
55% Robin
53% Supergirl
50% Catwoman
50% Iron Man
45% Superman
43% Wonder Woman
30% Batman

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz

But before you wish too much remember:

SUPER POWERS, SUPER PROBLEMS!

Spiderman alive

2009-09-02T07:34:00.009+01:00

On our eight weeks trip to Malaysia last year, one of the buildings we fell in love with are the Petronas Twin Towers. We admired them - but that's where we stopped.

Not so Alain Robert, who calls himself the French spiderman: he just climbed the Towers. Yesterday, he climbed to the top of one Tower. The Towers are 452m high. Robert did it without using a rope, just with his bare hands. He has climbed over 70 skyscrapers before and this was his third attempt to conquer the Petronas Towers. Here you can find the BBC article and a nice video.

You can find more Reuters fotos here. Alain Robert is 46 years old and according to his website he suffers from vertigo and is disabled up to 66% due to accidents. Little D. suffers from vertigo as well, she feels dizzy just by looking at the Reuters pictures. Must be a different kind of vertigo.

Some news

2009-09-01T18:46:00.007+01:00

A lot has happenend since the last post.

T. will leave exciting, beautiful London and our lovely London flat with the nice landlords behind and will move to Oxford in October. We already found a nice flat there. Not as nice as the London one, but a little larger. Oxford will be exciting as well, maybe in a different way.

Little D. is living in Frankfurt since May this year. For work reasons as well. And let's face it: Frankfurt is the loveliest and most urban city in Germany. For some, Berlin might be the choice as their favourite German city. Not for us. Ok, Berlin has the Berliner Philharmoniker with Simon Rattle, also some history and a nice dialect. BUT we have a concert hall, where Simon Rattle and his Philharmoniker will visit (23. Sept., Alte Oper), we have Appelwoi, the most charming dialect (which we actually can speak) and the only skyscrapers worth mentioning in Germany. Applewoi is kind of a local drink in Frankfurt and Hessen, made of apples, kind of a light wine, which you can drink pure, mixed with water or mixed with lemonade. Applewoi with lemonade will out you as non-local. It is not the real stuff. All in all, Frankfurt is our home, even if London is our favourite city. Through all the sad living-apart-for-2-years-thing there is a nice side to being in Frankfurt again. (Not to mention my local bakery, a 2-min-walk away, and Müller buttermilk for breakfast.)

The recession in Germany is over now. We wonder if it might come back after the election of the new government by end of September.

The old fashioned 100-Watt-light bulb was burried today. From now on, Europeans have to buy energy saving light bulbs instead. This seems such exciting news that it was on the news every day for the last week. Seems we don't face any other urgent problems. What is the melting of some Greenland claciers compared to the loss of the 100-Watt- light bulb? Lucky you, if you did some hoarding on 100-Watt-light bulbs as many people did. And many of them told proudly on TV that they bought 100 bulbs in advance to never live without that beautiful warm light. Yes, what does climate change really matter as long as you have this warm light in your house?

Ah Meng or a story to pick

2008-10-21T13:54:00.001+01:00

A few days ago we came across this nice story. A shame we didn't know earlier when we were in Singapore. But we could have been suspicious and could have explored a bit further. Our guidebook told us that the zoo in Singapore is well worth a visit. Lying in the North of Singapore, the zoo is one of the world's few open zoos, where moats are preferred to cages. There are some 3200 animals, representing more than 330 species. The zoo manages to approximate the natural habitats of the animals it holds, and though leopards, pumas and jaguars still have to be kept behind bars, this seems like a nice place for zoo-animals. As a special treat at Singapore's zoo, one can have a breakfast of seasonal tropical fruits with an orang-utan. We actually thought about this, but travel advice tells you not to have fresh fruit which you haven't peeled yourself on the first days in a tropical environment. So we didn't go.

Some days ago we found Paul Carter's first book at our favourite bookshop, Kinokuniya, in KL. The title is kind of catchy: Don't tell mom I work on the rigs: she thinks I'm a piano player in a whorehouse. Worth a try, we thought. Paul Carter has worked on oil rigs in the Middle East, the North Sea, Borneo, Tunisia, Sumatra, Vietnam, Thailand, Nigeria, Columbia and Russia. In his book he tells some of his stories, some terrifying and violent, but most of them utterly funny. Little D. loved the book and couldn't put it down once had started reading.

Here is one of his stories (summarised by us, it is really fun to read his whole account):
One drill ship in South-East Asia had a very special crew member. Ah Meng, a young orphaned orang-utan who the drill ship's captain found in some harbourside market. He brought her back to the rig and there she stayed for many years. The bar on the rig became Ah Meng's domain, since she ran the bar on the rig for the next fifteen years. According to Carter, the bar was always clean and organized, and Ah Meng mixed the cocktails as well. "And in this bar was never any fighting because everyone had too much respect for Ah Meng [...] and if she wanted to, she could pull your head off and throw it over the side. Whenever the rig was in Singapore getting work done in dock, the boys would take Ah Meng out into town. Some older taxi drivers still remember driving her, they will tell you she was just like any other tourist. [...] When the drill ship was sold to a new drilling contractor, the company said Ah Meng had to go. The crew was in Singapore at the time, and decided to phone the Singapore zoo for advise. The zoo had heard of Ah Meng, and immediately asked if they could have her. In a cab Ah Meng left the ship, the crew was in tears waving her off." Barely in her twenties, she started a new life at the zoo. Because of her bizarre circumstances and gentle nature, she became a kind of meet 'n' greet ambassador for the zoo.

Here is the story that the zoo favours:

"Born in Sumatra, Indonesia around 1960, Ah Meng came to the Zoo at the approximate age of seven in 1971 when she was confiscated from the Chinese family who had kept her as an illegal pet. In 1982, the Zoo introduced ‘Breakfast with an Orang Utan’ programme and Ah Meng was the star. She shot to fame instantly and became a celebrity both at home an overseas. By 1986, she had featured in almost 30 travel films and had appeared in more than 270 articles in newspapers and travel magazines.

For her outstanding contributions in promoting the Zoo as a tourist attraction, Ah Meng is the first and only non-human recipient of the ‘Special Tourism Ambassador’ award conferred by the then Singapore Tourism Promotion Board in 1992."

Now you can choose which story you like better...

Sadly, Ah Meng died on February, 8th this year. She was 48. A devoted mother, Ah Meng leaves behind two sons, two daughters and six grandchildren. You can see here how popular she was! We feel sorry for not having met her.

When we got to Malaysia - Part I

2008-10-19T12:21:00.001+01:00

After 3 1/2 weeks in Malaysia, we thought it might be interesting to write down a few impressions.

It's raining, man!

Since we are living in London for quite a while now and the Brits love talking about the weather, we have to start this post with impressions of this important topic. The weather is mostly as we expected it to be, but not as predictable as we thought. Warm, usually around 32°C, very humid, with heavy rains and fierce thunderstorms in between, mostly in the afternoons. Rain and thunderstorms are very welcomed here, bringing a bit of cooler air. Of course, when the sun comes out again after the rain, it gets more humid than it was before, at least until all the rain water has evaporated. If, on a given day, there has not been a thunderstorm until 4pm, we start longing for one, especially when it is really hot and sunny. But neverthless, we cope unexpectedly well!

Da hood

The university guys rented an appartment for us. It is on the 11th floor of a 23-storey block, in a complex with 4 other blocks like ours. Recently built, not all appartments in the other blocks seem fully equipped or rented out yet. It is an enclave for foreigners here. We are probably the ones with the longest way home, most people here are from the Middle East or other Asian countries. We already met a very nice Iranian guy, who is here with his family, and a Japanese couple. And some others we don't know where they are from. People are nice, we tend to meet them on the 7th floor. The 7th floor is quite sociable, meaning there is internet access, snooker tables, the pools, the launderette and the childrens' playground.

We like our appartment, finding one like that in Frankfurt for little D. next year would be superb. But this will probably not happen, and surely not for 360€ a month. ;-)

The only thing that left us startled a bit in the beginning was that there was NOTHING in the flat when we moved in except for the furniture. No bed covers, no bed linen, no towels, no glass, no spoon, no telephone. That is OK for someone who moves in for longer, but we will stay only for 2 months. Anyway, stuff is quite cheap here and we have a shopping center in 5min walking distance, so we went on a shopping spree right away.

After half a day, we moved in with all the necessary stuff. And it is cosy now, especially during the thunderstorms. ;-)

Meal deal

A highlight in Malaysia is the food. It took us a few days to figure out what halal means. Most of the restaurants have a little sign, saying their food is halal. Halal food is basically the food a Muslim is allowed to eat according to his beliefs. It means of course no pork, no alcohol and no blood. Not too bad for us, too, since little D. became allergic to pork recently. :-(

We love the Malay and the Thai food, the Vietnamese and the Japanese food here. Luckily, we live close to the shopping center which houses a lot of restaurants. That comes in very handy! There are not so many places which offer Malay food. Probably, the residents want to eat something special when going out for dinner and not the stuff they get at home. What we miss so far is a Malay restaurant where you eat with your fingers. We were really looking forward to this. According to our guide book, this should be the waypeople here eat. Well, not around our place, but we will find such a restaurant. We mostly use fork and spoon (knives are very rare), and occasionally chopsticks. Surprisingly, the latter are much less common than we thought. A meal for two including drinks and service in a decent restaurant comes at 40-70 Ringgit, i.e., 7-12 GBP.

Our shopping center is so urban that it has a Delifrance café. They do very good coffee and "Stückchen" (German for small pieces of sweet pastry)!! (Better than in London actually - that is, ignoring Paul!)

They come in all shapes and (small) sizes

Malaysia is an interesting country with a mix of races and religions. A bit more than 50% of the people here are Muslim Malay, 23% are Chinese, 11% are Indian and the rest are non-Muslim Malay and people with other South-East Asian roots. We were a bit surprised how dominant Islam is in public life. If you don't know the figures you could easily suspect that more than 70% are Muslim. The mix of people is interesting: you see all kind of different people when walking around a bit. The men simply dress as they like, there is not too much difference to Europe, but some tendency to wear loud shirts and, on the other hand, some Muslim attire, of course. The women are more remarkable. You occasionally see Muslim women with this whole-body-coverd-black-veil, accompanied by a (presumably) Muslim husband in shorts, muscle shirt, sandals and cool sunglasses. (Remember, 32°C). Then there are a majority of Muslim women with scarves and the traditional shapeless, but very colourful dresses, then the younger women with jeans and modern long sleeved shirts and scarf, finally the ones without scarves. This is also reflected in the shops. You have shops for clothes to sew at home, many shops for scarves and those shapeless dresses, and then many, many ultra hip shops for younger people. And a lot of shops with very sexy, very short dresses. We haven't seen anyone wearing this. But no one would wear these dresses in daytime anyway. Many young Chinese women are dressed in a sexy way, showing a lot of skin (but they very well can, all very slender!). Of course, there are also the business type of women in suits. This should give some impression of the mix here.

Curiosities of Malaysia

2008-10-16T14:47:00.002+01:00

As Europeans, some daily routines in Malaysia are quite unusual for us. Here are some of the funny and strange things we have stumbled upon (sometimes literally).

Malaysia, land of little steps

Malaysia, or at least the area around KL, seems to be full of small, irregular and unexpected steps. You walk on an even surface, and suddenly there is a heightened floor. Or an uneven kerb. Or some loose cobblestones. Or some water drainage which actually is a mantrap. The Malaysians seem to be very fond of steps and very often build some without any obvious necessity. Another topic are stairs: they tend to be uneven. The first step is often huger than the others, which really can make you stumble.

Shampoo and "excessive scalp oil"

Then there is the issue of shampoo. We had to buy new shampoo, and the supermarket has a whole row of shelves to offer. We didn't find one that promises to give more volume to the hair, but thousands against dandruff. (Seems to be a massive problem here. ;-) ) We chose one called "Clear", which promises "refreshing with cooling sensation". After all, it contains vitamins A, C and E. And what is good for our bodies might be good for our hair as well, we thought. The effect of the shampoo is an excellent distribution, yet not removal of the scalp oil with every wash. No dandruff. (We didn't expect dandruff anyway, but let's give the shampoo at least some credit. Although we think that the essence of being a shampoo is the removal of scalp oil. Maybe we are wrong.) Not quite satisfied with "Clear", we started a second attempt to find a suitable shampoo. After many minutes of browsing thoroughly through the shampoo shelves we found a promising product. "Sunsilk clean and fresh". "Remove excess scalp oil build-up in one wash" it says on the bottle. We will keep you posted. :-)

No-nos

When using the commuter trains to KL, you will soon find out that a lot of things are prohibited. Whereas we are well used to the no smoking and no eating or drinking sings, the imagination of the Malaysian Komuter [sic!] train authorities goes much further. In every carriage you will find 7 prohibition signs in a row which forbid the following actions: smoking, eating & drinking, littering, chewing gums, indecent behaviour, carrying dangerous & flammable materials (no cigarette lighters are allowed, but you wouldn't need them anyway because you are not allowed to smoke, so what) and bringing animals. Our favourite, of course, is the indecent behaviour sign. Encircled in red you find the heads of a woman and a man, maybe kissing. We can't really tell if they are kissing, because the heads are crossed with a red line. Our interpretation after all: in the train the very dangerous behaviour of kissing is not allowed. Some rebels, usually young couple still very much in love, dare to hold hands. Don't let the morale police see this, fellow friends. (Yes, there is a morale police in Malaysia, we think they are only in charge of the Muslims here, but we don't know exactly.) Anyway, we think Malaysia is not really suitable for honeymooners. Boy, have we been indecent in the past...

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

Another very strange thing is that 95% of the women and men in advertisments in this South-East Asian country are Westerners. How strange is this? Even with plenty of whitening creams, a Malay or Indian or Chinese woman will never look like Gwyneth Paltrow or Kate Moss or Avril Lavigne, who are all very popular here. (Our desperate attempt to find a night cream WITHOUT skin whitener finally succeeded.) Moreover, there are not only actresses or other stars posing in ads, but also many unknown Western models, women and men. As if they would not have plenty of pretty people here. Just think of the beauties of Singapore Airlines... The Malaysian men, at least, partly succeed in imitating David Beckham's hairstyles.

Stopover in Singapore

2008-10-14T06:13:00.002+01:00

A lot has been going on, and finally we find some time to report it here. On Sunday, September 21st, we took a night flight from London to Singapore. T. had suggested to fly with Singapore airlines, in order to find out if the stewardesses really are as pretty as in the ads. (We did not expect this to be the case.) Well, they are. Most beautiful. A bit depressing actually for little D. ... But in the end, she spent much more time staring at them than T. And making admiring comments. In any case, the flight was comfortable, the food was good, the movie program included Keinohrhasen (a flick with Til Schweiger, the master brain of German film), and after all the excitement, we could even catch a little sleep.

Immigration was extremely simple, and we took a taxi to our hotel on the island of Sentosa, which lies south of the main (is)land. We had a really nice hotel with an especially nice pool and beach.

Our room had hillside view, which just meant that we saw 180° of this:

And yes, it is quite humid, but not too bad, we whitebreads could cope with it. It is also not too hot. Around 30° or less, which is OK. Singapore is interesting, but very modern and westernised. You can find all the shops from London's Oxford Street there as well. And prices in these shops are nearly the same as in Europe. We had only two whole days and an afternoon in Singapore, which of course is not enough to get a real impression. We very much like the Singapore Sling (kleiner versteckter Hinweis an unseren Freund H. aus B.), the famous cocktail invented by the Raffles Hotel in Singapore in the early 20th century. Very nice ;-) Of course, we had it in the Raffles Hotel. Beautiful building, restored in the late 80s, and just as colonial as you would expect from history books. We enjoyed our evening on the verandah there anyway.

The short time given, we still saw quite a bit of Singapore: Chinatown, the Indian district, some restaurants near the Singapore river, some Buddhist temples, all very nice. It was exam season for pupils when we were there. And you can make an offer in a temple to let your son or daughter get A grades. Funny. It was reported in the newspaper as well. I am not so sure if this is really Buddhist thinking or just a practical way to believe in good grades and the potential of your children. Or for the Buddhists to make some money.

If we should get back to this area of the world some time, then we will surely try to stop over in Singapore again.

Our Singapore discovery

2008-10-13T13:38:00.008+01:00

Golden Rain, 2005

The artist is Li Chen, a Taiwanese sculptor, who currently has an exhibition in Beijing. We are not the only ones loving these sculptures. Recently, one was sold by Sotheby's Asia for 200.000 US$. Leaves us with the pictures only.

We think the sculptures speak for themselves:

Cultivated by Mist and Cloud, 2000

Cause, 2003

Silly Sunday or why the North-Americans will save our planet

2008-04-27T13:46:00.002+01:00

The Green Car of the year 2008 is this Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid. (Not kidding, see here.) “This is a milestone in many respects,” says Green Car Journal editor and publisher Ron Cogan. Indeed. The city fuel efficiency rating of this monster is only 11.2l per 100km. What a wonderful world this is.

One of little D.'s favourite songs

2008-04-20T12:46:00.002+01:00

Have a nice Sunday everyone!

Back to London - or not

2008-04-14T16:29:00.009+01:00

- Ein kleiner Reisebericht über die letzten Tage -

Letzten Donnerstag haben wir uns dem kanadischen Lebensstil etwas angepasst und uns ein Auto gemietet. Wir wohnen in Waterloo in bequemer Laufweite zur Hauptstrasse, in der viele Geschäfte, die beiden kleinen Kinos und ein Supermarkt sind, auch ein gut sortierter kleiner Buchladen mit dem schönen Namen 'Words worth books', hatten aber ohne Auto bisher wenig Gelegenheit unsere weitere Umgebung zu erkunden. Unsere erste Spritztour galt der Gegend nördlich von Waterloo. Dort lebt u.a. eine recht große Gemeinde von Mennoniten, die mit Pferdewagen unterwegs sind. Für die gibt es neben der geteerten Straße eine Schotterspur, auf der sie gemächlich dahinzotteln können. Es gibt hier sogar Verkehrshinweisschilder mit einem Pferdewagen, die den Besucher der Gegend auf solche langsamen Fahrzeuge im Straßenverkehr aufmerksam machen.

Am Freitag morgen sind wir nach London gefahren. T. hat am King's University College über seine Arbeit vorgetragen, little D. hat in der Zwischenzeit London erkundet. London in Ontario hat etwa 350.000 Einwohner, ist gut 100km von Waterloo entfernt und hat mit unserem London, abgesehen von den Straßennamen, nur sehr wenige Gemeinsamkeiten. London ist eine freundliche kanadische Stadt. ;-) Nach dem Mittagessen mit T.s Kollegen haben wir noch einen Abstecher an den Lake Huron gemacht. Wir sind in Grand Bend rausgekommen, ein kleines Örtchen an der Küste, das in der Saison voll ist von Familien mit Kindern. Da die Saison erst im Mai beginnt, war der km-lange Sandstrand wie ausgestorben. So weit wir sehen konnten, waren nur sehr vereinzelte Herrchen oder Frauchen mit Hund unterwegs - weit entfernt. Wir hatten den Strand ganz für uns. Was will man mehr?! Weil es am Freitagmorgen recht stark geregnet hat und das Wetter auch so bleiben sollte, haben wir leider unsere Kamera vergessen. Deshalb hier ein offizielles Bild von der Touristenhomepage:

Das Fahren auf Kanadas Landstraßen und Autobahnen ist übrigens sehr angenehm. Keine Drängler, keine Raser, entspanntes Fahren. Es geht auch so!

Samstag war ein eher ruhiger Tag. Wir haben im Regen St. Jacobs besucht. Und auch gleich im Levis-Outletshop eine Jeans für T. erstanden. Abends waren wir mit einem Bekannten sehr gut essen. Hier in Waterloo, im Charbries.

Am Sonntag wurde das Wochenende noch besser. Es war zunächst Regen und Schnee angesagt, wir hatten aber Sonnenschein vom Feinsten. Recht früh haben wir uns aufgemacht nach Niagara-on-the-Lake, ein pitoreskes Örtchen an der Mündung des Niagara River in den Lake Ontario, etwa 25km nördlich der Niagara Fälle. Jetzt wissen wir auch, wo die Reichen hier wohnen. Genau in dieser Gegend. Niagara-on-the-Lake liegt direkt am See und es gibt viele Häuser/Villen/burgenähnliche Häuser, die mit Seeblick gebaut sind. Die Gegend westlich des Niagara River ist eine Weingegend. (Der Wein wird dort auf Feldern angebaut.) Zum Glück sind wir dem Rat des Reiseführers gefolgt und haben die Autobahn schon vor Niagara-on-the-Lake verlassen. Es war ein gemütliches Fahren mit sehr schönen Ausblicken.

Niagara-on-the-Lake

Als wir endlich an den Niagarafällen ankamen, war es schon Nachmittag. Weil auch dort noch keine Saison ist, waren trotz Sonnenschein und Sonntag nur wenige Touristen unterwegs. Wir haben es sehr genossen. Die Boote, die in die Gischt der Horseshoe Falls fahren, hatten noch Winterschlaf. Little D. war sehr froh darüber, denn neben Personen auf Landschaftsfotos hasst sie auch Touristenboote auf Fotos.;-) Hier ein paar Schnappschüsse:

Canadian Horseshoe Falls
(Sie sind 56m hoch und 675m breit und es fließen 2.549 m³ Wasser pro Sekunde von den USA nach Kanada.)

American Falls
(Sie sind 58m hoch und 430m breit und lassen nur 1/10 des Wasser des Niagara Rivers durch.)

American Falls - Detail

Horseshoe Falls - Detail

Silly Sunday - delayed

2008-04-08T15:17:00.007+01:00

Last Sunday we had a really nice time and as time went by we didn't post... So, here is the delayed Silly Sunday column.

Being in a new country, we are always curious about the ads. We saw one on TV we like to share with you. We have never seen this in Europe before (and are glad about this!) but it might just be our ignorance. Maybe it is out there as well.

It is all about Clear Play. "Clear Play is a fancy DVD player that can play regular DVD movies -- but without profanity, violence and nudity." First, we are impressed that they tell us the DVD player can play regular movies. So far so good. It works by cutting out the scenes that they think are profane, violent and all about nudity and probably (gasp!) sex. Don't be sceptical, the movie you will see is not choppy at all. And that is because they love movies as much as we do. (We doubt that.) They take great care to maintain the presentation quality of the movie. "The only thing gone is 'that one scene' you wish the kids never saw." But don't be disappointed. It is not only a tool for parenting. It is also useful for us. If you always wanted to watch a movie without the profanity and nudity in it, this is your gift.

Here you can watch an advertising clip that explains how it works. In action. You will see a house on fire. Firemen run inside the burning building and rescue a child. The Clear Play guys cut out a piece of the rescue action, you just see the firemen go in and come out. You don't see the real action of rescuing the child. (Yes, we also would have cut this out for our 4 year old daughter, but maybe we just would not have watched it with her.) Not a lot of excitement left actually in the ad clip. But isn't this why you watch a movie? To get enthralled, excited, angry, anxious. You might even cry. (To be fair, we guess the pieces where you can laugh stay in the movie even with Clear Play. Unless they are profane, of course.) What will become of our heroes? They are defined by the action that would be cut out. Arnie (yes, little D. was quite keen on his oeuvre when aged 16, not embarrassed at all now that he became a governor ;-) ) with his tattered muscle filled shirt, in blood, standing in front of whatever he just fought, looking fierce, but glad. How would you know what just happened? And how could you appreciate what he just did? Saving the world?

What pops into our mind immediately: Lassie. The collie we all loved in our childhood. The collie who made us cry, made us laugh and in the end made us happy. Imagine the movie Lassie come home with Clear Play. (The story, set in Depression-era England, is about a poor boy's dog - Lassie - who, when sold to a rich nobleman, makes a difficult journey to return home to her original owner.) Lassie - always in danger, sometimes even hurt, or the boy in danger and Lassie in danger as well while rescuing the boy or another family member or another dog. Would we remember it as clear as we do (with all the pain!) with Clear Play? We doubt it.

But it is not only about kids' movies. They have a Clear Play library with over 2000 movies to choose from. And a lot of genres: action, adventure, romance, comedy (imagine comedy without the bad language, you might actually very well miss the point, but maybe they don't have this kind of comedy), sport and even documentaries. And they constantly add new movies as they come out. You already know what we are up to. Of course, we are checking if they also have 'I am Legend', the latest zombie movie by Will Smith. And to our surprise, they have it! Now we wonder what would be left. The theatrical cut is 100 min long. The Clear Play cut might have at most 50 min (It takes about 45 min to show that it is a zombie movie. And the last 3-5 minutes are zombie free again.) But what would be left of the story? Yes, we can imagine why they think Clear Play might be necessary for this kind of horror-adventure-drama-sci-fi film... we just wonder how silly this is.

Just imagine what will become of some movies that kind of shaped us: "Jaws" will become a movie about nice sandy beaches in the sun, people who don't know the uncleared version might wonder about the music though (surprisingly as well: they have it in their library, even Jaws 2). Yes, we would share this cleared version with our daughter.

Imagine "An inconvenient truth" by Al Gore. Gore is a word that is quite profane. Better cut it out. Thinking about it, the title is profane as well. So, there is "The documentary without a title by Al" left. We are not sure what will be left over of the content. And don't wonder if your kids - who only get to know the cleared movie and documentary versions - ask what lions eat. No, they don't kill antelopes. What a peaceful view of the world. Then better to cut out all news as well.

In our humble opinion, it might be better not having your kids watch such films. Even with Clear Play. And why spending approx. $ 80 a year on the membership and additional $ 80 for a fancy DVD player? Just watch what your kids watch on TV and DVD and let them discover the world how it is. And if you don't want profanity, violence and nudity in a movie, then just don't watch it. Or make your own movie. Or use earplugs or don't look when it gets violent or leave the cinema or start knitting or take a book or just don't watch it.

Die weite Welt und die Provinz

2008-04-05T21:55:00.009+01:00

King Street East, Kitchener

Seit dem 1. April haben wir London vorübergehend verlassen und uns aufgemacht in die schöne weite Welt. Die weite Welt ist in unserem Fall Waterloo in Kanada. Nein, wir machen hier nicht einfach Urlaub, aber wir genießen die Zeit neben der Arbeit.

Waterloo ist eine Stadt mit 115.000 Einwohnern, die in die Nachbarstadt Kitchener übergeht (214.000 Einwohner). Wir sind etwa 100 km südwestlich von Toronto in Ontario. Wenn man sich die umliegenden Orte anschaut, könnte man meinen, wir sind in Europa. Hier gibt es auch ein London, natürlich auch ein Paris, ein Heidelberg, ein Mannheim, ein Baden, Kitchener war früher mal Berlin, ein Stratford, offensichtlich nicht genug, um an Shakespeare zu erinnern, denn gleich daneben liegt Shakespeare. Auch gibt es ein Wallenstein, ein Cambridge, Woodstock nicht zu vergessen, New Hamburg, auch Delhi ist zu finden und gar Scotland; ebenso Brussels, Bornholm, Petersburg, Breslau und Dublin. Nicht wirklich einfallsreich, die Auswanderer in früherer Zeit.

Aber das ist jetzt anders, denn Waterloo hat 2007 einen wichtigen Preis erhalten. In dem Besucherheftchen für die Region klingt das so:

"Waterloo is gaining an international reputation as a key community of the 21st century, a reputation strongly enhanced when the city was named the world's 2007 Intelligent Community of the Year. That honour was bestowed by the Intelligent Community Forum; Waterloo was competing with impressive cities from all around the world. As the home of high tech giants, important academic centres and innovative institutions, Waterloo attracts wide-spread international attention on a regular basis. It's largely because of the presence of many cutting edge businesses, as well as two universities and other important institutions , that Waterloo has developed the personality it has - bright, creative, hospitable, culturally-aware, and entertaining."

Wie gut, dass auch wir jetzt eine Zeit lang zur Intelligent Community gehören dürfen. Wir haben sogar schon eine kleine Theorie entwickelt, weshalb Waterloo diesen beachtlichen Status erreicht hat: sehr wenig Ablenkung. Man darf sich nicht blenden lassen von der weiten Welt, denn auch in der Ferne kann es Provinz geben. ;-)

Perimeter Institute, Waterloo

Silly Sunday

2008-03-30T16:30:00.014+01:00

In unserer neuen Kolumne 'Silly Sunday' wollen wir die interessanteste Meldung des Sonn-Tages reflektieren. Heute müssen wir nicht lange diskutieren, welche Meldung das Rennen macht. Wolfgang macht es uns - wieder einmal - leicht.

Doch heute ist unser Innenminister nicht Täter, sondern Opfer. Ja, auch wir empfinden spontan Mitleid. Der Chaos Computer Club e.V. hat in der neuesten Ausgabe seiner Vereinszeitschrift 'Datenschleuder' eine Gebrauchsanweisung zum Herstellen fremder Fingerabdrücke veröffentlicht. Als kleines Extra erhält man als Vereinsmitglied außerdem den Fingerabdruck von Wolfgang Schäuble zum Sammeln (und Verwenden?). (In den nächsten Ausgaben gibt es weitere prominente Fingerabdrücke - auch zum Sammeln.) Aber unser Mitleid ist gar nicht angebracht, denn der Innenminister nimmt es erst einmal gelassen. Sein Fingerabdruck sei kein Geheimnis, den könne jeder haben, er selbst habe nichts zu befürchten, teilte er Spiegel online mit. Wir sind zunächst beeindruckt darüber, wie Wolfgang auch hier selbstsicher und souverän sein Der-redliche-Bürger-hat-nichts-zu-befürchten-egal-wie-
sehr-der-Staat-in-seine-Privatsphäre-eindringt-Argument anführt. Ein wenig weniger selbstsicher wolle man aber doch prüfen, ob man gegen die Aktion des Chaos Computer Clubs juristisch vorgehen wolle und könne. Vermutlich will man, wenn man kann.

Nun aber zu der spannenden Frage: Wie mache ich einen fremden Fingerabdruck zu meinem eigenen? Der Chaos Computer Club hat das schon im Oktober 2004 erklärt. Haben wir verpasst. Dafür hoffen wir nun, die Botschaft weiter zu verbreiten. Erster Schritt zur Herstellung einer Fingerabdruckattrappe: einen geeigneten Fingerabdruck finden. Besonders gut erhaltene Fingerabdrücke findet man auf Gläsern, Türklinken oder Hochglanzpapier (also von nun an die aktuelle Vogue oder GQ besser nicht mehr in der U-Bahn liegen lassen). Hat man den geeigneten Abdruck gefunden, muss man ihn sichtbar machen. Dazu tropft man eine kleine Menge Sekundenkleber in einen Flaschenverschluss und stülpt diesen über den Abdruck. Das ausgasende Cyanoacrylat läßt die Fettrückstände des Fingerabdrucks zu einer festen weißen Substanz werden. Davon dann bitte mit der Digitalkamera ein Foto machen, dieses ggf. noch nachbearbeiten und schon hat man einen fertigen fremden Finegrabdruck im Computer. Wenn man diesen dann mit einem Laserdrucker auf eine Folie druckt, hat man ein Fingerabdrucknegativ. Auf das Negativ ist im nächsten Schritt eine dünne Schicht Holzleim aufzutragen. Diese trocknen lassen und auf Fingergröße zurecht schneiden. Fertig ist die Fingerabdruckattrappe. Wenn man nun die Attrappe mit ein wenig Geschick und Maskenkleber auf den entsprechenden eigenen Finger klebt, kann es los gehen. Die neue Identität ist fertig.

Für alle, die es lieber anschaulicher wollen, gibt es hier ein Video zur Bastelanleitung oder hier die Anleitung mit Bildern.

Angeblich sicherer soll er sein, unser neuer Reisepass mit Fingerabdruck. Und uns vor den Gefahren des bösen Terrorismus bewahren. Es ist uns ohnehin schon länger nicht klar, wie der Fingerabdruck im Reisepass den Terror aus dem Land halten soll. (Vielleicht will uns das mal jemand erklären?) Jetzt wird es jedenfalls noch unglaubwürdiger.

Aber wer denkt, dass so ein fremder Fingerabdruck nur an der Grenze sinnvoll sein kann, der denkt nicht weit genug. Auch die einfache inländische Kriminalität bietet hier Anwendungsbereiche. Man stelle sich nur mal vor, dass jemand, der einen Einbruch begehen will (etwa in einen Juwelierladen, denn der Aufwand muss sich ja lohnen), zufällig Zugriff auf die AFIS-Datenbank des BKA erhält und sich für jeden Finger einen Fingerabdruck einer anderen Person bastelt. Der Einbrecher hätte dann also 10 Identitäten und die Polizei hätte alle Hände voll zu tun. Das Basteln gibt ganz neue Möglichkeiten an die Hand... Und alles nur, weil Wolfgang sich für den Fingerabdruck im Reisepass stark gemacht hat und so den Chaos Computer Club gereizt hat, der nun die Bastelanleitung für Fingerabdrücke publik macht.

Doch auch kleinere Straftaten, möglicherweise sogar solche unter der Bagatellgrenze, sind denkbar. Edeka bietet in Deutschland schon seit einiger Zeit in einigen Filialen das Bezahlen per Fingerabdruck an. Wenn das kein Fall für unseren Hobbybastler ist...

ARD plusminus berichtete schon am 27. November 2007, wie das Fingerabdruck-Einkaufsystem von Edeka überlistet werden kann. Es wurde einfach der Fingerabdruck eines bereits registrierten Kunden nachgebildet und vom Fälscher zum Einkaufen benutzt. Die Rechnung bezahlte der registrierte Kunde. Die Reporter werfen die berechtigte Frage auf, was wohl passieren wird, wenn man demnächst auch mit dem Fingerabdruck Geld abheben kann.

Der Hersteller des Fingerabdruck-Systems, das bei Edeka verwendet wird, erklärt uns seine heile Welt so: "Es ist immer noch die sicherste Variante, mit der sie bezahlen können. Da sind jede Menge Sicherheitsschwellen eingezogen, die verhindern, dass es zur mehrfachen Nutzung kommt. Das alles zusammen führt dazu, dass ich ganz beruhigt sagen kann, das System ist sicher, und auch als Firma dafür einstehen kann, dass Zahlungen, die unberechtigt stattfinden, zurückgebucht werden, weil es gab bisher noch keine." Doch, eben gezeigt. Den Missbrauch ihres Fingerabdrucks müssen natürlich die Kunden beweisen.

Wir sind nicht überzeugt und halten das Bezahlen mit Bargeld für die sicherste Methode.

A deeper understanding of Zombies

2008-03-26T18:57:00.010Z

Some weeks ago we wrote about Will Smith's latest zombie movie. You might remember that I, little D., was quite confused about the logic of the zombie's behaviour. A few days ago we went book shopping in one of our favourite bookshops in London and we came across the philosophy section. We didn't look for something in particular, just scanned through the shelfs (which is the most risky way to spend money there...). T. found a book. It didn't look immediately inviting to me, but I had a closer look. And you would not believe what I found: Article 12 in the book is by Thomas W. Polger and has the title

Zombies Explained

How could we not buy it?! What an inviting title. I mean, who wants to read something about the foundation of quantum theory or naval law in the 19th century if you can do research on zombies. If we had known earlier...

I followed a link in a footnote of Polger's explanation and found a whole scientific journal volume on Zombies. The Journal of Consciousness Studies, vol. 2, issue 4 of 1995. Very promising titles again: The unimagined preposterousness of zombies [...maybe not so unimagined by some of us...], Varieties of zombiehood, You can't argue with a zombie [...who would have thought...], In defence of impenetrable zombies, Zombies and the Turing test [...whatever this is... but why not test a zombie, there are so many outside...], What zombies can't do [...well, here I could add something...], Why zombies won't stay dead and the most promising article title: Yes, we are zombies, but we can become conscious. (Some days ago we went to the ignobel prize show here in London, and I feel a tiny bit reminded of it.)

I must admit I am intrigued and though I could not access the articles online I ordered a second hand copy of the journal for 1.03 Pound. Lucky me. The copy has to be shipped over from the States, this might take a while. But I promise I will keep you posted!

But you don't have to wait for the serious research volume on consciousness. In the meantime, the wikipedia entry on zombies enlightens us further. Zombies have various kinds of impact, I learned.

The most common definition is: a zombie is a reanimated corpse. The stories of zombies originate in the Afro-Caribbean spiritual belief system of Voodoo. According to their belief a dead person can be revived by a Voodoo sorcerer who keeps the zombies under control since they have no will of their own.

In 1982 the Canadian anthropologist and ethnobotanist Edmund Wade Davis traveled to Haiti and found out that a living person can be turned into a zombie. (Now we know what we always wanted to know: what an anthropologist and ethnobotanist does for a living.) To zombiefy someone you only have to add two 'special powders' to his/her blood stream. It is that easy. ;-) One powder's key ingredient is a near-lethal dose of tetrodotoxin, which is the same lethal toxin you can find in the Japanese fugu. According to Wade Davis, after such a dose a person can be alive in this state of near-death for several days, but remains conscious. But not enough, one has to add the second powder which takes the person's consciousness and put him/her in a zombie-like state where he/she seems to have no will of his/her own. You can find all this in Wade Davis' book 'The Serpent and the Rainbow', published 1985.

Stephen A. Haines from Ottawa in Canada, who reviewed Wade Davis' book at amazon.co.uk, gives us his opinion on zombification: "If the method of 'zombification' of malefactors seems extreme in our view, it may be simply because we hide our criminals away in concrete tombs at taxpayer's expense. ... To Davis, it's simply the quiet application of justice. Is this a technique we could apply in our own society? Probably not, since we don't possess the cultural background. But the rendering of justice at the local level for local offenses is surely something we might consider as a behavioural innovation." SURELY NOT.

But this still doesn't explain why a whole journal volume deals with zombies. Maybe we should not look for an explanation, maybe this is the wrong path, but it is so tempting. Going a bit deeper into it we find an article on philosophical zombies. Yes, philosophical zombies. The term was coined by David Chalmers. In philosophy of the mind, zombies are hypothetical persons who lack full consciousness. But they have the biology and behaviour of a normal human being. They are often used in thought experiments which make arguments against the identity of the mind or the brain. Fascinating.

Finally I don't want to conceal that there are zombie walks around the world. Zombie walks are gatherings of people who dress up in zombie costumes. Sometimes they are just a sort of surrealist performed art, sometimes they are part of a political protest. We didn't come across one so far but we will keep our eyes peeled.

A bit of advertisement

2008-02-03T14:52:00.000Z

It will be fun!

Varekai - an evening in another world

2008-02-03T14:07:00.000Z

First of all, we want to say a big THANK YOU to you, Chris!

"Deep within a forest, at the summit of a volcano, exists an extraordinary world—a world where something else is possible. A world called Varekai.

From the sky falls a solitary young man, and the story of Varekai begins. Parachuted into the shadows of a magical forest, a kaleidoscopic world populated by fantastical creatures, this young man sets off on an adventure both absurd and extraordinary. On this day at the edge of time, in this place of all possibilities, begins an inspired incantation to life rediscovered.

The word varekai means "wherever" in the Romany language of the gypsies the universal wanderers. This production pays tribute to the nomadic soul, to the spirit and art of the circus tradition, and to the infinite passion of those whose quest takes them along the path that leads to Varekai."

Yesterday, we spent the evening in the Royal Albert Hall watching a performance of the wonderful Cirque du soleil. It was an extraordinary experience and we had a wonderful time. It is hard to tell how it was. You can get a glance here:

It seems that there are other kinds of humans outside. Some without bones or bones made of rubber. But muscles they have. It was awesome and most fascinating to watch!

About legends and zombies

2008-01-30T20:00:00.000Z

Our favourite cinema in London is the Greenwich Picturehouse, which is a bit alternative. There are screenings for older people, for mothers with babies, for autistic people, you get organic chocolate and ice cream there, and the seats are a bit like home and very comfortable (actually, much more comfortable than at home. We have a crap sofa. We always thought we would not stay long enough to replace it. We might replace it this year anyway...).

The film: I am Legend. The new one with Will Smith.

Will Smith is a brilliant scientist (who of course takes his daily workout very seriously, as all scientists), but even he couldn't contain a terrible, unstoppable, incurable (of course!), man-made virus. Somehow immune (of course), he is now the last human survivor in NY City and maybe in the world (accompanied by his dead daughter's cute dog Samantha). For 3 years, he has faithfully sent out daily radio messages, desperate to find any other survivors. But he is not alone.... hoohoo... in the dark there are mutant victims of the plague - the zombies. Smith's mission is to find a way to reverse the effects of the virus - and rescue the zombies.

Here we have two different reviews:

Little D.'s:

I still wonder how it could happen to find myself watching a ZOMBIE movie. I noticed it only after already watching the film for an hour. The time the zombies appeared. (New resolution: never trust anyone again for choosing a movie, not even the husband, always read some critiques first!) The film was definitely not one for me. Too exciting (not in a good way), too sad on the other hand. I didn't take my book with me - understandably, because we went to the cinema. So I couldn't leave and wait for T. while reading something exciting (in a good way). (Second resolution: always take a book - just in case.) The worst part was the end. For all of you who still want to see the movie stop reading!

Of course, Will was not the only survivor. The other survivor told him she knew that there are many more in the mountains. Because God told her. Because God has a plan and because He means well with humankind. Will was not convinced at first. Due to the fact that God let 5.6 billion people die, and that most of the rest of humankind were either mutated to zombies or eaten by zombies. Quite an argument. In the end, of course, there are survivors in the mountains. How silly is this!!??!!

There are a few questions I always wanted to ask: why are zombies always most stupid, but can very quickly get together when they found a fresh meal - the last survivor. How do they communicate? And what do they think how to share the meal? Hundreds of zombies and one human. This will not leave much for everyone. Maybe they are to stupid to think about this. Maybe that is why the 507th also joins in to hunt ONE (actually 2 and a half, but it doesn't really matter) human. What do they eat instead of humans - who are very rare in NY city? For the last 3 years now. Even our hero is too stupid to hunt game. (So he feeds his dog vegetables.) What do the zombies feed their zombie dogs? And why can zombies climb walls? Why don't they speak? Probably because of the effect. It might be more effective when they scream... I don't know.

T.'s review:

It is an enjoyable zombie movie. (Little D.: Maybe it is for someone who playes DOOM 3 to relax - who was lent DOOM 3 by his boss.)

Little review of January

2008-01-30T18:30:00.000Z

First of all: we wish everyone a happy 2008 ... from February on - and simply hope that your January was fine!

Don't really know why we haven't blogged earlier, no time, not in the mood, ... doesn't matter. But because we want to share our adventures with you and want to remind ourself of our little adventures, let's see what happened.

We went home for Xmas. 2 entire weeks. It was nice to see our families again, we had a really good time (and too much delicious food...). But it was also nice to come back and move on. For little D. the year started with a mean cold :(. Hope this was it for 2008! T. is still busy at work - and enjoys it a lot.

Except the usual day by day life not so much happened in January.

We went to a nice Bach concert at the Royal Festival Hall with friends on the 22nd. Angela Hewitt played the first book of "Das wohltemperierte Klavier". It was a very enjoyable concert. Later we read that on the morning of the concert her mother died. How sad. She played her heart out in the recital. And it was her best concert of the Bach world tour so far.

For the last days we had a good friend visiting us. This is always special. Unfortunately little D. couldn't spend as much time with her as she wanted to. So we hope we will see her again soon!! You know, you have to put a little bit of effort in it to make the days in London worthwhile for your visitors. Luckily we found a very nice restaurant. It is a Chinese restaurant called Hakkasan and it is located in a quiet alleyway close to Tottenham Court Road. This was the first delight. Tottenham Court Road on a Saturday at lunchtime is VERY busy. Turning into Hanway Road was like leaving London. Suddenly we were the only people on the street. The second delight was the beautiful interior of Hakkasan. A mix of 1930s Shanghai-style (e.g. dark wooden carvings as dividing walls) and a bit of the Matrix, as Time Out magazine rightly put it. Sometimes the restaurant is used as a film set. And finally, the meals were delicously delicious! We had some dim sum and some small main courses. This restaurant is definitely a place to remember and a place to celebrate something special.

The other discovery we made during our friend's stay is a pub with a very nice view over the Thames and St. Paul's. We will definitely take our next visitors there as well.

Finally, we managed to go to the movies as well. See next post for this. January wasn't bad at all!

A child of our time

2007-12-17T11:30:00.000Z

- Konzertkritik von little D. -

Um in der Vorweihnachtszeit auch mal zur Ruhe zu kommen, haben wir schon Anfang Oktober Karten für ein Konzert im Barbican gekauft. Wir mögen den herausragenden, charmanten chinesischen Pianisten Lang Lang sehr und versuchen, wann immer es geht, eines seiner Konzerte zu besuchen (was uns immerhin etwa zweimal pro Jahr einen tollen Abend beschert; einer der Vorteile, wenn man in London lebt).

Gestern also spielte das London Symphony Orchestra unter der Leitung von Sir Colin Davis zwei Stücke von Michael Tippett (1905 - 1998). Wir sind nicht so sehr begeistert von moderner klassischer Musik, beim Kartenkauf ist uns gar nicht aufgefallen, dass es sich bei Tippett um einen Komponisten des 20. Jahrhunderts handelt. Unser Glück, sonst hätten wir das Konzert vielleicht nicht besucht.
Zuerst wurde ein Piano Concerto gespielt mit Lang Lang am Flügel. Das war bemerkenswert schön, aber nicht atemberaubend schön.

Nach der Pause stand "A Child of Our Time" auf dem Programm. Hier könnt Ihr eine kleine Kostprobe hören: (Es ist nur ein kleiner Ausschnitt, der eine Ahnung vermittelt. Unglaublich, was man bei You tube alles findet... ALLES!)

Tippett hat "A Child of Our Time" zwischen 1939-41 komponiert. Es ist ein Orchesterstück mit Chor und 4 Solosängern, die folgende (authentische) Geschichte erzählen: 1938 wurde in Paris ein deutscher Diplomat von einem polnischen Juden aus Verzweiflung und Wut über die Judenverfolgung und die Verfolgung seiner Familien durch die Nazis erschossen. Dieses Ereignis (u.a.) führte zur Reichspogromnacht am 9. November, die als organisierter Pogrom den Übergang von der administratitiven und legislativen Diskriminierung zur offenen Verfolgung der jüdischen Bevölkerung und dem Holocaust markiert. Tippett, selbst Pazifist (wofür er 1943 inhaftiert wurde), war so entsetzt, dass er "A Child of Our Time" komponierte. Dieses Stück war sein erstes großes öffentliches Statement als Künstler.

"The world turns on its dark side.
It is winter."

Damit beginnt der Chor. (Der London Symphony Chorus war toll, auch die Solisten waren großartig. Ich hatte mehrfach Gänsehaut.)

"Now in each nation there were some cast out by authority and
tormented, made to suffer for the general wrong.
Pogroms in the east, lynching in the west;
Europe brooding on a war of starvation,
And a great cry went up from the people."

Das Stück ist gewaltig, einfühlsam, bewegend. Am Ende etwas zu hoffnungsvoll, schaut man sich den Lauf der Geschichte an.
Der Abend war anders, als wir es erwartet hatten.

A bit of home abroad

2007-12-14T15:06:00.000Z

Last weekend we spent a day in Birmingham. This was not a long-time-ago-planned-trip (as is our trip to Cornwall one day in the indefinite future...). Anyway, it is always nice to see a bit of England.

Birmingham, in the West Midlands, is the second largest city in England with approximately 2.3 Million people. It has a lot of nice, modern architecture and more canals than Venice. In the City center you would not think that Birmingham was once a model in the Industrial Revolution. Unfortunately, there are no guided walks in winter (so we cannot tell about hidden treasures) and it rained the whole Saturday anyway.

We went to the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. Very nice and warm, especially nice was the Victorian building itself.

But: the highlight of the day was Birmingham's Frankfurt Christmas market! With more than 90 stalls it is the largest authentic German market outside of Germany and Austria. Truly authentic!! The market has everything a Christmas market needs: Glühwein (mulled wine), Feuerzangenbowle (fire punch), German grilled sausages, Garlic bread, chocolate coated fruit, a lot of wooden crafts, mittens, candles, Glühweinbonbons, herbs, all the things no one needs, ... actually all the stuff you have at the Frankfurt Christmas market as well. Little D. was soo delighted!! It even smelled like the Frankfurt one!!!!

Because of the rain, we didn't take pictures, but here is one of the Frankfurt market:

Isn't this the right place to visit to get into the Christmas mood? Ideally with a bunch of friends...

We are ready for Christmas now. ;-)

Other people's research

2007-12-02T10:44:00.001Z

Some might have the impression that our research is kinda odd. NO. Look at this:

Every year in October, at Harvard University the ig nobel prizes are bestowed upon some of the `top' academic achievers - willing or unwilling. This year we completely forgot about this ceremony until some days ago. But then, as every year: rolled on the floor laughing. We have to share this.

The ig nobel prizes reward all that is bizarre, weird and improbable in real-life scientific research. It is not as profitable as the nobel prizes, but what is a lot of money against a good laugh?

Here are some of this year's winners:

The medicine ig nobel prize goes to Brian Witcombe of Gloucester, UK, and Dan Meyer of Antioch, Tennessee, USA, for their penetrating medical report "Sword Swallowing and Its Side Effects" (in: British Medical Journal, December 23, 2006, vol. 333, pp. 1285-7.)
Witcombe and Meyer asked 110 sword swallowers from 16 countries for information on the technique and complication of sword swallowing. 46 sword swallowers gave the requested information. Their conclusion: Sword swallowers run a higher risk of injury when they are distracted or adding embellishment to their performance; but injured performers have a better prognosis than patients who suffer iatrogenic perforation.

Who would have guessed?

The physics ig nobel prize was awarded to L. Mahadevan of Harvard University, USA, and Enrique Cerda Villablanca of Universidad de Santiago de Chile, for studying how sheets become wrinkled. ("Wrinkling of an Elastic Sheet Under Tension," E. Cerda, K. Ravi-Chandar, L. Mahadevan, in: Nature, vol. 419, October 10, 2002, pp. 579-80; " Geometry and Physics of Wrinkling," E. Cerda and L. Mahadevan, in: Physical Review Letters, fol. 90, no. 7, February 21, 2003, pp. 074302/1-4; "Elements of Draping," E. Cerda, L. Mahadevan and J. Passini, in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 101, no. 7, 2004, pp. 1806-10.)
That does not sound so weird at all - to us.

The chemistry ig nobel prize goes to Mayu Yamamoto of the International Medical Center of Japan, - and this is really a new step - for developing a way to extract vanillin -- vanilla fragrance and flavoring -- from cow dung.
By the way: Toscanini's Ice Cream, the finest ice cream shop in Cambridge, Massachusetts, created a new ice cream flavor in honor of Mayu Yamamoto, and introduced it at the Ig Nobel ceremony. The flavor is called "Yum-a-Moto Vanilla Twist."

There is also an ig nobel prize for linguistics. Awarded are Juan Manuel Toro, Josep B. Trobalon and Nùria Sebastiàn-Gàlles, of Universitat de Barcelona, for showing that rats sometimes cannot tell the difference between a person speaking Japanese backwards and a person speaking Dutch backwards. ("Effects of Backward Speech and Speaker Variability in Language Discrimination by Rats," Juan M. Toro, Josep B. Trobalon and Núria Sebastián-Gallés, in: Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, vol. 31, no. 1, January 2005, pp 95-100.)

And one more:

The ig nobel prize of aviation goes to Patricia V. Agostino, Santiago A. Plano and Diego A. Golombek of Universidad Nacional de Quilmes, Argentina. They discovered that Viagra aids jetlag recovery in hamsters. ("Sildenafil Accerlerates Reentrainment of Circadian Rhythms After Advancing Light Schedules," Patricia V. Agostino, Santiago A. Plano and Diego A. Golombek, in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 104, no. 23, June 5 2007, pp. 9834-9.) Good to know.

At last our favourite:

The peace ig nobel prize. This would really make a difference: The Air Force Wright Laboratory, Dayton, Ohio, USA, was awarded for instigating research & development on a chemical weapon -- the so-called "gay bomb" -- that will make enemy soldiers become sexually irresistible to each other. ("Harassing, Annoying, and Bad Guy Identifying Chemicals", Wright Laboratory, WL/FIVR, Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, June 1, 1994.)

Have a nice weekend everyone!

2007-11-30T19:27:00.000Z

Revealing a bit of myself...

2007-11-28T15:50:00.000Z

... however, you have to make up your mind how much this really reveals of me (little D.)... Patty, who has her own very enjoyable blog (go and check it out!) recently invited us to tagging. We decided to do it our way and here is one list that might interest you. (If not, just wait for the next post.)

I always find it very interesting which book one reads in bed. This are the books on my bedside table at the moment:

Iris Murdoch, The Philospher's Pupil
Peter Matthiessen, Auf der Spur des Schneeleoparden
John Perkins, The secret history of the American empire
Henrik M. Broder, Hurra, wir kapitulieren! Von der Lust am Einknicken (not really a book to read before sleeping, because it always makes me wide awake. I love it!! He is brilliant!)
Jean-Francois Revel / Matthieu Ricard, The monk and the philosopher
Tony Wheeler's Bad Lands, A tourist on the axis of evil
William Dalrymple, The Age of Kali, Indian travels and encounters
John Pilger, Verdeckte Ziele
Frances Hardinge, Fly by night

What are the books on your bedside table? Any recommendations?

Nostalgie im Kollektiv

2007-11-25T17:38:00.000Z

- Kommentar von little D. -

Eines meiner morgendlichen Rituale an einem Sonntag ist das Surfen im Internet. Einstiegsseite ist stets Spiegel online. Wenn man mal zu müde zum Lesen ist, bietet Spiegel online auch Zusammenfassungen der neuesten Ereignisse, aber auch Informationen über allerlei interessante, unbedeutende Vorkommnisse in Videoform an. Heute morgen wurde meine sonntägliche Ruhe schon beim Anschauen des ersten Videos gestört.

Das Video findet Ihr hier.

Vom 23. - 25.11.2007 findet in Berlin die Ostpro statt. Das ist eine Messe auf der etwa 120 Unternehmen Ostprodukte präsentieren. Bekleidung, Kosmetika, Genussmittel, Porzellan, Spielwaren usw. V.a. aber werden kullinarische Besonderheiten aus der ehemaligen DDR angeboten. Auch 18 Jahre nach dem Mauerfall gibt es immer noch viele DDR-Produkte in Produktion (so etwa Knusperflocken, Bambina, Halloren Kugeln,...). Solche und andere Produkte, die das sehnsuchtvolle Herz der Ostrentner berühren, kann man dort erwerben. Der Ansturm ist groß, auffällig ist, dass nur ältere Leute auf der Ostpro anstehen (wenn man die Bilder des Spiegel-Videos als representativ interpretieren kann, was wir einfach mal tun).

Das allein bringt mein Gemüt noch nicht aus der Ruhe. Es waren vielmehr die Kommentare der befragten Herrschaften.

Spiegel-Reporterin Yasemin Yüksel (YY) fragte eine anstehende Dame: Bekommen sie denn jetzt in der vereinigten Bundesrepublik nicht genug zu essen?
Antwort (A): DOCH! Natürlich. Ist die Abwechslung.

Genau, denn im deutschen Schlaraffenland hat man ja nicht so viel Auswahl.

YY: Schmeckt der Osten jetzt besser als der Westen?
A (eine andere ältere Dame): Ja, natürlich! [...] Die Westwurst schmeckt nach nichts, auch die Schrippen [Brötchen] und Brot.
A (wieder eine andere ältere Dame): Man sieht auch noch Lungenhaschee hier. [...]

Genau. Da sind wir doch alle froh, dass unsere Berliner Ostrentner jetzt wieder glücklich sind und den alten guten Geschmack der Ostwurst genießen dürfen. Erzeugnisse ehemaliger volkseigener Betriebe haben Konjunktur.

Ein älterer Herr bringt es auf den Punkt: Das Traurige ist, dass die ehemaligen Ostprodukte nur im Osten verkauft werden und nicht im Westteil. Aber wir müssen die Westprodukte auch im Osten kaufen. Das ist ungerecht.

Das macht mich auch ganz traurig. Wie gut, dass wir uns noch alle daran erinnern, früher Westpakete an die Ostverwandten verschickt zu haben. Vor allem zu Weihnachten. Mit echtem Kaffee. Auch Dosenwurst war drin. Ist eigentlich überflüssig gewesen. Wenn unsere Eltern und Großeltern das gewußt hätten...

YY: Was war denn für sie besser früher im Osten?
A (ein älterer Herr, der gerade DDR-Duschgel [Dusch Dich Richtig] in zwei Varianten gekauft hat, einmal Variante Eine Hand wäscht die andere und das Luxusduschbad mit Erich): Die ganze Frage der Arbeit, Vollbeschäftigung, das Bildungssystem war besser.

Vor allem das Bildungssystem.

YY: Werden Sie denn gerne an die DDR erinnert?
A (wieder ein älterer Herr): Ja, auf jeden Fall, denn für mich sowieso, aber auch für Kinder und Enkel wäre Arbeit bis zur Rente gesichert gewesen. (Im Hintergrund zeigt der Regisseur ein schwarzen T-Shirt mit dem Aufdruck Freiheit ist Folter.)

Da haben wir im DDR-Unterricht vielleicht zu gut aufgepasst. Sicher hätte die DDR auch seine Enkel noch mit Arbeit versorgt. Vielleicht als Turner.

YY: Und für sie herrschte Meinungsfreiheit auch in der DDR?
A (derselbe Herr): Ja, kommt darauf an, was für eine Meinung.

Ja, kommt darauf an. Was ist schon ein bisschen Bespitzelung in einer Diktatur. Wir sind da zu empfindlich. Vielleicht haben wir in unserem nach-Wende-Bildungssystem, in dessen Genuss diese Rentner ja nicht mehr gekommen sind (ist ja auch nicht nötig), einfach alles falsch vermittelt bekommen. Wahrscheinlich war auch Florian Henckel von Donnersmark mit seiner Filmcrew auf einer ganz falschen Fährte und das "Leben der anderen" zeigt eben das Leben der anderen, jedenfalls nicht das in der DDR.

Für alle, die die Ostpro in Berlin verpasst haben, kein Grund zum Weinen: Vom 7.-9. Dezember findet sie noch einmal in Erfurt statt und vom 15.-16. Dezember in Stuttgart. Da kann Weihnachten kommen.

A perfect Friday in London

2007-11-24T19:08:00.000Z

Living in London for two years now there, we still have to discover thousands of places. That is one of the things we love about London: you get never tired of it. Last Friday the weather was lovely for the end of November, sunny without a cloud. Quite spontaneously, we decided to spend the day at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, which is in Richmond in the west of London. We had not been there before, but a visit of Kew Gardens was on our things-to-do-in-London-before-leaving-list for ages.

It took us not as long as expected to get there, approximately an hour (though we live in the south east of London), very relaxing. The way from the tube station Kew Gardens to the Gardens itself is worth a view. Posh houses, very British, very nice to look at.

Anyway, we finally arrived. And for all who haven't been there: the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew is the most amazing park we have ever visited! Beautiful! Even at the end of November totally worth a visit. It costs 12.25 Pound to get in, quite pricey, but with a 2 for 1 offer you have nothing to complain about. Here is one of our first views, the Palm House:

The Palm House houses a humid tropical rainforest climate with all kinds of rainforest plants. Something to warm yourself up (although the weather was very nice, it was very cold...) and to be amazed. In Frankfurt, Germany, we have the Palmengarten, which we really like and visited regularly. They also have conservatories with palms and different climate zones. But here at Kew, everything is on a grander scale and much more impressive.

The Palm House is one of the most beautiful buildings in London. The Time Out magazine quoted the Royal Botanic Gardens as one of the Seven wonders of London. We have to agree.

Except from the fact that it is a wonderful park and garden, it also houses an exhibition of Henry Moore sculptures at the moment (until March 30, 2008).

Sir Henry Spencer Moore (1898 - 1986) was a British artist and sculptor. Moore is well known for his abstract monumental bronzes which can be seen in many places as public works of art. He wanted his monumental sculptures to be seen within landscapes. The sculptures fit perfectly into the landscape of Kew Gardens and are placed (affectionately it seems) very well.

The one above is called Large Reclining Figure (1984). We find it very likable that the sculpture does not have any fancy name. This way you can imagine yourself what it intends to be. (A woman, obviously ;-) )

Usually, little D. is not very fond of modern art, T. only in some cases. But these sculptures are wonderful. We actually didn't know that there is "Moore at Kew" when we planned to go - a nice surprise. But see for yourself:

Draped Reclining Mother and Baby (1983)

Large two forms (1966)

Double Oval (1966) in front of the Orangery.

Oval with points (1968-70)

This sculpture is inspired by an elephant skull.

We couldn't see the whole of the Gardens, it probably would take several days. They offer some guided tours at the Gardens where one can hear about the basics in about an hour, which is very helpful. But we definitely have to come back. We haven't even seen the Evolution House! T. really wants to see this.

Vanishing world

2007-11-20T18:25:00.000Z

If you haven't been to the Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year-Exhibition in our favorite museum in London, the National History Museum in South Kensington, you should think about visiting!

The Photos are wonderful!! It is a real treat to visit the exhibition. (Although it is not our nature to be envious, we are a tiny bit envious of the beautiful pictures in the kid's section. How can they, by the age of 10 or 11, make so much better pictures than we do?! Probably because they have so much more time in life... That's a bit of a comfort.)

But it is not only looking at the lovely pictures. Each pictures goes with the story how it was taken (not envious any more if you have to stay weeks or even years outside in VERY low temperatures to get the perfect shot) and a bit of information about the animal or plant in the picture. The information is usually quite interesting and you learn a lot lingering in the exhibition.

Here are some teasers you can find on the website of the Exhibition:

This polar bear picture is very much a reminder of our vanishing world. (If you haven't seen "An inconvenient truth" by Al Gore you really should do so. The film reminds you very much of how much is vanishing. As a new kind of activism we bought 7 of this DVDs to give as Christmas present to our whole family.)

This was one of our favorite pictures. I am not sure if you can see it in this small size. For the moment the hornet flew by this meerkats were transfixed. Funny.

There is not much to say about these wonderful pictures. (Except they are both from the category 11-14 years!)

PS: If you don't live in London, you can buy the book!

Courting a future bride in Bhutan

2007-11-18T16:15:00.000Z

A bit of an unusual title you might think. Let's see.

For some months, little D. has been fascinated by the Buddhist Himalaya region. That means Nepal, Tibet, the North of India and Bhutan. She already has read some books about these far away countries. And since it is not easy to find books about the current political situation of Bhutan (which is so interesting because Bhutan wants to become a democracy now, the monarch already has introduced a new constitution, but this will be something for another post), she has to rely on online sources. And one fantastic source is the Kuensel. I am sure you have never heard of it before. Neither did we until a few weeks ago. The Kuensel is one of the three newspapers of the Kingdom of Bhutan. It was formerly linked to the government, but since 1992 it is independent. On the Kuensel-website you can find out a lot about the happenings in Bhutan and there is an active discussion forum as well.

Anyway, we wanted to tell you about a heartwarming story found in the Kuensel.

In a region in Bhutan (called lower Kheng of Zhemgang dzongkhag) it is tradition that the groom has to work for three years in the house of his parents-in-law as a magpa (which means husband in other regions in Bhutan, but in our region here it is the term used to describe the time period served by a prospective groom for his bride). Not enough. The groom's parents have to provide a kind of marriage portion as well. This means: to fatten three pigs, an ox, store 30 kg of red rice, 30 kg of kharang (whatever this is), about 50 l of alcohol, a few kg of butter and about 10 balls of cheese. (Enough for the wedding party which usually lasts 3 days.)

It is interesting that the groom has to pay a price, whereas in Europe in earlier times, the bride had do provide a marriage portion.

The Bhutanese journalist Tashi Dema tells the story of Ap Fishy, who is now 70. His parents were very poor. They could not provide the requested aliment. So he served 18 years as a magpa before he could marry his wife. Now he is married over 30 years and has three kids. Ap Fishy wants to keep this tradition alive. "A simple feast would do but he [the groom] must work for three years as I've got to see if he deserves my daughter", he said.

Sternenstaubwesen

2007-11-17T17:27:00.000Z

Wir widmen diese Kolumne all den neuen Sternchen Marlene, David, Felix, Selma, Julia und Elin.

"We are all made of stardust."

(Carl Sagan)

Schon oft haben wir dieses Zitat gehört oder gelesen, zuletzt im September im neuen Planetarium in Greenwich. Klingt nicht wirklich wissenschaftlich, vielleicht sogar ein wenig kitschig, aber es ist doch eine schöne Vorstellung.

Vor einigen Tagen hat es little D. mit voller Wucht getroffen. Sie hat verstanden, wie es sein kann, dass wir alle aus Sternenstaub gemacht sind. Wenig verwunderlich hat T. schon vor Jahren diese Wahrheit erkannt. ;-)

Vor etwa 13,7 Milliarden Jahren, als das Universum durch den Urknall entstand, waren alle Atombausteine (Protonen, Neutronen und Elektronen), die auch heute noch in unserem Universium herumschwirren, schon da. Bereits nach wenigen Minuten entstanden auch eine geringe Zahl von Heliumkernen.

Nach relativ kurzer Zeit - nach astronomischen Maßstäben -, etwa nach 400.000 Jahren, haben sich Wasserstoffatome und ein paar wenige Heliumatome gebildet, indem sie Elektronen einfingen. Diese Materie war gasförmig. Es kam im weiten Universum zu "dichten Stellen" mit mehr Gas, an denen sich die Atome tummelten. Durch die Gravitation verstärkte sich der Dichtegrad und so sind nach und nach Sterne entstanden.

In den Sternen entsteht durch Kernfusion in einer thermonuklearen Reaktion aus dem Wasserstoff Helium. Wenn der Wasserstoff im Stern aufgebraucht ist, passiert allerlei. Die Masse des Sterns ist nach wie vor gleich, aber der Druck der Strahlung lässt nach. Der Stern zieht sich durch die Gravitation noch mehr zusammen, es entsteht eine noch höhere Dichte. Im Inneren des Sternenkerns können so durch Fusion andere, schwerere Elemente - also Atomsorten - entstehen. Leichte kleine Sterne (wie unsere Sonne) können Kohlenstoff und Sauerstoff, größere Sterne können noch interessantere, schwerere Elemente bis hin zu Eisen erzeugen.

Ist der Stern mindestens 8 Sonnenmassen schwer, vergeht er am Ende seines Sonnenlebens in einer Supernova, bei der die Atome als Sternenstaub im Universum verteilt werden. Übrigens entstehen dabei auch noch schwerere Elemente wie Gold, Silber, Kupfer, Platin, Zink bis zu Uran. Sterne mit weniger als 8 Sonnenmassen werden nicht zu einer Supernova, sondern geben den größten Teil ihrer Masse als planetare Nebel ab.

Es bilden sich später wieder lokale Dichteschwankungen, die zu neuen Sonnensystemen führen können, die auch Planeten enthalten. So ist auch die gesamte Materie auf der Erde Sternenstaub. Auch wir! Denn alle Atome in unserem Sonnenstystem und in unserer Galaxie sind entweder kurz nach dem Urknall entstanden oder später im Inneren von Sternen, die schon verglüht sind. Da wir auf der Erde Gold und andere schwere Elemente finden, war mindestens eine spektakuläre Supernova beteiligt. ;-)

Die Atombausteine, aus denen wir zusammengesetzt sind, sind in jedem Fall schon 13,7 Milliarden Jahre alt. Und wir sind also tatsächlich aus Sternenstaub gemacht. Ist das nicht poetisch?

Und jetzt machen wir mal eben seit 40.000 Jahren alles kaputt. Immerhin werden die Protonen, Neutronen und Elektronen überleben.

A bit of a delay...

2007-11-16T11:33:00.000Z

We haven't posted for a while. Not quite how we planned it. (Daily postings, five pages each ;-) ) Although it is so much fun writing together, we still have to get used to it and find time. We hope to do better now!

Not much happened during the last few days, which is great actually. It's freezing cold in London by now but very sunny and nice.

Our computer broke down, we had to order a new one, piece by piece. It would have taken until January next year to get an assembled one (of exactly the kind T. wanted - men...). We managed to assemble the pieces into a working computer. :) Very nice. The only little downer is: our whole flat is chemically contaminated. Whatever they put on the computer pieces: it stinks and makes you feel a bit wobbly. Can't be healthy. Our usually cosy warm flat is now cold - we mean: really cold - from hours of airing. But at least we have a new computer now. Just that we don't want to go near it.

Another event that stole our time and some of little D.'s nerves is the application for a new passport. No problem, you would think. Imagine this: living abroad, you ask your embassy where to come and what to bring. First difficulty: asking. You can find a number to call on the embassy's web page. It takes several afternoons to eventually get through to make an appointment to apply for a new passport. From November 1, the new Euro passport is introduced. The one they take your fingerprints for. (We are not gonna complain about the crazy paranoid idea of including electronic finger prints into your passport. This would blow our blog. ;-) Daft politicians!) Anyway, because of the new computer system that the passport department of your embassy has to install and get used to, they now have opening times from 8.30 a.m. to 10 a.m. Not kidding! You should be sympathetic. And grateful that they are there for you.

P.S. Finally, little D. got an appointment and applied for her new passport. She feels robbed now. It cost 52 Pounds = 75 Euros = 107 US$.

Donating rice for free

2007-11-08T21:15:00.000Z

It is just the time before Christmas that a lot of people actually become aware of their luck in life and how fortunate they are compared to so many others in the poorer parts of the world. And very often it comes along with generous donating.
By reading other peoples' blogs (to become a bit familiar with blogland) I came along FreeRice. I think this is a really nice idea, well worth posting.

FreeRice is a possibility to donate rice while playing with words - for free. For each word you get right, 10 grains of rice are donated by the advertising companies on this website through the United Nations to help end hunger in the world. 10 grains are obviously not much but by playing regularly a few minutes each day it adds up. And along the way you can improve your vocabulary as well. A great idea- and fun! In 10 min. I donated 600 grains - and was made aware of my wordly limits. Try it yourself!

(little D.)

Room with a view

2007-11-07T18:38:00.000Z

A retired man is accused of felling 122 trees in the north of Germany. The 80 year old saw off 66 trees to a height of 4 metres from the ground and felled the other 56 completely. Hard work - and only because he wanted to see the Baltic Sea from his holiday home. The damage is estimated to be 15.000 Euro.

Nightclimbers in Cambridge

2007-11-03T18:20:00.000Z

Am 27. Oktober haben wir einen Tag in Cambridge verbracht. Das war sehr schön und wir möchten Euch gerne ein bisschen teilhaben lassen.

So sieht es aus:

Nett, ein bisschen verschlafen, wenn man wie wir London liebt und genießt. (Die Geschäfte machen wochtags um 17.30 Uhr zu! Auch die Cafés.)

Cambridge hat 31 Colleges, wovon wir ein paar angeschaut haben. Viele sind in alten, stilvollen Gebäuden untergebracht. Es muss schön sein, in Cambridge zu studieren. (Aber wir lassen auch auf unser Frankfurt nichts kommen!) Tiger hatte früher im Jahr in Princeton ein bisschen den Eindruck, dass Princeton wie ein Oxbridge-Disneyland aussieht...
Und wie überall in England sind an vielen Ecken auch Ende Oktober noch geflegte bunte Blumenbeete.

Durch Cambridge fliest die Cam - nicht sehr überraschend. Der Teil der Cam, an dem einige der Colleges liegen, ist beruhigt und durch Schleusen kontrolliert, so dass man ganz wunderbar Boot fahren kann. In Cambridge fährt man aber nicht einfach Boot. Man stakt oder man lässt sich staken, wie in Venedig. Wir haben uns staken lassen, denn das erfordert ein wenig Übung und little Dragon hatte nicht ausreichend Zutrauen zu Tigers Fähigkeiten hinsichtlich des Stakens. (Sie selbst zog diese Tätigkeit für sich gar nicht erst in Betracht.)

Und so sieht das aus, wenn man unter der mathematischen Brücke hindurch gestakt wird:

Die mathematische Brücke ist recht bekannt, soll sie doch angeblich von Isaac Newton selbst (der selbstverständlich wie so viele andere Berühmtheiten auch zu Lebzeiten in Cambridge weilte) entworfen worden sein und ohne jede Bolzen halten. Das aber stimmt beides nicht. Schön anzuschauen ist sie dennoch.

Eines der imposantesten Colleges an der Cam ist das King's College. (Es ist nicht das größte und auch nicht das einflussreichste, das ist Trinity College. Trinity College hat beeindruckenderweise bislang 26 Nobelpreisträger hervorgebracht. Davon habe wir aber kein Bild, deshalb erzähle ich jetzt noch etwas zum King's College.)

Zur Kapelle des King's College, in der übrigens ein tolles Altarbild von Peter Paul Rubens hängt und die auch sonst beeindruckend schön ist, gibt es eine witzige Geschichte.
In Cambridge hat sich eine Art Sport entwickelt, der als Nightclimbing bekannt ist. Manche Studenten haben den Ehrgeiz entwickelt, nachts auf Collegegebäude zu klettern und irgendwelchen Schabernack zu treiben. Man kann sich leicht vorstellen, dass auch (oder vielleicht gerade) die Kapelle des King's College dazu einlädt. Es muss nicht erwähnt werden, dass Nightclimbing natürlich verboten ist und dass man sich besser nicht erwischen lässt.

Eines Nachts haben irgendwelche Studenten (vielleicht war es auch nur einer, man weiss es nicht) ein Verkehrshütchen auf eine der Spitzen gesetzt. Das erzürnte die Collegeleitung. Das Verkehrhütchen störte die ästhetische Empfingung und sollte wieder entfernt werden. Nun konnte man nicht einfach selbst hochklettern und es herunterholen. Das erfordert reichlich Geschick und Übung. Also beauftragte man ein Unternehmen damit, das Hütchen zu entfernen. Der Chef des Unternehmens versicherte der Collegeleitung, dass die Hütchen-Rückholaktion mehrere Tage dauern würde und man ein Gerüst aufstellen müsse. Was sollte man machen? So geschah es. Als nach drei Tagen das Gerüst so weit aufgebaut war, dass am Tag danach das Verkehrshütchen erreichbar gewesen wäre, sah sich der ursprüngliche Nightclimber erneut herausgefordert und versetzte das Verkehrshütchen an eine andere, vom Gerüst aus nicht erreichbare Spitze. Er wurde nie erwischt.

Wie es sich gehört, haben wir im Eagle unser mittägliches Mahl eingenommen. The Eagle ist der Pub, in dem Crick und Watson sehr viel über ihre Forschung diskutiert haben. Deshalb steht er im Ruf, dass dort die Doppelhelixstuktur der DNA entdeckt wurde.

Insgesamt hatten wir einen sehr schönen Tag in Cambridge. Es war sicher nicht unser letzter Besuch.

On pastry forks and espresso

2007-11-02T20:28:00.000Z

There probably is little in the world that cannot be found in London, but for some things, one has to look quite hard. Among these things are (a) pastry forks and (b) good espresso.

When you go out for a coffee accompanied by a piece of cake, you usually end up eating your cake with a coffee spoon or a fork (a normal sized one, a main dish fork), definitely not a pastry fork. The idea of a pastry fork does not seem to be completely alien to the English speaking person, though, since we found the word in the dictionary. Dessert fork is another expression to be found.

Maybe we are to blame. Maybe one could get a pastry fork at the Ritz. Probably the Queen is perfectly familiar with the concept. Is it a class problem?

We should mention for our English readers that in continental, cake-eating Europe it would be frowned upon to eat cake or any other dessert of suitable, not-too-soft consistency with an ordinary fork. (Not to speak of a tea spoon.) It just looks strange. Besides the aesthetic, there is a practical side to this: since a pastry fork has smaller, sharper points, it is much easier and less prone to accidents to pierce pieces of cake with it. More than once, using an ordinary fork, we inadvertently sent fragments of fractious cake flying off our plate. Again, this may be our fault entirely, yet we are convinced that with pastry forks, we would have done better.

However, let us turn to the much more serious problem: the difficulty of finding a decent espresso in the British capital. (We became aware of the scale of this problem even more since Tiger started to drink espresso a few months ago.) In London, Starbucks come by the dozen, Caffè Nero and Costa as well. We tried all of them - concerning espresso, they are underachievers. All these impressive coffee machines, so little effect. In our desperation, we turned to the rich variety of organic coffee shops. (For our German readers: organic means bio-). Even worse.

We yearningly think back to our Malta holiday earlier this year: despite the British colonial history, the Maltese make glorious espresso! Rich, mild, not bitterish at all, with a little, light brown foam on it, coming with a piece of chocolate or a small cookie - delicious!

Where can we find this in London? There must be some places at least. It is inconceivable that all the Italians living in London cope with such bad espresso all the time. Where are their secret gathering spots? Where is the hidden espresso source?

Hello world!

2007-11-02T19:45:00.000Z

Dear visitor, welcome to our blog!

Why have we started a blog? We are not quite sure. Little Dragon wants to share her thoughts and keep track of her life. Tiger wants to share his thoughts as well, but abhors the psycho babble. We are optimistic we will cooperate well in this endeavour.
We hope our friends (who else would want to read this?) will have their say, too. You are invited to post comments in your native tongue, but we limit our answers to English, German and Chinese. Maybe.
We hope you will have as much fun reading our blog as we have writing it.