23 plus 1

My blog is written for family and friends around the world. Until recently you numbered 23. We can now welcome number 24. Her name is Krystle and she lives with her son in the south of California. She is married to Andrew, who you know is one of my nephews.

At the moment she is looking after a family business but plans to return to England with her son at the start of 2017. Andrew is looking forward to that. Meanwhile they will be meeting up in California in November for a holiday and I wish them a good time together.

She added a very interesting comment to two of my recent blog posts. Just look down the lists and click on the link called 'Comment' to read what she said. I look forward to more comments and thanks Krystle for sharing your thoughts.

Here is nice picture of dancers celebrating you joining the blog 'gang' and for your comments.

Back to 1991

Found my diary for 1991 during a clean out of drawers this morning. Mostly empty pages but there are entries for January 1991. I lived in Bremen then. I worked part time on a project sorting out books in English, to be used for a new MA course under Frau Dr. Hella Ulferts, Dept. of Aufbaustudium Dritte Welt, Universität Bremen.

I also taught evenings at a small private school called Schola, at Contrescarpe 13. A very nice central location It was owned and run by Cosima and Anja Martina. I had a very good relationship to Anja and she helped me a lot.  I was also still teaching Herr J.C. Kahrs, the boss of the German division of a large heating company based in Helsinki. Meetings were conducted in English.

I remember having access to accounts and investment details for millions of DM. I had to sign a secrecy document before I could read them and help the boss to talk about the investments and budgets. In early1989 he invited me to go to a business conference in what was then West Berlin at company expense. Of course I went and saw the Berlin Wall in front of the Brandenburg Gate. As I climbed the viewing stairs and stared over the top of the Gate, I noticed East German guards staring back at me and one was filming the event!

I note that on 18th January 1991, I set off for an interview at the Hochschule in Güstrow. I had to cancel it for the connecting train at Hamburg was late so I missed the interview. I returned to Bremen – “angry” it says in my diary. On 22^nd January I went for an interview at the Oskar Känner Schule in Braunschweig. I didn’t get the job but there is an interesting connection. Years later Jan went to university there!

I have now destroyed the diary but I found these images next to it. Although they have nothing to do with Bremen, I like them. Perhaps you do, particularly Mr Hanger. I like his determination to finish the job. It always makes me smile :-))

der Herbst

Autumn means der Herbst in German. Note that the word is masculine. We then go to autumn season and discover that in German it is die Herbstsaison which is feminine. It has suddenly changed sex! Not really for the second word is saison and that is feminine. German is famous for sticking lots of words together to create horrors of 70 or more letters. I jest not!

The joys of learning German. I was reminded of this last Tuesday when I listened to a group of refugees trying to understand German. They smiled a lot and I smiled back and just told them not to question anything but just accept such things as they are. Life gets easier when we come to autumnal which means herbstlich in German. It is an adjective and much easier to learn :-)

I've had a 'getting back into routine' week. Very interesting and mixed. I had time for relaxing, reading and going to my local SPD Oldie Kaffee und Kuchen meeting. That was on Tuesday after my smiley session with the new German learners. This morning I helped Daniel try to sort out how to understand and construct conditional sentences in English. I told him not to worry if he made mistakes for most Brexiters, and USA speakers, can't get it right :-((

I spent hours this afternoon on websites claiming to help refugees. I also telephoned four and only got through to one of them! I now have an appointment next week to get advice about policy/politics regarding refugees from Afghanistan.  The latest reports were not good. I then picked up an e-mail from Holger with news of his family. He also said he liked the blog post about a 14th birthday and that he and Gabi are collecting clothes for the family. Nice.

Meanwhile, the seasons change and we are now clearly into autumn in Berlin. I took these pics in my garden. Clear signs of the advance into winter. Not my favourite seasons.

Analogue meets Digital

Last Friday afternoon I took two S-Bahn trains and one U-Bahn train plus a short walk and arrived at Falckensteinstr. Community Centre. There I met Stefan and my Photoshop Gang to start a new round of meetings. We hadn't seen each other since the end of June when our long summer break started.

Lots of catching up on what had happened in summer, who had been where, and what had they done. This happened as we sipped coffee and ate cakes. Then Stefan told us about the content of the next sessions to take us to the end of the year.

He had picked the theme of 'Analog trifft Digital'. He had been given a number of old analogue cameras from the 1960/70's. A few of us had also brought along our old cameras. Here you can see me with my Olympus Trip 35 which I bought at the start of the 1970s. I added a Prinz Jupiter 177 flash to it. Both were made in Japan.

Others had cameras from the GDR and other countries. We had a great time getting to know them again, adding a roll of film to each before setting off into the neighbourhood to test them. We all took a number of shots as Stefan took photos of us taking photos, but he used his modern Nikon digital camera.

We are later to work on these shots and photos via our Photoshop computer programmes and then present the results at a public exhibition at the end of the year. Looking forward to learning more about how we can do this.

Shateboarding

Last Thursday I went shopping for food and drinks. The latter without alcohol because I was buying for a birthday party for a new 14 year old. Yes, it was for son2 from my adopted refugee family. In the afternoon I put a white cloth on the table then cups, glasses, plates etc. As the clock approached 4pm I added different cakes and fruit.

Ten past four and the bell rang. The family had arrived on bicycles. We secured them in my garden and they entered my home. Lots of friendly greetings and they all immediately took off their shoes before entering the living room. The same culture as in Germany.

Lots of smiles, Oooohs and Aaaaahs when they saw the table with food and drink and off we went to celebrate son2's birthday. His father had earlier asked if the family could celebrate at my flat because of the freedom it offered in contrast to the home where they still live in cramped, basic conditions.

We started with lots of talking and cross-talking as the kids tucked into all the cakes, crisps and other things on offer. Lots of topics including life at school, sport activities, learning German and hoping to get a flat in the future. The latter is dependent on so many other things. You can read about this in an earlier post about the future of families from Afghanistan from next year and the killing still taking place.

Although we talked about this we spent most of the time on just enjoying being together and sharing his birthday. I asked son2 what he had got for his birthday. He just said, "Nothing:" At that point I told son1 to pick up a parcel and give it to his brother. He did this and son2 waited with arms out and his eyes closed as I had told him to do.

Parcel into his arms, eyes opened, tearing away packaging, then the BIG happy smile. That smile really would melt an iceberg!!  Yes, just what he wanted and it was now his! Lots of happy family sharing the moment as each embraced him and gave him a birthday kiss. Here you can see the embrace from Ma and Pa. I really like this photo! 

Son2 then went into my kitchen to practice skateboarding. It was a really special event made even special by the pure pleasure this newly arrived 14 year old had from getting such a  present and sharing a party with his family. I should add that it was made possible by a donation from Aunt Jutta and a bit more money from me. Well worth it. 

Shirley Safe

Good news. Today I picked up an E-mail from Shirley in St. Augustine which is on the north-east coast of Florida. I had E-mailed earlier expressing worries about Hurricane Matthew for it was heading up the coast after devastating many Caribbean islands.

Now I have heard from her and that all her family are safe. I also got a message from her via Jan for he had contacted her as well. Here is a report in Shirley's own words:

I didn't get any damage where I live except I was without electricity for three days.  I did not evacuate as this condo is very well built.  (My daughter and her husband were not so lucky) They evacuated and when the got back on Saturday evening the whole bottom floor of their house was flooded.  Everything downstairs is ruined, there are several leaks in the roof upstairs. 

St. Augustine took a very bad hit and a lot of people lost everything. So St. Augustine has over two billion dollars in damages.  Most of it from flooding.  Some people are still without electricity.  Some people on the beach side lost their entire houses and a lot are so damaged they will have to be torn down. 

Everyone in this area is pulling together and helping one another, It is wonderful the way people from all over are coming together to help.

It must be heartbreaking so see your home destroyed and I cannot imagine how anyone could start building anew,

never mind the cost while having to find temporary housing. At least Shirley, her family and friends are safe and that was what concerned all who know her the most. Here is a photo of a wave that recently hit part of the Australian coast. It was sent by Ian.

Shopping Smiles

I jumped onto my bicycle yesterday afternoon, stopped at the local U-B Station, secured the bike and looked around. "Where are they?" I asked myself. Just then father, son2 and daughter jumped out from behind nearby trees and shouted a loud hello. And with lots of smiles!

Onto the train and then out at Alexander Platz. Shopping time for both. Big brother got his boxing things recently - as I reported on my blog -so now they had priority. They had already found the shops and things they wanted so I just followed.

We went into a large store and into the girls section. Daughter needed autumn/winter shoes, sports things and drawing material for her school lessons. We finally got them and then it was time for son2. He needed trainers for school sports and  proper boots for autumn/winter.

We got all they needed, looked at available money, paid the bill and was left with €3. Now I shall have to look at ways of raising funds for anything else the children need. During the shopping session there were lots of smiles as well as puzzled looks at styles and colours.

Later we went into a sports shop. There son2 showed me something he wanted for his birthday. I told him there was no more money. Sad face, silence and staring at the floor.

I then told him Aunt Jutta had given some money and I would donate the rest. His face broke out into a large smile. I got his present but he is not allowed to have it until next Thursday.

All the family are coming to my place for Kaffee und Kuchen to celebrate his 14th birthday. I'll take a couple of photos so you can share the moment he gets his present -- with large smiles, of course :-))

Getting worried

I got increasingly worried as the week went by. My first concern was for Shirley in St. Augustina on the north-east coast of Florida. You probably saw evening news/weather reports on your TV showing the terrible results of Hurricane Mathew on the Caribbean.

It moved north to hit the Florida coast on Thursday. I e-mailed Shirley yesterday to express my worries. I guess she and her family have moved inland to higher and safer ground for they have experienced such hurricanes before. I hope so and that they are safe.

Another worry was about the future of my 'adopted' family here in Berlin. As the week started I heard reports in the radio about 'refugee policy' in general and Afghanistan in particular. On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week there was an EU International Doner Conference in Brussels. In short they discussed ways and means to increase the return of refugees to Afghanistan.

This conference took place as the Taliban launched another attack on the northern city of Kunduz. The attack was not successful but it should remind us about how unstable and dangerous life there is. Since 2009 there has been 58,736 civilian victims of the continuing war. In the first half of this year 1,600 civilians have died and 3,500 injured.

The EU conference talked about giving more money to the Afghan government in exchange for a new terminal for returnees at Kabul Airport and the EU will give new papers to Afghans who do not have papers, for whatever reasons. This new document will make it easier to return the over 80,000 Afghans waiting to be repatriated.

I'm worried about how these discussions will end and what it will all mean for my family who only have permission to stay here until the end of March 2017. They have now settled into life in Berlin and many of my friends support them financially and in other ways. What will happen to them and to all our efforts if they have to leave in April 2017? 

October 2016 Things

Last week started by meeting Imre at his favourite Indian restaurant. He claimed to have lost a few kilos before tucking into a 'full' lunch! It was nice to see him again and hear news of family and friends in his native Hungary. He even brought me two presents - as you can see from the photo.

One is bottle of dessert wine from Tokaji. I have been there a few times and sampled its wines.I shall open this bottle the next time I have a meal with some nice ladies - whose names start with J and J :-))  The other was a large bottle of dry white wine from Szeged. Very tasty.

On Friday I visited Birgit's grave with her sister, Heike. Birgit would have been 64 on that day. It is also the day marking the death of my father in 2004. Later we went to the Bömisches Restaurant. Heike likes to go there when she visits Berlin. Next day I visited Oldie H and found him in better health. I also got a letter from Alan and Lynne from New Zealand. Alan described the flight and house they are staying in as well as meeting sons, wives and grandchildren. I felt to be there as I read his text.

Who has a birthday in October ?
Nephew Andrew will be 39 on the 5th, nephew Warren will be 40 on the 12th, my little sister Frances hits 70 on the 14th WOW! Falk will celebrate with family on the 15th, my now neighbour Marita will be 66 on the 21st - I'm sure we'll have a few glasses of sekt then. Dianne in Yorkshire will be 70 on the 27th and Tanja in London ends the list when she celebrates her big day on the 31st.
Happy Birthday to all and each. Have a great time with family and friends!!