Bashing phones

It's pouring down but still 24°C. It started just as I was about to go shopping. Very changeable weather at the moment. For example: Yesterday I was about to set off to help at an SPD Info Stand (now it has started to thunder with lightening) when I got a call cancelling it due to bad weather.

It keeps me indoors more than I want to but at least reading has increased. I have also been going through drawers and sorting things out in the reading breaks. I found some old telephones.

At the Monday afternoon smartphone/laptop meeting, the leader of the group had a good laugh at them and said with a big smile,"You can recycle them."

I decided to do that after I had found out what was inside  the things. Hammer and screwdrivers to the ready and bang, bash, bash. I opened the small one.

Interesting to see that the things are made by machines and the bits put together by more machines. I opened the old smart phone to see more plastic and bits of metal than  expected.

In the course of preparing them for recycling, the things gave me three cuts to my hand/fingers. They did not give in easily! Still raining but the thunder and lightening has moved on. I think a dash to the shops under a big umbrella is the only solution.

UPDATE: It's still pouring down. More summer please! The Boyz visited this afternoon. They wanted to exchange Harry Potter 1 & 2 for 3 & 4. They talked about watching the films and trying to understand English. They said they could stop the CDs and replay until they understood. They also ate all my bananas and drank all the orange juice while they were here. A good sign of healthy Boyz!

More Grillen

While I was looking at the rain from my balcony and turning over another page of my book, Ian in Sydney was still thinking about my recent 'Grillen' post. He sent this photo with the caption. "Now that's what I call a barbecue."

Luxury living in Ozland! He then introduced a new word for me. "The beer is in the Eski (cooler)." In the what?? How did the Australians create the word 'eski' from cooler?

We can no longer speak of English but Englishes. There are now so many variations spoken around the world and they continue to develop away from each other.

Now to check if I have any beers in my Eski.

Another Vernissage

Last week ended with another Vernissage. I went with Stefan, Helga and Maria to a community centre near to Hallisches Tor. An interesting area in the centre of the city. I met Stefan then took a bus. We met the ladies and went into the community building. It has a very nice large garden.

Like all such community buildings it plays host to many groups with different activities. There is a photography group which also works on images with Photoshop, just was we do each Friday afternoon.

The host group welcomed us and other guests with speeches, a tour around the display before offering us lunch. This was a typical light Berlin meal of Bockwurst with potato salad. We washed it down with a glass of red wine as we sat in the garden.

A really pleasant time. On arrival home, I walked to my local travel agency and booked my flight to Hungary and then one to UK. The former is at the start of August and the latter is during the last two weeks of August. I spent Saturday mailing family and friends about flight details. I then had a very lazy weekend. Did a lot of reading for the weather was not good.

Oldie SPD Cruise

A perfect day with sun, blue sky and very warm. Berlin has gone into summer mode. The Berliners travel on public transport dressed in light summer clothes but still with Smart Phones in hand! At least they smile and seem happy to have such weather.

And so it was yesterday. Perfect weather for an Oldie Cruise. I took the S-Bahn and finally arrived at Jannowitz Brücke. I met another SPD Oldie as I left the train and we set off in search of our Gang. We found them in the shade sitting in front of the Chinese Embassy.

We had booked a 3 hour cruise taking us under many bridges and along the river and canal system in Berlin. It was my third such tour but I enjoyed this one as much as the others. Hello my dear Silsdeners ... please put this on your list of things to do if ever you visit Berlin.

Berlin has a lot of waterways with many flowing through parks and green areas. The combination is ideal for a warm summer day.  I do not know why but the canal system was built at a different level to the river Spree. This means boats have to go into locks and either be pumped higher, or lower, before they can continue the journey.

And so it was yesterday as we slowly sailed through the water system. I noted the number of people taking photos with cameras in smart phones. I felt ancient as I pulled out my camera and took photos. Here are only 4 of those I took. The first is of most of the SPD Oldies then a shot of a bridge with a U-Bahn crossing it.

I took other photos but I selected a shot of the Office of the Prime Minister, which has a large public area including a cafe and place to sit on the river side. The final photo is of the famous Parliament Building. I am sure you have seen it before but it really does represent the history of Germany over the last 150 years.

 A must for you to see when you next visit Berlin. Make it quick for the forecast is for nice summer weather to continue for the next few days! UPDATE: Just heard that Brexitland had the warmest day since 1976!!  Don't forget to watch TV this evening - The German Under 21 football team is playing Denmark. I wonder who will win!

New Bike

'The Boyz' called on Saturday to ask for help with English homework. I told them to come round on Sunday afternoon. On Saturday I was at a special SPD meeting.

It was about how to talk to the public when you knock on doors or have an info centre in the street or car park. It was very interesting but I noted I shall have to quickly learn more German vocabulary for such tasks.

Sunday afternoon came and the bell rang. The Boyz wanted me to see Boy2's new bike. Here is a shot. There is a bike repair shop in the home where they live. He had taken his too small for him now bike there and got a replacement appropriate to his increasing height.

Bro1 settled onto the balcony and opened his grammar exercise book. Of course he put on his head phones and listed to hip hop music in Persian. Yes, there is such a thing! Interesting that he can do English homework while listening to another language.

Bro2 started English at his school two weeks ago. I have books for A1 beginners so he settled down at the kitchen table and opened the book. The lessons are in German and English so from the former he was able to understand what he had to do in the target language. And so the clock ticked away and evening came.

They left to meet friends at the home where they live. They had agreed to form two teams and play football. While they were doing that I turned on my TV and watched Germany play the Czech Republic in the Under 21 European Football Competition. Germany won 2:0. :-)) I wonder if The Boyz's team won!

Vernissage

I went to a Vernissage last Friday. It was given by a hobby photographer called Ines Bartel. She is a member of my Monday 'Relax with English' group. She works as a librarian and specializes in creating and preparing exhibitions in libraries and other public buildings. This time she was the performer.

She was recently in Ireland and took her camera along. The topic of the evening was Ireland based on her photos and experiences of travelling through the island and meeting lots of interesting people. Here you can see the invitation and Ines talking to her public about her interesting experiences there.

Music was provided by a singer and guitar player called Jakob. I was surprised to hear him sing in English with an Irish accent then introduce his next song in German. I later spoke to him and asked him if he was Irish or German. The latter, he told me, but with great interest in the former including learning how to sing with an Irish accent.

The event was held in Cafe Sibylle on  Karl-Marx-Allee. My first time there and I liked the relaxed atmosphere  permanent display of household things from DDR times. Well worth a visit when you are next in Berlin. It is only a couple of underground stops from Alexander Platz.

It was actually my second Vernissage for I went to one last Thursday afternoon at my local AWO Centre. We toasted the artist Veronika Ban with glasses of sparkling wine as we admired the exhibition of her paintings. It was a very 'milti-kulti' event with guests from a number of countries. I noted 8 languages in use. Nice!

A Special Museum

I told you about John P. in my post for this month. He is visiting family and friends in Germany. We agreed to meet last Wednesday for he wanted to see something of the area where I live.

The weather was very good so we set off on bicycles and started with a tour around Tierpark. This is the largest zoo in Europe in terms of area. It is not really a zoo but a large park with animals in different parts. We didn't have time to go inside but we toured around the nearby urban area. It is composed mainly of 1970's high-rise blocks of flats.

We then headed towards the south of Karlshorst and arrived at the German-Russian Museum. This was the main focus of his visit. Here is a photo of him outside the museum. It was built from 1934 on the orders of a certain Herr H. as part of a large complex used for training military officers. It was then used for senior officers for accommodation and meals.

On the 8th May 1945, a group of military men met to sign a document which ended the 2nd World War in Europe. At the back of the museum you can see a range of Russian tanks and other armaments used in the war and to take over Berlin. John P. was most impressed by the very detailed documentation in the museum.

After that we had a late lunch, saw the original area of Karlshorst and horse race track opposite before heading back to my place. John P. was flying home next day and had to be at the airport at 4.30 am! Looking forward to his next visit to I can show him other things most tourist don't know about - and share that visit with you.

Grillen

That means to grill in English.
  Correction: Oh no it does not. It means barbecue. Thanks to Birgit for the correction  See her comment on this post.

As soon as the sun shows itself German people rush to clean up their grills and off we go into the 'grillen' season.

When  the weather is hot and sun shines then it is time for 'grillen'. I recently met Rene who is also a representative in the housing association where I live. We had a beer in the local pub and he invited me to his place.

I went yesterday evening and had a very pleasant time with him and his wife. Here you can see him 'grillen' and I took a shot of a nosy neighbour who settled down to watch us 'grillen' !!

Later we watched the German national football team. The coach is trying out a lot of new, younger players so that added to the interest.  Germany won of course :-))

Lunchtime Concert

I went to a lunchtime concert with Jutta earlier today. Really nice to spend some time with her. It was her first visit to the 'Boulezsaal'. I posted about this before. It is promoted by Daniel Barenboim who we saw when I had a coffee before the concert.  The concert was well attended and the audience very appreciative of the young people giving the "Studentenkonzert". What amazing talent they have.

What did they play? First was '4 Lauds for solo violin' by Elliot Carter (1908 - 2012) followed by Antonin Dvorak (1841 - 1904) piece for two violins and one viola called 'Terzett in C flat Op. 74' published in 1887. The final piece took us away from string instruments. It was the 'Six Bagatelles for Wind Quintet" by György Ligeti (1923 - 2006) and a perfect counter to the earlier pieces.  Hope you had a 'musical' start to the day.

The Brexitlanders are voting in a general election today. I thought about them as I settled into my seat and the music started. I wonder what the result will be.

Another haircut

'The Boyz' came to visit this afternoon. Boy2 had a new haircut. I just had to take a photo and share with you. It is the first time he has had such a style and had shaved his sideboards to go with the new style.

While Bro1 went to sleep on my sofa, Bro2 needed some help with his German homework. It was a matter of reading a text and then answering some comprehension questions. It was only a matter of time before he completed the task. He is sitting next to me to see how you update a blog.

He is also experiencing his first Ramadan. Big Bro started it last year. Little Bro is thirsty but determined to hold out until 9.30 this evening when they are allowed to break the fast.  And now over to Bro2.

"Hallo das bin ich , ich hoffe ihr magt mein Bild ich freue mich dass ich hier bin und darf mit euch reden -  tschüss ."

Meanwhile, the hot weather has broken but I have prepared for its return. Yes, Aldi had a special offer of Gin, as you can see from this photo. Time for me to sit in the garden with friends and sip a cool gin and tonic with lots of lemon slices and ice cubes. Mmmmmh  looking forward to that!