Well as the title says I'm happy today. Why? Because today Hardo finally came around to meet us and he was his usual self again. Saima and Jigisha(who btw refers to him as our `caretaker') didn't miss him much and even confessed to having gotten used to his absence, but it was rankling me...so I was very happy to see him and even told him so. I was glad that some stupidity with his profs wasn't gonna have a backlash effect on us. Infact today we talked about the excursion and its so sad that other people less qualified than him have been selected but not him. I have nothing against the others, but it makes no sense to leave out the one person who knows maximum about India from amongst those who applied...even more than the profs...ofcourse then we realised that, that is the reason he's been left out. Very disgusting in my opinion...and very unfair too. And he can't do a thing coz if he objects he could lose his jobs with the depts of Socio and English....gick!!! Anyways he is such a sweet fella, he got each of us a loong stemmed rose to apologise for his absence last week....very charming despite his rough and ragged appearance....LOL...wish he could read this...he'd blush I'm sure!!!
Anyways today Saima and I gave Annika some more hindi lessons...Saima is quite surprised that despite my lack oof vocabulary and dluency in Hindi, when it comes to grammar and spellings they are as faultless as in English....infact this sunday both oof them had requested me to start correcting their grammar and pronounciation like I do with Hardo...dunno whether to be flattered or embarassed!!!
Leaving for Heidelberg tomm...looking forward to spend the weekend away froom Magdeburg, seeing the area, meeting didi and staying in her house which will be much better equiped than ours..will feel more like a home...ah but I've started missing my bathroom at home, my blue coffee mug, the kitchen so clean and equiped, the dining table, the music system, the awesome speakers on bhaiyya's computer, the TV with english channels (not German).....
Was talking to Saima today before we met Hana (she's from the Czech Republic..dunno if I mentioned it before) and she said that Jigi and she envy me for my daily emails froom home and friends...in addition to my weekly calls from home and the call from Kunaal, I have recd a package from home, a card from Nitin and a looooog letter from Kunu...they think I'm very lucky!! I agree....I am indeed very lucky to have such wonderful family and friends....*toouchwood*!!!!
We were talking with Hana and she said that she doesn't like the weather here...its cold..that surprised us coz we assumed so was the Czech Republic...then she explained that to her, cold comes along with snow...she doesn't like the greyness of the sky, the bare trees and the cold wind here...ofcourse for us either of the two are a first experience...I do hope it snows here before we leave, but I have also enjoyed the experience of the cold autumn as well...seeing the leaves change colour and fall...knowing what it feels like to be pushed forward by the wind against your back, feeling your cheeks flush with the cold wind blowing into your face, your eyes smart with the winds speed...its been a wonderful experience and I'm savouring each moment as much as I can....
I also love the atmosphere here in class...profs like Wiemann, Breunig and Ebeling encourage us to voice our thoughts openly and accept most of our views and interpretations, so it feels very different from the sessions back home where we simply absorb what the prof says...interacting with the profs here, specially Wiemann has made me feel more confident about my 'intelligence' (if I may say so!!!) and I think that's one reason why I was so chilled out foor my presentation on Tues and also why it was so well recd!!! :)
Changes changes...so many changes I observe outside me and in me...food for thought...for you and for me...shall leave you to them and take mine with me...must walk back to the apt and pack for the weekend...Bonne Weekend to my blog loyals!! :)
Thursday, November 13, 2003
Wednesday, November 12, 2003
Peace to Blog...:)
Whoa...today I'm gonna blog in peace...just finished emailing everybody, now I shall blab all that I wish to!! Hehehe!!!
Its gotten quite cold here in the past few days...tho the temp had dipped to 3 degrees once earlier, it wasn't so bad coz the humidity was at a decent level. Now its drier and windier and it gets like REALLY cold. I'm not yet shivering luckily, unlike Jigi and Saima who get headaches coz of the cold...that really pleases me coz I didn't realise how much my resistance has improved over the years. Infact I've not touched my medicines also, except for me toe medicine (that won't leave me in peace...) and the medicine for my wisdom tooth ache last week. I am so glad...touchwood!!!
Going to Heidelberg this weekend. Luckily I have the weekend there, since we are staying with Sudha didi, so I do not have to rush through the city. I wish I'd had more time to soak in the atmosphere in Berlin and see the sights in peace....ah well...next time!!! :) As of now excited about the trip to Heidelberg, seeing the castle there and ofcurs spending time with Sudha didi, whom I've not met since 1990 I think!!! Got alot of time to make up in just 2 days...
Yesterday we had our presentation in the seminar on Blake. We were covering the difference in tone and themes of the Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. It went damn well..Breunig was satisfied with the presentation, said it was well formulated, concise and clear. I got a pretty good response from the students as well....so you can imagine how content I am!!! After the lecture we had gone to REAL..Saima bought herself a small stereo system..since then we've been hearing the CDs I got and the cassettes Jigi got aloud, not on earphones...feels so good!!!! We also booked our tickets for the trip to Heidelberg yesterday and I got possible routes for my trips to Stockholm and Pars/Bordeaux.. :)
We met Annika on the way to REAL...we've gotten really pally with her...feels good. But I'm a bit upset with Hardo's behavious...it feels so odd to be making new friends on one hand (Annika, Björn, Linda etc) and on the other,having your first friend here, like, avoid you...and for no fault of yours...damn damn damn!!!
Hmmm...what else? We made khichdi today...I think I'm really improving on my cooking skills...LOL!! the chicken that day was delicious and today my first attempt at khichdi has also come out decent enough!! Hahaha!!!
Think I'll stop now coz I must get up and go to class...
Its gotten quite cold here in the past few days...tho the temp had dipped to 3 degrees once earlier, it wasn't so bad coz the humidity was at a decent level. Now its drier and windier and it gets like REALLY cold. I'm not yet shivering luckily, unlike Jigi and Saima who get headaches coz of the cold...that really pleases me coz I didn't realise how much my resistance has improved over the years. Infact I've not touched my medicines also, except for me toe medicine (that won't leave me in peace...) and the medicine for my wisdom tooth ache last week. I am so glad...touchwood!!!
Going to Heidelberg this weekend. Luckily I have the weekend there, since we are staying with Sudha didi, so I do not have to rush through the city. I wish I'd had more time to soak in the atmosphere in Berlin and see the sights in peace....ah well...next time!!! :) As of now excited about the trip to Heidelberg, seeing the castle there and ofcurs spending time with Sudha didi, whom I've not met since 1990 I think!!! Got alot of time to make up in just 2 days...
Yesterday we had our presentation in the seminar on Blake. We were covering the difference in tone and themes of the Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. It went damn well..Breunig was satisfied with the presentation, said it was well formulated, concise and clear. I got a pretty good response from the students as well....so you can imagine how content I am!!! After the lecture we had gone to REAL..Saima bought herself a small stereo system..since then we've been hearing the CDs I got and the cassettes Jigi got aloud, not on earphones...feels so good!!!! We also booked our tickets for the trip to Heidelberg yesterday and I got possible routes for my trips to Stockholm and Pars/Bordeaux.. :)
We met Annika on the way to REAL...we've gotten really pally with her...feels good. But I'm a bit upset with Hardo's behavious...it feels so odd to be making new friends on one hand (Annika, Björn, Linda etc) and on the other,having your first friend here, like, avoid you...and for no fault of yours...damn damn damn!!!
Hmmm...what else? We made khichdi today...I think I'm really improving on my cooking skills...LOL!! the chicken that day was delicious and today my first attempt at khichdi has also come out decent enough!! Hahaha!!!
Think I'll stop now coz I must get up and go to class...
Tuesday, November 11, 2003
Reminder For Me!!!
Reminder for me....gotta blog about presentations here, Wiemann, things at 'home'...gonna blog tomm coz today I have no time...damn but I so wanna blog..ah well...until tomm...
Monday, November 10, 2003
Berlin and more...
Hmmm...Sat morng we met up at Annika's place for breakfast. After a nice yummy bfast of home baked buns and home made jams and chicken salad(the aim is to make your mouths water...hope I am achieving!!), we left for the stn.
Caught the 10 am train to Berlin and were there within an hour and a half. We got down at Alexander Platz in Berlin and after that we walked ard the whole day...it was a bit bizarre considering that Berlin isn't a small city like Magedburg or Wittenberg so the distances between places were huge...yet we somehow ended up walking even when we decided to take the tram!!! I'm gonna have strong legs by the end of my stay here...haha!!!
Anyways Annika stayed with us till anoon...with her roamed around the Museum Island which has some 5-6 museums of the 13 odd museums in Berlin. Saw the Berliner Dome, the Parliament building with its glass dome, the new Jewish synagogue, the Brandenburg Gate, the new site for a memorial for Holocaust victims (work is stalled coz of some controversy regarding the company supplying the chemicals), the Buddy Bear exhibition(the bear is the mascot of the city and this exhibition sponsered by the UNICEF had bears from all the nations...so each nation's artist had painted the bear differently..quite interesting...its in Berlin till Nov after which it goes on a world tour, so we are lucky we caught it) and the Potsdamer Platz, where the cinimax is located, and the film museum as well.
We seperated at that time...she went off to the India exhibition at the Cultural Centre. We grabbed a quick bite, then set off towards Checkpoint Charlie, the remains of the Berlin wall, and finally the Jewish museum (yes Kunaal, I dragged Saima and Jigisha all over to the other end coz of your recommendation.)...at first I was perplexed coz the entrance showed a very normal bldg...nothing the types Kunu would rave about...then I realised that what he wanted me to see was the Holocaust tower...its an incredible monument that captures the horror of the holocaust brilliantly in its stark spaces, darkness and light and silences...the architect is the same guy who is doing the new WTC in NY....I think its Daniel something...I can't remember how his surname is spelt!!!
We had to meet Annika at 6.15 pm so after I did a bit of shopping at the museum shop...bought an Anne Frank book, and 2 books on the museum, some postcards and a plate of Berlin...we walked back to Potsdamer Platz. We decided we'd stay for the movies at the India exhibition and catch the last train back home...so Annika and I grabbed some gluh-wine(its hot wine served during Christmas time...wonderfully tasty and warms you up...which I needed) and some pizza...and then we walked down to the Cultural Center, past the Vistory Tower and the Bell tower...they were screening two films about friendships - one a documentary about four youths from a lower class Delhi area and the other Dil Chahta Hai...which Annika happens to have seen 4 times already!!! She was singing the songs aloud later at the stn and dancing...quite amusing!!!
Anyways we caught the last train back and reached Magdeburg at 1 am...I fell asleep on the way...Sat was the first day since I've come here that I felt really cold...the wind in Berlin was crazy..at times we were just being propelled forward by the wind, but the worst was when we had to walk against it!!! Brrrrrrrrrrrr...today in Magedburg its 3 degrees...so I guess Winter is setting in finally...
Though I tried I ended up waking up at 8 am even though we slept at 2 am...Saima and Jigisha didn't surface till 11.30 by which time I'd done the weekly cleaning, disposed of the garbage and cooked lunch!!! LOL!! We spent Sunday lazing ard and studying...we had to prepare for our Blake presentation and I also got cracking on Barthes' essay (for MA)...in the eveg we went over to Annika's house for pot luck dinner...her folks dropped in with Falafels for all of us, there was macaroni by us, and chana by one of Annika's Indian friends!!! We saw this movie called 'Pushpak' - a silent film with Kamal Hassan in it...quite ok...I wondered why the guy kept translating actions for Annika - it was a silent movie didnt require any explns!!! Anyways we finished the Blake presentation work this morng. We just printed out the hand-outs we have to provide the class with...wish me luck...should flatten the Germans with the presentation!!! Hehehehe....
Caught the 10 am train to Berlin and were there within an hour and a half. We got down at Alexander Platz in Berlin and after that we walked ard the whole day...it was a bit bizarre considering that Berlin isn't a small city like Magedburg or Wittenberg so the distances between places were huge...yet we somehow ended up walking even when we decided to take the tram!!! I'm gonna have strong legs by the end of my stay here...haha!!!
Anyways Annika stayed with us till anoon...with her roamed around the Museum Island which has some 5-6 museums of the 13 odd museums in Berlin. Saw the Berliner Dome, the Parliament building with its glass dome, the new Jewish synagogue, the Brandenburg Gate, the new site for a memorial for Holocaust victims (work is stalled coz of some controversy regarding the company supplying the chemicals), the Buddy Bear exhibition(the bear is the mascot of the city and this exhibition sponsered by the UNICEF had bears from all the nations...so each nation's artist had painted the bear differently..quite interesting...its in Berlin till Nov after which it goes on a world tour, so we are lucky we caught it) and the Potsdamer Platz, where the cinimax is located, and the film museum as well.
We seperated at that time...she went off to the India exhibition at the Cultural Centre. We grabbed a quick bite, then set off towards Checkpoint Charlie, the remains of the Berlin wall, and finally the Jewish museum (yes Kunaal, I dragged Saima and Jigisha all over to the other end coz of your recommendation.)...at first I was perplexed coz the entrance showed a very normal bldg...nothing the types Kunu would rave about...then I realised that what he wanted me to see was the Holocaust tower...its an incredible monument that captures the horror of the holocaust brilliantly in its stark spaces, darkness and light and silences...the architect is the same guy who is doing the new WTC in NY....I think its Daniel something...I can't remember how his surname is spelt!!!
We had to meet Annika at 6.15 pm so after I did a bit of shopping at the museum shop...bought an Anne Frank book, and 2 books on the museum, some postcards and a plate of Berlin...we walked back to Potsdamer Platz. We decided we'd stay for the movies at the India exhibition and catch the last train back home...so Annika and I grabbed some gluh-wine(its hot wine served during Christmas time...wonderfully tasty and warms you up...which I needed) and some pizza...and then we walked down to the Cultural Center, past the Vistory Tower and the Bell tower...they were screening two films about friendships - one a documentary about four youths from a lower class Delhi area and the other Dil Chahta Hai...which Annika happens to have seen 4 times already!!! She was singing the songs aloud later at the stn and dancing...quite amusing!!!
Anyways we caught the last train back and reached Magdeburg at 1 am...I fell asleep on the way...Sat was the first day since I've come here that I felt really cold...the wind in Berlin was crazy..at times we were just being propelled forward by the wind, but the worst was when we had to walk against it!!! Brrrrrrrrrrrr...today in Magedburg its 3 degrees...so I guess Winter is setting in finally...
Though I tried I ended up waking up at 8 am even though we slept at 2 am...Saima and Jigisha didn't surface till 11.30 by which time I'd done the weekly cleaning, disposed of the garbage and cooked lunch!!! LOL!! We spent Sunday lazing ard and studying...we had to prepare for our Blake presentation and I also got cracking on Barthes' essay (for MA)...in the eveg we went over to Annika's house for pot luck dinner...her folks dropped in with Falafels for all of us, there was macaroni by us, and chana by one of Annika's Indian friends!!! We saw this movie called 'Pushpak' - a silent film with Kamal Hassan in it...quite ok...I wondered why the guy kept translating actions for Annika - it was a silent movie didnt require any explns!!! Anyways we finished the Blake presentation work this morng. We just printed out the hand-outs we have to provide the class with...wish me luck...should flatten the Germans with the presentation!!! Hehehehe....
Friday, November 07, 2003
Let's Raise A Toast To The Future Chef - LOL!!!
Yesterday after I blogged I was studying in the library..this place is really very conducive for that. It'S designed to create a perfect atmosphere for students to spend time reading books, making notes, doing research online and even using the computers for work...including thier own laptops. I fond it tough to stop myself yesterday and go home...specially since I'd got such an interesting book!!!
I'm back today....actually we had to finish working on our presentation on Blake which is due on Tuesday, so we figured we'd save ourselves the climb to the computer room which is situated on the 4th floor!!! Before we came here, in the morning we had Ebeling's lecture. She also tried to corner us into a presentation but we decided we'd rather just assist 2 guys who are presenting on `Indigenisation of Languages' and `New English Literatures' respectively....looking forward to contributing on both those topics. After that, we had gone to the cashier to find out when we shall get the money for the month of January, so that we can accordingly confirm our tickets. She assured us we'd get it by the first week....Yippee - Hahahaha!!!
After that we went to pay our monthly rent at the bank and then went of to discover ALDI for ourselves. Most students were hesistating to tell us where it is coz of soem status issue here regarding the store but, finally some of them told us where it is...since we 'd heard its cheaper we thought it would help us if we could save money and use for travelling and shopping...anyways we found its pretty much the same prices there as in our regular supermarket REAL and couldn't figure out the whole big deal they make of its status and shit...so well, we just discovered it for ourselves and decided to use it only for a few things....
Made some delicious veggies in white sauce from a packet for lunch and just marinated chicken legs in preparation for dinner. I have a feeling my father's desire that I learn to cook is gonna come true by the end of 3 months..hehehe!!!
We are going to Berlin tomorrow with Annika. We are going on the weekend group ticket...that enables upto 5 people to travel on a reduced price and is very feasible for students. Once in Berlin I think we shall have to roam ard ourselves so I guess that's gonna be another accomplishment for us. Annika has invited us for bfast to her place tomm and we shall head for the stn from her place...which is actually closer to the tram stop anyways...LOL!!!
Well that's it I guess....must go now and join Saima in studying....Until Monday...Bonne Weekend!!!
I'm back today....actually we had to finish working on our presentation on Blake which is due on Tuesday, so we figured we'd save ourselves the climb to the computer room which is situated on the 4th floor!!! Before we came here, in the morning we had Ebeling's lecture. She also tried to corner us into a presentation but we decided we'd rather just assist 2 guys who are presenting on `Indigenisation of Languages' and `New English Literatures' respectively....looking forward to contributing on both those topics. After that, we had gone to the cashier to find out when we shall get the money for the month of January, so that we can accordingly confirm our tickets. She assured us we'd get it by the first week....Yippee - Hahahaha!!!
After that we went to pay our monthly rent at the bank and then went of to discover ALDI for ourselves. Most students were hesistating to tell us where it is coz of soem status issue here regarding the store but, finally some of them told us where it is...since we 'd heard its cheaper we thought it would help us if we could save money and use for travelling and shopping...anyways we found its pretty much the same prices there as in our regular supermarket REAL and couldn't figure out the whole big deal they make of its status and shit...so well, we just discovered it for ourselves and decided to use it only for a few things....
Made some delicious veggies in white sauce from a packet for lunch and just marinated chicken legs in preparation for dinner. I have a feeling my father's desire that I learn to cook is gonna come true by the end of 3 months..hehehe!!!
We are going to Berlin tomorrow with Annika. We are going on the weekend group ticket...that enables upto 5 people to travel on a reduced price and is very feasible for students. Once in Berlin I think we shall have to roam ard ourselves so I guess that's gonna be another accomplishment for us. Annika has invited us for bfast to her place tomm and we shall head for the stn from her place...which is actually closer to the tram stop anyways...LOL!!!
Well that's it I guess....must go now and join Saima in studying....Until Monday...Bonne Weekend!!!
Thursday, November 06, 2003
Uncomfotable situations
Hmmmmm......today was a confusing day..there were good experiences and uncomfortable experiences, but on the whole it was a pretty good day. To start with Dr.Lange's lecture as usual seemed boring and he cornered us into a presentation that had me irked....I didn't like the topic one bit. But then his lecture got interesting for the first time since we'Ve been here....after the lecture we spoke to him about our return etc etc. We met Annika after that....we were going down when we bumped into Hardo..who we hadn't seen since last thursday - the whole thing after was very uncomfotable. He wasn't his usual self, and while we were at the Mensa literally digging into this umptous meal of fries, baked veggies and turkey in white sauce I asked what hapnd about the decisions regarding who gets to go on the excursion to India. It turned out that Annika got in, but Hardo didn't...which seemed really unjust since he is the most ideal candidate...in terms of knowledge of the country and its culture, interest and research thesis, knowledge of language, basic personality etc etc...he was very upset about it and was discussing with Annika about what he can do now....felt really bad coz it seems the profs of the depts are using him, and we hoped he doesn't think so are we....won't know till we meet him again...I certainly pray not. And I certainly hope they haven't chosen Susanna for the trip coz from her attitude and from what she's said I do not think she should be given a chance to go back to India on a scholarship---her attitude is that of a typical Westerner...most annoying and irksome!!! And highly limited in her knowledge and experience and acceptance of differences...judgemental too..ah well..not deserving. Fullstop.
After he left we taught Annika the vowels and consonants of the Hindi script and then we saw the movie 'Salaam Bombay'...its a brilliant movie and the portrayal of the characters by all the artistes is excellent. The subject of street children, prostitution and life in the 'seedy' areas of Bombay has been dealt with very sensitively by Mira Nair. I think the movie is excellent and am glad I saw it....Ironically I wouldn't have been as keen on the movie back in India, just as I would have never gotten ard to seeing a documentary on Bombay back home!!! Odd how being away makes you appreciate things more and want to be more of an 'expert' on your own country...know more about things you previously just took for granted....
We also made plans to go to Berlin with Annika...we are planning to take the weekend trip to Berlin, on the group ticket. Five ppl can trvale on that, so Annika shall get one more of her friends and we shall all go together and come back together...glad this materialised coz earlier we were depending on Hardo which now I realise wasn't fair (infact I hope he doesn't think that's the only reason we are interested in him!!!)....
Was at the computer room earlier but were booted out in 15 mins coz of some problem....so when I came to the library in connection with my Blake presentation due next week I couldn't resisit the computer....but now I must go do what I came here for....
After he left we taught Annika the vowels and consonants of the Hindi script and then we saw the movie 'Salaam Bombay'...its a brilliant movie and the portrayal of the characters by all the artistes is excellent. The subject of street children, prostitution and life in the 'seedy' areas of Bombay has been dealt with very sensitively by Mira Nair. I think the movie is excellent and am glad I saw it....Ironically I wouldn't have been as keen on the movie back in India, just as I would have never gotten ard to seeing a documentary on Bombay back home!!! Odd how being away makes you appreciate things more and want to be more of an 'expert' on your own country...know more about things you previously just took for granted....
We also made plans to go to Berlin with Annika...we are planning to take the weekend trip to Berlin, on the group ticket. Five ppl can trvale on that, so Annika shall get one more of her friends and we shall all go together and come back together...glad this materialised coz earlier we were depending on Hardo which now I realise wasn't fair (infact I hope he doesn't think that's the only reason we are interested in him!!!)....
Was at the computer room earlier but were booted out in 15 mins coz of some problem....so when I came to the library in connection with my Blake presentation due next week I couldn't resisit the computer....but now I must go do what I came here for....
Wednesday, November 05, 2003
Grasping for Content...
Why is it that every time I get down to blogging I'm already like all so full of stuff in my head, after like atleast 4-5 emails, that I end up staring at the screen for 2 minutes before beginning to type? Today I'm drawing an absolute blank, so pardon me if I ramble on like I've just downed a couple of bottles of wine...Ironically I've not had any since well last sunday!!! LOL!!!
OHHHH....I dunno if I mentioned this before but I'm doing this presentation on representations of Mumbai in Bollywood for the Dharawi class with Dr.Wiemann....today we went to the video library for that. They have like the most wonderful collection...actually its not that great, but considering we don't have ANY collection back home...I was really wishing we had something similar...they have like loads of classics, adaptations of Shakespeare, adaptations of novels...I wanna see atleast some of them before I leave. We are anyways gonna be seeing 4 of Jane Austen movies (adaptations of 4 of her novels) starting next week for our class on Janespotting, again with Wiemann. Plus today for the Dharawi class I saw a documentary film on Bombay, along with the girl who is doing a presentation on that...saw it for curiosity and coz I wanted to be able to make pertinent comments in class...I've been really vocal in this class....and the one on English in Non-Native Contexts...pleased as punch with that!!!
Tomm Saima and I are meeting Annika for lunch at the Mensa and then we shall give her 'Hindi' lessons...haha!! After that we are gonna watch 'Salaam Bombay' for our presentation...not typical Bollywood but we are using it as an example..plus I haven't seen the movie...so why miss the chance to see it? LOL!!!
I think I mentioned that I've been cooking alot these days...latest accomplishment - alu palak...came out really delicious if I say so myself!!!!! Geets the Chef....hehehehe!!!
Today I feel like I've been on my feet since morning...but it feels good to be busy doing stuff and meeting people, reading in the library for class and learning stuff, whatever it maybe...yesterday was really amazing in class coz we had this major discussion on how 'male best friends' in India can hold hands and not be seen as homosexuals...ofcourse that is changing now...but I was thinking (and voicing my thoughts)...what is the big deal...I mean if 2 girls hug or walk arm in arm, that's ok..but if guys hold hands for even 2 minutes..that's so not acceptable...and I personally think that the very fact that this is seen as 'homosexual' behaviour in Germany and puts a restraint on male friendships, signifies that they are not as open-minded about homosexuality as they claim to be...so how, then, despite this contradiction in what they say and think and apply to social situations, can they point fingers at the conservatism of India??? Besides I really have to ask...what is the BIG deal about homosexuality...I mean, so some people prefer people of their own sex...as long as they do not expect you to respond, why ostracise them and harass them about their personal choice...to me, this choice is on the same level as choosing someone from a different community...I really abhorr people who label and categorise what they see as 'gay' traits and then treat the person in a shabby manner...and that whole issue of labelling people as 'arty' or 'hip' or 'geeky' or whatever....oh that so gets on my nerves...I think such behaviour stinks.
Guess that's it for now...coz I'm really grasping for content now...even my imagination runs dry now so can't even just blab....
OHHHH....I dunno if I mentioned this before but I'm doing this presentation on representations of Mumbai in Bollywood for the Dharawi class with Dr.Wiemann....today we went to the video library for that. They have like the most wonderful collection...actually its not that great, but considering we don't have ANY collection back home...I was really wishing we had something similar...they have like loads of classics, adaptations of Shakespeare, adaptations of novels...I wanna see atleast some of them before I leave. We are anyways gonna be seeing 4 of Jane Austen movies (adaptations of 4 of her novels) starting next week for our class on Janespotting, again with Wiemann. Plus today for the Dharawi class I saw a documentary film on Bombay, along with the girl who is doing a presentation on that...saw it for curiosity and coz I wanted to be able to make pertinent comments in class...I've been really vocal in this class....and the one on English in Non-Native Contexts...pleased as punch with that!!!
Tomm Saima and I are meeting Annika for lunch at the Mensa and then we shall give her 'Hindi' lessons...haha!! After that we are gonna watch 'Salaam Bombay' for our presentation...not typical Bollywood but we are using it as an example..plus I haven't seen the movie...so why miss the chance to see it? LOL!!!
I think I mentioned that I've been cooking alot these days...latest accomplishment - alu palak...came out really delicious if I say so myself!!!!! Geets the Chef....hehehehe!!!
Today I feel like I've been on my feet since morning...but it feels good to be busy doing stuff and meeting people, reading in the library for class and learning stuff, whatever it maybe...yesterday was really amazing in class coz we had this major discussion on how 'male best friends' in India can hold hands and not be seen as homosexuals...ofcourse that is changing now...but I was thinking (and voicing my thoughts)...what is the big deal...I mean if 2 girls hug or walk arm in arm, that's ok..but if guys hold hands for even 2 minutes..that's so not acceptable...and I personally think that the very fact that this is seen as 'homosexual' behaviour in Germany and puts a restraint on male friendships, signifies that they are not as open-minded about homosexuality as they claim to be...so how, then, despite this contradiction in what they say and think and apply to social situations, can they point fingers at the conservatism of India??? Besides I really have to ask...what is the BIG deal about homosexuality...I mean, so some people prefer people of their own sex...as long as they do not expect you to respond, why ostracise them and harass them about their personal choice...to me, this choice is on the same level as choosing someone from a different community...I really abhorr people who label and categorise what they see as 'gay' traits and then treat the person in a shabby manner...and that whole issue of labelling people as 'arty' or 'hip' or 'geeky' or whatever....oh that so gets on my nerves...I think such behaviour stinks.
Guess that's it for now...coz I'm really grasping for content now...even my imagination runs dry now so can't even just blab....
Tuesday, November 04, 2003
Rambling...
I just copied and pasted the deatils of my Wittenberg trip, with a few additions...just to kinda feel like I did the whole thing specially for the blog...cheater me!! LOL!!!
Hmmmm....I last spoke about us going to Annika's place for dinner....that was wonderful. She stays quite close to our place and shares the apt with 2 other students. Her room is really cozy..she has a bunk bed and has spread colourful caprets all over..has an impressive collection of books and CDs and well...really nice, warm and inviting room. Ironically she had amde Indian food for us...and even more ironically it tasted better than the stuff we cook!!! LOL!!! I really overate that night and this by just sampling each thing she cooked...there were atleast 7 types of dishes...and then milk and cookies..which was the only 'Western' element in the meal...even the crockery she had bought from the 'Asia market'!!!!! All in all that was a fun night..we spoke about the girls who were here last year, Annika's own eyperience in India, our experiences, our plans, our classes etc etc etc...
On thursday I was here at the computer room when Hardo arrived with the photopgraphs he had taken of our flat the first week we were here!! Finally!! He was very aplogetic about the delay and said he must make up, so even tho it was just Saima and me, he took us bowling to the place he used to work at 5 years back. It's a place called Twenty...and we had a ball there. I always shirked away from bowling coz I thought I'd go along with the ball down the gulley(or whatevere it's called)!!!! Plus I knew with my arm-muscle-power I'd get a pathetic score...but Hardo was amazingly patient and taught me how to stand right, how to swing my arm etc etc...and well I had fun!!! Our scores were like this:
Hardo -121
Saima - 91
Me - 87
Acc to Hardo it's great coz most first-timers get a score of ard 45!! So I pretty kicked...we discovered about his tabla, so both of us nagged him about it and wranlged a promise from him that he'd play it for us once...I wanted so desperately to make him hear Rhydhun or one of my James Asher Cds...but I guess that will have to wait till he is in India...which will hopefully be in Feb...insha allah!!!
After he left us Saima and I went shopping and ended up discovering this amzing store with fabulous stuff and at reasonable prices....both of us fell hook,line and sinker for alot fo stuff and decided we'd return there the day we got our next monthly stipend and blow up some money!!! LOL!! I was there yesterday coz we got our money i the morning...we did our weekly shopping of bread, rice, veggies, chicken etc etc...and then went to H&M...Saima and I both bought this sweater which is fashioned like a close form fitting jacket and has a belt along with it...It's so chic I totally adore it!!! I also bought a teeshirt, this time I fell for the colour and the price...it's an off-shoulder thingie but again abso chic and stylish!!!
That night (thursday) even though I had to get up early the next day for the trip, I stayed up late writing comments on the back of each photograph and drawing a map of our flat as well as our area to send home...I posted the photos yesterday along with 2 other mails that have been waiting for 2 weeks..*embarassed about that delay!!*
This weekend I studied and read alot...we had gone to the library on Saturday afternoon so I got soem more books and managed to finish off one section of Paper 8..thouroughly kicked with that!! I also started reading 'The Paino Tuner'...its a very engrossing book and I'm enjoying it...
I've been cooking quite a bit and even got a compliment from Jigisha yesterday..she said that even though I say I don't know how to cook much, whenever I make something, even if its for the first time I end up doing a good job of it...was extremely pleased!!!
Hmmm....gosh there's always so much running in my mind that I wanna blog about but seem to run outta time...eurail, trip to France, class experiences, stuff I ate (Oh I ate on the street yesterday..this thing called Currywurst..its sausages in Sauce....awesome..delicous..mouth-wateringly so!!!)...
Must stop now and turn my attention to some emails and some sites I MUST see today!!! Ciao!!!
Hmmmm....I last spoke about us going to Annika's place for dinner....that was wonderful. She stays quite close to our place and shares the apt with 2 other students. Her room is really cozy..she has a bunk bed and has spread colourful caprets all over..has an impressive collection of books and CDs and well...really nice, warm and inviting room. Ironically she had amde Indian food for us...and even more ironically it tasted better than the stuff we cook!!! LOL!!! I really overate that night and this by just sampling each thing she cooked...there were atleast 7 types of dishes...and then milk and cookies..which was the only 'Western' element in the meal...even the crockery she had bought from the 'Asia market'!!!!! All in all that was a fun night..we spoke about the girls who were here last year, Annika's own eyperience in India, our experiences, our plans, our classes etc etc etc...
On thursday I was here at the computer room when Hardo arrived with the photopgraphs he had taken of our flat the first week we were here!! Finally!! He was very aplogetic about the delay and said he must make up, so even tho it was just Saima and me, he took us bowling to the place he used to work at 5 years back. It's a place called Twenty...and we had a ball there. I always shirked away from bowling coz I thought I'd go along with the ball down the gulley(or whatevere it's called)!!!! Plus I knew with my arm-muscle-power I'd get a pathetic score...but Hardo was amazingly patient and taught me how to stand right, how to swing my arm etc etc...and well I had fun!!! Our scores were like this:
Hardo -121
Saima - 91
Me - 87
Acc to Hardo it's great coz most first-timers get a score of ard 45!! So I pretty kicked...we discovered about his tabla, so both of us nagged him about it and wranlged a promise from him that he'd play it for us once...I wanted so desperately to make him hear Rhydhun or one of my James Asher Cds...but I guess that will have to wait till he is in India...which will hopefully be in Feb...insha allah!!!
After he left us Saima and I went shopping and ended up discovering this amzing store with fabulous stuff and at reasonable prices....both of us fell hook,line and sinker for alot fo stuff and decided we'd return there the day we got our next monthly stipend and blow up some money!!! LOL!! I was there yesterday coz we got our money i the morning...we did our weekly shopping of bread, rice, veggies, chicken etc etc...and then went to H&M...Saima and I both bought this sweater which is fashioned like a close form fitting jacket and has a belt along with it...It's so chic I totally adore it!!! I also bought a teeshirt, this time I fell for the colour and the price...it's an off-shoulder thingie but again abso chic and stylish!!!
That night (thursday) even though I had to get up early the next day for the trip, I stayed up late writing comments on the back of each photograph and drawing a map of our flat as well as our area to send home...I posted the photos yesterday along with 2 other mails that have been waiting for 2 weeks..*embarassed about that delay!!*
This weekend I studied and read alot...we had gone to the library on Saturday afternoon so I got soem more books and managed to finish off one section of Paper 8..thouroughly kicked with that!! I also started reading 'The Paino Tuner'...its a very engrossing book and I'm enjoying it...
I've been cooking quite a bit and even got a compliment from Jigisha yesterday..she said that even though I say I don't know how to cook much, whenever I make something, even if its for the first time I end up doing a good job of it...was extremely pleased!!!
Hmmm....gosh there's always so much running in my mind that I wanna blog about but seem to run outta time...eurail, trip to France, class experiences, stuff I ate (Oh I ate on the street yesterday..this thing called Currywurst..its sausages in Sauce....awesome..delicous..mouth-wateringly so!!!)...
Must stop now and turn my attention to some emails and some sites I MUST see today!!! Ciao!!!
Wittenberg and more...
A detailed account of my Wittenberg trip.
On Friday 31st, we got up at 5.45 to get ready and make some sandwiches for the train journey, and left nice and early to catch the tram to Hauptbanhof....but the tram never showed up, so we had to walk down briskly to reach the stn on time!!! We were a group of ard 55+ students. We met up at Hauptbanhof, Magdeburg at 8.45 am and caught the 9.14 train to Rosslau(Elbe)...the regional express, so it stops at every station. From Rosslau we took another tran to Wittenberg, Lutherstadt, which to me looked like they've stopped in the middle of nowhere....the platform was only on 1 side and where we got down was sand and then fields!!!
Anyways we crossed the tracks, India style without waiting for the signal LOL!!! After that we walked down to the market place and then seperated and did our roaming ard in smaller groups. Oh yeah, basically 31st Oct is Reformation Day, so there was a fair and big celebration thingie happening in Wittenberg...The 3 of us occassionally joint the others but mostly roamed ard by ourselves.....Here's what all we saw/did:
1. Schloss kirche(kirche in German means church) where Luther had pinned his 95 theses against the sale of indulgences on 31st oct,1517. We heard the choir sing there, which was quite beautiful....
2. Cranachhaus: Cranach was a painter, pharmicist and publisher and this house was given to him by the Elder of the monastery...in it was a mini fair...OK.
3.City Chruch(St.Mary) : this was where Luther preached regularly. Its quite a huge church and we had to go back twice to try and get in..there was always a stream of ppl coming out of the church!!!
4. Melanchton house: He was a humanist and a friend of Luther. The house has been converted into a museum, so we roamed ard and read the plaques and everything....
5. Luther House: This was where Luther lived from 1508 onwards. It's a huge house that has also been converted into a museum, and was filled with info, relics et al. It was nteresting, specially coz I've read the play Luther by Osborne and knew some of the stuff, but I has an overdose of Luther by the end of the whole affair. there too we heard a choir sing, which in my opinion was smoother and much better than the one in the church....Unluckily we weren't allowed to take any photos in there so I ended up buying postcards of the place...really absurd!
6. Market place: This was the most interesting part of the trip. It was Reformation Day so there was a fair in the market place...all the vendors were dressed in costumes of the 16th century, there were foodstalls selling these mouth watering things,bread and muffins being baked in wooden ovens, stalls selling jewellery, agarbattis(nagchampa for 6 eu..that was a scream!!), hocus-pocus and even fur!!! They even had this mini tavern....it was a sight to behold and everything deserved a look..I wanted to absorb every detail....the best part, for me, was the street performance by this Native American Band...the music was simply mindblowing. The rhythm and the way the unadultered sound of their instruments resonated in the streets was awesome!! It's also the first time that I threw caution to the winds and joined the group of people dancing...the music was simply irresistible!!! I obviously ended up buying their CD!!!
We finished all this by 4, so we just sat in the market place and ate some stuff while watching everything ard us, till 5 when we walked back to the station thinking we would be the first. Surprisingly others were already there..so we spent one hour talking to various people till the train arrived...I ended up talking to a large number of people that day..Itlainas, Polish, Ukranian, English, Russian and ofcourse German too!!! Quite nice....
Reached Magdeburg, caught the first tram to Universitat Platz and had a rushed dinner, before we left again for Halloween movie night at the IKT centre....that was fun, except for the Indian guys. I ended up giving one of them a piece of my mind...he said something really disgusting about a girl in Hindi forgetting that I could understand what he said...I was extremely revolted and couldn't stop myself from telling him what I thought of specimens like him...he hapnd to be the same guy I'd told off earlier, so later he tells Jigisha that 'your friend has very high standards no?'.....tickled me silly....we slept like dogs that night coz we'd been up sicne 5.30 and it was 1 am by the time we went to bed!!!!
On Friday 31st, we got up at 5.45 to get ready and make some sandwiches for the train journey, and left nice and early to catch the tram to Hauptbanhof....but the tram never showed up, so we had to walk down briskly to reach the stn on time!!! We were a group of ard 55+ students. We met up at Hauptbanhof, Magdeburg at 8.45 am and caught the 9.14 train to Rosslau(Elbe)...the regional express, so it stops at every station. From Rosslau we took another tran to Wittenberg, Lutherstadt, which to me looked like they've stopped in the middle of nowhere....the platform was only on 1 side and where we got down was sand and then fields!!!
Anyways we crossed the tracks, India style without waiting for the signal LOL!!! After that we walked down to the market place and then seperated and did our roaming ard in smaller groups. Oh yeah, basically 31st Oct is Reformation Day, so there was a fair and big celebration thingie happening in Wittenberg...The 3 of us occassionally joint the others but mostly roamed ard by ourselves.....Here's what all we saw/did:
1. Schloss kirche(kirche in German means church) where Luther had pinned his 95 theses against the sale of indulgences on 31st oct,1517. We heard the choir sing there, which was quite beautiful....
2. Cranachhaus: Cranach was a painter, pharmicist and publisher and this house was given to him by the Elder of the monastery...in it was a mini fair...OK.
3.City Chruch(St.Mary) : this was where Luther preached regularly. Its quite a huge church and we had to go back twice to try and get in..there was always a stream of ppl coming out of the church!!!
4. Melanchton house: He was a humanist and a friend of Luther. The house has been converted into a museum, so we roamed ard and read the plaques and everything....
5. Luther House: This was where Luther lived from 1508 onwards. It's a huge house that has also been converted into a museum, and was filled with info, relics et al. It was nteresting, specially coz I've read the play Luther by Osborne and knew some of the stuff, but I has an overdose of Luther by the end of the whole affair. there too we heard a choir sing, which in my opinion was smoother and much better than the one in the church....Unluckily we weren't allowed to take any photos in there so I ended up buying postcards of the place...really absurd!
6. Market place: This was the most interesting part of the trip. It was Reformation Day so there was a fair in the market place...all the vendors were dressed in costumes of the 16th century, there were foodstalls selling these mouth watering things,bread and muffins being baked in wooden ovens, stalls selling jewellery, agarbattis(nagchampa for 6 eu..that was a scream!!), hocus-pocus and even fur!!! They even had this mini tavern....it was a sight to behold and everything deserved a look..I wanted to absorb every detail....the best part, for me, was the street performance by this Native American Band...the music was simply mindblowing. The rhythm and the way the unadultered sound of their instruments resonated in the streets was awesome!! It's also the first time that I threw caution to the winds and joined the group of people dancing...the music was simply irresistible!!! I obviously ended up buying their CD!!!
We finished all this by 4, so we just sat in the market place and ate some stuff while watching everything ard us, till 5 when we walked back to the station thinking we would be the first. Surprisingly others were already there..so we spent one hour talking to various people till the train arrived...I ended up talking to a large number of people that day..Itlainas, Polish, Ukranian, English, Russian and ofcourse German too!!! Quite nice....
Reached Magdeburg, caught the first tram to Universitat Platz and had a rushed dinner, before we left again for Halloween movie night at the IKT centre....that was fun, except for the Indian guys. I ended up giving one of them a piece of my mind...he said something really disgusting about a girl in Hindi forgetting that I could understand what he said...I was extremely revolted and couldn't stop myself from telling him what I thought of specimens like him...he hapnd to be the same guy I'd told off earlier, so later he tells Jigisha that 'your friend has very high standards no?'.....tickled me silly....we slept like dogs that night coz we'd been up sicne 5.30 and it was 1 am by the time we went to bed!!!!
Wednesday, October 29, 2003
Nostalgia
Today morning I got a package from home..actually not directly from home. Papa's boss Dr.Metzger was in Bombay last week, so I'd asked for some things to be sent through him. He was to post it to me from Frankfurt, so I'd get the stuff sooner than if my parents sent it from Bombay...they sent more than I asked for...apart from the notes, medicines and sweater I'd asked for, I also got a photograph of Schnapps and a box full of home-made Diwali sweets, i.e. gujiyas and shakar-pare!!! The extent of my happiness can not be described...infact I was so overwhelmed that I decided to go off somewhere by myself and generally get a grip before I cried or something!!
Since I was studying at the time the package arrived, I grabbed a quick bite and then left for the library. There I read up for class...last week we were lost in the Jane Austen class...for reasons too long to get into here, I don't wanna purchase the book here. Since the book isn't there in the library for loan..its only on the reserve shelf, I have to sit in the library and read it. I read up enough for today's class and was so glad I did coz I could participate in class...and it made sense to me. Ironically I took this class coz Saima wanted to, but now I'm enjoying it more than her...haha!! I think its coz we are free to give our own opinions and interpretations and I like this system of free discussion in class....plus they are approaching JA alot differently than we did in FYBA so she seems more readable now..from a different angle ofcourse...but well the aim is achieved...
Here alone again today coz they checked their mail while I was at the library...after this I'm going to Annika's for dinner as I mentioned yesterday. OHHHHH...I forgot to mention today I was in traditional garb, i.e. Salwar Kurta!!! I was wearing a salwar kurta even on sunday but that was only at home...today I wore my salwar kurta and roamed all over and am going in the same to Annika's also...didn't realise how much I missed wearing it. I mean I'm extremely comfy in jeans and prefer them most of the times, but I wear salwar kurtas just as much back home and wearing it today kinda felt nice....really nice!!! Another reason for nostalgia..LOL!!!
Guess that's it for now....Chao!!!
Since I was studying at the time the package arrived, I grabbed a quick bite and then left for the library. There I read up for class...last week we were lost in the Jane Austen class...for reasons too long to get into here, I don't wanna purchase the book here. Since the book isn't there in the library for loan..its only on the reserve shelf, I have to sit in the library and read it. I read up enough for today's class and was so glad I did coz I could participate in class...and it made sense to me. Ironically I took this class coz Saima wanted to, but now I'm enjoying it more than her...haha!! I think its coz we are free to give our own opinions and interpretations and I like this system of free discussion in class....plus they are approaching JA alot differently than we did in FYBA so she seems more readable now..from a different angle ofcourse...but well the aim is achieved...
Here alone again today coz they checked their mail while I was at the library...after this I'm going to Annika's for dinner as I mentioned yesterday. OHHHHH...I forgot to mention today I was in traditional garb, i.e. Salwar Kurta!!! I was wearing a salwar kurta even on sunday but that was only at home...today I wore my salwar kurta and roamed all over and am going in the same to Annika's also...didn't realise how much I missed wearing it. I mean I'm extremely comfy in jeans and prefer them most of the times, but I wear salwar kurtas just as much back home and wearing it today kinda felt nice....really nice!!! Another reason for nostalgia..LOL!!!
Guess that's it for now....Chao!!!
Resolutions and more...
I was thinking last night about how much my blog has started resembling a newspaper...all it consists of these days is reports and updates...there's hardly any introspection, observations, or even rambling...just ABC...period. How boring and mundane could I get? So henceforth I shall try to go back to my rambling style and include personal perceptions, opinions, thoughts et al....
Was walking down alone to the computer room today..felt really good. I mean I enjoy the company of the other two...but since we've come here I do everything along with them...atleast Saima comes along everywhere...so today the solitary walk cleared my senses and made me feel fresh and alive...tho I did feel a bit creeped out when I crossed this part with these huge trees..that part of the campus is dark and silent...tad scary if you have an active imagination like mine!! LOL!!
I plan to get out more like this...not out into the city, but maybe for a walk, or even to the computer room...coffee perhaps? Lets see how far I go with my resolutions...
Today in class we got really bored...Prof Kamble from the Socio dept of our univ is here in Magdeburg for a mth and he took the Dharawi lec today. All that he lectured about was basically repetition for us so we had a tough time restraining ourselves from getting distracted...one thing I can't understand about Indian professors is why they get all defensive and so conscious when they are abroad or in front of a Western academician...I mean he was the authority on Indian sociology in the circumstance, yet he kept referring to the German profs!!! He undermined his own status...completely incomprehensible to me....
The next class was Breunig's class...the same prof who invited us over for dinner last week. Obviously we knew lotsa people there and it felt nice to enter a class and say hullo to everyone and then walk out of the building discussing the lecture and the idiosyncracies of the prof...feels like we are included in the class properly now..not just guests, temporary members....know what I mean?
Tomorrow evening we have been invited to another dinner...this time a classmate...Annika. She was in Mumbai two years ago, so she is also interested n going back for another trip...infact she has applied for the excursion in Feb to Mumbai/Dharawi...anyways shes really quite nice and friendly. This morng she came around and took us to the IKUS office..thats the orgn for intercultural activities...they are organising the trip to Wittenberg. We registered for the trip..after that we visited the univ bookshop and I saw these cool tees with the Univ logo emblazoned on the front...shall pick one up as a momento of sorts...
Hmmm thats's it for now...feeling hungry...just had soup for bfast and grabbed a sandwich in between...shall email home and run back 'home'...talk about wierd...she talks of 2 homes in the same breath!!! Not yet diasporic tho...yes I know my attmept at humour escapes you all...accept it as Geetanjali's idiosyncracies!!! Hahaha!!
Was walking down alone to the computer room today..felt really good. I mean I enjoy the company of the other two...but since we've come here I do everything along with them...atleast Saima comes along everywhere...so today the solitary walk cleared my senses and made me feel fresh and alive...tho I did feel a bit creeped out when I crossed this part with these huge trees..that part of the campus is dark and silent...tad scary if you have an active imagination like mine!! LOL!!
I plan to get out more like this...not out into the city, but maybe for a walk, or even to the computer room...coffee perhaps? Lets see how far I go with my resolutions...
Today in class we got really bored...Prof Kamble from the Socio dept of our univ is here in Magdeburg for a mth and he took the Dharawi lec today. All that he lectured about was basically repetition for us so we had a tough time restraining ourselves from getting distracted...one thing I can't understand about Indian professors is why they get all defensive and so conscious when they are abroad or in front of a Western academician...I mean he was the authority on Indian sociology in the circumstance, yet he kept referring to the German profs!!! He undermined his own status...completely incomprehensible to me....
The next class was Breunig's class...the same prof who invited us over for dinner last week. Obviously we knew lotsa people there and it felt nice to enter a class and say hullo to everyone and then walk out of the building discussing the lecture and the idiosyncracies of the prof...feels like we are included in the class properly now..not just guests, temporary members....know what I mean?
Tomorrow evening we have been invited to another dinner...this time a classmate...Annika. She was in Mumbai two years ago, so she is also interested n going back for another trip...infact she has applied for the excursion in Feb to Mumbai/Dharawi...anyways shes really quite nice and friendly. This morng she came around and took us to the IKUS office..thats the orgn for intercultural activities...they are organising the trip to Wittenberg. We registered for the trip..after that we visited the univ bookshop and I saw these cool tees with the Univ logo emblazoned on the front...shall pick one up as a momento of sorts...
Hmmm thats's it for now...feeling hungry...just had soup for bfast and grabbed a sandwich in between...shall email home and run back 'home'...talk about wierd...she talks of 2 homes in the same breath!!! Not yet diasporic tho...yes I know my attmept at humour escapes you all...accept it as Geetanjali's idiosyncracies!!! Hahaha!!
Monday, October 27, 2003
Weekend update
People have been saying I let our problem child affect me too easily...they are right..its just that she irritates me ALOT! Last night she got all worked up over a small issue and started saying that Saima and I are extremely sensitive and make too much of small issues and shudnt judge ppl. The two of us got very angry over that specially since she herself gossips so much, has made all sorts of gossipy comments about Hardo and his girlfriend Nadine and well we've heard from the horse's mouth itself of how judgemental she is.
Infact this weekend we got very angry with her. She had all but insisted on inviting Hardo's parents over for Diwali and made this big deal of the festival...which really was nothing here and didn't even feel like Diwali in the first place...but anyways we said fine. Then on fri she has to go to her professor'S place and said she'd return on sat morng. We said fine again!!! But fri night she calls and says that she can't come back coz theres a party she doesn't wanna miss. So she called up Hardo's parents and told them to come on sun. They said next sun...she said this sun. I was soooooooo embarassed when I heard that. I mean to cancel is bad enuff but to reschedule to her convenience was appallling....
Anyways on sat morng Saima and I decided to have fun ourselves and stop catering to her whims and facies...so we made french toast fro breakfast...and got ready leisurely...then we set off to the zoo. We caught the tram to Neustadter Platz, then asked for directions in broken german from dictionary and found our way. The zoo (called Zoologishcer Gardens since it also includes a park of sorts) is wonderful...its huge and has alot of animals some of which I've not ever heard of. We spent ard 3 hrs there...and had a small picnic as well since we'd carried sandwiches...we just had some coffee there to warm ourselves up and then walked back to the tram stop, using a diff route, seeing some beautiful cottages on a private road...had a nice time. In the eveg we studied a bit and slept late after talking and browsing magazines...
On sun morng we got up early had tea/coffee and bfast and then set ourselves to cleaning up the apt. We swept and mopped...sprayed perfume in the air, got flowers from the park and put them in a bottle to make the house look nice. Opened the windows and aired the rooms.....Jigisha arrived by anoon, so after that we had a bath, then each cooked her contribution. Mine was alu ki sabzi, in which I used toamto kethcup, amchur, garam masala and salt...and they really liked the subzi alot. Nothing was left, only 1 spoon which Hardo tasted this morng. Jigi made dal and saima made pulav. Jigi also made nariyal ki mithai which refused to set so we served it as nariyal ka halwa.
They got us fruits, choc and wine as gifts..on the whole dinner went ok...I'm carrying back the cork of the wine as a momento..doubt if I'll have place to carry the bottle...
Today we decided to drop the mon lec coz we dint go last week and we still haven't read the book....we were anyways to do only 3-5 lecs and were doing 6. Now we are doing 5 after dropping this one....we are planning going to see the Elbe river. Its the second largest river in germany after the Rhine...there is a cruise so we 'll find out how much that costs....
This friday we r going to Wittenberg on a Univ orngd trip...waiting for that...we also planned out some trips to see Berlin, the local castles and the beer brewery Hardo....and planned out what museums and churches we can visit by ourselves and made this list of Things to Do!!!! Hehehe.....
Infact this weekend we got very angry with her. She had all but insisted on inviting Hardo's parents over for Diwali and made this big deal of the festival...which really was nothing here and didn't even feel like Diwali in the first place...but anyways we said fine. Then on fri she has to go to her professor'S place and said she'd return on sat morng. We said fine again!!! But fri night she calls and says that she can't come back coz theres a party she doesn't wanna miss. So she called up Hardo's parents and told them to come on sun. They said next sun...she said this sun. I was soooooooo embarassed when I heard that. I mean to cancel is bad enuff but to reschedule to her convenience was appallling....
Anyways on sat morng Saima and I decided to have fun ourselves and stop catering to her whims and facies...so we made french toast fro breakfast...and got ready leisurely...then we set off to the zoo. We caught the tram to Neustadter Platz, then asked for directions in broken german from dictionary and found our way. The zoo (called Zoologishcer Gardens since it also includes a park of sorts) is wonderful...its huge and has alot of animals some of which I've not ever heard of. We spent ard 3 hrs there...and had a small picnic as well since we'd carried sandwiches...we just had some coffee there to warm ourselves up and then walked back to the tram stop, using a diff route, seeing some beautiful cottages on a private road...had a nice time. In the eveg we studied a bit and slept late after talking and browsing magazines...
On sun morng we got up early had tea/coffee and bfast and then set ourselves to cleaning up the apt. We swept and mopped...sprayed perfume in the air, got flowers from the park and put them in a bottle to make the house look nice. Opened the windows and aired the rooms.....Jigisha arrived by anoon, so after that we had a bath, then each cooked her contribution. Mine was alu ki sabzi, in which I used toamto kethcup, amchur, garam masala and salt...and they really liked the subzi alot. Nothing was left, only 1 spoon which Hardo tasted this morng. Jigi made dal and saima made pulav. Jigi also made nariyal ki mithai which refused to set so we served it as nariyal ka halwa.
They got us fruits, choc and wine as gifts..on the whole dinner went ok...I'm carrying back the cork of the wine as a momento..doubt if I'll have place to carry the bottle...
Today we decided to drop the mon lec coz we dint go last week and we still haven't read the book....we were anyways to do only 3-5 lecs and were doing 6. Now we are doing 5 after dropping this one....we are planning going to see the Elbe river. Its the second largest river in germany after the Rhine...there is a cruise so we 'll find out how much that costs....
This friday we r going to Wittenberg on a Univ orngd trip...waiting for that...we also planned out some trips to see Berlin, the local castles and the beer brewery Hardo....and planned out what museums and churches we can visit by ourselves and made this list of Things to Do!!!! Hehehe.....
Friday, October 24, 2003
Nights Out, Nights In And More...
Wohkee I am back..tan tada!!! LOL!!
Lets see now I hope I haven't forgotten all what I wanted to blog about. So we went to Prof Breunig's place for dinner on Wednesday. We had to walk down...that was interesting, coz we had to follow his directions and I was reading the city map and guiding us. His house is actually in the centre of the city, but yet set in this very green and almost rural area by appearance at night time!! We reached there a bit early. But Stefan (the guy who amde the presentation a day earlier) was already there, so it wasnt awkward reaching early. Breunig immediately offered us wine or juices...no points for guessing that I chose the former. There was German wine and also Spanish wine...I ended up having 4 glasses in all, 2 of each.
Anyways the other guests gradually trickled in...and tho it was awkward initially I think we made some new friends that evening. I think this was a wonderful idea..this way we've made friends faster and it felt really nice to be invited to Prof Breunig's place, meet his wife, eat properly cooked food, talk to others besides us and Hardo....
Conversation flowed much more freely during and after dinner...which by the way was scrumptious. He had made 4 types of pizza. Saima and I really enjoyed the entire evening coz we liked the food and have no probs talking. Jigisha is our problem child..but I shall not dwell on that topic. I got talking to a guy named Bjorn who wants to come to India next year on the scholarship...interesting fella. Infact what amazes me is the amount these people know..I noticed this even in Hardo...they have quite a bit of knowledge about many topics...something lacking in most young people back home. Ofcourse the ignorant ones here are like REALLY dumb!! So maybe there are just extremes here...too soon for me to jugde anyways...plus not really in a position to judge.
Then thursday and today we didn't do much. Just basically lectures...and a little shopping...bought some gifts and did more exploring of the main city area. We've decided to start our sight-seeing next week and then start venturing out of the town..there is a Univ trip to Wittenberg next Friday...looks promising. Oh!!! Today's lecture was interesting...its on English in non-native contexts...I was in full 'josh' debating heatedly on who decides what is standard English etc etc...ofcourse all my post-colonial studies was guiding my debates...the prof was delighted to hear I'm a student of Dr.Bharucha...which reminds me..there are atleast three of Dr.Veveina's books in the library here. I was very very proud when I saw them...Three cheers for our profs!!! :)
Nothing much else. Its Diwali tomm, but obviously no big deal here. We have invited Hardo's parents over for dinner...not my idea...its gonna be stressful coz Hardo wont be there, and they speak no English as I've mentioned before...but we shall see....Gonna make pulav and dal, with yoghurt and suji ka halwa...pray it tastes fine!!!! LOL!!!
HAPPY DIWALI TO EVERYONE!!!!!
Lets see now I hope I haven't forgotten all what I wanted to blog about. So we went to Prof Breunig's place for dinner on Wednesday. We had to walk down...that was interesting, coz we had to follow his directions and I was reading the city map and guiding us. His house is actually in the centre of the city, but yet set in this very green and almost rural area by appearance at night time!! We reached there a bit early. But Stefan (the guy who amde the presentation a day earlier) was already there, so it wasnt awkward reaching early. Breunig immediately offered us wine or juices...no points for guessing that I chose the former. There was German wine and also Spanish wine...I ended up having 4 glasses in all, 2 of each.
Anyways the other guests gradually trickled in...and tho it was awkward initially I think we made some new friends that evening. I think this was a wonderful idea..this way we've made friends faster and it felt really nice to be invited to Prof Breunig's place, meet his wife, eat properly cooked food, talk to others besides us and Hardo....
Conversation flowed much more freely during and after dinner...which by the way was scrumptious. He had made 4 types of pizza. Saima and I really enjoyed the entire evening coz we liked the food and have no probs talking. Jigisha is our problem child..but I shall not dwell on that topic. I got talking to a guy named Bjorn who wants to come to India next year on the scholarship...interesting fella. Infact what amazes me is the amount these people know..I noticed this even in Hardo...they have quite a bit of knowledge about many topics...something lacking in most young people back home. Ofcourse the ignorant ones here are like REALLY dumb!! So maybe there are just extremes here...too soon for me to jugde anyways...plus not really in a position to judge.
Then thursday and today we didn't do much. Just basically lectures...and a little shopping...bought some gifts and did more exploring of the main city area. We've decided to start our sight-seeing next week and then start venturing out of the town..there is a Univ trip to Wittenberg next Friday...looks promising. Oh!!! Today's lecture was interesting...its on English in non-native contexts...I was in full 'josh' debating heatedly on who decides what is standard English etc etc...ofcourse all my post-colonial studies was guiding my debates...the prof was delighted to hear I'm a student of Dr.Bharucha...which reminds me..there are atleast three of Dr.Veveina's books in the library here. I was very very proud when I saw them...Three cheers for our profs!!! :)
Nothing much else. Its Diwali tomm, but obviously no big deal here. We have invited Hardo's parents over for dinner...not my idea...its gonna be stressful coz Hardo wont be there, and they speak no English as I've mentioned before...but we shall see....Gonna make pulav and dal, with yoghurt and suji ka halwa...pray it tastes fine!!!! LOL!!!
HAPPY DIWALI TO EVERYONE!!!!!
Wednesday, October 22, 2003
Celebrations et al....
Yesterday was Jiigisha's birthday....I was not the least bit excited becoz well it seemed a bit immature and I don't make that big a deal of my birthday...would not do anything if not for friends....anyways Hardo got her a gift hamper so she was thrilled. Then we had lectures all day and were basically busy. Yesterday it rained all day and was cold and chilly...temperatures are about 8 degress or so now....and its bloody windy. Our lectures yesterday were interesting...in the lecture on Dharawi I did a lot of talking about the history of Bombay and the re-naming of the city to Mumbai. In the next lecture on Blake , we had this abso immature and bizarre presentation by a supposedly erudite student...Saima and I had a tough time keeping a straight face...we came up with very valid points of discussion later. A whole load of students came up to us yesterday to talk to us...so it seems we shall make some more friends besides Hardo..thank god!!!
We came home and racked our brains about dinner coz it was raining and the restaurants near by were shut...there was next to no grocery left..no sugar also!! Finally made a mixed bhaji..later Jigisha produced Apple pie and Choc pastry...the pie was delicious..since only Hardo and I liked it...I got to eat Jigisha's and Saima'S share as well...crazy two to prefer the choc pastry which is really so common..OK Geets's Bitchy side surfaces again!!! LOL!!!
Hardo had to leave then coz his l'amour beckoned...so after that we three went out for a stroll and coffee. I discovered that a glass of wine costs the same as a cappucino and less than a mochiatto...so next time I'm drinking wine....speaking of wine, tonight we are going to Prof Breunig's home for literary discussions over pizza and wine..looking forward to it...defi the pizza and wine if not the discussions...hahaha!!!
Today was an OK day...we had a meeting with Prof Wiemann finally and decided on our presentation on Bollywood representations of Mumbai. The lecture was a tad boring coz I'm anyways not a big fan of Jane Austen and I've not even read the novel concerned....but we did our weekly shopping today. Saima and I went before lectures and got enough so we don't need to go for atleast 10 days...we had a tough time carrying it back but now that we use the trams its easier than carrying it all the way home on foot...that used to be tough on the muscles!!! We had a nice Garman lady who was conerned about us when we asked if Tram # 3 goes to Universitaat platz...she was this grandmotherly lady and she thought we were absolutely new and helped us with the bags into the tram and even pointed out the direction to us when we were getting down from the tram...felt nice...!!!
That's it for now....
We came home and racked our brains about dinner coz it was raining and the restaurants near by were shut...there was next to no grocery left..no sugar also!! Finally made a mixed bhaji..later Jigisha produced Apple pie and Choc pastry...the pie was delicious..since only Hardo and I liked it...I got to eat Jigisha's and Saima'S share as well...crazy two to prefer the choc pastry which is really so common..OK Geets's Bitchy side surfaces again!!! LOL!!!
Hardo had to leave then coz his l'amour beckoned...so after that we three went out for a stroll and coffee. I discovered that a glass of wine costs the same as a cappucino and less than a mochiatto...so next time I'm drinking wine....speaking of wine, tonight we are going to Prof Breunig's home for literary discussions over pizza and wine..looking forward to it...defi the pizza and wine if not the discussions...hahaha!!!
Today was an OK day...we had a meeting with Prof Wiemann finally and decided on our presentation on Bollywood representations of Mumbai. The lecture was a tad boring coz I'm anyways not a big fan of Jane Austen and I've not even read the novel concerned....but we did our weekly shopping today. Saima and I went before lectures and got enough so we don't need to go for atleast 10 days...we had a tough time carrying it back but now that we use the trams its easier than carrying it all the way home on foot...that used to be tough on the muscles!!! We had a nice Garman lady who was conerned about us when we asked if Tram # 3 goes to Universitaat platz...she was this grandmotherly lady and she thought we were absolutely new and helped us with the bags into the tram and even pointed out the direction to us when we were getting down from the tram...felt nice...!!!
That's it for now....
Monday, October 20, 2003
Long boring weekend
Gosh this weekend was so boring....mainly coz we didn't do anything aside from window shopping..that was OK...I mean all I did was browse this supermarket and mentally noted down the stuff I can buy as gifts later..but thats it...I mean ''dead'' is how I'd describe the weekend. To make things worse atmosphere at 'home' was tense all of sunday so we weren't talking to each other and were studying, of all the things...by night we had all studied ourselves out of our skulls and sat down for a mature talk. We planned out the things we can do on the forthcoming weekends so we don't get stale sitting at home....
Today morng we woke up to find that the radiator had sprung a leak in the living room and there was water all over. After mopping it up, we had to deal with the maintainance guy, plumber and the lady below whose house already had leakage....they shall replace our radiator tomm, but we luckily dont have to pay for it...which is a relief!!! The lady downstairs too agreed we don't have to pay for her wallpaper, since its not out fault...that was nice of her!! Ofcourse we needed to wait for Hardo to come before we could solve that problem, becoz of the lang barrier!!! I hated that bit..felt so handicapped coz I knew the problem but had to hold back only coz I couldn't express myself..urghhh!!! Hate having my hands tied back...specially when I can pinpoint the problem and know the solution as well....gah!!!
Aside from that, what else have I still got to update on? Basically about the class structure....its really informal and I liked that. But what I didn't like was the complete lack of respect for professors...the students here just don't respect the prof, they talk loudly in class and are very stand-offish in their attitude towards the prof. Infact I guess that's one reason why the profs like us so much...coz we habitually give them the respect due to a teacher. Ofcourse they are also happy coz we are so interested in what is ebing taught despite it being not related to our MA degree at all. If you noticed we are attending 3 lectures of D.Wiemann....and he's really happy with us coz we are very verbal in his classes. Tomm we have to meet him regarding a presentation....
On sat we also finally got our library cards..we borrowed 4 books immediately..I loved the atm in the library and I think I'll spend alot of time there during the week....studying, reading etc...I can also access the net from there..so voila..my new adda!! Hahaha!!!
Hmmmm...I think this is it for today..until next time....tschuss!!!
Today morng we woke up to find that the radiator had sprung a leak in the living room and there was water all over. After mopping it up, we had to deal with the maintainance guy, plumber and the lady below whose house already had leakage....they shall replace our radiator tomm, but we luckily dont have to pay for it...which is a relief!!! The lady downstairs too agreed we don't have to pay for her wallpaper, since its not out fault...that was nice of her!! Ofcourse we needed to wait for Hardo to come before we could solve that problem, becoz of the lang barrier!!! I hated that bit..felt so handicapped coz I knew the problem but had to hold back only coz I couldn't express myself..urghhh!!! Hate having my hands tied back...specially when I can pinpoint the problem and know the solution as well....gah!!!
Aside from that, what else have I still got to update on? Basically about the class structure....its really informal and I liked that. But what I didn't like was the complete lack of respect for professors...the students here just don't respect the prof, they talk loudly in class and are very stand-offish in their attitude towards the prof. Infact I guess that's one reason why the profs like us so much...coz we habitually give them the respect due to a teacher. Ofcourse they are also happy coz we are so interested in what is ebing taught despite it being not related to our MA degree at all. If you noticed we are attending 3 lectures of D.Wiemann....and he's really happy with us coz we are very verbal in his classes. Tomm we have to meet him regarding a presentation....
On sat we also finally got our library cards..we borrowed 4 books immediately..I loved the atm in the library and I think I'll spend alot of time there during the week....studying, reading etc...I can also access the net from there..so voila..my new adda!! Hahaha!!!
Hmmmm...I think this is it for today..until next time....tschuss!!!
Saturday, October 18, 2003
Update 2
I'm back with more blah blah....
Last sunday was perhaps the most memorable and idyllic days of my life. Hardo had invited us to his place...he picked us after lunch and we drove down to his village : Burgstall. On the way we passed a local brewery that I made him promise we'd visit later. They make beer from this local water that passes through this sponge-like stone and is very clean and cold (approx 5 deg centigrade)..then wes topped at his mother's dispernsary behing which is a small animal farm, where we played with a deer. After that we headed to his home..e..he stays with his parents surprisngly! His house is very charming...near the woods, it was built in 1969 and modernised later. They have a huge backyard with a pool filled with fishes and lots of lowers all around. After meeting his parents, who unfortunately speak only German and his girlfriend Nadine, we set off for a long walk in the woods. We picked up mushrooms, unluckily the berries weren't ripe yet. The walk was something completely awesome..the sensation of walking in the woods surrounded by tall cedar and oak trees, the quite all around, punctuated only by the sound of our footsteps , our breating and our own voices with the occassional call of a bird. The feeling of ebing wrapped in the greenery all around...the peace from within..it was serenely beautiful!!! In the end we visited the local moors in which 2 tanks sank during the World War II and several people have disappeared. That was very exciting...Hardo taught us how to jump on cumps of grass so we don't sink in...kinda scary but fun as well.
Back at his place we had dinner and left after that....a most enjoyable and almost perfect day..had I known German it would have been perfect...regrets regrets!!!
We've been having major discussion every evening that ranges topics from love life (haha), school days, religious beliefs, cultural attitudes and values, feminism et al!! MAkes for active exercise of the grey cells and fills the long dark and very quiet evenings....
On a funny note before I stop for the day..I've been getting funny results with my lanudry. Each time I've done my lanudry I end up putting some coloured garment in it..so I now have undergamrnets n sahdes of blue and pink..highly funny to see them..even wierder wearing them!! Hahaha!! Ah well I'll learn as I experience newer wierder stuff...:)
Unitl next time...I hope to see more comments on this blog...Ciao!!
Last sunday was perhaps the most memorable and idyllic days of my life. Hardo had invited us to his place...he picked us after lunch and we drove down to his village : Burgstall. On the way we passed a local brewery that I made him promise we'd visit later. They make beer from this local water that passes through this sponge-like stone and is very clean and cold (approx 5 deg centigrade)..then wes topped at his mother's dispernsary behing which is a small animal farm, where we played with a deer. After that we headed to his home..e..he stays with his parents surprisngly! His house is very charming...near the woods, it was built in 1969 and modernised later. They have a huge backyard with a pool filled with fishes and lots of lowers all around. After meeting his parents, who unfortunately speak only German and his girlfriend Nadine, we set off for a long walk in the woods. We picked up mushrooms, unluckily the berries weren't ripe yet. The walk was something completely awesome..the sensation of walking in the woods surrounded by tall cedar and oak trees, the quite all around, punctuated only by the sound of our footsteps , our breating and our own voices with the occassional call of a bird. The feeling of ebing wrapped in the greenery all around...the peace from within..it was serenely beautiful!!! In the end we visited the local moors in which 2 tanks sank during the World War II and several people have disappeared. That was very exciting...Hardo taught us how to jump on cumps of grass so we don't sink in...kinda scary but fun as well.
Back at his place we had dinner and left after that....a most enjoyable and almost perfect day..had I known German it would have been perfect...regrets regrets!!!
We've been having major discussion every evening that ranges topics from love life (haha), school days, religious beliefs, cultural attitudes and values, feminism et al!! MAkes for active exercise of the grey cells and fills the long dark and very quiet evenings....
On a funny note before I stop for the day..I've been getting funny results with my lanudry. Each time I've done my lanudry I end up putting some coloured garment in it..so I now have undergamrnets n sahdes of blue and pink..highly funny to see them..even wierder wearing them!! Hahaha!! Ah well I'll learn as I experience newer wierder stuff...:)
Unitl next time...I hope to see more comments on this blog...Ciao!!
Friday, October 17, 2003
Update 1
As I promised yesterday I'm back today with updates...it will be gradual, so please don't expect all the news at one shot...
The last few hours before I left for the airport, I was really tense..had like butterflies clamouring for attention in my stomach. But it settled down and by the time I reached the airport I was my usual calm and composed self. Though it was my first time in the airport (I refuse to count the few times I've flown as a kid), and international airports are so confusing, we managed just fine. Got through check-in, security check etc smoothly and then called up the people I wanted to talk to before boarding the flight. That was sentimental few hours!!
The flight by itself was OK. I had like absolutely no reaction to taking-off, landing...you know the usual nausea and giddyness people experience. Infact I slept quite comfortably once I managed to settle into the tiny seat. An interesting thing was that my experience echoed that of others in my acquaintance who'v travelled by Alitalia - the crew is extremely inept and inhospitable. Bordering on rude..if you don't act like this bossy authority, they just rail-road over your requests and almost see through you!! Siama and Jigisha had a slight problem with the food, but I quite liked what they served except for the chole for breakfast...I was quite revolted seeing chole in my tray almost as soon as I opened my eyes...but then we all know my so-called 'firang' tastes!! Hahah!
Anyways we landed at Milan airport at 6.58 am local time, and spent 2 hours at the airport...pretty boring coz none of the custom duty shops were open that early!!
The flight from Milan to Berlin was in one of those tiny cute 56 seater planes...that was awesome...we could see out of the windows and I just totally enjoyed seeing the perfect landscapes, the red roofs of the tiny cottages, the snow-capped mountains and then the clouds....it was an amazing experience.
We landed at Berlin at local time 11.20 am, and Hardo was waiting for us. He was exactly as I remembered him (appearances) - tall, shaggy, with long hair and a beard that reminds me of blue-beard for some strange reason! Ofcourse I had completely read the cover wrong, for the book (him as a person) inside is a warm, friendly and very helpful person. Throughout the hour long drive down to Magdeburg he talked about a wide range of topics from his experience when he landed in Mumbai last year, where he stayed, what we have to do once we reach Magdeburg, the local area history, about the town, a little information about places we passed etc etc. We passed this man-made structure called the Kali mountains...they were created due to the artificial production of salt in the region. The alkaline nature of the soil in the region has destroyed the vegetation around the mountains ...I found this very interesting - yet another example of how materialisation adn industrialisation has affected natural elements...
We reached Magdeburg and headed straight for the University where we met Prof Lange. After that we headed to the estate agent's office and signed the contract for the flat....we are now paying 444.60 Eu for it....
The flat itself was a surprise..quite dirty by German standards. But much bigger than what we expected. We have 2 bedrooms, a huge living room, a bathroom, a kitchen and a balcony as well. All the rooms are heated except the balcony. Tha bathroom was the dirtiest of all...and most annoyingly has no drain except the one in the bathtub...which means when water spills out of the tub, you either let it stay there and tolerate the damp smell (there are no windows) or get down and mop it up daily...well cleaning up that place was a mammoth task which we took on later in the week. Had to numb our senses before we plunged into the task..but now that it's clean, we are quite pleased with ourselves.
We also had to sweep, mop and clean up the other rooms. It was extremely dirty as we got it. We ended up re-arranging the furniture and shifting cupboards around so that the place looks nice, warm and inviting..more of a home than a house. We did this on saturday nearly a week after we arrived coz till then we were busy getting ourselves enrolled, getting registered with the local council, settling in basically. We couldn't have managed this without Hardo, coz he pretty much smoothed the way for us and we didn't have to do much else ebyond signing!!! He's been an angel through-out...wrangling his way trhough for our work, when he didn't need to do anything of the sort...thank god for him!!!!
Classes started this week...so far we've had only introductory lectures but the professors are impressed by us and we'Ve already gained a reputation in the languages deparments...becuase we not onlly interact in class, our POVs seem to be of a level higher than that of the students here...plus we've offered to do presentations out of interest not necessity so that acts in our favour. These are the classes I've signed up for:
1. Alternative and Parallel Englands - Swift's Gulliver's Travels and Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (D.Wiemann)
2. Political, socio-economic and cultural asepcts of Indian society today: the case of Bombay/Dharawi (D.Wiemann)
3. William Blake (H.W.Breunig)
4. Janespotting :Austen in print and on screen (D.Wiemann)
5. City cultures in Britain (B.P.Lange)
6. English in non-native contexts (K.Ebeling)
I had wanted to do the courses on post-colonialism but they got cancelled so I had to come here and change my decision and settle for these...so far they seem very interesting...
Hmm..pretty tired for now..shall pick this up tomm...until then..ciao!!
The last few hours before I left for the airport, I was really tense..had like butterflies clamouring for attention in my stomach. But it settled down and by the time I reached the airport I was my usual calm and composed self. Though it was my first time in the airport (I refuse to count the few times I've flown as a kid), and international airports are so confusing, we managed just fine. Got through check-in, security check etc smoothly and then called up the people I wanted to talk to before boarding the flight. That was sentimental few hours!!
The flight by itself was OK. I had like absolutely no reaction to taking-off, landing...you know the usual nausea and giddyness people experience. Infact I slept quite comfortably once I managed to settle into the tiny seat. An interesting thing was that my experience echoed that of others in my acquaintance who'v travelled by Alitalia - the crew is extremely inept and inhospitable. Bordering on rude..if you don't act like this bossy authority, they just rail-road over your requests and almost see through you!! Siama and Jigisha had a slight problem with the food, but I quite liked what they served except for the chole for breakfast...I was quite revolted seeing chole in my tray almost as soon as I opened my eyes...but then we all know my so-called 'firang' tastes!! Hahah!
Anyways we landed at Milan airport at 6.58 am local time, and spent 2 hours at the airport...pretty boring coz none of the custom duty shops were open that early!!
The flight from Milan to Berlin was in one of those tiny cute 56 seater planes...that was awesome...we could see out of the windows and I just totally enjoyed seeing the perfect landscapes, the red roofs of the tiny cottages, the snow-capped mountains and then the clouds....it was an amazing experience.
We landed at Berlin at local time 11.20 am, and Hardo was waiting for us. He was exactly as I remembered him (appearances) - tall, shaggy, with long hair and a beard that reminds me of blue-beard for some strange reason! Ofcourse I had completely read the cover wrong, for the book (him as a person) inside is a warm, friendly and very helpful person. Throughout the hour long drive down to Magdeburg he talked about a wide range of topics from his experience when he landed in Mumbai last year, where he stayed, what we have to do once we reach Magdeburg, the local area history, about the town, a little information about places we passed etc etc. We passed this man-made structure called the Kali mountains...they were created due to the artificial production of salt in the region. The alkaline nature of the soil in the region has destroyed the vegetation around the mountains ...I found this very interesting - yet another example of how materialisation adn industrialisation has affected natural elements...
We reached Magdeburg and headed straight for the University where we met Prof Lange. After that we headed to the estate agent's office and signed the contract for the flat....we are now paying 444.60 Eu for it....
The flat itself was a surprise..quite dirty by German standards. But much bigger than what we expected. We have 2 bedrooms, a huge living room, a bathroom, a kitchen and a balcony as well. All the rooms are heated except the balcony. Tha bathroom was the dirtiest of all...and most annoyingly has no drain except the one in the bathtub...which means when water spills out of the tub, you either let it stay there and tolerate the damp smell (there are no windows) or get down and mop it up daily...well cleaning up that place was a mammoth task which we took on later in the week. Had to numb our senses before we plunged into the task..but now that it's clean, we are quite pleased with ourselves.
We also had to sweep, mop and clean up the other rooms. It was extremely dirty as we got it. We ended up re-arranging the furniture and shifting cupboards around so that the place looks nice, warm and inviting..more of a home than a house. We did this on saturday nearly a week after we arrived coz till then we were busy getting ourselves enrolled, getting registered with the local council, settling in basically. We couldn't have managed this without Hardo, coz he pretty much smoothed the way for us and we didn't have to do much else ebyond signing!!! He's been an angel through-out...wrangling his way trhough for our work, when he didn't need to do anything of the sort...thank god for him!!!!
Classes started this week...so far we've had only introductory lectures but the professors are impressed by us and we'Ve already gained a reputation in the languages deparments...becuase we not onlly interact in class, our POVs seem to be of a level higher than that of the students here...plus we've offered to do presentations out of interest not necessity so that acts in our favour. These are the classes I've signed up for:
1. Alternative and Parallel Englands - Swift's Gulliver's Travels and Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (D.Wiemann)
2. Political, socio-economic and cultural asepcts of Indian society today: the case of Bombay/Dharawi (D.Wiemann)
3. William Blake (H.W.Breunig)
4. Janespotting :Austen in print and on screen (D.Wiemann)
5. City cultures in Britain (B.P.Lange)
6. English in non-native contexts (K.Ebeling)
I had wanted to do the courses on post-colonialism but they got cancelled so I had to come here and change my decision and settle for these...so far they seem very interesting...
Hmm..pretty tired for now..shall pick this up tomm...until then..ciao!!
Thursday, October 16, 2003
Guten Tag
Phew..long absence from me right? Well it couldn't be helped...while I could access the internet thanks to Hardo's daya-maya as it were, emails took priority over blogging! Sigh...well I finally managed to get my own internet access today..so I'm gonna begin the process of updating my blog and gonna start commenting on my experiences from today...
I wanted to give a day-to-day itenary of my experiences here, but I've been online for ages today already and kinda tired of going tap-tap-tap at the keyboard in this foreig atmosphere..so used to emailing and blogging in my own private space!!! Well for three months I have to learn to do with a computer room where Tom,Dick and Harry pass by and not react!!!
So far this place has really been agreeable...I've settled in really well and have adapted perfectly to the very German surroundings..even gotten used to greeting people with 'Guten Tag' and saying 'Danke' and 'Tschuss'...ofcourse I wish now that I knew German as well as French...infact I'm all the more resolute now in my decision to visit Patricia in Bordeaux where I can use my foreign langugae skills, so to speak!!!
You know it's very odd, people mentioned that I'll face problems getting accustomed to the 'gora' skin all around, maybe face some racism, find the quiteness jarring, find the Germans cold, etc etc....but I've suffered so no culture shocks, find the Germans warm, affectionate and helpful even when they haven#t a clue of what you are trying to say, and generally like the difference in the pace and style of living..I could get used to this...it's really quite something else all together to fall asleep to the sound of your own breathing and the sound of the clock ticking, to get up in the morning and hear NOTHING, ...to walk everywhere...blah blah blah...the whole experience is remarkable!!! I'm really glad of this opportunity I've been given..Merci Bon Dieu!!
Want to blog n blog n blog...but for today I shall stop here...tomorrow I return with my dairy and post a more detailed blog about my experiences in the first 10 days...
Ah it feels soooooooooo good to be back....
I wanted to give a day-to-day itenary of my experiences here, but I've been online for ages today already and kinda tired of going tap-tap-tap at the keyboard in this foreig atmosphere..so used to emailing and blogging in my own private space!!! Well for three months I have to learn to do with a computer room where Tom,Dick and Harry pass by and not react!!!
So far this place has really been agreeable...I've settled in really well and have adapted perfectly to the very German surroundings..even gotten used to greeting people with 'Guten Tag' and saying 'Danke' and 'Tschuss'...ofcourse I wish now that I knew German as well as French...infact I'm all the more resolute now in my decision to visit Patricia in Bordeaux where I can use my foreign langugae skills, so to speak!!!
You know it's very odd, people mentioned that I'll face problems getting accustomed to the 'gora' skin all around, maybe face some racism, find the quiteness jarring, find the Germans cold, etc etc....but I've suffered so no culture shocks, find the Germans warm, affectionate and helpful even when they haven#t a clue of what you are trying to say, and generally like the difference in the pace and style of living..I could get used to this...it's really quite something else all together to fall asleep to the sound of your own breathing and the sound of the clock ticking, to get up in the morning and hear NOTHING, ...to walk everywhere...blah blah blah...the whole experience is remarkable!!! I'm really glad of this opportunity I've been given..Merci Bon Dieu!!
Want to blog n blog n blog...but for today I shall stop here...tomorrow I return with my dairy and post a more detailed blog about my experiences in the first 10 days...
Ah it feels soooooooooo good to be back....
Sunday, October 05, 2003
All My Bags Are Packed..I'm Ready To Go
Hehe...don't worry it's not John Denver deja vu time! It's just me getting all sappy and soapy! Well not quite...only in that I'm humming this song...couldn't come up with a better refrain to capture the essence of the moment...
So the last few days just rushed past. I'd hoped to savour every moment of the last few days, generally relaxing at home with family. But a whole load of friends wanted to meet me in the last few days itself, plus I insisted on attending till the last possible day, and that left little time to do anything remotely connected to 'relaxing'!!! Anyways despite all the rushing around, running to get ends tied, it's all been done now..my bags are packed. Even my handbag is now packed...tickets, passport etc are all in - they are truly standing by the door waiting to be picked up and be on their way.
The next few days will probably pass in a haze. Tomm we land at Milan at 7.30 am (Milan time) and have a 2 hours halt there, before we proceed to Berlin. At Berlin airport we will be picked up by Hardo Seligmaan, who will drive us down to Magdeburg. It's a 2 hour drive (approximately). Once there, we have to see the flat, finalise it and sign the contract...then begin to settle in...I doubt we will go out much on the first day, except maybe to pick up the basic supplies. We are carrying some stuff so that we do not have to do much exploring in our jet-lagged and exhausted state. I have my tea-bags, so all I'll need is water and within a few minutes I'll be revived. And we are carrying Maggi noodles...god I don't believe I'll eat those, but well gotta co-operate with others too. I so abhor those instant noodles...but ah well. I know the other 2 are carrying other 'eatables' as well...me I plan to get some groceries in on 7th itself and have some sandwiches..no cooking dal-chawal from day 1 puhleeeeese!!!
Phew the first week will probab rush past like this last week has...I hope there aint too much of homesickness - that will drive me up the wall for sure! I'm carrying plenty of reading maal to keep me occupied during the 'long winter evenings'...ah reminds me of Frost's poem, Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening' - not much connection really, except the mood perhaps....odd I'm STILL not excited...tho I am nervous now. Slept very fitfully last night, kept thinking of what needs to be done, how I'll survive there, how much I'll miss home, family n friends, how much I'll miss blogging comfortably in my own environment, how last night was the last time I'd sleep on my bed for 3 months..so on and so forth...
Guess this is it then...dunno when I'll blog next-defi at the first available opportunity for sure! Cudn't do without it...I'm so addicted to this thing!
Until next time..adios amigos..
Cheers!
So the last few days just rushed past. I'd hoped to savour every moment of the last few days, generally relaxing at home with family. But a whole load of friends wanted to meet me in the last few days itself, plus I insisted on attending till the last possible day, and that left little time to do anything remotely connected to 'relaxing'!!! Anyways despite all the rushing around, running to get ends tied, it's all been done now..my bags are packed. Even my handbag is now packed...tickets, passport etc are all in - they are truly standing by the door waiting to be picked up and be on their way.
The next few days will probably pass in a haze. Tomm we land at Milan at 7.30 am (Milan time) and have a 2 hours halt there, before we proceed to Berlin. At Berlin airport we will be picked up by Hardo Seligmaan, who will drive us down to Magdeburg. It's a 2 hour drive (approximately). Once there, we have to see the flat, finalise it and sign the contract...then begin to settle in...I doubt we will go out much on the first day, except maybe to pick up the basic supplies. We are carrying some stuff so that we do not have to do much exploring in our jet-lagged and exhausted state. I have my tea-bags, so all I'll need is water and within a few minutes I'll be revived. And we are carrying Maggi noodles...god I don't believe I'll eat those, but well gotta co-operate with others too. I so abhor those instant noodles...but ah well. I know the other 2 are carrying other 'eatables' as well...me I plan to get some groceries in on 7th itself and have some sandwiches..no cooking dal-chawal from day 1 puhleeeeese!!!
Phew the first week will probab rush past like this last week has...I hope there aint too much of homesickness - that will drive me up the wall for sure! I'm carrying plenty of reading maal to keep me occupied during the 'long winter evenings'...ah reminds me of Frost's poem, Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening' - not much connection really, except the mood perhaps....odd I'm STILL not excited...tho I am nervous now. Slept very fitfully last night, kept thinking of what needs to be done, how I'll survive there, how much I'll miss home, family n friends, how much I'll miss blogging comfortably in my own environment, how last night was the last time I'd sleep on my bed for 3 months..so on and so forth...
Guess this is it then...dunno when I'll blog next-defi at the first available opportunity for sure! Cudn't do without it...I'm so addicted to this thing!
Until next time..adios amigos..
Cheers!
Thursday, October 02, 2003
Gearing Up To Leave
Wow....the last few days have been busy. And the next few are not gonna be any easier! Luckily all that I need is now at home and organised, so all I gotta do now is put in the bag. Today Jigisha, Saima and I had a meeting to decide what stuff we need to carry in terms of food...and man, I never realised how phirang I am. I seem to be the only babe who's least bothered about carrying all this typical Indian stuff to eat! They were amazed, but as I pointed out to them I can't miss in Germany what I don't eat even in India. and simple basic Indian food maybe once a week will keep me happy - rest of the time I can happily survive on Salads, Soups, Pastas, and the other stuff you get there! Infact I got quite a shock when Jigisha started talking about dosas and idlis...I told her I refuse to even consider carrying stuff for that and if she wants to, its her headache....they think I'm a prime candidate for living abroad...LOL!!!
Anyways I didn't have my presentation on Tues, so now I finish that tomm, as well as my examination form red-tape. So I have to make a visit to the Univ tomm despite not planning to....but well Sat is free...and I plan to start packing tomm evening, so that I'm all packed and organised by Saturday evening. Sunday being Bhaiyya's birthday I don't wanna have any last minute problems and rushing around...as it is we gotta be at the airport by 10.15 pm...
Lots to do...mind always rushing ahead...nopes no excitement yet...LOL! I'm incorrigible, ain't I?
Anyways I didn't have my presentation on Tues, so now I finish that tomm, as well as my examination form red-tape. So I have to make a visit to the Univ tomm despite not planning to....but well Sat is free...and I plan to start packing tomm evening, so that I'm all packed and organised by Saturday evening. Sunday being Bhaiyya's birthday I don't wanna have any last minute problems and rushing around...as it is we gotta be at the airport by 10.15 pm...
Lots to do...mind always rushing ahead...nopes no excitement yet...LOL! I'm incorrigible, ain't I?
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