German Unity

3rd October marks the day the West and East Germany were reunited. Today Germany celebrates the 17th anniversary of reunification on October 3.

ofcourse another date of significance is 9 November 1989, when the last icon of the cold war, the Berlin Wall, was struck down. not by any authority or government body or military might, but by the people of East Germany.

more on this later.

I admire the Germans

over the last 4 years or so Ive had the chance to get to know and interact with quite a few germans....some as colleagues, but many as friends. These interactions have made me realise there are some pretty amazing things thats part of the German attitude and how they have learnt and been taught to deal with the consequences of their role in WWII.

its certainly not an easy thing....and for precisely this reason I really do admire them.

more later......

More Munich...did you know

come back to this later.......

Gummersbach to Munich

we had another couple of days in Gummersbach before the end of the course. I have to say this group is quite the party type.....atleast 2am every night, and 5am on some occasions? the last farewell at the bar, the party went on until 5am, with some people leaving just as they needed to for their flights.
I made my 7am departure to Cologne and got the flight to Munich. by the time I took the train from the airport to Munich city, I was running almost one hour late to meet Chris! He travelled to Munich to meet me for the day...how nice :) funnily enough...at the train station I ran into Elena! she left Cologne that same morning on the train....and there I was thinking flying should be faster!
Thomas also joined us for the first day.
Chris took me to the famous Haupbrahaus in the centre of city. we had some typical german food, beer and sausages. well I had a sip of the beer! no room for the pretzel....but Im still here for another couple of days :)
Chris was still his very thin version...he says it was since he lost weight in India some many months ago. what I dont understand is.....how could he not have put the weight back on being in Germany so many months.....when I manage to do so in just 2 weeks!!! gggggrrrrrr

Erfurt to Gummersbach

stopped by at the State Public TV station..talked to the in-house lawyer about the political/elections campaign reporting,then a tour of the studios before lunch and heading back to Gummersbach. somewhat of an uneventful afternoon in a long bus ride.

Dresden city and surround

Spent a few nights in Dresden, going out to small little village like Lommatzsch, visiting the cellar underground, talking to the Mayor. In the city meeting with FDP Member of Parliament, who gave us a tour of parliament house...then continuing on to the former Ministry of Information of the fomer GDR.

some evenings we had some free time to look around the city, do some shopping, check out the restaurants and the night scene. Funnily enough....on all 3nights that we spent there I was always directed back to the same area for food,drinks and such. have to say that not only was the company international...even the cuisine I chose was international too! first night at Irish pub, second at an Arabic shisha bar, and the third at a Spanish tapas bar. Thomas dropped by on his way to Berlin to keep me company and attempt to show me this city he has never been to. Saw some palaces, including the palace concert hall/grounds.....the Lady of the Church and a few other places. The city was bombed by British airforce towards the end of WWII and most of the historical buildings that stand today were rebuilt from scratch.

Buchenwald

one of the most notorious concentration camp from World War II
what can I say about the place...except how heart wrenching it is to just be out there. strangely but perhaps aptly enough...today was the only day since my arrival in Europe more than 2 weeks ago that it rained and was infact cold.Im walking around the camp fully clothed with jacket, walking shoes and socks, yet shivering.....so can only imagine how much the victims housed in this camp suffered in the cold harsh winter, having hardly enough to cover themselves.
Just writing about this is again bringing tears to my eyes......
Rest in peace.

Die Weisse Massai

I decided Id check out Goethe Institute's Open Air Cinema, so I showed up there today for their 7.30pm screening. met up with Isabell there. and as it turns out Andrea, Chalitsuda and Anya from work were also there.
and no I dont understand any German...besides half of the movie was also in some african dialect. anyhow..if you wanna know more about The White Masai quite an odd movie Id say...makes me wonder if anyone would really do that...I guess its that amazing thing called love?