Going Pippi

News travel slowly, but it has now come to my attention that a proposal has been made to change the Swedish coins to feature the face of Pippi Longstocking, instead of the current image of the King. As a long-standing Republican I would of course offer my support, if I did not consider the issue some-what of a non-priority.

I do however feel that the Germans would offer their fullest sympathies. Check out the film below of some Football-fans (attending a match in Denmark) displaying their feelings for Pippi and really rocking the house. (Make sure your sound is on)

I cannot believe they made the stadium shake like that. Scary.

Equally scary are they eye-brows of Martin Walser. He is a German author who was the single voice of reason on a discussion programme I watched on Germany TV during my first couple of days here. The programme made quite an impression, not because of the topic (the pursuit and science of Happiness) but because one of the four participants would get to present their case, then the moderator would say “Good, lets reflect on that for two minutes” and then they dimmed the lights, started playing classical music and nothing happened on screen for subsequent two minutes. Amazing! That is how it is, in a Kulturland.

Picture time

Since I don't* have a digital camera, I have poached some pictures of the websites of the ca. 30 other Swedes whom I hang around with here in Düsseldorf. I am sure they won't mind me sharing them with you. (PS I also updated some old posts with pictures)

The first week we did a small City walkabout

It seems that any German city that wants respect has to build a TV-tower. D’dorf has of course one. And in order to be a bit different this one has arranged lights along the outside. Through these one can read the time (during the night).

We of course posed in front of it. Can you spot me?

A preparty picture (at Sigrid's place). Afterwards we went to Mediahafen, where all the cool clubs are. Some of you might recognise the person just left of me, Julia, whom I was buddy for at SSE. She studies in Koblenz and was kind enough to come and visit and help me explore Düsseldorf. This picture was taken during a tour of one of the many small breweries in the Old Town. In this tub the beer is cooled in order for some very importance process related to the yeast to occur (don't ask, the guide had done his training in Bavaria so I only understood half of what he said). All in all it was a great learning experience as well as a wonderful culinary treat.

* If my mom happens to read this she might think that she did indeed buy one for me and my sister to share. But, for semi-rational reasons, my sister clings onto it.

Vilken historia - what a story

Last Thursday our class visited Bonn, which is the former Capital of Bundesrepublik Deutschland, and has many interesting things to offer. Our first stop was the Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung where lots of interesting books were on sale, most only for the bargain price of 2€ each. I again realised that the combination of Cheap and Books is dangerous for my wallet. Thereafter, with a somewhat lighter wallet and decidedly heavier backpack, we went to the Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland and for those who understand German you can take the virtual tour. This is just the type of stuff I love.Here you see Lina from Lund in front of Beethovens house (and also in front of me :-)

Tuesday this week we did something similar, namely an excursion to Aachen. This is where the cultural heart of Western Europe is, at least in historical terms. We also made a short de-tour to the “Siberia of Prussia” and Monschau. Cute, but a bit chilly. On the plus side there were zero other tourists in the town as we made our walk-about.Here we have a typical Monschau-house and some equally typical frozen swedes (that alone should tell you it was chilly)

On an equally chilly note, my "adoptive" family’s relationship is somewhat strained. Not due to any fault of mine. Whilst in class yesterday I received the following SMS “Hallo patrick[sic.]! Lass bitte auf keinen fall alex[the Dad] in die Wohnung- habe ihn rausgeschmissen. Danke und sorry für lärm etc. Anna“. The translation would be “Hello P. Let under no circumstances Alex in- I have thrown him out. Thanks and sorry for the noise etc”.

Looks like I have found my self in the middle of some family drama. Yesterday I also spoke with the family member with most reason (Mascha, the daughter) and she said that she will move to her grandmother (in a town just 30 min away) but would expect to come back sometime soon. Apparently it is not the first time this sort of thing happens.

All in all, a fairly exciting week with a mix of History and Drama (plus a lot of fun and partying, but that I’ll talk about next time).

Auf Wiedersehen!