Time to Move

Next week I’ll move to Cologne/Köln and begin the internship phase of my stay in Germany. I have a place to stay for a while but will try to quickly find something better alternative. As I move from Düsseldorf it is not a complete good-bye. I’ll be coming back every second weekend for more German language training. One thing that I will look forward to on these trips back is the Mensa. Mensa is usually the student canteen, and this particular Mensa is the one at the Kunstakademie (Art Academy). Not only is it a steady source of wonderful Germany words (e.g. Kartoffelernteergebnisse, meaning potatoharvestyield) it also offers the best value in terms of food I’ve seen in any OECD country*. For about 1,5€ you can fill you stomach. Wonderful.

Moving also means saying goodbye to my “family”. They were nice and helpful but clearly had some internal issues. From what I understood the Dad in the family went to Dresden, on the other side of Germany, and tried to get a job there for a week. In the mean-time the Daughter (who I had the most contact with) moved to her paternal grand-parents in Duisburg, about 30 minutes away from Düsseldorf. And the mother rented out her room. Now the Dad is back in town, BUT does not stay in the apartment. In some sense I am glad to now be moving on. Hope they patch things up soon though.

*Nothing beats India when it comes to value for money at restaurants

Karneval

A week or two ago Karneval took over this part of Germany. Already the week before I started running into people (of all ages) with strange costumes and painted faces. These incidents increased exponentially until, on Rosenmontag, it all came to a magnificent culmination. All the time people were partying; dancing everywhere, eating lots of sausages and of course consuming copious amount of beer.

Like before, I'll share some pictures my friends took of these eventsTypically (i.e., for Karneval) dressed-up Germans
Rosenmontagszug is a parade with certain political elements, but all in a very humorous way

Some costumes were clearly very elaborate

One thing that puzzled us Swedes were why the Germans had chosen to party at a time of the year which normally is pretty cold (however, we experienced optimal weather, with sunshine and 15 degrees plus). Perhaps the reason, as with Lucia in Sweden, is that when nature is at its coldest and darkest, that is when you need to have something fun to do.

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!

Discovering Düsseldorf – part I

Most who don’t know much about D’dorf (until recenty this very much included myself) think it is in Ruhr-area (it isn’t) and thus in the middle of coal mines or huge petrochemical industries. What most Germans however point out is that this city has little industry but more corporate headquarters than any other German city. The one word everyone uses to describe D'dorf is "Rich". This means that there is no lacking of luxury and fashion stores, but also plenty of culture. The city is full of art (many galleries, museums, installations in public spaces, etc). Which comes in handy, because on Sundays everything else is closed

Düsseldorf also offers unexpected cosmopolitan touches. For instance, one of the city’s central streets is completely taken over by the Japanese (people, businesses & restaurants) since they for some reason have chosen D’dorf as a European base. There is even a Japanese festival in June. The reason for all these German and international headquarters is because this place can rightly claim to be in the heart of Europe (especially in terms of GDP). Take a quick glance at the map below: Almost every major European city (except, of course, Stockholm ;-)) is easily reached from D’dorf.

New Home

After a full week in Düsseldorf, Germany I can now rapport that I have begun to get some sense of the place. It helps that I got a friendly introduction to the city (thanks Hanna), but also that I have been lucky enough to been “adopted” by my new family. More on this later.

I am in D’dorf to do a 7-week course in German, and along the way deepen my knowledge and understanding of Germany culture. This in order to prepare me for my subsequent internship. The posts henceforth will concern my:

• Struggle with the grinding German (language)
• Serendipitous discoveries in Düsseldorf
• Anything and everything else

As a mere formality I should also post some new contact details:
Cell-phone (operational as of Monday): +49-177-720 68 97

Address: Akerman C/o Vogel
Linienstr. 53
40227 Düsseldorf
Germany

Now, my new „family“. Since I decided to shun the dorms where most other Swedes chose to live I had to find a place to stay on the open market. I found it bit scary to move to a city without having housing arranged but I quickly found a wonderful, artistic family (father 35, “mother” 30 and daughter 12) with whom I feel most at home. This way I get to speak much more German and I have a far more social environment than in a dorm. Plus, the daughter can help me with my homework :-)

Xmas and a new year

Only three days to go (in Sweden we celebrate on the 24th) and I am already filled with tranquillity. The weather has been warm, or rather, less cold than expected and school has gone well. Meeting relatives again is something I am really looking forward to. Even despite all the things that can go wrong during Xmas.

I look upon the next year with the same joy and optimism, partly because of the time I'll spend in Germany but also because prospects for my and Joni's thesis have brightened. However, since nothing is finalized yet I dare not reveal too much about it. For those who want to get a broad idea I can recommend a BBC documentary (video), this article or this presentation. Then add a touch of Colombia and you should have a pretty accurate picture.

May you all have a wonderful holiday season!

Old News

About a month ago or so I, and many others (for instance my sister, to the left) participated in the Stockholm Model United Nations. Here we are, posing together with the former Foreign Minister of Sweden, H.E. Mr. Jan Eliasson, who also recently held the position of President of the United Nations General Assembly, i.e. he is pretty much Sweden's foremost diplomat.

Enough said about him, I mainly posted the picture because both my sister and I look so nice in our Nigerian outfits. I am beginning to grow more and more interested in Nigeria and Africa. Hopefully I can get my African friends in Sweden to come over for dinner soon (we are always postponing it). Did you know that Nigeria is having elections in the spring of next year?

And oh, by the way, both my sister (representing Mali) and the Nigerian delegation (which I advised) received distinctions from the organizing committee for their performance during SMUN. (and so did I :-))

In Pursuit

Jägermeister can be seen as an illustration of foreign cultures. The outside looks a bit strange but you are sure that there is something cool inside. Then you taste, and get your first culture shock. Then you realize that cultures are destined to blend and mix. The question then is what to mix with. This was the question some friends and I tried to solve yesterday.

To give you a very short answer: Red Bull (or also, if you have access to a Swedish foodstore, "Hallonsoda") works best.

Why, one might ask, am I writing about Jägermeister. Well, yesterdays tasting was intendend to mark an auspicious occasion, namely that I been offered to spend the first half of 2007 in Düsseldorf, to improve my German and do an internship.