Summertime!

Somehow June wasn't quite the summer month this year. Yesterday I walked through a thunderstorm to attend a psychological study (well, I currently need that kind of money. Wasn't much, but at least I could buy some cereal for the next two weeks.). But I'm not complaining as it can get so hot in Heidelberg that one just keeps complaining about the heat. It's actually a heat that one can compare to the "mushi atsui" (muggy and humid hotness) that agonized me in Japan. But there is no air condition in private homes in Germany!
Next week I'll turn 28. 28 years, lots and lots of years of study and the question: Can I finally do something useful with all the things I've learned? Real life - hello, where are you??

When I started this blog I was devastated by the loss of my scholarship and opportunity to write a doctoral thesis. Well, I love to write - but was it really necessary to go on writing academic stuff? So I joined a Creative Writing group at my university and started to write a short story. Everyone needs to start somewhere. And someday I want to write a novel!
Well, job applications are going out, but I'll have to be patient, I guess.
I dived into being creative: Crocheting, Knitting and today I actually hand-sewed drawstring bags (well, one...). This is also definitely something I want to hold on to: Creating things with my own hands instead  of just buying stuff.

I'm just sad, that most of my friends from old times won't be able to join my B-day picnic. I really wish I could meet them again.

*The picture was taken at home, when I created a new drink for me and my mom. It was delicious.

My mobile evolution

When I was back at home last weekend I thought about some of my collections which I could show you, dear readers. Well, I have sparkling things like beads in a drawer, I own lots of random Japanese kitsch, there are many color pencils I collected throughout my childhood years up to now (It is very hard for me to ignore new color pencil collections...) and in my earlier twenties, when I actually earned some money, I started to collect MAC as in Make up Arts Cosmetics (and I love to use it!).

Well, I ended up shooting my collected mobile phone history. Actually my first Nokia phone is missing. Maybe I (or more precisely my parents) recycled it as one should do with old technology?

Well, the left one was a Nokia and it's made of very cheap plastic indeed. I can't believe that we actually used such greenish screens in the early 2000s. By the way, I was one of the last students in my school to get a mobile. I begged my parents, but they were never very much into newest technologies. And well, they were right: Why would a school student actually need a mobile? Other than downloading new jingles and have to pay a lot for it? But then, the bus sometimes didn't come and I had to reach my mother to pick me up from school. (I used a phone card and an old fashioned phone booth.)

When I went to Japan in Spring 2005 for one year I got the orange KDDI mobile. I loved it! I had never seen such an up to date and sophisticated and by the way stylish phone before! And I could take pictures with it!! HA! Mobiles on the German market just started with that kind of technology. And even nowadays, if you have a look at the Japanese mobile market you'll realize how far behind we are.

After my year in Japan I was rather disappointed to get a new mobile. It was really hard to get a folding mobile in Germany. So I got a motorola Razr and afterwards the Razr V2, which I still love very much. I actually miss that one quite a bit. My one year old Sony is again made of rather cheap plastic. But I can take good pictures with it while on the move. And as long as I can make phone calls with it, it serves its purpose, I guess?

Obviously I'm dreaming of an iPhone and actually was offered one the day I bought the Sony. But in Germany monthly costs for an iPhone are way too high for a student to pay. (I would have had to pay twice as much as I pay now!) So I declined (I'm so proud for being that strong! hahaha).

Hopefully I'll get a full time job sometime this year and then I'll get one!

Instagram Magic: Zoo Animals

On Sunday my family went to the zoo in Erfurt. Last year in august my mother and I bought a sponsorship for a thuringian donkey at the zoo as birthday present for my father. Recently this kind of sponsorships became somewhat popular in Germany. So we paid food for one year and could feel happy about helping an endangered species. The cute donkey above is such an endangered thuringian donkey. Our donkey is a 33 year old female and was in her stable. We could pet her and she seemed to like it. (But my parents were kind of sad about her condition.)

Still, I liked the zoo and haven't been in one for a while. (Last time in Ueno, Tokyo as mentioned before.) The zoo in Erfurt is really lovely. Most animal quarters have been rebuilt or renewed and the animals look happy. A very interesting place is the integrated thuringian farm from 1862. It was built to provide milk for mothers and their children in those times. It is the most popular place inside the zoo and families with children gather there to have a look inside old farm life.

I myself found my inner child while feeding a llama. It was just hilarious! My hand was very wet afterwards...To be kissed by a llama cannot be a fun experience at all!

Traditional road trips

More Instagram pics - today send to you from Erfurt, right in the middle of Germany. It is kind of tradition to drive with my mom (in her new convertible) to Erfurt or Weimar, when I'm back home. As I mentioned before this area belonged to the GDR once. And many (Western) Germans still believe we live in Wild West here. (Meaning there is nothing but wasteland and old rotting buildings and nothing to buy and nothing nice to see). Well --- wrong! Oh, so wrong. (Except the occasional rotting building here and there - see pic above...) The last twenty years were spent with lots of rebuilding, reconstruction and renewal. Yes, the GDR was a grey, grey and depressing country when looking at the cityscape. And there was nothing much to buy. (Which was a constant source for jokes: "Don't you have no bananas today?" "We haven't got any tomatoes here. No bananas are sold next store!" Hahahaha!! Love it.)
My childhood has been a happy one. Even though even my family had to deal with repression at one point and another. (I'll have to tell you a sad story soon, when doing another post on my childhood pictures.) And I remember very clearly that I dreamt of many toys I would never get. But we were inventive and built our own stuff from the materials we could get. And I spent so much time in nature. And I remember that as a great time.
But still, I'm very happy about being able to buy nice things nowadays. (I'm a girl after all.) And about being able to choose my own future. Not the future an oppressive system wanted me to have. Thank God.

Greetings!

P.S. I showed those Instagram pictures to my mom and she said: "Why would anyone destroy perfectly good pictures to have them look like pictures taken by old cameras??" Good question. But - hello? - it's so much fun.

While traveling with trains...

, a photo by Chisa2010 on Flickr.

...I love to just stare out the window. (Even when I'm determined to work.) You guessed my fondness for traveling by now, of course. And even though I absolutely love flying, taking the train might be the better option (if possible anyway). You actually SEE the country up close when going by train. (I loved riding trains in Japan! Not just because they are über punctual.)
I actually love to watch the German countryside slide past. I took this picture out of the ICE today. It might look boring to you, but I actually like the green shrubbery quite a lot.
Greetings.

Traveling and working

, a photo by Chisa2010 on Flickr.

Today I left for my home town as there is a long weekend ahead. My parents will go to the Opera all weekend to see Wagner's "Ring" and I'll take care of the cat and dog. And I'll work. On several things all at once, which leaves me again to wonder about self management.
Well, time at the train should never be wasted, so I sat down in a free compartment on an ICE train and translated Japanese texts (for a lecture - still no paid assignment). In Frankfurt my train actually delayed 1 hour because something was wrong with the first wagon. I used the time to go on translating.
When we finally left Frankfurt all people on board were offered free drinks (non-alcohol) and a stamped form to apply for cost reimbursement.
(The law concerning cost reimbursement in case of delayed trains is fairly new! Anyone who has to travel by Deutsche Bahn knows that their trains are almost, but not quite, absolutely always not on time. Or the other way round. Give or take 10 minutes or even up to 20 minutes - that's quite normal. My japanese friends are always going nuts in Germany. And well, I'm missing the Japanese railway myself.
Anyway, a few months ago a delayed train would have made passengers angry but not the executives of Deutsche Bahn. Now, they actually have to try being punctual.
But checking out the form I realized that I wouldn't get the whole ticket price back. Only ten percent for one hour! Okay, better than nothing. And I actually worked, so I guess the delay worked out for me.)

Instagram Magic: Boat on the Neckar

, a photo by Chisa2010 on Flickr.

The Neckar is the river that flows trough Heidelberg. And others cities for that matter. This boat carries tourists upstream and downstream all day. I love the colors and the nice yellow accent made by the buoy.