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Kategorie: Balkans 2010 (Seite 3 von 5)

A World of Its Own – Kosovo

This post is based on this German original / Dieser Post basiert auf diesem deutschen Original.

While I figured fairly early in my big Balkans trip three years ago that I probably would not get to see all the countries I had originally thought about, I also knew that there were certain countries that I would most definitely not skip. Mainly those that my mum would have felt better if I’d skipped them. „Honey, you sure you need to go to Albania and Kosovo, all by yourself?“ Hell yeah. I’m not going to go to Serbia and not also go to Kosovo! There was a story there with those two countries, and one I had not the slightes understanding of, and I was not about to let that be the case for much longer. So I did go to Kosovo. And the country surprised me in all the right ways.

I went into Kosovo from Skopje in Macedonia. If you enter into Kosovo from Albania, Macedonia or Montenegro, you won’t be able to leave the country straight to Serbia, and if you enter it from Serbia, you won’t be able to leave straight to Albania, Macedonia or Montenegro. Getting into Kosovo from Skopje was certainly the easiest route in my time, if only for the direct bus connection between Skopje and Prishtina, but that may have changed and other options may be available. So why is it so complicated again?

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, after there had been war there from 1998 through 1999, followed by a long UN administration period. I won’t go into detail because I don’t know much about it myself, but as is custom in the area (note the irony!), it was mainly a conflict of ethnicity, religion and possession. Serbians see Kosovo as an area of their cultural heritage, with beautiful Serbian orthodox monasteries and the site of the Battle of Kosovo – a founding myth of modern day Serbia, if you will. It took place in 1389 between the Ottoman Empire and the Serbians and delayed the Ottomans taking over the area for a little while. Today, however, Kosovo is mostly populated by Albanians who are Muslim. And that is where the problems start. Serbia does not recognize Kosovo’s independence, so if you enter Kosovo from, say, Macedonia, through Serbian eyes you have entered Serbia already, but don’t have an entrance stamp which is why you cannot cross the boarder from Kosovo to Serbia. And if you enter Kosovo from Serbia, in Serbian eyes you have never left the country.

Going to Kosovo was, considering all of this, not at all a big deal. The boarder police asked me if I was coming on holiday, and bid me good day. I never even got a stamp, which I chose not to mind because I wanted to return to Serbia at one point and knew that a Kosovo stamp might give me trouble. I am still a bit sad though that I have no sign of having been there in my passport.

Prishtina was grey and ugly, and the traffic was pure craziness – but downtown there was a pedestrian zone where the atmosphere was that of an on-going fair. Hideous plastic toys of all provenance where sold, and I immediatly felt the information to be proven that the average age in the country was 25. There were no old people – not even older people, it seemed to me. But there where children – everywhere! They ran and played and screamed with the joy of life, and they made me smile with the realization that beauty exists even in a grey, dull pedestrian zone with ugly plastic toys and socialist concrete buildings. And sitting or working in coffee places, the Kosovar people laughed just like the children of their country – open, untainted, honest.

Peja reminded me of Ulcinj in Montenegro and Novi Pazar in Serbia – formerly Yugoslav cities with a big Muslim minority and influence. I had a cappucino in a street cafe. It was pouring rain. Just outside the terrace that I was sitting on, there was a fountain. The waiter put the coffee on my table, had a water glass in his hand, went over to the fountain to fill it, and put it on my table where it was dripping water on the notebook I was scribbling my impressions into. The waiter gave me a big smile with this. Then electricity stopped going. I had heard the generator all the while. Kosovo runs on two power plants, and one had gone broke that morning, so half the country was on generators, and a bit overstrained with it, I take it. No one seemed to mind, though – and that fact calmed me with quiet joy.

Prizren, which I have written about already, was certainly the prettiest town there. I had met an American guy on the bus and we went to see the Serbian Orthodox church up the mountain. Meters of barbed wire and KFOR protection. We were not allowed to enter even the premises.

Back down in the town, we passed the Catholic church, and two teenagers that saw us asked us right away if we wanted to go in, and fetched the priest. He spoke German very well and I translated to English for my American friend. „We don’t need military protection down here,“ he said, „but in my opinion the Serbian churches don’t need it either.“ In the yard, yellow and orange roses were in full bloom. There was peace.

Every coffee house had me meet someone who I had a quick chat with. I got asked on dates and invited to house parties in Kosovo, had delicious Albanian food and bought an English book in a great little international book shop. War? Please, that was more than ten years ago!! Still there were the occasional reminders. Bombed out Serbian houses. A long fence showing pictures of missing relatives.

And the big statue of Bill Clinton in a suit with a briefcase, waving fatherly – I almost broke into loud laughter at the sight of it because it seemed ridiculous, but it is a serious matter for Kosovar people. The States have supported the country massively in its fight for independence.

I had asked couchsurfing hosts in Serbia what the big deal was with Kosovo – a naive question that might have gotten me in trouble in the wrong company, but quite usually the answer to me was simply: „What would you say if a part of your country decided to break away and be independent?“ I didn’t say it, but thought: „Well, some Bavarians would like to do that, and to be quite honest, whatever, you know, let them do it, only the German economy would break down and not be able to handle it I guess.“ Kosovo is not economically relevant to Serbia though. So I still didn’t quite know what to do with that argument. I understood, though, that it was really mainly, if not purely, cultural.

One impression was particularly overwhelming in Kosovo: This was not Serbia. It was not Albania, either. It was Kosovo.

Danube Bridges in Budapest, Hungary

April 14, 2013 / bruecken_schlag / 6 Kommentare

Today’s photo on Bridges on Sundays brings you several bridges – a bridge cluster, if you will: The bridges over the Danube in Budapest.

It is a little more than three years ago that I started my South Eastern Europe adventure. Budapest will forever hold a special place in my heart, because it was the first stop in a non German-speaking country – the place where the whole magnitude of my adventure started to actually feel real and concrete. When I got off the train here, I knew it: It had started. These months were to belong to no one but me, and they’d be full of life and joy. And they really were.

On my last night in Budapest I climbed up Gellert Hill at sunset and looked down at the Danube river between Buda and Pest. The day had been beautiful and sunny, not yet really warm, but Spring was in the air. As the sky turned darker, the city turned lighter – lights were turned on first in the houses, then on the streets, finally the bridges were floodlit. I loved how light transcended from the skies to the earth, and I had such hopes and dreams and never knew to which degree they were to be exceeded. It was a happy moment indeed.

If you have read My Mission statement, you know why I love bridges. To me they are the most universal symbol of connection, of bringing people together and overcoming anything that may seperate us. I want to present to you pictures of bridges that I really love in places that I really love on my blog every Sunday. If you have a picture of a bridge that you would like to share with my readers as a guest post, feel free to contact me!

The Sound of Bosnia

April 4, 2013 / bruecken_schlag / 6 Kommentare

My favorite travel chat on twitter was on the topic of SOUNDS this week, and it made me finally want to write about a force that drives me in my everyday life like almost non other – music. When it comes to music and travel, the sounds of the Balkans have left a deep and lasting imprint in my heart

When I visited Bosnia on my Balkans trip, I fell in love with the city of Mostar. There, one of my favorite hostels in Europe, Hostel Majda’s, was offering amazing tours of the Hercegovina region. As we were dashing along Bosnian freeways through sometimes meagre, sometimes overflowing landscapes, our wonderful tour guide Bata would put on this song:

It is called „Miljacka“, which is the name of the river that flows through the Bosnian capitol Sarajevo, and is sung by Bosnia’s king of folk, Halid Bešlić. It is essentially a love song that tells of missing someone and wanting to be with them, and about betrayed love:

Jednom si rekla, nisi porekla, da sam za tebe jedini.
Mene si zvala, a srce dala drugome, da ga isprosi.

Once you said, and you didn’t deny, that I’m the only one for you.
You called to me, but you gave your heart to another, when he asked for it.

The lyrics are corny to a degree that I can only take in Slavic languages, and they really don’t correspond much with the feelings the song triggers inside of me. It transports me right back into the midst of green rolling hills, to rivers of an unearthly green-turquoise colour, to never-ending blue skies, whitewashed houses and pebbled streets in medieval old towns. All my love for Bosnia & Hercegovina washes over me when I hear this song.

I went to Mostar three times on my Balkans trip in 2010 alone (and I’ve returned there since, if only once). During my second stay, I took a day trip with a Canadian friend I had made in Mostar to the nearby town of Blagaj. We wanted to spend some time in the Tekija which, I swear, is one of the most spiritual, peaceful and truly indescribable places I have been to in my life. But before we treated ourselves to the peace of mind that we knew we would find there, we climbed up the steep hill to the old fortress of Blagaj which used to accomodate the rulers of Hercegovina. It is in ruins today, but it is still mighty and proud. If you know me, you can guess what happened when I got up there. I felt an overwhelming urge to sing. And I did.

And I sang this song:

It is called „Đurđevdan“, St George’s Day, and it was written by famous Yugoslav artist Goran Bregović. Like „Miljacka“, it is about missing the one you love.

Evo zore evo zore
Bogu da se pomolim
Evo zore evo zore
Ej đurđevdan je
A ja nisam s onom koju volim

Here’s the dawn, here’s the dawn
That I might pray to God
Here’s the dawn, here’s the dawn
Oh, it’s St George’s Day
And I’m not with the one I love.

Singing out in nature is one of my favorite things to do. You should try it sometime. It is so liberating.

My third time around in Mostar I hardly could tear myself away from the magic of the place. More posts will have to be written on it. When I finally had made a decision to leave, Bata came to me and told me that there would be a concert the next night by a famous Mostar based band called Mostar Sevdah Reunion, and that I was surely going to love them. Bata knew me well already at that point. Even though I had never heard of the band before, I was sure that if he said I was gonna love them, it had to be true. I extended my stay for the concert and never regretted it.

While the song „Miljacka“ is typical Balkan folk, and „Đurđevdan“ is essentially an old gypsy song that has been modernized and, well, balkanized, the music style you have here, in the song „Čudna jada od Mostara grada“, is very specifically Bosnian. It is called Sevdah – hence the name of the band – which is a Turkish loan word in Bosnian meaning a variety of things ranging from love over caress to longing. The song’s title means „Strange pain from the city of Mostar“, and it is again about disappointed love. In the song, a girl says:

“Mene boli i srce i glava,
Jer moj Ahmo s’ drugom razgovara!”

„There is pain in my heart and my head
Because my Ahmo is talking to another!“

The girl’s mother then tries to curse Ahmo, but the girl won’t let her because she still believes in his promises. It is all very endearing, and granted, the range of topic isn’t huge in Balkan music – it is always, always, always about love – but the drive of melody, the variety of instruments and the spirit that runs through the songs in unmatched elsewhere, I think. Seeing the Mostar Sevdah Reunion live, in Mostar at that, open air, and dancing under an endless starry sky, made the beat of the songs and the beat of my heart melt into one another. The rhythm of Sevdah has never left me since.

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If you are on twitter, you should join my favorite travel chat #RATW, which stands for Reality Abroad Talk Wednesday, when you next have a chance. It is a weekly chat on Wednesdays 12 pm EST which makes it 5 pm for me in Berlin and a convenient end-of-work-day activity. It is hosted by the lovely folks of Reality Abroad who make everyone feel like family and are absolutely worth a follow!

What is Bravery?

März 14, 2013 / bruecken_schlag / 14 Kommentare

As some will know by now, I am drawing most of my writing inspiration from my 5 month trip around South Eastern Europe that took me to twelve different countries.

The beauty of Bulgaria… this was taken at Rila Monastery

I have written about the surprised, if not shocked reactions to this plan. Common questions and their answers went like this:

„All on your own???“
– „Yes. I’m gonna love it!“
„Wow… you’re so brave!“

„But – is it safe?“
– „Come on, it’s Europe, what’s gonna happen, really?“
„Wow… you’re so brave!“

„So – do you have everything booked, like, flights and hostels?“
– „No. I have a list of countries I will go to. That is the extent of my plan.“
„Wow… you’re so brave!“

„Wasn’t there a war there recently?“
– „That was 15 years ago. I really don’t think that should be a huge issue.“
„Wow… you’re so brave!“

„Uhm, but aren’t there Muslim countries down there?“
– „So?“
„Wow… you’re so brave!“

I’m going to spare you more because all these talks went pretty much the same way and after a while it was really neither interesting to be confronted with so many ridiculous stereotypes nor flattering to be called brave. However, at some point it struck me as remarkable that „You’re so brave“ was a reaction so versatile, and I was wondering what people actually meant by that. Obviously they thought there were fears to be overcome. Now I am going to say this straight away: I never felt brave. Because I was never scared of any of the things people proposed to me to be scary.

Not being particularly brave on the ferry back to the mainland from Vis island in Croatia

In the five examples I have given, the things that my conversation partners thought to be scary about my endeavour were loneliness, safety, (lack of) planning, history or the political situation that would be met and the issue of religion. And here is why those things didn’t scare me:

1. Loneliness

Lots of articles have been written about the issue of solo travel, and surely I will write one too before long. The essence of what I have to say on the topic is: being alone is very different from being lonely. I was hardly ever lonely, even though I was alone a lot. I think a lot of people are afraid of being alone, but they have never really tried it. If they did, they might find that it is the best way to come to terms with yourself and the people around you.

Not being particularly brave – or particularly lonely for that matter!! – in Albania

2. Safety

Granted, I may have been naive when I left for the trip, but I really never felt unsafe in any of the countries I went to. People hear Albania and they go „unsafe“. Often it seems that „poor“ equals „unsafe“. I find that dangerous. Again, people are scared of something they haven’t seen or tried. The best thing to promote your own saftey, I have found, is what Sarah of Yes and Yes calls the Don’t Mess With Me Walk. I’ve got that down and I think it saved me from many unpleasant experiences.

3. Planning

I did not even know how right I was not to plan when I didn’t plan. But once I was out, I noticed quickly that plans never stick anyway. So being flexible and trying to make up your mind as you go is really the best way. Plans don’t give you control over things. It is more likely that they will fall through, which will be much scarier. Not having a plan was very liberating.

Granted, Studenica monastery in Serbia would actually have been easier to find with better planning…

4. History and Politics

I think if you’re curious and sensitive to the cultural specifics of a new country, there isn’t much that could go wrong in this department. Be at least a little bit informed and try to just find out more. As a foreigner in the company of open, well-travelled locals, you can also get away with some stuff. Today I think back with slight discomfort at the few times that I bluntly asked people in Serbia what the big deal with Kosovo was. That could have gone very wrong, but I was lucky.

Even with barbed wire and KFOR signs, Prizren in Kosovo was beyond peaceful, and the locals told me that all the precautions do more harm than good.

5. Religion

It is a bit of a pet peeve of mine that people will be scared by Islam as such, and I never was scared or extra careful about going to Muslim countries. I think nearly every religion has the potential to be really beautiful and enriching while also possibly turning radical and then becoming scary and restrictive. When equalizing Muslims with islamists, people forget that certain Christian sects have equally radical and, from the standpoint of humanity, inacceptable opinions. I learned so much about Islam in Bosnia, Albania and Turkey and I think it is a lovely concept.

So since I wasn’t scared of any of the mentioned things, I never had the feeling that I was generally being very brave. However, there were numerous occasions on the trip when I was scared of something. Sometimes I overcame my fear, and then I did feel brave. Like when I jumped that 14 meter cliff in Greece. Sometimes I backed out. Like when I did not jump the much lower cliff in Macedonia, because the water looked shallow. And then I did not feel like I wasn’t brave, but that I was being reasonable.

Not being particularly brave with this tandem paragliding either. I felt completely safe in the hands of my friend who took me.

Some fears are to be overcome. Others aren’t. Sometimes it’s all in the moment. And sometimes, when you look closely, there is no fear to master, but there is just something you don’t know yet, and that someone or something else has suggested to be scary. Ask yourself if there is an actual reason to fear it. Will it threaten you? Does it have the potential to harm you? If the answer is yes, your fear is there to protect you. Respect it. Surprisingly often, however, the answer is no. And then you don’t have to be brave, but just a bit faithful. I have found that to be the most rewarding feeling in the world.

Matters of Life and Death – European Cemeteries

März 12, 2013 / bruecken_schlag / 21 Kommentare

Most people don’t exactly think of seeing a cemetery when they go to a foreign city. I used to be one of these people. I also used to be one of those people who could never even remember the orthography of the darn word. I swear I had to look up the spelling before I started writing this post. However, certain encounters with cemeteries have changed my indifference toward them, and I would like to share them with you. These are a few impressions from my travels through Europe:

1.Bystrzyca Kłodzka, Poland (2007)

When I went to Poland for six months as a volunteer, my beforehand instructions for the train journey to my tiny town were as follows: „About twenty minutes after Kłodzko station, you should see a cemetery to your right. The next stop after that is yours.“ So I was standing at the carriage door on a cold January night, approaching my destination, my nervousness growing at every stop since Kłodzko, asking myself how in the world I could spot a cemetery when it was pitch black outside.

But all of a sudden there was light in the utter darkness. What seemed to me to be hundreds of votive candles were glowing through the night and I was caught by the devout and solemn beauty of it with such force that I forgot to be nervous anymore. It was not an image of death. It was one of the afterlife and of eternity. I got off the train at the next stop and started my Polish adventure with the lights of hope in my heart.

2. Lviv, Ukraine: Lychakiv Cemetery (2009)

In Lviv, there is a street along which all the hospitals are lined up, and it connects the city center with Lychakiv Cemetery. The way into town used to be called the axis of life. The way to the cemetery – the axis of death. As morbid as this may be, I loved the symbolism behind it. It was so easy, so clear-cut and so utterly understandable: Life – or death. City – or cemetery. No shades of grey. Just definite answers.

Maria Konopnicka was a 19th century Polish writer and contemporary of…

… Ukrainian writer Ivan Franko.

Lychakiv is very old, it has been around since 1787. It has been used by different Christian confessions and different social classes, and it holds the Cemetery of the Defenders of Lwów – a war memorial for those who died here between 1918 and 1920 fighting for the city to become Polish again after Habsburg reign and World War One’s Soviet occupation. It holds graves of famous Poles and Ukranians alike. It was here that I noticed for the first time the specific aesthetics and beauty of tombstones, mausoleums and arcades in a cemetery. In the older parts of the cemetery, a lot of the stones are moss covered, and I couldn’t help but feel at peace with that image of nature reclaiming our manmade memorials for itself. I found the idea of all of us returning to nature eventually extremely comforting in that moment.

3. Sarajevo, Bosnia: Kovači Cemetery (2010)

The Sarajevo cemeteries are of particular sadness, because they are so large and such a big part of the graves are war graves. I learned here that in Islam, the graves that have pointed pyramid stale on one side and a round-tipped one that looks a bit like a bullet shell on the other are always war graves.

Passing through this scene having a view of a mosque, the orthodox and the catholic cathedral gave me chills. So much transcending of different cultures in this place – and that is exactly what brought about the war. All the tombstones have dying dates between 1991 and 1995. There is such a lot of unfulfilled potential buried here, so much unlived life. The gravity of it sunk down on me with force, and I cried liberating tears. And I was so grateful that there is peace today in my home country and in this country.

4. Zagreb, Croatia: Mirogoj Cemetery (2010)

Funnily, I only went to Mirogoj because I had told my Couchsurfing host that I had loved Lychakiv in Ukraine. It was a bright and sunny day in Zagreb, and going to the cemetery felt a bit off, but as soon as I got there and saw the entrance gate in all its splendor, I didn’t regret it. I roamed the cool alleyways for a while, wondering about the lives that had preceeded the deaths now shielded by the cold stone. It was by no means a sad wondering – just curiosity, really.

Then I heard someone sobbing. I looked around and it took me a while to discover an elderly woman, crouching down on a tomb slab, weeping bitter tears. The sight of it broke my heart. I circled her for a few minutes. Then I picked up my courage, approached her, put my arm around her shoulder, and she leaned against me and cried. After a while I told her in German: „Unfortunately I do not speak Croatian, but I am really very sorry for your loss.“ She looked at me with eyes so clear that they didn’t seem to fit her advanced age, and replied in the same language: „Me bit German.“ She told me how she was mourning her son. I held her, and I listened to her broken sentences. I don’t think that there was any other moment in my life when I felt more intensely what the notion of humanity means, and never before had I understood compassion as truly as I did then.I haven’t really felt these places to be very gloomy or scary. In fact I think that cemeteries allow us to reflect on death and life equally, and that they are places where emotions are maybe more dense than elsewhere if you let yourself feel them. They invite us to think about impermanence, about finiteness. I have always found things to be of the greatest beauty when I knew that they wouldn’t stick, and travel has taught me not to regret or fret about this, but to turn the knowledge of it into an immense gratitude for being there to witness the beauty of the moment. That is what cemeteries do for me. They make me grateful.

What do you think about cemeteries? Gloomy or peacful? Scary or hopeful? Do you have a favorite cemetery?

Vukovar – a lesser known take on the Balkan Wars

Februar 26, 2013 / bruecken_schlag / 15 Kommentare

I have always tried to see to the fact that my blog will show the beauty of the former Yugoslavia and not purely concentrate on the remnants of war; and I chose to do so because from my experience people will think about war anyway, while the amazing charms of the Balkans have yet to be made known to them. Kami of Kami and the Rest of the World has recently reminded me of my own reaction to the most recent Balkan history when she wrote this moving and accurate post about Mostar. It brought back to mind that it is very important to speak not only of the beauty, but also of the dark past of this region, because people are sadly uninformed. But the war is still part of society in the Balkans – and not only in destroyed buildings, but in people’s heads, in politics, plainly spoken: in life.

It is a difficult, messed-up story that brought about the war, and I can’t say that I’ve fully grasped it. I certainly shall not try to explain it. I will resort for now to speak of a place that is little known, but that made the recent past’s events more visible to me than any other, and that is Vukovar in Croatia.

Downtown Vukovar – only at a second glance did I notice that the pretty but run-down building was still without windows

Vukovar would never have made it to my list, even if I’d had one. It was recommended to me by one of my favorite couchsurfing hosts of all time. Roni said to me: „If you want to feel what the war meant, you must go to Vukovar.“ So after seeing Mostar’s captivating beauty and the miracle that is the restored Old Bridge, after Sarajevo’s tunnel museum, after the whole Bosnian take on the war, I went back through Slavonia, which is Croatia’s most inland region, to stop in Vukovar for a night before I would go to Serbia’s Novi Sad.

It was one of the first places I went to on my trip that didn’t have many tourists. I walked around asking random people if they knew of a place where I could stay for the night, and I found a nice little guest house well outside of the city center – funnily enough I had already seen it from the bus window. It may have been the only place in town. After dropping off my backpack, I made my way right back into town.

While at first, on the way out to find a bed for the night, my priorty hadn’t been on looking around so much, everything struck me with greater force now that I didn’t have a backpack and the fear of sleeping outside on me. The long street into town was lined with buildings that were covered in bullet holes. I had seen houses like these in Bosnia, but in Mostar and Sarajevo they weren’t nearly as plentiful.

As I said: Vukovar doesn’t have tourism. There hasn’t been much need, let alone funds, for restorations. You probably haven’t ever heard of the place. Here’s the deal: Vukovar was under an 87-day siege in 1991 and was the third most destroyed city in the former Yugoslavia in the Balkan Wars – after mentioned cities in Bosnia. There was also an ethnically motivated mass killing of more than 250 Croatians in the year of the siege.

The walk into town was tough for me, because the atmosphere struck me as so bleak and desolate that I felt the weight of recent history with a power that hadn’t come upon me before. I had cried in Bosnia, cried over the countries losses and hardships, cried at fates of people I was told, and cried over the incomprehensible divide between the beauty of the country and the sadness of its history. But there had been beauty. In Vukovar on the road into town, I couldn’t even cry. A feeling of utter hopelessness crept upon me, and I was scared of giving in and allowing myself to feel the terror entirely, because I was afraid of breaking at the immensity of it.

What always gets to me is the intact tapestry on the wall.

This was the first moment that I began to understand that in the Balkan Wars of the 1990s, there is no one good side and no one bad side. It isn’t World War II, where the essential info is that Germany is the villain. The Balkan Wars are much more complex. There is no clear image of a victim and a perpetrator, and I think that comes clearest when looking at Croatia. I can’t place the Croats‘ role in the war on either one side of the scale between evil and good; or rather: I have to place it on both sides equally.

The War Memorial in the city center reads „To Those Who Died For A Free Croatia“

Finally I reached downtown, and there was something I noticed. The houses in the center were in ruins still – mind you, the siege had happened almost 20 years ago. But while the first floors didn’t have windows and were not habitable, the ground floors – well, they were!

They held shops and coffee houses and ice cream parlors. People were working on the restored ground floors to make money in order to rebuild the top floors. They were trying to reanimate their city, to defy the odds, to make a living inspite of previous deaths. This was the amazing attitude I had also found in Bosnia. The desolation was much harsher and more present here in Vukovar, but the readiness to fight it and restore good living conditions, to not give up or bend, was the same.

It is this spirit that kindles and constantly rekindles my deep love and admiration for this region, its people and its culture. I do not think I could have fully understood this, had I not come to Vukovar. It was very important for me to see war remnants outside of the central and well-known places. They showed the tragedy and complexity of it all to me with detail that I didn’t see anywhere else – unabridged, unadorned, unvarnished.

What do you think? Would you visit a place like Vukovar – or have you even been? Is this kind of „war tourism“ unethical or weird to you?

Tsarevets Castle in Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria

Februar 24, 2013 / bruecken_schlag / 2 Kommentare

This Bridge on Bridges on Sundays seemed to stretch out between different layers of time throughout history.

This is the bridge that leads to Tsarevets castle in Bulgaria’s proud medieval town Veliko Tarnovo. It may have well been my favorite place in Bulgaria – small and cozy, of great beauty, and the people there were extremely friendly. While in many other places in Bulgaria I found the people to take some getting used to, in Veliko Tarnovo they were a lot more open, they smiled much and were very helpful and welcoming. I was in Veliko Tarnovo in late June. Inland Bulgaria at this time of year is really hot, and by that I don’t mean 30 degrees, but more like 45 to 50. As beautiful as Veliko Tarnovo was, in my four days there I did have moments when I just lazily stuck around the hostel terrace in the shade, wanting to roar like a lioness at anyone who would dare to try and tear me out of my heat coma.

But I did go to explore the fortress. Veliko Tarnovo was the capitol of the medieval Bulgarian kingdom at a time when this country was a true power in Europe. The bridge leads the way over the moat to the beautiful fortress remains. The church on the castle hill is fully restored, and its insides are dominated by modern art paintings that I adored and that I looked at for a long time – partially also because inside the church it was nice and cool. The same way that the church bridged the gap between the middle ages and today with its medieval architecture and its contemporary wall paintings, the bridge in the picture seemed to overcome a time lapse between a modern lively student town and Bulgaria’s proud and long history as a kingdom. If only it hadn’t been this hot… the flickering air and the burning sun are a ver dominant part of my image of that truly beautiful place.

Istanbul – A love of my life

Januar 12, 2013 / bruecken_schlag / 16 Kommentare

Diesen Post gibt es auch auf Deutsch.

Istanbul and I, that is love for life.

Bayrampaşa

On the night bus from Vargas in Bulgaria, I feel a sudden jolt of fear. I must be out of my mind going to one of the largest cities in the world, all by myself, without even so much as a city map in my purse. I have no idea about Istanbul. I haven’t even read Orhan Pamuk! Slightly panicked, I still think that maybe a bit of awe will do me good. I get off the bus in Bayrampaşa and pair up with a young Swedish couple to find the way downtown. In the next few days, we will explore the city together on occasion.

Eminönü

There is water everywhere. Everything is blue and gold. Mosques oversee the city from the shores, proudly, powerfully. A Western orientalism is surfacing from inside of me, and I might romanticize the beauty of it all, but I cannot help myself: I’m enchanted. We go to have breakfast in the passageway below Galata bridge – the bridge of the Golden Horn, Haliç. The waiter speaks excellent German. He worked in Radolfzell at Lake Constance for five years. As a welcome gift, each of us gets one of the pretty colorful saucers from him. The Turkish yoghurt is dripping with a thick layer of honey and tastes like a summer vacation.

Bosphorus

It is windy and fresh on the boat, the sun is beaming, and so are we. Every look to the shore offers a new, ever-different, ever-constant beautiful sight. I see all those things and I don’t know what they are called or what their function is, I cannot tell if they are palaces, government buildings or sacred places. I have no presuppositions toward Istanbul, I am completely naive and unprejudiced – maybe that is why every new outlook comes crashing not only to my eyes and my brain which is struggling hard to comprehend the beauty; no, all the things I see find their way directly into my heart. A feeling of freedom, of liberation comes upon me there on the green and blue waves of the Bosphorus. Europe and Asia, modernity and antiquity, I find myself at the core of a gigantic metropolis of opposites that tries to merge European lifestyle and middle-eastern joy of life into a unique and wonderful entity.

Sultanahmet

Through Gülhane-Park and along the mighty walls of Topkapı palace, we make our way to Ayasofia. The streets are full of life, tourists are recognized as such at once. Street vendors call after us, „hey lady! lady!“, they’re screaming, trying to sell us anything and everything – kebab, orange juice, jewellery, carpets. We can’t bypass the juice, it is squeezed right at the street stand and is so tasty, so fresh and sweet that I don’t ever want to drink juice from a carton again. We meet a sixty year old gold smith who is drinking his Çay next to us. He shares with us the wisdom of his age, the lessons life has taught him. Some I agree with, some I don’t.

Taksim Meydanı

I’m meeting Emre, my Couchsurfing host, in the evening at Taksim Meydanı. I’m early and give in to my darkest tourist cravings: Venti Iced latte at Starbucks. I haven’t seen a Starbucks on my trip so far anywhere, and God knows I haven’t missed it, but now that I do see one, an Iced Latte seems like heaven, and it is. Chaotic traffic, exclusively young people, an overdimensional Turkish flag, fancy hotels, Dürüm stands. Life in all its richest form at the roundabout around the metro station, fast and energetic, but I cannot find it in myself to feel stressed out by it. Emre and I walk over to his apartment on a cul-de-sac – and suddenly everything goes quiet. Dozens of homeless cats are playing games on the ridiculously steep and narrow street. The life of Taksim is raving just a few blocks away. It feels good being in this place right away. Good and right. Five days later, when I walk from there to my shuttle bus that will take me to Bayrampaşa, I will feel like I have lived here rather than just visited.

Fındıklı

Fındıklı is the metro station that I get to when I keep walking down toward the water from Emre’s place. At the shore of the Bosphorus I have my breakfast every morning – Starbucks coffee and börek. Bosnia may have the Balkan’s most delicious burek, but Turkey is the mother country of börek. The view over the water – indescribable. A playground where kids are yelling right across from me is putting a smile on my face. I don’t lose that smile for the entirety of my stay in Istanbul.

Gülhane Parkı

Rosehouse park, as is the English name, at Topkapı Sarayı is an oasis of peace in this gigantic megalopolis. It is green and colorful and inviting. I’m sitting on one of the benches, behind me two guys are playing guitar. I’m moving to the lawn, waiting for them to play something I know. Here it comes: „Wonderwall“. I’m starting to sing along, they invite me over, we play music. They are from Lebanon. It is very easy to meet people here. All of a sudden it starts to rain. I’m seeking shelter underneath a tree. A baby kitten is hiding underneath my long skirt.

Sultanahmet Camii

It’s loud and busy inside the Blue Mosque. Shoes must be taken off, but there is no need for a head scarf in the visitor’s area. Children run and play on the soft carpet. People are sitting cross-leggedly on the floor, tourists are reading out their guide books to each other, the camera clicking won’t stop. Inspite of this, it’s a deeply spiritual place. People are praying inmidst of life here, not in silent reclusion. I find mosques to be so much more inviting than Christian churches. I consider myself a believing Christian (although actually I believe in many things, but that’s for a different post), but churches are so often intimidating in their unsubtle demonstration of religious power and greatness. Mosques just wrap you in a huge hug when you enter them. I think of St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome, and I associate: big and impressive. I think of the Blue Mosque. I associate: warm and alive.

Taksim I

Taksim, oh, Taksim. I have lost my heart Taksim. Life is of higher density in this place than it is elsewhere. Emre and I are having dinner in a simple small restaurant. We pick the fish that they will grill for us ourselves in the window. With that comes a salad, and watermelon for desert. All of it is so intense, food has never tasted like this. A Canadian guy in Bulgaria said to me: “I didn’t know that cucumbers had a taste before I came here! I thought they were just water!” I feel like that with everything I eat in Istanbul. Emre and I are exploring the tiny cobblestone streets with their millions of street cafes and bars. We have a beer in a bar where there is never a song playing that I don’t love. I cannot even decide what I want to look at first, and everything is changing all the time, but it doesn’t go unstable or in any way uncomfortable, it is never disconcerting. Glistening colored lights on house walls. Cigarette smoke and the smell of Dürüm in the air. People meeting, on accident, greeting each other with a warmth that touches me, that touches places in my soul I didn’t know existed. The place is full of energy, infectiously so. Happiness is coming over me in waves.

Kadıköy

From Beşkitaş we take the ferry to Kadıköy on the Asian side of Istanbul. At Haydarpaşa train station, the place that Muslims traditionally start their Hajj to Mekka, we’re slowly entering the port. We’re drinking Turkish coffee at the shores of Bosphorus and enjoying the chilled out atmosphere. It doesn’t feel very different on this new continent. It does a little though. I can’t describe why. The clouds above Europe are turning grey with a thunderstorm. A sky of such width as I have never seen is stretching from horizon to horizon. That this city can be so massive and that there is still always so much sky to see!

Ayasofia

Ayasofia, the famous. A place on many Bucket Lists, from what I gather. A historical place. Beautiful. Unintelligible. To me, it makes me sad. Again I think of Rome, this time of the Sistine Chapel. My host mom said about it: „It was like a mall in there.“ Ayasofia is not a spiritual place anymore. It is now only a museum. Only? Maybe that is the one way to protect this incredible site from the claws of history, the ravages of time. It is difficult for me not to see Ayasofia as a holy place, but as a tourist object. I can’t feel it. It remains to me, inspite of its beauty, soulless.

Topkapı Sarayı

I must have landed in the gardens of Alamut. Again I’m thinking that my Western perspective must be romanticizing the oriental style into fairytale magic. I wonder if a Turkish person sees Topkapı the way that I see the Prussian castles around Berlin, like Sanssouci in Potsdam. And if they do, then what would they find Sanssouci to be like? I lose myself in the different palace buildings and the countless gardens. In one room, a young man is singing from the Quran. I stand still for twenty minutes listening to him, tourists passing me by who don’t stop even for a second to turn their heads. Can’t they feel the power, the magic in this music?

Ortaköy

„It has to be night,“ Emre says, when at 8 o’clock we are making our way to Ortaköy. We buy Kumpir and sit at the waterfront. Kumpir is a delicious dish that I know from a few small places in Germany in areas with a large Turkish minority. It is essentially a baked potato, but the flesh is mashed with cheese and filled with different veggies and salads – mine has couscous and olives and goat cheese and is beyond delicious. Boğaziçi Köprüsü, the first bridge of the Bosphorus, is lit up in all colors of the rainbow. A dark blue night sky is shimmering through a lose cover of clouds. Ortaköy Camii, the mosque, sits proudly and quietly behind us. Life is buzzing around us like in a beehive. The waters of the Bosphorus are making quiet, laughing littel waves, but they aren’t so unsteady as for the waters to go dull. Instead they are glistening like distorting mirrors. The shining lights are thrown back into the night air. The city offers everything, but it isn’t asking for it. Its greatest gift to its visitors is that in this place, they can just be. Whatever that means to every one of them.

Taksim II

Taksim is not losing any of its charms during the day. I buy a ring. I want to wear the city on my finger. The long precinct, İstiklâl Caddesi, is packed with street musicians. They play music of such different styles and sounds, the atmosphere changes on every meter with the music. Emre and I are smoking Nargile (shisha), eating Dürüm (kebabs), drinking Ayran (salty fluid yoghurt) and playing Tavla (Backgammon). We’re sitting in a back yard with many people who are having Çay or coffee and where old books are sold. We’re just people watching. I haven’t ever found it so easy to find peace in a big city.

Haliç

The shuttle bus from Taksim to Bayrampaşa is going along the entire Southern shore of the Golden Horn. Once more I look over to Beyoğlu. On the horizon above Istanbul, a red moon is rising. I’m leaving this city ever so wistfully. I couldn’t stand it, if I didn’t know it with all my heart that I will come back – one day.

Homecoming – Worldviewing

August 6, 2010 / bruecken_schlag / 10 Kommentare

Looking back on the last five months, everything seems a bit unreal. It seems unreal that in March I sat in Kathrin’s apartment in Berlin and she did tarot cards for me. That in April I took my first swim of the year in the Adriatic. That in May I slept on a beach in Albania. That in June I roamed the streets of Istanbul. And that just a few weeks ago in July I had coffee on a small market square in Kosovo. It even seems unreal that now I am writing these lines in Munich. Is it quite possible that all of that was me? Or was I a different person in all of these situations? I cannot seem to quit re-traveling all of the places I have seen in my mind. I have written out the list of countries I visited in my travel journal maybe a dozen times. To me it is precious beyond words.When I took stock at half time, in Albania, I wrote about what I have gained on this trip and through this trip. I have lost a few things as well. Two t-shirts. Quite a bit of weight. A ring. A tiny part of each of my ears for two new ear piercings. The key to one of the hostels. My long hair. My fear of public transport in strange countries. My clearly cut out career plan. The urge to be in control of my life – that might be the most important one.

When you travel the way I did it, you quickly notice that nothing can be controlled. Plans never stick. And why would I forcefully hang on to a plan if what life has in store for me offers new, maybe better opportunities? I always thought I was flexible. Now I think that I didn’t know what flexibility was before I traveled. I will never cease to make plans – but what I learned on my trip is to enjoy the moment when a plan fails because it has been replaced by a new, maybe a better plan. A plan is not a law by nature. It is supposed to guide you to a destination. The less clearly defined this destination is, the more enjoyable it is to move between shifting plans and pick the one that suits the circumstances the best. And what my trip has also taught me, literally and figuratively, is that you always arrive somewhere. It may not be your favorite place – well, then you can pack your bags and leave. It may be the best thing that ever happened to you – well, stay and enjoy it for a while. This goes for a journey and for life.

I feel like I have lost a lot of heavy baggage and exchanged it for a myriad of experiences that are light to carry, but have an immense impact on my life. Every now and then pictures come to my mind out of nowhere, memories of pure bliss. People have asked me a lot as of lately if I never had a really bad experience. Of course there have been the occasional rip-offs by taxidrivers or the obligatory ignorant people in hostels, and the asthma attack on the bus between Berat and Saranda in Albania wasn’t my favorite moment of them all. I wouldn’t want to miss any of that. In fact it is almost scary how smoothly everything went.

Yes, there were moments when I was unhappy. However, there have been infinitely more moments when I was unhappy in my life in Germany. Did that make me want to leave the country? It did not. Neither did the tough situations on my trip make me want to come home. I was never homesick. But then I feel that being homesick is just not a disposition of mine. I know home is always there waiting for me. And isn’t home more than anything else a place where there are people that I love and that love me? I am in the fortunate position to have such a place, in fact I have more than one. And now, after my trip, the number has risen once more. Yet again, the world has become a little bit smaller, and that is because of two reasons:

Firstly, I have friends in the Balkans now that I know will welcome me again at any given time, people who I will see again in a nearer or more distant future that I share a special connection with. They have shared their lives with me and helped me to approach this region that I am fascinated by and that I have come to love with all my heart and soul. I truly wish to welcome them in my world one day and allow them to see why it is that I love my home country as well. My last couchsurfing host Nina, upon me singing „Đurđevdan“ in her yard by the fire, said: „You have strange hobbies for a German girl. Shouldn’t you be working in a Hypo Bank and have a boyfriend that you just see once a week?“ There is lots to learn about Germany. Now that I am back here, I appreciate on a deeper level what it has to offer. I can be a traveler inside my own country, recognize and acknowledge its beauty and share it with other people.
Secondly, meeting people from all over the world has put places on the map that I didn’t know of before and that now I want to visit. Traveling has put me in touch with people from backgrounds that are very different from mine. There is an infinity of lifestyles to discover, and my trip has enabled me to get a vague idea of some of them that I want to understand more thoroughly. It has also restored my faith in the fact that there are many many good people in this world. There are a lot of bad ones too, but why focus on that when I know that there are so many places in this world where I have never been to and where I will be welcomed by friends that are willing to let me be part of their lives?

The people, in the end, are what made my trip what it was. All my couchsurfing hosts, all my travel buddies, all the wonderful travelers I met at hostels, all the hostel staff. Places supplied me with beauty, with atmosphere, with a feeling of being at home. The people I met gave me life in all its richest form. I have too many to thank to mention them all here. I am extremely lucky.

Keeping Bridges in Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria

What will happen to me now? Where will I go, what will I do? I do have a plan. It is rather vague, it may be more of a bunch of ideas than an actual plan, and a few months ago with a plan like mine I would have felt lost, like I was without orientation in a confusing world without anything to hold on to, swimming in an ocean without control over the force of nature. How important perspective is! I now feel like I can surf the waves on that ocean with ease and that they will bring me to a new shore that is mine to explore. I do hope that this feeling will last and that returning to a daily routine, to artificial lights in libraries and to a cold grey German winter, will not steal this energy from me too fast. But when life puts me down, I know what to do. I have to get on the road again. Because the road is where I can find myself.I have always loved the last scene of the movie „American Beauty“. I love it more then ever now because it comprises the feeling that I have come back to Germany with. To all the people that made my journey what it was, I wish that they will at one point in their lives experience the feeling of fully understanding this quote:

„It’s hard to stay mad when there’s so much beauty in the world. Sometimes I feel like I’m seeing it all at once, and it’s too much. My heart fills up like a balloon that’s about to burst. And then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold on to it. And then it flows through me like rain. And I can’t feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life.“

München

August 2, 2010 / bruecken_schlag / 7 Kommentare

Meine Reise hat entweder vier oder fünf Monate gedauert, je nachdem wie ich zähle. Wenn ich Berlin und München dazurechne sind es fünf. Ausser Landes sind es vier. Da ich aber wirklich zu der festen Überzeugung gelangt bin, dass Reisen weniger vom Ort bestimmt wird als vielmehr von der Sichtweise des Reisenden auf seine Umgebung, bin ich mehr als bereit, die längere Definition als die gültige anzuerkennen, und deswegen bekommt auch München noch einen Eintrag auf meinem Blog.

Ich sitze morgens am Sendlinger-Tor-Platz und trinke Kaffee. Die Sonne scheint, und der Blick auf den roten Backstein des Sendlinger Tors versichert mir, dass ich wieder zuhause bin. Alles ist plötzlich auffallend deutsch. Die Architektur. Die Sprache. Das Verkehrssystem. Die etwas ruppige, aber durchaus freundliche Kellnerin im Dirndl – na gut, die ist vielleicht eher nicht typisch deutsch, sondern vor allem, gewollt, typisch bayrisch. Es sind viel weniger Menschen unterwegs als in den großen Städten des Balkans an ähnlichen Orten. Da fällt mir erst wieder ein, wie es mich am Anfang in Kroatien fasziniert hat, dass anscheinend alle ständig Zeit haben, in Cafés zu sitzen und Zeit totzuschlagen. Hier ist das eher ein Luxus als ein naturgegebenes Lebensgefühl.
Ich kaufe eine Brezel beim Bäcker in der U-Bahn-Station. Der Verkäufer kassiert, dreht sich zu seinem Kollegen um und sagt etwas auf kroatisch. Dann dreht er sich noch einmal zu mir und sagt: „Tschüss!“ und ich antworte: „Prijatno!“ Mir fehlt die Sprache. Sie ist so wunderschön. Meine Zunge und mein Mund haben sich noch nicht wieder ans Deutsche gewöhnt.

In München ist es kalt und regnerisch. In meiner Erinnerung habe ich auf der Reise nur selten schlechtes Wetter gehabt. Wenn ich meine Photos sortiere sehe ich, dass das gar nicht unbedingt stimmt, vor allem am Anfang, im April, ist da viel grauer Himmel. Der Unterschied liegt darin, dass mich schlechtes Wetter dort nie davon abgehalten hat, durch die fremde Stadt zu laufen und alles zu entdecken. Warum sollte ich also in München bei Regen in Julchens Wohnung sitzen und nicht durch die bayrische Hauptstadt schlendern?
Am Marienplatz frühstücke ich Müsli und Chai Latte. Ein teures Vergnügen, aber ich gebe zu, so ein gutes Müsli habe ich mir das ein oder andere Mal statt des Bureks zum Frühstück herbeigesehnt. Es giesst in Strömen. Vor dem Hugendubel steht eine reihe grosser blauer Terassenschirme, die im stürmischen Wind gefährlich schwanken. Plötzlich fallen sie alle um. Menschen, die darunter Schutz vor dem Regen gesucht haben, hoppeln erschreckt zur Seite. Eine Kellnerin rast aus dem zugehörigen Restaurant und versucht, die abtrünnigen Ungeheuer wieder aufzurichten. Die Passanten stehen entweder unbeholfen herum oder ziehen hilflos an den Schirmen, anstatt dass sie der Kellnerin helfen, den Mast gerade zu bekommen. Ich verspüre den Drang, hinüberzurennen und anzupacken, aber vermutlich denken sie in meinem Café dann, dass ich die Zeche prellen will. Ein bisschen unpraktisch kommt mir dieses Land vor. Gedankenverloren streift mein Blick hoch zum Rathaus. Deutschland. Unpraktisch vielleicht. Aber schön. Ehrwürdig.

Der Regen hält an und ich entscheide mich, ins Deutsche Museum zu gehen. Ich bin eigentlich nicht so der Museumsmensch, aber das Deutsche Museum ist ja so eins, wo man, wenn man meinen Eltern glauben darf, „mal gewesen sein muss“. Schon die Eingangshalle ist beeindruckend, und ich freue mich über den saftigen Studentenrabatt. Segelkunst, Flugtechnik, Raumfahrt. Und meine Lieblingsabteilung ist doch wieder, wenig überraschend, eine schöngeistige: Musikinstrumente! Ich könnte stundenlang da sitzen und mir die Cembali und die gitarrenartigen Seiteninstrumente aus aller Herren Länder anschauen. Da ist so viel Seele in diesem Raum! Über den Vitrinen thront eine Orgel, die gerade gestimmt wird. Als sie damit fertig sind, spielt der eine Stimmer kurz „Heilig, heilig, heilig“ an. Das habe ich mit meinem Chor in Greifswald gesungen. Die Orgel spielt nur die ersten paar Takte, aber ich singe leise für mich weiter. Es ist eine getragene, eine demütige Melodie, die nichts mit der stolzen Lebensfreude der Balkanmusik zu tun hat, die mich nun so lange begleitet hat. Ich werde mir die Vergleiche so schnell nicht abgewöhnen können. Dadurch reflektiere ich aber auch die deutsche Kultur wieder ganz anders. Die Schönheit des Balkans habe ich, gerade durch das Schreiben, immer zu benennen versucht und ich denke, das ist mir oft gelungen. Nun sehe ich mich gezwungen, auch die Schönheit Deutschlands zu benennen und das fällt mir wesentlich schwerer. Ich will Deutschland mit den Augen des Reisenden zu betrachten versuchen.

Julchen und ich fahren raus nach Großhelfendorf, um die Familie zu besuchen. Auf dem Weg vom Bahnhof zum Haus meines Onkels kommen wir an einem Zaun vorbei, hinter dem ein kleines Hasengitter steht. „Wir freuen uns über Löwenzahn“ steht auf einem von Kinderhand gemalten Schild am Zaun. Großhelfendorf ist Dorfidylle. In der Ferne ragen dunkel die Alpen am Horizont auf. Die Felder leuchten in tausend verschiedenen Grüntönen. Bei meinem Onkel im Garten gibt es Apfel- und Pflaumenkuchen zum Kaffeetrinken. Heile Welt. Ich erzähle viel von meiner Reise und je länger ich darüber rede, desto weiter entfernt kommt mir das alles vor. Bin das wirklich ich gewesen, die das alles erlebt hat?
Abends zurück in München zwischen Stachus und Marienplatz stehen Julchen und ich und schauen Straßenmusikern zu. Ich erinnere mich an Istanbul, an Taksim. Auch hier ist eine große Vielfalt, eine große Bandbreite verschiedener Stile und Qualität zu beobachten. Es ist lebendig und schön. Mir gefällt München plötzlich. Ich bin schon öfter hier gewesen, aber richtig warm geworden bin ich mit der Stadt bisher nie. Jetzt, da ich ein bisschen mehr Zeit hier verbringe und ihr nach all den Reiseerfahrungen so viel wohlwollender gegenübertrete, habe ich sie ganz gern. Sie ist sehr sauber und aufgeräumt. Aber warum muss das eigentlich was Schlechtes sein?

Am Sonntag fahre ich mit Rene, Lou und Jesus, die ich in Sofia im Hostel kennengelernt habe, an den Unterfoehringer See. Jesus hat seine Schwester mit ihren Kindern zu Besuch, und es kommen noch mehr Freunde dazu, so dass wir schliesslich eine Gruppe von 11 Leuten mit deutscher, irischer, namibischer, hollaendischer, polnischer und spanischer Beteiligung sind. Ich fuehle mich fast wieder wie auf Reisen. Viele Kinder sind dabei, die Kleinste ist erst 1 1/2 und ein so entzueckendes Kind, dass alle ganz in sie verliebt sind. Wir spielen Knack, Tischtennis und Federball und schwimmen im gruenen See. Gegen Abend leert es sich, als wir zusammenpacken sind kaum noch Menschen da. Es ist so friedlich und die Stimmung um den See ist so sehr wie aus einem Moerike-Gedicht geklaut, dass es mir fast die Traenen in die Augen treibt. Ich bin froh, dass die Gluecksmomente nach der Reise nicht abreissen.

Eine Woche habe ich jetzt noch hier, bevor ich nach Tuebingen fahre und beginne, mich wieder um Dinge zu kuemmern, die etwas mit der realen Welt zu tun haben. Ein letzter Eintrag steht noch aus, in dem ich noch einmal Bilanz ziehen will. Ans Bloggen habe ich mich so sehr gewoehnt, dass ich damit auch nach der Reise nicht aufhoeren will. Es wird also weiter Dinge von mir zu lesen geben. Ueber die neue Blogadresse werde ich beizeiten informieren und ich freue mich, wenn ihr mich weiterhin gerne lest.

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