From the middle-east of Germany

New Years Eve in Weimar

2007-01-01T18:35:00.000+01:00

New years Eve in Weimar: was quiet and lovely, I did a lot of steps, we discovered a castle around Weimar, I enjoyed the wet and mild air and watched the world go by. The weather is strange here but its a good climate to walk. I like to move, still I am thinking back to the days where I traveled. But now I am also happy with putting my energy into university and studies. Its such a gift to do that!

So when the -eve of change- started yesterday I was not looking to much forward with great expectations. Of course I have wishes and plans but the first time I thought backwards with happiness and satisfaction, 2006 was amazing and I dont mind about the next months cause I can still gain so much happiness from last year just by reminding the time in Jordan and the days when I came back to home after 9 months away.

:And now during the feasts I was full of joy cause I missed one Christmas last year. I took my time to make gifts by myself and I loved to sit with family again.

So I think I did a long trip to find home and myself, but finally that was what I needed most- a break out from everyday livining!

Hope to see some of you in Jordan or whereelse again! And before I want to see the snow! Did you maybe find some? Please send me some!
Anja

Illustration fever

2006-11-12T13:23:00.000+01:00

As i told last time i am currently doing an illustration and book project. Now a blog of all illustrators is online. Have a look, its about little stories from everyday in Germany, like a diary, but with less text and vivid illustrations, done very quickly just to catch the moment.

Text in the pict. 1: Why does god packed us up so badly?
_pict.2: Relax yourself (in the speech bubble), Idee=Idea, Dreck=dirt, Keine Zeit=no time. In the littel tapes:Dont forget! Be cool. I am freezing. Dont loose controll. What i havent done yet.

Autumn blossom

2006-10-29T15:11:00.001+01:00

-Unfortunately- I have a lot to tell – the last weeks, study days and the romantic autumn time have brought me too much joy to write about. I enjoyed the golden days, sometimes foggy, sometimes in bright sunlight in front of dark clouds. I listened the sound of the trees shaking in the wind. Each leaf that falls from a tree standing in red, yellow or light green colours made me so excited and aware that time is changing and with it the things I used to know, all around me and myself. And I am not afraid about it as I used to be.

I really try to float or just pass by like a leaf which the stormy wind catches and turns in circles. But I am not lost cause I am part of a strength without waiting or producing it in myself, everything seems to work well, study, family and friends -business-. But how can I describe this nice little moments …Anyway I decided to share my feelings and thoughts with you on this blog and so I continue to practice writing down what comes into my mind and what lays behind me and in front of me on my desktop (soon I will show some pictures, sketches)…

…when I think about this autumn I have to say its one of my favourites at all. Why? Its hard to say simply in two phrases and without being cheesy. I just feel life and time changing when I watch the nature changing around me every day. I am happy to have this valuable moments to make a break within the day and just watch how things going.

After my long time in Jordan I am back to university and the rhythm and inspirations I have collected in the Near East (like the Germans call the Middle East) and the rhythm and inspirations of studying are going well together.

I am open for things which come and are offered and I really enjoy my last year at university more than ever before. So much interesting lessons about philosophy, system theory, film and design are open for me to join.

Finally after all these semesters we have the luck to have a smart famous German illustrator at our university, Jutta Bauer, who likes to sit outside in this season spectacle and watch the people in their surroundings as if you would sit in a theatre and watch the stage. She and our group of illustrators just take some short shots of life and try to find out stories and meanings in small everyday issues. Therefor we sit wherever we find a bench, for example at the Ilm Park (named after the small river which shares the place with alleys, trees, meadows, sculptures and walkers. Or if the weather turns, the humid and musty air fills your noise, some minutes before rain comes we hide inside a café. But anyway we are well equipped with pins and papers.

Through this practice of fixing moments you have to go out of the stream of life and watch it from a point outside. Although you never be outside you can try to focus on some things. Thats what I like about this time: Never before I was able to realise the changing colours and habits so much like now. After being away from used surroundings I can say I got the chance to discover two countries at once, my guest land Jordan and my homeland.

Shocked

2006-09-04T15:35:00.000+02:00

Being connected to Jordan only by E-Mails, News and during my time I am working on a book about Arabic culture I am very shocked to hear again about an attac against tourists in the old heart of Amman. I am very concerned that Jordan is as attractive for terrorists as western states seem to be. What can be done in the name of Allah should make the real Muslims scream, maybe they do, but its not loud enough. I am really sad about this but hope more and more Muslims will stand up in eastern and western public and media to say thats not what Allah wants.

In sha allah it will at least make clear that this attacs are not religious but criminal motivitated!

Rainbowdays

2006-08-20T00:04:00.000+02:00

Again and again its raining but between are amazing moments when the sun shows up through bulgy clouds which seem to be painted on the sky. I am impressed seeing a cumulus running away and a rainbow appears where sun light and rain drops meet each other. Such a special moment I caught -al hamdullilah- on a special place last Tuesday. I was again with my mother and also Steffen in Dresden when she took us to the baroque garden Großsedlitz near Dresden. A surprise for me was I haven’t seen this place before and there are not many places along the Elba river near Dresden which I haven’t visited yet. The garden seem to us to be a secret place cause it was lonely (it was Tuesday late afternoon) but so scenic. Sculptures were standing between cubic bushes and colourful exotic flowers. Under the sandstone sculpture from a greek mythology world or history were a Sphinx, Satyr and Pan, children with baroque shapes (fat children), a man with an elephant hut or a women with a castle on the head for example. Even this kind of gardens use to be very artificial and symmetrical I liked this one cause it has huge paths which seem to continue without end. And the sculptures where laughing, dancing or making music like on a green timeless stage I thought. Sometimes I felt like they are observing me and I guess its a romantic but also scary thing to walk along them alone in the night! See more and Read more and Catch a panorama

Tonight, back in Weimar, pink and green flash and strong thunder awake Steffen and me sitting at the Computer. I walked out and I really enjoyed the electrical storm since months … As astonishingly as weather is these days, I met today a Syrian which is doing his doctor, he is civil engineer and working on project about "Unsaturated soil". His name is Jamal, original from Homs, and he is interested to improve his German with somebody who likes to learn Arabic! What a good idea! Now I have to look in the DUDEN, the German standard book for orthography and grammar cause I have to explain why German language is not necessary logical. But I am so happy to hear Arabic again here and Jamal told me that even the Arabs in Weimar only start their morning with a Qahwa by listening to Fayrouz …

More obstacles and Welcomes

2006-08-04T23:20:00.001+02:00

The second obstacle is I can't think straight. Why? I arrived in Germany in the middle of summer, although the Dog days temperatures up to 37° Celsius were uncomfortable for working, the people in general were happy. I met so much smiling and open minded people chatting with me about my time in the Middle East and life in Germany. But even the scared ones which were surprised seeing someone coming back from there alive where curious to know more about. "So happy Welcome in Germany" i heard a lot and it was funny cause this reminded me on the omnipotent "You are Welcome in Jordan".

But what gave me a hard time to write something in this blog is the contrast between German reality and the horrible view over Middle East "reality" provided by the very vivid German media. O.k. there were problems in Germany like the melting tar-bitumen streets and a problem with fresh water supply for drinking and as refreshment for atom generators as well but after all I witnessed no acute things besides the everlasting discussions about the social reforms and the number of unemployment people. But the problems of everyday life here in Germany seem to be a joke compared to other realities, or?

In contrast to this friendly (sleepy) calm political and social atmosphere I was listening to the worst news from Lebanon which are since beginning of July till now topic number one in the media! Then ever I turn on a serious radio station like Deutschlandradio or open the Spiegel Online I am confronted with news, comments, documentaries and live interviews, photos and a lot of analysis around it. The headlines and experts explanations about the situation seem to be reloaded from a second to the other. So I am confused by assimilating all this kind of news. Refusing any war and the human and environmental catastrophe in Lebanon was the point of view I shared most probably with all my Jordan and Lebanese friends. But while people from Middle East blaming the west not to help when Arabs are die (like the often quoted blog of a young Iraq women which is now published in Germany as book and audio book: Qana Massacre...) other serious independent voices blaming Europe especially us Germans of being anti-Semitic towards Israelis by always criticising and advising them (e.g. the article by Henryk M. Broder which shows somehow very good how German perception and opinions are in the moment: The Harmless Children of Hezbollah?) to stop the war. Anyway I think the pacifistic view of Germany nowadays is the same like during Iraq war. So is a German pacifist (thanks God that we had this movement in the last century) necessarily an anti-Semite?

Being far away from the Middle East my emotions rising up and down like the temperature these days here. For 80% chance we are expecting now rainy cloudy days under a grey sky and temperatures around 18° Celsius. This isn't easy for sensitive minds. So then emotions are confusing you try to think objective but how can I? Whenever I listen to Arabic and Israeli or international media pro or against war or Israel I find very true interpretations about the conflict in the Middle East. After all this overloading media input which also let us in the West ignore the Lebanon-News slowly I am not really sure if interpretations of who is victim and committer will help us. The world is not black and white. But it seems that the western media actors pretend to know what is going on there. But I think in our safe comfortable armchairs we will never have a glue of what's going on "down there" although we will watch bloody news from morning to evening. What happens to us is only that we get blind for people suffering and that we forget the real world behind the news. So when the media is echoing continuously the lurid and dramatic spots from Lebanon the Germans get fed up with it soon and another topic will replace it. Someday we will forget Lebanon like we forgot Iraq now or other places which I can't mention here because I simply forgot! But anyway I will never forget this beautiful country with its kind people and I start praying even if I am not what you call religious that the suffering there will stop as soon as possible!

Obstacles and Welcomes

2006-08-04T14:59:00.000+02:00

Since I am back in Weimar in Thüringen I have uploaded a few photos on flickr but didn't write any posts cause of some obstacles. First one: I was stuck with moving although i thought I would settle down in a new flat soon after weeks of travelling and packing things to bring with me to Germany. Now I am there I wish to be behind the computer writing you from home. My desktop is now located in a new room from where I can hear "Welcome to Weimar" from the very close main train station of Weimar! What a nice atmosphere; but this is not the only Welcome in Germany I got these days...you want to read more?

Greetings from the Forest

2006-07-23T21:15:00.000+02:00

If I reach home in Weimar I will use the fast internet connection to upload some pictures from Germany and the travels in the Middle East. But now I am stuck in the forest and no fast upload seems to be possible. Sorry!

My german blog

2006-07-23T21:07:00.000+02:00

http://www.blogigo.de/hekmek My german blog which covers stories from 6 months of Jordan and some travels. The picture with the stone house at the mediterran sea is taken in Byblos/Lebanon in March 2006. More pictures of the travels I did in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon are on my flickr-page.

My flickr-photos

2006-07-23T21:05:00.000+02:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/75994621@N00

A GERMAN HALLO TO YOU HABIBIS!

2006-07-23T01:23:00.000+02:00

I am back- happily and safely, without any obstacles! I traveled home from Amman by bus to Hama in Syria and then to Antakya in Turkey from where a bus directly leads me and a nice french couple, I met in Hama, to Istanbul.

In Hama i had an appointment with a lebanese friend on wednesday last week, the 12th of july, the day which changed everyday life in Lebanon. To this time i was already shocked and concerned hearing Israel is attacking Lebanon but didnt expect what would follow.

We spent two nice days in the sleepy conservative syrian city with its amazing Norias, huge wooden water wheels mourning all day long. -What could we do?- Mardig, the lebanese friend told me, we should just enjoy the time we have. Like Mardig most lebanese people, thats what i often heard, are used to war and thats why they really appreciate each peacefull and joyfull moment they have. While visiting Crac de Chevaliers, a crusader castle, walking Apameas lonely Cardo Maximus and seeing the lovely beehee-houses of the bedouins the news from Lebanon accompanied us in the taxi, hotel and by talking with Syrians on the street which heard that Mardig is -lebnani-. It was like the silence before the storm, but I was happy that Mardig and me meet at last, only two days later it wouldnt be possible at all! Mardig returned to Lebanon safely on friday afternoon, but the border he crossed was destroyed a day after he passed it.

The trip to Turkey was more than 24 hours long but calm and i even enjoyed the kindness of the turkish people sitting in the bus with me and trying to help whenever they can and smile although they didnt understand any english word I said. The amazing landscape of Anatolia and a smart turkish movie about an old man driving a taxi and meeting a young woman in trouble filled up my time in the bus.

In Istanbul I had two days till my flight left to Berlin, so I flapped around the romantic
Sultanahmet, went up the Galata tower to enjoy the best view over the picturesque city which seems to have on every hill a mosqe which looks like a big sitting Sultan in a thick robe. The next day i was also lucky to visit one of the four Princess islands which are about one hour away by ferry over the sea of Marmara. This are paradise-places to hide and relax on sandy beaches and in green forests from the bustling and densely populated Istanbul which seems to have no end.

The last day I also tried to bargain (but thats not really common there anymore) in the Souk in Old Istanbul, a small but wonderfull sweets- and fruits-labyrinth reminding me on the ones I have seen in Jerusalem and Damascus. I bought delicious figs filled with walnuts and dates from Mecca. I said goodbye when leaving the market not knowing when i will be able to see one of these typical arabic souks again.

Almost on the way to the airport i met a young turkish guy speaking perfectly English, the first one during my time there!. So finally i had a proper chat about turkish people, music and learning languages. On my way to the Sabiha Airport i passed the asian part of Istanbul which lacks at all of the charm the European part has. The European side of Istanbul is really a perfect mixture of arabic and western culture! The turkish man told me also that Istanbul is like a state in the state Turkey and the people here are really living differntly to them in the big country spreading towards east. In sha allah I will visit this beautiful land one day!

On half past five under the orange sky of an awakening morning I set my feeds on Berlin Airport last thuesday. I was sitting in the rising hot sun outside and watching people coming and going. Cause Berlin Schönefeld is a small Airpirt it was like sitting on a tran station in the mid of nowhere. Peace and silence surrounded me cause nobody seems to pay too much attention of me, an ordinary german girl waiting, cause they didnt know that i watched them with the eyes of a stranger.

Then my mother hugged me and picked me up some hours later she decided to stop in the sleepy but green Teupitz, a dump in the federal state of Brandenburg which is known for be being the green and sleepy nowhere of Germany. Fresh smell of gras and a natural lake next to tiny houses with inhabitans looking like Gartenzwergs (Garden dwarves) all around us, i felt like in a cheesy Heimatfilm (romantic domestic films about little villages in a paradise looking atmosphare with innocent naive people in love or in struggle). I had to laugh seeing beer bellies and listening dialect chattings on the street about the high gas prices and that the neighbour should clean his Mercedes at last! Really i am not making fun with cliches, I finally understand the people on the street again, but what they tell each other was only nonsense-rubbish.

With a Filter coffee and a german Brötchen (small dark roll with seeds on top) we continued our short trip to Dresden where my heart got excited. This lovely, sleepy, proud city at the Elba river is celebrating its 800 birthday these days, a perfect time to come home, al hamdullilah maybe i should thank god cause time and happiness was always on my side since I started my journey to Jordan, is that what the arabs mean with in sha allah...? I hope god wants also that I can share this impressions with some of the friends I was able to get in Jordan and around. Till then I share my pictures and thoughts with you on this blog in the hope not to loose contact!