Boletus

Compared to the previous three weeks, it didn’t rain today and so we went for a mushroom foray in the nearby woods. I had never done this before – despite of living here in this remote, upcountry village since 5 years – and was fortunate enough to be guided by an experienced person who told me what to look for and where those mushroom spots could possibly be.

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We found a lot of rubbish (why are ppl misusing the forests as landfills anyways?) and managed to collect a bucket full of yellow boletus and bay boletus. Unfortunately, I didn’t take my camera with me – the forest has lots of interesting sights and small details that need to be captured on camera one day. For instance, I’ve never seen so many dor beetles on one spot. Interesting!

Btw, is there anything like a guided tour on “surviving in the savannah” available in Kenya? Something for the city people, the urban commuters who haven’t yet taken their time to enjoy the beauty of nature? I don’t think so, ama? Do I smell a good business idea here? Hmm… :-)

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Unfortunately, the downside of moving around in the woods are various insects that find their way through your long-sleeved shirt and pullover and end up crawling your back even long time after you’ve succesfully returned home. Arachnoides such as ticks – these little vampires that want to suck your blood – and there are stories of men that found such insects in places where you really wouldn’t want them to be…Since I am very ticklish, I managed to find some of them on my body right before they start their evil job…

Dear IKEA….

Oh, one more thing: I just opened the brand-new 2007 edition of IKEA’s catalog for the German market (nice, really nice this time) and stumbled across an irritating statement by the designer of a new carpet called “ANDREA”:

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“The ANDREA carpet”, as the designer is quoted here on page 243 of the german edition, “represents (to me) a meeting between Africa and Asia. A meeting between traditional patterns and modern design. I hope (that) I could catch the atmosphere of this exciting meeting”. (translated)

And just as well as I could easily dismiss this as the usual marketing blabla, it did make me wonder for a moment WHAT exactly the designer had in mind when he thought about Africa and Asia.
Now, I spent some years of my life on the Asian and on the African continent – and instead of trying to imagine what’s so African or Asian about this design / where the stereotyped ethno symbols are coming from, I instead wonder what others would associate with Europe and let’s say the North American continent? What kind of symbols, design would you associate with those worlds? At the moment, I can’t think of anything in particular that could describe those continents as a whole except maybe for currency symbols ($ & €).

IKEA – a microcosm full of controversial messages? Wait, wait…isn’t this typcial scandinavian humour?

AOB: August 31st is BlogDay! [hat tip, Hash!]

AAOB: “If you have a goat worth twenty Dollar, you can buy shares here for twenty Dollar.” [via] (Mbuzimoja, my dear, please: on our next trip to Hoima, let us pls stop in Kampala and check out the exchange rate, ok? I know you are priceless to me, but this will help to negotiate the dowry with your mum :-)

being around…

I just realized it’s only four (4) more weeks for me over here in Germany. Jessas! How time goes by these days….four more weeks of working on some papers and studying for an exam in hydromechanics. Four weeks left to vacate my current flat, to pack my stuff up again (relocation No.11), to give away half of the stuff that has been accumulating here and has never really been used (so why keep it?) and to repaint the flat. Four weeks that will get me away from here and back on the road again into UHURU – freedom and independance. A lovely, scary feeling!
And then?

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Embu, Kenya. For at least 3 months until some time in January 2007. Doing an internship @ a state office on behalf of a German Agency. Will keep you updated on this as blogable content comes up – I am really dying to cover this on my blog as it involves some form of nation building, something with a meaning and hopefully a win-win situation for both sides involved: Kenya & Germany. For my partners at the office, and for me as a student.

The Tana river in Kenya has the biggest catchment area – and Kenya being a country of various landscapes, it will be particulary interesting to see how strategies for integrated water resource management can be implemented in reality and how to scale these complex and sometimes also confusing dimensions on a local level. Consequently, my approach on this isn’t the “mzungu coming to Aaaaafrika to change everything” attitude, but to listen and learn and help where I know an answer.

Now, for others wazungu that have come to Kenya (~you are prolly aware of the stereotyped pic), this might just be a single step on their career, but as for me – I really tried hard to convince the involved agency in placing me to Kenya (and not somwhere else) as I would like to take this opportunity to contribute something from me to the place where I grew up. And let me be honest – the “Kenyan part” in me of course asks why I should leave my comfy nest with 24/7/365 electricity, warm water and broadband inet for such a job. Well, why? Because I can. Because I was given this chance to learn more. And I think that’s reason enough.

Now, enough turgid words – let me go back to my papers and see how this adventure turns out…(yes, I am a bit scared :-)

(Ati, four weeks? Haiyaaaa…..*gulp*)

the burglary story

Someone broke into my car last night and stole the Blaupunkt Kiel CD30 cd-player-radio. Someone who apparently deserves to meet the stubborn brutality of soldiers in various parts of the world listen to 2 weeks of boring parliamentary speeches to experience the real meaning of pain. Or as Walter of Big Lebowski would put it: this is what happens when you **** a stranger in the ***. Anger….aaaarrgghhh!

Well, what you get is perfect blog content. After all, there’s nothing much I can do right now.

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The irony:

  • I had bought this cd player in 2001 – current street value for this aged, sometimes-not-so-well-working player should be something around EUR 15,-. A new, very basic cd player sells for about EUR 49,- in Germany. Hmmm…
  • He (the thief) only stole the radio with the detachable front cover (which I had btw hidden under the passengers seat in an extra box). He also forgot to steal the cool extra of this radio – an auxillary audio cable which helps to connect external devices (cd, mp3, etc players) to the player. This didn’t stop him from searching throughout the car for anything else of value. Other electronic devices, such as a portable hands-free speaker and a car charger for my mobile have been ignored by this person. He even ignored a collection of about 50 burnt CDs.
  • I keep a folding shovel in an extra box in the back of the car – he even opened it to search for hidden values. I guess he did this while searching for the front cover (the folding shovel is my ~ Safari heritage).
  • It happened directly in front of my mum’s place on the street. I haven’t been here for about three months and only wanted to stay 1 night as I am currently moving goods to her place and this is why I had left the trunk of the car uncovered – which was empty despite of this tool box (and no tools have been stolen).
  • This has happened before – one succesful attempt some years ago, and one unsuccessful attempt two years ago. It is a good neighbourhood, but it happens all over the city. Mind you, we are talking about the City of Bremen in Germany – and not Nairobi. Nairobi thiefs do it better, wiser and steal more stuff. Also, I wonder that he didn’t even touch the gasoline tank. The other day I doubled the value of my car by fully refueling it. A litre is about EUR 1,30 these days.
  • To prevent this in future, I had installed something known as “armored door plates” – which are metal covers that sit around the locks in the doors. VWs, Audis and even Porsches of the late 1980s are known to this violability – they all come with the same locking system which can be opened within seconds using a Made-in-China screwdriver. Just apply this under the lock, push it inside and pull it up – click – the door opens. As I said – to prevent this, I had installed armored door plates. In vain, as it seems. But then, there’s no secure car on the market – even modern Mercedes-Benz and BMWs can be opened with proper tools within 30 seconds. Car manufacturers never talk about this but are well aware of the problem.
  • My car is old. Really old. An ’89 Volkswagen Golf 2 where the only shiny part of paint is underneath the bonnet – the rest is covered with rust and dents. Who on earth would expect anything of value in such a car? Presumably only someone who enjoys opening old cars. Bastard…
  • I had been working in the living room late last night and heard some noises outside. Thought about getting out and checking my car, but the lazy part in me persuaded me to stay inside. You see, it happened before and to my mind, the car was too old and too “unsexy” for burglary – and why on earth should they choose my car? Well, wrong thinking.
  • While reporting this to the nearby police station, I met a couple who had the same problem. Apparently, there has been a series of raids on car radios late last night.
  • My plans were to remove it from the car within the next few weeks, take it to Kenya and install it into Mbuzimoja’s Suzuki. In other words: it would have been stolen anyways – either here or later on in Nairobi.

Imagine me – I am very laid-back when it comes to my car. It is old, it has done its job and it will go into retirement by the end of September. Now imagine the majority of my fellow Germans – the car means SO MUCH to them. In fact, some ppl here don’t have children in order to afford luxuries like a good car. What about them, what about their hurt feelings?

Now let’s see if the insurance agrees to pay for this…as for now, I still have to realize what it’s like to drive without music. A horrible scenario…ngoma ni maisha!

too fast?

I was just listening to Antonín Dvo?ák‘s New World Symphony (Symphony No.9, opus 95, “From the New World”) and realized one thing that had been irritating me all these years – only, I could never identify it.

Just listen to the 4th movement: Allegro (con fuoco)
(delicious mp3 playtagger enabled!)

Now, just as much as I would love to hear more and more classical music being played on historical instruments to catch the dynamics of the original compositions, I would like to hear this piece on modern, electronical instruments instead.
Why? Because I think this composition is way too fast – similar to Keith Jarrett‘s interpretation of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier. To my mind, this Symphony has such a vivid speed that it equals a shame to sort of “waste” the vibrating sounds of wooden instruments. It doesn’t give them a chance to develop a proper, a full sound. Instead, I think, electronical instruments take less time to develop a clean and stable sound. Delivering the tone pitch the moment it’s required. This assumption especially applies to the strings in the beggining of this movement.
Or in other words: playing such a fast composition with traditional instruments is like breaking a butterfly on a wheel / taking a Mercedes-Benz S600 to the next duka only to buy chewing gums.

Isn’t it that you sometimes hear interesting music and instantly think: naaaa, I would have played this in a different way…?

Lieben Sie Deutschland?

Ich darf kurz festhalten:
Einem Günther Grass, der in seinem Brief an die Stadt Danzig um Verständnis für die Zusammenhänge bittet und dabei ein weiteres Mal sein gelungenes Ausdrucksvermögen unter Beweis stellt, kann ich mit einer Leichtigkeit jede Jugendsünde verzeihen – ja, sogar mit Verständnis in die Zeit nach dem 2. Weltkrieg zurückblicken und die Umstände anerkennen.
Was ich aber nicht verstehen oder gar verzeihen kann, sind folgende Zustände:

Der Thematik Grass & Waffen-SS wird in den Medien so viel Inhalt gewidmet – wieso? Zur Bekämpfung des Sommerlochs? Als Genugtuung für die vielen unschuldig beschuldigten Nachkriegsgenerationsopfer, die sich seine Moralpredigten anhören durften und fast schon kollektiv der “Lieben Sie Deutschland?”-Frage aus dem Weg gehen, um nicht ins rechte Lager eingeordnet zu werden?

Ich mag es durchaus verstehen, dass meine ältere Verwandschaft, die den Krieg noch live miterlebt hat, diese Erlebnisse aufgrund des Wiederaufbaus nie richtig verarbeitet hat, es nie konnte (kann man das überhaupt?), und sich sogar mein an Alzheimer erkrankter Vater überwiegend an diesen prägenden Zeitraum der Weltgeschichte erinnern mag. Wenn er sich denn mal an etwas erinnert.

Wir schreiben das Jahr 2006 und seit dem Ende des 2. Weltkriegs ist viel passiert. Überall auf der Welt hat es große Veränderungen gegeben und auch viele weitere, durchaus vermeidbare Kriege. Als Begleiterscheinung dieser ist viel Unrecht geschehen – und es passiert auch noch heute. Täglich.

Und genau an dieser Stelle erlaube ich mir die Frage zu stellen, was dieses ständige Ermahnen, Erinnern, Hinweisen, Aufzeigen und Betroffenheitsgefühl in unserer Zeit für eine Bedeutung hat, wenn sich seit 60 Jahren so rein gar nichts, aber auch wirklich nichts zum Guten gewendet hat?
Welches Erbe dürfen wir der verloreren Nachkriegsgeneration abnehmen, dass nicht nur mit dem gelungenen Wiederaufbau des Landes zu tun hat?

Oder mit anderen Worten:

Liebe Nachkriegsgeneration,
statt ständig in der Vergangenheit zu bohren, gilt es für meine Generation, die Gegenwart und die Zukunft positiv zu beeinflussen und ein friedliches Miteinander zu erreichen. In Europa als auch auf dem Rest dieser Erde. So naiv und gewollt unpolitisch sich das auch anhören mag.
Eure ständigen Verweise auf die NS-Zeit und Hervorhebung diesbezüglicher, gegenwartlicher Geschehnisse sind mir ein Groll, da sie außer einem Mahneffekt nichts erreichen.
Wenn es Eurer Meinung nach keine Kriege mehr geben darf (zu Recht!), wieso habt Ihr dann der Bildung einer Bundeswehr zugestimmt? Was haben unsere Soldaten in der irgendwann-demokratischen Republik Kongo als Aufpasser verloren – Jahre nachdem sie dort hätten auftauchen sollen um im Verbund mit anderen friedlichen Nationen für eine Aufrechterhaltung der staatlichen Ordnung zu sorgen? Wieso werden unsere schwer-vermittelbaren Ossis aka wären-sonst-arbeitslose-Mittzwanziger als Berufssoldaten in Afghanistan durchgefüttert? Was bringt das? Und wie könnt Ihr Euch erlauben, ja fast schon anmaßen, auf der einen Seite über persönliche Fehltritte fehlgeleiteter Jugendlicher zum Ende des 2. Weltkriegs auch 60 Jahre danach noch zu urteilen, wenn Ihr auf der anderen Seite gleichzeitig die Entsendung/Verschwendung von deutschen Steuergeldern in die Kriesenherde dieser Welt befürwortet?
Es ist ja nicht so, dass durch die Truppenpräsenz vor Ort grundlegende Veränderungen für die Bevölkerung erreicht werden. Was also bringt so ein Einsatz? Und wer erklärt unseren Mitbürgern, dass wir lieber Gelder für die Mitarbeit in internationalen, “verteidungspolitischen” (Verteidigung vor welcher Bedrohung?) Ausschüssen verpulvern, statt es sinnvoll in die Ausbildung und Erziehung unserer Kinder stecken zu wollen?
Wieso wandern in diesen Zeiten so viele Menschen aus Deutschland aus, wenn es doch eigentlich ein so schönes Land mit guten, erprobten Tugenden ist?
Wieso bedarf es erst heuchlerischer, medienintensiver Kampagnen wie “Du bist Deutschland” oder der durchaus gut gemeinten Gesellschafter-Initiative, um ein gemeinsames Miteinander-Gefühl zu erreichen? Was habt Ihr in den 60 Jahren nach Kriegsende wirklich erreicht? Die Manifestierung des Kapitalismus und optimale Vorbereitung auf die unvermeidbare Globalisierungswelle zum Ende des 20. Jahrhunderts? Ist es das, was wir von Euch als Erbe übernehmen und verändern sollen? Und dann wundert Ihr Euch, wieso wir uns lieber eigene, kleine heile Welten bauen? Wieso wir uns so selten der gemeinsamen Diskussion stellen, wie wir als Gesellschaft zusammenleben und füreinander sorgen wollen?
Diese und andere Fragen sind es, die mir beim Lesen von Meldungen zum Fall Günther Grass und die Waffen-SS in den Sinn kommen. Eure falsche Genauigkeit, deren Inhalte doch einzig und allein die Konfliktbewältigungsunfähigen unter Euch erwärmen und unterhalten dürfte. Für mich spielt das alles keine Rolle, sofern wir daraus nichts lernen und das Erlernte nicht auch tatsächlich anwenden.

Wenn ich jetzt ab Oktober wieder in ländlicher Umgebung in Kenia, Ostafrika arbeite, werden mir wieder mit ziemlicher Sicherheit folgende Stichworte (Attribute?) nach der Erwähnung meiner Nationalität genannt werden: Hitler, Mercedes-Benz, BMWs. In dieser Reihenfolge. Ein schönes Erbe?

(==> dieses Aufzeigen macht für mich dann Sinn, wenn es so wie beim Riemersan in ironischer Weise auf “Umgangsproblematiken” hinweist – weil es gegenwartsbezogen eine Bewusstseinsveränderung bewirkt)

Übers Essen lässt sich viel erzählen…

Kann man über Hausarbeiten bloggen? Kann man über den “Umgang mit Klärschlamm unter Berücksichtigung der Wertstoffrückgewinnung” einen interessanten Beitrag schreiben wenn einen das Thema mittlerweile schon im Schlaf verfolgt? Sollte man über die Unmöglichkeit berichten, 4 Hausarbeiten und eine Klausurvorbereitung innerhalb von 5 Wochen bewältigen zu wollen?

Sicherlich. Nur halt jetzt grad nicht.

Stattdessen gibts heute eine Kochrezept. Eine Zusammenstellungsanleitung, denn mehr ist es nicht. Ideal also für die moderne Frau (verdict: Ihr könnt ja alle nicht (mehr) kochen – ein Glück, für mich! :-) oder die Tiefkühlpizza-verwöhnten Kommilitonen. By the way, wusstet Ihr dass mein Mitbewohner genau 12 Rezepte kochen kann? Diese kocht er sich im stetigen Wechsel. Mal Nudel mit Käse-Sahne Sauce, mal Schinken-Schmelzkäse-Sahne-Sauce mit Nudeln, Frikadelle/Bullettnnn/Hackfleischscheibchen/Hamburger mit Sesambrötchen vom Edeka und gerösteten Zwiebeln, Pommes, Nudeln mit Fettsauce, und natürlich: Pizza. Am liebsten isst er allerdings Fleisch. So schöne Steaks, 1-2x die Woche. Extrem lecker – und tödlich für die Figur.

Stattdessen also das Kontrastprogramm von meiner Seite (mas o meno):

Man nehme 1 Packung Dinkel ausm Penny. Gabs grad günstig für 0,99 EUR. Dinkel soll ja gesund sein und ich stelle mir schon vor, wie genial das Zeugs in einer Essig-Senf Sauce im nächsten Salat schmecken muss. Vielleicht über Nacht zum Quellen in Essig einlegen? Mmmhhhh….Ok! Also den Dinkel in kochendes, gesalzenes Wasser werfen (gesalzen, damit der Geschmack rauskommt, damit die Kochtemperatur sinkt und damit es diesen osmotischen Effekt gibt) und ca. 17 Minuten kochen lassen. Dazu dann 5-6 Karotten vom Penny – der 2kg Beutel für nen Euro – waschen und reinschnibbeln (schnippeln?) und wenn dann alles die gewünschte Bisshärte hat, im Sieb abgießen.
Und damit das nicht nur so eine trockene Pampe wird, muss da noch irgendwas weiches, matschiges rein. Ich denke da auch an ein leckeres Mangochutney oder vergleichbares. Hatte ich aber nicht da. Stattdessen wählt man die ungesunde Alternative und kauft sich noch eine kleine Dose Königsberger Klopse mit 71% Schweinefleischanteil in einer schönen, sahnigen Sauce (0,69 EUR). Diese dann im Kochtopf erwärmen, die Dinkel-Karotten-Mischung hinein und fertig ist das Mittag-Abendessen…Guten Appetit!
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(schaut ein bißchen aus wie Kotze, ge?)

offline worlds

Being on the road during the last week has kept me away from blogging. Also, I had problems accessing the internet / finding an open WLAN hotspot nearby. Even thought about using this really awesome BackTrack Linux LiveCD which helps to gain access onto locked WEP networks. However, I didn’t try it becos a) couldn’t initialise the wlan module on my notebook and b) didn’t have the time to configure it. I’d love to have this as a virtual machine on my system, though. Maybe there’s an easier way to get this distribution as a fully loaded appliance for the vmware player.

Speaking about accessibility, I am currently trying to prepare my notebook/system for offline use. That is, installing offline tools that will help me get going where there is no or only limited Internet access. After all, most Web 2.0 utilities are nice but they lack one simple logic: they only work online and/or require a server somewhere. It would be nice to have this technology implemented in a simple operating system that works much more like a server. Instead of having a fixed operating system installed on the HDD with various additional programms, it would be nice to have it run on a virtual machine – and the installed operating system could be limited down to very basic needs / just provide the GUI. Also, I think this will be part of the future – more and more systems being less dependent on the actual hardware, but instead swapable like USB memory sticks. Imagine this scenario where you’d take your computer with you on a simple USB stick (it would run on such a memory stick) and static data could be added/mounted additionally.

But I digress.

Actually, my dear friend Onnomoja recently went to Southern Sudan and complained about the lack of internet “out there in the desert”. Of course, you’d think, of course there’s no internet out there. But then, there are a lot of things you’d like to check out while on the road somewhere and – being a kid of these modern times – we have meanwhile become used to just google it or check it out on Wikipedia and other compiled resources. Hence, what is needed is a way to either sleep for the next 50 years and wait until the earth is fully connected, or else check for helpful offline alternatives that are just as accessible as the internet is with it’s various resources.

The following two tools seem to be nice for offline use and I’d be happy to read your personal suggestions in the comment section to see what kind of tools also do the job offline when there’s no internet available.

1. Blogdesk
Blogdesk is a free-of-charge (Windows) offline editor for your favourite blog systems. Available in different languages, it comes at a size of ~ 4 MB (WinXP, 2k, 9x) and really helps to prepare entries when there is only a limited timeslot for internet access. Compile your entries offline and upload them when the connection is stable. Modem users will really like this, I think.

2. LingoPad
I just installed this free multilingual dictionary on my system and all I can say is: WOW! This is exactly the kind of programme I have been looking for – a free, stable little tool that provides access to various offline dictionaries. Most alternatives are commercial, somewhat expensive and require lots of system resources. What I wanted is a little tool that instantly loads without much hassle and is as up-to-date as possible.
You know, here in Germany there are two great German/English dictionaries availble online: LEO and Beolingus – both websites run by universities (Technical Universities of Munich and Chemnitz) and, unfortunately, the LEO database used for their online dictionary isn’t available for download yet. These websites are great, as they provide many many entries for each word – not just simple 1:1 translations. But then, again, only online. LingoPad tries to change that, as they are using parts of the TU Chemnitz dictionary database. Great!

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And of course, there are many other free tools available for offline use. Just think of email clients or small editors that run directly from the USB memory stick. I wonder why ppl still go online, write emails and actually pay for the time online. Instead, they could rather write/edit their stuff offline and then use tools on USB sticks to manage their online duties. Just think of various cybercafés in Kenya and the many USB memory sticks that are currently on offer in Nairobi. Wouldn’t it be nice to have an offline package of useful tools for those users that own no other hardware but a simple USB stick where they store their data? This would also help to curb the issue of accessing certain webmail providers while in Kenya – some of those pages take ages to load due to various reasons and instead of paying for online time (trying to open these pages and THEN editing their emails etc.), they would only pay for the actual time it takes to e.g. send & receive emails by using an email client. Only a few people, I think, are aware of these possibilities. Ama?