my sweet little sister

This weekend I went to Berlin to visit Elli, my younger sister. It was lovely* We bought socks, watched pride and prejudice (the long version - 4,5 hours of Mister Darcy...), and baked Zwiebelkuchen (it was nice, but didn't taste the same way we remembered it from our grandmother). A quiet weekend.

Fasting and prayer

Today was the first day of Ramadan, a month of fasting, prayer and hospitality for muslims. I was thinking about joining the fast but then decided to stick to my personal fasting routine... But the beginning of Ramadan reminded me of the time I spent with my Turkish class in Istanbul in 2005, the picture was taken there as well - a different soup for every iftar, the time in the evening when the fast is broken. The restaurants had special iftar menues on offer and we saw a public distribution of food to people on the street. The month is also a time for giving to the needy.
For me fasting is a time to remember - God, people around me and always also the ones who go hungry - not voluntarily. During our travels we visited many countries in which most of the population has a muslim background and so I want to take time during the next 30 days to remember and pray for these places and the people we met (and places that I would still like to visit :-).

Happy Döner Cow

Apart from happy violet cows in Switzerland there are apparently some Döner Cows around... Around our corner actually.

Maybe I just wanted to tell you that I found two guys to talk Turkish to. They both study here in Hamburg and want to improve their (really good) German and are really patient with my slow primary-school-style sentences. But at least I do get to use the vocabulary I learned during the last weeks and joyjoy!! I do remeber things I learned at university almost two years ago... It's not all gone. Yeah.

Mehmet için: Burada çalısmak istiyor musun? ☺

Thanksgiving

Yesterday we had a little barbecue session at the river Elbe. We wrote things we wanted to thank God for on leaves and sent them away with the river. It was beautiful to do this while watching big ships coming in carrying huge containers - giving thanks and receiving all the more.
When we returned home that evening we found we had received a letter with the signed contract for our future home in Hamburg!! Finally. Thanks.