Sunday 26 October 2008

Cross Posting:Time to Change i.e...sige tulog ka pa!


(Source of photo: upload.wikimedia.org)

Have you adjusted your watches before you went to bed last night?
I did and did not.

I did because hubby wanted to have a wake-up call early this
morning and so had to adjust one alarm clock one hour later for
the year's winter time which started this early morning at 3 am.

I did not because of my habit of not adjusting it for the simple
reason of wanting to have that feeling that I have one more hour
to go back to bed and snooze a bit more. Mag-inin pa...even hubby
knows this term and uses it when he is not in the mood
to get up despite the screaming alarm.

I don't know the term for adjustment of time to the normal
time...in summer we call it Day-light saving time, right? Or is
it only a term in Da Philippines? How about in winter? Do we call
it Night-light saving time or Night-Life Saving Time?

Minsan, naalala ko pa in my early years in Alemanya...we were told
by our language teachers to adjust our watches one hour ahead so
as not to miss our final language examination in German. I did not
only adjust my watch on Saturday night but also did not sleep at all
on Sunday night due to my anxiety of getting up late and not
making it to the final examination. Stressy time talaga sa Alemanya.
Despite the warnings, there were a couple of North African
students who came in panting for breath just in time to get the
exam papers. Stressy life for foreigners in Germany.

Minsan, naalala ko pa din that we (hubby and I) were running like
crazy couple to the train station and missed our connection. Aha,
sisihan walang katapusan. We were blaming each other no end like
thespians in an open air theater at the platform of this train station
until we saw that our watches were on summer time module. Aha...
we realized both our over reaction and moments later, our marital
inter-communication was smoothly repaired.

I still have three other watches to adjust...will do it one watch
everyday until my system gets adjusted to what it is called winter
time...time to hibernate, time to make In-in, Winterschlaf and get
ready for Spring and Summertime. Uhuummmm...idlip pa.

If you have some interesting anecdotes about time adjustment, do
share with us. Kung may naalala kayong karanasan tungkol sa
pagpapalit ng oras sa Europa, paki share lang.

Pinay von Alemania

Thursday 23 October 2008

Reunion in Frankfurt with Chocolates from the Big Apple


Her email surprised me one morning as I have not received anything
from her since decades so I did not even know who the sender was.
She got my email add through her brother who forwards me all
sorts of information from health tips to activities of his
fraternity brothers who have attended this state university
some light years away. How my email landed in his loop is another
matter but I am beginning to enjoy the exchange of the mails in
that particular men's Egroup.
Cora resides in New York since the late 70s and works as a medical
technologist. She wrote that she would be joining a tour group
which will visit Central Europe passing through Frankfurt,
Berlin, Weimar, Warsaw, Prague, Budapest, Vienna and Munich
including the romantic area of Rothenburg ob der Tauber and
definitely a visit to Neuschwanstein Castle in the Bavarian
Alps of Germany, a two-week tour with folklore shows and
cultural programs to be paid extra.
Oh a fine time to come to Europe, I teased her in my
email, when everyone seems to be getting scared of a looming
recession in America.
We had lunch in this German restaurant Sachsenhäuser Warte
which she saw when she arrived in Frankfurt a day before
but thought it was a church and did not dare to look for
food in there. So in between servings of
squash cream soup which my New Yorker friend found so
delicious and main dish of German meat with potatoes,
we exchanged stories and anecdotes from life in the
province to living abroad.
Asking her again on her travel plan despite the present
financial crisis, Cora answered that she had long planned
her second travel to Europe and that is she....well
happily divorced. Our next rounds of laughters followed
just before we ordered our dessert of Apfelstrudel mit
vanilla sauce.


The best part of this reunion with my friend from the
Big Apple is the Pasalubong she brought for me, all the
cherished chocolates of my childhood, and she
even paid for our lunch. Thank you Cora!



In return, I could only tell her that sorry, you could not
bring some foodstuffs from here to the Land of Milk and Honey
except goodies from the Duty Free Shop.

Tuesday 14 October 2008

Golden Cologne Autumn 2008


Source: Photo: Schawaiger, Koeln express
Just updating but photos are not from my own camera but
chanced upon photos. Despite the depressing news on financial
melt-down coming from Wall Street and about a looming
possibility of world recession, nature has given us some
golden moments to reflect:
...on the status of our savings!
Gold or bust
property vs liquidity
friendship vs cash generating time
family vs personal need
work vs engagement
work vs voluntary activities
giving vs expecting
stocks vs savings
and so on.
Enjoy the photos:

(photo: Zik taken from koeln express)

Friday 3 October 2008

News Sharing: "Tag der offenen Moschee"


(photo taken from internet: bacolod mosque, philippines)

Holiday today in Germany, celebrating Re-unification Day. When
East Germany merges with West Germany... no more walls.
Now we share many things in common...taxes to pay, for example.

Today is also the traditional day of Open House for mosques
in Germany. Information about Moslem religion and other
programs regarding beliefs of our Moslem sisters and brothers
are part of this yearly celebration in Germany in postering
religious tolerance and understanding.

See the posted info taken from another site regarding this
"Tag der offenen Moschee"

Islam-Verbände laden zum Tag der offenen Moschee am 3. Oktober

Evangelischer Pressedienst 26 September 2008

Köln. Die Moscheegemeinden in Deutschland öffnen am Tag der
deutschen Einheit wieder ihre Türen. Der diesjährige "Tag
der offenen Moschee" am 3. Oktober steht unter dem Motto
"Moscheen - Orte der Besinnung und des Feierns", wie der
Koordinationsrat der Muslime am Donnerstag in Köln ankündigte.
Islamische Gemeinden und Verbände laden seit 1997 zum Tag
der offenen Moschee ein.
Der Koordinationsrat mit seinen Mitgliedsverbänden DITIB,
Islamrat, Verband Islamischer Kulturzentren und Zentralrat
der Muslime ist zum zweiten Mal der Veranstalter.

Der Tag der Begegnung schaffe eine Plattform für den
interreligiösen Dialog und biete Moscheebesuchern die
Möglichkeit, den Islam und die Moscheen kennenzulernen, hieß es.
Zum Programm gehören Moscheeführungen, Podiumsdiskussionen
und Ausstellungen. Die Internetplattform "Moscheesuche.de"
listet rund 1.270 eingetragene Moscheen in Deutschland auf.

Bei einer Auftaktveranstaltung am Montag erhält der
Koordinationsrat auch einen neuen Sprecher. Der Vorsitz
wechselt alle sechs Monate.
Am Montag geht er turnusgemäß von Ali Kizilkaya vom Islamrat
auf den Verband der Islamischen Kulturzentren über (see
the article below.)

Posted September 26th, 2008 by hd
Source: http://europenews.dk/de


October 3, want to greet a very nice and beautiful friend of mine
who is celebrating her birthday today. Luzviminda, the reunification
of many beautiful things in that three islands...Have a wonderful
birthday and treat us next time to ice cream and your legendary
chocolate cake.
Cheers!