Ausflug nach Hamburg

 

Finally we found a common date for our first excursion but we didn’t realize it would be one of the hottest weekends recorded in Germany. Temperature was going as high as 38+° and so with our excitement. We agreed not to fight, not to have especial wishes and most of all to be tolerant to each other. One for all, all for one.

The train ride from Bonn to Hamburg took about four and half hours which we didn’t feel at all as we were busy finishing a bottle of sparkling wine, homemade cake, bought croissants and salted bagels, strawberries, plums, pieces of honey melons and samosas. One train employee selling coffee even willingly took some of our offered honey melons. We were not bothered anymore as they could see our compartment was turning into an instant dining room. Some women travelers passing by our compartment were giving us the thumb-ups. For the bottle of sparkling wine early morning? Enjoy the photos!

 Samosa

 Rathaus

 Heinrich Heine (1797-1850)

 How did she manage that?

 The new wave in city touring

 Jungfernstieg

 One shopping arcade near Jungfernstieg

 The "Maedels" in Alster

 Thank you for your appreciation

 Honouring the Beatles

 Cyclassics Tournament

 More ice cream to ignore the heat

 Hans Hummel-famous water carrier, a symbol of Hamburg

 Visiting the periphery

 Brunch the next day in SH

Mango Frappiato before taking the train back to Köln

Circle of Friends

Why doI have a variety of friends?..

Why do I have a variety of friends who are all so different in character?  How can I get along with them all?  I think that each one helps to bring out a "different" part of me.

With one of them I am polite. With another, I joke. 
I sit down and talk about serious matters with one. 
With another I laugh a lot. 
I listen to one friend's problems. 
Then I listen to another one's advice for me.
My friends are like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. 
When completed, they form a treasure box. 
A treasure of friends! 
They are my friends who understand me better than I understand myself.
They're friends who support me through good days and bad.
We all pray together and for each other.
Real Age doctors tell us that friends are good for our health. 

Dr. Oz calls them Vitamin F (for Friends) and counts the benefits of friends as essential to our well being. Research shows that people in strong social circles have less risk of depression and terminal strokes.If you enjoy Vitamin F constantly you can be up to 30 years younger than your real age. The warmth of friendship stops stress and even in your most intense moments, it decreases the chance of a cardiac arrest or stroke by 50%.

I'm so happy that I have a stock of Vitamin F!

In summary, we should value our friends and keep in touch with them. We should try to see the funny side of things and laugh together and pray for each other in the tough moments.
Thank you for being one of my Vitamins!

 One of my friends from this international circle of women friends sent me this email after we just spent our hot weekend in Hamburg on this summery month of August when temperature has gone as high as 38.9°. I tried to look for the source but it seems the article has gone viral in the internet and I can't find the original author. Whoever you are, thank you for this beautiful piece and my thanks also to my circle of beautiful friends and especially to our thoughtful Gastgeberin, Angela.

What comes to your mind when I say Philippines?

Asking two young Germans what comes to their minds when 

I say Philippines, they wrote words, cluster of 

words which they associate with this 7,107 islands known as

Republic of the Philippines.

I must say they have been doing lots of reading

or getting information about the country.

Would be interesting to ask them again after their

stay and directly experience living in Wow Country,

and It's More Fun in the Philippines.

Meet, Eat and Learn

My status says in my other site says:"Have a Meet and Eat date with
my Muslim girlfriend today at 17:00. Looking at the how to get to
her place sketch, I think it will be just about 20.39 when I reach
her flat...sunset in Germany. We can eat.”
The delay of the train gave me a plus point.I managed to be just on
the time she wanted us to be in her apartment. Was ahead of the other
women and had time to try on some batik loose blouses from
Indonesia left to her by her friend.
Then our starters of sliced baguettes with German red cherries and
American yellow cheeries which we easily finished with sparkling wine
brought by another woman guest to post celebrate her birthday.
Weather was grey looking like the sun has set early that day.
Kani informed us that she could break her fast as she was not feeling
well so my fear of getting the first bite only after 8.30pm that day
was unfounded.
Soon she was calling us to her kitchen/dining room and surprised us
with a festive serving of Nasih kuning or yellow rice with
accompaniments of rendang ayam (chicken rendang,) semur or beef
cooked in soya sauce, serundeng (roasted spicy coconut) gado-gado,
steamed vegetables with peanut sauce and krupuk - prawn crisps.
For our dessert: Sweet potatoes and bananas cooked in coconut milk
and Rujak, mixture of tropical fruits i.e. mangoes, pineapples,
carambola (balimbing) sprinkled with grounded peanuts and drizzled
with spicy tamarind sauce.
Between our bites and second servings, we talked about Indonesian
languages, rituals in Bali, about the existing caste system in
Indonesia and the status of homosexuals in Germany and in the home
countries of the invited guests.
Kani even patiently taught each one of us how to weave pandan leaves
used as decoration for the offerings to the different gods and spirits.
And as especial treat, every woman brought home a doggie bag of her
festive meal. What a thoughtful hostess. I asked her what she would
be doing and cooking at the end of Ramadan. Sneaky me!
Terimah Kasih, Kani! Salamat! Danke! Thank You!

Pinay von Alemanya

Dogs Day

I was posting the other day the short encounter I had with
a German woman who was strolling with her poodle. "Paula, don't
stop on the middle of the road. Go, move futher," she was telling
her curly-haired white poodle. Actually, it was an encounter
with her poodle and not with her as Paula refused to move
and kept on staring back at me...on the middle of the road.
Good there was not much traffic that day. Most probably all gone
to get tanned and escape the German winter this summer.
A day later, (see the photo above)in a neighboring Dutch
village, I met this friendly woman with her flock of Shih Tzu
and other equally "fierce" looking puppies. She agreed to my
shooting her dogs, digital that is, and the puppies showed more
cooperation, stopped and stared back at me.
What could she be telling them later after I said thank you
and praised her flock? "Now, don't be too friendly to
strangers, little puppies. She might post you and you don't
get your royalties."
This is by the way, the day when the Philippine AZKALs,
strayed dogs lost to the national team of Kuwait.
A dog day afternoon.