And did I mention we’re dreaming of chicken in our yard?

Das “Content” Menü ist die Zeitmaschine, mit der Du in unsere Vergangenheit reisen kannst. auf dem Weg trifft Du mich und meine Familie.

Oh und hatte ich erwähnt, dass wir von Hühnern hinterm Haus träumen?

Happy sharing everyone! See you on our “Die Herberge” homepage!

Es war im Super-Sommer 2015…  In Deutsch weiter lesen? Dann bitte runter scrollen oder hier klicken!

It was in the midst of the 2015 heat-wave. We all were mainly graving seasonal tickets to the public pools, holidays were finally fun on the own balcony and climate-change showed its very sunny side. – Of the according to UNHCR about 60 million refugees worldwide, 890.000 came in this summer 2015 to us in Germany. – Whilst I had my best summer holiday ever with a camper-van in criss-cross France, others did camp in tents in Idomemi or walked, where ever they could get through, three months and longer with their families towards hope.

Gabriele and Hans did what I had done: they were running from the heat and searched rescue in a canoe trip on the Main river. When the two charming and very active pensioners from Karlsruhe were hunted by hunger and heat close to Zapfendorf,  Franconian Bavaria, the canoe is quickly set at shore. Still in life-vests Gabriele and Hans are heading to the village. Gabriele is perhaps the fittest pensioner I ever met. But she’s tired and dehydrated. As a protection against the burning sun she did wrap a scarf around her head, as she tells us.

A worker of a nearby railroad construction site , sends Gabriele and Hans deeper in to the village: right there next to the castle, there’s a guest house and for sure they also will have some food and something to drink!

Kawa used to live in the Kurdish city of Qamischli in north-east Syria, right there, were the the Kurdish Peshmerga troups are fighting against ISIS. His sisters re teachers, his brother an engineer. Kawa himself studied law and works as a lawyer. Used to work as a lawyer. Back in Syria, before the war. Now he lives in Hamburg, improves his German, because he’s dreaming of becoming a policeman in Germany. „I love the police in Germany. They are all nice and friendly to us Kurds“ he says, when we meet him.

Kawa lives in this very hot summer 2015 already for a while in Zapfendorf, the Franconian village. Only a short stroll away from where Gabriele and Hans die hide their canoes to find a place to eat and rest.

The restaurant, that Gabriele and Hans find opposite the castle, has locked doors. Bad luck for them. In the small village there seems to be nothing but this place to get a meal. Just before the two turn frustrated away, Gabriele sees a man at a window. He’s making gestures to walk around the back and use the back entrance. And so they do.

The man is a „colleague“ – as Kawa calls him. He’s waiting at the back-door for Gabriele and Hans to let them in. Bassam, Mohammad and Ahmed are all „colleagues“ of Kawa. They ask the pensioners in the main guest-room of the restaurant  and ask the to wait. Meantime, they’re calling Kawa, who’s German is the best of the small party.

Gabriele and Hans are really glad that they finally reached a place, where they can recover, relax and rest. They are exhausted, thirst can be a torture and they are very hungry too. „My stomach has been hanging down in my knees.“ Gabriele told us later.

Kawa and his „colleagues“ recognized, that the two elderly people were tired and desperately in need for food, rest and refreshing drink.  They offered, what the kitchen had: home-made apple jam, eggs, fresh ripe tomatoes, cheese and yoghurt. With their meal the guests wished a green tea and a glas of milk.

That a toaster was put right on the table, that cutlery and tissues were missing, and that there was no hot food to order, but only cold-cuisine, did not rise doubt in the pensioners: „We thought, these friendly men only started out to run a restaurant. Young entrepreneurs, you got to support them, no? And also: it was already afternoon. In Germany most restaurants close their kitchen at 2pm, don’t they? So all seemed normal to us of course!“ Gabriele remembers and explains us later in her tastefully furnished turn-of-the-century apartment in Karlsruhe city-centre.

Hans did ask for forks, the meal the four „colleagues“ managed to serve was delicious. But the canoe-trip was not over yet, so Gabriele and Hans wanted to pay and go their way.

But Kawa, Bassam, Mohammad and Ahmed reclined the payment: „They were our guests. You must help, no?“ Kawa describes the moving scene, when he explained to Gabriele and Hans, that his „colleagues“ how he calls them, are in fact his room-mates. And that the guest house, in which Gabriele and Hans just enjoyed a great meal, is in fact a refuge-centre and home to many Syrian refugees just like Kawa.

Gabriele is deeply moved. She’s embarrassed, that they called for forks and tissues. When they, the guests, just have been served a great free meal by refugees. „I immediately started to cry!“ Gabriele confirms today. And her partner Hans adds „We only realized, that we were in a refugee-centre, when we asked for the bill.“

Thanks to all the six of them are very open people, the moment of embarrassment quickly fades and turns in to curiosity and friendship: Selfies are taken, addresses exchanged, thanks are flying through the room and all six promise, to stay in touch.

The summer passes, Gabriele and Hans are sending a postcard and a thank-you-present in the Franconian refugee-centre. Kawa is carried on by his destiny, he today lives with his brother in Hamburg.

At Christmas he’s sending a postcard, Gabriele gives us some clothes for him, when she hears, we’re going to see him. – The three are in touch till today.

We, Ysabel Fantou and myself, found this true story in many papers last year. and we found the heroes of this true story thanks to Nathalie Schalk, journalist of „Fränkischer Tag“. – German speakers fid the original article here.

We visited Gabriele, Hans and Kawa. And listened to their stories about this special day in their lives.

A little later, we had finished a script for a short-comedy and a social-spot. It’s election time in Germany next year. And ultra-right-winged populists are sweeping German streets as they do in Europe and elsewhere int he world these days.

But we here got this story of joy&hope, we can put out in front of their bland and simple paroles: Hey, life can be beautiful! The unknown can enrich us! Give it a chance, let’s have a wait&look first! Get to know each other.

We hope we can help with the film we’re making. Help to make this world a better place.

How you can help to make this a better place?

• Spread this true story!
• Help us to actually get our film in screen!
• Donate to our crowd-funding!
• Share the crowd-funding with friends and family!
• Become a „fan“ on startnext, and get the social-spot for free in 2017 – being a fan is completely free

With your help,

• we can did pay for translations for subtitles in the many languages, the refugees in Germany are bringing from home.
• we can did finish making the film and the social spot and bring it on screen
• we can will pay the entrance fees to international festivals and bring this story to you
• we can did afford to pay the trips of Kawa, Bassam, Mohammad and Ahmed, as well as Gabriele and Hans to the screenings

Update 2023:

Our journey with “Die Herberge” (The Shelter) has made a string inside me vibrate again, that has not been used in many years. Kids, Family, all that, you know, it had brought long time ago my political engagement to halt. The sound from this string began to swell: I joined the Green party in 2017 and ran for Parliament in 2018, just to be elected as an MP for the Bavarian State Parliament on the 14th of October 2018.

I am deeply moved and honored, that you, the People, gave me this trust. I am willing to work hard. And I am running again for the elections in Bavaria on the 8th of October 2023. Contact me (also in English( with questions any time via my political page as Abgeordnete Sanne Kurz, MdL.

Visit our homepage with all we reached here: “Die Herberge”

All money collected above the cost of the movie will be 100% donated to Lichterkette, a German charity working against racism.

Watch one of the results of our efforts online! The “Die Herberge Social Spot” with subtitles.

>>>Hier comes the story in German.>>>Hier kommt der Text in Deutscher Sprache.>>>

Es war im Super-Sommer 2015.

Wir alle lechzten nach Freibad-Dauerkarten, Urlaub machte endlich auch auf Balkonien Spaß und die Klimakatastrophe zeigte sich von ihrer sonnigsten Seite. – Von den laut UNHCR rund 60 Millionen Menschen auf Flucht kamen im Sommer 2015 890.000 zu uns nach Deutschland. – Während ich den besten Sommer-Zelturlaub-Ever mit Campingbus in Frankreich verbringe, zelteten andere in Idomeni, oder liefen da, wo sie durch kamen, drei Monate lang in Richtung Hoffnung.

Gabriele und Hans machen es wie ich: sie flüchten vor der Hitze und suchen Erholung. Kanu fahren auf dem Main in Franken heisst es für die beiden sehr charmanten Karlsruher, die ihre Freizeit gerne aktiv verbringen. Als die Hitze und Hunger die beiden auf dem Main bei Zapfendorf überwältigen, ist das Kanu schnell an Land verstaut. Noch in Schwimmweste geht es ins Dorf. Gabriele ist die vielleicht fitteste Rentnerin, die ich je getroffen habe. Aber sie ist müde und dehydriert, zum Schutz gegen die sengende Sonne hat sie sich ein Tuch um den Kopf gewickelt, wie sie uns berichtet.

Ein Arbeiter der ICE Baustelle, die in 2016 noch immer zwischen Main und dem Weiler Zapfendorf liegt, schickt Gabriele und Hans ins Dorf. Gleich beim Schloss sei ein Gasthof, da bekämen sie sicher was.

Kawa kommt aus der kurdischen Stadt Qamischli im Nordosten Syriens, dort, wo die Kurden gegen den IS kämpfen. Seine Schwestern sind Lehrerinnen, sein Bruder Elektroingenieur, er selbst hat Jura studiert und ist Anwalt – war Anwalt. In Syrien, vor dem Krieg. Jetzt lebt er in Hamburg, verbessert sein Deutsch, denn er will wahnsinnig gerne in Deutschland Polizist werden. “Ich liebe die Polizei in Deutschland. Alle sind so nett zu uns Kurden.” sagt er uns, als wir ihn treffen.

Kawa lebte in dem heißen Jahrhundert-Sommer 2015 in Zapfendorf. Nur wenige hundert Meter von dort, wo Gabriele und Hans ihre Kanus vertäuten und eine [url=dieherberge.de]Herberge[/url] suchten, um zu rasten.

Der Gasthof, den Gabriele und Hans finden, ist verschlossen, so ein Pech auch. In dem kleinen Ort scheint es sonst nichts an Wirtschaften zu geben. Noch bevor die zwei sich zum Gehen wenden, entdeckt Gabriele aber einen Mann am Fenster, der ihr bedeutet, den Hintereingang zu nehmen.

Der Mann ist ein “Kollege” wie Kawa ihn nennt. Er wartet am Hintereingang, um Gabriele und Hans einzulassen. Bassam, Mohammad und Ahmed sind alle “Kollegen” von Kawa. Sie bitten Gabriele und Hans in die Gaststube und rufen Kawa, der am Besten Deutsch kann von den Vieren.

Die Karlsruher sind heil froh, dass sie endlich angekommen sind an einem Ort, wo sie ausruhen und rasten können. Der Durst plagt beide. auch hungrig sind sie. “Mein Magen hing in den Kniekehlen.” berichtet uns Gabriele später.

Kawa und seine “Kollegen” erkannten, dass die beiden erschöpft, hungrig und müde waren. Sie boten ihnen an, was die Küche zu bieten hatte: Apfelmarmelade “home made”, Eier, frische Tomaten, Käse und Joghurt. Dazu wünschten sich die Gäste grünen Tee und Milch.

Dass ein Toaster direkt auf den Tisch gestellt wurde, keine Servietten da waren und es auch keine warmen Gerichte mehr zu bestellen gab, verwunderte die Rentner nicht: “Wir dachten, die haben gerade erst angefangen. Junge Gastronomen muss man doch unterstützen. Und dann war es ja auch schon früher Nachmittag. Da ist es doch kein Wunder, wenn die Küche zu hat!” ruft Gabriele in ihrer geschmackvoll eingerichteten Karlsruher Altbauwohnung den Nachmittag in Erinnerung.

Hans bat noch um Gabeln, das von den vier “Kollegen” kredenzte Mahl schmeckte vorzüglich. Die Reise war noch nicht zu Ende, die Kanus warteten, man wollte zahlen und seines Weges gehen.

Doch Kawa, Bassam, Mohammad und Ahmed lehnen ab. “Es sind doch Gäste, man muss helfen!” schildert und Kawa die bewegende Szene, als er Gabriele und Hans erklärte, dass seine “Kollegen” wie er sie nennt, die Mitbewohner seien. Und der Gasthof, in dem eben so lecker gekocht wurde, längst ein Flüchtlingsheim.

Gabriele ist tief gerührt. Es ist ihr peinlich, dass sie noch nach Servietten und Gabeln geschickt hatten, wo sie, die fremden Gäste, doch gerade von Flüchtlingen bewirtet worden waren. “Ich hab’ sofort angefangen zu heulen!” bestätigt Gabriele noch Heute. Und Ihr Lebensgefährte Hans ergänzt “Uns ist erst aufgegangen, dass wir im Asylbewerberheim gelandet sind, als wir die Rechnung verlangt haben.”

Dank der Offenheit aller Beteiligten weicht die Peinlichkeit schnell einer Annäherung:

Erinnerungsfotos werden gemacht, Adressen ausgetauscht, man bedankt wich für die Bewirtung und verspricht, in Kontakt zu bleiben.

So geht der Sommer ins Land, Gabriele und Hans schicken eine Postkarten und Dankeschöns in das fränkische Flüchtlingsheim. Kawa wird vom Schicksal weiter getragen, er lebt inzwischen bei seinem Bruder in Hamburg.

Zu Weihnachten schickt er eine Postkarte, Gabriele wiederum gibt uns Kleidung für ihn mit, als sie erfährt, dass wir ihn besuchen werden. – Noch Heute sind die Drei in Kontakt.

Wir, Ysabel Fantou und ich, reisten 2016 durch Deutschland, um Gabriele, Hans und Kawa zu treffen und ihre Geschichten zu hören und auf zu zeichnen. Kurze Zeit später strickten wir aus den Erzählungen der drei einen Kurzfilm-Drehbuch mit wunderbar schwarz-humorigem Witz und einen Social-Spot, eine Werbung für einen guten Zweck.

Wir möchten auch noch ein mal einer Person danken, deren Einsatz “Die Herberge” in seiner jetzigen Form erst möglich machte: Natalie Schalk, engagierte Journalistin und Redakteurin aus Franken. Sie war es, die mit Gabriele, Hans und Kawa zuerst sprach und deren Geschichte erstmals in der Zeitung “Fränkischer Tag” an die Öffentlichkeit brachte. Hier ist der [url=http://www.infranken.de/regional/bamberg/Paar-verwechselt-Asylheim-mit-Gasthof-und-wird-freundlich-bewirtet;art212,1458318#cookie_accepted]Original-Artikel auf infranken.de[/url] nach zu lesen.

Wir machen diesen Film und diesen Spot, weil Wahlen sind in Deutschland in 2017. Wahlen, bei denen Rechts-Populisten die Straßen fegen könnten mit erbarmungslosem Besenstrich.

Wir machen diesen Film und diesen Spot, weil wir eine Geschichte haben, die wir simplen Parolen, vermeintlich einfachen Lösungen und Besenstrichen der Populisten etwas entgegen zu setzen haben: eine Geschichte von Freude und Hoffnung: Hey, das Leben kann wunderbar sein! Das Fremde kann uns bereichern! Wir können auch Fremde sein und Hilfe finden! Gebt allem Zeit und eine Chance. Lernt Euch kennen. Weil das Fremde wertvoll ist.

Wir hoffen, wir könne helfen mit dem Film, den wir machen.  Helfen, diese Welt ein wenig besser zu machen.

Wie kannst Du helfen?

• Verbreite diese wahre Geschichte! Spot teilen mit diesem Link: http://bit.ly/herberge-spot
• Hilf uns, den Film fertig zu stellen und auf die Leinwand zu bringen! Ihr habt uns geholfen, den Film fertig zu stellen und ihn auf die Leinwand zu bringen! Wie Ihr ihn bei Euch zeigen könnt und wo man ihn sehen kann steht hier!
• Unterstütze unser Crowdfunding mit Deiner Danke für Deine Spende!
• Teile das Crowdfunding den Spot mit Familie, Kollegen, Bekannten und Freunden!
• Zeige den Film “Die Herberge”!
• Werde „Fan“ auf Startnext Facebook  und  teile den Spot auf Facebook!

Mit Deiner Hilfe können konnten wir:

• den Film fertig stellen, offene Rechnungen begleichen und Kino-, TV- wie auch DVD-Kopien erstellen – danke!
• Untertitel für viele Sprachen bezahlen, so dass auch möglichst viele Flüchtlinge den Film sehen können – wer noch Untertitel beisteuern will findet hier Informationen!
• Filmfestival Gebühren zahlen und den Film so auch zu Dir bringen
• die Reisen von Kawa, Bassam, Mohammad und Ahmed, sowie Gabriele und Hans zu der Premiere zahlen

Update 2023:

Unsere Reise mit  “Die Herberge” hat etwas in mir wieder aufleben lassen, was lange tief geschlummert hat. Kinder, Familie – all sowas, vielleicht kennt Ihr es – wenig Zeit. Darum pausierte mein politisches Engagement lange. Jetzt wollte ich wieder loslegen: ich bin 2017 Mitglied bei den Grünen geworden – und habe es keinen Tag bereut. 

2018 kandidierte ich für den Landtag Bayern. Und: wurde gewählt und darf seither als Grüne Abgeordnete Sanne Kurz, MdL, arbeiten und im Landtag sitzen. Das berührt mich sehr, dieses Vertrauen, das die Wählerinnen und Wähler in mich gesetzt haben.  – Am 8. Oktober 2023 trete ich erneut an, um meine Arbeit weiter zu führen.

Alles Geld, was wir über die reinen Unkosten hinaus einsammeln, geht zu 100% an die Lichterkette e.V., die mit zahlreichen Projekten gegen Rassismus kämpft. ** Update: Wir konnten über 2.600€ Überschüsse aus dem Crowdfunding spenden, Mittel, die nach Abzug der Unkosten noch über unserem Crowdfunding Ziel lagen.

Quellen neben Natalie Schalk und unseren eigenen Aufzeichnungen:
Vereinte Nationen, Publikation des Flüchtlingshilfswerkes UNHCR – gut aufgearbeitet, leicht zu lesen, verständliche Grafiken und Bilder, sehr berührend. Aber von 2014. – Wenn jemand was Aktuelleres kennt von der UNHCR, bitte melden! Danke!
Pressemitteilung des Bundesamtes für Migration und Flüchtlinge BAMF – “Bun­desin­nen­mi­nis­ter de Mai­ziè­re gibt ak­tu­el­le Flücht­lings­zah­len be­kannt” mit spannendem Zitat aus seiner Erklärung und dem Video mit O-Ton des Ministers.
Übersicht der Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung “Das Jahr 2015: Flucht und Flüchtlinge im Fokus – ein Rückblick” mit spannenden Dossiers und gut erklärten Fakten und Hintergründen zum Thema, nicht nur auf die BRD, auch auf die EU bezogen.
Infothek des BAMF mit allem, allem was man zu Flucht&BRD wissen will…wenn man mal Zeit zum stöbern hat. Sicher der umfangreichste Einblick, aber zum Teil etwas sperrig aufbereitet.
Artikel aus “Die Zeit” zu Idomeni: sehr bewegender Artikel in Zeit Online vom 12. März 2016, sowie aus der Zeit Online vom 26. Mai 2016 darüber, wie es weiter geht und wo die Menschen Heute sind.
“Refugees and migrants return to Idomeni camp on Greek border, in pictures” – eine sehr gute Bildergalerie vom März 2016 aus dem Britischen “Telegraph”.

Photo Credits:
Herr Müller: herrmueller.info
Nanni Schiffl-Deiler: http://www.nannischiffldeiler.de
Tilman Schulz: http://tilmanschulz.de

“Did you know you get 87% less spam when your email address stats with a Q?”

My Dad asked me one day  years ago. It was the first step of him venturing out in to cyberspace, where he takes a break from cooking, baking, hiking, singing, laughing and gardening – which is what he usually spends his time with. Since this very day, I’m spoiled with forwarded mail he received. – Imagine 13-year-old boys at school. One is getting a really funny note, written on a dodgy paper, ripped out from an exercise book and crunched up more than folded. Wouldn’t you pass it on if it was funny, entertaining and leading your thoughts away from the dull day-to-day life around you?

Here’s the latest gem from my  collection “forwarded notes from my father’s friends to my father“. It’s about a girl, well: a Golden Girl. And about parties and boys. It’s almost Dadaism. Hugo Ball, Kurt Schwitters by accident. Enjoy!

———- Forwarded Message ———-
From: Fritz Lachner <qphylloxera@live.com>
Date: 2013/6/20  11:32
Subject: dread
To: paul otto <qpotto@ymail.de>

Good Day, Paul,

in the case Dreadling.
The handling is indeed very time-consuming.
She sends me smile and smirk stories, I keep her entertained.
I’m not mailing you the jokes any more, because your PC capacities are too marginal.

For Uq I really enriched her celebration at the Lot’s place pleasantly. The Le was apparently also there, not the Pa. About his absence reportedly has been conjectured.

If O or not.???.

Overall it was supposedly good.
“Old” faces  seemingly are not involved any more.

The Pa is now also already 9y out of the office, and the Lot was surely not exactly his friend.
What would the Pa have done there. Sit next to enemies like Lot, Uq, Dr. Meyer, what else I happen to know…

The Hill is as talkative as a hill, Pa would have had nothing from that either.
Pa is not inside this business any more.
I (we) should not have to care.

Will we go again to BWh having a nice day?

All the best wishes to you
Fritz

Oh, yes, this is real.
And of course I did change the personal information, but tried to keep the original unintended and intended pun. As well as the feel of names and places and sometimes weird punctuation.

Isn’t it strange which style a language adapts, when you work for 40+ years in an office only ever writing demand notes and administration fines? I hope this feel of office burnt into a brain has not been lost in translation. It left me very touched.

(Read more Dadaist poetry found in the real world here: After Hours in Mongolia – Authentic Dadaist Thermos Poetry)

Here’s some street art I found in Thessaloniki:

Oh and there was some amazing poster, that I could not resist. I’m in love:

Despite the fact that my own kids are already hard approaching leaving-mama’s-nest time I developed in the last years an “oh my god so cute” appreciation for small children I never had or knew before from myself. Perhaps it’s not despite the fact my kids are no toddlers any more and left primary school long time ago, but because of the fact they are grown up quite a bit.

I remember one Easter morning a few years back, when I turned around to get some more tea and bread. I turned back and suddenly there was this male stranger standing at my coffee table. A man! I’d not seen before! In my house! At 9am! On Easter Sunday!

Few month back, on Christmas day, he’s been this cute little kid. All gone. Dark voice “Can I have some more orange juice – please?”. Beard. “Mama?!?” – smiling eyes. Yep. It’s my son.

Pretty impressive to watch how cells are multiplying simply long enough to make what’s than us.

For my soon-to-be-father friend, I made these baby socks. I find baby socks are always a great memory, for when you forgot how tiny the little one with shoe size 48 (US: 13) once was when you found him in the nest.

Here’s how to make these crochet baby shoes:

Best use a very soft, not to thick yarn. I used pure merino. Many shops stock special “baby wool”. Make sure you can wash the yarn you chose. Pick a matching crochet hook.

You will need these stitches:

• magic loop aka magic circle (method 1, method 2)
• ss – slip stitch
• hdc – half double crochet
• fphdc – front post half double crochet
• bphdc – back post half double crochet
• Hdcdec – half double crochet decrease

The links will lead you to Youtube tutorials of each stitch. Coz these baby booties are easy to make, even for beginners, so check the stitches out if you don’t know them and try!

1. Work 6 hdc in magic circle. Join with ss. (You got 6 stitches in the circle.)
2. Ch. 1. Work 2 hdc in each hdc. Join with ss. (You got now 12 stitches in the circle.)
3. Ch 1. * work 2 hdc in your 1st hdc, 1 hdc in your next hdc. Repeat from the  * around. Join with ss. (You got now 18 stitches.)
4. Ch 1. * work 2 hdc in 1st hdc, 1 hdc in ea of next 2 hdc. Repeat from the * around. Join with ss. (There should be now 24 stitches in the circle.)
5. Ch 1. 1 hdc in each hdc around. Join with ss.
6. Ch 1. 1 hdc in each hdc around. Join with ss.
7. Ch 1. 1 hdc in each hdc around. Join with ss.
8. Ch 1. 1 hdc in each hdc around. Join with ss.
9. Ch 1. 1 hdc in each hdc around. Join with ss.
10. Ch 1. 1 hdc in each hdc around. Join with ss.

11. Lay your work flat. Ch 1. Turn, working in bottom 13 hdc, leaving top hdc unworked: 1 hdc in ea hdc. Ch 1. Turn. (You are starting now a little square bit on one side of the round shoe front you just worked from round 1. to 10. – your little square bit should have  13 stitches. this was your round 1 of the square bit.)
12. Repeat round 11. (Straight bit round 2)
13. Repeat round 11. (Straight bit round 3)
14. Repeat round 11.  (Straight bit round 4)
15. Repeat round 11.  (Straight bit round 5)
16. Repeat round 11.  (Straight bit round 6)
17. Repeat round 11.  (Straight bit round 7)

18. Fold bootie lengthwise, so that open corners of the square section just worked match up. ss down to connect and form heel. Fasten off.

19. Join the yarn at the corner between sides and toe section, with toe facing right, and heel facing left. Work 20 hdc evenly down the side, around the heel, and up the other side. Work 5 hdcdec across the top of the toe section. Join with ss.

20. Ch 1, * 1 fphdc in 1st hdc, 1 bphdc in next hdc. Repeat from the * around. Join with ss.
21. Repeat round 20. 6 times. Fasten off and weave in the ends.

For the tie: Ch 55. Weave in through base of fphdc in round 20.
I made a little chain for a button-hole as well. But it works more as decoration rather than to fasten the baby shoe later.

Happy Easter everyone! Hope your Easter nests will be filled with adorable things you love.

If you’re than one of the lucky few who actually get’s to taste it, coz a class mate brings it in just before the Easter break and if it’s than oh so miraculously good – well than: you’re hooked.

My younger one was so excited, he rang me in Thessaloniki to find out if we’d make trifle today-right-this-second, he googled about 800 different recipes to match the one in his Green Line English book – which was at his father’s place – he even went with me on a 3-hour shopping trip by bike! – A rare occasion, normally I get a “nein danke” when it’s grocery-shopping-shifting-bags-home time. – He even promised me 3000 clicks when I’d write about making trifle.

So this weekend, trifle time it was!

We improvised based on the 800 recipes he googled.
We chose as main ingredients the things laughing at us begging “take me” during our grocery tour and the memories, he had of his last English lesson.
Here is how we did it.
It’s delicious:

• 1 pack vanilla custard powder for 500 ml (about one pint) milk
• the milk mentioned above for the custard powder
• we used 2 tablespoon more sugar than mentioned on our vanilla custard pack
• 1 pack black cherry jelly (we used jelly powder)
• water to prepare the jelly
• 200ml sweet cream, which we whipped until stiff (6.7oz or 0.42 pint)
• 1 large pack of shortbread or butter biscuits, we used the classic German Leibniz-Butter-Keks – the cookies you choose to use should be fairly dry
• strawberries (the season just started in Spain…)
• banana
• chocolate Leibniz biscuit or other decoration

1. Prepare the jelly. Let it cool down and set it in the fridge to stiffen. 
2. Prepare the vanilla custard, we added 1 tbsp sugar extra, oh, and: we let the custard burn a bit…not sure if that contributed to the amazing trifle taste…
3. Whip the cream until very stiff.
4. Cut the fruits.
5. Crumble the biscuits in to a large glass device. The bottom layer can be a bit thicker. It works as foundation.
6. Pour the vanilla custard on the crumbs. We did that when the custard was still hot. It soaked beautifully in to the first biscuit layer.
7. Sprinkle the strawberry bits on the vanilla custard. Add the banana pieces. Our fruits were cut fairly fine. My son and I were debating if there should be an equal amount of banana and strawberry or not. I prefer a little banana and a lot of strawberry. And since I’m writing this post…use less banana than strawberry!
8. Whipped cream goes on top of the fruits sunk in to the vanilla custard.
9. Repeat the layers: biscuit crumbs, fruits, whipped cream as often as you like and your bowl permits you.
10. Finish with whipped cream.
11. Scoop out nice bits from the cold jelly to decorate the top.
12. Add other decoration ad libitum.

We had the trifle in the fridge over night. That way, all the flavours could come together really nicely and the biscuits got beautifully soaked, smooth and yummy, just like a rich cake. Thanks for the idea and making this with me! – Oh, and: I’ll better get the 3000 clicks you promised me!

The roses in the foreground I got for 8th of March, the International Women’s Day. I only learned about this day after the German reunification – our crèche kindergarteners from the former GDR celebrated it. Flowers for 8th of March is what happens when you find yourself an Eastern European male family member. One of the benefits of these types of husbands: flowers on International Women’s Day.

In fact: not only men give flowers to women. A great lady, whose blog I love to read and who’s images I love to look at is Irena from Irena&dots. She gave flowers to the ladies on 8th of March! Irena is located very central in Europe. She’s blogging from a country, that used to be “East” when we still had an iron curtain dividing our continent. “East” = manners = flowers for International Women’s Day for all the ladies!

On March the 8th Irena nominated me for the Super Sweet Blogging Award. These awards work like a chain-letter. They engage you in to a lovely afternoon of reading, exploring new blogs, getting new ideas and a bunch of inspiration and meeting new people and their worlds online. – So: Thank you Irena for nominating me and making me part of this! Here’s my list of what I read and recommend a.k.a. my “nominees for the Super Sweet Blogging Award”:

1. Irena&dots – I know the people who nominated you are not supposed to be here, but for me it’s a list of reading recommendations rather than a list of people I nominate. Visit Irena for wonderful images that come together with vegetarian and non vegetarian versions of one recipe. Small little texts just enough to read over a coffee give great extra inspiration. – No, she does not pay me to write this.
2. Nr.11 – I met Nr.11 via Irena&dots. Great, inspiring visuals, English kitchen baking, seasonal cooking, food for a small budget, but still delicious and amazing.
3. Rockfarmer – Food and environment posts. I tried making her excellent fruit scrap vinegar. it was a big success. All recipes are usually gluten-free and dairy product free.
4. Breakfasts @Components – Each second Sunday the creative platform Components takes us out to visit photographers, bloggers, artists and have breakfast with them. I love the “Breakfast with…” series and can only recommend! Absolutely my favorite breakfast spot since {365} Breakfasts moved from daily posting to archive only. Recipes only when the interviewed people add them!
5. Lottie+Doof – When I got there first, I read all through the blog for two days. Very creative, well written food blog with great images.
6. Hungry Foodies Pharmacy – Pharmacist by day and chef at night. Grown up in a restaurant and finished uni with a doctorate degree. Gluten free&vegan and roast pork&BBQ. I’m not a frequent reader, but love to stop by.
7. Frugal Feeding – Call me efficient, call me frugal, call me stingy – here I find many things I find inspiring in an economical use of resources…and everything on this page is delicious looking and tempting to read about…coz we wanna be resourceful but we don’t wanna give up daily pleasures, do we?
8. Things {We} Make – I tried many things from this blog, all my experiments were real winners. Love their brioche!
9. Liz&Jewels – Two friends from Münster/Germany and New York City/USA who used to live in one city together and now are cooking together across the ocean. 1 recipe / 1 story and 2 results / 2 amazing images. Definitely a read!
10. Valentinas Kochbuch – Cooking book reviews. Amazing. In German… but reviewing English language books here and there! They do not only review books, but are also cooking recipes from these books, interviewing cooks, writers and photographers… this page is definitely worth heading over for to Goole Translate!
11. Birds like Cake – This German language blog can be accessed via the”In English Please” Button on the page. Stunning images, mouth-watering recipes, great little stories. Gotta follow this!
12. Zimt Zucker  und Liebe – German language blog. To read it use the “In English please!” Button right on the page. – The best pear Tarte Tatin I ever saw! A must follow.
13. Missboulette – Korean and non Korean food, Kimchi goodness or should I say goddess?! Written by a German/Korean in…German.   …what a selfish list-maker I am!

Super Sweet Questions:

1. Cookies or Cake?     
Definitely cookies  a n d  cakes. 

2. Chocolate or Vanilla?
Chocolate eves, vanilla days.

3. What is your favorite sweet treat?
The first raspberries, strawberries and cherries in the garden each year.

4. When do you crave sweet things the most?
When having a tea with lots of milk in the evening getting ready for bed.

5. If you had a sweet nickname, what would it be?
Suggestions please in  the comments below…  

 {Last not least the rules of the Super Sweet Blogging Award: *1 Visit and thank the blogger who nominated you. *2 Acknowledge that blogger on your blog and link back. *3 Answer the “Super Sweet” questions. *4 Nominate a “Baker’s Dozen” ~ 13 ~ blogs, link to their pages in your post, and notify them on their sites. *5 Copy and paste the award on your blog somewhere.}

My answer was: Yes! Greece is a great place for your holidays. You will love it! The people are incredibly friendly, very open and extremely hospitable deep from the heart. The country seems to stand united despite of what we see from time to time in the news. I feel very safe, the garbage cleaning and street sweeping works heaps better than in southern Italy, people seem to stick together, try to get through this, help each other and do the best to get out of the ditch they are in.

Yes, there are many unemployed people in Greece. Over a quarter of the adult population has no work, not counting students, self-employed that are out of business and people in employment programs. But I have not seen one single person sleeping on the street during my visit. A sight I saw many times in New York and San Francisco.

I came in a rainy time of the year. The air is crisp and clear, but dark clouds are hanging above the city. – Yes it is hard for the weakest, pensioners and old people. Some of them I could meet when there was a festival event with a free lunch for us guests at the pier. Three or four ladies and one decent, well dressed elderly men came and enjoyed with us a free meal. But they seemed not devastated. They engaged with us guests, we chatted with hand and feet, their spirits seemed high.

I adore the strength to carry on and not let yourself down mentally. I’m not sure if I could do that myself.

It’s my very first time in Thessaloniki, in Macedonia, in Greece and I’m loving it.

At the airport on my way here I met a group of thirty teenage girls on their way back from skiing in the Austrian Zillertal.
I was slightly annoyed about the extra waiting time at the check in – 30 teens with overweight luggage right in front of me – man!
I also was slightly annoyed by skiing Greek people thinking myself “Why are they not at home helping others with their spare free time and spare money, showing solidarity with those suffering in their country?”
Last not least I had still a shocking article in mind, that  I had read about a month ago: an article in German SZ Magazin about the Greek health system. The line under the title read “Who needs a doctor can only wait“. It had shocking pictures, that moved me a lot. The journalist, a German man of Greek parents, visited emergency rooms in public hospitals and documented how they got to limit their opening times to four days a week, how patients have to travel extremely far to get help, how doctors and nurses have not received pay in months.

I was angry. Standing at the check-in, about to visit Greece for the first time in my life. I was angry, with the suffering I had seen on those pictures in my mind. I was angry about the economy and the skiing-tourists right in front of me. I wrote an angry article about solidarity.

Than I thought: You’re going to Greece for the first time in your life. You have no idea about this girls, no idea about the Greek health system and no idea in fact about Greece at all. At all! Perhaps the skiing teachers organizing the trip are long-term unemployed people who took their chances, showed initiative, as everyone is demanding so often. Perhaps they just opened a business and thank God it’s going well! Perhaps these girls won a competition with their school and got a free holiday! Perhaps they are the Greek olympic winter-sport squad! Perhaps they are not Greek at all! How do I know?
I only learned so far Kalimera – which means Good Morning and Phareesto meaning Thank You – how can I dare standing at the check-in counter and judge?

I arrived at night.

Funny what our mind does with small bits of information and how we function, based on snippets our senses are grasping, forming them to assumptions, theories and last not least to our reality.

– I felt ashamed. I scrapped that angry article. I love it here. Come and see yourself.

My mum is born in 1946. Pretty much exactly one year after the war finished and two years before the Deutsche Mark brought hope and prosperity to the perpetrators, the victims, the refugees from former German territories and their children.

My mum had a loving family, her father was a calm and quiet man who never raised his voice and let us grandkids braid his hair during his coffee breaks.

One single time in my life, my mum has been beaten up by her father. It was the day she saw for the first time in her life oranges. They lured at her in her village’s shop.

She could not resist, and took one, leaving the shop without leaving any Pfennigs or Deutsche Marks there.

I too remember the one time that I stole something as a child. It was not oranges, but a Bazooka Joe chewing gum for 30 Pfennig. It had a tattoo in the wrapper. I often tried to return the 30 Pfennig to Wamsgans, the local place that I shoplifted. They never took my money.

I’m not sure how often my mum thinks about the orange. I do remember the one-and-only thefts of my own kids. And I will definitely never forget my mum’s story and the oranges.

All images are taken in Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece. It’s my first time here. I’m attending the Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival with a movie I shot. Yesterday it was rainy and today it’s sunny. I’m pretty sure there’ll be more to come from my trip.

Well, actually, still today I see emerging filmmakers trying to aim for Internet and Web series’, yes, I even shot myself some. I see TV stations try and reach out to the users…but…what shall I say:
No filmmakers out there in the Vlogo-Sphere.

In fact it’s my kids being the ones that keep me up to date. Grown up as “natives”, knowing how to browse the Net long before they could read or write, they consume next to cinema and VoD/DVD mainly content especially produced for the Internet. Being native German speakers, the boys even started watching American Youtubers long before they had English at school.

Y-Titty, 1.3 mio subscribers and 318 mio views as by today, are perhaps the most successful German Youtubers. They are known outside Germany/Switzerland and Austria mainly for their Goyte parody (there’s English subtitles, just you turn on the captions!).

Ok. Enough surfing. Back to my point. I mean: 1.3 mio subscribers! Any nationwide German newspaper can only dream of this! 318 mio views! For just about 200 videos! And Y-Titty is only group one of many. And there’s not only parodies. There’s Let’s Plays (commented computer games recorded whilst the makers are playing), there’s great and smart comedy, done by self-doubting clever artists (or is it unemployed middle-aged people!?) with a very amazing black humor like Dr. Allwissend, there are shameless promotions of course and companies wanting to jump on the band-wagon trying more or less successfully to play the viral game…

…and:

…there’s the unpredicted hypes, nobody would have ever thought of. The attention every marketing director and film school student is dreaming about. You all heard definitely about Gangnam Style. Well, that was yesterday and is oh so 2012!

What the world is on to now is the Harlem Shake.

There’s entire Youtube “Best Of” playlists, there are companies and unis doing it, there’s animated versions, Minecraft Harlem Shake and of course the first pretty funny anti-Harlem Shake videos by Harlem Shake haters.

The first type of Harlem Shake videos was uploaded on February the 2nd, 2013, by some teenagers. The little clips all over the Net are all done the same way and only about 30 seconds long. Today, February 22nd, not even three weeks later, it’s a hype with several major companies “Harlem Shaking” and the song Harlem Shake by US  DJ Baauer, that was no commercial success since its release in Summer 2012 and that the videos are based on, was sky-rocketed up to be the current Billboard Hot 100 as well as Dance/Electronic Songs number 1 hit in the US.

I’m such a big fan of the commons, and this is another example for them to work. The song has been released as a free download. and only when people took it and reused it – unauthorised – it became a commercial success.

The biggest success so far is with the Scandinavians. The best image improvement any army can make, the Norwegian Army gets it all for free from a 19-year-old soldier, Kenneth Håkonsen, who filmed and put online a Harlem Shake with his Norwegian Army squad. – Could not more armies be that way? Best during war times…it would force the world’s leaders to find other solutions than sending simply an army over…

Oh and in case you thought, only non-serious funny stuff can make it viral on the Internet, watch this here. Science! – Two quadrocopters capable of balancing, throwing and catching a pole by IDSC, ETH Zürich, Switzerland. Over 600.000 clicks in less than three days.

http://youtu.be/pp89tTDxXuI