Top-down-approach

I've been wanting to post this for ages, but then I did choose not to. Why? Maybe at first the reason is not entirely obvious - some random stairs in some random forest - why should or shouldn't one bother to publish the pictures? Well, the it is kinda straightforward (once known) and a little bit egoistic:

I did not want to scare off my visitors!

Because what you see on these pictures is the only way to get from my room to the train and vice versa, whenever there is no bus (which is on weekdays after 9pm, on sundays, holidays, or when there is yet another strike)...which makes it a close to daily (or nightly, for that matter) experience for people living or working on the campus.

So chances are that one is taking these wonderful stairs at least once when coming to visit (and, no, I was not joking, nor encouraging eco-tourism when I asked if you had a big rucksack ;).

Funnily enough, no-one really bothers informing you about this 'fact' when you prepare your stay at the university, so the first ascension is literally a lot of 'fun', especially if you bring a lot of luggage.. I have seen quite a few people dragging huge suitcases up and down, so the way is lined with the odd cracked stair, or some suitcase handles.

I suppose, so far I do not sound too positive about the whole thing.. but I'd like to stress that - given enough time till the next train departure, and maybe no rain - I quite like the walk DOWN there (on which I had enough breath to hold the camera and take non-shaky pictures..) as there are a lot of birds singing, one can meet echses and hedgehogs, and the wind blowing through the trees is really pleasantly refreshing. So in fact, I appreciate the peacefulness of this walk and prefer it a lot over the bus!

The only part which I don't like is this last bit, and if you look closely, you can see that there are no stairs.. just gaps in the concrete. At first one would think ' how pleasant', but with casual shoes things can get tricky: the whole thing is quite steep and extremely slippery even without rain.. (and maybe you see the 'solution' to the problem on the right side of the pic: they added a handrail!!!) apart from that, the irregularity of the steps and gaps really need some practice and a good eye.
So equipment in this case matters - especially if you have less than 10 minutes to catch your train...

Your mistakes are your friends

Yesterday in a completely crammed tram I witnessed an impressive interpretation of this phrase.

Next to me a woman was sitting, listening to some music (not exactly my style, but never mind ;). Opposite was another woman, which suddenly turned towards my neighbour, asking: "Sorry for disturbing, but where did you get this nice player? It's so cool and small, just to clip it to the jacket!" - The other one was a bit startled but told her this was the ipod shuffle and the shop where she got it from.

The woman took out some really colourful book and a calligraphy pen (with violet ink!), wrote down "ipod schaffel, saturn", looked a bit doubtful and showed it to the other one - "Like this?" When the other woman corrected her, I expected her to cross out her 'silly' writing, as i would have done. But instead she smiled to herself, chuckled, and drew a heart shape around it!

Sounds very trivial, but the moment was so impressive that the woman next to me and myself exchanged surprised glances. It's just not so common to deal with these kind of mistakes in that way, even though some wise people keep advising it very convincingly.

off track

sittng in the underground or train these days i get funny thoughts about life. i don't know why, but somehow at times the world just seems to pass me by. it is as if everything is moving in a certain way, just i don't know the rules so i stay where i am. very strange feeling (but then very much the feeling of being in transit in a train for example. you stay still but still everything around you is moving on..). i wonder though if this effect is coming through in the rest of my life? maybe being on the train is deeply influencing my subconscious?

maybe i should stop breaking routines all the time. it just causes confusion, because nothing can be relied on. but then, going accross all the time could also be a way of getting along - just always as a stranger.

beauty in transit

Washington DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approx 2 thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After 3 minutes a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.

4 minutes later:
the violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the till and, without stopping, continued to walk.

6 minutes:
A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

10 minutes:
A 3 year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly, as the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception, forced them to move on.

45 minutes:
The musician played. Only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace.
He collected $32.

1 hour:
He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.

This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people’s priorities. The questions raised: in a common place environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ….

How many other things are we missing?

For the full report check Washington Post online. I read the text on http://blog.coldewey.com/allgemein/2009/07/03/einfach-zum-nachdenken/

no space pictures

i realised that i find taking pictures most interesting when being in transit - somewhere on my way between some 2 well defined locations. maybe it's because i know that what my camera catches is something which does not really exist like that in the 'normal' world and which is unlikely to be observed again in exactly the same way - a transition between different states of existence

Thoughts picked up on the way

Komik ist Tragik in Spiegelschrift...

[Freundeskreis - A.N.N.A]

I am not my hair
I am not this skin
I am not your expectations, no, no
I am not my hair
I am not this skin
I am a soul that lives within

[India.Arie - I am not my hair]

tram to russia

hadn't it been for the tram driver shouting at people to clear the doors in most original bavarian, I truly would have believed this tram travelling to some russian city. it seemed highly bizarre that on a half hour's ride each group of people that entered the train started to speak in russian, on the phone, to each other...
it was like in a science fiction movie, where everything at first seems to be as always, until one notices that in fact under the surface everything is substantially different.