Supernele

I consider myself lucky having a lot of people around me who take care of me. Everywhere I go people try to look out for me, help me with small things and show me love. Like this I am always protected and usually in a safe mode. Love is visible in details. Now that I am locked in my cave during the final stage of my project, I am lucky to receive encouraging emails from all over the world, friendly phone calls and every now and then a surprise in the mailbox. Even if there is not enough time to have an actual conversation my friends send me love. Somebody makes dinner, another one brings chocolate and sometimes I get a hug here and there. I really need this at the moment to stay happy and sane and I do not even need to ask for it. Thank you!

made a video to keep me happy!

In Oslo

This year I have to choose between Christmas and New Years. That means, due to my due date for the thesis I can’t go home for both holidays. It would just take to much time and I would not be studying enough and then I would horribly fail in my profession and nobody would ever love me again. I would be unloved and homeless. So I decided to stay in the cold country for Christmas and go party in Berlin for New Years. For one night only. Luckily, I know warm people in the cold country who will host me for Christmas Eve and I will be dancing around the Christmas tree to Egyptian music. I can’t wait, it sounds like a lot of fun. Also looking very much forward to New Years Eve because it will be my first real party after working hard for three months. I hope it will energize me for the last two weeks of writing and studying.

I left facebook yesterday for good. Aside from the addictiveness that it causes I got annoyed by the absurd amount of surveillance of the company. Reactions to my decision to abandon (one component of) social media by colleagues and friends were weirdly above my expectations. I did not know that everybody is already so used to it that it might be seen as offensive to leave this social network. I felt a little bit like somebody who quit smoking  but still wanting to hang out in the smokers corner.

The first day without facebook felt a little bit like the time that I put the TV in the basement because I felt it was keeping me away from life. So much more free time. It made me start reading the awkward new book by Charlotte Roche.

My younger brother is on a trip in Erbil which is in the Kurdish part of Iraq. Kurds are the biggest group of people without an actual state. It is about 40 million Kurds all over the world who originally came from an area that is now split up between Iraq, Turkey, Syria and Iran. Many had to leave their homes in order to stay save and alive. When you meet Kurds now in Europe they usually say that they are Kurdish and then mention the country they are coming from. One of my most beautiful friends in Oslo is Kurdish and sometimes tells me about her people, when I ask her. If you are able to read German take a look at a Geeks travelling experience in Erbil.http://enno.verbrennung.org

This was a couple of years ago. I remember the first time I saw that I was logged into Google with an account. I made this account to watch YouTube videos but was not aware that I have been logged in since. I was surprised to see that I was still logged in and thought that like this all my google searches are recorded in order to customize advertising. Totally not thinking about that my IP address is already enough to see that it is me. In the beginning I always logged out of Google before I started my searches. After a while I did not care any more. Even found it annoying when I had to log in again on YouTube.
When I got my Google phone I started using Gchat to be in touch with one of my best friends. She is the only person I Gchat with. We speak several languages and it happens that we get advertising in more than three languages on the side bar when we use it from our laptops. Exactly the languages that we speak. At least two of them are not spoken by many people.
I use Google maps at home and on my phone. At the weekend I looked up an address on my computer at home and later used the map on my phone. My phone already knew where I wanted to go to. I am not surprised any more and find it convenient and disturbing at the same time. From being paranoid to a disturbing acceptance in just a couple of years. Congratulations.

I have a really nice collection of bouncing balls. I started it many years ago and the majority of the collection is in my mothers attic at the moment. Somehow, I did not priorities bouncing balls when moving to Oslo. Fortunately, Fabi brought me some of them when he came to visit a couple of years ago. My bouncing ball collection is steadily increasing. There was a time when other people helped me and brought rare objects. Since I am now surrounded by mostly conform people this is not happening any more. Lately, I am just adding new objects every now and then when I find an extraordinary amazing and unique example. Surprisingly the best bouncing balls can be found in museums souvenir shops. Somehow, in many of these shops – no matter if natural history, space or art museum- have a good selection. In my room I keep an old ladies purse completely full with my most favourite models. Now I heard (via fh) that there is a bouncing balls championship in berlin which sounds amazing! http://flummiopen.tumblr.com

At the weekend I was talking to some local friends after we have moved furniture into a new apartment. Not my new apartment, I am not planning to move until I leave the country. A discussion evolved around recycling. In some parts of Oslo you have more opportunities to recycle than in others. In Germany people recycle all the time and everything. At least a lot more than anywhere else that I lived at. People take it serious and I remember passive aggressive signs at the garbage bin that instructed neighbours not to through the wrong garbage into the bins. There are mostly five bins for different garbage. Speaking of environmental things, I mentioned the complaints of family and friends at home that have to deal with my ignorance and tell me to turn off the light when I leave a room. In Norway you leave the light on and in entrance halls and stairways the light is on 24 hours. I got used to that. Now after summer holidays I recognize Germans coming back to work by the mere fact that the light is being turned off in the xerox room. My friends told me that they also observed our German co-workers not turning on the light in their offices. Thinking about it, I agree. They just turn on the light if it is really necessary and rather sit in the dark. I think this is not connected to stinginess, after all we don’t pay for light usage at work, but rather because German kids get trained to live environmental friendly from an early age. This training is so strong that people stick to it for the rest of their lives. I do understand that sitting in the darkness appears to be weird to others.