Family Blog

Yesterday Manuel and Andrew from Wisconsin came to visit us and to join the choir practice. In the afternoon we went to Esslingen to the Middle Age Christmas Market. It was very busy and you could here also French or Italian voices on the market.

It was a very nice atmosphere between the old buildings and you could the feeling that you are in the middle age when you go the market stalls. You could see market stalls with mouse roulette or other games, do archery or could buy something to drink or to eat. Even a little Ferries was on the market - manually driven and only for children.

Today I did it - I deleted my profile on Facebook. I was in Facebook since 2007 and in the last 2 year I felt that I lost the control about my data in Facebook. In the beginning you had some kind of privacy but not now. So I decided to quit my virtual life in FB and to return real life.

This week Manuel has an interview in the "Badische Zeitung" about the transfer from a soccer player of the FC Freiburg. Here's the link to the article.

Long time it was quit on Manuel's blog. But now he started a new one "Comprehending the Word ...". It is more a political blog with some facts around the world.

2012 is once again a year when the world goes down. But until then there is still time for some good resolutions this year, as there would be:

• more sport (at least 2 hours per week),
• begin with app development for iPhone and iPad
• say goodbye to Facebook.

Especially the last point would be hard, because Facebook has its advantages. So I don't know if I really will quit it, but there are some points that bother me. Especially that you don't know what happens with your data and that FB takes no (or less) notice of your "privacy".

Happy New Year

Christmas with palm trees - does that work? I don't know but for Carmen it is her first christmas in a foreign country, in Australia. She will spend some days with my sister and her friend and I think she will enjoy some quit days.

We will go in a few minutes to the Stiftskirche (main church in Stuttgart) where Manuel and Philip will sing together with the Hymnus Choir before we will go back home and celebrate the holy night.



Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

This week I received a package from Iran. When I opened it there were two pakets of gaz inside. Gaz is a white kind of nougat and tastes delicious - a kind of early Christmas present. As my friend in Isfahan told me she thought it would take several weeks from Iran to Germany. This was also my experience when I sent a postcard from New York to Iran. It seems that the post from Iran to Germany is much faster as from USA to Iran.

My friend told me also that the Zayandeh Rud (the river through Isfahan) has no water inside. When we were in Isfahan in May the river was dry. Here in Germany it hasn't rained since one month and some rivers like the Rhine have only a quarter of the normal water level.

Continued from: Merivan - Kermanshah

After breakfast we visited the reliefs from Kermanshah (Taq-e Bostan). Our local guide as again very interested about our opinion about the Iran. Iran is a country where over 4000 years ago the first brain surgery had taken place. And we should judge Iran not by the political leadership but by the people (and don't confuse them with the Arabs!).

Next object of interest was an over 100 year old house where the governor lived in former times. Impressive was not only the Hall of Mirrors but also the sophisticated architecture. The architects in former times knew how to keep the climate cool and nice without any technical equipment. Unfortunately it seems that this knowlegde is lost if you see the modern hotels where we were.

After that we wanted to visit the Relief and Inscription of Darius, a World Heritage of the Iran. But unfortunately this highlight is closed for the moment because a German professor examins the level of the pollution of this heritage. But also the other attractions like Farkad Toras or caravanserai were it worth to visit this place.

In the evening we wanted to go into the Ali-Sadr Cave but we were to late. But the restaurant were still open an I tried an Iranian cuisine, "Dizzie" (I don't know how it is written but this is the pronunciation).

Again we reached our next hotel (Baba Taher Hotel, babetaher-hotel@yahoo.com) in Hamedan in the dark. What I noticed in the hotel room were the telephones - an application from the "Deutsche Bundespost" with a dial which I knew very good from the beginning of my career at Alcatel SEL.

Next section: Hamadan - Isfahan

Yesterday we went to the cabaret "Die Galgenstricke". This cabaret in my home town Esslingen was a wine-cellar in former times and it was over 20 years ago that I was there with my wife. Reiner Kröhnert was on the program where we also haven't seen since 20 years. In some respects the event yesterday was a journey back to the past and it was a funny and thoughtful evening.