Strange World...

Why is there so much hatred against Israel? It is a small country, the only democratic one in the Middle East and constantly in danger of being overrun by its neighbors most of whom deny this country the right to exist. Despite its faults and political errors (which are not worse than those of most countries in the west none of which is in such a dangerous situation) it should have the sympathy and support of all democratic countries and people. Instead one gets the impression that Israel must be one of the worst human rights violators in the world and the biggest threat to world peace! This is completely incomprehensible to me - unless, as a German journalist once put it, Israel is said to be the biggest threat to world peace, because it is a thorn in the side of those who are really the biggest threat to world peace, but naming these people / countries is politically incorrect and dangerous, too... It is not dangerous to demonstrate against Israel, because they do not send their terrorists out for suicide attacks on civilians in western countries - others do and therefore it is probably better to appease those by bashing Israel!

London Impressions April 2010

Home Again

On Friday evening we returned from our London trip and meanwhile I have also returned home mentally (after our trip to Armenia last year it had taken weeks to get my brain set on “home” again). We had a great time and I was happy to see the town again after 22 years (I do not count a very short visit in 2005 when I wasn’t able to see much of it). Many things have changed, but the megacity atmosphere which I enjoyed so much during my year there was still the same. Also the weather was nice most of the time (except one day with rain). Hermann was very impressed and found London “addictive” – I completely agree on that ;) If there is one place I would really find it perfect to live it is this crazy megacity!

Our House

It is "inofficially" sold now, and we hope that it will be "official" very soon. Before this will happen, though, we will enjoy a week in London, so I now say Happy Easter already to those who celebrate it!

Waiting...

After having resolved on taking up a loan to buy our new apartment everything is now on hold again. The reason is that last Monday we had visitors who are very likely to buy our house. If they do we don't need the loan. We hope that they will finally decide in the course of this week, because we can hardly wait to move forward and therefore we need to know as soon as possible whether we will have to take up the loan or not. Our plans are to buy our new apartment in April, so that the necessary renovation and maintenance can be started soon and we will be able to move sometime in May or June and enjoy the summer in our new home already :)

Getting Started

Even though our house is not sold yet we now decided to start the procedure to buy the new apartment and have it renovated, so that we will be able to move sometime in May or June, depending how long it takes. Of course we have to take up a loan until our house is sold, but that is far better than remaining here probably another six months or longer being unable to plan and probably even risk to lose the apartment we are intending to buy. If we were still living in the house towards winter we also would have to buy heating oil again. So there would be many disadvantages and almost no advantages (or none at all) if we stayed here.

Spring Cleaning

By the beginning of last week, as the snow had started melting, I suddenly felt like doing spring cleaning. That is, my mind felt it, but my body was on strike again for four days due to low blood pressure. On Thursday afternoon I finally felt well enough to start. Meanwhile it is almost finished, except for the windows, but as it has now become colder again (for tomorrow they are even predicting snow) this has to wait. I’m not going to catch myself a cold for clean windows!

A Tragic Story

I read through this book almost without putting it down. It is the beautiful but sad memoir by Turkish human rights lawyer Fethiye Çetin on her grandmother.

Here is the description from the cover:

When Fethiye Çetin was growing up in the small Turkish town of Maden, she knew her grandmother as a happy and universally respected Muslim housewife. It would be decades before her grandmother told her the truth: that she was by birth a Christian and an Armenian, that her name was not Seher but Heranuş, that most of the men in her village had been slaughtered in 1915, that she, along with most of the women and children, had been sent on a death march. She had been saved (and torn from her mother’s arms) by the Turkish gendarme captain who went on to adopt her. But she knew she still had family in America. Could Fethiye help her find her lost relations before she died?

There are an estimated two million Turks whose grandparents could tell them similar stories. But in a country that maintains the Armenian massacres never happened, such talk can be dangerous. In her heart-wrenching memoir, Fethiye Çetin breaks the silence.

Another Week...

… has gone by – time goes too fast sometimes. I have been busy with several things, particularly with a new website I’m creating for an elementary school. The principal is a member of my former church, and as obviously none of the teachers or parents at the school is able or willing to create a site and I have also created the church’s website he asked me if I was willing to do it. Of course I said yes! I don’t know what I will get for it (not much to be sure, schools in Germany usually do not have a very high budget, and they’d rather spend it for the children), but that is not something I care about. I enjoy creating websites, especially when it is for a good cause :)

Movie Evenings

The carnival season is in full swing now and therefore Hermann has to spend many evenings at the various events for the newspaper he is working for. This means that I’m alone at home all those evenings which gives me the opportunity to watch movies that Hermann wouldn’t want to watch – like the Jane Austen adaptations, for example. In his opinion, nothing ever happens in those movies *lol*

Yesterday I watched “Pride and Prejudice”, the famous BBC adaptation of 1995 with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth. It is so beautifully made – just right for a romantic evening on one’s own ;)