wow wow wow

You guys,

just came back from a business trip in Northern Germany and I have so much to tell you.

One good thing that happened: Without asking about it, my boss told me I had passed the probation time ahead of time (regularly ending by September 1st). My slight paranoia does not really allow me to believe, I am afraid to jinx having a chance for a little bit of stability so I will give it full happiness on Sept 2nd.

Does anybody know who the lady on the picture is? Enjoy KYLIE in her latest video wow wow wow The video kids is much nicer I think, but "wow" will always remind me of Berlin i bet :)

Chronologically, ok. Last week, I went from work in Northern Germany directly to Berlin. Boy, are we grown-ups now: it used to be sharing cars with strangers and nice talks due to the low fare. and now, in casual business attire, take the rented car by the company, listen to Kylie, Coldplay and Rage against the machine enjoying the landscape and seeing your dear friends soon.

Bea went to the airport and it was so good to see her! First story of the trip: we were standing a couple of meters away from each other and my brain must have in in snooze-mode, it took me a while to figure out where I was, I couldn´t find her. But in the end we made it :)

We thought about taking pictures for you guys, but in between we were so tired... me from work, and Bea and Christian from working and taking the cutest care of their daughter. Foto session will be in place next time, I will try my best!

Last time I saw Greta she started smiling. And now she actually understands what we are saying! Ask her where her belly is she will look for it in her shirt! During the weekend we were worried about her, but it turns out that we all went through the same stuff in phases, so thank God everything is alright, "it´s just a phase" is herewith biologically proven!

Bea and Christian, I cannot get tired of telling you this, you are doing a great thing and I admire your patience! Not being used to typical family dynamics with a one-year-old-child, I think I lost it once, but I hope I wasn´t too strange, I did not really get it myself.

Oh, and now that I have a moment to think about it: Beatrix is the loveliest birthday girl I know! A big smile is already part of her, but her birthdays are so cool, it is lovely to see... So on Friday it was her day and I had the honour of joining with her family in Berlin for a BBQ. A nice family, masses of great food, a hilarious dog (his name is Kurt and we had a rocky start, but watching him from afar was so cool).

So many further things to tell (Bea, I will have to check out the Flamenco singer, !qué bombón!)

A big hug and thank you guys so much for this weekend!

To all of you, hope to see you soon and enjoy life!
Besitos,
Birgit

my *?")(§/%$§ family

I am so mad.

Just came home from Berlin, with good news for all of you guys and now this.

Five steps to anger:

1. shun one part of the family for a year already because they are being disrespectful to you in so many ways and in a specific
case they won´t even apologize.
2. Come from a trip and be happy before the following occurs.
3. Open the outer door to the house.
4. Open the mailbox.
5. Find a note from your stupid stepmother (which always is bad news).

I will not bother you with the details, but this time she really crossed a line.
I am so angry, I cannot describe it.

So my question to you: how to annoy the hell out of her. Right now, the f-word is in my mind, that´s what she is supposed to do to herself. When did this family get the right to be mean to me?

Berlin is close - viva la vida!

Dear all,

as you can see I have a thing for Pablo Neruda.

Bea reminded me of the fun it is sitting in front of the laptop, letting my mind wander for a minute and writing for and to all of you.

Well my little absence of messages (apart from Pablo of course) had several reasons. So many thoughts in my head. About work-tasks. One friend has started a new job, some of you are involved in finishing something huge you have started. 

here between Köln and Northern Germany, mundane things:  trying to figure out a new pilates exercise without ending up like a knot, I started working out every day again and feel so much better (Roberta calls that feeling "elastic" and I think that is a great way of describing it). Studying small piano pieces. Or Gazpacho when it´s hot outside.

you see, so many things.

But mostly breathing in and out whenever I get nervous, upset or happy. And further to rainbows there are songs like this one: the car I was driving was VERY well equipped and I think everybody around me was forced to hear it on the highway :) coldplay - viva la vida

And going to Berlin next week is so much better even! Beatrix, Christian, Greta and me will try to provide you with fotos :)
I am so happy to see them. 

A big hug and hasta pronto,

B

yesterday I saw my first chestnut this year...

...

Ode To a Chestnut on the Ground (Pablo again)

From bristly foliage
you fell
complete, polished wood, gleaming mahogany,
as perfect
as a violin newly
born of the treetops,
that falling
offers its sealed-in gifts,
the hidden sweetness
that grew in secret
amid birds and leaves,
a model of form,
kin to wood and flour,
an oval instrument
that holds within it
intact delight, an edible rose.
In the heights you abandoned
the sea-urchin burr
that parted its spines
in the light of the chestnut tree;
through that slit
you glimpsed the world,
birds
bursting with syllables,
starry
dew
below,
the heads of boys
and girls,
grasses stirring restlessly,
smoke rising, rising.
You made your decision,
chestnut, and leaped to earth,
burnished and ready,
firm and smooth
as the small breasts
of the islands of America.
You fell,
you struck
the ground,
but
nothing happened,
the grass
still stirred, the old
chestnut sighed with the mouths
of a forest of trees,
a red leaf of autumn fell,
resolutely, the hours marched on
across the earth.
Because you are
only
a seed,
chestnut tree, autumn, earth,
water, heights, silence
prepared the germ,
the floury density,
the maternal eyelids
that buried will again
open toward the heights
the simple majesty of foliage,
the dark damp plan
of new roots,
the ancient but new dimensions
of another chestnut tree in the earth.

http://sunsite.dcc.uchile.cl/chile/misc/odas.html#Ode%20To%20a%20Chestnut%20on%20the%20Ground

Ode To Tomatoes (Pablo Neruda)

The street
filled with tomatoes
midday,
summer,
light is
halved
like
a
tomato,
its juice
runs
through the streets.
In December,
unabated,
the tomato
invades
the kitchen,
it enters at lunchtime,
takes
its ease
on countertops,
among glasses,
butter dishes,
blue saltcellars.
It sheds
its own light,
benign majesty.
Unfortunately, we must
murder it:
the knife
sinks
into living flesh,
red
viscera,
a cool
sun,
profound,
inexhausible,
populates the salads
of Chile,
happily, it is wed
to the clear onion,
and to celebrate the union
we
pour
oil,
essential
child of the olive,
onto its halved hemispheres,
pepper
adds
its fragrance,
salt, its magnetism;
it is the wedding
of the day,
parsley
hoists
its flag,
potatoes
bubble vigorously,
the aroma
of the roast
knocks
at the door,
it's time!
come on!
and, on
the table, at the midpoint
of summer,
the tomato,
star of earth,
recurrent
and fertile
star,
displays
its convolutions,
its canals,
its remarkable amplitude
and abundance,
no pit,
no husk,
no leaves or thorns,
the tomato offers
its gift
of fiery color
and cool completeness.

http://www.soupsong.com/ftomato2.html

this is the 99th blog entry plus a tale about rainbows

Dear all,

it´s such fun communicating with you, I enjoy this and I do you hope tooo!!!!!

I have to mention something beautiful. On Tuesday on the motorway, I felt really sad for the one or other reason and was about to wallow in self-pity. That day, I found out that there seems to be a heavenly system sometimes!

Years ago, when I moved my stuff from Rome to Bonn, I was driving in a car missing Southern Europe and being scared of what was ahead and almost in front of my new home, a GIANT and very near rainbow was lifting up my spirit.

That hasn´t happened in a while until two month ago I thought I would never be able to adapt to my new professional position (not to mention the private one) and I found a new heavenly sign right in front of me in the fields next to the train that day. I took a foto with my cell and still need to get it ouf of there so I can share happiness with you.

And on Tuesday again, it was so beautiful I had to stop the car.

Do you guys have such signs or strange occurrences?

Apart form that, I found very nice people from southern America and Spain which is at minimum as uplifting as rainbows or joining my new friends to see them perfoming Tango, reciting their own poems in my preferred language and culture.

Or writing a few lines for you guys.