When you come to our running group you have to be more or less on time. If you are late, the group has left. If that happens you have two possibilities: You run on your own, following the chalk marks, and hope to catch up. If you’re slow or lazy, you can phone the hare (the person who has laid the trail) and get a location where you can find the pack an run (or walk) straight to that location avoiding the meanderings of the trail and possible falsies.
Now there was this young, fit and energetic US American who was notoriously late. He’d phone the hare and 10 minutes later he would arrive in a taxi to join the pack for the rest of the trail. Needless to say, he was known as “Comes in Taxis”.
A few years ago my husband and I were invited to the wedding of two Arab friends. He is from Syria, she from Iraq. The wedding was a rather large Arabic affair, with family and friends and acquaintances.
I knew that the traditional wedding gift at an Arabic wedding is money. The German soul in me has always balked at giving money as a present. On the odd occasion that I couldn’t avoid it I felt obliged wrap it and disguise it nicely and not just hand over the bills.
So there we were at the venue, the couple was sitting on an elevated dais and the wedding guests stepped up to congratulate them and give them their gift. There I was clutching this red literal piggy-bank when it suddenly struck me that a pig would be the most inappropriate present. I remember once dropping my keyfob (a pink pig) in class and the reaction I got from my students. From our time in Saudi Arabia I know that anything porcine, even a drawing or just the written word, makes them uncomfortable. (I blogged about the incident in 2016, if you want to read the whole post, you can find it here. Please note: I write in English and German and the English version is at the bottom of the post.) I got up with red blotches forming on my cheeks, retreated to the bathroom, fumbled the money out of the pig and packed it clumsily in my rather small purse. We handed over the money, in bills, without pretense. Peccadillo averted at the last minute.
At the German Dragon Museum in Lindenfels they have a Tyrannosaurus Rex’ skull. If these teeth aren’t SUPERSIZE, I don’t know what is. And although it is only the cast of a skull, it is protected against THEFT. In the end, is a DINOSAUR not … Continue reading Supersized or Bearded – It’s all just a Dragon to Me
A bit of amphibian erotica. Some real action at the reptile zoo. There was a time when I couldn’t go to a zoo or animal enclosure without seeing animals at it: monkeys, apes, elephants, lions, chicken, ostriches (remarkable, btw) – you name it, I’ve seen … Continue reading Lights, Camera, Action
to install these things: I’m happy to see that plumbers have added solar panels to their repertoire. And can I tell you that a plumber in German is called a “Installateur”. FOWC with Fandango: Install
pictures imperfect blog 