Relationship

"The closest relationship I have is my Blackberry ...

Thank God, It's vibrating !"

Hot Chip - One Life Stand

one life stand

Tell me where you’ve been to
Nowhere that you shouldn’t do
tell me what you’re good for
I can tell you something too
Where have you been staying
tell me what you’re playing
Hope its not my conscious
You will always be my baby
(Keep on feeling)
I only wanna be your one life stand
(Keep on feeling)
Tell me do you stand by your whole man
(repeat)
Wishes keep remaining
Nothing will contain it
A balloon where they’re escapin’
Theres nothing but a play thing
Moments keep us guessing
And lead us from temptation
But better to embrace them
And measure our relation
(Keep on feeling)
I only wanna be your one life stand
(Keep on feeling)
Tell me do you stand by your whole man

Instantanés

Conversations

Christmas holidays are now. In this time of the year (but not only), It happens to be we lead commonplace conversations sometimes, with politeness, and It sometimes turn out boring. If you are one of those who have difficulty in making the conversation to strangers in this situation, here is some advices. But while you try hard to chat, how to be sure that the other one is interested in what you tell. In fact, the more a person is sociable, the more she knows how to hide her indifference for what you say to him or her. It is however rare to fall on people who look like really fascinated while you annoy them. Here are the signs which I try to identify when I want to know if "the current passes" with somebody. It is an approach which has nothing scientific. Studies were certainly realized on the subject, but in this particular case, I am only delivering you some observations which I made, in particular from my behavior when I’m bored and when I try to hide it: 1. Somebody who repeats "Ah well? Ah all right! It is interesting" Is not particularly interested in what you say. 2. people who are bored ask simple questions. "When did you move? Where did you go? "Those who are really interested in your life ask more complicated questions which show some curiosity, and not only some courtesy. 3. Though that to interrupt can seem to you rude, it is rather a good sign. It means that the person in front of you reacts to what you say. It indicates a certain interest. As well as... 4. Requests of precision. Somebody who is sincerely interested in what you tell will ask you to develop or to clarify certain points. "What does it mean?", "when did it arrive exactly?", "what did he answer you?" so many questions which prove that somebody tries to follow the thread of your speech. 5. Imbalance of the speaking time. I suspect that a lot of people believe naively that if they occupy 80 % of speaking time in a conversation, it is because their interlocutor finds them fascinating. It is sometimes true. In a discussion, the one who listens, registers a big quantity of information. When it is the case, the conversation is very enriching. But, generally, people who are interested in a subject have things to said about it. They want to express you their opinion, to deliver you information and make you share their own experience. If it is not what they make, they remain certainly silent in the hope that the conversation will end as quickly as possible. Or maybe that you do not let them speak ! I recently discussed with somebody who, though I found him fascinating, did not let me participate in the conversation. It was certainly an exchange which pleased me, but not as much as if it had been well balanced. 6. Sudden change of subject. Let us admit that you are speaking to somebody of the life of Winston Churchill and suddenly, your interlocutor asks to you: "then, how are your children?", it is the sign that he is not really interested in the life of Winston Churchill - maybe he is not listening to you at all. When I am confronted with this kind of rough change of subject, I have to fight against my desire to return to what I wanted to say. But because my interlocutor launched quite a different subject, it is evident that mine does not seem to him very captivating. 7. Physical behavior. Generally, people interested in the conversation of the other one stand face to face. The one who turns partially the back to his interlocutor does not kiss embrace the discussion in its total. In the same order of ideas, if you are in the situation of a speaker who try to know if your public is interested in what you tell, observe... 8. Posture of the public. In 1885, Sir Francis Galton wrote an entitled article The measurement of the of Fidget. He explains at first that people tend to sprawl when they are bored. So, a speaker can measure the degree of boredom of his public by estimating his verticality. On the other hand, attentive people flounder less than people who are bored. A public sat straight ahead and without moving is listening. The other are clearly distracted. I often remember myself the note of La Rochefoucauld: " we are bored almost always with those whom we annoy ". If I am bored, there is strong chances that the other one also is. Then it is time to change the subject.

Instantanés

Cinnamon stars

Christmas is nearly there and it is the right moment to cook these nice cinnamon biscuits in the canele with a the shape of a star.You will need:- 3 egg whites - 250g of caster sugar - 1 c.c. of cinnamon - 200g of powder of almond - 250g of powder of hazelnuts (I’ll try one day with some flour instead.Go up the white eggs, add the sugar, and put 3 c.s. of this preparation aside. Make the dough by mixing with the rest of ingredients. the dough (approximately 1 cm in thickness) and cut stars inside.Your oven preheated in 130 °, put in it the stars which you will have whitewashed with what you put aside. Cook 25mn. The dough must be still slightly wet when you take out the stars of the oven.

Peter Fox - Haus am See

The house by the lake

Hier bin ich gebor'n und laufe durch die Straßen!
Kenn die Gesichter, jedes Haus und jeden Laden!
Ich muss mal weg, kenn jede Taube hier beim Namen.
Daumen raus ich warte auf 'ne schicke Frau mit schnellem Wagen.
Die Sonne blendet alles fliegt vorbei.
Und die Welt hinter mir wird langsam klein.
Doch die Welt vor mir ist für mich gemacht!
Ich weiß sie wartet und ich hol sie ab!
Ich hab den Tag auf meiner Seite ich hab Rückenwind!
Ein Frauenchor am Straßenrand der für mich singt!
Ich lehne mich zurück und guck ins tiefe Blau,
schließ die Augen und lauf einfach gradeaus.
Und am Ende der Strasse steht ein Haus am See.
Orangenbaumblätter liegen auf dem Weg.
Ich hab 20 Kinder meine Frau ist schön.
Alle kommen vorbei ich brauch nie rauszugehen.
Im Traum gesehen, das Haus am See
Ich suche neues Land
Mit unbekannten Strassen, fremden Gesichtern und keiner kennt meinen Namen!
Alles gewinnen beim Spiel mit gezinkten Karten.
Alles verlieren, Gott zeigt seinen harten linken Haken.
Ich grabe Schätze aus im Schnee und Sand.
Und Frauen rauben mir jeden Verstand!
Doch irgendwann werd ich vom Glück verfolgt.
Und komm zurück mit beiden Taschen voll Gold.
Ich lad' die alten Vögel und Verwandten ein.
Und alle fang'n vor Freude an zu weinen.
Wir grillen, die Mamas kochen und wir saufen Schnaps.
Und feiern eine Woche jede Nacht.
Und der Mond scheint hell auf mein Haus am See.
Organgenbaumblätter liegen auf dem Weg.
Ich hab 20 Kinder meine Frau ist schön.
Alle kommen vorbei ich brauch nie rauszugehen.
Im Traum gesehen, das Haus am See
Und am Ende der Strasse steht ein Haus am See.
Organgenbaumblätter liegen auf dem Weg.
Ich hab 20 Kinder meine Frau ist schön.
Alle kommen vorbei ich brauch nie rauszugehen.
Hier bin ich gebor'n, hier werd ich begraben.
Hab taube Ohr'n, nen weißen Bart und sitz im Garten.
Meine 100 Enkel spielen Cricket auf'm Rasen.
Wenn ich so daran denke kann ich's eigentlich kaum erwarten.

Instantanés

Open your shirts

We cannot be accused of frivolity, but the male cut out the neck is back, during the last one Fashion Week of New York. Collars opened until the second or the third button, are again fashionable. But it is not to reveal carpet of hairs as in the 1970s, please. After the beardless years (1980s and 1990s), it is now fashionable that the shirt, or the T-shirt reveals some hairs, no more. The male cut out the neck already has a long history, in films in particular. In the 1920s, we appreciated Douglas Faibanks Sr's breast in The Thief of Bagdad or The Iron mask. Then the décoletté of Errol Flynn in 1938 in The Adventures of Robin Hood. In 1951, Marlon Brando lost his tee in A Streetcar named desire. And so on until John Travolta (Saturday night fever) in the 1970s, the golden age for the hair on the male breasts.. When I see how hard some men work out at the gym, it is as well logical that they again want to show the results of their work. For others, less provided or lazy, the plastic surgery is also a more and more popular alternative..

Le Recyclage de Luxe Show

Not invited

It is maybe the place the most secured to the world. That matter! Tareq and Michaele Salahi, a couple which wishes to become famous thanks to the reality tv managed to be embedded in the White House without invitation in a dinner given by Obama in honour of the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The information, revealed by photos on Facebook then relieved by Washington Post, arouses the debate: how is it possible that two persons without anybody pass straight ahead can meet themselves without being worried in the same room as the President of the first world power and Indian Prime Minister?? Secret services are on nerves, an investigation was launched. Apart of that, it is always impossible to take its toothpaste in the plane.

Instantanés

The best place where to bite somebody

Whatever of the main arteries. If you look for the efficiency - that is the best debit(flow) of blood - it is in the breast of your victim that it is necessary to plant your canine. Aim at the biggest artery, at the aorta, which brings some blood to all the parts of the body and can measure up to 26 millimeters. (On the other hand, the aorta being behind the heart, which is itself behind coast(ribs), if your canine are not very long and very sharp, forget.) such A bite will end certainly in the death of your victim. The second biggest artery of the human body is the femoral artery, which irrigates legs, and which you will prefer to cut a little below the groin. As for the aorta, difficult to prevent the victim from emptying of her blood, the diameter of the femoral artery making about that of the index - the victims by balls(bullets) got(touched) the groin survive generally only some minutes. The carotid arteries on both sides of the neck and the arteries radial roads at the level of wrists are also the guarantee of an important debit(flow) of blood. A vampire will have to drink certainly more if it bites into the bottom(stocking) of the neck, the primitive carotid artery dividing into two branches at the level of the jaw. But if you wish that your victim survives a bite, aim at veins. Contrary to the arteries which transport a big quantity of blood of the heart towards the body, veins bring the blood towards the heart, and in lesser quantity. It is thus simpler to prevent a lethal loss of blood further to a vein slashed rather than an artery. (If the blood spatters, it is because an artery was got(touched); for a vein, the debit(flow) of blood is regular and constant.) the most easily accessible veins are the jugular vein(chin strap), at the level of the neck, and the saphenous big vein which goes back up(raises) the thigh, just under the skin. Less dangerous than an arterial cut, a got(touched) main vein provokes nevertheless a rather important loss of blood and requires an immediate medical intervention. If you are a very careful vampire, you will prefer to suck the fingers of your victim, there where are capillaries. On average, a human body contains 5 liters of blood. We can lose approximately 15 % without feeling(smelling) really the difference - that's why we can give one liter of its blood without danger. In 30 %, the victim begins to be a little cold and the head which turns(shoots), his(her,its) heart rhythm accelerates, but at this stage(stadium) a transfusion is not compulsory. Between 30 and 40 % his(her,its) blood pressure goes down(tumbles), its heart rhythm gets into a panic and it is the state of shock, requiring a transfusion. Having said that, the maximal quantity of blood which a person can lose without succumbing for all that is very variable, with the age for example. The speed of the debit(flow) is also an important criterion; if the victim loses a lot of blood but rather slowly, she(it) has more luck(chance) to survive that if his(her,its) body empties at one go. . That you are A, B, AB or O, your blood will always have this metallic flavor thanks to the present iron in the haemoglobin - some people will say to you that that enjoys the copper. And although your victim ingests, that will change nothing. For example, his(her,its) blood will not be more sweetened after she(it) gobbled up two packages of Skittles. (Mosquitoes seem to estimate(appreciate) certain blood groups more than the others, but nothing to do with the taste, it is rather a question of chemical secretions.) Even the alcohol makes it nothing: the legal limit according to the Traffic rules is 0,05 %, and even if your victim presents an alcohol level to 0,4 % - and thus risk the death - that always represents less than a tenth of the degree of alcohol which contains Smirnoff Ice. To animals, the taste of the blood can vary: the blood of the pig is more bitter than that of the duck, and the blood of one goat(tackle) calls back(reminds) slightly the taste of its meat. These variants can thus have an incidence on the taste of flats(dishes) on base of blood, as the sausage, certain soups or still pancakes.

Instantanés

Harmony

I see ourselves in our house. It is a nice house, all ground floor. The house is big because we like to welcome our friends whenever they wish to pass by. The house has also a garden, not a plain boring one, it has valleys with a lot of trees and flowers. I like to garden and I know you like to be among trees and feel yourself near them. That is why we have a lot in the garden so you can arm them whenever you wish. It is a sunny place so I guess we don’t live in Germany anymore but somewhere by the sea. The friends who come like to spend time with us and when they come with their children, The house is vey living. That makes us very happy. It is like harmony. You like to play with the children and you always have nice ideas to keep them entertained and the children are very thankful to you for that. They are never bored with you ; you’re like a big child yourself. And that gives a bit time to the parents, our friends. The house is well decorated. A place which is like us. A mix of bright colours and calm thanks to the design. The colours of the walls are in violet, yellow, red when the floor is all stones and wood. The furniture are straight design with mat chrome frames and dark grey melange fabric. Some accessories brought back from trips we made together around the world and vases for the flowers picked up from the garden. Jicksaws fall into place and I like the feeling it brings. I hope you feel hamony too.

Instantanés

Straight kiss

In the political life, the kiss between men had formerly a certain success. I say : to kiss him on the mouth. Very often, it was the sign of alliance and harmony. It was naturally a heterosexual kiss. Symbolic example, the poem of Louis le Pieux, written near 828, which evokes an official meeting between the monarch and the pope Etienne : "then both, king and the respectable pontiff, kiss on eyes, on lips, on forehead, on breast, on neck. And hand in hand, interlaced fingers, César and Etienne go towards the white houses of the city ", then they go to Church to pray, and then to the palace to celebrate. Obviously, the kisses on the lips that exchange in public the pope and the king are not the mark of a passionate eroticism, a prelude of a crazy sex night. It is simply about ritual gestures intended to point out the harmony between two sovereigns, who intend to clearly show their alliance to each other. Also, in the medieval literature, it is very frequent that the knights kiss each other on the mouth to express their deep friendship : the examples are uncountable, and this gesture is not perceived as being necessarily a sign of "sexual abnormality". Having said that, in France, at the end of the Middle Ages, things go bad, as reveals it the affair of the Knight Templars. The story is well known : on Friday, October 13th, 1307, Philippe le Bel makes 140 members of the Order arrest, the Knight Templars being monks-soldiers who have for mission to save the Temple of Jerusalem at the time of the crusades. Number of them was put to death. We know Philippe le Bel's political and economic motivations, but the fact that we find the kiss on the mouth among the grievances used against the members of the Order, to strengthen the accusation, reveals that this gesture was already not perceived in the same way at this time : widely heterosexual rite until then, it began to be interpreted as a sign of homosexuality. The kiss between men was already in the era of the suspicion ; he entered henceforth the era of the condemnation. However, this practice continued to have certain success in some other countries, in Russia, then in Soviet Union, for example. Posters or photos do not miss, which show Brejnev, for example, kissing on the mouth such or such of his interlocutors during public meetings. But today, the political kiss between men is much less made in Russia because we know that this gesture could be interpreted in the West or somewhere else as a sign of homosexuality, what we want to avoid. We see that the evolution of the cultural codes requires an approach which is at once semiological and historical.

Instantanés

French-German friendship

There was a picture of François Mitterrand and Helmut Kohl hand in hand, in the ossuary of Douaumont, France, built in homage to the deaths of the battle of Verdun, on September 22nd, 1984. This picture became the symbol of the French-German reconciliation. There will be now Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy, on November 11th, 2009, in Paris. It is indeed the first time that a German leader of the government participated beside a French president in the remembrance of the armistice of the war of 1914-1918. Two days after having celebrated in Berlin twenty years of the fall of the Wall, Nicolas Sarkozy welcomes the German chancellor in Paris on Wednesday to celebrate the end of the Great War, during a ceremony conceived as a new episode of the French-German friendship. Friendship that Sarkozy qualified, in front of Merkel, Place de l’Etoile, as "treasure", wishing a "narrower association" of the politics of their two countries, " The friendship of Germany and France is a treasure. We owe to our relatives, who suffered so much, to make everything possible to protect and make big this treasure ", said the Head of State, "We owe it to all the peoples of the world". Angela Merkel had almost the same speech, and qualified the "reconciliation" and the French-German "friendship" as "a present ". She added: "the freedom on the European continent is a miracle, and we know very well how much it cost. " " This strength of the reconciliation allows us to face new challenges and to assume our responsibilities ", said Merkel. In the morning, the French President welcomes the Chancellor at the Elysee, where both of them joined the Arc de Triomphe. They have, together with a detachment of the French-German brigade and the pupils-officers of both armies, revive the flame of the grave of the unknown soldier and pronounce a short speech. Exceptional fact, the German hymn was played under the Arc de Triomphe. After the Marseillaise, the Choir of the French Army intoned Deutschlandlied, while Sarkozy and Merkel stayed in front of the grave of the unknown soldier. After the death last year of the last French “poilu” at the age of 110, Nicolas Sarkozy wished to make of November 11th, 2009 "one day of French-German reconciliation, to build a shared future". After difficult debuts, the relation between Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel knows since a few months a "honeymoon", which is translated by a multitude of common diplomatic initiatives. Both leaders should announce new initiatives to dope the French-German couple in January, at the occasion of the anniversary of the treaty of the Elysee signed in 1963 by Charles de Gaulle and Konrad Adenauer.

Instantanés

Tribute

Don’t forget that November 9th is in Germany the fall of the wall but also the cristal night of 1938. Since 20 years a woman, now 63 years old, clean the streets of the city of all the nazi propaganda, still existing in the city (but also in some other cities). With her "weapons", she fights an unlimited battle against the young neonazis, some pedestrians and, above all, the indifference. She walks all day long, scrutinizing street plates and walls. Hanging on her neck, a big camera, which allows her to establish archives. In the arm, a white cloth bag carrying the registration "Fight the Nazis " in wide white letters. She removed more than 80 000 stickers containing homophobic, anti-semitic or racist slogans. Her militant activity is not secured, because it underwent very numerous threats, and even prosecuted further to disputes with a safety guard. She assumes the malpractices which she is brought to commit, forced to penetrate into private ways to destroy some grafittis. Ironically, Nazis even threatened her with tags. Her"mission" began in summer 1986 near her house, when she discovered a sticker demanding Rudolf Hess's liberation, Nazi war criminal imprisoned to Spandau and emblem of the neo-Nazis. Contorted, she wants to tear away it, but cannot make it, her bus being on the departure. She returns that very evening, and removes the sticker. She did not stop any more this activity since. She also animates numerous educational conferences, and reports its fight by exhibitions which show the propaganda she eliminated. To establish a link between the historic events commemorated on November 9th, we also want to give an echo to the protest of Gottfried Wagner against the musical program of the day which celebrated the anniversary of the fall of the Wall. This great-grandson of the composer Richard Wagner protests against the inclusion of the opening of the opera " Lohengrin ", created by his ancestor, during the official concert of celebrations. Musicologist and indefatigable militating antifascist, he reminds that nationalism and anti-Semitism of his grandfather, precursor of the Nazism, as well as shows it moreover the work chosen, dominated by the vision of one triumphant Germany. Gottfried Wagner does not indeed stop reminding that Hitler made of Richard Wagner his cultural model.

Instantanés

Mauerguide

" Where passed the wall? ", " where we are: in the East or on the West? ", " what looked like the no-man's-land? ". Here is a sample of the questions the most put by the tourists in the streets of Berlin. The multimedia GPS-guide proposed by the city of Berlin allows to restore a visibility in the wall and in his vestiges into the townscape. If in 1989, the wall in reinforced concrete extended itself, for the only north-south border, over 43,7 km, there are not there today more than some hundreds of meters. In the 1990s, we hurried to destroy these sections of wall which still raised themselves as an obstacle to the reunification. Today, to trace the Berlin Wall, is to trace the tracks of a ghost. Present everywhere, visible nowhere... Or almost. Not to lose the memory of this page of the history of the city, the Senate of Berlin launched in 2006 a big plan of remembrance, conservation and documentation of the wall. The start of Mauerguide, at the beginning of the month, realizes one of the points of this program which should be finished in 2011. At the East Side Gallery, the longest kept segment, we give you a screen a little bigger than a mobile phone. The well propped up earphones, here you are ready to discover what stays of this monument. Thanks to the magic of the satellite, you are transformed into a flashing cursor on a map of the city which displays on the screen. You can then decide your route by visualizing the distance which separates you from commemorative sites to be discovered. You walk along the East Side Gallery towards Warschauer Strasse. The cursor reproduces faithfully your movement. Archives images appear on the screen. In front of you this mirador to which the guide asks your attention and you visualize suddenly the no-man's-land along the Spree, the covered way, and, a little farther, Checkpoint of the Oberbaumbrücke. During the visit, we remind you that the wall was not only a matter of device. The iron curtain was also a curtain of blood : the figure of 133 deaths is there to evoke the relentlessness of the frontier officers. At the end of the route, "Mauerguide" did not only show you the history of the wall and its former plan. By giving you the opportunity to visualize the city divided from the 1960s to 1980s, it also allowed you to seize better the immense construction site of the reconstruction of Berlin.

Instantanés

Mysliwska

A stalwart of Schlesishe Strasse's lively and varied bar scene, Mysliwska is a dark and small night owl hangout. It is particularly popular for its sparkling but spartan interior and regular DJ spots with irregular music, including everything from crackly old jazz to indie. Mysliwka is Polish for a kind of hunter’s bar, where you drink and talk away the hours after finishing work. This bar was opened on Schlesischestraße long before all the scenester spots and it has remained popular due to its simple concept and relaxed patrons. The drink list is to the point, no messing around. Beer, vodka and some good cocktails, what else could you need ? The interior is pleasant with its high ceilings and unadorned walls, tiled floor and vintage furniture. In the back room there is a disco-like atmosphere, but mostly it’s about relaxing in a friendly environment, without the see-and-be-seen pressure.

Instantanés

I drove all night

I took 2 weeks holiday. I had because if we don’t take the days before the end of the year, they’re lost. So I booked a car and I went back to France to visit Family and friends. I had of course a wonderful time but going from place to place almost everyday is no holiday at all. When I came back to work, I asked my chief if I could have a holiday to rest and he replied gently that I had to wait next year because I had no days left anymore. During this holiday, I took time to be with my true best friend like the brother I’ll never had. We know each other since school days and I hope we’ll keep up together until the end of our life. I agree we don’t talk neither meet much in the past years but you know, life … . He ‘s living in Paris with wife and kids, has a business to run and he’s a family man. I lived in many places in the world, doing a lot of jobs, being unstable, moving all the time, having affairs and short- and long term relationships. It was not always so. I had a stable life when he had the life I have now, only when we were younger. Now It is the other way round. Anyway, two weeks ago we’re talking over the phone and he says spontaneously that because It’s school holidays, wife and kids go away but he has to stay home because of the work, and he adds quickly : ”why don’t you come over ?”. Only the idea to spend some time alone with him thrills me so I quickly booked a car, called family and friends and planned the journey. Two weeks away. With the moving from Barcelona, the new flat, the job, the life by itself, I didn’t go back since more than 2 years. Those years just flew too quickly because really, It seems like yesterday I walked in my city streets. Nevertheless, I am always curious to see the changes. First my parents of course, then another very close friend who became mother almost 1 year ago. I came to Paris by car that I rented. This gives me the opportunity to visit some friends I can’t see a lot because normally I fly. So I made a stop in Karlsruhe and another one on the way back in Frankfurt. When I am in Paris, I eat French and very Parisian. I miss some tastes and I can’t help myself having for the first lunch Foie de Veau with gratin dauphinois. If you’re not French, forget it. Only the idea of the translation could make you sick. After that I just made a tour alone in the city because the weather was not bad and I enjoy the area. The next day, my best friend brought me to le Marais, in the 3rd arrondissement, where beautiful small shops are based, proposing nice things. We were too early for everything, shops open late in this neighborhood so we had the time to enjoy café and croissants at the café around the corner. Remember that life in Paris is very expensive and you don’t have to be surprised by the incredible prices you will be requested to pay. Actually, I noticed that Paris is an expensive city, but so are Barcelona, London and New York. It’s just that Berlin, when I compare, is not expensive. So the shock is mine. After the morning café, we headed to l’Habilleur. Shop front is dark and doesn't look open, but go on inside - its a special shop. Designer clothes from (at last look) Issey Miyake Pleats Please, Paul et Joe, Plein Sud, Cultura... list goes on and on and it may be different labels when you will go. Really amazing things at 30% of retail and Men’s labels are gorgeous. We had a walk rue Bonton, looking for something for the kids while they were on holiday (do your shopping without the kids, it helps) and then we decided to stop for lunch at le marché des enfants rouges. One beloved covered market dating from 1615, on the Rue de Bretagne in the third arrondissement, almost disappeared 10 years ago, but the uproar from the locals was such that the city decided to keep it open and renovate it. This required shutting down the market for six years, however, and when it reopened in 2000 most of the vendors had found premises elsewhere. The market was a sorry sight for some time, with many unoccupied stands and few customers, but today that has all changed. Not only can you pick up the catch of the day at the fish stand and organic tomatoes and plums at a vegetable stand or a bouquet at the flower stand, but you can also sit down for a meal at one of the dozens of tables in the open-air side aisles, after deciding whether you want to eat pasta, pizza, spit-roasted meats, Moroccan couscous or classic French bistro food. By the way, the market owes its name to a neighborhood orphanage, closed in the 16th century, whose small charges were dressed in red. We stopped at Le Traiteur Marocain: Moroccan pastillas, tagines and couscous. and had a wonderful time, though a bit cold outside. After lunch we carried on moving and because I am looking for new furniture for the flat, we headed to the shop of the designer Jean-François Lebrun, called tramp, rue de la Corderie. I just love every piece of furniture. In a very purified environment, chairs, tables and libraries surprise by their design. Every piece is built from what he finds like metal, old wood floor, school bench … that he collect anywhere in fabrics or warehouses. Then it becomes a unique piece. You also can ask for your own wishes and /or dimension. I was thrilled by chairs and a desk that would perfectly fit in my place ! We discovered as well the artist Christoff Baron who also has an atelier in Berlin, this is a surprise and I will have a look soon. We walked to Bastille and then Châtelet, stopped to other shops I like to pick up some ideas and took the bus home because we had an appointment for dinner at Le verre siffleur, rue d’Alesia, not far from the place. As per my friend, it is new since last winter and it is a big surprise because such a place was missing in the area. It is the place we love, an old café renovated, with ancient taste, suggesting good and simple food. Reservation was made for 8:00 p.m. and though we arrived on time, 30 minutes later, the restaurant was packed. So it is noisy, yes, because we talk a lot and loud. But we had no disappointments, and neither with the bill. We had a few drinks in two other bars in the area, but not really something to mention and too expensive. The next day, we could enjoy a wonderful weather and even café and lunch time outside. We made the usual way to Le bon Marché (I love Dyptique products), boulevard Raspail, just to have a look at Paul Smith, Galerie Sentou, and rue de Grenelle at Jean-Baptiste Rautureau. We walked by to Montparnasse and It was time for me to carry on driving. My parents always love Bretagne, at the very far west of the country. The location is fabulous, in the end of everything. There you will find more boats than cars and in the end of the street, you will find a bar and the sea. It is the perfect place to spend a few days alone to have a rest. Outside gardening, walking on the beach, eating crêpes and drinking cider, there is nothing else to do near Perros-Guirec but I agree, the landscape is one of the most beautiful. After 3 days, back to Paris, spent more time in town to drive 2,5 km than Rennes-Paris and this is another reason for me not to go back. Just the time to have a last dinner and to fill the car with things I wanted to bring back home and I drove back to Berlin, completely exhausted.

Instantanés

The people against the dictatorships

For the Germans, November 9th reminds quite at the same time the advent of the Republic ( 1918 ), the pathetic " putsch of the Brewery " (1923), sinister " Crystal night " ( 1938 ) and the happy fall of the Wall ( 1989 ). At night from 9 till 10 November 1989, in front of the cameras of the whole world, young east and western Germans break the Wall of the shame which divides Berlin since August 13th, 1961, taking by surprise the leaders of both edges. Receptive to the policy of glasnost (transparency in Russian) introduced three years earlier by the Soviet leader Mikhaïl Gorbatchev, the Hungarian leaders were the first ones to lift the screed of communist lead. On May 2nd, 1989, they announce their intention to half-open their border with Austria. Hundreds of east Germans rush then in Hungary to pass soon on the West. In September, they are several thousands to run away so. In German Democratic Republic (GDR), in Leipzig then in the other cities of the country, the opponents of the communism leave the secret of the Lutheran temples and demonstrate in broad daylight. The power vacillates. Erich Honecker leaves the place with Egon Krenz, but a million demonstrators in East Berlin pull the collective resignation of the communist government on November 7th. Two days later, the government of GDR authorizes the east Germans to travel abroad " without any particular condition ". At the end of a few hours, the customs officers of Berlin, extended beyond by the hide of persons on the border, simply allow to pass them. That very evening, thousands of Berliners massed near the Wall and open one by one the borders in front of the redoubtable East German frontier officers who, this time, keep the weapon at the foot. The fall of the Wall (3,60 metres high, 160 kilometres long and 300 miradors) ends fifty years of separation and antagonisms between both parts of Germany, German Federal republic (FRG) and German Democratic Republic (GDR). In the general enthusiasm, nobody worries about the difficult next days of the reunification. Without loss of time, the Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl imposes a monetary then political unification of both parts of Germany. The unity is official on October 3rd, 1990, one day which becomes the German national holiday. The French president François Mitterrand, noting the inevitable character of the reunification, is going to negotiate in return the sacrifice of the Deutschmark on the altar of the European monetary union. This project will result in the signature of the treaty of Maastricht on February 7th, 1992.

Pub Tiger Beer

Instantanés

Identité nationale

Lately, there is in France a big debate like only French can start. The debate about l’identité nationale, the national identity. Well, if you know what it means, feel free to share. To launch such a debate in a country like France can become way too very dangerous following your place you found in the society. I would not participate to such a thing. I don’t think It is a big matter to have a national identity. You are born with a nationality but do you recognize yourself in your country or with the people living in there ? I am what you might call an expatriate. I made it by choice because I could not stay 1) because I found a job outside 2) I made my life outside 3) I found my place in the world outside my country, not that I am rejecting it. I am ashamed that a French president once said “France, you love it or you leave it”. It’s not because I live outside my country that I am not French anymore, on the contrary. I am proud to be a French citizen (probably because It means having a History and to respect it, and because I think I give a good image of my country) but … outside France. France has still an aura abroad that It does not have in Its own place. Strangely, when I was looking for a job in France, I didn’t find any. Was it a sign ? or was I less French because I had experiences outside ? I think the idea of national identity is wrong because It has no purpose anymore. Europe is on now and frontiers do not exist anymore (but some politics seem to have forget it). A friend of mine, leaving nearby with me in Berlin is French, her husband is half German and Finish and their kid is born in Australia. I let you guess his nationality. How would you explain to this kid the sense of national identity ? Europe offers a unique free circulation and as a European, I can work wherever I wish inside the union (forget about exceptions please). We are already a lot who work abroad and come back home for our holidays, but when I say home, I speak about the native one, you understood, not the one I built for myself. This number is compensated in France by a number of other citizens from any country who established themselves in my country. I think today you can feel yourself more European, so when will they create a European passport ? probably because everyone has a love feeling with the passport of his own country. I guess this idea of national identity belongs to people who do not like Europe but It is too late. I agree Europe builds itself very slowly but the machine is running and It tried to erase differences to accept community. I don’t pay taxes in France since almost 10 years now but I keep on voting and this is for me a great thing. But I agree with the fact that I don’t have much to do with French politics anymore. I would accept to vote in Germany but I am not allowed. This is a good paradox to explain. But for my defense, I would say I am a good example of what It is called here “Deutsch-Französische Freundschaft” (German-French friendship) : my man is German and we cook together very good meals inspired from both our cultures.

The opening of the Berlin Wall 1989 / Reichstag (English Subtitles)

Instantanés

Fall of the Wall

You heard of course that this year is the 20 years’ anniversary of the fall of the wall in Berlin. So there are events in the city, though from my personal point of view, you don’t hear a lot about it. Not even people in the city seem to be that much interested. I am not that surprised as most of the people either want to forget History or regret it. It’s like this event has more announcement outside of the country than here in Berlin. We had the chance to welcome the giants of Royal de Luxe in October, which is the national date of re-union. But the official date of the fall of the wall, and the programm of the festivities are under the website of the 20 years of the Fall of the Wall, is November 9th. So because It is all about a wall, a good guy has the idea to recreate it with humans. This happening of 30 minutes will take place at the exact place where the wall separated the city. Strangely the guy who had the idea of the mauer-mob is English. But It is not that important and the link follows Its way through the city. A colleague of mine sent it to me and I linked as many people as I can. Some of friends registered themselves straight away so I guess the human wall will be complete, as there are 330 spots where you can situate yourself. The meeting time is 8:00 p.m. and we have 15 minutes to put ourselves in situation and then stay there for 15 minutes so the world can see what it was like 20 years ago. I just hope the weather will be nice enough to allow us to spend a nice evening outside like people did back 20 years ago.

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RPO

The Royal Philarmonic Orchestra came to berlin for 2 nights last Sunday. They play music of Tschaikowsky, Beethoven and Dvorak. The main conductor of the orchestra Charles Dutoit was there and the event took place at the Konzerthaus in Gendarmenmarkt . I did not much anything of the pieces but I could notice that the public enjoyed a lot. At the break I met a friend I didn’t see for more than two years now because she plays in the orchestra and she travels a lot to play her instrument. And when she does not travel, she just want to stay home and take care of her family, that I understand perfectly. At the return of the break, we enjoyed la Moldau which is a piece I like a lot. It was Sunday evening and It was very foggy in the city. I went with the bike and because I was not alone that evening at the concert, we headed slowly back home and noticed that a most of the monuments of the city were illuminated. It was, like every year at the same time, the Festival of lights. The festival of lights which I completely forgot, as usual, though I had noticed beautiful and strong lights in the sky since a couple of weeks but without asking myself more questions. We passed the house of the Kanzlerin Angela Merkel and followed the road to the bridge next to the Berliner Dom and carried on to see the back of the cathedral illuminated with thousands of green light points, moving all together. We passed under the bridge and went to the Rathaus (where our mayor works). The building was full of light since It is already red. Of course we could not do the trip without seeing the Fernsehturm and Alexanderplatz and back home. The evening had a special atmosphere thanks to the fog and It was fabulous. All noises were diminished and It gave to the monuments a special attraction, especially for the Fernsehturm and Its strong lighting. We are happy to have been able to save the event on pictures. A very nice evening indeed.

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Place Clichy

I tried a new bar last evening, not very far from my place. I guess I like to stay around when I go out. It’s called Kunstliche Beatmung. There is a play on words with Beatmung. In the German language, you would read be at mung. But they did it another way and you have to read beat mung. The original translation would be kiss of life when they play with the beat movement. Isn’t it clever ? We went too early so we had the time to have a round in the bar. It’s well done 70’s like with color orange everywhere, some red and white. the deliriously retro look may well take your breath away. The psychedelic wallpaper could cause flashbacks while the white-ribbed tunnel will make you feel like Jonah inside the whale. Mellow electro, attentive bar staff and wallet-friendly cocktails give this place at the quiet end of Simon-Dach-Strasse an edge. The low-domed ceiling, plastic furniture and colored neon are like a cross between cocktail bar and space capsule. I heard from a friend that around midnight, the beautiful young things start dribbling in and any oddness is soon swallowed in the crush. But we decided to move because the friend I was with never went to the bar next door which I love, certainly because It’s French, Place Clichy. The bar Place Clichy gives a determinedly Parisian tone to Simon-Dach Strasse, one of the fullest of life streets of Friedrichshain. Thomas Laroche cultivates his nostalgia from Paris to East Berlin. In Simon-Dach Strasse, the banner attracts the eye of the Frenchman : place Clichy is a human-sized bar held by Thomas Laroche, a Parisian settled in Berlin for 3 years. The bar would have been able as well to be called Trocadéro or The Red Ball, but Thomas Laroche decided for Place Clichy. " The place in itself is not the madness, but it is the symbol of an alive thing. It is good Paris somewhere " he explains. Plate glass windows allow in a blow of eye to have an overview on the inside of the bar. A counter was papered with Canard Enchaîné, some posters of the Stiff Heads and old postcards hung on on the wall set the tone. The bar consists of two small rooms, lit by a warm light which inhale the Bohemia, a small charming port which could become a mark of writers, sailors and troubadours. The manager wanted exactly " a small place, an alive counter, where people of the counter are not far from based people, a place which made that people are close ". The music sticks very well on the atmosphere, we can hear it of the Noir Desir, Gainsbourg or Nina Simone. Tired by the Berlin bars, Thomas, big brown in the franc to speak, decides to realize this idea which trots him(her) in the head for a long time: " I had just a little short the bowl of it of bars in Berlin, or you have the old bars of district, "Kneipe", or you have the bars of factory as in the street, "bar-Ikéa", or bars " new Berlin ", I like but at the end of moment that makes too much grandmother's apartment of the 50s. I wanted a small bar as in Paris ". But Thomas, also professor to the French Institute, also wished that Place Clichy gives the opportunity to Germans to speak French and in a general way that it becomes a meeting place of all the horizons. The place was fool when we arrived and still fool when we left a few hours later, the bar completely smoky with cigarettes and our head with the (very) good wine.

Instantanés

11 novembre

Nicolas Sarkozy wanted for a long time to make a strong gesture towards Germany, amounting to the one that made his predecessor, François Mitterrand, when he took by the hand the chancellor Helmut Kohl during the remembrance of the battle of Verdun, in 1984. It is now made : today, on the eve of the European council which will take place in Brussels on Thursday evening and Friday, and just before the dinner between the President and the hardly reelected German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, the Elysée announced that November 11th would remain a holiday, but that it would not celebrate any more the armistice of 1918: " Nicolas Sarkozy wishes, after the death of the last Poilu (Lazare Ponticelli, died in 110 years, on March 12th, 2008), that November 11th becomes the day of French-German reconciliation, to build a shared future ". The President just announced to the Chancellor: " I shall be November 9th in Berlin at your side for the anniversary of the fall of the Wall " which was " an absolutely considerable event ". And " November 11th, we shall be together in Paris at the Arc de Triomphe ". November 11th is not celebrated in Germany and it is no holiday for the community institutions, no more than May 8th (which celebrates the German surrender in 1945). Germany never understood (me neither actually) that France carries on celebrating this anniversary, which celebrates the end of an European civil war which prepared the other one, that of 1939-1945. It remains to delete May 8th and to replace it by May 9th, anniversary of the declaration of Robert Schuman which launched the construction of the European community and become the celebration of Europe (it is a holiday for the community institutions).

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240 km and back

It is only having exceeded the Minneapolis airport of 240 km that the pilot and his navigator realized their mistake. The Airbus then made a bend at 180 degrees to land in Minneapolis. The Airbus A320 of Northwest Airlines flies Wednesday from San Diego (California) to Minneapolis (Minnesota) exceeded its 240 km destination, starting inquiries of the Office of the security of transport (NTSB) and FBI. The NTSB will question the pilot and his navigator on Monday and will listen to the recording of the conversations in the cockpit contained in the black box of the aircraft during the weekend, said a spokesman, refusing to comment beyond the communiqué. According to the communiqué of the NTSB, based on information passed on by the FAA (the American authority of the civil aviation), the air-traffic controllers were able to establish the contact radio with the crew of the flight with 147 passengers on board during no more than two hours, arousing growing fears. The anxiety was such that four fighters of the Air Force were put on the alert, without taking off however, according to the daily paper of Minneapolis Star-Tribune. The contact with the tower was then restored and the Airbus made a turn at 180 degrees to land normally in Minneapolis. The pilots explained that they had an animated discussion about the future of their company and they were not concentrated (sic !), indicates the communiqué of the NTSB. Another possibility is naturally the fatigue and they were able to fall asleep. Some other report only the case of a pilot who had fallen asleep the last year and had missed its destination in the Hawaiian Islands. The passengers aboard the Airbus apparently noticed nothing during the flight with the exception of the fact of having found the time of flight a bit long according to testimonies. They were however surprised with the reception made at the airport. Federal agents of security, armed, went aboard to make an inspection before the passengers can leave the aircraft, without explanation. "That seemed serious ", said a passenger, who did not know what took place before the next day. However, he remembered a "strange" answer made by a steward whom one of the passengers asked when the plane was going to land. He then went in front of the plane, returned ten minutes later to announce: "I have no idea".

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French screening

Read in the paper today, this article about AIDS. The debate is still open. I sincerely think all this story is very dangerous. It allows everyone to know your status and be able to do anything with it, for example starting chase. To fight AIDS, "goes towards a screening of all the French population from 15 to 70 years ". The proposition is new. Some years ago, this suggestion would have provoked the sarcasm, even the dismay. Today, It is on the table. It is indeed the key recommendation of a report on the "screening of the infection by the HIV in France" that the High authority of health ( HAS) has just finished. Until now, this serious institution - it is the highest sanitary authority in France on the questions of medical practices and evaluation - had accustomed to be careful, and took even harmless positions. This time, It suggests a real turnover in the policy of screening of AIDS. Until now, no other decision provided good results. The situation is indeed paradoxical : in France, we make out a will a lot, but we make out a will badly. "Although the activity of screening is particularly important in France - 5 million tests in 2007, placing France in the second world rank-, it persists a delay in the screening which concerns more particularly some group of populations or individuals ", notes the HAS. Example: over the period 1997-2005, " 47 % of the subjects for which a diagnosis of AIDS was carried, presented a delay to the screening ". A large number of patients discover their infection while this one is already very advanced. This delay is particularly significant for the person of more than 40 years, for the persons of foreign origin and, finally, for the persons who were contaminated by heterosexual way. And this delay is heavy of consequences, at first for the very person: " The screening allows the premature institution of an antiretroviral treatment. In the end, as notes it the HAS, we estimate at more than 40 000 the number of infected persons who ignore that they are HIV+. Every year, there is between 6 000 and 7 000 contagions, but that nothing really changes. In brief, the epidemic is by no means in the stop. The balance sheet is bad. " The current device of screening suffers of a significant number of incapacities ", insists the HAS. The reasons ? Until now, this device was filled with the first years of the epidemic " where the risks of stigmatization and discrimination against the person living with the AIDS were particularly important and where the individual profits of the screening were limited ". Where from, at the time, the creation of the units of anonymous and free screening ( CDAG) exist almost everywhere in France. More generally in the population, if the screening was proposed at some key moments of life, as during a pregnancy, It remained connected to a risk-taking. It is this model which the HAS wants to modify. As far as treatments profoundly changed the face of the disease. Taken in time, these treatments work well, even very well, and a HIV-positive person, following faithfully its therapy, has a low risk of contaminating sound or his (her) partner. You should not certainly establish a systematic screening, but it is necessary to propose it, more and more systematically. To reach there, the HAS proposes a coherent strategy: " mobilize strongly the actors of health over a definite period of time ". In particular, the general practitioners, but also the hospitable actors. More innovative, the HAS opens the way to more individual practices. It proposes that every person can go to a laboratory of medical analysis to be made out a test without prescription ". For all that, " it will be to the biologist who made the test to inform the patient ", specifies the report. "Any diagnosis of a new infection, adds report, has to be translated by an orientation towards an adapted medical care. " Finally, this new device " will have to be the object of an evaluation in five years This report, in any case, is from now on on the desk of Minister of Health. In some weeks, Roselyne Bachelot should receive the report on the new methods of prevention. About thirty years after the arrival of the virus in France, it opens a real opportunity to change gives it.

Dream Boy

Dream Boy was presented at the Berlinale, the film festival in Berlin. I remember having been very moved by this movie and, though my friends I watched the movie with just left after the last image because of their schedule, I stayed just to enjoy a bit more the atmosphere of the characters. I was pleased then to see the team of the movie being invited on stage and then started a talk with the public. I remember one of the boy explaning how glad he was to have made this movie because he is straight and living in London, so very far away from the world of the story. They explained as well how pleased they were to have been selected at the Berlinale and It is good sensation that this movie brings. It is an adapted story by Jim Grimsley's novel, that tells us the chronicles of a subtle romance between two young men in the rural region of Louisiana in the middle of the 70s. Nathan (Stephan Bender) and Roy ( Maximillian Roeg) are two boys who cannot deny their attraction in spite of their fear. Nathan is uncertain and introvert and falls in love with Roy, an extrovert young man who is his neighbour. A love story begins immediately between them, whom they will have to hide because of taboos. Nevertheless Nathan will also have to make front with his internal traumas and for the familiar violence which he underwent through years. The exhausted love and the end of an interrupted innocence.

Pelleas et Melisande im Berghain

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Pelleas et Melisande

We were very happy to be able to go and see Pelleas and Melisande, opera by Claude Debussy, organized by the Neuköllner Oper, in a new release of Miriam Salevic and played at the berghain last Friday. There were 3 dates, sold out and we got tickets for Friday evening. This was good news because we were relaxed to go there before It opens for the week-end. The atmosphere of the place is really something different but the mood is still there, always expecting something different to happen. And It did. Of course It was sold out because only 60 guests could attend the event. Then you get the feeling that It is a private concert. It was played by young people but with future big talent. They are not afraid to involve themselves in this project of re-interpreting the Debussy’s opera in a new version, full of craziness. You could feel the scenery a bit aggressive but nevertheless interesting and even sometimes funny because ridiculous. But It is part of the game. I was positively surprised that It was played and sung in French with German subtitles. The young have nice voice and you can sense that while they will carry on to work, their art will improve, which is good news. It was also a good thing to see the Berghain without people. Because we arrived early, we could have a drink at the bar dowstairs and pay attention to the details of the place : the lamps, the huge stairway we climb as often as ye can preparing our entrance on the dance floor, the furniture we never see, the silence and the non-flashing lights. After this new experience, we needed a drink. It was Friday evening, It wasn’t late and the nights start to be really cold (we already have less than 5°C). Not very far we noticed a new hotel with what seemed to be a nice bar. Not necessary to mention it. Though the waiter is attractive, the place is OK, the drinks too expensive and not good and I can't talk about the service. Frustrated by this, we kissed goodbye with my friend and ended up at Bariton's, as usual, where the atmosphere is warm and the drinks good.

War of the Roses

The War of the Roses is a 1989 American motion picture based upon the 1981 novel The War of the Roses by Warren Adler. It is a Black comedy about a wealthy couple with a seemingly perfect marriage. He is a successful lawyer and his wife is building her own catering business. When their marriage begins to fall apart, material possessions become the center of an outrageous and bitter divorce battle. This is the third film to co-star Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, and Danny DeVito, after Romancing the Stone and its sequel, The Jewel of the Nile. In both the novel and the movie, the married couple's family name is Rose. The title also alludes to the battles between the Houses of York and Lancaster at the end of the Middle Ages.

Team Les Drugeres - France

Ugly dance world cup

The first ugly dance world cup just took place in Hamburg, Germany last week-end. The French did not win. What a shame. But the main thing is to participate. You say dance? They say ugly ! Everyone is informed of the beauty of deformedness. This is why they organized the 1st annual Ugly Dance World Cup. It’s so easy to dance nicely. But ugly dancing is art. Be part of it next time. Get more information and videos of the participants here : Ugly dance world cup

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43

Last July I turned 43. It’s a lot regarding what I achieved until now and It is nothing regarding what is yet to be done. Over the last years many events happened and I had to face them all. When I thought my world was perfect, it collapsed. I left Paris after have lived so many beautiful years, my friends, my family. I arrived in Berlin in the early 2000’s and It’s been a very hard time, being almost not compatible with this People, certainly due to our big differences. When the cup was too full, I left again and restarted, again, in south of France, to be clear with me and the administration, because to evoluate in a well-known system is much easier than to discover a new one, which I did not even a year after, being sure having done a big mistake and leaving for Barcelona where I had to adapt a new time. Everyone would say to you that It was so easy, which is true, but It is to carry on and try to grow in this city that is hard. Probably I was too hungry but I didn’t feel at ease and when Berlin passed by my life a new time, I did not hesitate and prepared my return, 2 years ago. I don’t regret it at all. In this short time, I established myself comfortably. I moved after a year from my studio to a 3 rooms flat in another area, much nearer from work where I go everyday with the bike, even when It snows so hard. I made new friends as well, because I go out a lot, and not afraid of failure, you can’t please everyone. I keep on thinking that in the end, there is nice people everywhere. I have found a nice bar round my corner where the wine is good. I remember, years ago, being always unsatisfied with the life I had. It’s like when one step was accomplished, to go further I had to renew the complete scene. Today is exactly the opposite. I guess It belongs to the age, maybe It belongs to the fact that I really found the place to stay, maybe It belongs to the fact that I made mine what my good friend told me once “It’s about time for you to be satisfy with the things you have”. And I have everything I need now. If you remember the movie “The war of the Roses”, at the beginning, when all is done, the character played by Kathleen Turner touches the pillow of the sofa just to give it a twist of non-perfection. And then she starts to get bored in her life. I used to be like that: When It was achieved, I crushed the cushion and started to look for something else, somewhere else. Today is exactly the contrary. I feel complete. No need to look after something else. It’s not that I am not ambitious anymore but life runs. And It runs faster and faster. Since my return to Berlin, I’ve got the feeling not to have achieve a lot outside the painting of the walls and going out a lot (maybe too much). But It belongs to the city to go out a lot. The offer is so big that It never comes to an end. Berlin is also so attractive now that friends want to visit it and my flat is never empty since last March. And once people discovered the city, they come back. Outside of that, you work everyday, sometimes you just want to lay on your sofa with the remote control in one hand and a glass in the other (I try to quit smoking). The major thing is to carry on establishing myself in the city. Compared to others, I have a big chance : I’m French and from Paris. You might find that strange but they like it here. My accent sounds for them so nice (“charmant” in German text) when I find it absolutely ugly. Thanks to the German friends I have, I could make connections to other people and suddenly my circle went big. Now I feel sorry not to have enough time for each and everyone each and everyone but I manage to meet them. I re-discovered the pleasure of making dinners at home, now that I have enough space (and the furniture !) to introduce people who don’t know each other, and that makes the event more interesting. So I manage to organize myself a very peaceful life that I deserve after many years of wandering and research. I guess I have my feet on the ground now. I am even afraid in a way to be too happy, especially since I realised I have the job, the house … and the boyfriend since some weeks (It’s getting serious). A friend told me that you never can be too happy when you have happiness in your life, well, just keep it. It means that after a long way, you are rewarded. My one and only thrill

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Körperwelten

I have true good work colleagues. It is rare to have such a good mood at work and I enjoy everyday going to work. We also sometimes go out together and once in a while during the year, we organize dinners at home. For my birthday, they offered a ticket for the exhibition I wanted to attend for years : Körperwelten, in English Body Worlds, which is traveling exhibition of preserved human bodies and body parts that are prepared using a technique called plastination to reveal inner anatomical structures. The exhibition's developer and promoter is a German anatomist Gunther von Hagens, who invented the plastination technique in the late 1970s at the University of Heidelberg.Body Worlds was first presented in Tokyo in 1995. Body Worlds exhibitions have since been hosted by more than 50 museums and venues in North America, Europe, and Asia. Body Worlds exhibitions have received more than 26 million visitors, making them the world's most popular touring attraction. The exhibit states that its purpose and mission is the education of laymen about the human body, leading to better health awareness. All the human plastinates are from people who donated their bodies for plastination via a body donation program. Each Body Worlds exhibition contains approximately 25 full-body plastinates with expanded or selective organs shown in positions that enhance the role of certain systems. More than 200 specimens of real human organs and organ systems are displayed in glass cases, some showing various medical conditions. Some of the specimens, such as the Tai Chi Man demonstrate interventions, and include prosthetics such as artificial hip joints or heart valves. Also featured is a liver with cirrhosis and the lungs of a smoker and non-smoker are placed side by side. A prenatal display features fetuses and embryos, some with congenital disorders. To produce specimens for Body Worlds, von Hagens employs 340 people at five laboratories in three countries, China, Germany and Kyrgyzstan. Each laboratory is categorized by specialty, with the China laboratory focusing on animal specimens. One of the most difficult specimens to create was the giraffe that appears in Body Worlds & The Mirror of Time. The specimen took three years to complete – ten times longer than it takes to prepare a human body. Ten people are required to move the giraffe, because its final weight (like all specimens after plastination) is equal to the original animal. Body Worlds exhibitions have controversy and debate focused on various issues. Religious groups, including representatives of the Catholic Church and some Jewish minister ]have objected to the display of human remains, stating that it is inconsistent with reverence towards the human body. n 2003, while promoting a display in the Hamburg Museum of Erotica Von Hagens announced his intention to create a sex plastinate. In May 2009 he unveiled a plastinate of a couple having sex, intended for a Berlin exhibition. In 2007 The Bishop of Manchester launched a campaign to coincide with the opening of Body Worlds in that city, accusing the exhibitors of being "body snatchers" and "robbing the NHS", arguing that donation of bodies for plastination would deprive the National Health Service of organs for transplant. The site included a government petition calling for "a review of the law regarding the policies and practices of touring shows involving corpses". Consent is a primary focus of discussion. Paul Harris, director of North Carolina's State Board of Funeral Services, has stated, "Somebody at some level of government ought to be able to look at a death certificate, a statement from an embalmer, donation documents... That's a reasonable standard to apply."Assemblywoman Fiona Ma (D-San Francisco) said, "These displays do have important educational benefits, but using bodies against a person's will is unacceptable". All whole body plastinates exhibited in Body Worlds come from donors who gave informed consent via a unique body donation program. Only adults over eighteen years of age can sign up to the programme.The pre-natal and infant specimens in the exhibitions are obtained from morphological collections previously held by universities and medical institutions. odies from deceased persons who did not give consent – such as deceased hospital patients from Kyrgyzstan and executed prisoners from China – have never been used in a Body Worlds exhibition. In January 2004, the German news magazine Der Spiegel reported that von Hagens had acquired corpses of executed prisoners in China; he countered that he did not know the origin of the bodies, and returned seven disputed cadavers to China. In 2004, von Hagens obtained an injunction against Der Spiegel for making the claims. A commission set up by the California Science Center in Los Angeles in 2004 confirmed von Hagens' commitment to ethical practices, and published its Summary of Ethical Review.The commission matched death certificates and body donation forms, and verified informed legal consent of the bodies in the exhibitions. However, to ensure the privacy and anonymity promised to body donors, Von Hagens' Institute for Plastination maintains a firewall between body donors' documentation and finished plastinated bodies. To date, more than 9,000 individuals have pledged to donate their bodies to the Institute for Plastination in Heidelberg, in Germany. We all found this exhibition very interesting and we had to speak of it for hours after all.

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Nansen restaurant

The quality of the cooking is very good. The offer of dishes is variable every week, from meat to fish, and distinguishes itself by its creativity but always thanks to the seasonal ingredients. If starters as the smooth soup of potatoes of small milk, main courses as mais poularde tenderly basing on the tongue vegetables of leek or the bludgeon of piglet of crunchy shaving roasted with swedes, the Nansen, Maybachufer 39, manages almost always to enthuse thanks to the excellent quality of ingredients, the portions are measured well and the spices perfectly harmonized. This evening I had the lamm with cabbages cooked in honey and It was delicious. We finished with some chocolate mousse and fruits, then a coffee and we were very seduced by the welcome of the place.

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