Great Expectations

Sitting room. In the middle of the room is a table covered with a white tablecloth and set with three wine glasses. Three chairs are arranged around the table. Then three people enter the room: a plump woman in her 50ies, a man at the same age with broad shoulders and a young man about [...]

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What I learned from the Death of my Bonsai

One of my colleagues and friends owns a Bonsai shop. You know what Bonsais are – those little trees, planted in decorative basins. Some of them are only for your garden, but some of them – so it is said – can be happy inside your flat.
Last September Melanie (that’s her name) gave to me [...]

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Walking back from the Mountaintop Or: The Powers of Nature

It is great to be in the mountains when the weather is fine: The air is pure, the sky is blue, the grass is green, you feel the sun on your face while you are happily walking up that path. Just a few more steps, and then there you are, on the top of that [...]

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Three Things I learned from my Community

The first thing I learned was that actually it was possible for me to gather some people around my blog. In the first weeks of my blogging I noticed some blogs with a lot of “regulars” coming back and commenting – and I thought – wow, that’s great, but I would never be able to [...]

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Still Standing

She could not believe it.
She had come to the meeting, thinking that it would be easy. Most of her colleagues who would have to decide today, knew her. They knew, what kind of work she had been doing all over the years. She had been responsible for the monthly publication, which had been published regularly, [...]

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Writing Lessons

The first thing I learned was that it was a proper decision to blog in English – which is not my native language. I did this after a period of blogging in two languages. I remember very well how I discussed this possibility with Joanna Young who gave me the advice to just try it [...]

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The Writing on the Sidewalk

Many people just walk over it without taking notice. Some people discover the writing on the sidewalk and take the width of the band for the width of the actual wall going through Berlin, exclaiming “How small it was, why didn’t people cross it then!”
Having come to Berlin when the wall was still standing and [...]

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A Song of Love and Hate

This song could be called a love song. It teaches me however, that love and hate often go together.
On the one hand it is a song about someone dating a girl and kissing her at the factory wall.
On the other hand it is a song of hate: “dirty old town” stands [...]

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The Best Posts of 2008

Only two days, and the year 2008 will be over. Everywhere, in magazines, newspapers, on tv you will find articles or broadcasts covering the “most important events”, or “the most important people” of the year 2008.
Joanna Young, over at confidentwriting.com asked her blogger friends to send in what they thought “their best posts of 2008″. [...]

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The Art of Saying “No!”

It is 4 pm. Everything goes smoothly at the office. I am looking forward to meeting one of my best friends at 6 pm. It is the third time we try to meet, and everytime it was me who had to cancel the meeting.
Suddenly Claudia darts in my room. “We’ve got to put a new [...]

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