Manfred and I took Willem to the 'puppendoktor' last saturday. She threatened to give him a dog's nose, and explained how she refused to sell koala-noses as they are not produced in Germany and she would not buy noses anywhere else, especially not from the Chinese. An to this she hastened to add that 'off course, she had nothing against foreigners'. The Netherlands can (and does to my frustration) pride themselves in a member of parliament who also 'has nothing against foreigners'. His election is celebrated by a large, intellectually not uneducated group of liberals, as the latest proof of Dutch tolerance. Look! We even tolerate a xenophobic, Mozart-lookalike populist whose lack of education has equipped him remarkably well in evading every debate. Aren't we the liberal ones!
Geert Wilders, in fact has no particular problem with foreigners, he only objects to about a third of the world population, that is, anyone who is Muslim or even has some (remote though it may be) sympathy for the Islam. His sole agenda is to insult, threaten and damage these people (and any other people if he considers it convenient, such as the inhabitants of the Dutch Antilles), as if this were his inalienable right, as laid out in the constitution under freedom of speech. For a brief moment last week I believed that this illusion was unveiled as the British government refused him entry to show his travesty of a film to the House of Lords. Replacing my skeptic inclination that they might just be unwilling to pay the expenses of his safety -they are substantial-, with a new optimism I was happy to note that not even the Dutch prime minister and minister of foreign affairs went out of their way to defend Wilders' right of entry. A few half-hearted protests at the address of the British ambassador were accompanied with a request to Wilders not to put more pressure on British-Dutch relations. Unfortunately, these idyllic thoughts were shortlived as on returning from a brief visit to Nottingham I was confronted with the effects of the British decision on Dutch politics: if elections were held today, Wilders' party would be the largest.
My short visit to Nottingham was not a test to check whether the Britisch authorities suddenly had problems with the Dutch, but it was high time I discussed the work I have so far achieved in Mainz with my supervisor. I have been writing my introduction, which is important not just because it explains the methodological framework of my research, but also because it provides the agenda for the work I still need to add to all my other existing chapters. It appears I am on schedule. My decision to employ Hayden White's narratological view on history to Pausanias found my supervisor's approval, which confirmed to me that instead of being a nut, I cracked one. Probably both are still true, as well as inevitable in the existence of a PhD-candidate. Nevertheless, I have reached a special state of nuttiness in Mainz that allows me to focus on the completion of my dissertation. A return to sanity will hopefully be achieved this summer after submission.
I also used the stay in England to throw my ideas on Spartacus at a bunch of classics graduate students. The ideas were liked well enough, but I was struggling horribly with my english pronunciation. For some reason, the word 'gladiatorial' had become impossible for me. My dear friend Cressida, whose guest I was, had earlier in the week laughed at me for forgetting half my english. Only by the end of the week did I start remembering, but then, on returning to Mainz I found myself unable to speak any German. If it weren't for Manfred I would probably forget my Dutch as well. He was here in Mainz for the weekend and apart from relaxing and bookshopping, we walked a nice 12K route to the other side of the Rhine, which will be my new route for running. I ran it yesterday and am proud to say that I can do it without resting in 1 hour and 10 minutes. There are some astonishingly beautiful views on the cityscape and that makes it so much easier to keep motivation up.
It has, however, made me rather tired, and it is time I join Willem, who by the way has refused the nose.
dinsdag 3 maart 2009
zondag 15 februari 2009
Valentine's Day(s)
Now why do I start rambling about the peculiar occupation of my neighbours? Everyone: there is no need to worry! I do not live in a brothel. In fact, I live opposite the police station.
Manfred has been here last week to see with his own eyes that truly I am doing fine. As I had a tremendous writing-frenzy in the preceeding weekend, I decided to take the two days off and we explored Mainz together. It really was my first good view of the city, as so far I had not taken much time off. It is no fun on your own anyway. And I have to say, the WWII bombs have luckily not destroyed all the beauty of this city (just the part where I live,..). And sometimes, the destruction has led to very nice reconstruction as well. Our first stop was the St Stephan's Church, which was severely damaged during the war, but rebuilt in the seventies when Marc Chagall was asked to design the new windows. I personally found that the bleuness of these windows gave the church a rather unfamiliar and cold feeling, but they are definitely a sight worth seeing. The church now takes a strong interest in Jewish-Catholic reconciliation, and it was interesting to read what they had to say on the pope's decision to reinstate Williamson. Suffice it to say that they are not amused.
All our other sight-seeing was purely Roman. We visited both the Roemisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum and its dependence Museum fuer Antike Schiffahrt. They were both fun for me as well as for Manfred. I went in mostly for the social-economic history of the area and spent a good deal of time with the inscriptions while Manfred was intrigued by the weapons and boats. We also walked round the Drususstein, which was an impressive sight. I knew before that the Drususstein could not be too far away from where I usually run -actually today I have discovered that if I am not too exhausted to look at the surroundings rather than at the path I can see it- but my spatial awareness of the city has certainly improved over the last week.
For the rest we just enjoyed being together. We cooked some German specialities. Manfred made my favourite, spaetzle, for me and I gave him Semmelknoedeln with his steak, drank some good German wine and relaxed. That is, apart from one night when my ability to understand German was stretched to its limits during a staging of Goethe's Die Wahlverwandschaften. I could follow it quite well, but have to admit that large parts of the dialogue were still a little difficult.
Anyway, I am getting back to my normal routine, which presently consists of repairing all the language mistakes I made during my frenzy. There are many,...
Manfred has been here last week to see with his own eyes that truly I am doing fine. As I had a tremendous writing-frenzy in the preceeding weekend, I decided to take the two days off and we explored Mainz together. It really was my first good view of the city, as so far I had not taken much time off. It is no fun on your own anyway. And I have to say, the WWII bombs have luckily not destroyed all the beauty of this city (just the part where I live,..). And sometimes, the destruction has led to very nice reconstruction as well. Our first stop was the St Stephan's Church, which was severely damaged during the war, but rebuilt in the seventies when Marc Chagall was asked to design the new windows. I personally found that the bleuness of these windows gave the church a rather unfamiliar and cold feeling, but they are definitely a sight worth seeing. The church now takes a strong interest in Jewish-Catholic reconciliation, and it was interesting to read what they had to say on the pope's decision to reinstate Williamson. Suffice it to say that they are not amused.
All our other sight-seeing was purely Roman. We visited both the Roemisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum and its dependence Museum fuer Antike Schiffahrt. They were both fun for me as well as for Manfred. I went in mostly for the social-economic history of the area and spent a good deal of time with the inscriptions while Manfred was intrigued by the weapons and boats. We also walked round the Drususstein, which was an impressive sight. I knew before that the Drususstein could not be too far away from where I usually run -actually today I have discovered that if I am not too exhausted to look at the surroundings rather than at the path I can see it- but my spatial awareness of the city has certainly improved over the last week.
For the rest we just enjoyed being together. We cooked some German specialities. Manfred made my favourite, spaetzle, for me and I gave him Semmelknoedeln with his steak, drank some good German wine and relaxed. That is, apart from one night when my ability to understand German was stretched to its limits during a staging of Goethe's Die Wahlverwandschaften. I could follow it quite well, but have to admit that large parts of the dialogue were still a little difficult.
Anyway, I am getting back to my normal routine, which presently consists of repairing all the language mistakes I made during my frenzy. There are many,...
vrijdag 6 februari 2009
survived first calamity
It has been a little quiet for a while. I have been getting along with my work quite nicely with almost no hiccups and as a result I have not had much to report to you. Following Pausanias, I must only report that which is interesting and pass by all the ordinary stuff. And so, for most of my readers (if any!) it would be far too boring if I went on and on about my daily life, which frankly only consists of getting up, going to the Academy, going back home, run (about 3 times a week), eat, do some more work and go to bed. Every day is basically the same, and, for now, that is just how I like it. But it doesn't give me much to talk about.
Now that I am rereading Pausanias' complete Periegesis instead of just the book 4 which is my main interest, I have come to the conclusion that he is an even more interesting historian than I thought. And a very amusing one as well. This appears, however, to be a rather unorthodox opinion, and it seems that I would need a lot more space -a whole dissertation perhaps?- to prove this point than just this blog.
So perhaps I should just follow Pausanias again and say a bit more about some of the things that seem to me particular either to the country or more specifically the city. And the theme of this week is: food. It may be the absolutely delicious chocolate I am currently nibbling on that inspires this shift: Lindt Cassis and Chili. Marvellous! I have also seen, but not tasted yet, Maracuja and Chili and Tequila Sunrise Chocolate. It is a tragedy. I will simply have to go running each day, and even then I won't be able to taste all the brilliant chocolate. Another one of my discoveries is spatzle. It looks just like ordinary spaghetti, but it is so much better. Presumably it is simultaneously equally bad for me. Last but not least: Laugenbrezeln, a kind of in between white bread and cake. I have not been able to indulge in the wines yet, but will make up for this next week when Manfred and Quibus come to visit for a couple of days.
Quibus, I should tell you, is Manfred's koala and as lovely as Willem. He got a bit jealous when he read last week's blog, so he made me promiss I'd mention him. There you go Quibus. Be sure to take some Eucalyptus with you when you come. For those of you who wonder how Willem is doing: we found him a doctor, and she has a nose for him.
Anyway, food has up until now been my sole discovery, as I am spending most of my time in the books or behind my laptop. The quietness has been wonderful for writing my introduction. I can concentrate astonishingly well, with no other jobs or tasks around to worry about. Today, however, almost saw abrupt end to my focus. I was just putting my salmon in the oven when all of the electricity in my room shut down. I figured out, admittedly not purely by myself, that my problem translates in German as Kurzschluss. I am normally quite a practical girl who can find her way around plugs and cables(you are not obliged to actually believe this, but I believe it nonetheless), but this time round I have to admit I was a bit useless as no matter where I searched I could not find any plugs to switch. I gathered courage, assuming that my box would be at the same place as where my neigbhours had it and introduced myself to my neighbours (I had to meet several before any could help me) and explained the problem. It turned out that Lan had hidden the box behind her toiletries. It admittedly sounds quite a dull story now that I am writing it down, and partly it is a measure of the level of excitement of my life here in Mainz, but then you don't know to what extent Lan's clutter made this search into one of epic proportions.
I also found out that two of my neighbours have quite unusual occupations (as in, they had dressed for it), but I'll leave that up to your imagination.
Now that I am rereading Pausanias' complete Periegesis instead of just the book 4 which is my main interest, I have come to the conclusion that he is an even more interesting historian than I thought. And a very amusing one as well. This appears, however, to be a rather unorthodox opinion, and it seems that I would need a lot more space -a whole dissertation perhaps?- to prove this point than just this blog.
So perhaps I should just follow Pausanias again and say a bit more about some of the things that seem to me particular either to the country or more specifically the city. And the theme of this week is: food. It may be the absolutely delicious chocolate I am currently nibbling on that inspires this shift: Lindt Cassis and Chili. Marvellous! I have also seen, but not tasted yet, Maracuja and Chili and Tequila Sunrise Chocolate. It is a tragedy. I will simply have to go running each day, and even then I won't be able to taste all the brilliant chocolate. Another one of my discoveries is spatzle. It looks just like ordinary spaghetti, but it is so much better. Presumably it is simultaneously equally bad for me. Last but not least: Laugenbrezeln, a kind of in between white bread and cake. I have not been able to indulge in the wines yet, but will make up for this next week when Manfred and Quibus come to visit for a couple of days.
Quibus, I should tell you, is Manfred's koala and as lovely as Willem. He got a bit jealous when he read last week's blog, so he made me promiss I'd mention him. There you go Quibus. Be sure to take some Eucalyptus with you when you come. For those of you who wonder how Willem is doing: we found him a doctor, and she has a nose for him.
Anyway, food has up until now been my sole discovery, as I am spending most of my time in the books or behind my laptop. The quietness has been wonderful for writing my introduction. I can concentrate astonishingly well, with no other jobs or tasks around to worry about. Today, however, almost saw abrupt end to my focus. I was just putting my salmon in the oven when all of the electricity in my room shut down. I figured out, admittedly not purely by myself, that my problem translates in German as Kurzschluss. I am normally quite a practical girl who can find her way around plugs and cables(you are not obliged to actually believe this, but I believe it nonetheless), but this time round I have to admit I was a bit useless as no matter where I searched I could not find any plugs to switch. I gathered courage, assuming that my box would be at the same place as where my neigbhours had it and introduced myself to my neighbours (I had to meet several before any could help me) and explained the problem. It turned out that Lan had hidden the box behind her toiletries. It admittedly sounds quite a dull story now that I am writing it down, and partly it is a measure of the level of excitement of my life here in Mainz, but then you don't know to what extent Lan's clutter made this search into one of epic proportions.
I also found out that two of my neighbours have quite unusual occupations (as in, they had dressed for it), but I'll leave that up to your imagination.
dinsdag 27 januari 2009
Koala Willem's Odyssee
Although my previous two blogs may at surface have appeared to be written by a happy, even if somewhat disorientated person, those of you who know me well, could have sensed that something was not quite right here in Mainz. On reading them you will have noticed that I have been living alone. Now, it is clear that it was never my intention to bring boyfriend Manfred with me to Germany. Let alone the financial costs of that operation, or the fact that I am supposed to be slaving away at my research not having the time for kisses, my courageous attempts to try and learn some German would just become painful in comparison with his impeccable knowledge of the language. Still, in such a situation, one does need an Ersatz-Manfred. I may not have time for kisses, but I do need the occasional hug. Koala Willem has generously served this need, ever since I decided to go abroad for my studies.
My Willem is a fantastic Koala. He is fluffy, soft, witty, friendly, a great lover of Eucalyptus, everything in fact a Koala should be. He is, however, also very naughty and very playful. About a month ago, while I was in Trier for a conference, Willem decided to play hide and seek in the pension. He hid, I did not seek. Only on arriving back home in Groningen, did I realise he was missing. Knowing Willem, I immediately suspected he was still hiding under the bed in the pension, and phoned up the hostess the next morning. It would be easiest and quickest I reasoned, if Willem would be put in a special delivery package, and my worries were put to rest by the hostess when she said she would get straight to it. This is when Willem's horrible Odyssee began.
Willem has not told me everything as he is still a little traumatised, but it all began when the DHL-person manning the desk concluded that Willem was so little, he did not need a package and could be sent as a letter. Now, Willem has always had a chip on his shoulders about his lack of legs, and I suppose the fear that he was thought not to be a complete Koala, probably stopped him from being his usual self and prevented him from protesting. Were I there, I would never have agreed to this demeaning treatment, but unfortunately my hostess's daughter who had took upon herself the noble task of delivering Willem to the office was persuaded by the DHL-lady that this was cheaper as well as safe.
What happened next is still shrouded in confusing and contradicting statements from DHL, the hostess, her daughter and Willem, who has barely been able to start addressing the issue, but the fact of the matter is that it took him a whole month to arrive, and by the time he arrived he had lost his little nose! Manfred and I think he may have been attacked by either a dog or a baby.
Anyway, it is not hard to image that for the last two weeks I have had severe troubles sleeping, worrying all the time about my little friend and fearing I had lost him forever. I had almost given up searching for him, when last thursday Willem phoned up from Groningen where he had finally reached his home. I subsequently went home myself, my official excuse being I still had some work to finish off at the university, gave Willem a nice, relaxing Eucalyptus-bath and let both him and me have some well-deserved rest.
That Willem is the most wonderful Koala in the whole wide world is proven by the simple fact that he is now here with me. He was hesitant to come with me to Germany, having developed a real Germano-phobia, but decided to step over his fears when he realised that without him I had been sleeping alone. Now I can really start feeling at home here in Mainz.
My Willem is a fantastic Koala. He is fluffy, soft, witty, friendly, a great lover of Eucalyptus, everything in fact a Koala should be. He is, however, also very naughty and very playful. About a month ago, while I was in Trier for a conference, Willem decided to play hide and seek in the pension. He hid, I did not seek. Only on arriving back home in Groningen, did I realise he was missing. Knowing Willem, I immediately suspected he was still hiding under the bed in the pension, and phoned up the hostess the next morning. It would be easiest and quickest I reasoned, if Willem would be put in a special delivery package, and my worries were put to rest by the hostess when she said she would get straight to it. This is when Willem's horrible Odyssee began.
Willem has not told me everything as he is still a little traumatised, but it all began when the DHL-person manning the desk concluded that Willem was so little, he did not need a package and could be sent as a letter. Now, Willem has always had a chip on his shoulders about his lack of legs, and I suppose the fear that he was thought not to be a complete Koala, probably stopped him from being his usual self and prevented him from protesting. Were I there, I would never have agreed to this demeaning treatment, but unfortunately my hostess's daughter who had took upon herself the noble task of delivering Willem to the office was persuaded by the DHL-lady that this was cheaper as well as safe.
What happened next is still shrouded in confusing and contradicting statements from DHL, the hostess, her daughter and Willem, who has barely been able to start addressing the issue, but the fact of the matter is that it took him a whole month to arrive, and by the time he arrived he had lost his little nose! Manfred and I think he may have been attacked by either a dog or a baby.
Anyway, it is not hard to image that for the last two weeks I have had severe troubles sleeping, worrying all the time about my little friend and fearing I had lost him forever. I had almost given up searching for him, when last thursday Willem phoned up from Groningen where he had finally reached his home. I subsequently went home myself, my official excuse being I still had some work to finish off at the university, gave Willem a nice, relaxing Eucalyptus-bath and let both him and me have some well-deserved rest.
That Willem is the most wonderful Koala in the whole wide world is proven by the simple fact that he is now here with me. He was hesitant to come with me to Germany, having developed a real Germano-phobia, but decided to step over his fears when he realised that without him I had been sleeping alone. Now I can really start feeling at home here in Mainz.
dinsdag 20 januari 2009
Not Helmut Lotti!
Wo kommen sie her? Sie sprechen genau so wie Helmut Lotti! Thus spoke the cleaning lady at the Akademie when I introduced myself this monday. One thing is clear: I really need that speaking course German for which I have just registered. This is definitely not a complimentary comparison. I can, however, be proud that I have not spoken one word of english since I got here, the only exception being that I needed to explain my english keyboard before my laptop could be logged on to the project's catalogue. It turns out control is not control on a German keyboard. It also turns out y and z are on different places. Very confusing.
I have now had two working days at the Akademie. Or, to be fair, I had one getting myself installed-day and one proper working day. The slavery-project occupies the upper floor of the Academy-building and apart from me there is Johannes Deissler, who runs the day-to-day business of the project, and a mysterious Mitarbeiter whom I have not had the pleasure of meeting with yet, but whose main business, as far as I understand it, is to catalogue the thousands of books and articles scattered through the three rooms belonging to the project. One of these rooms is mine: I sit in the middle of the category 'Roman slavery'. As Johannes works from 6 am (!) to 2 pm, and as I am not a morning bird, half of my working day it is just me and the gladiators. Tomorrow I will be shown the university library. This will definitely be useful as my dissertation is not exactly 100 % slavery.
My personal life here in Mainz is also slowly taking shape. As I live in a very busy area opposite the railwaystation I despaired of finding a green patch to run, but after having risked my life crossing the motorway (my German is good enough to understand the insults several motorists threw at me while I did so, but I won't repeat them), I found a 2 k stretch of what appears to be Roman defensive banks turned into a Romantic patch of greenery, and on returning I also found a somewhat less hazardous route to my house. My house, by the way, is not in the best of neighboorhoods, so I won't go running after dark.
I have now had two working days at the Akademie. Or, to be fair, I had one getting myself installed-day and one proper working day. The slavery-project occupies the upper floor of the Academy-building and apart from me there is Johannes Deissler, who runs the day-to-day business of the project, and a mysterious Mitarbeiter whom I have not had the pleasure of meeting with yet, but whose main business, as far as I understand it, is to catalogue the thousands of books and articles scattered through the three rooms belonging to the project. One of these rooms is mine: I sit in the middle of the category 'Roman slavery'. As Johannes works from 6 am (!) to 2 pm, and as I am not a morning bird, half of my working day it is just me and the gladiators. Tomorrow I will be shown the university library. This will definitely be useful as my dissertation is not exactly 100 % slavery.
My personal life here in Mainz is also slowly taking shape. As I live in a very busy area opposite the railwaystation I despaired of finding a green patch to run, but after having risked my life crossing the motorway (my German is good enough to understand the insults several motorists threw at me while I did so, but I won't repeat them), I found a 2 k stretch of what appears to be Roman defensive banks turned into a Romantic patch of greenery, and on returning I also found a somewhat less hazardous route to my house. My house, by the way, is not in the best of neighboorhoods, so I won't go running after dark.
vrijdag 16 januari 2009
arrival
I have arrived! It took me a little while, travelling by train from Groningen to Mainz, as German punktlichkeit is not what it used to be, and caused me to wander round Frankfurt Flughafen in wait for the lokal train to Mainz. I was lucky to still be in time to meet Mwamba, who is a friend of my landlady Lan. I am renting her appartment for two months while she is visiting her family in Vietnam. It is a little strange to be camping in her place as the two major themes in the interior decoration are 'Vietnam' and 'Buddhism', neither of which I have any connection with. So far I feel like a guest without a hostess. Still, it is a nice and cosy appartment, situated ideally between the main trainstation and two major supermarkets.
Today I spent most of my morning figuring out the internet (as you can see it was a struggle in which I finally triumphed!) and finishing up some marking for the course I have been teaching in the Netherlands. With this chore done I can focus 100 % on my placement here at the Akademie der Wissenschaften und Literatur. For those of you who don't know (i.e. my imaginary readers -they will also need to know I am just a tiny bit crazy), I have the good fortune of being allowed to participate in the Forschungen zur antike Sklaverei project for the next two months, and, most importantly, use its library. A future blog will no doubt fill you in on the details of my Phd-research, but for now I will keep this simple, since, frankly, that is my present state of mind.
I can offer no sufficient excuses for not having done any work today, but if I were to blame it on anything, it would be on the Tourist Information, where I had planned to go and get a map and, map in hand, explore the university campus (I am saving the Akademie for monday, when, or so I have been informed, everyone will be there for a new year's reception). Now, why would anybody plant the Tourist Information on top of a carpark?! And which fool has turned all the signs round so that I have walked round the Dom at least three times before realising I had to go in the direct opposite direction? I have to admit that the Dom is rather nice, but I have seen more than enough of it in one day, thank you very much. When I got there, their cash register did not work. Coffee was needed and only after that I was finally able to get my map. By that time it was getting dark and I decided I would not risk losing my way again in search of the university.
My adventure has however taught me one thing: it is far nicer to be able to ask (and understand!!) directions in proper German than in the very limited German I now have. I have therefore registered with an online Sprachkurse Deutsch which starts on the first of February. And that, regrettably, is my succes of the day.
Bis schnell! Lydia
Today I spent most of my morning figuring out the internet (as you can see it was a struggle in which I finally triumphed!) and finishing up some marking for the course I have been teaching in the Netherlands. With this chore done I can focus 100 % on my placement here at the Akademie der Wissenschaften und Literatur. For those of you who don't know (i.e. my imaginary readers -they will also need to know I am just a tiny bit crazy), I have the good fortune of being allowed to participate in the Forschungen zur antike Sklaverei project for the next two months, and, most importantly, use its library. A future blog will no doubt fill you in on the details of my Phd-research, but for now I will keep this simple, since, frankly, that is my present state of mind.
I can offer no sufficient excuses for not having done any work today, but if I were to blame it on anything, it would be on the Tourist Information, where I had planned to go and get a map and, map in hand, explore the university campus (I am saving the Akademie for monday, when, or so I have been informed, everyone will be there for a new year's reception). Now, why would anybody plant the Tourist Information on top of a carpark?! And which fool has turned all the signs round so that I have walked round the Dom at least three times before realising I had to go in the direct opposite direction? I have to admit that the Dom is rather nice, but I have seen more than enough of it in one day, thank you very much. When I got there, their cash register did not work. Coffee was needed and only after that I was finally able to get my map. By that time it was getting dark and I decided I would not risk losing my way again in search of the university.
My adventure has however taught me one thing: it is far nicer to be able to ask (and understand!!) directions in proper German than in the very limited German I now have. I have therefore registered with an online Sprachkurse Deutsch which starts on the first of February. And that, regrettably, is my succes of the day.
Bis schnell! Lydia
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