Cosima Underwater

I had so much planned this weekend, but we were grounded in our flat as the first typhoon of the season skirted Hong Kong, and brought lots of rain. Luckily, winds weren’t that strong, and no one got seriously hurt.

We had two inches of standing water on our kitchen balcony though. The rain came in almost horizontally and the drain was blocked. To prevent damage to the Korean wonder machine, I mopped up three buckets of water. So, despite of being indoors all day, I had plenty of exercise.

I also sorted through and uploaded pictures from a stroll through Mong Kok last week. Mong Kok is said to be the most densely populated area on earth. It’s a wonderful mixture of old and new, touristy and original, and – yes – it is very busy, even on a weekday afternoon. There are lots of shoppers, tourists, and people living and working in the area squeezing by along sidewalks, markets, and outdoor restaurants. I hope it will always stay as lively as it is today. I think it would be a real shame if street life gets sanitized and moved into shopping malls.

I started in Sai Yeung Choi Street South, which is a shopping street closed to traffic that runs parallel to the more famous Nathan Road.

School had just finished.

Looking for takers.

Hungry shoppers.

Entrance to Ladies’ Market, which is a bit of a misnomer. Tourist Market would be more appropriate.

Recently built apartment high-rise. One is fine, but my fear is that the whole area will look like this in a few years.

This shop is helping to fuel one of Hongkongers’ greatest passions. It’s wonderful to walk through streets and back alleys, and suddenly hear the clicky-dee-clack of Majong tiles and people chatting.

The Ladies’ Market in Tung Choi Street.

Chongsams in all sizes.

If you want to get lots of offers for “Tailored suits” and “Rolex”, wear a Stars and Stripes visor like this lady did. My strategy was to hide behind her.

They are probably not the safest buildings around, but I love how Hongkongers extend their living space by encasing roof terraces and balconies. And then, when the roof terrace looks like a proper building floor, why not build another roof terrace on top of it, and then encase it, and then build another, and another… ? Looking at this building it’s hard to see were the original building stops, and the upward extensions begin.

Bamboo scaffolding being set up. I got vertigo from just watching.

You’ve got mail!

“Toothpick” buildings are another Hong Kong way to deal with lack of space. My guess is that the building in the middle has a footprint of under 400 square feet.

I felt so lucky to have found these old market buildings on Reclamation Street. I had never been to the area before. As I rounded the corner, on the opposite side of a very busy road, there they were, row upon row of wonderful market buildings, run-down but full of charm. I did a bit of research on the internet afterwards, and learned that the buildings predate the second world war, and are still used for a wholesale fruit market.

When I was there, I assumed that the old white building was a market building as well, although I asked myself why it had received special treatment. It’s shiny white walls gleamed in the dark. It’s in fact the oldest surviving cinema building in Hong Kong. The “Yaumati Theatre” was built in 1925, but sadly had to close its doors in 1998. According to Wikipedia, there are plans to reopen it has a theater for Cantonese opera.

The wholesale fruit market.

Afternoon faded into evening, and suddenly there was a corner of golden light in front of me.

It was a store for altars and religious figurines, all carefully wrapped in plastic, which made them look like apparitions.

Once in a while, I like to get lost, stroll around and discover new things. Well ok, you have to make a real effort to get lost in Hong Kong, because there are street signs everywhere, and signposts pointing to the next subway station, but I didn’t look at them, and just walked. And then I rounded a corner and saw the stall selling vibrators, and I knew I was in tourist territory again. Then another stall followed, selling Nepalese bags and jewelry, then another, selling stickers (five sheets for HK$10 with Spiderman, Transformers, and other superheros little man loves), and so it became impossible to continue to pretend to be lost, because this was clearly Temple Street, Hong Kong’s famous night market.

I ate a big plate full of greasy noodles to celebrate the end of my adventure. Yes, that really is a roll of toilet paper on the table. I suppose it does the job of wiping people’s mouths just as well.

- THE END -

Last year for Christmas, I posted one of my favorite German Christmas poems, and this year I wanted to continue the tradition. I started to translate “Knecht Ruprecht” (Servant Ruprecht) by Theodor Storm. To understand the poem, you have to know a little bit about German Christmas traditions, which differ from region to region, and have changed quite a bit over time. “Knecht Ruprecht” is not Santa Claus. He has pagan origins, and when Christianity came to Germany, he was made the helper of Saint Nicholas. While Saint Nicholas gave presents to the good children, Knecht Ruprecht gave bad children a whipping with his rod.

After the reformation, Martin Luther wanted to stop the worship of saints and encouraged the tradition of giving presents to children on Christmas Eve instead of Saint Nicholas Day on the 6th of December. Instead of Saint Nicholas, the “Holy Christ” brought presents for children. Over the years, the abstract “Holy Christ” became the angelic, golden-robed “Christkind” (Christ Child). The Christkind and her helper Knecht Ruprecht made the rounds on Christmas Eve, and brought presents to children.

Somewhat ironically, the Christkind was slowly replaced by the “Weihnachtsmann” (Father Christmas) in Germany’s Protestant North, while the Catholic South continues Martin Luther’s tradition of the Christkind to this day.

Theodor Storm, who wrote “Knecht Ruprecht”, lived in the North of Germany in the nineteenth century. His poem mentions the Christkind and her helper Knecht Ruprecht, who gives whippings as well as presents. No mentioning of Saint Nicholas… he had already emigrated to the US, changed his name to Santa Claus, and taken over the North American Christmas franchise ;).

Knecht Ruprecht

These days, the poem is recited by Weihnachtsmänner/Knecht Ruprechts all over Germany as they enter the homes of little children on Christmas Eve. My uncle (even-numbered years) and my father (odd-numbered years) used to recite it as well. After Weihnachtsmann had made his entrance, he asked my cousin and me whether we had been good, which we always affirmed even if we had been rather naughty…lol. Then he asked us to recite a Christmas poem. Afterwards, Weihnachtsmann opened his large sack and gave us our presents.

To speed up the translation of the poem, I pasted it into Babel Fish, and the result is so funny that I couldn’t stop myself from posting it…

Farmhand Ruprecht

Of drauss of the forest come ‘ I;
I must say you, it weihnachtet very much!

All everywhere on the fir points
I saw golden light flax sitting;

And up there from the sky gate
The Christian child saw out, with large eyes

And as I strolcht in such a way ‘ by finstern the Tann,
There rief’s me with bright voice on:

“farmhand Ruprecht”, called it, “older associates,
Lift the legs and spute you fast!

The candles begin to burn,
The sky gate is opened,

Old ‘ and boy are now
Of the hunt of the life ruhn;

And tomorrow fly ‘ I down there to ground connection,
Because it is to become again Christmas!”

I spoke: “O dear Herre Christian,
My journey nearly to end is;

I am only into this city,
Wo’s vainly good children has.” -

“haste the Saecklein also with you?”

I spoke: “the Saecklein, that is here;

Because apples, nut and almond core
Meal pious children gladly.” -

“haste the rod also with you?”
I spoke: “the rod, those is here;

But for the children only, the bad,
Those meets it the part, the right.”

Christian child flax spoke: “like that it is quite;
Thus go with God, my faithful farmhand!”

Of drauss of the forest come ‘ I;
I must say you, it weihnachtet very much!

Now speaks, how ich’s here inside find ‘!
Sind’s good child, sind’s bad child?

Knecht Ruprecht

Von drauß vom Walde komm’ ich her;
Ich muss euch sagen, es weihnachtet sehr!

Allüberall auf den Tannenspitzen
Sah ich goldene Lichtlein sitzen;

Und droben aus dem Himmelstor
Sah mit großen Augen das Christkind hervor,

Und wie ich so strolcht’ durch den finstern Tann,
Da rief’s mich mit heller Stimme an:

“Knecht Ruprecht”, rief es, “alter Gesell,
Hebe die Beine und spute dich schnell!

Die Kerzen fangen zu brennen an,
Das Himmelstor ist aufgetan,

Alt’ und Junge sollen nun
Von der Jagd des Lebens ruhn;

Und morgen flieg’ ich hinab zur Erden,
Denn es soll wieder Weihnachten werden!”

Ich sprach: “O lieber Herre Christ,
Meine Reise fast zu Ende ist;

Ich soll nur noch in diese Stadt,
Wo’s eitel gute Kinder hat.” -

“Hast denn das Säcklein auch bei dir?”

Ich sprach: “Das Säcklein, das ist hier;

Denn Äpfel, Nuss und Mandelkern
Essen fromme Kinder gern.” -

“Hast denn die Rute auch bei dir?”
Ich sprach: “Die Rute, die ist hier;

Doch für die Kinder nur, die schlechten,
Die trifft sie auf den Teil, den rechten.”

Christkindlein sprach: “So ist es recht;
So geh mit Gott, mein treuer Knecht!”

Von drauß vom Walde komm’ ich her;
Ich muß euch sagen, es weihnachtet sehr!

Nun sprecht, wie ich’s hierinnen find’!
Sind’s gute Kind, sind’s böse Kind?

by Theodor Storm (1817-1888)

I hope you have been good this year… ;)
either way, I wish you a

MERRY  CHRISTMAS  AND  A  VERY  HAPPY  NEW  YEAR!

When I was a little girl, my parents used to take me to East Berlin on day trips, to see the other half of the city. We also visited friends and family in East Germany, but most of them lived in little towns some distance away from Berlin. Sightseeing visits to East Berlin were rarer, but they remain very vivid in my memory.

East Berlin was so different from the western part of the city, where we lived. It was gray, run down, and quiet, but it also had Berlin’s historic city center, and because very little had been done on the old buildings it always seemed like a journey back in time.

Yesterday, we went to Prenzlauer Berg, which I had seen for the first time during one of these visits. Then, getting to the Eastern part of the city took lengthy preparation and a long wait at the border, yesterday it was a simple subway ride.

Prenzlauer Berg is a beautiful inner city neighborhood, north east of the Brandenburg Gate. Like the name “Berg” (mountain) suggests it lies on a hill, and most of the buildings from the late 19th and early 20th century still exist. The neighborhood is one of the few inner city boroughs that was not heavily bombarded during World War II. When I saw Prenzlauer Berg for the first time during GDR times, most of the buildings were in terrible disrepair, now they have been renovated.

Prenzlauer Berg was a popular neighborhood for artists, students, and intellectuals during GDR times, and some of them began to organize opposition against the socialist regime in the 1980s. Zionskirche, pictured below, served as a meeting place for them, and was later closed by the Stasi in an effort to stop the movement.

After the fall of the wall, a lot of young people from the west moved into the derelict buildings in the neighborhood, and it was quickly established as the place to live and play in Berlin. That’s still the case, but the whole neighborhood, now restored and very pretty, has gone up-market and many of the original residents can’t afford the rising rents. It’s still a young neighborhood and very popular with young families, but you need to have a well-paying job to be able to live there.

If you would like to see the pictures larger and with captions click here.

I want to be cremated and my ashes scattered at sea, because:

1) I don’t want to be gaped at by nosy museum visitors 2500 years later (“well preserved female, lower caste, early primitive computer technology found by her side”).

2) Don’t look like beef jerky… yeah, call me vain.

The rest of the exhibition “Royal Tombs of the Scythians” was amazing though.

Go here to see artifacts from the exhibition, and here to read an English-language article describing what’s on display, and here to read up on Scythians.

Ahem…

Ladies and gentlemen, members of the academy,

I would like to thank the academy for giving the Oscar for the best foreign-language film to The Lives Of Others. From the moment this movie opened in German cinemas, I wanted to see it. There was never any hope that it would be shown in Hong Kong cinemas, so I waited patiently for it to show up in the “New Release” shelf of my local movie rental. So far it hasn’t. I knew that chances were slim. They have only a few German movies, one of them Run Lola Run is placed in the work-out section next to “Tighten Your Abs in 20 Days”.

But now, thanks to you, honorable academy members, they will have to buy “The Lives Of Others” for their “Oscars – Best Foreign Film” section … Thank you, thank you, thank you!

PS: Although I will reserve judgment until I have actually seen the movie, the actors in it, most notably Martina Gedeck and Ulrich Mühe, are well-known in Germany. Ulrich Mühe, who plays a Stasi agent in the film, is an accomplished theater and movie actor from East Germany. He played the lead role in the first theater play I saw in East Berlin after the fall of the Wall, an adaptation of Hamlet.

Here is an early classic that recounts my memories of visiting my grandma in East Germany, which sort of ties in with the theme of the film.

Oh, and Hong Kong won indirectly as well at the Oscars. The Departed is based on the script of Infernal Affairs, a very popular Hong Kong movie from 2002. So far, I have only seen “Infernal Affairs”, and I can certainly understand why Hollywood was attracted to the script. It has lots of elegant twist and turns that keep you guessing to the end. I haven’t seen “The Departed” yet, but am very curious about the differences to the Hong Kong version.

Uff… I survived Christmas! I hope you did too ;).

We ate so much good food during the Christmas holidays, that we decided to burn off some calories by visiting recently reopened Bode Museum. The museum is located on Museumsinsel, a river island near Brandenburg Gate, where five renowned museums are located. The entire island is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Among them is the Pergamon Museum, which hosts a complete Hellenistic Altar and the Gate of Ishtar of ancient Babylon.

The buildings on Museumsinsel where heavily damaged during the war. Although most of them were rebuild by the East German government, they needed extensive renovation after Germany’s reunification. One after the other, they are renovated and modernized, and every time a building on Museumsinsel is reopened, it is a major event for the city.

Earlier this year it was Bode Museum, which was originally opened in 1904. The museum’s focus is on Byzantine Art, and also hosts an extensive collection of sculptures and paintings from other periods, as well as a very interesting coin collection.

More photos from Bode-Museum and Museumsinsel on my flickr account

Yesterday, I had to do it. I didn’t want to, but there was no way around it. I had to go shopping. The Christmas madness is in full swing in Berlin, there are massive crowds in every shopping mall, department store, and even supermarket. I love to visit Berlin, but I am beginning to think that we should have invited the grandparents to come to Hong Kong. It would have been much more relaxed.

I had to buy many things in a limited time, as I was meeting friends for dinner and decided to go to one of the department stores. German department stores are slightly different from the ones in the US and Great Britain, in that they offer a wider variety of products. Usually, they have a supermarket in the cellar and a self-serve restaurant on top and anything you can possibly imagine in between. On my way to buy PJs for my son, I passed iguanas in the pet section and live flies to feed them with, oil paint in art supplies, sledges in the sport section, and vacuum cleaners in household items. If you need to buy a lot of very different items in a hurry, they are the perfect place to shop. Unfortunately, that also makes them the perfect place to hunt for Christmas presents. The number of people inside the store was incredible.

I went to Karstadt am Hermannplatz, which belongs to Germany’s largest department store chain, which also owns Europe’s largest department store KaDeWe at Berlin’s Kudamm. I don’t want to know what’s going on there at the moment… nervous Christmas shoppers together with thousands of tourists… a volatile mix.

The department store I went to has an interesting history. When Karstadt am Hermannplatz was opened in 1929, it was the most modern department store in Europe, and Berliners from all over town came to admire and shop there. The timing of the opening wasn’t exactly fortunate though. The company had to battle hard to survive the world economic crisis. Marvelously, the building survived the heavy air bombardment during World War II, only to be destroyed by members of the Waffen SS shortly before the end of the war. They didn’t want the Russian army to get to the food supplies that were warehoused inside.

After the war, the department store was rebuild at a much smaller scale, and the original Art Deco architecture was replaced with 1950s functional design. The ugliness was topped by a 1970s extension, which looked like a bunker. Fortunately, the building was renovated and extended in 1990, and received a new façade.

I bought PJs for my son, and then went to women’s lingerie, which now includes a separate section with products from a line called Mae B. I could already see that items were much racier than the ones in the cotton aisle where I was standing. But I just needed to have a closer look. There was leather, latex, and barely there lingerie, and the right kind of shoes and boots to complement the outfits. All kind of sex toys were displayed on a table in the middle of the room. The fitting room was double the size of the ones one is used to normally, and had a red, pink, and gold decor.

I told you… you can get almost anything in a German department store.

When in Berlin, I often ride my bicycle to get around. It’s a pleasant work-out and convenient mode of transport. It’s reasonably safe too, because the city has a large network of bicycle paths. At intersections, bicyclists have the right of way before turning cars, which makes riding a bike a lot less stressful, however it’s always better to double-check with a quick glance to the left if cars are really waiting.

Recently, I also bought a helmet, which is mandatory for children but not for adults. In a collision with a truck, it will probably not help me much, but I hope it will make the landing in many other scenarios much softer.

These are pictures from a bike ride I did earlier in the summer. Please excuse the quality of some, most were taken while I was in the saddle.

Last checks

The Autobahn ;)

At many intersections, bicyclists even have their own traffic light, which turns green earlier than the one for cars.

The terrace restaurant on top of this department store is an excellent place for a break. The strawberry cake was divine :).

Fellow bikers, fast and furious.

On this occasion, I went to an outdoor exhibition in the center of Berlin, called Topography of Terror. The exhibition is located in and around the excavated cellars of the former Gestapo and SS headquarters, and other Nazi managerial buildings. Most of the buildings were destroyed during aerial bombardments, what remained was demolished in the 1950s. It was also the site of the Gestapo house prison, where political enemies and resistance fighters were held for interrogation, which very often included torture.

This is a picture of the exhibition and on the right (above the small wooden roof) is one of only a few remaining stretches of the Berlin Wall. Two historic ruins side by side that exemplify human suffering.

Today, forty-five years ago the Berlin Wall was built, dividing my home city Berlin, and my family. The soldier you see on the picture was the first person to flee East Germany. It was a wise choice.

Thankfully it is all over.

However, in Korea it is not. There, families and friends have not seen each other for over fifty years. In Germany, we could at least visit our families on the Eastern side.

tags: berlin, wall, mauerbau, korea

Cosima’s earlier post on my family and the Berlin Wall

This year, numerous German museum exhibitions, and magazine and newspaper articles inform about Germany’s first incarnation as a country, the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation (HRE), which lasted from 962 ad to 1806.

Germans of my generation have learnt preciously little about this historic period, because history lessons, at least mine, tended to
focus on the Nazi period and World War II. While I don’t want to miss those, the history buff in me is currently in overdrive, taking in all the information that is on offer.

The HRE was no nation state as we understand it today, but a loose conglomerate of small regional states, and the German king (later emperor) had very little to say. Still the influences of this period can be felt to this present day. The fact that present-day Germany, much like the US, is a federation of states, has it’s roots in this period. Also so much of Germany’s cultural heritage was created then. The local Herzogs and Fuersten lavishly supported composers like Bach, poets like Goethe, and numerous other artists, scientists, and philosophers. To show their wealth and cultural sophistication (mostly to the competing monarch of the neighboring state) they build palaces, theaters, and extensive parks and gardens, many of which still exist today.

This week, I traveled back to Berlin, and made a detour to Quedlinburg, a small town at the edge of the Harz mountains in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. Quedlinburg’s castle, picturesquely located on top of a hill overlooking the town, and it’s old town center are a UNESCO world heritage site. The town boasts an almost intact medieval town center, almost exclusively consisting of half-timbered houses. But Quedlinburg also has a special significance in connection with the HRE. Legend has it, that the coronation of the first German king Heinrich I took place in Quedlinburg in the tenth century. He didn’t seek the blessings of the pope, so isn’t included in most timelines, but he set the stage for his son Otto I, the official founder of the HRE. Heinrich I and his wife Mathilde still lie in the crypt of the Quedlinburg castle church.

The history of the castle church St. Servatius also illustrates why the significance of the HRE for Germany’s history is still downplayed. Nazi leadership called their brief reign the Third Reich, after the HRE (962-1806), and the German empire (1871-1918). Heinrich Himmler, leader of the SS, saw himself as “Reinkarnator” of Heinrich I, because he shared his first name with the king (how ridiculous is that). The church was converted to some sort of Nazi cult place, and annual king Heinrich celebrations were held in the crypt.

Like many things that were used by Nazi propaganda, the HRE is slowly being reclaimed and discussed by straight-thinking Germans. And if you ask me, that’s a good thing. Why should it remain some sort of Nazi territory, only because murderers like Himmler used it for their propaganda. To me that would be like giving them credence, when in fact they deserve none.

More photo’s of Quedlinburg on my flickr account.

tags: quedlinburg, history, germany, unesco, world heritage, holy roman empire