Striptease of Life: Germany

Well, then, with a two month delay, here is a post on my germany stay during the summer. there are several reasons for this trip. first, there is nothing else to do really during the summer. essex uni dies shortly after the exames, meaning that there is no one around really after mid june and it is kind of boring to stay in essex during late july and august. second, i had a job in my old university and i had to be present a couple of days a week. third, catching up with my german friends. fourth, getting some vacation... there are probably more reason why to go back to germany.
i already wrote that i went to berlin with a friend and here are some pics from it. it is quite nice to see berlin more from a side of a foreign tourist than of a german going to his or her capital. it is different. as a german, i would say, berlin is arrogant and all berliners are ignorant people. i feel a bit strange there. every time i went there before i always got the feeling of "feel inferior, you are just a bloke from the country site". anyhow, this time it was quite fun. we had sushi and went to see some museums (apart from generally hanging around and feeling like "city slackers"). i enjoyed it and changed my mind a bit (tho, i still wouldnt see berlin on top of my places-to-live-list). We went to the german history museum which was very interesting. i have never been there before, partially because i took history in a-level and studied history. but it was really interesting to fill my book-knowledge with some real pictures. for my company it was interesting to see this as well as the knowledge only comes from books or films otherwise.
soon after berlin i re-started my uni job. it was interesting in the end. there were some boring times and things to do (entering 2000 numbers on a few days each, repetitive tasks....etc.). but i learned a lot of things: more things on social network analysis, how the german uni systems really works (or rather, confirmation), i even were invited to giving a paper next year. i really enjoyed doing the work. after finishing it i felt like as i have done something very important. it also showed me, that this is the thing i will do for the next years...
apart from that i tried to have a vacation. i went out with friends and were drunk more than once. i went to potsdam to see sanssouci where i havent been for ages. i went to krefeld to see my godchild whom i havent seen for ages either, etc. i met friend i havent seen for ages, even quite sad encounters (on of them has HIV but he's alright, quite strange to meet him tho, depressive a bit). One got married in september (congrats!), others managed to get the break even in business or music. i really cant put it in words. this summer was like a journey back and forth in time at the same time. it was the final realisation that lifes go on, mine and others, and that at some points you have to more on somehow. ypu can read into it what you want. but there is no need for nostaligia. i think the most important lesson of life is to enjoy it every second and if you can't then enjoyed it afterwards and be happy. it is defo too short to miserable and depressive all the time. when i look back on my post a few weeks ago i kind of start to laugh. of course, i felt really pissed off then, but at the end of the day i have to look forward and now i enjoy it again. i made my peace, no hard feelings. but most of all, i had a really good time overall in germany. i dont and cant live there anymore. but it is always nice to go back and have a time off. to know, that there is a place where i feel at home and which is not just my laptop.
omg, quite sentimentel here. this is not really how i feel. there was one incident where i was moved and happy at the same time. on a church's wall directly on the german border were inscription, dating back to the 1920s. and from the time of the berlin wall. it was impossible to get to this church during that time but the soldiers serving at the wall wrote things on it. the church as such was pretty much boring and normal but those writings were like a book full of stories. i loved reading the inscriptions and think about those people who have written "i love you marta, K.R. 1934" or "4.35 o'clock 1984, EK 4.6.1985", referring to the time of patrol and the date of discharge of a border soldier. This was really interesting and i would love to have pics here. or invite you over to read them yourselves. It's not only my history being an east german but also the history of the cold war where the leaders might have followed a hard stand but the people at the bottom where just ordinary beings, happy with their family and pissed off with being on guard 24/7 for the respective other enemy and freezing their bums in a cold winter night. especially if the "enemy" was just across the lake.
however, here are some pics. im not really in the mood to write anything more. it was nice in germany and it did me good and i really enjoyed it (in the retroperspective), even tho i dont wanny go back. love it. first there are some pics from berlin and potsdam and then from the area near my hometown.