shoecreamhair

yesterday, saturday was a special day for me: my first performance of our routine which I was allowed to dance! so after the usual 4 hours of training, the guys had leave to go and get food or coffee or glühwein from the christmas market, while the girls had a quick shower and then started up preparations. there were around 4 stations: hair, face, body and everything else. every girl had to go through every one of them and tehy all took their time. I did the face amkeup first: first a brown base, then the fake eyelashes when I was told to open my eyes I tried opening them but it didnt work. my eyes seemed stuck! but luckily they werent, it was the awkwardness of the eyelashes that got my eyes to defy obedience in that instance. then the rest of the makeup. then came the body. it was an all over bodypaint with one colour: brown (tan actually) and seriously, it went everywere. then i did the hair. first soem gel and tons of hsirpins, then some fake extra hair (yes even with me) and lastly some...shoecream. aparently this is the safest and best method to get hair black and to stick and stay in form without damaging it too much. awkward but it works, and my hair seems to have survived it.


the two times we danced the routine was awesome. the concentrated warming up, the crispy team spirit- unforgettable and truely unique. It all worked out well too and for the first time i knew i had a good reason to smile without feeling like a complete ideot.

snow

as I hurried out to the train station early saturday morning (yesterday), an odd difference ccured to me: it was colder, and wetter than usual. somehow the world seemed to be covered in a crust of fluffy powder sugar. I kickstarted my brain and realised the signs my brain registered pointed to only one plausible diagnosis: it had snowed. (the picture is the view out my window right now: its still snowing)

for me, snow is really pretty to look at. and rather fun to play with, but actually a real pain: your pants et wet, your shoes get wet, your nose and eyelashes freeze, nad if somebody happes to manage to get the stuff down your shirt, got inside and wait for 3 minutes and you wil feel like having peed yourself. not fun. especially when snow gets older and dirty and yellow and slushy it hits the height of nastyness. no snow like that is not cool.

snow actually only is cool fr skiing, but as im not allowed to do that anyhow this year...

on the other hand, snow means something completely different to otehr people. i know pragathi saw her first snow here in stuttgart. i remember the time and everytime afterwards when we were sitting through some more or less boring class when the while crystals started to fall. pragathis eyes almost popped! they were glued to the window and as soon as the bell had ung there was no keeping her inside despite my groanings of ow horrible snow actually was. but i must agree, snow is beautiful and i am pampered with seeing at least a 5cm load every year so that i dont even notice what other people miss out on.

sunday morning

everything is quiet. my favourite radio station plays calm music. you seem to have all the time in the world for yourself, to do what you want to do and wht you need to do: homework, emails, reading, or just lying in bed feeling the pull on muscles the training on saturday has caused.

I love i when my parents are not up yet. it is a productive time if you need to get things done. an hour or two later that has completely changed. breakfast, washing, cleaning and all felt five seconds, the horrific "JULIAAAAAAA" which always means that i have to drop everything i am doing hurry to my parents to find out that the house is NOT burning, but that I have left a trivial thing as a sock or a plate 2 meters away from its prefered final destination. to me very annoyin and counterproductive if i want to do something like an essay.

what else does sunday bring? it the only day of the week where i can somewhat sleep in (yes getting up at 8:30 is sleeping in for me, early as that sounds). I have training in a couple of hours time. hopefully the B formation hasnt spoiled the mood of the trainer. but before that all my homework is due-the reason for getting up so early so that i can still utilise the productive wave of the morning.

chemistry here I come...slow but steady

boah wie geil!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i came home. i debated for 3 hours, i made a scene--- (yes i cover my face with shame but i achieved my goal in the end) and i went to bremen with my mum to see the german championship o standard and latin formation.

what can i say?? very cool.

very pretty

very awesome

...
freaking daym awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I dont know which was best: latin or standard- latin is the more exciting definately, but nothing can top the ludwigsburg standard formation- it simply is top: the music, the choreo, the dresses, the level of accuracy and the complexity. it accellerates you heartbeat, it glues your eyes to it, it gives you a mouthdrop, it moves you stomach.

starting with the entrance "crown" over the spins to the everything: simply top. if you get to see it do nto miss your chance, its only half as good on youtube but the link currently is at the side: do take the time its worth it.


to the latin: GGC bremen a obviously won, but Velbert was pretty close. velbert was accurate, bremen had a few line mistakes, but more of the "yeah" feeling of power and expression: of selling it. a very fast choreo, very difficult with very good technique i envy them for.

the drama was so worth it. the lack of sleep was so worth it. the unfinished hw was SO worth it! the tournament ended shortly after 2400, the bus drove off between 0030 and 0100. i was in lubu at 0800 and home 0900 and in bed at 1000 :p even though i slept on the bus, an hour on "hatdude", until he had to get off to visit his parents that live in northern germany, another few hours on bench and the remaining hours on david, a fairly well cushioned guy of my formation.

...this morning (monday thus school) i felt as though kicked in the tomach by a donkey xD but it was SO worth it!

MUNOM

another mun has passed by.

munom is always special, being right after my birthday, it is something like my birthday present and party in one. it is not only the most organized but also the most formal mun i have ever went to (with most definately the best food).

my committee was awesome. almost entirely frst timers, but what a committment! eerybody spoke, everybody thought with the reso, even though not always, but enough to put the chair in a position where encouragement is not necessary. however the quality of debate lacked accordingly- the first reso that passed was rather weak and did not make that much sense (due to contradicting clauses etc and a clause that was rather racist (but unnoticed by the committee). in these cases its always hard to stay neutral as a chair, but i manage. likewise the second reso was rather weak, but better, and was mainly tipped by the amendment stating that nuclear energy should be implemented- you cant just state that liek theat without further explaination and elaboration. also i dont think the committee was fully aware of all the implications and problems with nuclear energy to have the full picture, so i forgive them but can understand the GA for not passing the reso. the third reso was actualy the best. but as my deputy chaired it, i msut sadly say i was way to lazy to fully anc critically read through it. thus i dont want to give an opinion as it wouldnt be the most objective and best explained i can give.

m deputy was also really nice. i cannot complain at all. jan is a talented chair, still a bit quiet, but i could trust him to run a good debate and explain procedure where this was necessary. when he chaired i of course looked on a bit but soon i noticed he is fully competent by himself- plus a very nice guy to talk to and hang out with- very useful :)
the other person sitting next to me in the GA, deputy of GA1, julian also was great, i got along with him really well and also made friends wiht him. really hope to see these two promising deputies again sometime.

back to committee. i know im a strict chair. i like it quiet, though i dont mind note passing about random things as long as there is a good debate going on. but i also do some cool stuff, like allow silly amendments once in a while when they get proposed and everybody is sleeping, or doing a mock debate on a topic like limiting rights of women right at the end, and having a laugh at the outrageous resolution.

lastly i didnt get to chair the GA, nor did i get to do any cool things the last day, ut it gave me tme to write my awesome presidential report (i ifled at it for hours cuz i dint have anyhtign better to do) listen to debate, and chat with my two neighbours.

munom as always was a very cool conference. i again saw almost nothing o the town, and this time also didnt like tha party as much as the year before- but it still was heaps of fun and very cool (no luckily no points :).
definately worth missing a week of school for this- see you next year, as PGA? PSC? PSpecial conference?

anecdotes of london: new and old

sorry i have been busy (very as you will see in future blog enterances) and thus unable to write since. but now it is time for a last london entry: the saturday.

I woke up packed my bad, went for the usual unspectacular breafast of toast and coffee (...sleep is no excuse for the lack of coffee xD). then to my surprise, i got the phonecall i was hoping for- my 9th grade english teacher mr. kelly (mr.k) called. he now lives in london, and i have kept in contact with him since- needless to say he is a really good teacher, a phenomenal PP supervisor and a truely nice person. as meeting up earlier did not work out, he was eager to meet me now that i coincidentaly was in his new hometown. so an hour later i had an appointment at russel square tube station.

i ran of to do some last minute shopping with my mummy at the awesome oxford street and came about 5 mins late finding my ex teacher waiting for me, his nose of course stuck in a book- an english teacher what can i say? the meeting was sort of surreal, short and compact telling the almost 2 last years in a few hours- from pp, to teacher battles to pragathi and the rest of the school, to school politics to my first impressions of IB and the world and everything in general.

we had coffee in the british museum, passed the uni of london, a really cool bookstore and got lost in the small streetlets of bloomsbury, which mr. k actually should know better by now ;).

lastly mr. k took my mum and me to the briish library where they had an amazing collection of old books- the gutenberg bible(!) mozart and beethoven and hayden...manuscripts (!!!) chinese acupuncture atlases of a couple of hundreds yeas of age, shakespeare, diaries and logbooks of discoverers- wow! a priviledge to have seen these documents, even tough its "just" paper. and of course as always a pleasure to have a mini lecture on shakey and his first and second editions and authenticy questions.

at this moment i must restate my gratitude of being priviledged witht he couple of hours of mr. k's time- it was a pleasure, if you read this, hope to see you in future- london is a phenomenal city, be sure ill be there again sometime in future.

i completely forgot to take photos. i know prags that you are waiting for them, but my batteries were out- and i was a bit shy to ask for a picture and go through the trouble of changing them. no pics of mr. k, but its the memory that counts isnt it? (plus ill drag you to london sometime if you have the money to transprt around half the world).

anecdotes of london: promenades

london is the perfect city for detouring. the streets rage from narrow and cornered via big shopping streets to humongous places and of course the riverside promenade at the thames. its a dream of a cty for detour lovers. for those people like me that enjoy getting lost in a city and discovering strange corners and simply finding your way around. london is super for that. you can get lost and fid yourself all over again 500 times, and that in each suburb. even resients have proven to be in need of maps in order to get from a to b and still get lost all the time (right mr. k ;) .
i usually went detouring with my mum after museum closure. usually it wa already dark so the picture are in bad light, but that doesnt matter does it?

southbank
this part of town is on the southside pf the thames river. it hold the aquarium, the london eye, the national theatre, the globe the tate modern etc. a wonderful place to hae an everning stroll at, to find an ad hoc exhebition or free concert. it must also be a dream for running. instead of dong the half hour warm up jog in the ajacent fields, id so much prefer running from the millenium bridge to big ben to keep fit. maybe it doesnt hve the best air in downtown london, but it msut be a run that ever gets boring. plus you have an amazing view of the city.

soho
on one of our strolls up from th national gallery tring to find some sort of food, we came to little china (my mum was thrilled to bits and amazed at the masses of chinese apothecaries) and finally through soho. while i attribute the rest of london with a bright brick red, soho is more of a dark brown, if not black. it is full of small dubious restaurandts and shops. a dream to get lost in, even though im not sure its all that safe.

This is bloomsbury at russel square. right next to the brtish museum

bank
our last walk brought me and my mum in to the region of the busy bees. highrise buildins containing box office after box office lined the skyline, in between, the old rests of roman ruins. so much to london being an organic city. this is the proof. pizza express in a 40 story building vs. half collapsed temple at its feet. wonderfull!

pictures coming later

anecdotes of london: art

>


london is full of art. from monet to da vinci, from medieval to the creme de la creme of modern art, from street grafitti and busking musicians to the royal ballett company. and I ahd a look at all of it.
v&a
tate modern
national art gallery
manon (ballett)
oedipus (theatre)

I came to london in the middle of my studies of wilde's novel the picture of dorian grey. I thus was full of the idea of art being beauty, no matter of what the means and effects are. I agreed but havign viited london I must expand on this idea. art, or at least good art creates emotion. it moves you inside, makes you happy and smile, appals you, angers you, makes you feel disgust or hate, shock or fear or simply adoration.these feelings can all be then interpreted as forms of beauty. no matter which emotion you have, as long as you have it and it si strong it is beautiful. but that might jsut be the interpratation of more than rich dandies of victorian brain that didnt know what else to do to spend their time with.

one thing i like doing in museums espeicially art gallerys is finding two or three favourite things and really having a good look at them. of course i look at the rest too but these to or three objects are things where my mind had this "wow" sensation. In the v&a that was some of the victorian dresses (but thats becuase of my pp).
in the tate modern it was a dali painting, and a room of contemporary art that used creative media, such as fake gems, stacks of wrting paper that were carved in or fabric to create a picture. then there was another room of austrian exhebitionists that pushed the limits. where does art start? where does it end? and especially, how far can you go? some austrian artists explored these questions in quetionable, revolting and disgusting ways that at the same time are intriguing and creative in a desturbing way.
in the national gallery it was, of course impressionistic and port impressionistic painting. renoir, gaugin, monet, degas moving into klimt. I adore it! it is there but it isnt. the scene is not only painted as previously but "half chewed" it is destorted through use of texture and colour leaving ou to guess why and how and what, while still making the object of art clear and creating a beautiful painting.
the saatchi gallery was full of contemporary stuff. the best i have seen in a long time. it makes you think and reflect on society implies the outrageous but again only that what we should hear and listen to in order to get better and make our life here on earth sustainable. my fave:

my favourite again depicts waterlillies and the reflection of a tree in a pond. It uses blotches of bright red for the flowers a harmonic green and blue for the rest. these paintings make me happy, jsut as debussy music does. I cannot resist a slight smile (even if only on the inside in case im in a bad mood) if seeing them).
manon. ballet. bringing across a story jsut through bodylanguage and expression and aestetics. incredibly hard, but beautiful nonetheless. ballett is definately not somethign to be laughed at. it is difficult as hell as it askes complete body tension and control, and is aestetic pure. from first love to jealousy to death. the dancers and music can bring across anything, if you are not stunned out of your wits by the amazing pirrouettes, jumps and poses.

last but not least theatre. this is easy, everybody has cried during a movie. theatre is just the same, jsut live, thus wiht more tension. oedipus, one of the first tragedies, is katharsis in perfection. the suffering and pain of your fate culminating at one point in midday when all shadows and uncertainities fall, grips the audience. any hopes of a good ending crumble and you empathise with the protagonist and his suffering- it is a horrid emotion but still art- people come out of the theatre snivelling and with red eyes saying how good it was.

my favourite sculpture in the british museum:

art in london is superb. if you need you art tank tanked go there, you can find a heap for nothign (just the price of a tube ticket to get there or of hurting feet) and a whole pile more if you are willing to pay a tad, or a heap of money. but im realyising it doesnt only have to be london. I realised i have a world class ballett right at my doorstep and more than enough good opera, drama, concerts and in worst case cinema to go with it. no excuse eh?

anecdotes of london: the tube

after leaving heathrow, which was as far as I had ever gotten to uk soil previously, I first commuted down what seemed to be and endless escalator to the british ubahn, the tube. after mastering the first hurdle, getting tickets and realising that there was only one possible train to take (yes makes things easy!) I found myself faced with a tiny wormlike almost round metal thing racing around london uderground at horrendous speeds. the seas werent arranged in groups of 4 a i was used to , but in two rows facing each other. it took me some minutes to get used to all this, figure out that the tunnel was barely 10 cm larger than the tube (for it really is a tube) and to get comfortable with the mode of trasport. now, after a week of daily use, it has become my friend. I find it cute, cuter than the already cute stuttgart ubahns and of course very very useful.

anecdotes of london: intro

the following couple of posts are going to (hopefully) be a series of encounters i have had during my trip in the capital of what used to be the city. the city of the empire, that controled more than a third of the landmass of the globe- of which they collected raided and stole (so to speak) everything and even more pretty valuable and of historical cultural and artistic importance.
I got out of the tube station and I knew: i was going to fall in love with city. it does not have the simple elegance of berlin or paris, nor the stuffy and warm culture cluster of rome. london is different, london is red. If you are anywhere in the london downtown area, especially in bloomsbury where i was most of the time, you feel the atmosphere streets have if they ahve been trodden out not only by the ruler of an architect and a few hundreds of cars, but of millions and millions of people and hundreds of generations of them that conrtibuted to make london what it is: a long story short, london has atmosphere.
It is impossible to write everythign in here that i did and saw even though i love to, but i fear id still be typing tomorrow then, so i hope i can sum it up in the little details touching me most.