plans

My time in Varanasi is almost over. So I had to make plans where to go and what to do after Varanasi. Here’s what came out of it.

Taewook decided to come with me to Goa (woohoo) and he had been planning a trip to Pushkar, in the state of Rajasthan, with his friends who unfortunately can’t come due to visa, flight, health and other problems. So I decided to go there with him before we fly out to Goa. That means on the 28th of November we will take a direct train from Varanasi to Ajmer…20 hrs 40 mins on the train…we’ll try to make the best out of it. And then a bus to Pushkar which is said to be one of the last real hippie-retreats.

On the 4th of December we’ll leave Pushkar and take a train from Ajmer to Delhi to catch our flight to Goa the next morning. We should be arriving in Arambol the same afternoon and I just can’t wait!! On December 6th Basti will be arriving and we’ll give him a worthy welcome to India. hehe

I’m already counting the days until the 28th (12 to go!!). It’s not that I don’t like it here anymore but I just can’t wait to travel again! It will be so good to just take my backpack and get on that train!

But the last days here will pass by pretty fast I’m sure. Tomorrow I’m finally going to Ayer again and I will stay there for 3 nights. So I guess you won’t here anything from me for the next 4 days because there’s no elextricity and therefore of course no internet. So especially for you, mom: Keine Sorge, alles ist bestens. I’ll be back on Thursday I guess.

Until then…hope you’re all doing fine! I’ll write about those days in Ayer as soon as I’m back.

dev depawli, health camp and more

On thursday Taewook and I had gone to an urban slum village named Baghwanala near the office, where our Organisation is working. They had set up a so-called health camp for three days to improve children’s health conditions. A doctor (who had treated me for my health issues just a week before) had come to the community center checking almost 300 children in those 3 days, sent about 10 of them off to the hospital, prescribed tons of pills and sirups, that were given to their parents for free at the camp and briefed the parents about sanitation and hygiene as this is still causing most of the sicknesses he had to treat.
Taewook and I had actually planned to organise something like a workshop for children about that topic but then realised that it is just impossible to with with our poor hindi skills and nobody to translate. But we went to see the health camp on its last day to talk to the doctor about his opinions on the health conditions in the village and for me to see the slum area of Baghwanala because I had never had the chance before to go there.
What I saw was really surprising. I didn’t find the depressed atmosphere between huts made of paper boxes that I had expected. What I saw was like an oasis for me. Almost nature in the middle of Varanasi, just a 20-minute walk away from our office surrounded by the hectic city.

This is the doctor, talking to some kids at the health camp:

We had totally forgotten that day that it was Dev Depawli – the biggest festival in Varanasi. Thousands of people come to the city just to spend Dev Depawli there. Anup, one of the social workers in our organisation reminded us and told us we should go to town in the afternoon to see the celebrations. We had no idea what it would be like but followed his advice. As we arrived at the main Ghat it was just extremely crowded like we had never seen it before. Tribunes, decorated with flowers had been built in the river so that people could watch the pooja from there. It got too crowded and stressful for us so we decided to have some food and then probably come back for a while just to see what’s happening.

By the time we were done with dinner it was already getting dark. We decided to go back to the Ghats for a minute and then take a rikshaw back home. But what we found when we reached the riverside was far beyond what we had expected to see. Suddenly there were millions of candles. Candles on the stairs, next to the river, floating on the river, on the other side of the river and a huge full moon above us. It was beautiful!! I tried to take some good pictures of the scenery but that’s something you just can’t capture with a camera. But I’ll post them anyway, just to give you an impression of what it was like.

This is what main Ghat looked like that day

Little quiz for you, guys. What or whom can you see on that picture? The one with the first right guess will get some real indian masala spice mix when I get back.

Taewook and I ended up sitting at one of the less crowded Ghats for hours, staring at the lights that were floating by on the river. It was just amazing!

Raup village Volume 2

I know it’s been a while since I wrote my last entry but to be honest first of all I didn’t feel like writing and additionally I was facing some health problems again that had knocked me down for a couple of days. But yes, I’m fine now. And I’m motivated.

Lenin, Anupam, Taewook, Che (a korean photographer) and I went to Raup last week to get some good pics for the May 18 Foundation. It was my second visit to the village and it’s unbelievable how different I experienced it this time. We arrived in Robertsganj in the evening and stayed at a nice hotel so we could get some sleep and rise early in the morning – 5 o’clock – to go to Raup so the fotographer would have the perfect conditions to take his pictures. It was still dark freezing as we left the hotel. The atmosphere in Raup was amazing. It was very calm, people were slowly getting up, sitting around smokey fireplaces to get warm, wrapped in old holey blankets.

This time I felt welcome. I don’t know why but during my first visit I had been unable to connect with people there. And the language barrier had definitely not been the reason for that. I started walking around the village on my own and soon a bunch of people were following me, showing me their houses, their tribal decorations, their babies, their life. Their poverty.

Last time I hadn’t realised how hard their lives are and the all the problems that those people are facing. And old man came up to me and wanted me to follow him. So I did. He took me to his house or what was left of it. The monsoon had just washed away his roof, taken down his walls and left him homeless.

This is him.

And this is his wife standing in the ruins of what had been their home. She was almost crying when she explained me what had happened. I hardly understood a word (my hindi skills are still pretty much non-existent) but body language is international.

But this is not the only house that has been destroyed by the heavy rain. About 15 houses in the village have been damaged. They were made of mud and clay, with a roof made of straw and it’s A LOT of work to do that. And then the monsoon came and just washed it away. Now those who have lost their houses are living in tiny little huts. Well it’s actually just a thatch held up by wooden sticks, no walls. But the nights are getting colder and so their children and grandmas get ill because they have no warm clothes to wear. Their life really is hard. And so is their history. They have been driven away from their first village, have ben beaten by upper caste people, had to face violence and forced prostitution, they had to watch their children dying from hunger, helpless to do anything against it. But still they are smiling and joking. It really touched me and I’m asking myself why it was so different to my last visit. But this time I was fighting my tears.

After I had taken some pictures around the village people didn’t stop asking me to take pictures of them and were laughing when they saw themselves on the display of my camera. It was a lot of fun and I think I really got some good snaps. Hope you like them as much as I do.

This one is definitely my favourite. Look at those big eyes!

And he seems to be something like the village head. I love the smile lines on his firendly face.

The next one shows the closest relationship I have ever seen between an animal and a human being. The monkey was holding the baby like it was its own and just wouldn’t let go. Everytime the baby was close enough, the monkey jumped up, grabbed it, and sat there hugging it like it totally normal. That’s true love right there. hehe

Before we left the villagers were performing their famous Karma-dance for us. They sing about the struggles in their lives, play the drums and dance to it. I’m still trying to upload a video of it but I’m not so good at that kind of stuff.

Their dance is unique in India and they had even been invited to have lunch with the prime minister because of that. Here’s the invitation, or what is left of it:

After all they’ve been through, I’m really glad that changes are being made and that those people now have a reason to hope for better times. The school building is finished, thanks to PVCHR’s German partners. And it’s just a matter of weeks until the first lesson will be held. A big day for Raup!

After our visit to Raup we went to a waterfall on the way. After those weeks in the city it was so good to breathe nature again.

Happy Diwali!

What a nice day!

Getting up the morning of Diwali was already pretty special…well it was actually almost noon – it was a day off! Auntie immediately came into my room and offered me some Prashad – that’s the name for blessed sweets. So my breakfast included a sugarball and a blessing. I really like taking part in their traditions, so I was walking around all day long looking like that…well with a less stupid look of course:

Tae wook and I went into town around noon already and spent some time at the Ghats and in various restaurants. (Damn it – Korean food is spicy!!) The atmosphere in Godaulia (the center of Varanasi) was really nice. It was a good way to wait for the dark because that’s when all the ceremonies start.

As the sun went down we were sitting next to some women who were preparing their offerings in a nice ceremony.

After that we attended the Pooja at the main Ghat. A lot of people came to see the ceremony and to pray for their beloved ones by llighting a candle in some kind of bowl made of dried leaves, add some flowers as offering and let it flow down the ganges river. Hundreds of those candles were slowly moving down the river – a very beautiful scenery. I’m sorry I don’t have a picture of that but you just can’t catch that with a camera. But here’s a picture of the main Ghat and on the secnd one you can see a part of the pooja ceremony.

After the ceremony it was time to grab some food and go back to Pandeypur (this is the district we’re living in) to celebrate with Dr. Lenins and Mr. Chaubeys family. On our way we bought some firworks and sweets, to celebrate a realy traditional diwali. Hundreds of sweet shops are being opened just for diwali and they look as sweet as the stuff they sell tastes.

First we went to Dr. Lenin’s house to celebrate with Dr. Lenin, Shruti and Kabeer and went up on the roof to see the city glowing.

Then we went to Mr. Chaubey’s house to celebrate with the whole family and the kids. That was just awesome. It really feels like home already and I love the Chaubey family. They are so sweet!

So this is a part of the family but auntie is missing and Karmanya (who is also working for PVCHR) was taking the picture:

The next one is Karmanyas wife, who is probably the sweetest person in the world – when she smiles it’s like the sun was shining, Kang and I playing with the diwali lights:

And the two last pictures of the ultimate diwali experience.

That’s it from my side. Namaste and happy diwali!!

why I love sundays

Oh yes, those last days have been pretty cool!

On Sunday Kang and I went to town again and stopped by BHU – the Banares (Varanasi) Hindu University to meet Hemant, a volunteer from the US. The university campus is huge and a peaceful oasis in the always hectic Varanasi. It’s very green and the best thing: cars are not allowed to enter, so there’s no traffic, means: finally silence!! It was so nice to take a walk, have some food and just enjoy the silence. I actually hadn’t realised until that point how the constant noise, the honking, the sellers, beggars and rikshaw-drivers bothered me. Finally we got a little time-out.

On the campus there’s also a pretty nice temple that we visited.

And I found my new Guru…

After that we went into the center of Varanasi and took a walk along the Ghats. I just love the riverside. Apart from some kids that want to sell you postcards or flowers and some guys that ask you to take a ride on their boat it’s also very peaceful and chilled.

After a long walk we had some food in the narrow streets of Varanasi and a Kang had an argument on the street on our way home which looked a little something like this:

It was as crowded as never before that night. We thought the reason might be the preparations for Diwali, one of the biggest festivals in Hindu culture. It’s something like the indian Christmas, just a little louder – what a surprise. hehe It is also called the festival of lights because people decorate their houses with candles and festive lighting, eat a lot of sweets and worship the goddess Lakshmi, that stands for wealth and knowledge. Another good thing apart from eating tons of sweets: the office will be closed for 2 days. Don’t get me wrong – I love working here. But we are having a 6-day week here, only sunday is off – some free time really won’t hurt!

Just like we do it for Christmas, before Diwali, everybody clean up their homes. During those preparations something horrible happened… My roommate Lisa passed away. Here’s a picture of her just a couple of days ago:

With the impressive span of about 5cm she was really a wonderful exemplar. She was living behind my door and I really liked the fact that she didn’t move from there. The other roommates, like Hendrix (living next to my backpack), disappear and show up again whenever they feel like it…that just makes me feel a bit umcomfortable when I go to bed because you never know if sharing a room also means sharing a bed for that night… Lisa in her Zen way of living just stayed behind the door munching some mosquitos. But how could Mr. Chaubey know that as he removed the spider nets and their architects the day before Diwali? Yup, that’s how it happened: a man and a broom.

Rest in peace, Lisa. I will miss you.

another excursion – another touching story

Yesterday Dr. Lenin and his wife Shruti took me on another excursion. Mr. Chaubey, the owner of the house I’m living in had been supervising the construction of a school building about 150km away from Varanasi and after only a couple of months, the builing was finished. Dr. Lenin and Shruti took me with them when they had the final handover so I could see another village the PVCHR is working in.

The reason why the village of Robertsganj (the name had been changed by the British) was brought to PVCHR’s attention was the miserable condition of the people living there. From 2003 to 2004 18 kids had died from malnutrition and there was nothing their parents could do to save them. After PVCHR had been informed about that, they addressed this issue to the government. They finally launched a nutrition programme there but still the villagers and especially their children are in a pretty bad condition. Their arms and legs are skinny, their teeth are bad, the kids have bloated bellies, and you will find all kinds of diseases in that village. It was hard for me to see them with their skinny babies in their arms, their faces marked by all those horrible things that they had to bear in their lives.

When we got there, the people of the village were gathering to see what was happening. They were very shy and it was hard to get in touch with them compared to my experience in Ayer. But no wonder…those people had been slaves, they had been beaten and abused by upper caste people for such a long time. They have no reason to trust anybody!

Dr. Lenin said that the first time they had come to that village, the people living here didn’t have much in common with human beings. Neither physically or in their outward appearance, nor did they have any rights, any joy in their lives that had been dominated by disease, hunger and death. He told me that once they had come to visit the village a buffalo had just died. The villagers had been so hungry that they immediately started eating the buffalo’s meat and had finished it in the wink of an eye.

The first step to improve their situation had been the governmental nutrition programme. A kindergarden and handpumps for water supply built by the PVCHR followed. Unfortunately the ground is too dry to get any water from the groundwater. So they still have to walk to a lake that is some minutes away to get water.

Now the community has a school and a playground. Finally they are getting some kind of infrastructure – and through that hope.

On this picture you can see some of the people who are living in this village:

That’s the new school building. Still empty but not for long.

PVCHR also built a monument with all the 18 names and ages of the kids that had died here due to malnutrition.

And some goats have been given to the village by the PVCHR. Their babies are only a couple of hours old.

Now they even build pretty nice houses. Very simple and small of course but they finally discovered their own worth and try to improve their living conditions themselves. This is something they hadn’t done before. They didn’t have any kind of self esteem. Now they are decorating their houses and of course they are still very simple but it does look really nice.

It’s amazing how little things like that can already change the quality of life. And it’s amazing how little efforts can finally give these communities some hope that they have any chance to change their fate.

The whole day had been really tiring for me. Especially because I still had problems with my stomach. You know…just the average welcome-present that India is holding for everyone who is entering this country. I felt sick all the way on the car. 3 hours for 150km…but well…that’s how it is in India. I’m slowly getting better now and finally had my first meal today since Monday. We (Kang and I) decadently went to a mall two rickshaw-rides away from work so I could have some pizza. But hell yeah, it was totally worth it.

I should really put some pics of the mall online. It’s just totally unreal to me to find something like that in Varanasi, the purest India. But it’s pretty cool because we could even buy some cereal and milk for breakfast. Oh yeah, can’t wait to get to the office tomorrow morning!

So, yes, even if I had a tough time visiting those villages and I’m kinda struggling with my health problems, I still love being here. I still enjoy every minute. Well maybe not every minute…3 hours on the bus with a sore stomach was probably not my favourite experience.

But after all I’m so glad that I’m here. And I love what I do!

I hope you’re all doing fine as well and thanks a lot for the comments so far. Gotta go now because I’m having my first Hindi lesson. Oh yeah!

The village of Ayer

Yesterday I have been to the village of Ayer. This village is one of PVCHR’s model villages designed after the Jan Mitra (People-friendly) concept. This is the village that my project will be about. Dr. Lenin wants me to write a report about the changes in the village since PVCHR started working there and to add my critical view on their work and on the status quo. He wants me to do interviews with the villagers, to evaluate the current situation and he’s gonna provide me with the data material of the last couple of years. This is really an awesome thing for me to do here. I just can’t wait to get started.

So this was my first visit to the village and more will follow. Ayer is a Dalit village. That means that the people living here belong to the lowest caste in India. They are also called ‘the untouchables’ and their situation in this coutry is more than miserable.

One community of this village belongs to India’s most underprivileged: the Musahar. They are the lowest subcaste of the Dalit caste and most of them are stuggling to survive everyday. In this village most of them work in brick kilns and the women make plates out of leaves.

What they earn with their work is not enough to survive. That’s why some children were even starving to death in this town before it was brought to the attention of the PVCHR.

Now there are two meals a day served for the children of the village. It’s pretty nice to watch that ‘ceremony’. Here are some picture of yesterday’s lunch:

A school and a playground was built and PVCHR and its fieldworkers are constantly campaigning and promoting the awareness of the villigers’ rights.

‘Play, study, food and love’

‘Basic right of every child’

says this painting on the wall of the classroom.

The children even founded a children’s parliament and address major issues by performing the typical indian dramas about those topics.

One of the parliament’s members is Indra, who you see on the picture below. She really impressed me with her brightness, her interest, her commitment and the proud that she shows when she’s walking on the dusty paths of her village.

On this picture you can also see other members of the children’s parliament, just like the girl on the very left. She used to be living a bit away from the village in a house with her family. Some time ago their house just collapsed. She is now living in a tiny brick hut with a roof made of palm leaves because her family doesn’t have the money to rebuild it.

Even if there were so many sad stories to tell, I really enjoyed my visit in Ayer. I have never met so many warm-hearted people at once before. And probably never felt as welcome as I felt when I got there.

When Kang and I got out of the car and started talking to the teachers, some people of the village started gathering around us and just stared at us. But then Indra came and broke the ice. And suddenly we were surrounded by a fanclub of about 30 kids that was following us until the second we left. And even then 5 of the kids squeezed into our car and took a little ride with us because ‘they are not willing to let you go,’ as Karmanya translated.

I have never experienced so much joy, sadness, fun, misery, hope and happiness at the same time as during my visit of the village of Ayer.

These are the ‘houses’ that the people of the village live in:

But what definitely touched me most was a little girl and her younger sister or brither that she was carrying around. She had not eaten lunch with the other kids. I just saw her by the playground when we were walking around the village. The only kid that didn’t even smile. She has a serious injury on her forehead that is already heavily infected. And she, just like her younger sibling is severely malnourished. Both suffer from some kind of disease that Karmanya couldn’t really translate. I was asking about her parents and why they wouldn’t get any medical treatment for the kids. The teacher told me that she had already talked to her mother but she didn’t really seem to care because she is ill herself and they don’t have any money.

There is even a government hospital close by but her family wouldn’t take them there because the staff of that place is pretty corrupt. They either wouldn’t treat them because they are from the lowest caste or demand a lot of money. And for a treatment in another hospital there’s not enough money to take them there and pay for the medication.

Yesterday as I was lying in bed I just couldn’t stop thinking about her and that little baby. I have to do something. I have to find a way to get her some proper treatment before her condition is getting any worse. There’s no way I can ignore this.

If you see that little girl on her skinny legs, I guess all of you will understand. So here’s a picture of her:

As I left the town I had already take my decision to come back soon and stay for a while. If I want to do some serious work, I have to live with those people. Just spending a couple of hours there will never be enough. I was not sure how the people of the organisation would feel about that but I addressed this to Dr. Lenin when we had dinner this evening and he is more than happy about my will to do this. He said he stopped asking interns because nobody had ever wanted to do this. But I definitely will. Not only because I know this is what it takes to do a proper job but because I had some of the most touching moments of my whole life with those people and I can’t wait to go back.

Copyright by Tae wook Kang. October 2008.

my new home

After my detailed description about my new crib I thought I should let you see it with your own eyes. Lean back and enjoy.

So here it is, my 5-star residence:

This is my room…

The Spa aka. ’shower’

The ‘livingroom’

Two of the kids and my new auntie

Yesterdays photosession. I think one of the guys is living at our place…not sure though.

I’m an alien!

Well my arrival here was indeed was I would call ‘interesting’. After 26 hours of travelling I arrived at the airport of Varanasi. That was the point when I was getting kind of nervous because I hadn’t heard from the Organisation anymore before so I had no idea whether somebody would come to pick me up and if not – what should I do?
But I was lucky. One of the social workers of the Organisation, Upindra, was waiting there already with a PVCHR-sign. I was pretty glad about that. If he hadn’t been there a huge crowd of people would probably have tried to drag me into their taxis, rickshaws or hostels. That’s actually the most annoying thing about India. People just never leave you alone.
So we were on our way to the office driving through places where I wouldn’t have wanted to get out of the car. At one of them, we took a turn right into a narrow, dodgy side street. ‘We are here,’ came from my left. I took my stuff and a deep breath, got out of the car and entered the office. The rooms were small, stifling and windowless. No idea how I should work here for 6 weeks. Upindra showed me my desk in a tiny room where 4 people were already sitting. One of them was an intern from Korea, his name is Tae wook. But nobody manages to remember his name, so they call him by his last name, Kang. We started chatting and I was pretty glad to meet somebody who is in the same situation as I am. With the slight difference that he had already arrived in August and is staying for 10 months. About 1,5 hours later Upindra came back to take me to my room. We went there on his motorbike even though I was carrying a lot of stuff: my backpack, my handluggage, my laptop and my sweater. I was a pretty shaky ride and I thought I’d fall off every second. We didn’t have to go far and another ride through a very narrow shady side street later, we arrived. I found out I was living in a house with a whole indian family. I still don’t know how many people are really living here as they just come and go but it’s at least 10 I guess. The Chaubey family gave me a very warm welcome. I didn’t understand a word though, because most of them don’t even speak a word English.

They showed me my room and another deep breath was needed to enter it and put my luggage down. Not only because it’s even more stifling than the office but also because I had immediately discovered my new roommates…I hate spiders! The room is very humid and hot as there is only a small window into the livingroom, that is covered by a curtain. Next highlight of the tour of my new home: the bathroom/toilet. A shithole in the truest sense…
I was glad to be able to express my desparation after they had left me alone in my room. Not a good start. And I was already thinking about alternative plans and getting out of here as soon as possible.
At night, Tae wook picked me up to take me to the office for dinner. As we were walking on the street the wholle town was staring at us. Wherever we go, we are never unobserved.
Sting really had no idea what he was talking about when he was singing ‘Englishman in New York’. I definitely know now what it was like to be an alien on earth. It sucks.
I know all of that doesn’t sound too good…but I decided to give it a chance. And now, 4 days later, I definitely know it was the right thing to do. What has been so scary before, is getting interesting now. The looks that I get on the street are now rather amusing than bothering. My room looks a bit nicer now, as I have moved in and did some shopping and I really enjoy the daily pantomime-game with my host family. I’ll soon be learning Hindi to take our conversation further than ‘namaste’- hello and good morning and ‘dhanyawad’- thank you.
Tae wook is as well significantly involved in making me enjoy my stay here by being my guide, my bodyguard, my babysitter and my translator. We’re having a lot of fun together and it’s very good to have an ally here that is in the same situation as I am: away from home and enjoying the daily struggle that India puts you through.

Welcome back…

Namaste and hello everybody!

Welcome back to my blog. As some of you may not know why I’m reactivating it: I’m travelling again. But I think that was not hard to guess.

But first of all I might have to explain why I’m writing in English this time. Well fact is that I do have a lot of friends that don’t speak German. During my last trips I always promised them that they would get an english short-version but of course I never really did it. So this time I’m trying not to be that ignorant. The second reason is that I am speaking English all the time while I’m here so it’s actually easier for me to resume about my activities here in Enlish as well. But to all those who might have trouble with English or are just too lazy to put some effort into reading my blog (I won’t point anyone out now hehe) I will send you e-mails in German as well. And this time I’m sure I’m gonna do it.

So let’s get back to what this is about:

I just started my biggest trip so far. On the 15^th of October I took a flight from Vienna to Doha, Doha to Mumbai, (during a 24-hour taxi strike…made my way from the international to the domestic airport quite interesting hehe) Mumbai to Delhi and after 26 hours of travelling I had at last reached my final destination: Varanasi, the holy city of Shiva. The city of the dead.

The reason why I’m here is because I’ll be working as a volunteer for the People’s Vigilance Committee of Human Rights (PVCHR) for the next 6 weeks. This NGO especially works with the lowest caste in india, the Dalits, which suffer from various forms of Human Rights violations all over the country. I will dedicate some of my following entries to let you know more details about the Organisation’s work as it is really overwhelming what the founder Dr. Lenin Raghuvanshi and his staff is makeing tremendous achievements here.

So this is where I will spend my time until the beginning of December. But it wouldn’t be me if that was it already.

After I have done my contribution to save the world I will continue travelling. In the first weeks of December I’ll meet Basti, a friend of mine since…well for as long as I can remember. We’re gonna spend some weeks in India together and explore the south. I’m sure we’ll also meet some places I’ve already been to like Arambol, the resting place of my father or Hampi, which I fell in love with on my last journey to India.

After Christmas will go our seperate ways again and as he will be on his way back home I’ll be taking a flight to Singapore in order to head towards Malaysia because I thought it might be a good plan to spend New Year’s Eve in Kuala Lumpur. And I still do. But this is not the end yet.

Long story short: I’ll be travelling, enjoying myself, meeting people and making my dreams come true until the 26^th of February. This is when my flight home is leaving from Kuala Lumpur and I will have to face reality again. But that’s something I shouldn’t think about now. Not yet and not until the 26^th of February.

So I hope you’re enjoying my blog and please don’t hesitate to comment. I love comments. So please gimme some feedback. It makes me feel like I’m doing this for a reason because it’s the only way for me to know that somebody is actually reading that stuff. Comments in German are of course welcome as well.

That’s it for now.

To be continued….