Land unter

Bi ois rägnet's wie verruckt, i andere Länder verbrännt's alles. Das isch doch voll paradox. Naja, lueged sälber...









In Switzerland it's raining like hell and other countries fight against the fire. That's so crazy. A friend of mine lives in Portugal. He published a blog about fires in his country. Have a look at it:

Fire chapter log 1 324 509 459

He asked me to send him some water. I'd love to, but of course I can't. Swiss Scientists say that's only the beginning. Summer 1999 was equal to 2005 and so was 2003. And the years inbetween were very hot.
Maybe we should start thinking about that and afterwards start acting. Is it necessary to use the car for every step we make? How can we lower the consumption of petrol and other polluting substances? It's an interesting subject, don't you think so?

We had joy, we had fun ...

Last week we went to Corsica for a camp. It took us 6 hours to drive from Zurich to Livorno in Italy where the ferry left to Bastia in Corsica.

After 4 long hours on the ferry we arrived on the island and looked for a camping for the first night. We went by car and we were 8 participants and 3 leaders. Some of us slept in the tents, others in the sand.



We travelled once around the island. And whenever we saw water we stopped and took a bath. Here we are in a river on the west side.

That was another river on the east side of the island. You can see a bridge. We jumped down, it's only 9 meters, and then we slid down the natural slide. That was really funny.

Nice small animals...

In Bonifacio a king wanted to have access to the sea so a stair to the water was built.

Of course we went to the beach as much as possible. Some were really beautifull, others were just nice.

We had our own net with us to play everywhere

Playing on the beach. That's Tobi, our sunshine

Some really beautiful sunsets for you



I can recommend you a visit on the island. It's full of natural and historical beauty. It was a very interesting and funny week and I'm brown now!

Hard working

After 2 and a half week scout camp and one week work i'm going to another camp. This time the camp is from work and we are going to corsica, a french island in the mediterranean sea :-) Finally sea, beach and sun again! Enjoy the summer!

Campside

Good morning everybody. As we are connected to the World Wide Web i can surf the net even during the scout camp. Last week a Swiss Army Helocopter flew over our head and took the following photo. Ain't it nice?

A regular man eats 2 kg mud a year...

Let's increase it...!
The next three weeks I will spend near Kandersteg in our summer scout camp. One year ago we started preparing this special event. 500 scouts from 5 to 20 will participate. One week for the younger and two weeks for the older ones. And three weeks for staff people. The theme is UFO, we will life on a space shuttle with swimming pool and tower. In 14 hours I will leave civilisation and enjoy the simple camping live. Well, it won't be too simple, as we have a camp newspaper, a camp radio and a band live on stage. But still it's camping and I'm relly looking forward to it. The only thing missing now is the sun. Although it's shining now I still don't beleive it. We had cold 10 degrees last week. What's up, it's summer!?!?! Let's hope it will find us there!

Enjoy your summer and see you back in three weeks.

Zurich from above

Working for the church sometimes opens me interesting doors. This time it was the door leading to the towers of Zurich's most famous church. Have a look and enjoy...

The end of lake Zurich


A nice view over the old city and the the newer parts in the back


The buildings along Bahnhofstrasse are the most expensive ones. On the other side of the river it starts.


Like Geneva we have our own fountain. The big light-brown house was my father's office :-)


I took the pictures from the left tower


Did you like it? Maybe I can show some more pictures from Switzerland for those who are thinking in visiting me someday. It's really nice here! ;-)

Losing one's best friend

I didn't know how it feels when you lose your best friend. Yesterday I made this dolorous experience.
My cat spent her whole life with me. In September 1989 she was born. On July, 3rd 2005 she died. She had cancer and was not well off during the last few weeks. This weekend it got worse. My mother called me on Saturday and asked me to come. I was away in a weekend and went home immediatelly. I found my cat sleeping in my mothers bedroom. She looked happy although not too good. On Sunday in the afternoon it got worse. I knew she wouldn't survive the night.
Thanks God she did not have to suffer long. At 8 in the evening she could go home. She looked satisfied and I had the impression that she had a smile on her face.
I'm thankful she is delivered from her pain now. It was good that she could let go and die. And I'm thankful that I was with her and support her in her last act of life. She knew I was with her.
But I'm also very sad because she has been my best friend for almost sixteen years. She was always there for me when I was sad, she listened to me when I wanted to talk. She cheered me up and liked me watherver I have done.

I will always remember her. May she rest in peace.

Summertime is back in town

Last night I finished work at half past eleven. It was still 29 degrees outside. That's astonishing and not usual for Zuich. Today it will be 34 degrees! Hell, I don't want to sit in the office, I want to go to the sea! (Actually here it's the lake but it doesn't matter.)
There is one good thing about work in summer: The house where my office is has walls with a calibre of 1 meter, so it's constantly 22 degrees in here.

Almost like holidays

Once a year all our leaders from scout move to the top of Zurich. We spend one week there, enjoy the sun and our swimming pool and live together. And thanks to my overtime I don't have to come down from the mountain everyday. At 6.15 am when the first alarm clock rings I can turn around and sleep for another few hours. The first train parts at 6. 58 am and it's about half an hour to walk from our house to the train station. 30 quiet minutes with only birds. No traffic rumor, no noisy persons talking nonsense in the morning and nobody to disturb you. There is only you and the forest. Great! See you next week back to civil life.

Somehow different :-?

Last week I attended three days classes in a hotel next to the Bodensee, bordering Switzerland an Germany. It was interesting, although very special and incredible for those who know me.
The subject was spirituality and mysticism. The first thing we had to do was remembering our childhood and try to draw a picture of our life. It had to contain the most important spiritual happenings of our lives. As I was (as usual) the youngest my painting was done very quickly.


My way (actually the picture from my mate)

Then we had to explain our work of art. After dinner we had another short session about our pictures and then we had the evening off. We went to the park and played cards, sang some songs and enjoyed the warm weather. This was the sunset we saw:



The next day was special. We had to meditate. We had to stand still for about 20 minutes, listening to what the teacher told us: "Feel your feet, your knees, your legs, your ... up to the head, the lungs, the heart." Finally finished I thought, but no, not yet. "Can you feel the skewer leading from your inner middle to the middle of the earth? After it reached the center of our planet it longs out to the universe." I felt like a pig, roasting on a spit... That was too much for me. Standing quietly without doing anything else then breathing for about 20 minutes. I was very thankfully when it was over. But it came worse: "Sit on your chair, try to find a decent position, and then close your eyes and stay quite for the next half an hour." Aaaaaargggh! I can't do that! Thanks God one of my mates fell asleep after five minutes and fell to the floor, so the teacher aborted this exercise.
It can't get worse? Ha, you are wrong! "Go to the park and find yourselves a decent tree. Sit down in front of the tree, concentrate on it and introduce yourself. Then listen to what the tree wants to tell you." Luckily I had my mobile phone with me and called a friend of mine. I was really sorry, but the tree didn't want to tell me about his life so I had to find someone else to talk to. Strange, don't you think so? There was a 800-years-old tree in front of the hotel. Our teacher sat down there and after FIVE(!) hours he got up, saying that this was an interesting discussion. Hello?!?!? Crazy guy. That was not really my subject, and I don't know if I'll ever meditate again. Talking to a tree. Ridiculous in my opinion, but everybody is free to do as he or she is pleased.

In the evening we lit a fire in the park and sang some nice old songs. After a few hours we saw some lightening and after a few minutes some thunderbolts. It was gorgeous to see the thunderstorm approaching our side of the lake.



The three days were very, very special but I don't want to miss them. Our class was great, we had a lot of fun and the sun was shining a lot. And I had the most beautiful room of the hotel, a former castle. The only room with see view.


The view from my room

A walk to remember

After a rainy week with almost no sun at all I enjoyed the warm spring weather and went for a walk to Üetliberg, the hill next to Zurich. I had a great view and now I want to share my photos with you. Enjoy it!


That's where I live


On the way 1


On the way 2


On the way 3


On the top of Zurich


Lake of Zurich


Zurich 1


Zurich 2

La dicha de ser scout

Los mejores momentos Scouts son:

Tu promesa.
Obtener tu máxima insignia.
Cantar en una fogata.
Enamorarte en un campamento.
Portar con orgullo tu uniforme y sobre todo tu pañoleta. Hacer actividades bajo la lluvia.
Un campamento después de una larga caminata.
Hacer amigos.
Poder ayudar a los demás, estando siempre listos.
Comer del mismo plato y tomar del mismo vaso con tus compañeros.

Contar anécdotas que han sido repetidas por años.
Acostarte a ver las estrellas por la noche, en campamento.
Llevar a un amigo, para que sea scout.
Pintarle la cara a alguien que se duerme en el bus.
Contar historias en las noches.
Reírte de las necesidades.

Enseñar algo a un scout menor que tú.
Hacer un buen trabajo y estar satisfecho.
Cantar entrelazados al final de un gran evento.
Sentir al aniversario de tu grupo como tu cumpleaños.
Llegar de un campamento directo a bañarte.
Saber que hacer cuando ocurre un accidente.
Calentarse en la fogata, cuando hace mucho frío.

Escuchar el eco de nuestro lema, ¡siempre listos!
Reconocer la obra de Dios, conviviendo en la naturaleza.
Sentir que no estas solo.
Saber lo que significa un “hermano scout”.
Llorar en una ceremonia.
Dar el grito de tu patrulla.
Compartir lo único que tienes.
Perderte en el bosque, y saber que encontraras el camino.
Ver con tu ropa vieja, tu uniforme viejo que ya no te queda.

Reírte de las burlas que te hagan en la calle, por ser scout.
Servir sin esperar nada a cambio.
Pensar que llegaras a viejo y seguirás siendo scout.
Tener amigos de lugares muy distantes, y aunque sabes que quizá no
los vuelvas a ver, los recuerdes con mucho cariño...
Recordar ese último gran abrazo, como el primero de una gran amistad.


Es solo parte de la dicha de ser scout...


__________________________________________________________________________________
He aprendido que la verdadera amistad y el verdadero amor continúan creciendo a pesar de las distancias.

Enjoy the tour through my new apartment

The living room


Living room


Living room


My bedroom


Bed room


Bed room


My kitchen


My bathroom


and the entry...


... leading to the living room and to my bed room


This is my view


Isn't it nice?

It's pretty colorful my new home. I painted it all by myself and I'm really proud of it. The only inconvenience: There's no dish-washer... But it's ok. I enjoy living on my own, it feels great. I can do whatever I like ;-)

I'm freeeeeee......!

Yesterday was the day X. I got the keys for my own appartment. I'm so proud of myself. Finally i managed to move out. Thursday i'll start painting the walls. The bath room green, my sleeping room blue, and the rest white. Maybe... We'll see. And I'll enjoy it a lot!