Tuesday, October 4, 2022

How I learnt to speak Norwegian fluently in a year

In High school I used to go to the Nordic juggling Convention in Denmark and after my Abitur German university entry exam in Germany I traveled to Helsinki . So of course I decided in my first year at University to take Danish and Finnish. It took me 3 weeks to drop out of the Finish language course and I took French instead. But I got a little further in Danish.... I learnt to ask : 'Hvad heder du?' Und `Hvordan gar det med dig?`Hvor gammel er du...and I learnt to order in a Cafe or Restaurant. 

More than 20 years later I went back to learning Danish with a book I bought in a bookshop right at the University in Hamburg.

I often learnt vocabulary and phrases when lifeguarding. Then in 2019 a Norwegian friend said to me, why don't you learn Norwegian. It is easier pronunciation wise. 

Wednesday, September 8, 2021

Die griechische Inselwelt des Altertums (Zykladen) ...eine Tourempfehlung!

 Autor: Meike Elisabeth Fromm

Griechische Inselwelten des Altertums

Für im Altertum interessierte hat Griechenland sehr viel zu bieten. Die Inseln des Altertums sind nicht nur geschichtsträchtig sondern auch schön - und oftmals leerer und ruhiger. Wir stellen Ihnen 5 Inseln der Cykladen vor, die unserer Meinung nach  eine besondere Rolle in der Welt der giechischen Mythologie und Geschichte Griechenlands gespielt  haben. Mit unserer 5 Insel Tourempfehlung kann man im Sommer das reiche kulturhistorische Angebot mit einem Badeurlaub an den Stränden dieser wunderschönen Inseln kombinieren.  Wenn man Sonne, Wind und Meer mit Geschichte des Altertums verbinden will sollte man diese 5 Insel Tour in seinem Urlaub nicht vergessen! Wir veraten Ihnen in diesem Blog, welche Sehenswürdigkeiten diese Inseln zu bieten haben. 

 

       <1.- Delos 2.- Mykonos ·3.- Eubøa:  ·4.- Lesbos · 5.- Kreta>>

Die Insel Delos - die Insel des Apollo

Die Insel Delos (oder auf neu-griechisch- Mikra Dili ‚Klein-Delos‘) ist eine Insel der Cykladengruppe im Ägäischen Meer. Die Insel gehoert zum UNESCO Weltkulturerbe. Die Insel ist die wichtigste mythologische, historische, und archäologische Ausgrabungsstaette Griechenlands. Die Ausgrabungen auf der Insel sind die grösste im Mittelmeer. Die meisten gefundenen Artifakte sind entweder im archäologischen Museum von Delos oder dem Nationalen Archäologischen Museum Athens ausgestellt. Delos war im Altertum eine blühende und durch das dortige Apollonheiligtum heilige Insel. Heute leben dort nur noch 44 Leute, und zwar die Museumswärter mit ihren Familien.

 


                      Delos. archäologische Ausgrabungsstätte und Altertumliches Heiligtum


Die Insel Mykonos - Herakles Insel (der Legende nach hat Herakles die Insel gebaut)

Die Insel Mykonos ist zu jeder Jahreszeit einen Besuch wert. Etwas außerhalb von Mykonos Stadt, eher im Landesinneren, finden Sie zahlreiche Denkmäler, alte Brunnen und Ruinen, die Ihnen eine Vorstellung davon geben, wie die Griechen vor vielen tausend Jahren einmal hier gelebt haben.

Eine flache Kapelle, die noch sehr gut erhalten ist, können Sie zum Beispiel in Drafaki sehen. Ein außergewöhnliches mykenisches Gewölbe hingegen ist in Vrissi. In Lino stößt man auf alte Ruinen, die zu einem früheren Verteidigungssystem der Insel gehören.

 

Bilder der Insel Mykonos

Die Insel Euboea - Geburtsort der Halbgöttin Euboa Tochter des Flussgottes Asterion

Die besten Ausflugsziele befinden sich buchstäblich überall, mit Besichtigungsmöglichkeiten, die von byzantinischen Klöstern und Museen über schillernde Strände bis hin zu traditionellen byzantinischen Dörfern reichen. Die Hauptstadt Chalkida hat neben der Festung von Chalkida auch ein kleine Sehenswührdigkeit aus der Neuzeit, die Drehbrücke von Chalkida und das rote Haus. Es gibt auch Naturschauspiele wie das Wasser, das die Richtung wechselt und die Quellen von Euböa,- Loutra!

Nach Kreta ist Euboea die zweitgrößte griechische Insel und verfügt über traumhafte Strände mit üppiger Vegetation.


 



 

 

  

 Bilder der Insel Euboea: Strand, Stadt und Karte

 Die Insel Lesbos- Wohnort des Marakas, Sohn des Gottes Marakas

Einer Legende nach soll die Insel von Marakas , dem Sohn des Gottes Helios bewohnt gewesen sein. Die Insel Lesbos bietet einen abwechslungsreiche Abschnitt in ihrem Griechenland Urlaub. Lesbos hat traumhaftes Wetter, schöne Strände und kulinarische Erlebniss und mehrere herausrgende Museen, nicht jedes hat mit dem Altertum zu tun wie z.B, das Archäologische Museum Mytilini wo die die wichtigsten archäologischen Funde der Insel ausgestellt werden. Schwerpunkt sind in dem Museum Ausstellungsstücke aus dem Leben im 2. Jahrhundert v. Chr. Weitere Museen sind das Teriade Museum  neben dem Theofilos Museum. Hier sind Kunstbücher, die Werke von Marc Chagall, Le Corbusier, Alberto Giacometti, Henri Matisse, Joan Miró, Pablo Picasso und anderen modernen Künstlern abbilden, ausgestellt. Auch das naturgeschichtliche Museum des versteinerten Waldes ist empfehlenswert. Es zeigt, wie Olivenöl Schritt für Schritt hergestellt wird.


Die Insel Kreta - Geburtsort des Zeus

Kreta ist nicht nur eine Strandparadies sondern auch eine Kulturhochburg, Wer im Urlaub gern Baden mit Kultur verbinden möchte, ist hier genau richtig. An der Südostspitze der Insel gelegen, gilt die Region als das kulturelle Zentrum Griechenlands. Kreta  war schon den alten Griechen ein Begriff und hat neben den wunderschönen langen Stränden auch noch viele weitere kulturelle Denkmäler und Relikte des Altertums zu bieten. 

So können Sie im Sommer das reiche Kulturangebot mit einem Badeurlaub an Kretas Stränden kombinieren. Die wichtigsten Weltkulturerbestätten sind  die Ruinen der antiken Palaeste wie der minoische Palast von Knossos, ganz in der Nähe von Heraklion und berühmt für seine Legende mit dem Minotaure. Der minoische Palast von Phaistos mit seiner schönen Aussicht - hier wurde die Phaistos-Scheibe gefunden.Der minoische Palast von Malia mit den Wohnräumen und höheren Mauern, um sich die Anlage besser vorstellen zu können. Eine weitere Sehenswuerdigkeit ist  auch die grösste Ausgrabungsstaette Kretas, die römische Stadt Gortyna  

An der Küste Kretas merkst du dann auch, wie nah der nächste Strand ist: Vom Hafen von Kreta bis Neah Chora Beach bietet Kreta unzählige Möglichkeiten, beim Spaziergang am Meer den Sonnenuntergang zu geniessen.




Bilder der Insel Kreta: Stadt und Grottenaussicht

Wednesday, January 1, 2020

Dan Jeffery's Holland America's favorite Cruise ship comedy juggler


 Altogether I haven't really been juggling extensively for three months  but now after a long time i have started up again and i  work on some of Dan's p.k.a Barnaby's juggling feats . 7 years ago i got Dan's DVD and fortunately Dan has given me priceless Feedback and helped me with some of his signature tricks. I even got the measurements for his Transfer sticks a Japanese trick called 'Daiogoru'

Unfortunately I had to work in my day job from 2014 to 2019 and did not work enough on perfecting my comedy and  some of his tricks, which he even volunteered to help me with. As a physical Education teacher i sometimes worked on spinning two balls at the same time before class.   Dan said quite clearly he would like someone to keep his show and his tricks alive. Did he know in 2013 he was going to die so soon? We will never know, but i asked him how he would feel if I used some of his comedy lines for my act and he was like.."Well, if you call your first born Dan I'm fine with it." Then he added. No one else is using my lines so you go ahead if it helps you to be a female comedy juggler on cruise ships. And by the way i have never heard of a female comedy juggler on cruise ships.  But you gotta learn my technique! But I ended up not practicing hard enough to perfect his technique to perfection like he did- So when i did my first cruise in the Bahamas I felt funny using some of his lines and dumbed down Barnaby tricks. I included some of my notes on what he said in regards tricks and practice. For a full rotation under the elbow he said it's important keep the elbow close to the body, bring the elbow down and get a smooth flow on the whole movement.

These are the 5 Steps:
Turn your wrist
Drop your wrist
Rotate arm around the ball
Lift ball directly up
Turn wrist out

A hint from Dan: try to drop it straight down with little movment side to side rotate arm around ball
Lift the ball straight up
Try to keep the ball in a direct vertical line
Then turn wrist out

and then get it smooth…

Instantly after a few tries it worked. For the ball on a stick trick, an audience participation trick with a child that holds a stick he said i should put a stick on a chair and practice placing a ball on it. I practice it like that now, but it's 7 years later. His ideas on practice were 3 hours a day plus one small practice for an hour at home. he was quite meticulous and well prepared, so I am trying to stick to that as much as it is possible. And it's weird when i watched his DVD i cried. I would like to add that he gave me  a good tip in regards to the transfer trick. It's like a click when  the second stick is in line with the first and it forms a triangle then you bring your head back to transfer the ball. I said to fellow Comedy Juggler Steve Rawlings that i found it sad that he died alone... The only thought that makes it less painful is that I believe he had some nieces and nephews and he was quite fond of them. Dan also really enjoyed force bouncing and said i should learn 5 ball force bounce, something i finally learnt when i worked with Christian Clock on the feat at Atlanta Groundhog in 2019 and some help from John Nations.  I am not working on the cigarette tricks as of yet, and i do not know if i will  but i feel quite confident that i will master all his other tricks, since his voice still rings in my ears-sometimes during practice although its 7 years ago.



Saturday, September 7, 2019

Messias in the Oval office, Spiegel Magazine article from the 24th of August, 2019 translated by Meike Fromm



USA     After his Meme around the buying of Greenland we have to ask the question: Who protects the president from himself?

In one week, which gave us a display of bizarre moments, in which  the US president stood on the lawn of the white house saying:  "I am the chosen one." You may have thought it's a joke,  Donald Trump just spoke earlier about the China Trade war. But in order to underline his words, the president looked to the skies, to make sure everyone understands, from whom Trump receives his orders.
It was wednesday, a few hours earlier Trump announced on a short notice the cancelation of a statevisit  to Denmark. The president wanted to negotiate with the danish government the sale of Greenland. The biggest island in the world -but the deal didnt happen. First and foremost the the People of Greenland decide what happens with their island said danish Ministerpresident Mette Frederiksen. And second Greenland is not for sale. She called Trumps idea 'absurd". The president used the word 'nasty'  for Frederiksen a term Trump likes to use for women, he feels are treating him bad: All in all it has been Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Meghan Markle...

The regular routine of the political machine in Washington to look for ratioale motives for the rather erratic actions of the president went into action. It just  happened this week as always. American News networks wrote exerpts, which cite great historian events: Didn't Congress allow in the year 1803 for roundabout 15 Million Dollar the purchase of Louisiana from France? And wasn't it a fantastic bargain to buy Alaska in 1876 for the ridiculous sum of 7.2 Million  from Russia by President Andrew Jackson?

But those times are over in which whole countries are for sale. Rather a polarbear is being driven upwards the potomac river on a piece of ice than that Greenlands' people will agree to sell their island to the United States!

Far more urgent is the question : Is the most poerful man in the world in his right mind? And who protects him from himself?

If you belive the Wall Street Journal then the president has conveyed the idea to incorporate Greenland into the United States at a Dinner in spring with his consultants. Appearantly nobody had the courage to convince the president of what a bad idea this was. This episode shows that the aparatus of tbe goverment is not able to keep Trump from grave idiocy. In the white house there is apart from Ivanca Trumps daughter nearly no person who can talk him to senses. The president drove everyone away who dared to say something against him..

United States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson did not want to carry Donald Trumps foreign policy. Defence minister James Mattis gave up when the president anounced to withdraw US-Troops from Syria. Again more and more people in the second and third row resign. This month Fiona Hill quit her job, Trumps consutlant for russia. She came from the resprctable brookings institute and is respected by both parties as an expert. Hill's colleagues say she joined the government to prevent the worst from happening. Definitely without success.

The only thing remaining is chaos. Will Trump be driven by panic? On his biggest foreign policy construction sites- Iran and Nortth Korea- has no progress been made for months. Now even the economic foercast is getting darker. At the beginning of last week a survey made its round were three of four US economists believe a recession is on the horizon, which will happen in the next election year. Trump's challengers with the Democrats attack Trump more and more with vigilance because of his failed economic politics. At the same time the negative consequences of Trumps Trade war with China are becomming noticeable.

Trumps cancelation of his Denmark journey was just the climax of a Trump week full of Memes and oppositional statements. Wednesday morning President Trump was busy to thank a muddle-head with the name Wayne Allyn Roth on Twitter. Wayne's celebrity status is based upon completely baseles conspiracy theories- like that Islamists and not a fanatic single man are responsible for the massmurder of more than 50 concertguests in the fall of 2017 in Las Vegas.

Then Trump demanded that Russias Primeminister Vladimir Putin has to be takend back into the cirle of most important western industrial nations. The G7 should become the G8. Nonetheless early on US diplomat Richard Grenell from Berlin called Russia a 'BEAST' on Fox Channel, which is being fed by Germany. Meant was the Nord-Stream 2 Pipeline, which goes from russian Wyborg to Lubmin in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Trump's goal is to prevent this pipeline from being built. In the german government  it was assumed that the president wanted to travel to Copenhagen to keep the government in line in regards to Nord Strema. The country has to give the permit for building a deciding part of the project. But the germans thinking was to rational.  Trump didn't have anymore friends in Denmark. Former danish Ministerpresident Helle Thorning-Schmidt explained, the president insulted a whole country. It is not likely, that such phrases are getting through in the white house. 

Saturday, October 27, 2018

Eight memorable Bike and Hike Trips in the Catskills

 On a recent trip in late July to Plattsburgh and Lage George. I came across the bike and hike trail to



O and W Museum to Liberty High school

The history of the Ontario & Western Railway is tantalizing; even for those who take a mere fleeting  interest in the state's railway origins: Back in 1860s, The O&W was originally called the New York & Oswego Midland Railroad, and apparantly, it'svisionary, Derwin littlejohn, was the spitting image of Abraham Lincoln. He was even a charismatic politician, to boot.

Littlejohn's grand idea was to put rail service in places in New York that had never seen rail service before. from Oswego all the way to the New jersey border. He also thought it would be cool to build the railroad at right angles to the surrounding mountains, which as you can imagine, was quite a feat of engineering, and an expensive one, at that.


Liberty High school to Mountain Dale

Mountain Dale to Warwassing (via Ellenville)

Summitville to Middletown

Middletown to Katrina Falls (via Monticello)

Kingston to New Paltz

Roscoe (via O&W Road and New York State Bycicle route) road to Hancock 
Kingston to Wawasing (via 10 Williams Lumber High Falls)  includes D&H Canal Museum

Tuesday, December 19, 2017

The Ontario and Western Railroad bike and Hike trail (Rails to trails)- Roscoe to Liberty


My recent trip upstate on the 14th of December.

So last week  the 14th of December i had to go upstate by bus to take a New York State test called "Dignity for all Students". It is a new anti-bullying workshop for New York State teachers. 

Driving up I-86 past Middletown all these little towns that used to be served by the Ontario and Western Railroad were left or right of the Highway. After Middletown  the first town that used to be a railroad station is a town called Wurtsboro. I would like to note that I know Hikers who hiked on part of the rail roadbed in and around Wurtsboro.  If this part of the trail interests you here is a link to Ralph's blog. He is an avid hiker and describes how to get to the Wurtsboro O and W trail




I am quite sure you can also take the bus to Wurtsboro and then  take the trail from the town. The pictures are from Ralp's blog, from when he hiked in Wurtsboro. When spring comes I will write in a new blog about the Middletown-Wurtsboro- Summitville Corridor, because I haven't done this route by mountain bike yet.

Just to remind the reader in the 40ies and 50ies Passenger Service with the Railroad continued to Wurtsboro after Middletown and then went to Summitville, passed Philipsport on the right then went to Fallsburg, Mountain Dale, Woodridge, Hurleyville, Ferndale,Liberty, Parksvile, Livingston Manor and ended in Roscoe. Everything after Roscoe was just Freight Services.


Trip 1: Liberty High school to Livingston Manor 11 Miles


In my first  blog i stated that Liberty High School had been built over the old trackbed of the Ontario and Western Railroad. So i looked at a satellite image and it clearly showed how the railroad bed continued. You can clearly visible see it starting again just behind the Fields of Liberty High school. There are continued efforts going on to connect the Liberty and Parksville O and W Trails, but funding is an issue at the moment and it's halting the trail Project.





The old trackbed then continues to North End Avenue and passes Sullivan County Oil, which used to be a depot for coal in the 50ies, when the Ontario and Western Railroad still existed. Eventually the track was going right of Parksville Road and then the small road right of 17, which is also called Parksville Road. It should be called "Little Parksville Road".




Parksville Road is paved. It stops being paved after a mile. The stretch after the paved part looks very overgrown, but apparently the railroad went through the Forest passing Weiss Road and  Kurpill road.

Anyway, you will hit to the left the road again. It is the main road to Parksville called Parksville Road. You cross the Highway eventually and go left on Main Street. Follow Main Street and access the trail. Googe finds the trail under "Old railroad grade".

The other side of the trail is Fox Mountain Road. The sign below is at the start of Main Street.

How exactly the railroad went after the trail ends and you are on









Fox Mountain Road is just partially clearly visible when i look at the Satellite Images.

I can tell that the Railroad continued close to Route 17, but it seems that it made a shortcut going right at Route 17 and went close to the Mountain and then went  close to Dahlia Road again.



There's something intriguing about the abandoned Ontario and Western Railroad and about its remnants like those wooden planks over the swamp in Wurtsboro, bridge abutments in rivers and elevated railroad beds with a thick layer of snow on it when you are going on I-86 from Livingston Manor to Hancock.
Trip 3: Livingston Manor to Roscoe 7 Miles

The Train station of Livingston Manor was next to the Fire House. Nowadays Carnivals take place at the empty lot where the Station has been demolished in 1958. The Train crossed over the river from the Station. A likely route is right next to Route 17, but it could also be that the railroad went on the left side of the Valley to Roscoe.


I will have to visit Roscoe in the Future and look at bridge abatements on the left side to determine where the Ontario and Western actually crossed. For now I have made two lines on the aerial map, - one in red and blue. It is more likely the red one is the old trackage but I  i am really not sure, were the railroad crossed  the Willowemec river.


Short before Roscoe the Ontario and Western Railroad crossed Willowemoc Creek twice.


The strangest name for a town just after Roscoe- East Branch, where the Brach branched eastwards. East Branch has the O and W Road going right through  its city center. Of course O and W Road is the the stretch the rail went on. The O and W road  goes all the way up to Hancock. That's where i lost the old and weary OW Stretch and got of the Highway.


When I was a kid I liked old castles from the medieval age or roman amphitheaters. Something that we have in abundance in Germany. When i was an elementary student I would go an rare occasions to my school by bike on a so called "trail to rail" bike path. In German it was called the "Radwanderweg". This bike path used to be a railroad that transported milk and eggs and other farm goods from the villages like the Ontario and Western Railroad.

On the side of the rail was an old building,  where i went right to get to school which i was told had been the railroad station. It has now been demolished and made way for another "Autobahnzubringer" or in english a motorway feeder road.

The strangest name for a town just after Roscoe- East Branch.  East Branch has the O and W Road going right through  its city center. Of course O and W Road is the the stretch the rail went on. The O and W road  goes all the way up to Hancock. That's where i lost the old and weary OW Stretch and got of the Highway.

My japanese friend Yukari read both blogs and asked how I know all these things about railroads. So, I explained to her that the last week August at Camp Shane on our day off we went shopping in Middletown at Walmart, Shop Rite and Gander Mountain, it was going out of business. But I took it upon myself to walk around Downtown Middletown and checked out the Ontario and Western Railroad and the Eerie Railroad Station and then I bought a book on the history of the Ontario and Western Railroad and the other Railroads of the Region. Honestly, while others have a cup of coffee in a nice little cafe socializing I am looking at railroad station and buy a Railroad book.  

All together four railroads in the region went into demise- the Lackawana RR, the Eerie RR, the Delware and Hudson RR and the Ontario and Western Railroad. The Ontario and Western Railroad gained some notority as it went bankrupt in its entirety and was completely dismantled. In US  railroad history it was the first time to ever happen to a Tier 1 railroad. 

For more info on the Ontario and Western Railroad www.nyow.org