Tag Archives: Germany

Community on a European Vacation

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As it turns out, the recipe for Community is very simple; Singing in public, beer, and a little dash of wild animal. Surprisingly, I am not talking about drunken nights of karaoke (exclusively). I recently spent 6 weeks studying in Copenhagen, Denmark and followed that up with a two week northern European Vacation. Below is a selection of the top five community building places and activities I encountered in my travels. These are the things that made me think, “Man oh man, I wish I could do this at home!”

 

1. Mauerpark Market and Bearpit Karaoke (Berlin)

Late on a Sunday morning we headed over to Mauerpark for the Berlin’s local favourite flea market. After several hours of exploring the winding stalls of the outdoor market, with several stops to rest in mini-manufactured-beach beer gardens, we had had our fill of bargain hunting and novel snacks. So, made our way over to Bearpit Karaoke just outside the market gates. We were lucky enough to arrive just in time to hear a rousing rendition of Frank Sinatra’s My Way performed by a bearded, German, older gentleman. I was not entirely surprised to find out that this was not his first time in the Bearpit. The only performer who gave him a run for his money was this little girl who made the crowd fall silent before we all joined in to clap along with her song. It was a gorgeous day and the hill over the stage was stacked with people of all ages and walks cheering on the performers. The organizers turned an umbrella, a wagon, a laptop, and some speakers into one of the best boundary breaking, community-building events I have been to.

 

2. Louisiana Museum of Modern Art (Denmark)

This was my favorite museum and is a great example of how to make art an accessible and fun experience for a wide range of people. Before I made the trip myself I had heard from many people who couldn’t speak highly enough of the museum and one who said he took his kids there as often as possible. After spending several hours exploring the facility, all that I felt was missing was that feeling of backache that usually accompanies long walks on hard museum grounds. These grounds were not the usual museum grounds though and moved the visitor almost seamlessly between in and outdoor exhibits. There was even one point when we got to use a slide for transportation! (A transportation method that should be adopted on a much wider scale.)  Exploring the outdoors was a refreshing way to discover Louisiana’s impressive collection of sculptural works against a backdrop of the beautiful Øresund beach front and manicured hills that are perfect for a picnic on one side of the property and a beautiful lake nestled into a wooded area on the opposite side.

 

3. Midsummer’s Eve Celebrations (June 23, Copenhagen)

People go out en masse, not just to one spot but basically to any park, beach, or barge in town. They eat hogs, drink beer, and laugh and chat until someone lights a huge bonfire with a scarecrow/witch on top. That’s when they start singing in unison. Amazing.

 

4. A la Mort Subite (Brussels)

Founded in 1928, this was a stunningly beautiful Belgian bar whose name translates to  “At the Sudden Death”. Well if sudden death were to strike, there are plenty worse places you could be. Picture soaring ceilings, golden yellow walls and pillars, and locals enjoying a selection of Belgian beers so flavorful that it is probably impossible for anyone to claim they don’t like the taste of beer after trying these variations. This place had an incredible community atmosphere. We sat down at one of the long communal tables next to an older couple from Brussels who were only too happy to share with us the secret of the Brussels classic brew called Gueuze (it has to do with a reaction between the yeast and a bacteria that is only found in the air in Brussels) and their life long dream to travel to Canada. A perfect Belgian experience.

 

5. Elephants in the Park (Frederiksberg, Denmark)

Anyone who remembers when the Vancouver Zoo had a place in Stanley Park is not likely to have forgotten how awesome it was to go and watch the polar bears from the zoo’s outer confines. The Copenhagen Zoo has elephants that you can get within about 40 meters of from the surrounding park without paying the zoo’s hefty entrance fee. They play and throw dirt and swim and splash and break sticks and lift logs and sit on each other. Watching gigantic, beautiful, social creatures makes for easy conversation with the other observers and was a perfect place to chat with the very friendly Danes who always seem to out for a leisurely afternoon. The elephants were a mere five-minute walk from my apartment so I made a practice of visiting regularly.

If we can’t travel to Europe or have elephants in our backyards at least we can get together to drink some great craft brews and sing about it. Anyone got a karaoke machine?

 

 

 

 

Blast from the Past: LARP-Time: Let’s go crush some Ork-skulls!

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Editors Note: This is the first of our “Blast from the Past” series where we feature top Gumboot posts of years past. This post – on the art of “larping” is the second most popular of all articles (placing behind only your “Douchebag Digital Fill”). Our kudos to the amazing writing skills of Fake Pete – our German correspondent and resident Larping expert. This story was first posted March 26, 2010.

What do you do, when you really want to get away from it all? When you want to clear your head? Some people go running. Some people do narcotics (not recommended or endorsed by the Gumboot-Team and John Horn’s parents). Well, dear gumbooteers – I go LARPing. LARP is the acronym for “Live Adventure Role Playing”. And yes, this probably gives me away as a real nerd now.

All of you probably know “Dungeons & Dragons” or have heard of it or other pen & paper roleplaying games. You sit around a table with a few players while one of the guys figures as the Game Master (GM). It’s like an interactive story, your classical gaming: The players steer the PCs (player characters) whereas the GM wields control over the entire scenario he prepared and launches the NPCs (non player characters) whose roles he also plays. So the GM will enact the ork-horde attacking the PCs, outlining their actions and so on, as well as portraying the old sorceress they might meet in a market. Whenever an action is unclear (e.g. one of the heroes jumps over an abyss or shoots someone with a longbow) checks are made by rolling dice. Gaming is a cool hobby in itself, but still, you’re in jeans and t-shirts and you’re in someone’s living room. LARPing takes it to the next level.

Ever carried a wounded man through a forest, while you wore chainmail-armour? Ever tried to shoot an opponent with a longbow at more than thirty paces at dusk? Ever sneaked into a troll-camp in order to rescue your friend they’d captured? LARP is pure excitement. In Germany there are about 100.000 active players (official estimate) and there are even entire medieval castles that you can rent for events. And “the hobby” is becoming more and more popular. I’ve done this for three years now and it really beats anything else I’ve done in terms of organized recreational activities. If you meet the right people with a knack for interesting characters and stories and a bit of an inclination towards acting or improvisational theatre, it’s the ultimate thrill. Trent Reznor would probably call it “the perfect drug”.

And it really creates a special kind of bond within the community of the people you play with. I remember almost

Orks at the Drachenfest with an unlucky victim (this pic) and an epic battle at Conquest of Mythodea (above), the two most massive German annual LARP-events.

dying after a battle under the hands of a friend of mine who plays a healer. Well, I didn’t know we were such actors. I did the whole “It’s cold, so cold – do you see that light?”-routine and Christian actually started crying: “Angus!!! (name of the Celtic character I played at the time) Don’t walk into the light!” while he tended to my wounds (those Drow-suckers had got me in the back and smashed my legs…) It may sound cheesy, but when you lie on your back in a cold German forest with the bodies of slain enemies around you and you can still hear the sound of the battle carried on a few hundred meters away – well it can get very real and very moving.

I’ve also “rescued” close friends in situations like that – by the skin of our teeth. Needless to say – the weapons aren’t real, they are foam-props with a latex coating (they only look real at a distance), and you count down according to a hit-point system. Each normal human being has three hit-points, and, well you guessed it, wearing armour gives you more hit points (but it’s a bastard to pull off, in summer). So there’s also the outdoor-sports element.

Ah, and one more thing about the mechanisms of the game: There is a also a GM, yet in LARP it’s mostly several people, who act more or less as directors of the event they organized. Because there are always NPCs (like extras in a movie) who take on various roles, and those need to be coordinated. At an average event, you get around 20 PCs and sometimes up to 30 NPCs – so we’re really talking logistics here.

But the most interesting aspect is the psychological insight. I never thought I’d ever go berserk if someone attacked my sister (she’s also heavily into larping) or that I’d ever like to play the role of a religious fanatic (the cleric I now play is something like a Norse Taliban XD). Basically – you get to do stuff you’d never do otherwise. One time I even played the big villain-character as an NPC in 2008 – man, it can be so much fun to be evil… If you want an entirely new take on your community, go and do a LARP-event together.

Here’s a British documentary on LARP – it explains everything in a nut-shell (and then some!):

And here’s a slide-show of one of the last conventions that I organized with some friends – “Askland 6 – The Ore of the Gods”. Enjoy!

Rochelle Grayson – The Brightest Businesswoman

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Who are you?

I’m Rochelle and I’m the CEO of BookRiff. What that means first and foremost is that I focus on delivering rockin’ digital media and social experiences that make lots of money for content owners, creators and contributors, AND that are fun and flexible for consumers! And, believe me, that’s no easy feat!

I also take care of many things in finance and business – building business relationships, making deals, analyzing the market, exploring new revenue models, speaking at conferences … that kind of stuff. I like to make sure BookRiff is a lean, mean, moneymaking machine! All this can be summed up in one famous statement by one infamous movie star: Show me the money!

I’m no newbie to the business or tech worlds. I hold an MBA in Finance and Business Strategy from the University of Chicago, as well as Master Certifications in Product Development Management and Business Facilitation. My career has taken me from New York to Chicago to Silicon Valley and now to Vancouver, Canada.

I was born in New York City, grew up in beautiful Tübingen, Germany, (and yes, I speak fluent German and Swabian German! ;-) , and have been enjoying Canada for over 10 years! As a result, I consider the US, Canada and Germany all “home”. I don’t fit into “boxes” well and have learned that my uniqueness is, in fact, one of my Superpowers!

What do you do for fun?

For fun, I am the lead singer in a 15-piece big band called Paper Moon. We sing music from the 1920s to 1950s. It’s a wonderful group and we are all doing it because we love music!

Recently, I have also started to get into the Vancouver “Way of Life” and have been adding more athletic activities to my schedule. I started running for the first time in my life in January 2011 and successfully complete my first 10K race at the Vancouver Sun Run in April 2011. I am also now training for my first triathlon in July 2011 (well, the Sprint Triathlon ;-) We’ll see how that goes!

What is your favourite community? Why?

I am part of so many amazing communities that it is hard to pick just one! I would say that I LOVE being part of the “creative industries” community. This includes technology startups and entrepreneurs, filmmakers, TV producers, publishers, video gamers, artists, students and of course, musicians! While I am a business gal at heart, I truly love working with (and around) creatives in all forms!

I am convinced that much of our future will be driven by the vision and ideas of creative people and if I can help shepherd those ideas and dreams to fruition, I’ll be very happy!

What is your superpower?

My superpower is engaging and motivating others around new ideas and initiatives! I love hearing new ideas and then going out and getting others to buy into those ideas and to create something special, new and unique! I am a high energy person (who also loves to wear bright coloured clothes ;-) and I love sparking new ideas and seeing where and how they grow!

I love to go where there is a bit of chaos and disruption and then I like to create some order. But, once everything is working smoothly, I tend to move on and to find the next burgeoning idea and venture. As I’ve often said, I’m a great CEO from “birth to young adulthood”. Once a company can more or less function on its own and it is more focused on tweaking operations for efficiency, I loose interest and am off working on the next new business model to pursue!

How do you use it to build community?

In hearing new ideas, I am often able to synthesize them down to their core essence, which allows me to go out to larger audiences and show them why this is something of interest and importance. Building community is very much about understanding the needs of your audience and delivering information in ways that resonate with them. That is something that I find quite easy to do and this “simplification process” allows me to distill often complex ideas into bite-sized nuggets that are easily “digestible” and more importantly, go viral!

For me, building community is all about listening to what people have to say and then synthesizing that information and showing everyone in the community where all the commonalities and common points of interest exist. In essence, it’s about building cohesiveness with a huge helping of enthusiasm and creativity!

My Three Favourite Things About Rochelle Are…

1. Energetic Style. You can see, hear and feel Rochelle coming from far away. She is bright, bubbly, fun, and simply projects the most wonderful positive energy. This is fantastically reflected by her neon outfits, which – as Rochelle will tell you – rise to the top of the fashion-world’s heirarchy (or “come back in style”) every 10 years.

But I digress…

When you have a conversation – or interaction of any kind – with Rochelle you leave feeling great.

2. Business Savvy Beyond the Cutting Edge. As Rochelle says, she cannot be defined by – or put into – the traditional boxes of business and technology. She transcends them. Or makes her own. And, in my humble opinion, I think she’s someone who looks at the world from about 10 years in the future, which makes her a great CEO. Google her to find out more.

3. Helpful, Assertive, Amazing Teacher. I’ve taken three or four classes with Rochelle – all the topics have been on new media – and she is an absolutely fantastic teacher. Her slide decks are crisp and engaging, she asks great questions, her assignments are simple and effective, and she gets the most out of her class – everyone leaves having learned something new. I’ve also been inspired by how Rochelle – with kind assertiveness – can get a potentially tangential conversation/diatribe back on track in no time flat. If you want to teach students or your team of professionals about engaging clients and/or your company’s employees through new media, hire Rochelle today!

As told by JCH…

Kreston’s Monastic Community of Beer

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Hax’n, Rollbraten or Leberkäs? What would you answer to this question? This was the very question posed to me when I walked up to the cafeteria counter. I was in search of
something to satiate the hunger that had built in me while wondering the monastic grounds of a monest- dammit.

I was visiting what is said to be one of the most important monasteries in Bavaria, Andechs. It was everything that I thought a monastery would be: religious, old, and with a world class… Brewery! I started by doing the regular tourist stuff, such as taking pictures, which I will probably never look at, staring at (and pretending to understand) plaques written in German, and sitting completely silent in the church for a few minutes. The tourists and I filled the pews; all of us lost in our reverent thoughts (notice I don’t consider myself a tourist, I see myself as more of an adventurer like Indiana Jones, Laura Croft or Tin Tin). [Editor's note: Kreston is absolutely Tin Tin]. I was thinking what any man from a young western country thinks when confronted by the awesome wonder of an ancient cathedral that has the soul purpose of making you feel closer to God: “how the heck did they build this place hundreds of years ago using nothing more than elbow grease and what is considered primitive tools?” (Side note! If you want some good fiction on this subject, track down Ken Follett’s The Pillars of The Earth; Its all about building cathedrals. I worn you though its a big frickin book!)

Once I accomplished the required amount of touristing, it was time to get to the real business of why I was drawn to this site in the first place, which had to do with my almost religious worshipping of beer. Andechs boasts the best beer in Germany and when I heard this I came running. See, this wasn’t just a touristy day trip for me, it was a religious pilgrimage to the Good Beer Mecca. When I entered the hall my senses were overwhelmed by the sights and smells of the place. I stood for a minute just drinking it all in (pun intended). Like a father who first lays eyes on his new born child, I loved it instantly. [Editor's question: Kreston, how do you know what this feels like? What aren't you telling us, man?] The more that numerous Bavarians filled the place with their raucous laughter and deutsch conversation the thirstier I got. The crowd was seated at long oak tables that ran into other oak tables, giving the impression one might feel when they first gaze on the great hall at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I was mesmerized by the activity and all the different characters and, for a second, began searching for Waldo amongst all this chaos. A small part of my heart did break, however, when I realized that with all of these people crammed in here, I couldn’t spot one pair of leederhosen. It healed, rather quickly, when I saw the size of the beer steins everyone was drinking out of, and paused to calculate if I would even be able to lift one. I gathered a beer and some local eats, found myself a spot and prepared to slowly soak in the experience.

My late afternoon lunch was about to consist of one mighty pretzel, a plate of sauerkraut, one Swine Hax’n, a liter of Weissbier, and a liter of dark beer, which was so thick and black that if BP spilled it near the Mississippi Delta, environmentalists would be scraping it off birds.

Too soon?

[Editor's note: yes, but everyone has already forgotten about it, so I'm glad to remind the world of such things].

“Yes, yes” you are thinking impatiently, “but what is Hax’n?” Well my friend, it is the leg of a pig, slow cooked and looking extremely mid-evil. Eating haxen was like Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, intense from the first page (bite), often I found my forehead sweating, and I couldn’t put it down until I was finished. Throughout my “Epic Meal Time” I sparked up a conversation with the couple beside me. We were soon close friends enjoying each others’ company as they explained to me some of the finer points of the food they were eating, which to me was simply a full trout on a plate. I must admit it was an amazing feeling, being a part of this community, even if just for a moment. I say community because of the difference of this drinking establishment and what I am used to, coming from North America. At home all serious drinking establishments are exclusive; with limits on the amount of booze they can serve you at one time, age restrictions on admittance, and tables far apart so each party can have their own island of independence. Here it is all about community. You are able to have as much booze as you can muscle back to your seat, people are allowed to have a picnic in the restaurant, plus children and dogs are welcome patrons.

In Andechs, in sight of the alps and framed by a backdrop of stained glass windows, it is all about the social.

Festive Season in Germany: Why Terror-Threats aren’t so bad after all…

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Hey there, all my fellow Gumbooteers! It’s been a while since the last news from Germany here on the Gumboot (at least from me), and since the last piece was really emotional and deeply political, well today for a lighter topic. You may or may not have heard about it, but Thomas de Mazière, our Minister of Interior Affairs and hence highest Chieftain of all German police, has announced it: Islamist Terrorists like Al Quaida are running for barbecue season on German Christmas Markets, Airports, Train Stations and what nots. The DefCon on terrorism has been raised, all German police are on hair trigger alert. Well, there are those who believe the German government just wants to distract the populace from all our major political problems. There are also those, who believe that there is indeed a certain danger that terrorists might blow up a mall or a bank, or that they might indiscriminately kill as many civilians as possible in some public area, modelled after the suicide runs on that hotel in Mumbay and so on.Well, all voices, those critical and those cautioning have their arguments and ideas. And today, I don’t want to mope about anything (surprise, surprise!). Hell, why not just hang in there for one hell of a ride??? Here’s my personal Top Ten why this terror-threat thing isn’t so bad after all. And if anyone finds any irony or some such in this text, he or she might as well keep it. Enjoy! ^ ^

1. All police holidays cancelled because of the current situation: Now, that today REALLY made my day!  Struggling tax-payers like me, rejoice! Finally, the police, feds and locals, won’t just be sitting on their bums munching donuts. They’ll now go out there and play cops and robbers terrorists like they ought to. No more tax payer’s money squandered – they’ll simply get to work for their dough. That I should live to see this…
2. The inverse lottery effect finally working in our favour: We’ve all heard about it – the inverse lottery effect! Meaning: Really winning all those millions in the state lottery is virtually impossible – the chances are astronomically slim. But then again, and you keep on stumbling across this comparison – the chances are equally slim to get killed in a terrorist attack, i.e. it’s almost as unlikely as winning the frickin’ lottery. Heck, getting struck dead by a meteor is more likely! Take THAT, you terrorist twats. You are not even unlikely people, you are downright improbable. The inverse lottery effect makes Germans feel safer. How many people do you know who become millionaires over night? Exactly.
3. Fear knits closer communities: It’s like grandma’s stories about the nights in the bomb shelters during WW2,

Tough break, buddy: Your threats aren't even unlikely, they're improbable. Do statistics 101, Friend Terrorist!

when the Allies bombed the living daylights out of Germany. It sounds weird, but sometimes you feel a certain nostalgia there. Like: People just had to be close, because they were faced with the bare essentials of survival (well, the Third Reich as the backdrop certainly wasn’t so nice). So… Maybe this period of terror-angst will cause the alienated average German to value his community or clan in a higher fashion. Remember that diamonds are formed under pressure! The same goes for really GREAT communities. Imagine yourself commuting on a train and this guy with the dark beard takes the bomb from his rucksack – wouldn’t you feel a strong bond with all the other Joe and Jane Does present around you? Well, maybe just for a second, but then that depends on how close to the suicide bomber you were sitting…
4. You get to see all this cool riot gear and armoured vehicles: Whoa, dude! I didn’t even know our police had all this stuff. Incredible! Light tanks and cops in full riot gear armed with submachine guns in every train station. Makes every train-ride a bit like being in a Stallone-movie.
5. At least now we see that what the German army does in Afghanistan matters: At least to the Taliban and

Whoa, dude! I didn't even know our police had all this cool anti-riot stuff!

the rest of the filthy, evil, twisted terrorists. Why else would they threaten us? Our German soldiers have suffered from allied indignation for so long since 2002! “They’re just fooling around, building schools and giving candy to those Afghan brats”, the Brits were complaining. “You never see them fighting, they just sit in the North on their Teutonian behinds”, the US generals were criticizing. Well well… If we’re important enough to be threatened, maybe we did get those Taliban buggers after all where it hurt. Go, Germany go! For a hundred years more of terror threats!
6. Better security procedures for the German national postal service – finally! What with all those bombs being sent hither and thither. About time somebody upped the ante here. So now, we can all be sure that no-one will blow up our Christmas cards. What a relief… The only trouble may just be, that those fifty bucks Aunt Martha usually sent for Christmas may disappear mysteriously from now on. But I can live with that. The people who from now on have to read ALL our letters get hungry in the process, and they must order pizza I guess.
7. Immigrants from Islamic countries can now show their loyalty: Yup, a great chance to right all the

Let's face it: Most of all, this is a real coup for Osama's PR-department.

wrongs in the great debate about integration. Muslim immigrants can now show their true colours by speaking out against terror and supporting the police who freeze their XXXXX off out in the cold with their MPs and riot gear with baklava and dark, hot chai and other tea specialties. Of course, the officers will have to check the stuff for poison first since it was given to them by an ethnic group composed entirely of terror-suspects – but it’s the noble gesture that counts!
8. Your daily thrills: Oh, what an adrenaline kick to spot abandoned luggage in a subway station. Now’s the time for dangerseekers and adrenaline junkies. And it comes so cheap compared to climbing Mount Everest or hiking on your own in the Sahara. A subway-ride in Munich during rush hour for instance will now do the trick.
9. And we’re down to important questions of national survival: Alarmism? Comfortism, I say! Finally, all the stuff that bored us on the news is swept away for good! Crisis in national funding, crisis in the banking sector, Euro-crisis, demographic crisis, Greece, the nuclear waste-transports in the north – just forget it. Terror threats on the news are less complicated, way more interesting, and you get to see all this cool riot gear (cf. 4).
10. And the best thing – they might actually catch some terrorists! Don’t forget – maybe there are some bad guys who are planning to wreak havoc and unleash hell on Earth now, during the time before Christmas, that is meant to belong to your families and loved ones. Make the festive season more festive, catch a few terrorists, dear German police. We might as well wrap them up – then our government would have a nice gift for the CIA.

The Gumboot’s World Cup Anthem – Round 2

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The Setup – Editors’ Cultural Editorials

French reaction after their loss.

John: Wow. Upsets were the name of the game in the group stage of the World Cup. And, I have to say, it has become clear that global football power has shifted from Europe to Latin America. The Azzurri’s tearful departure at the hands of Slovakia and the French spiral into horrible, embarrassing disaster, when coupled with the exceptional above-their-potential play of Uruguay, Paraguay and Chile reflects what the football/soccer pundits from around the world are chatting about: European Football is under performing at this World Cup. England, Germania, Portugal, and Spain have yet to hit their stride. Ironically, it is the perennial underachieving Dutch who went 9-for-9 on points in the first round.

Also, vevuzulas aren’t really that annoying – perhaps people just weren’t too prepared for the all-game-long trumpeting of these notorious South African instruments. Do you know what is annoying? Diving. Clearly, members of the Portuguese, Spanish, Brazilian, Argentine, and Chilean teams have graduated with honours from The Pele Soccer and Acting School in Rio de Janeiro. Seriously, it ruins the beautiful game and totally sets off my Jerk Alarm.

To conclude this intro, I’d just like to say that our friend and soon-to-be-profiled community-builder, Brenton, has a much, much awesomer blog about the tournament. Not sure where he gets the time, but whatever…

Actually, don’t even read the rest of this article. Go to Brenton’s blog instead. It’s that good.

Kurt: Yes John, Brenton does have a better World Cup blog than us – the guy is actually predicting (with some amount of accuracy) many of the matches. That being said, if you do decide to continue reading our blog, I’ll chime in that I’ve also been pretty impressed with the South American/Latin American teams. Particularly teams like Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, (the favored) Argentina and even Mexico who’ve done remarkably well.

As for the Europeans, well it is kind of hilarious. I have to admit, watching the French mutiny and then crumble had my German heart smiling a little. And when Italy flamed out (recent Cup champions no less) I was surprised to say the least. Even more surprised was I that on returning to my home that night (located smack dab in the middle of Vancouver’s little Italy) my apartment building was still standing. Chalk that up to either the mild temperament of Italian fans or the fact cappuccinos don’t fuel riots nearly as well as beer and whiskey. Finally the ultimate battle – England vs Germany this Sunday. My God, could it get more tense than this? To sum it up from a Eurocentric standpoint I’d like to quote a little verse sent to me by our dear correspondent Godfrey, who is reporting live for the Gumboot from South Africa:

This World Cup has turned out like WW2; the French surrender early, the US arrive at the last minute and English are left to fight Germans.

An African Moment…

John: AFRICA SUCKS! Just kidding. But not really. South Africa broke a record in a terrible, terrible way: they are the first host country to not make it through to the elimination round in, like, four centuries. It’s embarrassing and you’ve gotta feel for the team, the country and the continent. Especially since two of the African teams didn’t really show up to the tournament and the other one was placed in a terribly difficult group.

And then there’s Ghana. In many ways – whether it’s democracy, economics or social services – Ghana has “gone right” when it comes to being a nation. A recent article in The Walrus paints a very interesting, and rightfully tumultuous, story of what is arguably Africa’s most well-put-together country. Whether or not that translates into their team winning, well, remains to be seen.

Kurt: John, you are right that its unfortunate that the South Africans didn’t make it through. But for a team that was ranked incredibly low going into the tournament, they certainly did alright. Especially considering they won one, drew one and lost one – it could be worse (ahem… France). They certainly put on a good show and didn’t get walked over in all/most of their games. Maybe the vuvuzelas helped? And then there’s Ghana, talk about a team in fine form. Sure I was cheering for their destruction last match with the Fatherland. But to be honest, they kept me and about 80 million other Germans on the edge of our seat.

It’s certainly a raw deal for the Ivory Coast to fall in with Portugal and Brazil. I feel for them – especially since they lost one of their best players before the tournament even started to get going. As for the rest of them, none really leap to mind and its too bad as Cameroon seems to have a reputation for usually fielding a very decent team.

Predictions – Round of 16

John: This blog is delayed because I had a lot riding on Spain and needed to see them win before I made ridiculous predictions. And they looked good, so I’ll stick with them going through. I like Uruguay a lot – they’re workers who recognize that they don’t have the skill to just coast and that they’ll be on borrowed time after they beat the Koreans. Speaking of borrowed time, one of my favourites from the group stage is the USA – the world is against them and they’ll be getting no love from the refs or the fans going up against Ghana. to my African friends and family, please forgive me for what I’m about to say: GO USA! I’ll pick England just to piss Kurt off – and, even if they win, Germany ain’t going any farther. Brazil vs. the Netherlands in the quarter finals will be epic. I’m picking Japan for the upset. So there it is.

Kurt: Japan looked in fine form. I’ll never forget while living over there and playing soccer, watching those guys dart around on the field and just plane hustle. Portugal’s ability to play Brazil to a draw today was impressive and the Spanish game was equally impressive – though the Chileans certainly held their feet to the fire. Plus the Chileans get bonus points for having such fanatically spirited friends. Then there’s the old favorites. I see Brazil getting far, but not taking the Cup. Argentina looks pretty strong tying the Dutch with 9 points. But in the end the reality is no one is going to beat the “Machine”. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – despite a minor Serbian “incident” in the past, the German national team looks strong capable and solid. Schweinsteiger is playing terrific mid-field and despite lacking Ballack, the team’s really managed to look impressive. And then there’s Lam – I love that defense man.


John's Bracket

Kurt's Bracket


[INSERT TRASH TALK HERE]

John: [INSERT INAPPROPRIATE WWII COMMENT HERE]. Kurt, your countrymen look like they’ve indulged a little too much in beers and brats. And, unlike the Spanish and Portuguese, they’re not particularly good looking enough to, you know, make up for it in the “overall-sense” and, well, not suck at life. That’s right. Germany sucks at life…not just soccer football.

Kurt: I know you’ve got Spain making it through to the end. The problem with this logic is that as the current economic troubles in Europe demonstrate, the Spanish are short term thinkers – eager to borrow and have “fancy” fun living beyond their means/talents. In the end they are a team/country teetering on the precipice of ruin. For all their soft passes and the fancy footwork of Torres, in the end they shall be defeated by the raw, undeterred determination of Germany.

Enhance Your Online World Cup Experience

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Ladies and gentleman, we are on the eve of what I might argue is the world’s finest sporting event — The World Cup. I’m happy to report that you have the musings of Gumboot editors John Horn and Kurt Heinrich to look forward to over the next few weeks as they attempt to explore the community-related possibilities that an event such as this is apt to inspire.

To add to the excitement,  I have a few fun tools to enhance your online World Cup experience. The first is a schedule that an online developer has put together for our delight. As Darren Barefoot puts it, “it gracefully enables you to explore a complex schedule–32 teams, 30 days, 10 venues, 64 games–along a number of axes.”

The second tool is designed to help you support your team in the Facebook and Twitter arenas: Twibbons. Click here and you can select the team of your choice and bear their flag on your Facebook and Twitter profile. It will be as if you’re carrying the country flag yourself. You could, as I’ve done, split your allegiance and decide to support two different teams. I’ve chosen to support an underdog on my Twitter profile and a favoured team on my Facebook profile, as you can see above. Germany is favoured, right?

Have fun with it! Go Cameroon, go!

Welcome to our nation – German at last!

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It doesn’t happen any day, that you officially welcome someone into a community, with all pomp and circumstance. So today, I am really proud to introduce my old friend Zelimir to you, who, finally after the 21 years that I’ve known him, has recently received his German passport. Zeli, whose family hails from Serbia, former Yugoslavia, agreed to talk about becoming a German here at the Gumboot.

Enthusiastic about German reading culture and literature: Zelimir Pecenica (31).

Enthusiastic about German reading culture and literature: Zelimir Pecenica (31).

Pete: I remember being on the phone with you back in High School, when you were with your parents spending the summer in Beograd. The situation always reminded me of that Ramones-song: “You by the phone, you all alone – It’s a long way back to Germany…” So, finally you are officially a German citizen! Congratulations, mate! Do you feel any different now?

Zeli: Emotionally, it’s not much of a difference, since I’ve always lived in Germany. So, what’s new? Travelling in the EU is a lot easier now. Also, when dealing with bureaucracy, there are no more questions about my heritage anymore. I’m German, period. When you’re not a native, people will always harbour secret doubts about language proficiency and so on. The citizenship helps.

Pete: What was it like to vote in an election for the first time?

Zeli: I’ve lived here all my life, and now my vote counts, at last. My first election was the EU-parliament, and then I did the municipal elections here in Solingen and the election for the Bundestag in 2009. When you’ve never been able to do that, you really feel how special democracy is.

Pete: Do you think your relationship to Serbia will change?

Zeli: Merely acquiring a new citizenship doesn’t really change that. Yet it’s been a long and slow process, and I can say that I now relate to my ancestry in a different way. Maybe I’m just more serious about dealing with my roots.

Pete: What did your parents say, when they got the news?

Zeli: They like it, though it’s a cut. But then my status isn’t transitory any longer. My parents lived in Germany for fourty years, and they’re still not allowed to vote. Also, my dad said: “Son, it’ll also be better for your job perspective.”

Percentage of foreigners (purple) in relation to Germans (greyish blue): In Germany, our province and Solingen as a city (from top down).Pete: Who gave you a harder time? The infamous German bureaucracy or the guys in Beograd?

Zeli: They were both tricky, on different levels. They took more bribes in Beograd, yet the Germans were also tough. Here I am, perfectly integrated into German society, fluent as a native speaker, good High School education, studying German and English literature at Heinrich Heine University in Duesseldorf – come on! Why the long wait with all that evidence in my favour?!?!?

Pete: What do you like especially about Germany?

Zeli: You have your rights here, as a citizen, and they’re respected. Also, everything is in order, be it infrastructure or bureaucracy. We know how to run things, this country simply works. And I like the high cultural level, the book- and reading-culture, the incredible way in which every small town sports the odd museum and library. There’s only a German term that describes this aptly: “Kulturnation”. Germany is a nation of culture.

Pete: What do you like better about old Serbia?

Zeli: Back “home” (in inverted commas, since my home is Solingen), people are more overtly emotional. They socialise easier, and they’re not as prone to having idiotic things dictated to them by the state. Nobody crosses the street at a red light in Germany, and if you do, at least two bystanders are bound to glare at you.

Pete: Now for a touchy question. All of us remember the civil war that tore Yugoslavia apart in the nineties. What was that like – seeing the war on TV, in your parents’ home-country, and with all your relatives living there?

Zeli (sighs): That was a difficult time. As a teenager, you’re struggling with your identity anyway, and such a situation doesn’t help. Especially, since the mainstream media made Serbia out as “the bad guys”, although in reality, it was of course a bit more complex than that. Some Germans seemed to be glad to finally be able to point their fingers at others. I rejected the war, yet of course the fault for it wasn’t on only one side. I didn’t tell a lot of people for a long time about my ancestry, unless I had to. But luckily, time is a healer.

Pete: Could Germany have done more for you and your integration?

Zeli: Not for me, obviously. I’m training to be a High School-teacher in the not too distant future. But lots of other foreigners in Germany could have needed and still need more help in finding their way around. A lot of people feel that all German society does for them is build them a ghetto.

“MULTI-KULTI” – Germany, home of many cultures

Germany has roughly 82.2 million inhabitants. 7.3 million have a different nationality, making them 8.8 %. In our province, Northrhine-Westphalia, you find 1.9 million people amongst the 18 million inhabitants who don’t have a German passport (10.6 %). Solingen alone hosts over 130 different nationalities. The largest group are Solingers with Turkish citizenship, followed by Italians. Then you get a lot of “foreigners” from former Yugoslavia like Zeli, and almost as many Greek Solingers, constituting the fourth larger group. 14 percent of all people in Solingen are not native Germans.

Check out this youtube-video (in English!)  about young immigrants who are less lucky than my buddy Zeli – courtesy of Deutsche Welle-TV:

The Gumboot Community Expands!

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Deutschland ist wunderbar!

Deutschland ist wunderbar!

Yes, that’s right. Just like Starbucks, we’re expanding exponentially. That means more voices and more time for John and I to hit the pavement and promote the Gumboot’s unique offering in the wilderness of the world wide web (isn’t alliteration wonderful). In fact, in the coming weeks watch out for more and more new contributors coming online (and if you want to be a contributor – make sure to email us!).

In the meantime, I’d like to belatedly introduce our newest correspondents, Peter Joerdell, Jim Clifford, and Katie Burns. Our newest correspondents hail from Germany and Toronto expanding the Gumboot community from Vancouver to a global network of community correspondents.

Peter’s a nifty fellow. I’ve known him for years – since my young formative years at Bishop’s University. I’ll always remember sampling the apple wine (at least I think that’s what it was) – which felt like rocket fuel going down – as Peter and I along with three other Germans cruised in a dirty pickup truck through the back country dirt roads the rural Eastern Townships. Peter and I were stretched in the back, bundled up tightly and clinging to old Mauser rifles, a shot gun and some sort of tricked out sub-machine gun (yeah – in retrospect I’m not sure if it was legal either). The whole scene had a vague Stalingradish feel. It was cold, wet, and dirty; except we weren’t there to shoot Russians, but tin cans. A preferable endeavor particularly considering tin cans don’t shoot back.

Peter Joerdell - our German Correspondent.

Peter Joerdell - our German Correspondent.

Since then Peter, like all of us, has gone on to new and exciting things. He’s now a journalist and PR guy who works as a freelancer on top of it all. He lives in Germany in the north, where they don’t like Southerners and dress in black and are inordinately serious.  The Gumboot managed to snare him after offering more than the New York Times and Washington Post were able to shell out for his journalistic talents. Sorry Arthur Sulzberger – maybe next time.

Peter will be providing the Gumboot’s fabulous audience with a fresh new perspective on the Fatherland and the countless communities that connect it. We’d highly recommend you consider checking out his first piece on Oki, a local German punk who lives in a train station and keep tuned to his next article coming up this Friday. On behalf of the whole Gumboot staff and audience (with the exception of the “real Pete”) welcome to the team Peter.

Jim and Katie – well, I need not say much more than they are both awesome and (almost always) reliable.

You can find out more about Jim here and more about Katie here.

That’s right – they were such hot stuff, we had nailed them down for a Get To Know Your Community segment early on. Who says John and I can’t spot rising stars?  Turned out they were so blown away by our site they begged us to come on as full time correspondents. At least that’s the story I’m planning on telling anyone who’ll listen.

In the spirit of this post I’d like to elaborate on these two characters to explain my own personal connection to their awesomeness.

Sure they look a little shifty - but who isn't?

Look at that cute couple.

I found my love of cooking from Jim and my interest (it’s not full blown love yet unfortunately) in baking from Katie Burns. For them, I traveled across the entire continent packing a camoflage knife bag with my favorite chef’s knife so I’d have the opportunity to whip up a tasty treat or two at their wedding several years ago.

Both of the dynamic duo bring a unique and interesting organic/sustainable/friendly-folk-in-the-city angle to the Gumboot and frankly we love em for it. Jim’s able to do all of this while he’s publishing ActiveHistory.ca – a website dedicated to expanding history into new non-academic communities. As a former history student I must say I admire this mission – one which may well be as difficult as any James Bond ever came across. On behalf of the rest of the group – we’d like to welcome you to the team!

No haggling: Volunteer work at a Catholic thrift store

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My mom, Ilke Joerdell, in the Catholic thriftstore where she volunteers

My mom, Ilka Joerdell, in the Catholic thriftstore where she volunteers

“Oh jumble sale mums – what are they on? Kids just sit hanging round the street and they’ve got somebody else’s clothes on…” The lyrics of an old Suede-song (I guess in the US and Canada they were called The London Suede) come to mind, when I think of my mother’s volunteer work in the Catholic thrift store of our congregation. Well, it’s not necessarily so very bleak all the time, but my mom’s certainly seen her fair share of social problems in the past few decades that she worked there, selling used, donated clothes for symbolic prices of two Deutsch-Mark for a winter-coat (one Euro now) to people who otherwise would hardly have a stitch to wear.

stjoseph3

The St. Joseph congregation center in Solingen-Ohligs, which houses the thrift store in its basement. Spire and tower of St. Jospeph in the background.

And more often than not, my mom and her team (there are four volunteer-teams working in rotation, the thrift store is open every first Wednesday afternoon a month at our Catholic community centre in Solingen-Ohligs) are giving stuff away for free these days. “Poverty really has increased”, says Ilka Joerdell, aged 66, trained secretary, now retired, and mother of two (me and my sis, obviously (c;). “What with the new Hartz IV-legislation, you can really tell that sometimes you get people for whom spending two Euros on a coat really may make a difference between feeding their kid a warm meal on that day and not doing so.” (For those not familiar with “Hartz IV”, check out my piece on German punk Oki.)

Also, the crowds have changed over the years. “In the beginning we got a lot of Turks, then it was East Europeans during the Perestroika and East Germans after the fall of the Iron Curtain. In the nineties, we got a lot of refugees from former Yugoslavia and their civil war, of course. Nowadays, people from Eastern Europe, especially Russian families with German ancestry who are returning to Germany, make use of our offer.”

One thing that has always been a problem until recent years was the communication with Turkish and Kurdish customers, notorious for greater difficulties with the German language than other immigrants. “But luckily, Mrs Ankarali turned up”, explains Ilka Joerdell. Mrs Ankarali is a former customer turned volunteer. “She hails from Turkey, is a muslim, and one of the most decent people I know.” When noticing how much of a riot the “Kleiderstube” (German for thrift store) could be, Ankarali made the logical deduction. “I asked whether the ladies might need a hand.” That was five years ago, Mrs Ankarali has been part of my mom’s team ever since. Fluent both in German and Turkish, as well as English and Serbo-Croatian she helped a lot to ease the situation. “We get a lot of Turks who just come for cheap clothes.” Which is not a crime, the sale is open to anyone and of course they’re not rich. “But you can’t expect to be able to haggle over prices at a thrift store that raises money for charity – not when you have a regular job as a worker in a cutlery-factory.” Talk about cultural differences. For a while, my mom’s group even had a big poster reading in Turkish: “This is a thrift store, not an oriental bazaar. Thank you.”

Grinning, my mom remembers that poster. “Yes, sometimes we had our difficulties. But in the end, it always worked out.” Some of the Turkish gentlemen who were amongst the first customers my mom had at the thriftstore, have now retired and returned to Turkey, where they’ve built homes for their families with the money they made in German factories. “Several of them have invited me and the ladies to visit them. That, after decades, is the nicest compliment you can get, I guess.”

If all of the Catholic church worked like this little thrift store, whew, their image problems would be nil. Until that day, I, as an agnostic person with a Catholic upbringing can all but focus on the merits of these small cogs in that bigger community. Or, as my mom once put it, talking about the discrepancy between what she perceives as God’s masterplan and the performance of the clergy: “Well I believe Command knows what it’s doing. But blimey, the ground personnel is often a shambles …”