say hello …

… to the new graduate assistent at the … and now hold on to something … chair in theoretical communication engineering. Yep, I can’t believe it either. Very temporary though. But still … me!!! There!!!!

So, the major content of this entry is work (Not my new job though). How boring. or maybe not …  I have to tell you something very funny indeed: I am doing something I would guess most people are doing: Getting up while it’s still dark and start working. Once I managed the first I feel kind of … hm … how to describe it … its almost a kind of an adventurous feeling. I am still puzzled why that is – maybe because until now getting up in the dark usually meant something like that … trekking Nepal for example. Or it is simply so new to me that it has the exilharating feeling all new stuff carries. Anyway – if somebody would have told me a couple of months ago that working on a grey November morning gives the same amount of pleasure as lying at a carribean beach I would have laughed. But whether you believe it or not – its absolutly true. Which doesn’t mean in any way that I wouldn’t enjoy that beach feeling anymore… any time …as soon as possible . But this is the first time in my life (I know, kind of late … but hey…) that I seem to grasp the full meaning of the saying “the mind and the thoughts are free” – and along with it comes the same exhilaration and joy that also comes along while travelling. The enjoyment of going on and on and discovering new grounds also seems to be the same in thinking and travelling. Or maybe its just the generell feeling of being able to choose where to go next … But what’s thinking anyway then travelling with the mind. I don’t even enjoy drinking quite as much as I used to because it collides with my ability to think. Or am I just getting old and boring? :-/ (Exceptions my occur any time though. Old people just have their habits.)

So – it seems to me that this kind of joy is a  part of feeling free.  Reverse: it isn’t work itself or every day life what makes people feel depressed. Its the feeling of being captured, trapped by something and not being able to change the course. Which is – if I remember correctly my pyschologist years and years ago – the feeling people have when having depressions.  And what do we learn of that? Its all in the head and in your hands guys – so to speak. I just hope that I will remember that on one of those other bad days which I am sure will be coming along shortly

And just in case anybody feels like asking: NO, MY THESIS IS NOT FINISHED YET!!!

bye bye Essaouira and hello again every day life

So, the sweeping beaches of Marocco belong to the past once more as does the feeling of being carried by the waves.

Reality somehow has the capacity of coming fast and hitting hard. So my first day back at the uni did not only confront me with a huge amount of work – as I knew it would – but also with the Job’s news that my university teachings position has been canceled for various reasons, meaning that very probably I am facing the choice of either not teaching at all or doing it for free. Does somebody still wonder about the calamity in the german education system? Anyway to top it all I am struck by a pretty heavy cold – maybe I am allergic to Germany?

Funnily enough all that doesn’t seem to bring me down as much as it should. The conference in Munich about “The evil” which I attended after not even being back for 24 hours has brought me straight back to my favourite past time right now – philosophy. Maybe it really gives me a balance of dealing with blows. Or maybe I am just back to my sunny moods which a lot of people seem to mistake for a general sunny nature (or maybe I am?) Or maybe I gradually become a stoic? Or is there a faint hint of Socrates in me?

While there was a lot of talk about how it could be that there is evil in a good creation and about the nature of sin I am confronted with the practical side. Let me explain quickly: Going through some texts of one of my colleagues I saw that the texts about Islam are written by none other than  Sayyid Maududi, on of the most influential thinkers of islamist fundamentalism. Apart from being shocked that a supposedly objective professorship teaches Islam from the fundamentalist point of view (even though I don’t believe that my professor knows about it or my colleague knows what she is dealing with) I am now confronted with not only how I should react but also my inner motives. I don’t think Kant could have found a better example. Obviously I told her about my concerns but since she is not … well let’s say fond of Islam anyway I think she will keep going with it. At first there is the question: Should I try to interfer or not? Admittedly having some problems with Islam myself I couls just let her keep on going in painting not the best and a very assailable picture of Islam. But since we should  at least try to teach the knowledge of all religions in an equal and objective way I feel that I should be interfering in some way. But is that really the motive? Or could it be a way to prove that I know more than my colleague does? Even stand in an better light? Or do I just want to be contrarian, something that is behind my opinions much more often than is good.  And should I still do it even if there aren’t the right moral motives behind it? And even if there are how do I know that the others aren’t hidden behind it anyway? On the other hand – is the accusation to act out of the wrong reasons an excuse for not acting at all?

See, there is the prove once again that questions behind human acts are the same on big or small base …

heavenly features of Morocco

Yeah, thats life… while some people of this travel companionship go through the hell every traveller has to sometimes – which implies staying in the hotel room for two days without being able to move or eat – I encountered the moroccan version of the gate to paradise in Morocco – pastillas and hammam in Fes.

In case you have no idea about the first, its a dish composed of multilayered pastry leaves filled with shredded pigeon or chicken, a lemon egg sauce and almonds; topped with cinnamon and sugar. Do I have to say more? It doesnt get any better than this except maybe the grilled fish and crabs in Essaouira. And if you think I a, talking too much of food here rememer – food is the sex of old age.

The latter is the arabian or turkish version of a sauna – of course sexes seperated. It is funny and somehow amazing to watch how easy going people are about the nakedness of their own gender in such a prudish society. You get scrubbed without any shyness about whatsoever at all. Felt like being back in childhood. I also noticed that there is no such thing as the competitional thinking we western women tend to have, checking out each others body and comparing (Not that everybody would do that but I noticed a tendency). I wonder if that has something to do with the dress code, women not being able to use their bodies to get the man they want. Should there actually be something good about the muslim dress code?

If I mentioned the gate to paradise I am now getting to the actual heaven here – travelling from Asilah in the north to Essaouira (the latter being my favorite moroccan city so far)means the triple s - sun, sand and surfing. And … hm … hihi … whats the english word for Zauberwald?