Looking back and ahead

 Ein gutes neues Jahr ! Happy New Year ! Feliz Año Nuevo ! xin nian  kuai le ! gung hay fat choy ! Bonne Année ! Buon Capadonno ! Feliz Ano Novo !

The days after Christmas are full of TV programmes that try to show us the "highlights" and "most touching moments" of the past year. It is the attempt to catch and hold the time that is passing. Well, apart from the fact that we know we cannot really do that, we should also be aware that December 31st is an arbitrary date to do so. For me the end of a school year (in Germany it is in summer) has always been more important as a point of transition from one cycle of my life to the other. My Chinese friends celebrate their new year on February 3rd. So one could just ignore the date, celebrate a party and then battle the hangover the next day.

However, I have also looked back and found that the past year had the usual mix of ups and downs:

Some of the happiness I found turned out to be an illusion - but most of it was more substantial.
I made an exciting journey and met friends on another continent.
I had success in my job, but also a lot more work and less free time.
I was sick and healthy, like every year. 
I was worried and scared, sad and in tears, happy and full of laughter.
I made mistakes and learned from them.

I guess, the next year will not be much different. I have things I can look forward to (si Dios quiere), I alreaday know at least one moment that  makes me apprehensive, there will be moments of fear, there will be challenges and joys... There will be LIFE !

At the end of this year I say a deeply felt "thank you" to all the people who  crossed my way last year- to the ones I will never see again as well as to the ones who stay with me.  I am thankful for the laughter you gave me, the support, the lessons you taught me, the sorrows you let me share ... I am  thankful for you being in my life.

I wish us all a peaceful new year !

                                                      

Merry Christmas !

Frohe Weihnachten! Feliz Navidad ! sheng dan jie kuai le ! 

Yesterday afternoon I visited a friend and his wife. Although they really have serious problems and worries, it was an afternoon of warmth and laughter. They keep their house open on Christmas Eve for everybody who feels lonely - and I thought that as long as I have friends like these I am truly rich.

I wish you true friendship and love  - and if you celebrate it: may you find the true spirit of Christmas.

 And may you have fun as well !!!

Little Big Soldier

Today on the Facebook status of one of my American friends I read about an American soldier who died shortly before his baby was born  and my friend asked to think (and pray) for him and his family. I am not going to write about the sense or non-sense of American military interventions in the world. This remark made me think of war, of violence and of a movie that I watched recently and that impressed me deeply.

It may not surprise the regular reader that it is a movie with Jackie Chan . Da bing xiao jiang/Little Big Soldier was released in February 2010 in China and is available on DVD also in my country. In fact, it was shown at the Berlinale film festival this year and Jackie was in Berlin as well.

Jackie plays an old and experienced soldier who kidnaps the only other surviver of a battle, a young general from the enemy's army (Wang Leehom). He wants to take him home, collect a reward and then buy a piece of land and retire. The kind of down-to-earth and cunning old man is ideal for Jackie. But what touched me most was the message of the movie. Deep down we don't want to be heroes, deep down human beings just want to survive, to live and grow old in peace. Several times I had tears in my eyes seeing the simple dream Jackie's character pursues - simple and profoundly human.

I had to think of this movie when I read my friend's message. I thought of all the soldiers all over the world, no matter which nationality. I thought of their dreams, their families, their friends. I thought that I cannot prevent wars - and this weekend my heart and my prayers go out to all of them.

Dreams - is the impossible really impossible ?

The impossible is impossible.(Sam C. Chan)

Recently, I have come across several of the "don't give up your dreams and they will come true" sentiments that give so much hope, but also  seem to me like an order to stop thinking rationally. Dream your dream and stop looking at the real world, is that a way to live?  I thought about it.

We all have dreams - big and little ones. We dream of a Sunday without work or a journey to Mexico or meeting our favourite star. Good news: dreams can be realized ! Some of them, at least. If you set yourself a realistic goal and if you think about what you must do to make it come true,  you can work for the realization of your dream. You can also set yourself a more realistic goal, or one on the way to the final destination. This way, dreams can come true - and you may have noticed I spoke of "goals" rather than dreams. Because most of our "dreams" are goals that we can achieve if we work for them - or change if we see they are wrong or impossible.


The word "impossible" reminded me of the simple  statement on a friend's website that I quoted above:The impossible is impossible. I find this important to bear in mind, because it is so true. I am dreaming of being 20, slim, young and ravishingly beautiful. As I am a normal middle-aged woman, this is impossible, and as the impossible is impossible, I can stop wasting my time dreaming of this and go for something more realistic. Of course, my friend's statement is a useful thought in a lot of situations - if politicians promise the impossible, we should not believe them.

This leaves the question who determines what is impossible. Of course, we can use logic, our  knowledge of the laws of nature, our general knowledge and experience. And yet ... there are dreams that seem impossible, but can be the driving force behind our activities. The dream of peace and justice for all the world, for example, has made a lot of people make a lot of little steps. The dream that all these little steps will one day add up to a great change for the better, is also at the back of my mind and it will be with me until the end of my life. And maybe it is not so much  a dream, but mankind's long-term goal...

And what is your big dream ?

Visiting Hong Kong in 2007 - a dream came true !

About a good teacher - or a true friend

When I was 30 I took up skiing. Right in my first winter I had an accident and hurt my knee severely, which resulted in six weeks of leg in plaster and a lot of pain.

The year after, we went skiing again and the skiing school  put me into a group of people who had been experienced skiiers, but had not done the sport for some time and needed practice. It was the wrong group for me, for, despite my obvious talent and skills, I was so scared that I really panicked at one point. So they "downgraded" me to a group of slightly advanced beginners and here I met the best instructor and teacher of my life.

He was a young Norwegian and he listened to my story of the accident with little visible sympathy (which I had gotten used to) , nodded and told me to get going. Whenever I fell, he waited until I was on my feet again and asked : "And what did you do wrong this time ?"  I soon realized that the accident had not been the work of some cruel fate, but my own fault. Which meant, I could learn to avoid this mistake and not have an accident again. This was one of the most important lessons of my life.

Sometimes I feel as if a giant wave of despair and bad luck is washing over me and I feel like drowning. In this situation there are friends who pull me out of the water and provide me with a towel and hot tea and a box of tissues. But the really precious friend is the one who teaches me to swim.

If you have a friend like this, you are lucky. I am that lucky - although I sometimes swear at the tiring lessons...

Photo: Sam C. Chan

Viva México !

VIVA MÉXICO!!!!

Today is the 200th anniversary of the day on which the fight for Mexican independence started.

Happy Independence Day to all my Mexican friends... I wish I could celebrate with you !!!

Esperanto

The other day I read an article  on Esperanto. This first part of four dealt mainly with the idea that Esperanto is a suitable means of worldwide communication  due to its ability to express even complex and litarary contents and the fact that it is easy to learn.

This made me think about English, which is considered "the" world language. I teach English, I converse in English with most of my international friends and I love this language.  Of course, English is also a rich language, one that can express a lot of thoughts, emotions and facts (like all languages that are spoken by thinking human beings).  I realized that "English" (like all languages) has so many facets. For me it is not the language of the US political, economic and military leaders, for me it is first of all the language of literature that I love very much. The language of Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Mark Twain, Paul Auster. The language of books like "To Killl a Mockingbird", or the language of Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest." The language that created immortal lines in "Romeo and Juliet" or "Hamlet".

English got this image of "world language" not because it is spoken by so many people. If that was the criterion, we would all be learning Chinese or Spanish. It is true that English grammar is easier to memorize than French or Spanish verb  forms, but the details of expressing things can be just as complicated and delicate. English is a flexible language, one that has absorbed words from a lot of languages, and it is a language that is used and adapted to individual needs in its local varieties.

But the main reason why English is considered a  "world language" is one of power, history and politics. The British Empire also spread its language (made easy by the facts  I mentioned above) and today the USA are the remaining superpower... American politics, economy and culture rule and so does the language.

And when I got to this point, I thought that a "world language" that has nothing to do with power and oppression, but was created as a means of peace could maybe really help us. I should find out more about Esperanto ...

The article mentioned at the beginning is:
Guillermo Macías y Díaz Infante: Pasado, presente y futuro del Esperanto (Primera de cuatro partes), in: La Jornada Aguascalientes, 2nd September, 2010, p. 6  (written in Spanish and Esperanto)