Summer in November and stinky days...

Here I am on my balcony this afternoon, November 26, in Germany. Unbelievable, that it's so warm that I can wear summer attire!
Hello everybody!

Sorry I haven’t been around much. It’s been very busy. The last weekend (of Nov. 16) had me at a birthday party on Friday until 3:30 am. on Saturday morning, not the usual fare for me. This past week has been full of good work, and yesterday, on Saturday evening, I was at another birthday party from 5 pm. until midnight, and the trio I am in played at the event, where about 60 people were present. Next Saturday I am celebrating Thanksgiving belatedly, having 10 people over for a big meal, so this week will have lots of preparations for that. So what else moves us here?

Weather:
It is unseasonably warm here, with highs in the mid 60s, or about 16 Centigrade, where the normal high is more like 5 Centigrade, or the lower 40s. So I go jogging in my shorts and can sit out in the deck in summer attire, as this photo from today attests. Being a Texan, this weather makes me think I’m home. Germans are concerned about growing insect plagues since they think the critters will not be killed in this mild winter.

Body:
Something very strange has happened beginning Friday. I started getting bad cases of body odor, really piercing. I’ve never had this problem before. And nothing has changed in my life: same food, drink, same shower gel, shampoo, deodorant, toothpaste, always clean clothes, etc. It’s not hot, and I run just like I always do. So, help me with ideas. Maybe the water has changed? Is the feng shui here not flowing right? Is the karma going out my darma? Is this another round of puberty I’m about to go through? Well, my sex drive could use a boost, so why not? It’s been dead pan alley anyway, so maybe my body is trying to kick-start hormones, and I’ll start attracting more of the people I’ve always wanted…. In one relationship I am having a big conflict that started on Friday, so maybe the stress from this has changed my body chemistry, especially since the odor problem started the same day the conflict started. This last possibility seems to be the only plausible connection, but the possibility of a correlation does not demand a correlation.

I wish you all a pleasant smelling week with warm sun…

Your faithful Euromark

Almost Four Years of Leipzig and Saxony

The Saxon Switzerland - the mountains close to Pirna south of Dresden - matchless
A photo from a little earlier with Steve and I - I've lost weight since ...
Steve and Marita a little earlier - they've gain weight since :-)
What a wonderful weekend. Friday I was on the train at 4:40 pm. Going to Pirna, just south of Dresden. Friday evening had Steve and Marita and I in the bowling alley for two hours. Then, on Saturday, we were in Dresden shopping and eating in Dresden Neustadt, a colourful and somewhat interesting part of that city. Sunday had us in Schipkau in Brandenburg for a St. Martin’s Day meal – my patron, so to say – and for the birthday celebration of Thomas, a relative of Steve and Marita.
Entschuldigt, bitte, das ich schon lange nichts mehr auf Deutsch schreibe, aber ich habe den Eindruck, niemand, der diesen Blog liest, braucht diese Sprache. Bitte, meldet euch, wenn es euch lieber ist, auch mal was auf Deutsch zu lesen! Freitag bis Sonntag war ich in Pirna, Dresden, und Schipkau in Brandenburg. St. Martinsgans war So. angesagt, und der Thomas hatte dann anschließend zum Kaffee und Kuchen zu seinem Geburri eingeladen. Sa. waren Steve, Marita, und ich in Dresden zwecks Geschenke kaufen und haben auch mexikanisch gegessen.
Soon I will have been in Leipzig-Saxony for four years – hard to believe. With the exception of some disgusting turmoil at the very beginning – that had nothing with Germany to do, these have been some of the most peaceful and happy years of my life, and I hope this serendipity continues. I think I will begin a series in my blog now, several posts introducing you to some of the people who have made – and are still making – my life here so wonderful. Please read one of my first posts on my friend and roommate Sebastian to find one of the main persons responsible for my happiness here.
Steve and Marita in Pirna also play a major role in my life here “over the rainbow”. This mother-son team is almost like a second family to me. I hope you get to know them someday, if you haven’t already. I am very thankful to Steve, Marita, and Sebastian for their friendship and love. There are a number of other people who also play important roles; more in Leipzig, in a few other parts of Saxony, in the Erzgebirge (Ore Mountains), in Lübeck up by the Baltic Sea, and even in England. I’ll introduce you to them in the near future.
Demnächst verjährt sich mein Leben in Leipzig in Sachsen – vier Jahre im Februar 2007! Mit der Ausnahme von einigen Schreckenserlebnissen am aller Anfang – die mit Deutschland nichts zu tun hatten – gehören diese Jahre zu den schönsten und glücklichsten meines Lebens, und ich hoffe darauf, dass diese Glückseligkeit hört nicht auf. Wer nur das Deutsche versteht, kennt schon Sebastian, Steve, und Marita, und weiss, warum sie eine Schlüsselrolle in meinem Leben hier spielen. Ich berichte demnächst über die Anderen, and auch Schlüsselrollen in meinem Leben hier spielen, und die sind u.a. zu finden in Leipzig, Sachsen, den Erzgebirgen, Lübeck, und sogar England.

Prague: the Golden City / die goldene Stadt

What splendour! This was where the Emporer of the Holy Roman Empire of German Nations throned in the Middle Ages.
Here I am in the blinding sunlight at the Moldau River with the Hradchin Castle and Cathedral behind me.
The view of the city from the Hradchin castle.
Close to Heaven: I'm enjoying a Czech beer from the keg (Pilsner Urquell) in a famous Prague restaurant.
A session style buidling
Sebastian standing in front of the main town square with the old church behind him
In the Jewish Quarter (do you see me there to the right?)
On the Charles Bridge looking toward the Hradchin Castle and St. Veit's Cathedral.
One end of the famous Charles Bridge
Some say this is the most beautiful city of Europe. I haven’t seen one more beautiful yet. No WWII bombings here, so all the mediaeval structures have survived. Prague was once the seat of the Holy Roman Empire of German Nations – or the most important city of the Occident. So many churches, cloisters, castles; here baroque splendour reigns in ornate sanctuaries. Yet Prague is perhaps the world capital for art nouveau architecture. Here there are many coffee houses, bars, and clubs in this fin de siècle style. I bought a book about Prague cafés listing the 45 most famous cafés, meaning there are many more.

The city is completely overrun with tourists, and I contributed to this. Since I am short, in such crowds I only see shoulders and necks, and I don’t have to go to Prague to see such sights. The poor citizens of Prague; they cannot enjoy their own city, and the prices are certainly too high for many of them to afford. The “old city” is a jewel, but go to the “new city” or the train station Holesovice to see normal every day life. Here the bleakness of Soviet Block architecture is still very evident. The music life of Prague is very active. I was at a jazz club, Agharta, Monday evening, which was the highlight of the trip. I heard a modern jazz group with Czech flutist Jiri Stivin; it was perfection. I ate twice at Café Café, a place where Johnny Depp has been, and supposedly – as I found out after the fact from a tourist guide – also a hang out for the gay scene, though I only found a few indices of this: one BW photo on the wall of a guy wearing only an unbuttoned shirt and obviously read for action, and a preponderance of young good looking waiters. When I returned to Germany Tuesday evening I felt like I was back home, since I could understand everything I was hearing. By the way, every train on the German side of the border was very late on this trip, but the Czech trains were all on time, so how’s that for a reversal of typical stereotypes?
If you stand on the east side of the Moldau and look up to the castle complex with the Charles bridge below, you see one of the most beautiful architectural buffets Europe can offer. Add the soft sunlight of autumn and a chill in the air, and you will never want to leave that spot. As for me, I’ll be back to Prague often, since it only takes about three hours from Leipzig to get there. Who will go with me next time?

Divine Mandate and Humility / Der göttliche Auftrag und Selbstüberschätzung

“God has called me to…” These are serious and powerful words used with ever greater frequency in the public square. Albeit they often take on other forms: this is God’s way to…, God’s word calls us to…, God approves of…. In some way a person or group claims a divine authority, or mandate, for their actions, and this makes their actions correct by definition. Perhaps this divine sanction of their actions is indeed valid. Yet unfortunately, this claim often serves as a license to place oneself above the scrutiny of any other instance of authority. If God approves of this, so the reasoning, then how can any part of this be wrong, or how can any aspect of this need the approval or permission of any other person or party? And so the claim to divine sanction can lead to a complete refusal to continue to admit that the human condition continues to reign in the hearts and minds of those claiming divine sanction for their actions. In other words, if God authorizes them, then they cannot make mistakes, especially concerning these actions to which God has called them, and they need no person or instance of authority to critique or check and balance their actions. Yet the human condition means that we do indeed make mistakes, fall short of what we were meant to be, even if God has called us to take some action. Read any of the stories in the Bible of great heroes of faith called by God; all of them continued to make mistakes and sometimes failed miserably. There is one and only one notable exception: Jesus. The very essence of a call from God to action must have the ongoing and growing realization of the fallibility of the person called as an immanent component of this calling. This realization and its manifestation in one’s conduct are often called humility.
Some world leaders may claim divine mandate and act unilaterally, thinking they need no checks and balances. Some church leaders may claim the same and extinguish reciprocity in their relationships with their flock; information flows to them and power from them. Some family leaders may cite divine sanction as blinders making them oblivious to brokenness they unknowingly support as they dismiss criticism as a refusal to accept the divine mandate for their power.
Yet power is perfected in weakness, and truly great leadership means being a slave to others, i.e. finding out what they really need by listening to them speak and then providing them their needs.
I think it is quite elegant that the resurrected Jesus was usually not recognized by his followers. The servant aspect of his leadership was so perfected that even those who knew him best saw nothing spectacular in him – until he prayed or broke bread with them. Then he quickly vanished in front of them.
These kinds of leaders who realize their divine mandate to the truest extent are still present, but we will never see them in the limelight, for they are much too busy helping and listening to have time to beat the drum about their divine mandate.