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Welcome To Episode 9 of Your Story Addendum.

Here is another of my personal raves recorded while walking home through Potsdamer Platz about what I’ve seen and been doing but this time with a spin.

The first is the cafe that I had the wonderful meeting and conversation in.

As I walked in off the stark street-scape into the styled aura of what could have been Berlin in it’s heyday of the 1920’s I gasped in surprise because of the contrast to outside. An extraordinary cool and groovy place is the Joseph Roth Diele and a delight to spend some time in.

Joseph Roth Diele

Inside while waiting and afterwards I drank fine beer from stoneware mugs and ate good wholesome home cooked food all for a price a third of what I would have paid back home.

Shortly I meet the gaze and had the opportunity to connect with two wonderful women, Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries, who publish a very different travel magazine in Hidden Europe about the not so common but wonderful secreted away areas of Europe.

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Welcome To Episode 23 of Your Story.

Robot

Today we talk with Roco Menzel of Metroccolis who in along with his collaborator Stefan Wabner is a Mime artist performing as Metroccolis.rocco
Now after 14 years developing the skill of mime Rocco is starting to achieve real international success, earning a living and well on the way to achieving the success that is his passion.

Rocco explains that as an nearly unknown art-form there is much more to producing art than seen on stage and it’s necessary to to spend 60% of the time as an office worker to dealing with agents and negotiating the stuff in the background.

Theater of Metroccolis

We discuss the lifestyle of Berlin, the culture and where it is going and the fact that there is still a difference between East and West Berlin and how East Berlin is the vibrant place of growth and change.

His website is metroccolis.com
email is mail@metroccolis.com

There are several YouTube clips of Metroccolis performing but here are a couple for you to look at.

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Subscribe freely in iTunes by Clicking here.
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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MynrUOS_tGE[/youtube]
Robot Tor

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On a this beautiful summer night I went to see the Obama Show when it came to Berlin.Obama Berlin Crowd

Initially I was reluctant thinking that it would be the usual political hoopla but on second thoughts I thought that this is one of those cities in the world that history is made in and wouldn’t it be a shame if something was to happen and I was to miss it.

Would he make a mark in the history books like Kennedy or Reagan or would there be a tragic event like Bobby Kennedy while he was running for election in ’68?

Obama '08 ButtonIn the end neither event happened but instead it was simply a good night out in the summer air drinking beer for the people of Berlin and I don’t think many people really cared about the Obama Show at all. What they did care about was being out and about as the people of Europe seem to do. Especially when they can appreciate how wonderful things are when the weather is good.Lone McCain Supporter

And that is my point. I don’t think many people would have turned up if it was a wet and cold day in January. As for the cheering crowd. Well no one back about 500m where I was were cheering so I think the usual rent a crowd were up the front getting all the attention.

On the way home I looked around the old East Berlin that I was walking through and decided to give my thoughts on how wonderful and contradictary Berlin is with the starkly beautiful Eastern architectural style and the still developing commerce.

As I say in the audio, Berlin it’s like a run down share house of vibrant 20 year olds determined to make it work in any way they can. It’s a young city in an old skin.

Stunning.

East Berlin Buiding Style

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My surname is Kath, pronounced in the Germanic languages I’ve been told recently here as Kat with a short sharp “T”.swidwin I’ve also found out that the Germans would automatically spell it with a “K” unlike how most Australians would, as my family have found want to spell it with a “C”. The Germans should know, as this is the part of the world that my name comes from.

I have Prussian heritage on the side of my family that the Kath name originates from. Even though I’m seven eights British it is my surname that is the one eighth. So while I’m here I have a small opportunity to explore my heritage and I have company.

swidwinsignSo three friends and I we went to Swidwin originally named Shievelbein in the days of Prussia but is now part of Poland to see where in the middle 19 century my ancestor Eduard(57) & Antonia(52) Kath with their four children Hermann(22), Wilhelm(18), Heinrich(14) & Auguste(11) eventually travelled to the ends of the world. The children were Christened in Pielburg now Pilawa but we chose not to go there as it’s a tiny village and we had limited time even though this is where they all probably lived but Swidwin is where Eduard came from.

They travelled from Europe in 1884 to settle at Glenco on the Darling Downs about 150 km west of Brisbane. Sadly from the information I have, old Eduard died within a year.

We had a look around and here are a few images of the area including a quick trip to the Baltic Sea coast to relax before driving back to Berlin late into the early morning. There are more images on my flickr page linked on the left.baltic

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Walking home I realised it was time to share a few thoughts on what I’ve been seeing in warsigns1Berlin particually that there are still a few reminders of the the war  with the damage still visible either because you can see the repair with replacement of perfect stone or the original stone with the dents and chips of battle still present.

Berlin is a vibrant city with a huge amount of construction happening to the extent that it seems a little overgrown I suppose because it’s difficult to find the resources to maintain the city when it’s so necesary to build and replace the damage of primarally the GDR times and to a lesser extent the war so many years ago.

I also walked around the Holocaust Memorial which I had heard was an opressive and overwhelming place but I found it to be a stark but life filled space full of people exploring the mini canions and children playing hide and seek. Not a sad place at all but still a place of reverence.

holocaust1

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Do Americans really feel like this?

I just received this as an email from a good German friend of mine from their US host Dad in Wyoming with whom they were staying with when as a high school student some years ago.

As an Australian I would like to say I wish we were on the list 2. If this is how some US citizens feel I would suggest they read Confessions of an Economic Hitman

The below is unedited and as I received it…

Subject: A Great Presidential Speech

WOULDN’T IT BE GREAT TO TURN ON THE TV AND HEAR ANY U.S. PRESIDENT, DEMOCRAT OR REPUBLICAN GIVE THE FOLLOWING SPEECH?

‘My Fellow Americans: As you all know, the defeat of the Iraq regime has been completed.

Since congress does not want to spend any more money on this war, our mission in Iraq is complete.

This morning I gave the order for a complete removal of all America n forces from Iraq. This action will be complete within 30 days. It is now time to begin the reckoning.

Before me, I have two lists. One list contains the names of countries which have stood by our side during the Iraq conflict. This list is short . The United Kingdom , Spain , Bulgaria , Australia , and Poland are some of the countries listed there.

The other list contains every one not on the first list. Most of the world’s nations are on that list. My press secretary will be distributing copies of both lists later this evening.

Let me s tart by saying that effective immediately, foreign aid to those nations on List 2 ceases immediately and indefinitely. The money saved during the first year
alone will pretty much pay for the costs of the Iraqi war. THEN EVERY YEAR THERE AFTER IT’ll GO TO OUR SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEM SO IT WONT GO BROKE IN 20 YEARS.

The American people are no longer going to pour money into third world Hell holes and watch those government leaders grow fat on corruption.

Need help with a famine? Wrestling with an epidemic? Call France .

In the future, together with Congress, I will work to redirect this money toward solving the vexing social problems we still have at home. On that note, a word to terrorist organizat ions. Screw with us and we will hunt you down
and eliminate you and all your friends from the face of the earth.

Thirsting for a gutsy country to terrorize? Try France or maybe China

I am ordering the immediate severing of diplomatic relations with France , Germany , and Russia . Thanks for all your help, comrades. We are retiring from NATO as well. Bonne
chance, mezamies.

I have instructed the Mayor of New York City to begin towing the many UN diplomatic vehicles located in Manhattan with more than two unpaid parkin g tickets to sites where those vehicles will be stripped, shredded and crushed. I don’t care about whatever treaty
pertains t o this. You creeps have tens of thousands of unpaid tickets. Pay those tickets tomorrow or watch your precious Benzes, Beamers and limos be turned over to some of the finest chop shops in the world. I love New York

A special note to our neighbors. Canada is on List 2. Since we are likely to be seeing a lot more of each other, you folks might want to try not pissing us off for a change.

Mexico is also on List 2 its president and his entire corrupt government really need an attitude adjustment. I will have a couple extra
thousand tanks and infantry divisions sitting around. Guess where I am going to put’em? Yep, border security.

Oh, by the way, the United States is abrogating the NAFTA treaty – starting now.

We are tired of the one-way highway. Immediately, we’ll be drilling for oil in Alaska- which will take care of this country’s oil needs for decade s to come. If you’re an environmentalist who opposes this decision, I refer you to List 2 above: pick a country and move there.

It is time for America to focus on its own welfare and its own citizens. Some will accuse us of isolationism. I answer them by saying, ‘darn tootin’.

Nearly a century of trying to help folks live a decent life around the world has only earned us the undying enmity of just about everyone on the planet. It is time to eliminate hunger in America . It is time to eliminate homelessness in America . To the nations on List 1, a final thought. Thank you guys. We owe you and we won’t forget.

To the nations on List 2, a final thought: You might want to learn to speak
Arabic.

God bless America .. Thank you and good night.’

If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you are reading it in English, t hank a soldier.

(Please forward this to at least ten friends and see what happens! Let’s get this to every USA computer!)

Sad really, we all live on one Planet.

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Welcome To Episode 22 of Your Story Addendum.

Today we chat with Romy who while studying Social Services has continued to work and develop her childhood passion for Social Circus as a mechanism to enable children to develop and grow their communication skills, self worth and community interactions.Romy Juggling She now has a huge opportunity to help develop the concept of Social Circus in the United States which will develop the concept even further.

Romy explains a little of the support that the German government gives to single parents to enable them to support both their studies and raising their children and how she has been able to develop with the aid of the support of the government.

We briefly discuss the new post Berlin Wall interactions between East and West Germans and a little of the inequity that is still present between East and West.

Her website is ro-und-ro.blogspot.com

Her Email is romy.backofen@googlemail.com

To automatically receive this podcast freely to you, click on one of the links to the left or search in iTunes for “Your Story.”

Subscribe freely in iTunes by Clicking here.
If you use another Podcast software Get the feed here.

Music is from iodaPROMONET
The Remix GameBitter:Sweet
“Salty Air” (mp3)
from “The Remix Game”
(Quango)

Buy at eMusic
Stream from Rhapsody
Buy at Amazon
More On This Album

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Welcome To Episode Five of Your Story Addendum.

tubingenHere is a quick update on how it’s been travelling settling and having a bit of a look around Germany. Particually Tübingen, Potsdam and arriving in Berlin. brandenburgeI flush out a bit more of my observations in follow up Addendum eposides. So this is just to make the quick connection with you out there.

To automatically receive this podcast freely to you, clickPotsdamer on one of the links to the left or search in iTunes for “Your Story.”

To automatically receive this podcast freely to you, click on one of the links to the left or search in iTunes for “Your Story.”

Beautiful Potsdam

Subscribe freely in iTunes by Clicking here.
If you use another Podcast software Get the feed here.

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Adu Dhabi Free but Censored WiFi.

Twelve hours travelling now with a quick stop and reboard the same aircraft at Singapore. While I was in Adu Dhabi international Airport TerminalSingapore I didn’t bother with the free WiFi but decided to get on some here in Abu Dhabi. It’s the middle of the night but people are everywhere. People travel at all times when it comes to an international transport hub like Adu Dhabi international airport.

12 midnight here and the airconditioning is working hard as it’s still 32 degrees outside which explains why the construction workers were still on the job. Tomorrow it’s expected to be 40.

As I write this I have another hour before we board and there are people leaning on walls and lying on floors attempting to get a little sleep with hubbub all around as others arrive and leave all the while little kids and the announcements scream in multiple languages.

I’ve still got eight hours traveling from here to get to London then the wait for my connection to Germany. So as I’ll do in Heathrow I attempted to do here, in that

I'm not allowed to play

as soon as I was on the web I went to my social network pages of Twitter & Plurk to find them blocked. WTF.

That was a shock but I suppose as I start to move away from my comfy home environment I get to see this little thing called censorship.

Makes me wonder why it would be blocked would.

*Unfortunatly I wasn’t able to post the above as my connection dropped out so now I’m sitting in an internet cafe at Heathrow waiting for  my next flight. I’ll add a couple of photos when I get access from my mac to the web.

This is exactly why I feel VPN services can come real handy. You can’t just sit at the airport and wait it out, and eventually perish put of boredom (well, metaphorically so). Binge watching something or playing DK Sports Gaming while we are at the wait game sounds like a cool job. According To the gratisnieuwsgroepen.nl NordVPN review, this is the ideal torrent and Netflix VPN. (Volgens de gratisnieuwsgroepen.nl NordVPN review, is dit de ideale torrent en Netflix VPN.) So what exactly are you waiting for? Give this comprehensive list a read and decide accordingly.

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