Things to ponder
-
Franklan
- Posts: 1075
- Joined: Sat Feb 17, 2024 3:37 pm
- Location: Munich
- Has thanked: 1052 times
- Been thanked: 1669 times
Re: Things to ponder
Even the caps of cars are now tethered, the horror!
- cap.jpg (49.07 KiB) Viewed 8050 times
Re: Things to ponder
Having read some speculation as to why there have been so many adverse weather events….cloud seeding etc, could this be a more realistic cause? The effects are expected to last some years.
‘Tonga Eruption Blasted Unprecedented Amount of Water Into Stratosphere
When the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano erupted on Jan. 15, it sent a tsunami racing around the world and set off a sonic boom that circled the globe twice. The underwater eruption in the South Pacific Ocean also blasted an enormous plume of water vapor into Earth’s stratosphere – enough to fill more than 58,000 Olympic-size swimming pools. The sheer amount of water vapor could be enough to temporarily affect Earth’s global average temperature…….’
https://www.nasa.gov/earth/tonga-erupti ... atosphere/#
‘Tonga Eruption Blasted Unprecedented Amount of Water Into Stratosphere
When the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano erupted on Jan. 15, it sent a tsunami racing around the world and set off a sonic boom that circled the globe twice. The underwater eruption in the South Pacific Ocean also blasted an enormous plume of water vapor into Earth’s stratosphere – enough to fill more than 58,000 Olympic-size swimming pools. The sheer amount of water vapor could be enough to temporarily affect Earth’s global average temperature…….’
https://www.nasa.gov/earth/tonga-erupti ... atosphere/#
-
pappnase
- Posts: 98
- Joined: Sun Apr 14, 2024 6:34 am
- Location: Bremen
- Has thanked: 71 times
- Been thanked: 140 times
Re: Things to ponder
I still remember the first time I saw that picture and read Carl Sagan's quote about it. It is indeed a thing to ponder.
The quote is:-
The quote is:-
That’s here.
That's home.
That's us.
On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives … on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam
Re: Things to ponder
You're welcome.pappnase wrote: ↑Thu Jul 25, 2024 11:08 am I still remember the first time I saw that picture and read Carl Sagan's quote about it. It is indeed a thing to ponder.
The quote is:-
That’s here.
That's home.
That's us.
On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives … on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam
Re: Things to ponder
Can anyone else relate to this…..?
THE TIREDNESS THAT ONLY BEGINNERS KNOW: THE "REAL" ABOUT THE LIFE OF AN IMMIGRANT
Living in another country takes a strength that no one sees. It's not glamour, it's not a permanent adventure, and it's not that ongoing joy that social media sells. It's a daily internal translation exercise. The head works in two, sometimes three languages, at the same time when the heart tries to adjust to a routine that was never meant for it. The simplest tasks, that have always been automatic, suddenly require disproportionate effort. Request information, solve a red tape, talk to someone in the neighborhood... even choosing a bread at the bakery seems like asking for a kind of energy that depletes quickly.
Being an immigrant is not traveling with a ready-made script. It's waking up every day in a place that strangles your soul a little, even when the scenery is beautiful. It is constantly learning and at the same time carrying the weight of never being fully comfortable. The sound of words that are not yours fills the house, the street, the bus, the supermarket, as if there is always a small invisible barrier between you and the rest of the world. And there is no break. The mind is always on alert, always decoding, always trying to keep up with a culture that does not slow down to wait for anyone.
In the midst of it, there's also the emotional life. Relationships that are trying to build. The effort to communicate clearly without having full mastery of the language. The feeling of being always between two territories, two affections, two ways of being. Anyone who lives this reality knows how tiring it is to have to be several versions of yourself in a single day, adapting the tone, the language, the way to respond, to interpret, to react.
Being an immigrant is beautiful for discoveries and at the same time cruel for wear and tear. It's not about disliking the country you're in, nor about regret. It's about the constant impact of living in a world that wasn't designed for your voice. It's about the accumulated mental fatigue, about loneliness that has nothing to do with being alone, but with being displaced.
And yet the ability to follow is impressive. To keep on learning. To create a possible life in such a complex reality. There is a lot of guts in this. A whole lot of resilience. Being an immigrant is not being a tourist. It is to be someone who reconstructs his own identity while trying every day to make a foreign territory a breathable place.
It's a rough road. But it's also proof that humans can reinvent roots, even when the soil is completely new.
[credit to M Mourna]
THE TIREDNESS THAT ONLY BEGINNERS KNOW: THE "REAL" ABOUT THE LIFE OF AN IMMIGRANT
Living in another country takes a strength that no one sees. It's not glamour, it's not a permanent adventure, and it's not that ongoing joy that social media sells. It's a daily internal translation exercise. The head works in two, sometimes three languages, at the same time when the heart tries to adjust to a routine that was never meant for it. The simplest tasks, that have always been automatic, suddenly require disproportionate effort. Request information, solve a red tape, talk to someone in the neighborhood... even choosing a bread at the bakery seems like asking for a kind of energy that depletes quickly.
Being an immigrant is not traveling with a ready-made script. It's waking up every day in a place that strangles your soul a little, even when the scenery is beautiful. It is constantly learning and at the same time carrying the weight of never being fully comfortable. The sound of words that are not yours fills the house, the street, the bus, the supermarket, as if there is always a small invisible barrier between you and the rest of the world. And there is no break. The mind is always on alert, always decoding, always trying to keep up with a culture that does not slow down to wait for anyone.
In the midst of it, there's also the emotional life. Relationships that are trying to build. The effort to communicate clearly without having full mastery of the language. The feeling of being always between two territories, two affections, two ways of being. Anyone who lives this reality knows how tiring it is to have to be several versions of yourself in a single day, adapting the tone, the language, the way to respond, to interpret, to react.
Being an immigrant is beautiful for discoveries and at the same time cruel for wear and tear. It's not about disliking the country you're in, nor about regret. It's about the constant impact of living in a world that wasn't designed for your voice. It's about the accumulated mental fatigue, about loneliness that has nothing to do with being alone, but with being displaced.
And yet the ability to follow is impressive. To keep on learning. To create a possible life in such a complex reality. There is a lot of guts in this. A whole lot of resilience. Being an immigrant is not being a tourist. It is to be someone who reconstructs his own identity while trying every day to make a foreign territory a breathable place.
It's a rough road. But it's also proof that humans can reinvent roots, even when the soil is completely new.
[credit to M Mourna]
Re: Things to ponder
I certainly agree with much of what is said in this immigrant life writing. I understand the daily translation exercise with Russian.Emkay wrote: ↑Mon Dec 01, 2025 8:48 am Can anyone else relate to this…..?
Living in another country ... It's a daily internal translation exercise. The head works in two, sometimes three languages,
...even choosing a bread at the bakery seems like asking for a kind of energy that depletes quickly.
The feeling of being always between two territories, two affections, two ways of being. Anyone who lives this reality knows how tiring it is to have to be several versions of yourself in a single day, adapting the tone, the language, the way to respond, to interpret, to react.
[credit to M Mourna]
My head works many times in three languages, though my heart is still often in Germany. Sometimes I can't think of any words. I've spoken near native German for so long, I no longer remember whether it was a daily translation exercise. With Russian it is, but I usually just try to use the words I know and don't try to translate much. I took to German like a duck takes to water. I also took to the culture.
I do remember eating a lot of Halbweiß bread because that was easy to pronounce at the bakery when I first moved to live in Germany.
There are several versions of myself, but we all seem to have several versions of ourselves even without knowing a more than one language. And that is also something to ponder.
-
Auntie Helen
- Posts: 47
- Joined: Sun Feb 25, 2024 8:16 pm
- Has thanked: 23 times
- Been thanked: 37 times
Re: Things to ponder
This is all really true.Emkay wrote: ↑Mon Dec 01, 2025 8:48 am Can anyone else relate to this…..?
THE TIREDNESS THAT ONLY BEGINNERS KNOW: THE "REAL" ABOUT THE LIFE OF AN IMMIGRANT
Living in another country takes a strength that no one sees. It's not glamour, it's not a permanent adventure, and it's not that ongoing joy that social media sells. It's a daily internal translation exercise. The head works in two, sometimes three languages, at the same time when the heart tries to adjust to a routine that was never meant for it. The simplest tasks, that have always been automatic, suddenly require disproportionate effort. Request information, solve a red tape, talk to someone in the neighborhood... even choosing a bread at the bakery seems like asking for a kind of energy that depletes quickly.
Being an immigrant is not traveling with a ready-made script. It's waking up every day in a place that strangles your soul a little, even when the scenery is beautiful. It is constantly learning and at the same time carrying the weight of never being fully comfortable. The sound of words that are not yours fills the house, the street, the bus, the supermarket, as if there is always a small invisible barrier between you and the rest of the world. And there is no break. The mind is always on alert, always decoding, always trying to keep up with a culture that does not slow down to wait for anyone.
In the midst of it, there's also the emotional life. Relationships that are trying to build. The effort to communicate clearly without having full mastery of the language. The feeling of being always between two territories, two affections, two ways of being. Anyone who lives this reality knows how tiring it is to have to be several versions of yourself in a single day, adapting the tone, the language, the way to respond, to interpret, to react.
Being an immigrant is beautiful for discoveries and at the same time cruel for wear and tear. It's not about disliking the country you're in, nor about regret. It's about the constant impact of living in a world that wasn't designed for your voice. It's about the accumulated mental fatigue, about loneliness that has nothing to do with being alone, but with being displaced.
And yet the ability to follow is impressive. To keep on learning. To create a possible life in such a complex reality. There is a lot of guts in this. A whole lot of resilience. Being an immigrant is not being a tourist. It is to be someone who reconstructs his own identity while trying every day to make a foreign territory a breathable place.
It's a rough road. But it's also proof that humans can reinvent roots, even when the soil is completely new.
[credit to M Mourna]
I moved back to the UK in March after 11 years in Germany and I feel so relaxed and free. I’ve made tons of friends although we moved to a completely new town. There is so much about the UK that I find is better than Germany, although the cakes are a huge disappointment.
My German husband is settling in well but work ain’t great and he is now understanding more how it was for me in DE. He’s good at making friends so also has a good social group here.
I write a monthly blog about life in the UK after living in Germany: https://www.auntiehelen.co.uk
-
Fraufruit
- Posts: 919
- Joined: Sun Feb 18, 2024 9:48 am
- Location: Munich
- Has thanked: 1785 times
- Been thanked: 981 times
-
Franklan
- Posts: 1075
- Joined: Sat Feb 17, 2024 3:37 pm
- Location: Munich
- Has thanked: 1052 times
- Been thanked: 1669 times
Re: Things to ponder
I like that blog!Auntie Helen wrote: ↑Sun Jan 04, 2026 12:05 am I write a monthly blog about life in Germany: https://www.auntiehelen.co.uk
There are so many people who started a blog but then ceased to update it. You truely keep going on this project.
Thumbs up!
(You might have to update the footer you set up on hTTi, as this ain't a blog about "life in Germany" anymore...
But this is certainly not a high priority task
)