die lerche von BJ

when i arrived in BJ last thursday my friend Vicky was shocked for 5 minutes about my new look.she left the house, came back and said that we urgently need to do something about the hair and colour. which was so much true. after 2 month uncontrolled growth.

so, know i look a bit like french old time singer Mirelle matthieu "die laerche v paris" with a twisted wig. but i do like it.


ups, i dont know why these pictures are all sideways..... okay , twisted fits to the haircut.

mongolian desert rock

deep in Inner (!) Mongolian desert i attend a 5 days conference on "sustainable sanitation". actually it was only 4 days, cause the organizer missed to put me and 2 colleagues on the arranged flight. no problem, so i could spend one more day in Beijing with my friends.
but against all odds, it is really really nice out here. its not the multistoreyhouse with dry toilets among those thousand of new development project, and also not the conference opening&closing speaches with "circulareconomywelloffsocietyharmonizenvironmentsocialisticcycle" blablahblah
but meeting all my former chinese colleagues and a lot of old and new international friends & colleagues.
The evenings are getting long and longer...

mad eye moody

when i was in germany, i thought to check on my eyesight . and the result: with the right eye i could do diving, while with the left i could climb high mountain. nothing serious, just for long distance travel the eyes get exhausted. so for cheap glasses i waited for china, and tada! there they are:




no, just kidding, i got 2 nice pairs, thats just the korean opticians testing kit

Lost & found

I have been to Busia the last 3 days, getting the work started with my local expert Denis and with Emel, who decided to write her Thesis about that location.
we had a morning field visit to the poorest areas of the town, which are densely populated, people suffering from malaria, lack of water , non-existance of toilets, and lack of job opportunities, and besides much to many children.

and these people are not lazy, it is a hard work to survive poverty !!!!

anyway, on my pathway through the area i suddently noticed that i lost my car key! OU! shock! seconds of though, such as: "
- who got sparekeys?
- how does they get to busia?
- i have to get back to kampala to catch my flight!
- ARGH!
- can the car stand here during night?
- who can take care of it that no mirrors are lost the other day?
- what if a poor person finds the key and steal the car?"

the later whould have been the biggest problem of course, and that would mean my immedeatly firing from DED, cause we had a lot of car problems this year and the country directors patience is at the nerve.

But, as usual, we were surrounded by SmallDirtymalnoursished kids, and i asked them to look for the key, whith the finder getting a SODA (a big thing for slum kids!) and finally, after 20 minutes, this young boy in the picture found the key!!!!!! puh, what a relieve!
car safe & the kid was the KING of My DAY!!!!!!!

ina for china

tada! here it is: my chinese visa for my 2 weeks trip to china, attending the ecosan conference in Erdos/inner mongolia and maybe flying to sichuan, and then spending the remaining days in Beijing meeting my friends, indulge chinese food and beer and current exhibitions, and conclude my long long shopping list. sounds like fun, and YES! i am looking so much forward to, i miss the stress, and the smog and the cheap things , the people on the streets, the strange food, the good hangouts, and even the difficult communications with the spitting taxi drivers with the long fingernails.

honstly, i am really afraid that i want to stay, and not return to uganda.

but maybe to my suprise, i will miss the relaxed life and work in uganda....lets see! 'Kan yi Kan' or Hakuna matata

ngamba island

ngamba island, originally uploaded by inainchina.

planet .... island of the apes

Ngamba island is a special island: it is a chimpanzee sancuary.
a chimpanzees life in eastern africa isn't that easy: either you are hunted and sold as medical/pet animal, or you trap in a hunters net not determined for you intentionally, your wildlife is constantly shriking because of constantly growing human habitats, and last-&worst you are becoming BUSH MEAT. a delicacy not only for poor locals.
Ngamba island, the sancuary for around 40 chimpanzee orphans of various ages, was founded in 1998 to offer a natural and safe habitat for the lost&found chimpanzees. only 5% of the island is open for visitors who come to watch the feeding and learn more about wildlife, endangered species and our close mammal relatives.
so this saturday i decided to take the 45 min speedboat ride to the island, and it was really interesting to see how different the chimpanzees look and also behave. of course I have taken a lot of pictures....
did you know we share 98.7% of the genetic code with human ape, which is genetically closer than a chimpanzee to a gorilla.
for further reading i suggest Jared Diamond: the third chimpanzee

MEN SHOULD NOT KILL APE

germans

living abroad, one said "you become more german than in germany" that might be true, but it as much depend on yourself and your attitude. it is often more easier to talk in your mother tongue and share some values, experiences and TV shows you watched when you were younger, and it gives some security and home feeling.... and as i am now working in a german governmental organisation , of course the first people i meet are germans. But I definatley dont need a german "stammtisch" to meet up and i also do like the input from other nationalities.
But sticking with your cultural is the same with the japanese, the chinese, the italians, the french. it is like that living abroad.

so, besides all the "stammtisch"es , there is a german cultural institution in 140 counties which is bringing cultures together: The Goethe Institute . at least language wise, and by hosting films, talks, exhibitions and concerts etc.... here in Uganda, it sponsors the UGANDA GERMAN CULTURAL SOciety, where i was yesterday for the first time. it is managed by the wife of my colleague and my neighbour Roberta. yesterday they showed an ARTE documentary about the DOCUMENTA XII in Kassel, and it was so gooooood, to get some cultural input but screening the international artists, such as AI WeiWei from china and Oumou Sy from Senegal.
and it balance me culturally from the Simpsons Movie from the evening before.

shake- rattle - and roll

it shakes, and it rattles, but at least it rolls: the Rukki Zukki Suzuki.

a really small white "Rappelkiste" that is use while my monster Truck is in repair workshop. what a difference!

Mein Ruin

sorry, this is a german post!

heute was nettes beim surfen entdeckt, den dschungelbummel blog von Cosmic DJ, freund von Herrn Koze (ach...) und ein internationales Ponnie. dort fand ich eine sehr sehr lustige adaption des neuen Tocotronic titels "mein Ruin" vom album Kapitulation, (das ich uebrigens sehr gerne hoere momentan. denn ich brauche nen bischen deutsches kofplastiges geschrammel um mich herum...), das in einer festivallaune entstand, wie auch sonst, balse voll, dixie Klo besch..... Und da ich ja mit Urin viel zu tun habe, ist das natuerlich jetzt meine neue Hymne:

Mein Urin ist was mir bleibt
wenn alles andere sich zerstaeubt
mein Urin das ist zunaechst
etwas das gewachsen ist
wie eine welle die mich traegt
Und mich dann unter sich begraebt
Mein Urin.....

miserable monday

oh, i am so so angry. my car had an accident. yes, my car, not myself! i lend the monstertruck to my colleague from Arua- (he is actually driving the same model ) for him to do some shopping in Kampala, and he promised in return to to go purchase the washing machine i intended to buy anyway. But in the city round-a-bout before the shopping mall a MATATU crashed into the rear bar. grrr. the taxi got of course no insurance, but handed over 100,000UGShillig (50 euro) to my colleague.
now the car is at the repair Indian Singh and i still do not have a washing machine.......

MOLLY

now the ladies appartment is complete:
yesterday i picked up MOLLY from my colleague. She is a very friendly dog (lalalala) and is either sleeping or looking for "streicheleinheiten".
maybe she is toooo nice, cause intentionally she should guard the house and wake up Wonjiale during night.
She is not really fond of the Franzferdinand cat family, and they are not on Molly either, but hope it will work out.






and: molly, molly molly, is nomen-est omen like- a little molly, and has girlish like problems : "Hueftengold", or "love handles".
now she is on a sunday-diet :)
which i am unfairly not , but maybe should.....