I very proudly present

pictures taken with my Canon EOS 300. I collected 6 films so far and wanted to wait for development till I'm back in Germany. But 3 days ago I looked at the film boxes and got very excited about the undeveloped pictures. I wanted to see them so badly that I decided to get them developed. So I finished work early on Wednesday and went to Duane Reade at Port Authority. The girl working there was very happy to get six films at once. After I picked them up today, I could understand why she was so happy. Two reasons: I payed $91.06 for developing, index print, one printed picture and a photo CD for the 6 films. (Well, I know I wrote some weeks ago that I want to scan them by myself, but after I saw the pictures I was glad that I invested the $2.99 per film) 90 bucks are nearly one fifth of a new Digital Singe Lens Reflex (DSLR) at Circuit City (going out of business these days so they offer about 30% discount (excluding discount caused by a strong Euro)) But as always in the last month, the problem is having the money at one time. Taking a credit is not worth it for now, not if you already got a big credit line from some friends for being able to go to NYC...
The second reason, especially why she was so friendly today while picking up the pictures was maybe that she was very excited about some pictures. It's not like in Germany where they ship the films to a big laboratory. Here they have their machines right in the shop, so you can pic them up an hour or a day later. I thought about to offer her some pictures but i didn't. Maybe cause I was shocked by the price ;)
After picking up the pictures I went to McDonalds on Times Square and had the Medium Angus Beacon & Cheese Meal with Coke. I finished it in 5 minutes. On the one hand cause I was very hungry because I didn't had much to eat during the day and on the other hand because I wanted to get the one hundred bucks full. No, not really. Maybe I was upset with the noodles I already had the last 2 days and were waiting in the fridge again today...
I uploaded some pictures I took on Christmas, while walking downtwon along the East River,just walking through town and from Jersey City looking to Manhattan. Please feel free to leave some comments under the pictures. You don't have to register, German is allowed of course and critics are always highly appreciated. Just maximize the pictures by clicking the box ot comment by clicking the small speech balloon in the lower left corner:-)
Anyway, there aren't that many pictures I'm ashamed of like on the films from last year. But especially with my new focal length lens I need some more practice because it's not that easy to deal with the bigger aperture (Blendenoeffnung). Nevertheless I'm very happy about the quality of some pictures. I can't describe the feeling having pictures of 6 films in your hand and beeing so highly excited before fetching out the next pic :D
And now please enjoy it some of the pics:

Chinese New Year

Heute gab es die offizielle Chinese New Years Parade zur Begruessung des neuen Jahres nach dem gregorianischen Kalenders, das Jahr des Erd-Rindes. Das letzte war btw. das Jahr der Ratte.
Traditionell wird das ganze mit einer Parade, unter anderem in Chinatown, befeiert.
Das Wetter war super. Sonne, strahlend blauer Himmel und angenehme Temperaturen (ichs chaetze mal um die 10°C. So verwundert es auch nicht dass ich 6 Batterien verbraucht, ueber 220 (scharfe) digitale und ca. 50 analoge Bilder gemacht habe. Nicht nur von der Parade sondern auch von Chinatown im Allgemeinen und von Brooklyn, der Brooklyn Bridge und Manhattan beim anschliessenden Gang ueber die Manhattan Bridge.
Ausgwaehlte Eindruecke von der Parade habe gibt es hier als Video zu beschauen:


Das ganze war eine einzige Werbeshow von Versicherungen, Banken, Restaurants und Kuenstlergruppen. Das ganze durchsetzt mit Kampfkunstvorfuehrungen, der Miss New Year oder so aehnlich ;) ) und Drachentaenzen.
Ich habe gerade ein neues feature von Picasa entdeckt: Eine Slideshow der Bilder direkt in den blog eingebettet. Plz give a short hint wenn's nicht funzt.

Einige Bilder habe ich rausgenommen und in ein gesondertes Album gepackt. Zu sehen sind haengende Huehner und lebende Froesche. Letztere in einem muelleimeraehnlichen Behaeltnis. Ich habe hautnah miterlebt wie eine chinesische Familie kam und sich drei Froesche ausgesucht hat. Der Verkaeufer hat in den Eimer reingegriffen, nen zappelnden, handgrossen Frosch gegriffen und das zappelnde Vieh in eine Fruehstueckstuete gesteckt. Bis zu diesem Moment hatte ich tierischen Knast, denn bis Mittag gab es nur nen kleinen Joghurt, nen O-Saft und einen extrastarken Kaffee. Nach der Frosch-Aktion bin ich aber in keinen Laden mehr rein der angebratenes Fleisch angeboten hat. (Ein Video vom Strassen-Fischladen gibt es fuer starke Nerven hier zu sehen. Die Fische haben vor und nach dem Filmen gezappelt, waehrend dessen leider nicht *hmpf*) Irgendwie war mir danach nur noch schlecht. Das hat sich erst nach einem weiteren Coffee-2-go und einem Ananas-Broetchen gegeben. Das gab es waehrend der Manhattan-Bridge-Begehung:

Die Aussicht von da war einach atemberaubend. Die Sonne ging direkt hinter der Brooklyn Bridge und dem Financial District unter. Besonders fanszinierend fand ich, dass man auf viele Hausdaecher schauen konnte. Unter anderem gab es da Spielplaetze und einen Tennisplatz zu entdecken. Platzmangel macht halt erfinderisch - auch wenn Spielplaetze in New York prinzipiell aus Plaste und zubetoniert sind.
Waehrend ich die Aussicht genossen habe und staendig zwischen meiner Canon EOS 300 und der kleinen Kodak EasyShare C613 (Nochmal viielen lieben Dank an Andrea dass sie mir das Geraet ausgeliehen hat :-* ) hin und her gewechselt habe, bin ich ins Gruebeln gekommen ob es denn wirklich richtig war den Aufenthalt hier um nen Monat zu verkuerzen ("Wie jetze?" fragt ein Teil sich wohl gerade. "Verkuerzen will er??" Ne, nicht wollen tut er, sondern werden wird er. Warum, wieso, weshalb gibt es innem extra Update in den naechsten Tagen). Nunja, ich war jedenfalls ziemlich ueberwaeltigt von der Aussicht - ich hoffe die ausgewaehlten Bilder bringen das ansatzweise rueber. Die Canon-Bilder muessen leider erst noch entwickelt werden - ich bin echt mal gespannt wie die geworden sind. Als ich gestern auf dem Weg anch Brooklyn eine Stunde mit der U-Bahn gefahren bin, hab ich ein Buch ueber die Kamera foermlich verschlungen und heute viele neue Einstellungen ausprobiert. Ich bin hin und weg muss ich sagen. Das Buchkapitel ueber Blendenzahl und Tiefenschaerfe habe ich heute gleich in der Praxis getestet und bin schon allein von dem Sucherbild in der Spiegelreflexkamera ueberwaeltigt. Ich hoffe die entwickelten Bilder sind genauso ausdrucksstark. Ich habe mir ueberlegt ein digitales Fotobuch zu erstellen - nachdem ich wieder in Dtld bin, nen Rechner habe und ne Vorrichtung um die Negative einzuscannen. Das ganze koennte also eine Weile dauern. Vielleicht fange ich doch mit einem Fotoalbum an *gg* Ein Vorteil der Analogkamera ist in meinen Augen allerdings, dass man (insbes. ich ^^) sich mehr Gedanken ueber das Motiv und die zu verwendenden Einstellungen macht und nicht einfach drei mal drauf los knippst und die beiden schlechtesten dann loescht...
Auf der Rueckfahrt habe ich wieder versucht durch cleveres U-Bahn-Hopping die Fahrtzeit zu verkuerzen. Das ist am Wochenende, wo es auf jeder Linie mindestens eine Fahrplanaenderung gibt (local statt express, Auslassen von Baltestellen, Bus statt U-Bahn etc.) gar nicht so einfach. Macht aber tierisch Spass und verhindert das all zu lange Doesen in ein und der selben Bahn. Das Super Bowl Spiel habe ich mir dann auch zu Hause per Online-Stream angeschaut an statt in eine Bar zu gehen - ich war einfach zu fertig von dem Tag.

My week

will finish with chicken wings, spicy BBQ-sauce and soda for free *mjam*

And allt hat just because on sunday there's the Super Bowl in Tampa, Florida. Actually I'm thinking about going out to a bar on sunday evening to have some beer and real american football flair. The bars will be crowded but maybe I get a chance in :)
And hopefully I have such a beautiful skyline on my way home like the last days:

How is it going?

Bei meiner taeglichen Lektuere der world-news bin ich auf einen Artikel der New York Times gestossen: Link Dort geht es darum, wie und wann sich Neu-New-Yorker mit der Stadt identifizieren, oder auch nicht.
Ich kann nicht genau sagen wann ich "meinen Moment" hatte. Ich glaube ich hatte mehrere kleine ;)
Frei nach Scrubs:
Dr.Cox (zu J.D.): "Ich liebe diesen Moment so sehr, dass ich mit ihm schlafen will!"
[5 Minuten später]
Dr.Cox (zu J.D.): "Dieser Moment gefällt mir sowas von gut, dass ich den von vorhin mit ihm betrügen würde, um ihn zu heiraten und viele kleine Momente mit ihm zu bekommen."
Nach dem Lesen des Artikels ist mir bewusst geworden: Ich denke schon seit einiger Zeit nicht mehr ueber gewisse Dinge nach weil sie fuer mich sehr schnell zur Selbstverstaendlichkeit geworden sind. Der Blick nach hinten, wenn man durch eine Tuer geht um sie evtl. dem Nachfolger aufzuhalten, das "Excuse me, please" wenn man sich an jemandem in einem Laden vorbeidraengelt oder auf den Fuss tritt, der Sprung von einer U-Bahn zur naechsten, mit dem Ziel, eine Minute eher am Ziel zu sein, die stoische Ruhe wenn 3 Minuten lang keine U-Bahn kommt (da man es eh nicht aendern kann und der Anschlusszug auch mindestens alle 10 Minuten faehrt). Hinzu kommt, dass ich einfach in einen nett aussehenden Laden gehe um was zu Essen zu kaufen und nicht mehr Ewigkeiten die Avenue hochtigere, in der Hoffnung, noch einen besseren/guenstigeren Laden zu finden als den soeben gesehenen (denn es wird definitiv einen geben innerhalb der naechsten 2 blocks^^).
Ich bin traurig, wenn der Schifferklavierspieler morgens nicht seine melancholisch schoenen Melodien in der Unterfuehrung zwischen 42nd Street und Port Authority spielt, ich rege mich nicht mehr ueber Langsamlatscher und Im-Weg-Rumsteher auf (meistens jedenfalls ;-) ), schaue nur noch zu einer Seite wenn es heisst bei Rot ueber die Strasse zu rushen (weil die meisten Strassen Einbahnstrassen sind - gekennzeichnet durch ein "One Way"-Schild und nur in eine Richtung parkende Autos) und sage schon automatisch "No, thank you" an Stelle von "Ne, danke" wenn man wieder ne Zeitung oder nen Flyer in die Hand gedrueckt bekommt. Manchmal greife ich aber dann doch zu - entweder aus Mitleid, aus Langeweile, aus Interesse am Flyer oder einfach nur weil die Person die selbigen verteilt interessant aussieht ;) Man hoert auf, anderen Leuten in der Metro auf den BlackBerry zu schauen (weil irgendwie interessiert's einen irgendwann dann doch nicht mehr *lol*). Statt dessen fange ich an mich fuer die Buecher zu interessieren, die die Leute so lesen, starre mich selber in der gegenueberliegenden Scheibe an (wenn die Bahn denn mal leer ist) oder beobachte Leute wie sie dasitzen und sich selber anstarren, vor sich hin traeumen, lachen, traurig sind oder schlafen.

Update
Watch some short videos about people living and working in New York and their story: http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/nyregion/1-in-8-million/index.html#

American Evening

This evening 3 interns and one career student went to McDonalds to have some lunch (Angus-Burger with Bacon & Cheese with french fries and Cola - delicious *mjam*) and afterwards to the cinema watching Notorious B.I.G. ("Bi Ei Dschi"). It's a biograpic film about the rapper Christopher George Latore Wallace (1972 - 1997).
We were at the AMC cinema at Times Square - they had about 25 show-rooms. One intern told me that it's famous for visitors being not that silent during some movies. And we really didn't become disappointed. About three of four people were afro-american guys. There was much talking from one end to the other during the whole film, especially if you saw some people kissing or making love. The synonym, the well known f-word, was used in nearly every second sentence. And it was not piep-ed out as you may know it from Southpark, for example. The movie rating was 13 years, btw. So they are afraid of showing nipples during some music-contest after the breaking news in the evening but let their children watch much harder movies in the cinema. Strange way of life ^^
Well, the funniest scene was when the mother of B.I.G. slapped her son (being 19 at this time I think) into the face und die gesammte versammelte schwarze Gemeinde lies unisono ein "Ooouuuhhhhh" verlauten. Ganz grosses Kino sag ich da nur *gg*
Stellenweise war der Film echt schwer zu verstehen, insbesondere bei den gerappten Texten hatte ich so meine Schwierigkeiten - aber die Reaktion des mitgroovenden Publikums lies den Inhalt erahnen :)
Schaut euch den Film unbedingt in Englisch an - auch wenn man nur die Haelfte versteht, die (Aus-)Sprache der Schauspieler und die Texte und Situationen kommen viel beser rueber als im Deutschen.
Was ich außerdem total faszinierend fand war, dass der Film zum Großteil in New York gedreht wurde und ich so gut wie alle Plaetze wieder erkannt habe. Vom Times Square, ueber die Plaetze von denen aus die Manhattan Skyline gefilmt wurde, ueber die Brooklyn Bridge, U-Bahn-Haltestellen, Fulton Avenue in Brooklyn oder Kreuzungen in Manhattan. Es ist ein ganz anderes Kinoerlebnis weil man die Stadt foermlich riechen kann waehrend man in seinem urstig bequemen, bis ueber den Kopf gehenden, Ledersessel luemmelt.
Am Ende wurde der Film doch etwas dolle schmalzig, da der Regisseur krampfhaft versucht hat dem zuschauer zu zeigen dass der Chris doch eigentlich ein ganz lieber war (vergessen all die Drogen, Kaempfe und Ehebrueche vom ersten Teil) . Aber das war vielleicht auch besser so ansonsten haetten die Leute noch das Kino zerlegt nach der Vorstellung :D Was in meinen Augen hingegen besonders gut rueber kam war, wie B.I.G. durch seinen Erfolg vielen Freunden, Bekannten oder Nachbarn Hoffnung gegeben hat dass man es auch ganz nach oben schaffen kann selbst wenn man als Kind nur der kleine dicke Junge mit der Hornbrille ist der von allen gemobbt wird ("No dream is too big").
Im Nachbarkino fing gerade Gran Torrino (allein schon wegen dem Filmplakat moechte ich den sehen) an als unser Film zu Ende war. Statt gleich rein zu gehen sind wir erst noch eien Etage tiefer gefahren um zu schauen was da noch so laeuft. Da fing natuerlich an dem Abend kein weiterer Film mehr an. Hoch zu unserem urspruenglichen Kinosaal kamen wir nicht mehr und die Säle 9-25 waren sowieso nicht erreichbar mit unserem Ticket. Also ging es nach Hause. Dolle weh getan hat es nicht da wir dank Firmenrabatt 1/3 guenstiger reingekommen sind *jippie* Aber beim naechsten Mal werden wir den ersten interessanten Film nehmen den wir kriegen koennen. Weil zwei Filme zum Preis 2/3 eines Films ist einfach noch unschlagbarer *hihi*

Eindeutig doppeldeutig?

Bei meiner Lektuere meiner ueber den Google news-Reader abonnierten Seiten bin ich auf folgendes Bild gestossen:
Quelle:www.mylalalaland.com
Die Anordnung der Madonna und des Playboys ist offensichtlich eine Konstruktion, entweder eine des Fotographen oder eine zufaellige die nach der Entstehung jemandem quasie vor die Linse gefallen ist.
Dieses Bild hat mich jedenfalls an den 30.12.2008 erinnert. An dem Tag bin ich mit meinen beiden Besuchern durch New York gestromert, auf der Suche nach schoenen Plaetzen fuer ein paar Poserbilder bei strahlendem Sonnenschein ;)
Auf unserem Weg durch Lower-Manhattan, Financial District sind wir an der Trinity Church vorbeigekommen:

Größere Kartenansicht
Wie man schoen erkennen kann endet die Wall Street direkt am Eingang der Kirche, nur mal am Rande ;)
In der Kirche ist mir dann am offiziellen Souvernirverkaufsstand folgendes Buch aufgefallen:
The Little Chapel That Stood
Ja, und dieses Bild ist definitiv kein Zufall, da hat sich auch keiner einen boesen Scherz erlaubt und es einfach mal so neben die Bibel zum Verkauf gestellt.
Wenn man nur das Bild vor Augen hat ist es schwer zu glauben dass ein Buch mit solch einem schadenfroh grinsenden Cover neben der Ausmalbibel fuer Kinder verkauft wird.
Nach dem Lesen des bebilderten Inhalts wird einem zwar klar dass es darum geht wie viel Glueck bzw "Schutz von oben" die Kirche am 11. September hatte und wie tapfer sie sich doch geschlagen hat in der ganzen Panik und dem Tumult. Den Beigeschmack einer gewissen Selbstverherrlichung werde ich trotzdem nicht los... comments please :)

Mal wieder unterwegs

jepp, ich hab's mal wieder getan. Das Bett verlassen um neue Stadtteile zu erkunden - immer noch ohne Stadtplan. So hab ich mir am Samstag ueberlegt mal nach Queens zu fahren. Also raus aus dem Bett und rein in die U-Bahn. Mit der 1 von der 86th zur 42nd. Eigentlich wollte ich ja schon zwei Haltestellen frueher raus, aber da standen mir zu viele Leute vor der Tuer und die Musik die gerade lief lud auch zum Verweilen ein ;) Die Auswirkungen die das auf meinen Reise"plan" hatte wurden mir erst so nach und nach bewusst. Weil von der 42nd ist es nur mit mehrmaligem Umsteigen moeglich zur Rockefeller-Station zu kommen um von da aus den F-Train anch Queens zu nehmen. Also hab ich mich spontan fuer den N-Train entschieden und bin bis zur 39 Ave in Queens gefahren. Was am Ende eine ganz gute Entscheidung war, da die Bahn oberirdisch ankam und somit einen schoenen Ausblick ermoeglicht hat. Mal wieder ein Punkt fuer mit ohne Stadtplan fahren :D
Dann ging es zu Fuss weiter, noerdlich am East-River entlang. Da sind dann auch die meisten der folgenden Fotos entstanden:

2009-01-24 Queens

Heute, am Sonntag ging es dann rueber nach Jersey City. Well, I've to say die Existenz der facebook-Gruppe: Every day when I wake up, I thank God that I'm not from New Jersey hat sich wieder als berechtigt herausgestellt ^^ Das Schoenste an Jersey City ist nämlich der Blick auf Manhattan (Eine Adaption der Ulmer Weisheit: "Das Schoenste an Neu-Ulm ist der Blick auf Ulm") *gg* Ok, ich muss sagen das Haus neben der Uhr gefaellt mir schon ziemlich gut - allerdings ist der Eindruck wenn man von Manhattan aus rueber schaut um einiges beeindruckender als wenn man direkt davor steht:

From 2008-11-23 Lower West Manhattan

Die gesammelten (ausgewaehlten) Eindruecke des heutigen Tages gibt es hier zu begutachten :)

2009-01-25 Jersey City and Lower Manhattan

Eigentlich wollte ich um 4pm zu einem Orgelkonzert gehen welches bestimmt stattgefunden hat, allerdings ohne mich, da ich West 10th Street war und nicht East 10th Street. Naja, so bin ich eine Runde durch Chelsea geschlendert - wer das mal bei google maps nachschlagen moechte sucht nach Bleecker Street, Christopher Street und 8th Ave - so in der Gegend war das ;)
Dabei bin ich, eigentlich auf der Suche nach einem gemuetlichen Café, im Chelsea Market gelandet. Chelsea Market ist eine urgemuetliche Hinterhof-Einkaufsmeile mit backsteinen Waenden,

From 2009-01-25 Jersey City and Lower Manhattan

unverkleideten Rohren an den Decken, vielen Sitzgelegenheiten

From 2009-01-25 Jersey City and Lower Manhattan

und Wasser

From 2009-01-25 Jersey City and Lower Manhattan

Dort gab es u. a. einen Designer Sample Sale. Hier wurden die ersten Stuecke von Designern verkauft die sie haben anfertigen lassen bevor es 8wenn denn ueberhaupt^^) in die Produktion geht. Da ich am Freitag Abend durch den Verzicht auf ein Konzert $30 (ohne Getraenke) gespart habe, habe ich mir spontan eine echt coole Jacke zugelegt (Nein, Foto ist noch nicht vorhanden :-P). $20 instead of $160 wenn man sie in der aktuellen Kollektion kaufen wuerde - das ist mal nen unschlagbarer Preis :D Vom Designer bzw der Company (Bureau) hab ich zwar noch nie was gehoert, ist aber auch egal, weil mir gefaellt das gute Stueck *gg* Am Bei-wieviel-Grad-darf-man-waschen-und-woraus-besteht-die-Jacke-Schild haben sie zwar gespart, aber darueber seh ich gerne hinweg ^^
Das Café in dem ich mich schliesslich auf eine leckere große heiße Schokolade niedergelassen habe war das Paradise Café

Größere Kartenansicht
Davon gibt es mindestens zwei in der Ecke. Die Leute dort sind ziemlich entspannt, die Bedienung sehr freundlich, das Ambiente sehr warm und die Preise ok (fuer den Preis fuer die große heiße Schokolade haett ich beim Starbucks gegenueber nichtmal nen kleinen Café bekommen ^^)
So, nu isses doch mehr geworden als geplant - sorry for that ;)
Ich werd dann mal noch nen chapter von meinem sehr interessanten und spannenden Buch "Pillars of the earth" lesen und dann is morgen auch schon wieder Montag *hmpf* Bzw die ersten von euch muessen in 1-2h schon wieder raus *mitfuehl*

Coney Island

After I spent 80% of the last saturday and sunday in my bed, watching Scrubs, The Legend of the Seeker,Battlestar Galactica 2003, reading my new book The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett and thinking about the upcoming year.
On monday I decided to go to Coney Island.

Größere Kartenansicht
I've never been there but I read a lot about it. It's the last borough of New York City being like it was built dozens of years ago including a big amusement park and the New York Aquarium.
Enjoy some pictures :)

2009-01-19 Coney Island

A man talked to me while I took some pictures and started to tell me something about how this places looked like 2 or 3 years ago. There are many Russians in this area, as you can ee on two of the pictures, too.

On Saturday I've been at the Hudson River.

Größere Kartenansicht
I was interested in how they will take the airplane out of the water. Unfortunately they were not able to make it in time. So I left the scene after waiting about an hour. It was really cold and so I decided to go home and watch it on youtube. But nevertheless I took some pictures.

2009-01-17 Airplane in Hudsonriver

Brief news

As a member of Bank of America you are allowed to visit some museums in the USA for free on every first weekend a year - some of them, like the American Museum of Natural History, the Metropolitan Museum of Arts and the Museum in the International Center of Photography are in New York. These I visited on saturday and sunday. I liked the Museum of Photography most. The pictures were very impressive and touching. Furthermore I liked it because I saw what you can do without using photoshop and such kind of tools. That motivated me ome more time to continue to take photos with my SLR EOS 300. But these you will just see if you meet me in person one day, because they are non-digital ;)
Following some impressions from the AMNH

2008-12-07 Museum of Natural History

In Please give attention to my spleen for Spongebob Squarepants *hihi*
Catching the scallop you can see in this video is one of his extrem hobbies ^^


On sunday evening I was to a concert of Nada Surf. There were two pre-bands. both I like very very much - although I listened to their music the first time. The bands were Bear Hands and Delta Spirit. The music was sooo awesome. The floor of the Webster Hall was made of wood which carries the sound, specifically the basses, really really good. Most of the time I was not able to swallow because the uvula (or Zaepfchen in german) in the throat went up and down all the time and made it really hart to swallow. my whole body felt like a big beat box all the time. It was amazing :) Well, how ever, today I have pain in my throat - maybe I'm getting a cold or it's because of the concert. Comments please :)
Matthew, the singer of Nada Surf gave a short privat concert with hbis guitar after the real one. He's a pretty nice guy. Really down-to-earth and very likeable.
Feel free to watch some pictures:

2008-12-07 Nada Surf in Webster Hall

The picture of the month is this one. I toke it in the Museum of American History. I like the intention of the first sentence.

I name it: One sentence - two meanings

Culture in Brooklyn

Yesterday I wanted to visit the Brooklyn Museum specifically the exhibition Gilbert & George. It was for free and started at 1:30pm. So I decided to leave at 12:30 to take the express train to brooklyn, I thought I should arrive at about 1:15pm. But the express train was a local train on this cold but sunny saturday. So I arrived at something past 1:30pm. Because I've never been in Brooklyn I decided to make a trip through the district. And i've to say that i loved it. It's such a beautiful area with so many different kind of people livin' there. It was really interesting to move along the Fulton Mall, listen to so many different musics like gospels, hip hop or mainstreamstuff. Everybody was target as 'Bro' or 'Ey man'. And it was really cheap there. I bought some doughnuts (2 for $1) filled with strawberrys. It was so awesome delicious I was motivated to went in the store again and buy more of this great food. But then I remembered my the empty wallet and decided to go ahead ;-)
I went into a small museum, called Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts. It was a very nice place with very friendly and open minded people. I connected to a to an artist, called Russell Frederick. I'm very sad that the homepage written on his business card does not work, but I want you to welcome him as a new reader of this blog ;-) [update 12/03/2008: it's working: kamoinge] I was very impressed of the exhibition. It telled the story of the movement "I AM A MAN", taking place in the 60's of the last century. It was among other things about the perception of the white man to the black man. well, it's hard to express it in English. The goal of this movement (connected with Martin Luther King) was to remind all people that black men are not only 'Bro's', gangster, hip hopper or well-equipped lovers but also philosophs, teachers, hard workers and fathers.
See the following description for further information:
The pictures were all very impressive and expressive. The best one was "iMAN Divine" by Rah Crawford: and the most impressive was "Freedom or Else" by Jarnett Shabazz:
This text was very interesting ,too. Maybe you want to take a deeper look at it.










If you want to go to Brooklyn the next weeks, take a look at this exhibition. It informs you in a very interesting way about the american history, with pictures, a movie and sounds.

In the evening my roommate arrived with some aother guys and we had noodles with peanut butter, apple-pie with ice-cream, chocolade-cake and american beer. We were so filled up after eating the whole evening - it was great :D Bedides eating we played an very exciting game called Clue(do). While playing the game I learned some new (important) words like rope (Strick zum Erhaengen) or wrench (Schraubstock). There's also a film named Clue, published in 1985, which I will watch during the next month i think :)
Tomorrow I will go to work again - after I had 4 free days in a row :) I slept about 40 hours, discovered a museum, went over the Brooklyn Bridge was very happy about some wishes for a happy first advent by my dad :), had some very sweet candies, american beer ..................... and started to read The Silmarillion written by J. R. R. Tolkien. It's so fascinating to read it - I need two more days off to finish it *gg* I'm so happy that I have some time to read, listen to music, walking around and thinking and dreaming about different stuff after the really tough last months - it's almost beyond words :-)
Have a great week and thanks for joining the blog - hope you enjoyed it.

Apple Pie Made My Day

First time I made it by myself. I tasted it in Ulm when I was invented to my american neighboors Meg and Patrick. Today i had a day off because of Day After Thanksgiving (and yesterday, too because of Thanksgiving (an update on this day is in progress)) So I decided to drive to Harlem to find the cheap grocery store. But I was not able to locate it, so I went back to 86th/Brdwy and checked out Gricedes. It was as cheap as I read in my new book "Broke-Ass Stuart's Guide to Living Cheaply in New York". And so I bought sugar, foul, apples, pie-paste, milk and some salad because I needed more cheap stuff for my sandwiches ;)
After arriving at home I found out, that there is no springform in the household. So I left the house again and went downtown to find a hardware-store. After I reached 72th street without any usefull store I toke the express-train north to walk the Broadway down from uptown. The moment I left the subway station I saw a big hardware-shop with a very friendly salesman. Five minutes later I had a re-usable pie-springform and some shoe-polish. Back at home I started my first american baker-experience:

I've to say that it was very very delicious to taste the filling. It was undescribable appetezingly. I made it with sugar, foul, cinnamon (Zimt) and thinly slided apples *mjam*
This was the situation before the 30 minutes in the gas oven:

And that's the result:

Well, I can't say how it tastes because I want to try it together with my roommate, who has birthday today but didn't showed up this day - not when I was at home, anyway. So I give her a last try tomorrow. If she's not there until I come back in the evening, I will eat it all alone - I'm really looking forward to it ;)

Earlier this day I went to the Museum of Modern Arts because every friday you can go in for free between 4pm and 8pm. But as I arrived at 5pm there was such a crowd in front of the entrance that I moved 180° right and went back to the city. The whole city was flooded by thousends of people with cameras, black-friday-shopping-bags, standing around on the sidewalks, the streets -just everywhere. It was horrible. So i decided to try two other locations which were mentioned in the book. One I will write about later, exactly when I used the thing I bought there, the second one was a small bookstore at 81th/Brdwy. It was filled over and over with used books. The room was as high as 2 floors and all walls were covered with books. Right at the entrance I saw J. R. R. Tolkin's book "The Return of the King". In the end I didn't bought, because I couldn't find the other two books from The Lord of the Rings. So I spent 8 bucks for The Hobbit and The Silmarillion. I think I should read a short description of the last mentioned book first because seems to be not that easy to read and understand it in english. But if I read everytime I'm pissed off of the people standing around in da hood I will get it *rofl*

Sunshine in NY

Today was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, the sky was blue- and the air was freakin' cold. But I had my earpads with me, so the wind could blow through my hair and although I was not cold. Ok,I was a bit cold, but it was ok because the skyline and the area of Lower west Manhattan between 42nd/12th Ave und World Financial Center was awesome. See link below for more impressions:

2008-11-23 Lower West Manhattan

I've to say that I don't like the pictures that much - they donÄt show exactly how the atmosphaere was. But I made some pictures with my Canon, too so one day you will see some really good ones - I promise :)
I saw the Statue of Liberty the first time in my life -ok, she was very far away but I saw her :-P And the telescope which wa sinstalled on one peer was for free - in contrast to the ones standing around in Germany ;-)
I was very angry about myself because I lost my tripod at home. Next time I will take it with me, even if I should think that I wouldn't need it....
I planned to go to a concert in Brooklyn this evening,but I canceled it because of non-existing money :-( So I had some music at home - in combination with a half chicken I bought very cheap in my favorite store on Broadway: Fairways.
I hope i read some comments from you guys ;-) Would make me very happy :-)

Cyaz

He's still alive

Last week was very interesting. I did some things I's done never before - in NY ^^
At first, I cleaned some clothings because I ran off of clean panties, socks and such stuff. So I started to look for a laundromat with self-service. I found one at 86th/Columbus Ave. I went there one evening after work and made the experience that it's possible to be an american unable to speak english. Well, my spoken one is not the best, too bus this of the guy in the laundromat was horrible - to put it buntly, the number of words he was able to pronounce in english was about four This four words were: What, do, you and mean. But I figured out that you have to pay in quarter-coins, specificly 16 quarters per machine - no credit-cards or bills accepted. Yeah, I left the store wishing him all the best for his future (even if he was not able to understand it ^^) and gave the stuff to the chinese laundromat in my street, West 85th :) 1pd, $6 that was worth it, because when I arrive from work at about 7:30PM most of the self-laundromats are closed.
On friday I signed in to the gym at MBUSA. It's awesome. You just need some shoes - all the other stuff you pay about $11 per 2 weeks. This includes T-Shirt, pants, socks, towels, shower, shower-gel, cream, and the use of the gym. I think the price is better then the one of germany's McFit :D So I started to burn the first 400cal in 40 minutes by ryding the bike. On monday I will get an introduction to all the sports equipment. It will be a very short week just till wednesday because on thursday there's Thanksgiving and on friday is the day after Thanksgiving *gg*
On wednesday eve we will discover some new bars in manhattan like we did last night. we found something like a Hartz-IV-bar on 42th/9th Avenue. One beer (0.4l) was $2,50 and hot Dogs were for free. It was a nice location with interesting people and good music, even if it was a bit to loud. After this we went into another club, called Zansibar. I decided to drink nothing because there a beer was about $7, a Gin-Tonic for example costs $10. And I had to spent about $60 to start to like the music. Today I was very happy that I saved the money, because on my way through Manhattan I discovered a new shop, called Filene's Basement.

They sold different clothes, stuff for the bathroom and for traveling (da fallen mir an dieser Stelle die Durchsagen in den nur noch selten fahrenden ICEs ein: Thänk yu for träwölling wis deutsche bahn *hihi*) with a discount of up to 70%. The last two weeks I was looking for something like a business-pant because I have just one with me in the USA and you are just allowed to wear jeans on the so called causal friday. So I bought a pant and a new shirt (compatible to the pant I thought, and my roommate agreed to my opinion after she looked into my bags after coming home - that made me a bit proud because sometimes I have some really small problems to match colors as some of you might remember ;-)).
Furthermore I bought some earlaps. That's pretty nice, because everytime I use one of my caps my hair looks really confused. But my hair is that plump that I just need something to warm my ears. I thought about buying a headset produced by Bose, but this is not possible during the next month because of not existing money :( So earlaps are a good alternative :-) They had a lot of nice caps there, too - but I was not able to decide which one I like most, so I bought none of them. Maybe I will take the guys visiting me on christmas and new year to this store to give me some advise (Hi there guys ;-) ). And for the first time i had some kebab from a guy selling it on the street - like on every corner in the town. It was very tasty - see the following foto:

On thursday I had the most funniest workday ever. I registered for a class called Introduction to Cognos. Cognos is a web-based controlling tool. The description sound interesting, I think that maybe one day I could use the stuff you learn thereand it was also sponsored by MBUSA and so I decided to take part on this event (more classes will follow the next weeks ;) ) We were three people. One from Washingto, he was the supervisor of some dealers in this area, one from a team working on a similar stuff like my team (the same day I arranged a meeting with him during the next 2 weeks to learn more about his work :) ) We had so much fun together on joking around, listening to crazy storys from the work with the dealers and company-members - it was just amazing. Besides we were working very hard so that I could take the bus at 4:15PM instead of the one at 5:30PM ;) - first time since I'm in the US btw :)
The ride is another one then the one at 5:30PM so that I was remembered by this advertisement that the recession already arrived in NY:

As response I would quote Funny van Dannen with Kleine geile Firmen:
To come to an end I want to present a new subway-video. I filmed it at 34th St - Herald Square Station. The woman you can see in the video (if you turn your head to the left - sorry, but I'm not able to rotate it because therefor I need a good computer) was singing some great songs - this one is Michael Jackson as you would discover by yourself of cause, too ;-)
She had some more great songs from other famous songwriters, too - but this is the only one i filmed. Have fun with it:

Music feat. New York

Because I can't get my ass up to write about the last week I present some stuff from right this day.
At first, I'm really pissed of that the american wireless is so slow. It doesn't depend on the WLAN because all networks I tried are that slow. It's really boring to watch videos or even to listen to some onlinemusic. So while the video is loading I have some time to write some lines. I found some music on the borought notebook. It's almost 3 to five years ago that I listened to Subway to Sally - Julia und die Räuber:
Nicht dass die Band nicht mehr tolle Lieder auf Lager hätte - aber Placebo ist hier auch auf dem Rechner, und da kann ich dann natürlich nicht widerstehen, zumal ich jetzt endlich mein 5.1-headset angeschlossen habe - mit Surround und ordentlichem Subwoofer flattert's da bis in die letzten Gehirnwinkel, WAHNSINN :))

But now back to the roots: New York :D
Today there's AC/DC playing at Madison's Square Garden. Well, once in the lifetime you shoud have visited a concert powered by AC/DC, I think. The performance is great, some other interns told us newbees. But after looking up the prices I had to think about it again. $70 one ticket, last row in the auditorium. That's not worth it I said to me. Well, and I think I was right. If the first salary not arrives till friday I would be out of money. I mean, totally out of money. No liquid credit line, no backups, nothing to sell (at any rate nothing that I own ^^). Out of money means, no food, no busticket to work, that means especially no money, that means - you know ;-)
Ok, so I klicked from page to page, arrived at lastfm.de and logged in to my profile. One possibility on this page is, to inform about concerts in the area you live. Well - one is Nada Surf this weekend - for $20. Nice band, nice price. So let's see if I can get some tickets :)
Ok, at this point I want to introduce some of the NYMs - the newyorkian musicians (Anm. d. Red. *gg* Achja - bitte laut mitsprechen: "newyorkian musicians" Zwecks Verbesserung der Aussprache und so, ihr wisst schon *hihi*) But more important than the spelling is the music they make. In nearly every subway station somebody sits and makes music - sometimes mehr schlecht als recht, but sometimes they are great performers - like in the following vid:

It's difficult to decide wether to spend some money or not. In most cases the wallet decides, but sometimes they make such a great performance that is doesn't matters. I will try to catch some more impressions. One girl told me (here name is Sina "Hallo Sina :-*") there's a man, running through NY in underpants and playing the guitar. I have to say that i never met him, but maybe somebody is so nice to post the video - I'm a bit to tired to start a search. Thank you so much :-*
Stay informed :)
Nachtrag: folgendes hab ich beim prae-zubettgehen-im-netz-stöbern noch gefunden :-))