rock'n'rollie

Great news: I can finally bike around Leimen downtown again because my old bike, Rudi, was broken and I got a new bike from my neighbour. Sir Hungry who already appeared in my previous post healed Rudi and is his new master. My new mode of transportation is a male bike, has a very feminine touch though. I needed a unisex name and from now on I will ask all of you to call him Les (from Leslie), when referring to my bike.

Now the actual story.

My bike has a new name and so do I. In addition to my well chosen other names you may also call me Rock'n'Rollie. Yesterday I had a couple of life threatening experiences. They involved a magical triangle, lots of squishing, music, a festival and me.

To begin on a lighter note I'd like to tell you the first sub-story called 'Humiliation'. Hanna, my friend, and me decided to go to the skater section of the festival to cheer a little say 'wow'. We got there and a competition seemed to begin because the mc kept calling out people to do their thing, and he counted down the seconds, motivated the skaters, etc. To Hanna and me this seemed very uncoordinated because we never saw the mc, the skaters were skating without any order and when a girl was skating the mc called out a boy's name. A random guy standing next to me kindly pointed out that we had been cheering for the people and that the competition was going on in the rampy area next to the one we were cheering for. Oh humiliation.

(Humiliation)

Moving on to the life threatening situations: The Bumble Bees, the Sugarplum Fairys and Beatsteaks were performing and Hanna, Dennis (another friend) and I were jumping and bumping and dancing peacefully. At this point I should mention that it was rock'n'roll music. Before the Beatsteaks started more and more people squished in a smaller and smaller space. We were pretty far in the front so people were squashing like mad. Us friends, we knew we had to do something about it. We formed the magical triangle. A triangle of strength, power and peace. We'd stand in a triangular shape and wouldn't let any intruder to intrude. When they tried to pass through we gave them a stern look and informed them that this was a triangle not to be intruded. This may not seem lifethreatening, but it truly was. Through the unity of our triangle we all survived.

(The Triangle)

By now the Beatsteaks were performing and everybody was again jumping, bumping and dancing. At some stage I realized that three random guys were standing around me and were counting to three. When I heard 'three' I was up in the air supposed to be doing the whole stage diving action without diving but with being carried to wherever. Aaaahhh!! I was super scared because our triangle had lost one of its links and gone was the magical power. No seriously, it was highly freaky. so i just started making myself really sloppy and wiggely so that people would drop me. The triangle saved me.

I survived all this thanks to the triangle and therefore my new name is Rock'n'Rollie (it was initially 'Rock'n'Roll Chick', but I felt it wasn't very appropriate).

stories of berlin

I spent these past couple of days in Potsdam, the beautiful city my brother lives in. It is located I believe about 40 km from the historical huge city of Berlin. The day we decided to go sightseeing in Berlin we were four people:

• my brother, who I will refer to as the Tour-guide
• an anonymous friend, who I will refert to as Sir Hungry
• Saba, who will stay Saba
• myself, who I will refer to as Nassim

This is based on a true story of hardship and suffering.

Once upon a time, not so very long ago on a Sunday, four young people decided to discover the big city of Berlin. They had all slept until the early hours of lunchtime except Sir Hungry. He woke up in the late afternoon and had not had a morning snack with the other youngsters. He was craving the dishes of a renowned restaurant with the name of Kentuky Fried Chicken. Due to free refills that this restaurant offers, Sir Hungry decided not to drink anthing either.

A brief consultation on the train where three votes needed to be made was held on the train. The first question was raised: Who would really want to go to KFC? One person raised their hand, whose name will stay unspoken. Who doesn't need to go to KFC? Three youngsters raised their hands and were the majority. Who knows that we are all going to KFC anyway? All four youngsters were united in their decision.

(Precious moments of consultation)

The Tour-guide decided to take Sir Hungry, Saba and Nassim to an area of Berlin that is known for the quirky cafés, since he believed that Nassim would share great enjoyment with him. Energized they left the means of public transportation to find the renowned restaurant in that area of Berlin by foot.

Seconds went by, minutes went by, half hours went by, and the youngsters were still walking an endless distance with no Kentucky Fried Chicken in sight. Their stomachs started growling, their lips started drying, their spirits started fading. Soon, no one was able to talk anymore, the only sounds that escaped their mouths were sounds of frustration and hunger.

(moments of hunger and frustration for all characters involved in this story)

The tour-guide had another appointment he had to go to, and the three others did not want him to go on an empty stomach. So shortly before reaching the goal, the restaurant, The four hungry youngsters caught a tram back to their initial starting point where they had seen a KFC earlier on. The tour-guide jumped on the next train to get to his appointment, only having eaten a German Bratwurst.

The other three made their way to the Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant, and finally, finally were able to order their food. But there came the great disappointment. Of all the KFCs in the big city of Berlin, this was the KFC that did not offer free refills.

Bon Appetit.

an official girl's night

I would like to begin this blog entry with a little riddle. Which musical are we representing in this photograph? Think hard.

And now my friends I will tell you about toenail painting, about chick-flick watching, about talking about boys, about giggles and laughter, about our GIRL's night, oodelally. I have to admit that we did not manage to fulfill any of the above mentioned stereotypical things we are supposed to do at a girl's night. Oh what a shame. No one responded to my kind offer of painting toenails. However, our spirits were high and happy.

(This is us girls: Christiane, my next door neighbour; Carmen, Sarah and Saba who I study with, and Iris, who I went to primary school with)

As some of you may know, Nassim lives by herself now. For some strange reason she does not have a bathroom door yet. So whenever someone needed the bathroom, everyone else had to go on the balcony. Yes, this is my current bathroom dilemma.

Just before my lovely girl-guests were leaving I kindly asked them to sign my guestbook. They responded postitively and lovingly and wholeheartedly left their comments in my little book. I encourage all of you to have a guestbook. Oh, I need to name my flat. Any suggestions?

oh a day like today

Friends, I need your full attention. Thank you. Nassim Aiff finally has internet at home! Oh it feels great and I needed to share.

AT LAST...

Since I have not shared any of my very special life experiences lately, I will do so now.

Let me begin with the news that a couple of weeks ago the barbequeing season has started here in Germany because of an unknown spectacular reason it was summery hot in April. I had to document my first grilling session. Notice all the Bratwurst? We were two people and managed to eat all. Vegetarianism will continue once again in winter.


I will now shortly tell you about the German youth conference, which was pretty funky I must say, except that I have never felt older in my life. It all began with my arrival. There were people I used to babysit! Mamma mia, can you belive it? Then I was continuously asked by the younger crowd whether I was a supervisor and would send them to bed?! And lastly, I kept getting tired really early and went to bed while all the youth was still hanging out in the social areas. I'm only twenty-three. Is it normal to feel this old at that age I wonder.
(The PH Gang (Oldies): Saba, Nassim, Andi, Nikolai)

Now some sad news. Rudi, my bike, is locked up and the key was thrown away. This means he is trapped and I will have to break the lock somehow to be able to take Rudi for a ride again. And now come the even sadder news: Sweaty Betty is suffering an illness. Her USB ports don't seem to function, so she will have to stay in hospital for two weeks. Let us all hope that she'll get better soon.

(No photo available of Sweaty Betty in her hospital room. She doesn't want you to see her like this)

I need to cheer you up again so here are some great news: I discovered a new talent of mine. I am exquisitely good at imitating Hugh Grant in his one-hit-wonder "POP goes my heart". The pictures will serve as evidence. My co-dancer/singer is Maryam and we have proven to be a spectacular team.


Friends, it is now time to say goodnight and I will share more with you shortly. Oodelally and Hakuna Matata.

APOLOGIES

Dear Friends,

Herewith I'd like to convey my deep and sincere apologies for not having written in forever and ever. However, here I am, back again in the blogging world, promising once again that I will not neglect my duty of continously posting highly interesting happenings, facts and ideas.


Kind regards,
Nassim Aiff.

oh valentine

I know I'm a day late with my post. Anyway, happy Valentine's Day to all of you. We are continuing to spread the love. Since I am the co-founder of singlesforeverdotcom I probably shouldn't be celebrating this day, but don't you just love fancy-dress events? If you don't know me yet, here's another important detail about me: I love dressing up.

So for Valentine's Day we had to dress fromally with something red. That's me and my food. By the way, we cooked so much, and it was all yummy (roast vegetables and potatoes, couscous salad, haveej polo (persian carrot rice)) and homemade pesto)

(Anisa,Amy,Nassim,Linda)

Another detail about Nassim: I tend to change the topic without noticing.

Speaking of dressing up, I feel I should share a couple of other dress-up events with you. My love for dressing up all began in the year 2005 I believe when I was invited to a bad taste party. I'm a bit too embarassed about my outfit, so I will only share my frizz hairstyle with you.

When I moved to Manchester you may have heard that I visited Nottingham. Nottingham, the hometown of Robin Hood. Therefore I felt it was important to really feel how Robin Hood must have felt so I dressed up like him.

Just recently I have discovered my love for Captain Hook because I'm doing a seminar on children's literature and I had to read Peter Pan. I don't have the Captain Hook costume yet, but the facial expression and the hook are there already.

the un-straight tower of chesterfield

Neat Nassim was a little sick for the past two days, but this trip to Chesterfield was planned ages ago because truly-cool Tina (you'll see her on the pictures) invited us to come. So after having millions of squeezed lemons with honey and a very sleepless night I found myself seated on a train with awesome Anisa, lucky Linda and manly Martin.

So truly-cool Tina picked us up and took us to the crooked tower of Chesterfield. You can see it in this picture, and also all of us being a little crooked. I almost felt like I was in Pisa even though it was snowy.

(un-straight tower, neat nassim, truly-cool tina, awesome anisa, manly martin and lucky linda)

Ok, now after this experience we drove to... the estate that the new 'Pride and Prejudice' was filmed in and it was so dreamy. Woi woi, i had to let all my romantic ideas break free, and if you know me a little, you'd know that neat Nassim is really not romantic. Anyway, the big building in the background is the estate. Then we went closer.

(that building, lucky linda, truly-cool tina, neat nassim, awesome anisa)

We got to the stables and spotted a couple of horses. No. Actually back in the day these buildings were stables and now they are a restaurant. I'll soon post a video of the horses we spotted (strangely they looked very similar to lucky Linda, awesome Anisa and neat Nassim).

Then we went to this place called Merdock I believe? I'm not quite sure. Anyway, this place was tiny but had about ten candy shops. And neat Nassim loves candy and sweets and sugar and any other equivalent.

(lucky linda, neat nassim and candy)

Then we had dinner at truly-cool Tina's parent's place. Thank you so much truly-cool Tina. I had persian food again. It felt like home. I miss home. I want to go home soon I think.

Note to the reader:

The name 'neat Nassim' has derived from this habit Nassim persues. She realized that she is highly neat, sometimes a little too neat. She likes writing to-do lists for herself and others (especially others), and as soon as there's a spelling mistake, something crossed out, or her handwriting changes, she has to start writing the whole to-do list again. The problem is, that this does not only apply to to-do lists, but also shopping lists, notes, etc. anything you can imagine. AAAH!