September 27, 2010 by SUM.

Today I thought about something my mother had told me many years ago. The matter is in regards to the inn “Roter Hahn”, which is located in Arenberg and where she had worked for a long time. The inn “Roter Hahn” of Arenberg has a long history http://www.arenberg-info.de/htm/C-weber.htm, and during the time Mrs. Hoos was the owner of the hotel (inn) my mother worked for her.

I am writing about something that I did not experience directly. This is hearsay. But Arenberg is my hometown, and since I have also worked on weekends and during school vacation at the “Roter Hahn”, I would like to know what has really happened.

My mother told me that, after Mrs. Hoos couldn’t take care of the hotel anymore, the hotel was sold to Italians, I believe, and thereafter the hotel was sold again. After these transactions had taken place one of the statues of a “Roter Hahn” disappeared and even all the guest books, which had been part of the hotel (inn). As a result now no trace exists of the guests who have ever visited this place and had left some kind of memory in those guest books in the 50’s, 60’s and so on. I found this very strange. Why would someone want to remove guest books from a hotel (inn) in Arenberg. I think my mother found this strange too, otherwise she would not have mentioned this to me. Now, I am asking, why would someone want guest books from a hotel in Arenberg? Who had visited this place? What was written in them? What has happened to these guest books? Who has these guest books now?

If anyone reads this post and likes to investigate this matter, please do so, and please let me know what happened to those guest books. I certainly don’t have the time and resources to find out anything about this matter, but maybe someone else can.

Posted in Ancestors, General | 1 Comment »

September 10, 2010 by SUM.

Today, I read in the Los Angeles Times that tattoos are a free speech issue for some people so that the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals had to adjudicate on tattoos. For me they always were an individual expression of free speech, and I myself have some tattoos since my student times.

When I studied I met a guy who studied dental medicine in Giessen. He was a few years older than I am and was born and raised in East Germany. In the early seventies he tried to escape from East Germany like many other people did, but he was caught and held in prison as a political prisoner for some time until the West German government paid a ransom for an exchange. This exchange happened quite often during the separation time of East and West Germany. After the West German government paid for the political prisoners the prisoners were able to emigrate to West Germany.

Michael told me while he was in prison tattooing became his pastime. I liked his tattoo that had a very strong symbolic meaning and after a while I felt like I wanted some tattoos with a special symbolic meaning to me, too. And so Michael tried his art of tattooing on me, too. The symbols on my skin bear a certain universal, symbolic meaning, and up to this day, I have always felt comfortable while wearing this kind of free speech.

Posted in Symbolism, General | No Comments »

September 1, 2010 by SUM.

I love music, but I never learned to play a musical instrument until I decided last year in December that I wanted to play the drum. After seeing the movie The Visitor (2007) I felt that it would be fun to play the Djembé drum, just like the widowed professor Walter Vale (Richard Jenkins) expressed in the movie that it is not only fun to play the drum, but an expression of our zest for life.

At first I started taking some private drum lessons with a teacher at the Seattle Drum School Georgetown. For a couple months now I participate in Meetup group sessions SunshineGrove, which meet regularly on Tuesdays. The group sessions that I have attended so far have been very enjoyable, and the teacher and venue location are very good too.

If you live in this area and enjoy the world of percussion and even would like to take up drumming lessons in a diverse educational environment check out this group.

Posted in Music, Wellness, General | 1 Comment »