As you may know, I am also a German teacher and as such I welcome people from all over the world in my classroom. It may well happen that every student comes from another country and we count around ten nations. Right now we combine six from three continents. Nigeria and Eritrea/Africa, Mongolia, Nepal and Syria/Asia, Switzerland/Europe (that is obviously me :-)). It is a privilege to learn from one another and form a space of trust, respect, and kindness. Read more
Category: Kindness
An eye on grapevines in July
In July, we are amazingly welcomed with a guard of honor (Spalier auf Deutsch) formed by the grapevines! Come on in, walk through it, softly let your hands touch these stunning plants and feel the joy.
Crafting change
In the beautiful and lush region around Fort Portal in Uganda over a 1000 women craft change by producing handmade high-quality baskets that are exported to England every three months.
Initiated and developed by Anne, the ladies develop their own natural colours, dye the raw material made of raffia, banana fiber and papyrus into a rainbow of colours, and handcraft the baskets. The products therefore come in stunning combinations and patterns.
Pink and turquoise
Blue and red
Yellow and blue
Greetings from Neuchâtel
You’ve got mail: A postcard from Neuchâtel!
A wonderful city in the french-speaking part of Switzerland where you can indulge yourself with the charm and savoir vivre of the citizens. Read more
Big generous hearts
“Good morning, Daniela, welcome back, we are so glad and happy you are back and teaching us again.” To this charming chorus of words and warm hugs I was greeted when returning to school on Tuesday after a two-week absence. To top it all off, one person surprised me with a big cup of my favourite coffee 🙏🏼. Read more
The little wonders that will make you hopeful
How are you doing right now?
When I look out the window, at Europe and the world my heart gets heavy and quite sad.
Treetops, meadows and grass turn brown under a heat wave and an exceptionally dry year so far. Birds stop singing, fish die in rivers, insects are less abound. Wildfires rage in the Arctic circle, temperatures rise over 30 degrees Celsius in the same region, and some crops fail or are at least much lower than they are supposed to be. This is just to mention a few things that look terribly wrong for me.
What has already become regular in developing countries as they especially suffer from and feel climate change, the latter more and more hits and arrives in the developed world. After all, it is that developed world which is responsible for climate change in the first place.
What’s more, Mother Nature and above all the ocean is choking on plastic and rubbish from ever faster consuming humans. I think beyond repair. Every year, 8 million tons of plastic end up in the ocean of our blue planet. “It’s equivalent to five grocery bags filled with plastic for every foot of coastline in the world.” writes Coastal Care. And this figure rises. Read more
89 years
Today in the locker room of the gym…
I meet this beautiful elderly woman. Both of us are getting ready to train our muscles. She sits there wearing her surgical stockings and a pair of black leggings after getting rid of her pair of beige jeans. She is looking for something in her bag and then starts a conversation with me. You know, when you get older not everything goes the way you want it to. I washed my clothes today and in the heat of the moment, I forgot to bring an extra shirt. Oh, I answer, no worries, that is the same at every age, I just forgot to bring my badge to get into the gym some weeks ago.
Now, she asks me, do you think I could exercise just in my leggings? I normally always also wear trunks, but they are so hot, she says while showing them to me. Of course, I reply, of course you can go just the way you are dressed now! Actually, almost everybody “just” wears leggings in the gym. But at my age? She wonders. Of course, why not! I reassure her. Read more
