sábado, 24 de septiembre de 2011
Broken week
This week was the broken week, my glasses are broken, my old external hard disk drive is broken, my computer is leaving the city because of some dead pixels, I broke one of my Ikea glasses (well, that was last week, to tell the truth), the fortran code never worked (therefore it is kind of broken (?) ) and my back hurts.
Prinzregentenplatz
Thursday I have been in Prinzregentenplatz, in Haidhausen, as a matter of fact there is nothing special there apart from a Mediamarkt (I needed a external hard disk drive to backup my data, because my computer is going on vacation) and a couple of museums I have not visited so far, but I found this cool Mondrian's like Vespa! the coolest thing ever! Finally I paid 33 euros for the HDD.
lunes, 19 de septiembre de 2011
Trachtenumzug
The 1st Sunday in oktoberfest is the traditional Trachtenumzug, or Costume Parade, where groups all around Bavaria march dressed with traditional clothes and playing traditional music, from Maximilianstraße to Theresienwiese. It was very nice but the rain kept away the people, therefore it was not that full. I stayed a little in Odeonsplatz and then I followed the caravan until Theresienwiese, once there the rain was even worse, with wind and all, but I managed to see it until the end.
This was a group of something like hunters, they had dogs an a guy had a real Hawk! or a Falcon? I don't know, I couldn't take a decent picture of it.
This is my favorite costume, it is from Schwarzwald or Black Forest(so not in Bavaria but in Baden-Wurttemberg)
This picture is from the day before, I think it was a rehearsal, the little boy looks so cool with the bear!
This was a group of something like hunters, they had dogs an a guy had a real Hawk! or a Falcon? I don't know, I couldn't take a decent picture of it.
This is my favorite costume, it is from Schwarzwald or Black Forest(so not in Bavaria but in Baden-Wurttemberg)
This picture is from the day before, I think it was a rehearsal, the little boy looks so cool with the bear!
sábado, 17 de septiembre de 2011
Mariahilfplatz
Mariahilfplatz is one of my favorite places in Munich, for two reasons, first, because the immigration office is here, therefore I have the opportunity to speak in German using long and sophisticated words like Aufenthaltsgenehmigung. The second reason is that three times a year a very cool market with used and new stuff is placed here, next comes in October, I can not wait!
lunes, 12 de septiembre de 2011
domingo, 11 de septiembre de 2011
September 11th
As my language partner said, Wahnsinn, wie schnell die Zeit vergeht...
This September 11th far away from Chile was peaceful and boring, as usual I sent an e-mail to L. who has the bad luck of being born on this date (and of course it is impossible to forget his birthday, the same as J., born the same day as me; W. one day after Christmas; J., one day after my mother; F. and D. the same day as my nephew and my nephew because he is my nephew and I start to think about his present 6 months before), I saluted randomly to the few people online, I cooked, I studied German, I washed my clothes and the night came, it was about 20:00, I was planning to go jogging but a summer storm appears ruining my plans. Hopefully the storm ended and at 22:00 and I could jog, I thought it might be really cold because of the rain but actually it was 20 degrees, I went outside and nobody was there, just one guy with his dog, the dog has a flashing light in his neck (here everyone has gadgets, I should have brought my camera) and then jogged 51 minutes, 11 km (those numbers are not important for the story, I just wanted to show off how fit I am) while thinking about my previous September 11th. This came to my mind because I was there seeing the storm going away, the corn plants, the wind and I realized in that moment it was so evident I was not in Chile: it was summer but there was a storm, there was no huge mountains cutting the horizon (actually the horizon is something new for me) and it was September 11th and I was outside jogging unconcerned.
This September 11th far away from Chile was peaceful and boring, as usual I sent an e-mail to L. who has the bad luck of being born on this date (and of course it is impossible to forget his birthday, the same as J., born the same day as me; W. one day after Christmas; J., one day after my mother; F. and D. the same day as my nephew and my nephew because he is my nephew and I start to think about his present 6 months before), I saluted randomly to the few people online, I cooked, I studied German, I washed my clothes and the night came, it was about 20:00, I was planning to go jogging but a summer storm appears ruining my plans. Hopefully the storm ended and at 22:00 and I could jog, I thought it might be really cold because of the rain but actually it was 20 degrees, I went outside and nobody was there, just one guy with his dog, the dog has a flashing light in his neck (here everyone has gadgets, I should have brought my camera) and then jogged 51 minutes, 11 km (those numbers are not important for the story, I just wanted to show off how fit I am) while thinking about my previous September 11th. This came to my mind because I was there seeing the storm going away, the corn plants, the wind and I realized in that moment it was so evident I was not in Chile: it was summer but there was a storm, there was no huge mountains cutting the horizon (actually the horizon is something new for me) and it was September 11th and I was outside jogging unconcerned.
And I started to remember September 11th, 2010, it was also quite peaceful but I had more concern, as usual I sent an e-mail to L. saying Happy Birthday (or maybe I called him), he invited me to a BBQ in his house but I prefered not to go because I wouldn't have any transportation back, finally I met A. and together we went to M.J. birthday in her bf's house (called N.) in South S., which even though it was farther from my house than L.'s BBQ at least from there I could take a taxi at a reasonable price until D.'s house which was in a peaceful neighborhood so no worries about September 11th, sleep there and at the next day eat that wonderful nuns-made orange peel marmalade she always had and that was the main reason I visited her so often (I hope she will never read this). I had never been there before, neither A., so we got lost and arrived quite late, I didn't know anyone in the party apart from M.J. and N. and I remember he had the same ringtone than Solid Snake, since that day I love that guy even more, the previous reason is he plays the trumpet. Finally we left and the taxi price was not as reasonable as I thought but the marmalade was as good as always.
September 11th, 2009 I also remember it, because it was the first September 11th living alone in city center, away from North-West S. I was alone in my flat, I think I had just broken up with the current girlfriend, not sure the exact date but I am pretty sure it was middle September because I went to her birthday at the beginning of September and we were together, and In October I was dating someone else, and I remember in October I was dating something else because I started dating D.(another D.!) one day before I met M.J. (the same M.J.!), I remember the exact date, the previous day we went with M.J. to a concert (Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, Fabulosos as usual!), it took us 2 hours to leave the f... place because it was huge, there was a lot of people and we had to walk until city center to find some food because the people from concert were eating everything they found on their way so all restaurants were full, and I remember she stayed in my house and that day was the day the summer timezone starts (Actually I remembered I went along with her to the subway station and I said "amazing, it is 20:00 and there is still daylight"), that is at the beginning of October and I am pretty sure that day I started to date D. But that is not the original story. Coming back to September 11th didn't really know how it would be in City Center, probably neither riots nor barricades but they would cut the light. Finally nothing happened, not even noise in the streets, it was like 22:00 and my friends from North-West S. suddenly got offline, probably they had their electricity cut, I had electricity all night. I went to bed early because I was working.
September 11th, 2008 and 2007 I don't remember the details but they should have been very similar, I was living in North-West S. and I was working, when the riots started I went for a walk to take a look, I saw the barricades, the people carrying wood from their houses, some tires in the middle of S.G., the main street near my house, but I preferred to come back early, I was a serious guy working as an engineer in a decent company, I didn't want to be arrested or hit by a stone or a tear gas can.
September 11th, 2006 I remember a little, I was living in North-West S. and I was doing my thesis, therefore I had a lot of free time and I didn't care about anything, not even tear gas or barricades, added to some journalistic spirit that I don't really know where it came from (I had a girfriend who was a journalist but I think that was not the reason). I went outside like at 19:00 and crossed S.G., that street divides my Barrio from the next one which is the one where everything happens. I walked by R. and the people was standing outside their houses, like waiting, I continued walking until M. with R., I crossed and in a street there were candles in the floor, forming a large row, commemorating the people killed by the dictatorship, most probably in that very street, and placed by relatives of those people. I went back to my house to come back later and meanwhile (I didn't see it but I can imagine it) those people left, the candles faded, hundred of hooded teenagers appeared and, seriously, I don't have idea how it starts exactly but they are burning tires and barricades made from wood everywhere and the anti-riot police appeared throwing an amazing amount of tear gas, the guys cut the electricity throwing chains into the wires (we have wires and poles, like Japan), I came back and everything was very dark and super scary, the rioters were in the east side of M. and the police in the west side, past H., because there is a police station there; the police advanced slowly throwing tear gas with hand guns in M. and the rioters threw stones to the police cars, the rioters were dispersed but they gather again, and then the same; along the night more rioters joined and the battle moved to a group of soccer fields parallel to M., there it is more spacious and it is harder to the police cars to enter, the rioters ran towards H., I followed them, we reach H. and there was a anti-riot car (I don't have any idea of the name in English, we called them zorrillo), it was trying to turn, moving slowly, the rioters took advantage of that and a rain of stones fell over it and a minute later a guy ran next to me and threw a cocktail Molotov in the car which burned in flames for some minutes and left; the rioters celebrated their short victory shouting out loud, but a huge group of polices ran after us (it is amazing how can they run with all that armor), we ran back while tear gas cans flew over my head, once all rioters were far enough they turned back and started to kick the tear gas cans into the water to extinguish them (I don't know why there were little ponds in the ground, it was spring...), in case there was no water nearby, they put a big tin over them, meanwhile from inside a house a guy threw stones to the rioters to "reload" them. And then there were too many police officers, they walked in the dark and when they were close enough they started to run to catch the rioters, I decided to come back to my house but that part was actually more dangerous, all streets were without light and you could not see the police, I started to walk and I heard someone running next to me so I ran towards the alleys thinking there would be less police officers, I reached a corner and in the next street, also little, there was a car which throw water (called guanaco) and it was throwing water inside a house, I had to wait until it left to continue, I stood next to a house whose inhabitants were outside. I was 3 streets away from my home and in S.G. there was a tear gas cloud that I was forced to cross to reach my house, because the other streets were full either of rioters or police officers. I crossed the tear gas cloud and I felt like my eyes were burning and they were to fall, if I touched them it would have been worse so I had to stand it until I reached my house. My clothes smelled like tear gas and I took them away outside the house. There was no light so I went to sleep.
Between 1996 and 2006 I remember very few, just random memories. Two or three September 11th's must have been similar to 2006 but I was not that brave (or better said, experienced in riots) therefore I didn't go that further. I remembered once I was playing Starcraft (it must have been between 2000 and 2004) and the light gone, also I remember I was going back home and the bus stopped far away from my house because it could not continue. The time I was about 10 years old also I don't remember that much, my mother didn't let me go out in that day so my memories are about watching TV until the light gone. When I was very very little we were in the dictatorship, therefore the riots were not only in September 11th, but I have no memories. My mother said the police threw tear gas even inside the houses and in those days some neighbors grouped and were in charge of extinguish the tear gas cans which fell inside a house, specially the houses with kids like mine.
Every new year September 11th is more peaceful than before, but that does not mean I will forget.
September 11th, 2009 I also remember it, because it was the first September 11th living alone in city center, away from North-West S. I was alone in my flat, I think I had just broken up with the current girlfriend, not sure the exact date but I am pretty sure it was middle September because I went to her birthday at the beginning of September and we were together, and In October I was dating someone else, and I remember in October I was dating something else because I started dating D.(another D.!) one day before I met M.J. (the same M.J.!), I remember the exact date, the previous day we went with M.J. to a concert (Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, Fabulosos as usual!), it took us 2 hours to leave the f... place because it was huge, there was a lot of people and we had to walk until city center to find some food because the people from concert were eating everything they found on their way so all restaurants were full, and I remember she stayed in my house and that day was the day the summer timezone starts (Actually I remembered I went along with her to the subway station and I said "amazing, it is 20:00 and there is still daylight"), that is at the beginning of October and I am pretty sure that day I started to date D. But that is not the original story. Coming back to September 11th didn't really know how it would be in City Center, probably neither riots nor barricades but they would cut the light. Finally nothing happened, not even noise in the streets, it was like 22:00 and my friends from North-West S. suddenly got offline, probably they had their electricity cut, I had electricity all night. I went to bed early because I was working.
September 11th, 2008 and 2007 I don't remember the details but they should have been very similar, I was living in North-West S. and I was working, when the riots started I went for a walk to take a look, I saw the barricades, the people carrying wood from their houses, some tires in the middle of S.G., the main street near my house, but I preferred to come back early, I was a serious guy working as an engineer in a decent company, I didn't want to be arrested or hit by a stone or a tear gas can.
September 11th, 2006 I remember a little, I was living in North-West S. and I was doing my thesis, therefore I had a lot of free time and I didn't care about anything, not even tear gas or barricades, added to some journalistic spirit that I don't really know where it came from (I had a girfriend who was a journalist but I think that was not the reason). I went outside like at 19:00 and crossed S.G., that street divides my Barrio from the next one which is the one where everything happens. I walked by R. and the people was standing outside their houses, like waiting, I continued walking until M. with R., I crossed and in a street there were candles in the floor, forming a large row, commemorating the people killed by the dictatorship, most probably in that very street, and placed by relatives of those people. I went back to my house to come back later and meanwhile (I didn't see it but I can imagine it) those people left, the candles faded, hundred of hooded teenagers appeared and, seriously, I don't have idea how it starts exactly but they are burning tires and barricades made from wood everywhere and the anti-riot police appeared throwing an amazing amount of tear gas, the guys cut the electricity throwing chains into the wires (we have wires and poles, like Japan), I came back and everything was very dark and super scary, the rioters were in the east side of M. and the police in the west side, past H., because there is a police station there; the police advanced slowly throwing tear gas with hand guns in M. and the rioters threw stones to the police cars, the rioters were dispersed but they gather again, and then the same; along the night more rioters joined and the battle moved to a group of soccer fields parallel to M., there it is more spacious and it is harder to the police cars to enter, the rioters ran towards H., I followed them, we reach H. and there was a anti-riot car (I don't have any idea of the name in English, we called them zorrillo), it was trying to turn, moving slowly, the rioters took advantage of that and a rain of stones fell over it and a minute later a guy ran next to me and threw a cocktail Molotov in the car which burned in flames for some minutes and left; the rioters celebrated their short victory shouting out loud, but a huge group of polices ran after us (it is amazing how can they run with all that armor), we ran back while tear gas cans flew over my head, once all rioters were far enough they turned back and started to kick the tear gas cans into the water to extinguish them (I don't know why there were little ponds in the ground, it was spring...), in case there was no water nearby, they put a big tin over them, meanwhile from inside a house a guy threw stones to the rioters to "reload" them. And then there were too many police officers, they walked in the dark and when they were close enough they started to run to catch the rioters, I decided to come back to my house but that part was actually more dangerous, all streets were without light and you could not see the police, I started to walk and I heard someone running next to me so I ran towards the alleys thinking there would be less police officers, I reached a corner and in the next street, also little, there was a car which throw water (called guanaco) and it was throwing water inside a house, I had to wait until it left to continue, I stood next to a house whose inhabitants were outside. I was 3 streets away from my home and in S.G. there was a tear gas cloud that I was forced to cross to reach my house, because the other streets were full either of rioters or police officers. I crossed the tear gas cloud and I felt like my eyes were burning and they were to fall, if I touched them it would have been worse so I had to stand it until I reached my house. My clothes smelled like tear gas and I took them away outside the house. There was no light so I went to sleep.
Between 1996 and 2006 I remember very few, just random memories. Two or three September 11th's must have been similar to 2006 but I was not that brave (or better said, experienced in riots) therefore I didn't go that further. I remembered once I was playing Starcraft (it must have been between 2000 and 2004) and the light gone, also I remember I was going back home and the bus stopped far away from my house because it could not continue. The time I was about 10 years old also I don't remember that much, my mother didn't let me go out in that day so my memories are about watching TV until the light gone. When I was very very little we were in the dictatorship, therefore the riots were not only in September 11th, but I have no memories. My mother said the police threw tear gas even inside the houses and in those days some neighbors grouped and were in charge of extinguish the tear gas cans which fell inside a house, specially the houses with kids like mine.
Every new year September 11th is more peaceful than before, but that does not mean I will forget.
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