maggisfarm

November. December. Jan.

Life had been racing and this time I really was grateful because of that. When it was time to leave an incredibly stirring 08 behind, I found myself in the arms of my loved one and in the most wintery landscape under starry skies. Introducing her to my parents was exciting and appeasing at the same time. Having some time in Jena with friends and relatives stopped me from doing what I was supposed to do but felt good.

Next stop on a single ticket was Basel, where I met a befriended family I had first met in England and had by this time not seen for about two years. The three boys had grown extraordinarily in the meantime. Two of them reading and writing fluently by now. We went to an exhibition with paintings of Venice. A ten-year-old and myself pierced and in carpenters’ pants contemplating Monet’s stroke of the brush in-between art connoisseurs. Pure fun! I saw the Three Kings Play in the Goetheanum and on our last day we went to the Basel Zoo. From a humane perspective it seemed strange to keep animals in such artificial and restricting environments. From an agriculturists point-of-view it felt sort of alright - I’ve seen cows in much worse systems. Don’t know, to what an extent one has to take the domestication aspect into account, but watching penguins, lions, monkeys, kangaroos and all sorts of other species alive and breathing was amazing. I was at least as thrilled as the boys.

On my way back I visited Manu in Neckarsulm. Sleeping in his sister’s room I felt like taking part in a youth movement or being a member of a brit-pop band. I love living in other people’s rooms when they’re authentic and purely dedicated to one sort of lifestyle! We studied animal breeding and went out for some pints before I headed back home.

Uni started with exams after giving us a comparatively long Christmas break. Uni politics did cost us most of our nerves (since fighting for three professorships at the same time when resources and sympathies are limited is not an easy thing to do).

A bright spot was our trip to the Netherlands. The farms we visited to look at their cattle breeding were mostly inspiring. The Organics impressed with talking rather than looks, the Conventionals impressed with their breeding management but their tethered animals didn’t quite manage to convince us of that sort of animal husbandry.

Uni elections tomorrow … I better get under the shower to match with our council-room (which got tidied up and redecorated by a handful of candidates on Sunday =)