marhaba

why a blog? i needed some kind of a diary software, and couldn't really find something that i thought was good enough to pay for. so here i am trying to explain why i am doing this, i should move on!!

i am writing from germany where i have been living for many years. germany has progressively become the place i call home. but actually it is not germany where i feel at home. it rather is the city and the quarter i live in. berlin is also home in some way. I lived there for a while and the city got under my skin. i love being there and think constantly about moving there, but at the moment i am pretty content about being where i am! southern germany is just beautiful. i did some cross-country biking there and loved it so much (when we took off it was raining, and then we had three days of sun shine. when we got back home it started raining again). germny is also a cultural biotop. i have been here for over 15 years, of which i spent some good part trying to experience as much as possible of the cultural life here. at the moment i get to do this even more often and it is a great pleasure! I would not want to miss this.

i am from the levante, the region otherwise known as the middle east. i was born and raised in syria, but have been away for quite some time. which of course doesn't mean that i have ever left (or even attempted to leave) the region behind in any way. all these years were spent in a state of feeling unable to live without being in touch with the region. i am now culturally involved with the region, working on art projects. i have traveled there last year and intend to travel there again this spring! living in germany you have at times great possibilities to experince culture from the levant. film, music, video art, plastic art, is often on show here. i often wish that i had the time and the money, to keep up with every thing going on here! but this is no substitute for a real falafel from a real corner shop, and even less so for the moments when people there make you feel welcome and at home, though you have just met them!

which of course means that such themes will dominate my postings. i will try and keep some events that i am aware of posted, please help spread the word of culture, and let me know about the events you are aware of!