hall sex, queueing, and fights

It has been a long time since I have posted something here. So get ready for some cathing up;)

Actually I wanted to study hardcore after I came back from Germany on December 30th but the only thing which is hardcore is the porno-like moaning above me. Every time I want to start working they start to have sex. And around its climax it is extremely distracting. They seem to make it about five times a day. How depressing!

Over New Year's Eve Jannis and his girl friend Kathrin came over from Germany. We did some shopping in a huge store called Selfridges at Oxford Street and then, later on, went to the London Eye for the fireworks. It was the most spectacular I have ever seen and shot right out of the Eye. Unfortunately, it was over after fifteen minutes. So we started to go - äh, queue - back to Victoria station which took about one and a half hours (the way there was only around 10 minutes). I felt like being at Live Aid in Berlin again where I was stuck in a raging see of 200,000 spectators in 2005. Only this time it was on a more immense scale (I estimate 500,000 to a million people). Since I am a rather patient guy it was not a problem for me up to the point it became dangerous. Two tall, strong guys just in front of me were obviously annoyed be some people pushing from behind. When one of them got in front of them they quite ironically talked about queueing and the British being really good it at since they are such gentlemen. Then a group of four passed me telling me their mum was up in front. This sounded like Bart Simpson but since I did not mind I just let them pass. The problem was that the two men in front of me were by no means that nonchalant. Held back by his girlfriend, one of them, tore himself away from her shouting "let me go!". She did and he started a fight. He hit the other guy really hard about five times until he coud eel away bleeding all over. No one interferred. The police could not standing on the outskirts of the huge queueing mob and the other people seemed to believe that the guy deserved the beating for having pushed too much. It is all about fairness!

Yesterday I started to build up a lexis for my French test at the beginning of February. I am a little worried because I did not really have the time to study at all so far. Thereafter, I did some reading for my essay. I delved into a book about free churches which discusses if they are a modern form of church and read a book about religious communities and worldviews which helped me reflect my own faith and also some developments in my home church.

Apart from that I have been reading Haruki Murakami's "Wie ich eines schönen Morgens im April das 100%ige Mädchen sah" and at the moment "Norwegian Wood". If he wins the Nobel prize, he deserves it because there is only a handful of authors whose works are so accessible and at the same time so complex. I sometimes cannot let go of it and read until three in the morning.

Today I went to Stamford Bridge with David to watch Chelsea play Southend, a third League team ranked exactly 55 places below them. It was such a lame match, clearly dominated by Chelsea which left Southend without a clear chance. But then something happened which once more confirmed my love for football. The former Everton player Peter Clarke, now Southend's striker, scored out of the blue in the last minute with a wounderful header. The 6,000 Southend supporters went wild as the Blues furiously tried to score again. But their final efforts were thwarted through a brilliant save by Southend's goalie who stopped a ball which the 41,000 strong crowd at Stamford Bridge saw already in the net. I definitely have to get tickets for the replay as I want to follow the plot continue.

Before I went home over christmas, I caught a Bronchitis and was tied to my bed with fever for a week. Then I celebrated my 25th birthday with a match at Craven Cottage, a dinner including a birthday cake with David and Carol and some party with Pradeep, Kathrin, Lydia, and Anna walking around London and finally ending up in the Borderline. The next week Traui and Daniel, a friend of his, came over and stayed until Friday. It was an intense time because I was under pressure to write a two week essay in one week. But it was also great to share with them and Traui even increased my stock of dishes:).

I wrote the essay until 7:30 am on Friday morning and then enjoyed the sunrise with a "nasty cigarette" as Colin Hay uses to sing;). I was glad that I had actually finished this time five hours before dead line. So I went inside took a shower, woke Traui and Daniel, send the essay to my American frind Nick for some proof-reading, had breakfast, and then went over to Nick's house. I expected to only have to make some changes. But since I forgot the bibliography and used an obsolete Word programme, it took a while. So, finally, we had to run to the Strand to make it before deadline. And we did! With three minutes left! I am still the king of procrastination and last minute actions. I know I will probably never be able to change that totally. But I want to work on that in 2009.

That weekend I went to Oxford with Pradeep for an assistant teacher party. There I met a Millwall hooligan in a pub who will take me to their away game against Leeds United. I thought it to be a good starting point for my London fan scene column for Sport Bild. On Sunday I had to say goodbye to Timothy, my closest friend over the last three month, who went back to the States. I will miss him here as he was the only one I felt fully at ease with praying and sharing. On Monday I met with Daniel and Anna who came over from Münster. That night I could not sleep because of my phobia to miss my flight. But I got on and on Tuesday I saw lovely Münster again.

What I experienced there, in the Baptist archive in Elstal, in Berlin, Hamburg, Augustfehn, and then Münster again will be subject of tomorrow's posting.
On december 16th I went home