Vonfuse(d) Me

Things are falling apart, things are falling into place. Next year I will be at the University of Virginia in the USA for a year abroad. I don't know any details right now, those will come once I have confirmed my place - but I shall post more about the exchange once I know it and I will be a little less tired.

On Monday I will be off to Edinburgh for a conference on nuclear weapons and the British Trident system, and then to London to see Cirque du Soleil's Alegria. Quite excited - it will be a good break before the new term will start Monday in a week.

A big hug to everybody reading this - I'll let you know if you appear in my dreams tonight ;) .

Current Music: R.E.M - Man on the Moon

Verbindlichkeit is a mysterious german word. It can mean something so precise in german, yet there is no proper english translation for it. One could say that it is a problem I suffer from.

For me, it is important to have a sense of this Verbindlichkeit with anyone close to me. That involves knowing you can trust one another, but also that you have certain obligations to value that trust. Verbindlichkeit means letting the other person know that there is an understanding of terms, that if both have agreed on something, they can value this agreement - and this agreement can be anything at all. I call it Verbindlichkeit that I would always call my grandma if I have been at her place and come back the 300km, just to let her know that I am safe because I told her I would call.

If I want to find Verbindlichkeit where I expect it and cannot find it, it often upsets me. Maybe that is my problem for seeking it in the first place. But often I feel this world could do with a little more of it between all of us, it would make many things a little easier.

Current Music: Patrice - Soulstorm

It'd be nice to know someone else does.



Back to bonnie Scotland Monday morning.
"And miles to go before I sleep" - Robert Frost

Current Music: Depeche Mode - Judas