All of Germany is suffering from the heat. Air conditioning in trains from falling. All whines that it is too warm. As always, if more than three days raining, snowing, hot or cold, are all apparently dissatisfied with the weather. Well, what can I say then. I've been here for two months. Not a cloud in the sky. Not a drop of rain. 40 Last week we had plenty of degrees. This week there is something better. We only come to 37 Well here is: There are both in the office and in the hotel air conditioning. "Read the rest of the entry ..

"Public Viewing"

Now what should I do. Much is not happening. Working and watching football. In between, a little presidential election. But it is not the value you write about it. In order to write about work, I'm not interested. So about football. This makes for fun times at least once. I have since been found also plenty of opportunities to watch football. In the office you're still a bit bitchy. After the last game of the Italians was the first time closing. Was probably offended some boss that have a few people happy too loud about it. In the match between Germany and England's sudden but then went back because a few Grosskopferte were visiting and wanted to see the game necessarily. For the rest you had to find alternatives.

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Soccer in the coffee

Really good I have not met this time. The overall World Cup I will be in Syria. That in itself is not really bad, but it just is not so easy to look at the football games. In the beginning I was very happy. In the hotel you could both ARD and ZDF received. All the best, I thought. Until then look at every now and then an extra impressions were. First with the ARD. The fact that this satellite (Hotbird) transmission on 8 June is set. Then also the ZDF. During the Football World Cup will be broadcast on this channel but not ZDF ZDF neo. Well class. For "legal reasons". You search on any of the other 60 channels that can be received here led to nothing. The only source which matches this area transfers is the sports channel of Al Jazeera. Of course, encrypted. In the hotel room to not receive. Only the coffee on the first floor. "Read the rest of the entry ..

Poor horse

Now I'm so again in Damascus. Last Saturday arrived here. On Sunday evening, a colleague took me to a little trip. He wanted to show me his "family". 3 Arabian mares. A friend of him taking care of the horses and be paid for. So we are down there. Is a little bit outside of Damascus. I was greeted warmly. There were to drink tea and it was a lot of chatter. I did not understand much. Except none of my colleagues spoke English.

Tea breaks in the evening

Although there but I had some anxiety about the horse, my colleague, I think some should ride a horse. Amazingly, I was pretty well up on the gee-gee. Well it was not really a ride through Damascus. It was just a few laps in the gate. But still. On a "wild" Arabian stallion. The two older mares are pregnant and the youngest is still too small. I have the whole completed without falling off the horse and the horse it has also survived. The colleague said that if I'm the next time for a long time in Damascus, we are sometimes 2 - 3 hours ride. Tuen me now my ass and the horse tired.
In addition, the mate still the proud owner of a real Syrian sheep. That thing looks like it would run into a wall. But it should be just the typical Syrian. And the nose is depressed, the more valuable these things. One of his friends helped me to take a picture of the typical shape of the head of the sheep. Unfortunately, it is not clearly identify what is in the picture the sheep.

Who is the sheep?

The rebuild everything the Chinese do not rivet and nail hard, is now so well known. The best example in my industry, the company "Huawei" is. Known as the company Cisco switches 1 to 1 copied, changed the color (blue instead of green), a different logo on it and sold the whole pappte as a separate product. Then there's the other version. The original attempt to be as similar as possible to benefit from using the original name and possibly the original logo to the good reputation of the original. This works more or less well. Now, someone seems to have found the "Huawei" wants to make in this way the worm-shop. This works quite well with the logo, but it seems still a few problems with the "Made in ......" lettering give:

At last weekend. It starts on Friday, the Moslem Sunday. The town is pretty dead. Nothing going on, the majority of shops closed. So there's not really much to do. So we have a couple of colleagues who agreed to a regular Friday breakfast in such a way as it should, with white sausage! A colleague has this brought from Munich. So we sat in the sunshine in the garden of a local colleague and have white meat, beer, and then enjoyed another coffee while listening to the Syrian chants of the muezzin from the nearby mosque. In Damascus, there is always a nearby mosque!

Unlike many other places, here comes the evening, not in the usual hotel boredom. So far I am at least been on the road every night somewhere. Around 8 is an SMS from a colleague: "desire to go somewhere?". Around 9 then comes the collector. Time in the old town into a coffee, sometimes in a restaurant in the mountains with stunning views over the city, then play billiards again. A bit unusual is simply that all like a rather late evening runs and does not end before midnight. Amazingly well is also busy as the city at this hour still is.

Yesterday was here Friday. This is the same as Sunday with us, so to speak of "holy day" of Muslims. In other words, free day! A colleague of mine had offered only once, he takes me on a trip to the mountains. He wanted to call. But then a lot of good. He called me at least not to. Well, not too bad. I wanted to look at the old town again anyway. Noon, then I go. Walk from the hotel in the old town. So about 5 km as the crow flies is (says Google Earth). Was slightly more than 1 hour on the way. Then I wandered through the narrow streets of Old Town. Since I was already here on Wednesday evening with colleagues for an evening outing, and I say the Christian Quarter of the Old Town had shown, I have also tried to find this again. Was not that easy. The problem is that in the narrow old streets have no reference point. One can not even see the sun. As beautiful, however, virtually every corner waiting for a surprise. One never really knows what is coming next. What I found were lots of lovely cafes and restaurants. It was wonderful spring weather (15-18 degrees and sunny), so the best weather to try out some of the coffee. Tea, coffee or ice cream is exactly the right in this weather. Unfortunately I have not found the Christian Quarter. Do I have to come again later. Maybe I can still, get hold of a map.