A stripper performing for a bachelorette party in a karaoke bar in Berlin, 2012

Girls just like to dress up. 

Cracow, 2011

Kiel, Kieler Woche 2010

Ogrodzieniec, Poland 2008

Warsaw, 2010

Barcelona, 2009

What are the giraffes saying?

Gone with the Diesel

While bored urban yuppies are dreaming about having their own chickens (remember? We had a story about it on this blog contributed by Serena New), farmers world wide live a different kind of phantasies. And there is something very straight forward about it how they do it: no saving of planet Earth, no deeper meaning. It is man with his tractor. Pulling. Heavy stuff.

What you see here is named Trecker Treck in Germany, in English Tractor Pulling. Well, it looks like it sounds: Farmers gather on a field, they bring out their machines and pull. By the way, they pull all day long. Seriously. 


What makes the show is actually what the tractors pull. It is all about the sledge. The sledge has rear end wheels and has a “pan” in front. A skid if you want. There is a mechanism attached to the rear end wheels that makes a weight block move from the rear end to the front as the tractor proceeds. This way the pressure is relocated from the end of the slegde to the front, the pan digs itself into the ground. If the tractor is not strong enough, the sledge will stop it before reaching the 100 meters point. The front wheels of the tractor will go up. Like this.

100 meters is the goal. If more than one tractor would make it then the weight is being made heavier. Till a winner is found. Referees are watching over the results, here you see a female referee sitting on the sledge, documenting the distance the tractor achieved: 

You start realizing how serious the thing is? 

There are different classes for the machines to compete. Depending on the competition class, thetuning is restricted. Internationally. Countries where this sport is being practiced the most are USA, the Netherlands, UK, Denmark, Germany. 

So there is the class for the tractors used in the field without any tuning. There is a sport class. There is a class of self made tractors tuned up to this grade that they can just be vaguely recognizable as tractors. And there is the garden class:

There is the junior class (watch the father galloping along while his son is driving):

And there is the class for miniature models:

And if you have an old timer in your barn, bring it along. It does not hurt to have it standing aside:

Any machines you and your kids drive, bring them along:

And if you feel like posting intimidating slogans on your machines, there will never be a better place then TRECKER TRECK!

All pictures have been taken in Kleinvollstedt, Schleswig-Holstein (Trecker Treck Eastern 2006).

If you want to know more about the sport, I recommend checking http://www.trecker-treck-deutschland.de/ - you will find there a description of the sledge and furthermore many videos which help you understand what noise the machines make and how much smoke there is being produced.

Mrs. Schmidt, when will we have fun? Carnival in Hanover Nordstadt 2012

A Czech philosopher meets crazy in Hanover

Text by Serena New, pictures by Kaska Krakowianka

The best part about kicking off the local philosophy festival by going to a talk by a Czech economist at the history museum is that you get to be the sort of person who kicks off the local philosophy festival by going to a talk by a Czech economist at the history museum.  Since the talk was a groovy sort of event, in English, and free, I definitely said, “I’m in” when Kaska suggested we attend.  As a Polish woman who has spent almost her entire adult life living in Germany, Kaska understood all the Czech and the German, while I struggled to understand every third German word and just ended up clapping when the German people clapped and waiting patiently for Tomas Sedlacek to start giving his lecture in English.

The best thing about Sedlacek is that while he is an absolutely brilliant international economist, a professor in Prague, and a bestselling author, he also has a ginger madman vibe somewhere between Carrot Top and that weird guy your friend met on the internet.  The best part was when he told us that his first and only book was published by some random poet he met at a bar.  Nevertheless, he gave a fascinating lecture explaining his, not exactly new, but vitally important and impeccably argued thesis:  We should not ask, “Does the market work?”  We should instead ask, “Does the market work the way we want it to?”  He went on to say that there are things, clean air, peace, love, etc., that cannot possibly be assigned monetary values, and that economics should be put in its very important, but ultimately constrained, place in political decision making.  Brilliant, brilliant man.  He should be on the Daily Show talking to Jon Stewart and hawking his poet-published book.

Now, the trouble with going to a fascinating lecture is that lots of other smart people in the room want to talk about how smart they are as well.  I admit; I am one of those people.  I wanted to shoot my hand up in the air and ask Dr. Sedlacek how he felt about the somewhat obscure but still influential early 20th century American economist Thorsten Veblen, who just coincidentally, attended the same college I did.  But, I didn’t, because I make it a rule not to act like a complete douche bag and waste 150 people’s time.  Nevertheless, many of my fellow lecture goers decided to embrace their innate douchbaggedness wholeheartedly.

First came the woman who asked how economics was impacted by the gender imbalance among scientists.  Now, I’m as happy as the next gal to call out the patriarchy, but this question had nothing to do with anything in the man’s talk.  Sedlacek completely dodged the question and went on to talk about the economics of buying a friend a glass of wine. Next came along the elderly German woman who told him that she was part Czech too.  Great!  Lady, thanks!  Now we just need an obnoxious American to tell everybody that he’s somehow related to the English royal family and we will be well on our way to complete asshattery!  At this point I think somebody actually asked a valid reasonable question, but it wasn’t nearly as memorable.  The last question was asked by a middle aged German man who actually sported leather patches on his corduroy jacket and horn rimmed glasses worn non-ironically.  He rambled on for about five minutes discussing capitalism and communism until somebody shouted from the back, “What is the Question?!”  It was amazing.

After the talk ended, Sedlacek was swamped with more eager question askers.  As Kaska wittily observed, he answered their questions while he checked his pockets for a pack and longingly looked out the front door, where other economics enthusiasts were already enjoying their post lecture cigarettes.

And now see a Czech economist sweating when answering. 

Hanover, April 2012

Mine! Mine! Mine! Laboe 2008

Beware of the ugly naked guy photobombing your picture! (Kiel 2005)

A sunset in Scheveningen, 2004

Today is the second anniversary of the tragedy of Smolensk. This is how the airplane crash with the Polish president couple and lots of diplomats on board is being called in Poland ever since. A very true compassion and grief tilted over into a whole range of reactions after the tragedy has been talked into a political issue: from indifference and disgust to hysteria and catholic fundamentalism. And it still continues.

Polish grocery store, Kiel, Northern Germany 2010

In front of the presidential residence in Warsaw there was a wooden cross to commemorate the dead. The cross has been occupied by radicals as soon as it was supposed to be moved from outdoor to a Church at Krakowskie Przedmiescie (name of the street). Special security forces were day and night trying to keep order in front of the most representative buildings in Poland. July 2010

Radical Catholic occupying the cross with portrait of the dead president couple.

People in front of the cross.

Easter Sunday Breakfast - the Polish Catholic way: in the land of plenty and sexappeal. Hanover 2012

Easter in the Church of the Polish Catholic Community in Hanover. April, 7th 2012

EASTER 2012

There will be a story of an ugly egg coming up soon - we just have to wait for the text by my friend Renee. And there will be pictures to the story. Very scary pictures!

Easter egg coloration results 2007 - 2011. Little quiz for art historians among you: if you look closely, you will know which year just before Easter, I went to Florence.

EASTER 2007

EASTER 2008

EASTER 2009

EASTER 2011

 In 20 minutes, this years eggs will be colored.