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My Mom's gone for vacation for 5 days and I'm the cat sitter. So I'm in the middle of nowhere in the country. And I have dozens of tomatos fresh from the garden. Actually that's great. They taste very delicious and I know they don't have fertilizer or other poisonous things in them. It comes in quite handy since I eat mainly and a lot of fruits and vegetables. But there are too many tomatos, so I prepared a bunch of tomato sauce and put it in the freezer. I felt like Doris Day as Beverly Boyer. I hope you all know this great movie, I don't know the English title, in German it's "Was diese Frau so alles treibt." But I'm no Happy Soap Girl yet.

And I have HUUUUUGE cucumbers as well, but I don't know what to do with them except salad. But there are so many that I could eat cucumbers and tomatos 24/7.

On the other hand, I haven't seen the cat since I've arrived, he's somewhere outside. So actually I'm sitting the vegetables rather than the cat.

Sorry for not posting much lately, but I was very busy. Ok, here is the story about our talk to the absolutely fabulous Nina Hagen.

My radio partner Thomas and I got press tickets for the concert like many other press guys. My room mate bought a ticket and joined us, because we love her Music. That Friday Nina Hagen was in the news for insulting Dieter Bohlen for him being mean to other people on TV, so many reporter wanted an interview with her. But we were the only ones that asked her management 4 weeks ago, so we were the only ones who were allowed to talk to Nina after the show. When the show was over we called her Manager on the cell and he gave us backstage tickets and brought us to the catering were we waited for Nina.

Then--it was an open air concert--he guided us to some benches outside and we sat down. About 10 Seconds later Nina stood next to us and shook our hands. Her Manager brought each of us a glass of champagne and we started to talk. I was very nervous because I saw her couple times on TV where she was ... let's say ... not easy. So I even was a little bit afraid of her. But she was very, very nice; she had a very kind smile and it was amazing.

After about 5 Minutes it started to rain. She said, "well, usually no reporter is allowed to go in my room, but you gay guys appreciate it, so let's go in." She even petted my back. She pointed to a leather couch and made us sit down. Then it became even nicer. We had a very nice and long talk together. She is such an amazing woman. She fights for peace and equality. She does so many things for poor and discriminated people. It's really amazing.

Her manager came in to remind her that they have to leave for Berlin, so we ended our interview, but Nina was very nice and kept talking to us. It felt like she also enjoyed our talk. So we stayed longer and longer ... and had an amazing time. When we left, she hugged each of us and kissed our cheeks. And I'm truly a new fan.

It's so hot in Germany these days. And unfortunately air condition is very uncommon in Germany. Well, we ratified the Kyoto Protocoll, we take care for the environment, we don't waste energy for AC.
On one hand this is good. But it's soooo hot in my room, I would sell my soul for a nice AC right now.

Sorry for not posting much lately. But there's not much happening here either.

Well, one thing is new, they've switched our terrestric television signal from analog to digital. For my area that also means that I can receive 11 Channels now, instead of 3. But the "new" channels aren't the most entertaining ones, the only change for me is I need to check 11 channels to find out that there's nothing on instead of three. It feels like I finally entered into the 21^st century. Just kidding ...

The really cool stations don't participate in DVB-T in my state, because most people either have satellite reception or cable TV. I can't have neither of them. On my side of the building there's no satellite signal, and cable doesn't go up to my floor. If I want cable TV, I have to pay to get the cable up here. Which I don't want to. I suppose I'm the only one who's using an old-fashioned antenna to receive TV signals. So, watching TV is still not on my daily schedule. But it's ok. I've never watched much TV, even back home when we had satellite TV and many, many channels.

And the radio comedy my friend Thomas and I are recording right now seems to become a success. Actually it was planned to play the comedy in our regular radio show only, but eleven other radio stations in every part of Germany have already said that they would broadcast our comedy, and two stations even want to broadcast our regular two-hour show. This feels really good.

I wish all my American friends and readers a happy Independence Day. I so envy you...

But I'm going to have a nice 4th of July with my remaining German and American friends here in Germany as well. We're gonna have BBQ together (of course), and I'm sure we'll have a blast.

It's funny, I've never celebrated on the German National Day ("Tag der Deutschen Einheit", 3rd of October), but Independence Day is always an important day for me.
Oh, wait, that's not completely true. When I was younger the German National Day was on 17th of June, and I remember we had BBQ each year with many friends of my parents who also had kids in my age. And we played at a creek nearby. That was fun.

But when the Federal Republic of Germany absorbed the German Democratic Republik in 1989 they changed it to a date where it's actually too cold to have BBQ. So there is not really a traditional thing to do on 3rd of October.

Oh, that's not true either. In the last couple years I spent that day the same way: learning for exams with a friend while others had a day off.

To all Canadians out there: Happy Canada Day!

I was invited to spent this weekend with my Canadian and American friends at the lakes. I hope that next year I can make it. Talking about Canada ... have you ever tasted Poutine? :-)
Look it up in Wikipedia.

This month is pride month. At least in the USA. In Germany we postponed it till August because of the soccer world cup. Anyway, I'm proud every day of the year, so I just want to say it now and join Kelly's challenge, who shot the picture:

I'm so f*ing proud to be gay!

Exactly 10 years ago, I had just finished highschool, I finally realized that I'm gay, and I came out to my friends and family. And also in my job or in college it's never been a secret. I'm proud of all my friends and relatives who support me, and I'm proud I didn't make any bad experiences since.

I like rainbow flags whereever I see them. I (often) like the gay community and all the parties and parades, and I'm proud to be a part of it. I'm proud I don't have to hide my feelings and that I can hug the ones I love in public. I'm proud to be different, I'm proud to be gay.

Footnote: Klaus Wowereit, mayor of Germany's capital city Berlin, came out to the public in a speech and coined the now famous German phrase "Ich bin schwul - und das ist gut so!" (literally: "I am gay, and that's a good thing"; a more correct translation would be: "I am Gay, and that's ok").