Showing posts with label Culture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Culture. Show all posts

28 January, 2009

Love at first sight...

... Valentine's Day is approaching, which reminds me of this "Love-at-first-sight" thingy - just SO American! "Oh my gosh, it's so romantic! I looked in his eyes and it was love at first sight." Or, "when I saw him, he blew me away - it was love at first sight!". Yeah, yeah! It's nothing but "blah" to us Germans - just another "Kommerzieller Feiertag"!

But how can it be? How can this "Love-at-first-sight" phenomenon happen in the US of A? Americans don't even LOOK at each other! They don't take a peak at each other while sitting in the train, they don't look at other people while eating or sitting at a restaurant/bar, nor do they look at anybody walking the streets. I did all of the above today and nobody looked! Neither at me nor anybody else! Everybody on the train was busy reading or looking out of the window or talking on the telephone (while trying REALLY hard NOT to look at anybody - but oh boy, did we HEAR the whole conversation! But that's another blog comment!). In the restaurant everybody looks on their own plate, or on their neighbor's plate, or maybe glances up at the waiter.

Germans do look all the time! Germans stare at other people all the time; they look what other people are wearing, they look what other people are doing, they even look if other people are staring back! Now, I'm not saying that staring is going to find you love at first sight, but which country has better chances to find somebody and fall in love at first sight??

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To all romantics out there: it's been studied and it's a total myth! There is no love at first sight! This study shows that it is nothing else but selfishness and - shocking!! - SEX! Yes, it's nothing but a narcissistic reaction. We find ourselves attracted to people that find us attractive!

10 January, 2009

Theater

We saw "The Seafarer" last night at the Steppenwolf Theater and I highly recommend that you see it if you can! It's all about the Irish, alcohol, christmas and how one struggles with his own demons. What you see is hardly what you get in this play and that makes for a very deep, entertaining and funny Christmas eve in Ireland!

07 January, 2009

Macbeth II

We saw William Shakespeare's "Macbeth" last night and although I didn't understand that much (old British English) and I actually had no idea what the play was all about, I was amazed, how they still brought the storyline across. The stage set-up was very plain in the beginning, but throughout the play they used light, stage props and video to kick it up. It was a very modern play. Maybe you would think that doesn't work out with the Shakespearean language, it all worked out very nicely - for as much as I understood! It wasn't what I expected, but I liked it anyway!

06 January, 2009

29 December, 2008

Yoga

Although I didn't want to start until the new year with my YOGA resolution, I just couldn't stop myself... okay, okay, actually my neck and my back were killing me, because I fell asleep the other night, when we came back from Chicago, where we watched "The Jersey Boys" (highly recommendable, by the way!!) and one of my favorite steak houses in the city "Zed451" (and, YES, I do not eat any meat, but their FISH is awesome as well! And their jalapeno bread with the red pepper butter - dilicious!)... wait... where was I going with that...? Anyway, I'll go again tonight, because I just got an email from my favorite yoga teacher of all times, telling me that there will be a special class tonight:

If you want to know the past, to know what has caused you, look at yourself in the present, for that is the past's effect. If you want to know your future, then look at yourself in the present, for that is the cause of the future.
-Majjhima Nikaya


Dear Monday Night Basics Students,

Tonight is the last Monday of the year! I know it's hard to believe!

It seems then only appropriate that we dedicate tonight's 7:30pm Basics practice to reflecting on this past year, taking its lessons and aligning our hearts with our best intentions for the new year. The class will be deeply introspective and sweet. If you were looking for some quiet solitude in order to recharge from the busyness of the past month or just an opportunity to really think about what you've accomplished this past year and what you want to set as meaningful goals for 2009 then this is the class for you!

I hope you can make time to join me tonight.

Sending you healing thoughts, hopes for all your dreams to take form and the courage to make your wishes come true!
Silvia