Blogging from Bonn

Back in Lund

2009-09-04T21:23:00.002+02:00

Dear readers,

the summer is coming to an end, and these comments I post from the new flat in Lund. Glad to be here as well, studies at the environment and sustainability programme here has been going on for 4 days for me (arrived a few days late) and of these days 3 has been spent together with new classmates out in the swedish country side, on a cottage-like place. It has been 3 intense, fun, rainy, sunny, days spent outside in the forest, swimming, and nights by the open fire under full moon.

Right now I'm so greatful that it is weekend. Will relax, relax, clean and go through the past 1,5 weeks again. On wednesday left Bonn, went to Milan for the student conference (nice people there as well, 120 students from different parts of the world), and on Monday evening arrived here in Lund.

Hope fall has begun nicely also for you, where ever you are! *hugs*

End of August

2009-08-23T22:09:00.004+02:00

Guys, these are the last days in Bonn. Have spent holiday since Wednesday and met with lots of people, bbq:ing, going for beer, to the stummfilmfestival that is going on in Bonn outdoors and with live music. Just came from having a drink with somebody from the secretariat, so nice during these warm summer evenings.

So, 4 months in Bonn coming to an end. Incredible summer this one. Could go on for long about this... But need to start packing:) Going to Italy on wednesday.

-kramar

Full moon

2009-08-06T21:32:00.004+02:00

One week left, one week and a few days. So much has happened during this time and at the same time it has passed quite quickly.

Now sitting at the desk and looking at the moon, full and a bit red. Yesterday it was the same, as warm, full moon; went for a beer with a friend and it was a great summer evening, we sat at a bierplace next to the river and close by they had a tango dancing place that they set up twice a month, just on the street with music from loudspeakers, and the couples dancing were really great. Beneath there was a small beach. Holiday feeling!

At work now finishing up things, next week there is a new conference in Bonn, smaller than the last one, will probably be there following it mostly during the beginning and the end. And hang in the office during the rest of the time.

Then, after next week there is 1,5 weeks of holiday, going to Italy for a student conference and then take the train up to Lund, back to studies!!

Rain, and Yvo

2009-07-24T23:41:00.002+02:00

It is raining here, a lot. At least once a day it seems like, sometimes really heavy rainfall - so either Bonn is the rainiest town on earth or this is climate change!

Now having a visitor from Finland, til Sunday, and we will do a small trip south along the Rhine tomorrow (if the weather allows) and do a small hike during the day and after that make a stop in Koblenz.

Back in Bonn after the holiday now for 6 days, and still haven't quite landed here again. However, keep working at interesting stuff around gender and climate change, and today actually Yvo came and sat at our lunch table in the cantine:) Totally surprising and quite interesting. Of course I realized only afterwards stuff that would have been interesting to ask and speak with him about. Well, perhaps next time! One thing that I would like to bring up is why there is so little attention paid to lifestyle changes in the climate change discussions, and what he in his position could possibly do, if he could influence things in any way. If any of you have suggestions on other areas that should be brought up (I know they are many...) so tell me!

Now going to bed, will just check the weather forecast for tomorrow. **kramar**

Vacation

2009-07-17T23:05:00.003+02:00

Long break - means real vacation:) Have spent 2,5 really nice weeks in summer-Finland, visiting relatives and family and seeing many good friends. I very fast stopped being aware of what day it was, but, to be honest, the first 2 days or so I kind of had to check my work email just because I "needed" to know what was going on down there... but then got hold of being at home, took out my bike and enjoyed the light summer nights.

Now i am in Lund, on my way down back to Bonn. work again on Monday. Being faithful to traveling on land and see, the journey in total takes about 24 hours, but this is split in 2 parts since I stay in Lund for 3 days. I must admit it felt kind of amazing to step out of the train on thursday and see the familiar sights of Lund. So much has happened since we last met. Had to sit down on the square and eat some banana for half an hour to let the emotions calm down:) well, look forward to being here in the fall.

Also here in Lund I have met with good friends, and one of the really funny things was a first experience with my hostess´ "bed of nails", spikmatta. While lying there for 10 minutes or so, I just started smiling and could not stop, almost felt like laughing. Perhaps buy one, well that would be all happiness pills I would need I think!

Finland! Sweden!

2009-06-22T23:06:00.017+02:00

Hello!

Has been at the secretariat for more than 2 months now and it is funny how one starts feeling at home in a town and how new colleagues start feeling so familiar. On friday i go on a vacation to Finland, and on the way back here i go via Sweden, so hope to meet friends both in Finland and Sweden!! Will be in Finland 28.6-15.7, and in Sweden 16-18.7 :)

Since the last post, i finally met Yvo (the executive secretary of unfccc), shook his hand at a summer party outside the secretariat. Spoke a bit about gender and the coming agreement. And tomorrow will go to Köln for a yoga class.

Some pics from the conference weeks...

In the plenary

Side event food... yammi, for the first week at least.

Annika and David; Nina and Klara at my place

Visiting the secretariat. Security check...

...and at the office:

The castle, and outside by the Rhine

Post conference

2009-06-18T22:49:00.003+02:00

Dear readers! A long break, after 2 weeks of conference and people visiting from Sweden, intensive weeks that at the same time passed quickly. A lot of sessions in the plenary, many of them interesting, very nice to bump into familiar faces from Lund in the corridors. One of the differences compared to the climate conference in Poznan was my own outfit. I am still thinking about the meaning of symbols, and the difference that a costume can make.

Right now planning for the fall, it seems like it will be studies in Sweden, environmental and sustainability master programme in Lund - yei!! The decision needs to be made since the housing office is offering me a (quite expensive) room in Lund and want to get a decision by Sunday.

Hope to get back soon with some conference pictures.

Today went to a sand beach by the Rhine and just laid there in the sand, summer feelings, tomorrow it is midsummer eve.

Be well***

Climate talks

2009-06-02T23:03:00.002+02:00

Hey!

late night greetings from Bonn. Sitting in my room with Annika, both of us with our laptops, came home a while ago from the conference area. It is long and interesting days, as they now have started speaking about the actual negotiating text. Annika today went to a discussion on the Long-term Cooperative Action (LCA) which at this point is interesting to listen to what the countries say about the negotiating text that the goal is to agree upon in Copenhagen in December. Tomorrow at 10 is another similar meeting, that I plan to go to. Also have to do other work though, so it is approximately 50-50 time spent at the conference area and time at the office.

For the rest, really nice to meet all Swedes that have arrived from Lund. Great with familiar faces in a somehow familiar context. Remindes me of Poznan last December when many of us were there togeather.

My tasks at for secretariat at the conference is to follow gender side events, and this far have been to 2. A bit exciting to be there as part of the secretariat, and very nice to understand much more now the process, even if it is still so many areas that are new, but after having focused on gender and climate change for the past 1,5 months it is very useful to attend these events.

And the snacks served at these side events... today it was fantastic. At 9 pm after it finished we sat down with a sandwich, a glass of wine and a big peace of cake. yummi. Now, time to go to bed!

Sun greetings

2009-05-29T20:21:00.003+02:00

So, weekend! It has been a full week at the secretariat, I have finished the three fact sheets on gender and climate change that i have been working on. Still it will take a round for comments from different people.

For the rest, the week brought something that I was waiting for very much, Yvo. It was a staff meeting for all the secretariat, lots of people in the cantine, and Yvo was leading the meeting until he had to leave on another mission. It was very nice to see him in person, he seems very nice.

For the rest, the yoga classes are wonderful. Started doing sun greetings in the morning, can there be a better start of the day?:) Yoga is nice, I like.

Now heading to a birthday party of a colleagues that lives 5 min from here. And tomorrow my first guest that is here for the conference Bonn2 arrives! Some come on Monday, oh nice to see you here soon!

And bought a suit for the conference. Actually 2, and will choose either one of them and bring the other one back. So, quite ready for the conference. I will be going to gender side events, the first one already on Sunday.

Take good care, and do something good for the climate - for example, have a look in a second hand store first, next time you need some new clothes. And when buying food, choose not only a product that is locally produced, but also a product with as little emballage/wrapping as possible. ***

Sunday

2009-05-24T14:37:00.008+02:00

Have been sitting by the Rhine today, doing some reading on climate change and gender. The more I learn and think about this issue, the more holistic it all gets. Everything is interconnected, it is about systems, power relations, structures that are reproduced in individuals. When biking home I thought of respectas a key word. Among us there are always the stronger ones, bigger, richer, louder ones. And there are the physically weaker and smaller ones, there are the poorer and the quiet ones.

If putting people in range, in the end, the absolute majority of people of course have somebody that is physically stronger, richer than they are. So, if we want a just society we need relations that are based on respect. Respect for each other, giving each other space, even though it means "I" get a bit less. But this thing about happiness, it wasn't about having it all for yourself, was it, and perhaps happiness is still the driving force behind many of the things we do.

When speaking about gender lack of respect just becomes all the more clear because we are speaking about half of the population of the world. Women as a group tend to be physically not as strong as men, but why should this actually matter? It is all about respect isn't it.

This also counts for North-South relatins, it counts for the relation to the environment. Respectful relations look different than fishing out sees, extracting natural resources even though it harms local communities and drives species to extinction, or producing goods in countries where natural resources and labour is cheap. We need change, we need respect! We need to work for a common good, and perhaps, climate change can be the needed wake up call that triggers change. Let's make it happen!

Yesterday sat by the Rhine with Bernadette, the girl who lent me the bike. It was very nice, we sat at a small pier that flote in the river. The river has a surprisingly strong current, nice for feet. After this we went to a play, where Nina, one of Bernadette's friends was acting. Very funny play, "Gott".

Yesterday also posted some nice links and websites on the blog, hope you will have a look! My personal favourite is the animation Story of stuff.

Oh, got a bit too much sun today, even if sitting only in the shadow. But it is so sunny, and the biking was already more than enough of sun...

Take care and enjoy hopefully nice weather!

An amazing voice and thoughts on happiness

2009-05-19T22:13:00.006+02:00

First, something not climate related, wonderful voice, take a few minutes and listen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-D75CWbSgY&NR=1

Just came from a movie night at the secretariat, they showed Night on Earth. I have seen it before, but could not remember all of it, and actually it is nice to see a movie several times if it's a good one.

Saw another movie on Friday, V for Vandetta, which I definitely want to see again, and can recommend!

Last week I had coffee with a colleague and we were speaking about gender and climate change, and that recognizing, including, addressing women at every level of decision making, planning etc is actually a matter of sustainable development. Since, especially in "the South" or "developing countries", women are due to their social roles relying quite much on environmental resources that in turn are vulnerable to climate changes. And women in fact often do small scale rain fed agriculture, while men tend to be involved in large scale industrial agriculture. This is an interesting connection, since women hence often have a lot of knowledge on sustainable resource management. At the same time, institutions often turn to men as "the farmers", with information or when introducing new technology or even new sorts of crops (for example that can endure drought better) not recognizing the actually very central role of women farmers.

Then my colleague said something very interesting, that in the best case climate change could be a turning point for equal relations between different groups of people, women and men, indigenous, poor and rich. This is in the best of worlds, I know, but we need to have a guiding star to follow, and it all starts with us! I have a faith, in people, in the power of words.

To get a bit philosiphical, I believe that much of the desire for "development", having it better and better in material terms, is much a longing for happiness. But, as we have seen it proved in the rich countries, it is true to a certain extent (basic needs and a bit more) but after that happiness doesn't correlate with the higher and higher material living standard. I find the surveys on happiness interesting, since at least some of them are made through asking people how happy they consider themselves. And what other way is there actually to do it? This is when the western faith in measurable science is reaching its limits... "how can you verify the results?"

Well to get back to equity and a guiding star to follow, I believe that people can rethink, and happiness is a key word here. When speaking about sustainability, the need of rethinking in the Western world is an unavoidable question (even if it is avoided as far as possible by rich countries in climate change negotiations...), and then we need far more than better technology - we need to consume less and restructure society with our relationship to the surrounding ecosystems as the starting point. And this of course conflicts with the whole economic system built on growth so obviously it will not be a very popular approach. Oh these are so big questions, connected to everything else... and time flies once starting to write..! However, I think the notion that happiness is found somewhere else than in consumption and growth can be a turning point, from where to take a new direction, starting with individual people, and then "spreading like ripples on a pond".

And, out of this, perhaps climate change can be seen as a result of a lost civilization's search for happiness? Hm, with these thoughts it is time to brush teeth and go to bed. But, looking at it from this angle, I at least believe in the possibility to rethink, what do you think?

And one last thought: and after having rethought, we just need to figure out what to do with the Frankenstein's Monster called the capitalist system, that we created but that grew out of our control and now is controlling us instead of the opposite.

Well, good night!

Happy hour in town

2009-05-16T21:01:00.005+02:00

Hallo!

What a wonderful day today. Just feels so good, being here, weekend, writing on the last page of thesis, listening to good music, finally having some time to sit in the sofa doing nothing.

Went to town today for something I'm not really used to doing, buying a suit, or whatever it is called for ladies. It is for the conference in June here in Bonn, being there part of the secretariat one must look representative of course..:) Found a black one at H&M, even if I didn't really want to buy something from there it was actually the best one. And cheapest. Also found another nice one at another place, more than double the price...

And, funny Bonn, today had lunch during "Happy hour" at Uni Grill or something, falafel 1e:) Can it get any better? (And it was a good one.) The day culminated at the hairdresser's, a cheap place that was recommended by one of my german friends. And it turned out well, now have short hair again after five years, feels nice.

The longer I am here, the more I realize how small this town actually is. But it is amazingly nice, really like it, and don't think I would ever think it is too small! Also, really liking it at the secretariat. We are four people in our room, and at times it is loud, disturbing to listen to other peoples telephone conversations, but at times it is quiet, someone is offering the other ones fruit, and often I am enjoying the humor that has evolved between us, a Srilankan, a Polish and a Rumanian.

The adaptation team is also going for common lunches on quite a regular basis, and there was one last week as well. It was very nice, and, expensive, since we went to a very nice restaurant to celebrate a person who got a position within the team.

This week I thought about all the biking made here, and counted that in a week it makes 5 hours!! Biking to the secretariat and back takes half an hour one way. Speaking of vardagsmotion - every-day-excercise! And half of the way is in a big park along the Rhine. This has actually become one of the highlights of the day. Seeing the water, sometimes biking the same speed as some ship going upstream, and being surrounded by trees and grass fields, good start of the day. Even when it is raining.

Thought of telling a bit more about my work, it has been concentrated around different aspects of gender and climate change, from making the linkage to being more specifik around how this should be considered when addressing climate change. Together with another intern that is also working on gender but within another area, we have made a joint fact sheet, that we will present to our supervisors on Monday. Then I have two more fact sheets going on, so hopefully I can soon post links to the websites! But next week I will spend on helping one of my supervisors with updating another webpage.

By the way, have you taken a look at the Tällberg foundation publication that I mentioned before? If not, do it and you will understand much more what its all about the next time you read something about climate change in the newspaper!

http://www.tallbergfoundation.org/Portals/0/Document/Grasping_the_climate_crisis.pdf

Have a good weekend. And thanks by the way for comments on the blog, nice to read from you - you are always welcome to leave a footprint after you have been here!

On request:) (the same one that was sent to my mum, on request...)

Fact sheets and racing

2009-05-12T22:37:00.003+02:00

Intensive times here. One can notice the June meeting in Bonn is getting closer, these days there is a pre meeting at the secretariat and Magda in my room has during the last days been occupied with copying documents, putting them into folders and we have been flooded by these folders, and today she was receiving guests, one flew in from Australia and came directly to the secretariat. It is kind of exciting to be there, even though I dont really know what is going on, since I have quite a lot to do my self. Now working on 3 fact sheets for the web, getting comments from my supervisors, making a new draft, getting comments on them.

For the rest made an interview for my thesis with a Norweigan guy at the REDD programme today. It will be a very interesting input into the thesis on national parks and indigenous people. The thesis itself is in a phase now that I cannot call anything else than a race. And it sounds pretty much like it when I sit here typing, trying to reach up to 500 letters a minute or something.

Time to go to bed. Hopefully do thesis work tomorrow morning like 1 hour before work. I have noticed it is better to arrive a little later (up til 9.30) than leaving early.

Take care!

Countdown clock

2009-05-03T18:06:00.004+02:00

Tjena, just posted the cool countdown clock on the blog, and if you want to use it as well it can be found on

http://unfccc.int/home/items/4688.php

Now, back to thesis writing:)

Empiror without clothes

2009-05-02T10:01:00.002+02:00

May 2nd today, and the usual celebration of wappen and first of May has gone by without noticing, they dont celebrate it here. But, today there is some event called "Rhine in flammen", probably will check that out, at least from my window since it is in the direction of the river:)

For the rest re-reading a publication called "grasping the climate crisis" by the Tällberg foundation. Fantastic thing! Found a few, actually many, new favorite quotas, like

The empiror of the global economy has no clothes

Mening that "we" refuse to see the intimate link between the economic and environmental crisis. Both are the result of an economic policy framework that stimulates immediate value creation at the level far beyond the assets (or capital) available, whether financial or natural.
And further: The principles on which the economic system is based - separated as it is from the natural world - have put humankind on a collision course with the Earth's physical and biological systems.

Refreshing reading. It can actually be found on
http://www.tallbergfoundation.org/Portals/0/Document/Grasping_the_climate_crisis.pdf

Have a good day!

221 days left to Copenhagen

2009-04-29T22:15:00.003+02:00

Hi guys,

these are just so extremely interesting, exciting times! Engage in the climate movement, write an email to the prime minister, a short letter to the editor, take part in the public debate, organize debates and require answers and responsible action from members of parliament, the government. Let this become a global movement, be yourself the change you want to see. This is the time!!!

All the time learning more of the role of the secretariat, that their role is the one of the negotiator, and all the work is done within the countries. The role of the secretariat is to support states to combat climate change, to collect information sent from the countries, organize the conferences, to provide organizational support and technical expertise. But the mandate does not allow it to directly work for a certain agenda. So, once again, the work you do in your countries is crucial, and the action with the T-shirts saying "how old will you be in 2050?" that was distributed by youth to negotiators at one of the recent conferences, in Bonn in March i belive, seems to have been successful in getting their message through! :)

My work focuses on the gender aspect of adaptation to climate change. Those who are interested in the adaptation programme in general I can recommend to take a look at the website
www.unfccc.int
->Adaptation ->Nairobi Work Programme. This is what I have spent half of my time at the secretariat with :) Reading reading.

For the rest; found a yoga lesson that is very nice, calmer, and will attend that once a week! I must admit that it was a bit of a challenge to lie down with eyes closed, getting instructions on breathing and focus in German. But, after all it went quite fine, and the advantage is that they say more or less the same things every time...

Take care. Excellencies, Ministers, distinguished delegates, honourable guests, ladies and gentlemen, good night.

Hiking & snail performance

2009-04-26T20:23:00.018+02:00

Time to go brown.
On saturday we went hiking in a nature conservation area on the other side of the river, Bernadette who lent me a bike and her friend Judith. And her dog Ben.

View over the Rhine and Bonn.

Today tried out a new falafel place in the neighbourhood, and this was a good one. All falafel places have their own specialities, in the salad mix, consistence of the falafel and the sauce. The best ones can still be found in Lund, at a place close to Mårtenstorget. Å Lund - missing familiar places and meeting friends on the streets! Luckily some of you will come here in a month. Right now thinking of how many people to host here at my place. Hopefully we can arrange some more accomodation togeather with Judith and Bernadette.

And last but not least, two pictures from today. Performance going on just outside the door;

...a snile bow, a pirouette. How long did this take him or her to make?

Bonn in June!

2009-04-23T21:32:00.018+02:00

Getting really excited over the unfccc meeting in Bonn in June, when reading about plans over there in Lund - hoping to see many HU people here then:) There certainly is space for a few of you in my room.

Today was the day when the doors to the Castle of the secretariat opened. The castle is where Executive Secretary Yvo and some more are sitting, while the rest of the around 300 people sit in the building next to it. Well me and another girl got a short tour in the quiet castle. All of the staff were on a retreat day, and we were only a few left.

And all the stuff I am reading these days, on gender and climate change, it is just so interesting...!

Thesis is now requiring its daily attention, but before that I just wanted to show you the cooking facilities over here, which I find sort of amusing.

Matti N

2009-04-23T00:31:00.004+02:00

Just a few words before going to bed - the Finns in Bonn (the Finnish maffia) is omnipresent. To this date here are 4,5 ones. The four I mentioned before and Janne who has a Finnish mother but does not speak Finnish.

We just went for a beer with people from the secretariat, and one third of the group came from, yes you know. Sorry for going on about these Finns, but I must just mention that matti nykänen was on the agenda tonight, partly because a norweigan of the group was wondering how matti is doing nowadays. Apparently not only media in Finland is following the guy.

Tomorrow there will be staff retreat for most people, but we are a few that will be working. yep, time for bed..

Botanical garden

2009-04-19T21:30:00.008+02:00

There is a lot going in the same colour in this page I start noticing... well it is spring time!

The picture of today is from Kessenicher Schloss, a castle with a botanical garden that is just here in the neighbourhood. Went there to read a broschure on climate change and gender, nice to be in a student environment, many young people hanging in the park, playing football, laying in the sun, eating ice cream.

Today also a warmer day, after a whole day of rain on Friday.

Speaking about Finns, last night there was a Finnish evening at a restaurant in town, they have a "stammtisch", meeting up once a month to eat and drink togeather. I went there for a while, as did one other of the Finnish from the secretariat. Funny. All these Finns!

For the rest, today worked a bit on the human ecology thesis, still quite a few things to be done on that one... would be good to finish it and being able to concentrate fully on things here. Well, sakta men säkert...

Role of the youth

2009-04-19T21:14:00.003+02:00

I was writing on this post already yesterday, but time goes so fast sitting here at the laptop, and suddenly it was already time to go to the centre to meet Michelle, who is another young at the secretariat, she is there for two months as a consultant.

One of the things I have thought about is the very important role of the youth! When I a few times have said I was at COP14 in Poznan as part of the international youth delegation they have seemed very positive. I am still learning more about the role of the secretariat in the whole process, but the visibility of youth that puts pressure on governments and public opinion is crucial, and I think you guys in Lund are doing a great job, being at faculties and in town speaking to people, arising awareness on these questions and encouraging people to contact negotiators and ministers. Keep up the good work (I know you will)! :)

And, since I happen to have sooo many pictures of flowers, I'd like to give a bunch of them to you!

Weekend

2009-04-18T12:40:00.004+02:00

Good morning, even if it is not actually morning any longer. Puh, weekend, nice! Starting with a 2 day week was quite perfect. Getting a glimpse of the secretariat including getting lost a couple of times in the wall to wall carpet corridores, meeting some new people and getting some stuff to read. And now two days time to digest. And continue reading of course.

Out of many impressions from the last two days I must mention the Finns - this far I have met in total three more! Amazing. One of them is working with the Bali Road Map, and we were three Finns at the lunch yesterday, funny and unexpected to speak Finnish here in Bonn. Looking forward to speaking more to all of them. There is also a Norweigan guy who is working with the REDD programme and I hope to have lunch with him perhaps during next week. All of the people I have met there are so nice, friendly, committed to what they are doing. And these are busy times, of course. Getting things done for the next meeting in June here in Bonn means long and hard days of work.

However, they say it is very calm in the corridors right now, apparently there will be a lot more bustle and noice once everyone is back from Easter holidays. In my room there will be two more people that I have not yet met.

Yoga in German last night was interesting but I will not continue this class. It was an Ashtanga yoga beginners class, but quite focused on doing the positions right (with kind of a German discipline). Missing the yoga in Lund with Nadja and Anna, missing the flow. But standing upside down again was very nice and I will definitely go for some other class!

First day

2009-04-16T23:53:00.003+02:00

First day in office, and have shaken many hands, got a place to sit on, met one of those who will be my closest colleagues (the rest are still on easter holiday) and another finnish woman who is also working there!

I think it will be a very interesting time there, learning a lot. To start with I will read more about the work of this adaptation programme, and later on probably do something for the website.

And funny things happening - I just came home after meeting a girl that I spoke to in town a few days ago. We were then sitting on the same bench in town and started chatting, changed email adresses, and well she said she could lend me a german sim card for the cell phone. Today we met and then she said she could also lend me a bike!! So, now I have a bike. Wonderful. She also took me to her friends place, we had chocolate cappochino, chatting and her friend invited me to her bday party that will be in a week or so.

Now, again, time to go to bed. Tomorrow evening, time for first yoga class over here (thanks Annika for your encouragement!)

Day before the day

2009-04-15T20:44:00.010+02:00

All this sun, all these blossoming trees, all colours and smells have made these four days a very nice welcome, and I have had the chanse to get to know the town a bit. The more I see the more I realize there is still to explore though...! Actually I could recommend Bonn as a travel destination, for vacation, one of few towns I feel this way about.

Well, tomorrow it starts. Internship time. Today took a walk down to the building where unfccc is located, which is not in the tall UN building, but a bit further down the river. The house, or castle, is called Haus Carstanjen and this was where the Marshall Plan was signed. Compared to the UN campus this seemed much more informal, people were walking by the house, sitting in the grass. And many were were biking or rollerblading along the bike path by the river. Two men sat by the river fishing. And I was standing there, looking at the sign saying United Nations/Vereinte Nationen, thinking of how everything ... is located somewhere. I mean we are approaching climate negotiatins that are (supposed) to affect the whole world, and here you are standing outside the office that is preparing it, and it is located at a small street, in somebody's neighbourhood.

Yeah. All these impressions makes my brain soon want to have vacation from what has this far been my vacation! Have taken so many pictures that finally, today when walking back home through an impressive park, picking up the camera just felt like an energy consuming act. Luckily tomorrow I will get something new to think about. And now I would like to conclude with something nice in german, but since my skills are limited, I will just say gute Nacht:)

"Langer Eugen"

2009-04-14T16:42:00.010+02:00

It has been a sunny day in Bonn, that is still going on outside my open window, but I felt like withdrawing to my room after spending something like five hours out in town.

I must tell you it is very nice here right now, like it is in the beginning of a new experience; waking up in the morning, it is the second, third or fourth day and you have a whole new town beneath you (that is when I am in the room at 3rd floor...), you walk down the stairs and head for a new direction, not knowing what to find, just taking it in as it comes to you.

Yesterday afternoon I went jogging to the UN campus by the Rhine, that is about two kilometers from where I live in Kessenich. All these magnificent buildings! Oh god, I think I did not really know where I was going before coming here! I mean they line up along the streets in the centre; you have the UN building "Langer Eugen" that can be seen from almost everywhere in town (in the first picture it is in the middle, in the haze), you have a palace that was the seat of the Federal Chancellors from 1949-76, a villa that is the official recidence of the Federal Presidents since 1950, to mention but a few. But of course, Bonn used to be the federal capital for 50 years. Still it has a very nice atmosphare and I am sort of surprised that it is not a bigger city.

For the rest I am doing my best to adopt to the new circumstanses, that includes speaking german. Genau und vielen dank, and now I am happy for the five years of learning german in highschool!

Just wanted to check the temperature outside and borrowed a thermometer from the hall. It says 26 degrees.

Oster Montag

2009-04-13T13:53:00.004+02:00

The day is cloudy, a bit foggy. In the morning I went for a walk up the hill, which seems to be a big area. High trees, a hospital area and through the haze I got a glimpse of the surroundings, on one hillside horse paddings!

Easter Monday means everything is still closed, and by now the food I brought with med for the trip is finished. Bought some bread and cheese at a gas station that I passed on the way down the hill, and looking forward to tomorrow and normal opening hours. Still have some chocolate though, and have been sending friends in Lund thankful thoughts for their gifts! And to others for providing me with the books. This far I have learned Facts about Finland and about the tribute to slowness.

Due to the weather the picnic is cancelled, so might take another walk to the centre and the tourist office.

Bonn!

2009-04-12T13:07:00.007+02:00

So, here we are! I arrived late last night by train from Lund in south of Sweden, after a 12 hour journey. By then it was already dark, but walking through the small train station and finding a taxi already gave me a touch of the atmosphare, it was a calm and warm evening, and there was something about this town that I liked immediately.

The train ride was a sunny one, as we passed by Copenhagen, Lübeck, Hamburg, Bremen, Dortmund, Duisburg, Düsseldorf, Köln. During the way I was enjoying the sight of what must have been hundreds of wind turbins, standing in groups of a few or up to 20 or 30 ones. Beautiful! Some of them gigantic, other ones smaller, a bit different models. Which reminded me of the plan I had of visiting a wind turbine, stand under it, listen to it. Give it a hug, to get a grip on the size of such equipment, but also it is worth a hug for being so beautiful and producing clean energy!

Well, as the plan to visit a wind turbine did not happen in Skåne even though there are numerous ones to head for, I will have a look around here.

For my 2 month stay here I rent a very nice room in a gasthaus. 3rd floor, old house, beautiful area! Close to the city centre. This morning was a very pleasant one, opening the curtains and for the first time having a look out of the window, open sight, the closest neighbour is a birch with lots of fresh leaves, it is so green here already!

There are three more people on this floor, and a great surprise was that one of them is also at one of the UN offices! So, tomorrow I might join him and some other people for a picnic. Yeah!

On the programme today is to take a walk to the city centre. One or two streets away there is a small mountain, all green, cannot wait to explore it! But let's start with the city centre, try buying a German cell phone card and as soon as possible: a bike. I'll be back ...!

The street where I live

Neighbourhood

View from my window