Ruhrgebiet: Urbanatix – NOW!

Have you ever seen free runners, dancers, acrobats, bikers, trickers, acrobats and live musicians performing a show together?  No? If you think “That sounds pretty amazing”, you should definitely not miss out on visiting an Urbanatix show in Bochum.

Urbanatix has been founded as a project for young artists in 2010, when the Ruhr Region was named European Capital of Culture – RUHR.2010. Since everybody liked the young innovative artists’ shows so much back then, it has become an institution in this region ever since.

That is why what is now one of the region’s greatest crew of street artists and acrobats presented its new show in Bochums’ Jahrhunderthalle, a great event center, past Friday. About 50 regional and international artists will be playing a total of 16 shows until Tuesday, November 24th, in front of a total of about 20.000 spectators .

Urbanatix 2015 by Christian Rocketchris Glatthor

Urbanatix 2015 by Christian Rocketchris Glatthor

Urbanatix 2015 by Christian Rocketchris Glatthor

Urbanatix 2015 by Christian Rocketchris Glatthor

Urbanatix 2015 by Christian Rocketchris Glatthor

Urbanatix 2015 by Christian Rocketchris Glatthor

Urbanatix 2015 by Christian Rocketchris Glatthor

Urbanatix 2015 by Christian Rocketchris Glatthor

Urbanatix 2015 by Christian Rocketchris Glatthor

Urbanatix 2015 by Christian Rocketchris Glatthor

Urbanatix 2015 by Christian Rocketchris Glatthor

I got to have a glimpse at their dress rehearsal past Thursday – and I loved the show even more than I did past year. “NOW!”  contains everything a good show needs in my opinion: great music by a percussionist, beat boxers and a great DJ, incredibly skilled and versatile artists and an impressively dynamic scenery put together in 100 minutes of a uniquely dynamic, varied and entertaining show.

Thank you to the Urbanatix media team for supplying me with pictures and giving me a chance to watch this show once more. 

A lesson in enjoying the moment

My workcamp group In Sega, Kenya, presented a German gospel during mass. Athough we had practiced our performance before, we were quite nervous about it. In order to proove our courage to our friends back home, we asked someone to tape us singing and dancing. Unfortunately, she failed to do so. Although we did a great job on stage and our spectators seemed to like our performace, I was crushed about not having a taped memory of it.

Luckily, I noticed how stupid this thought was quite quickly. Here’s why:

We did a great job. We had fun. We made more than a thousand of other people happy. Last but not least: We made a memory. So what’s there to be sad about? Nothing!

Taking a picture or enjoying the moment?

Although I love taking pictures while traveling, I’ve recently tried to cut it down to a minimum. Don’t get me wrong. It’s nice to have photos and videos as memories of great experiences made, beautiful places visited and wonderful people met. I also love sharing my (traveling) pictures with family and friends as much as I enjoy looking at their pictures. However, as times passes, I sometimes wonder what I’m actually remembering: the “true memory” or a static picture of it, FESTGEHALTEN with a camera.

Does it really matter?, you might wonder. To me, it does. I don’t want to have a nice view through the occular of my camera only. I’d rather like to feel the sun, rain or wind on my skin, inhale a place’s unique smell and try to take a vivid picture with my inner eye. I want to enjoy the moment while I’m living it, not only afterwards when looking at pictures.

Looking at photos and videos is a great way to remember memories made in past days. However, they shouldn’t stay onedimensional but remind us of those unique experiences we made, beautiful places we visited and the wonderful people we met. So next time you’re taking pictures and looking at them a while later, try to ask yourself: How did the place smell? What did it feel like? What did YOU feel like? Trust me, you’ll SCHWELGEN IN ERINNERUNGEN even longer than you normally do.

What’s your favorite memory?

What’s your favorite picture taken while traveling?

Check out those inspirational articles by my blogging colleagues:

Matador Network: “Don’t see traveling as a checklist”

Journey of Wonders: Photography tips

Masai Mara – crossed of my list

Masai Mara National Park is probably one of the most famous in Kenya for it’s the second half of the Tanzanian Serengeti. That’s why most of my workcamp participants had been looking forward to visit  in order to see the Big Five (elephant, lion, buffalo, leopard, rhino). However, I didn’t like it as much as I expected to.

The reason: I found it quite expensive and too crowded. Besides, I had probably lost my hard to my surprising favorite Lake Nakuru National Park a couple of days before. If you expect nothing you can’t be disappointed, I guess.

The lesson: I like to explore hidden treasures (at least the not-so-famous-and-crowded-places) more than visiting super famous places. I love to watch animals. Masai Mara’s sheer endless landscape is very impressive anyways.

Two of hundreds of safari cars driving tourists through Masai Mara.

However, all in all, I nevertheless enjoyed our trip through Masai Mara.

Leopards

Our tent

Elephants

Landscape

Dawn

Vuture

Cute Zebras

Wildebeest

Visiting Naivasha, Kenya

When traveling Kenya, Naivasha is a great place to stop by. Amongst other things, you can go on nice bike rides (we decided against mountain biking off road) to spot some animals, spend the night in cozy bandas (huts) or go on a boat ride on Lake Naivasha.

My favorite experiences: Going on a boat ride to see hippos and pelicans during dawn and see a thousand pretty cacti (yes, I find them pretty).

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In love with Nakuru National Park, Kenya

It might be hard to believe for many but my favorite place to travel to in Kenya was not Masai Mara but another, not so famous place called Nakuru. We spent about one and a half days and one night in Nakuru National Park. What I loved about it: it’s not as crowded as other parks yet one can gaze at countless amazing, pretty, cute wild animals. I’ll just leave you with some pictures – I promise you’ll love it!

The cutest baby zebra ever

Flamingo

Pumba!

I call it “Mohawk bird”

Shiny bird

Dirty buffalo

Let the safari begin

Landscape

Reedbuck

Monkey mom and baby

Male adolescent lion

Ostrich

Monkey

Monkey man

Lake Nakuru and flamingos

Running impala

Rhinos and other animals

Zebras

Flamingoes

A picture for my Mom ❤

Monkey

Mareike

One of many tiny birds

Little impalas

Buffalo

Lion mommy and her kids

Lion mommy and her kids

Beautiful view

What’s your favorite place in Kenya?

Exploring Kakamega Rainforest, Kenya

During our stay in Kenya, we didn’t want to miss to explore the country’s only rainforest. The famous tropical rainforest is 240 km² wide and inhabited by around 300 different kinds of trees, bushes, orrchids and farns as well as numerous different birds and monkeys.

Our guide Moses did a great job in explaining different plants’ functions – rural medicals use some of them to treat illnesses – and spotting monkeys for us.

Good thing I had bought a new camera before leaving to Kenya which enabled me to zoom in well enough to snap pictures of some of the monkeys high above our heads.

Visiting Kisumu and Lake Victoria, Kenya

Day trips are fun, especially when they’re distracting you from everyday life in a lovely yet tiny town such as Sega.

That’s why my workcamp group decided to take a trip to Kisumu, Kenya’s third largest town, and stop by Lake Victoria, the world’s third largest sweet water lake.

The matatu (small bus) or cashier (big bus) ride from Sega to Kisumu takes about 2,5 hours and costs 250 KES (ca. $2,50). There are numerous things to do in Kisumu, here’s what we decided on:

Visit the Kisumu National Museum

Learn more about the Luo culture and see a reconstruction of a traditional Luo homestead.

Reconstruction of a typical Luo homestad

The museum also contains a collection of African snakes, sweet water aquariums and two crocodiles which are kept in tiny cages.If you’re an animal lover, skip those parts of the exhibition. It broke my heart to see those animal vegetating. The exhibition hall about traditional Luo crafts and handiwork also contains preserved animal heads as well as a preserved lion and buffallo body. The museum claims all those animals died a natural death and we’re preserved for research purposes only.

Entrance Fee: 100 KES ($ 1) for Kenyan citizens, 200 KES ($ 2) for East African citizens, 500 ($ 5) for foreign citizens.

Visit Dunga Beach

Eat freshly fried fish or your own picnic while enjoying a beautiful view over Lake Victoria. Watch the fisherman sail across the lake in their colourful boats and see the women prepare the fish to be sold on markets nearby. Watch hundreds of birds eat the fish leftovers. Go on a boatride across the lake (100 KES).

Watch storks

The girls before the boatride

Woman frying fish

Pretty boats

Freshly fried fish

Fisherwoman and storks

Tiny dried fish

Lunch break

Watch boats

The day’s biggest fish: 62 kg

Pretty boats at Lake Victoria

Last but not least: take a matatu back home and enjoy the silence in a small but lovely and wonderful town like Sega.

The workcamp I am conducting is organized by the German organization Kolping Jugendgemeinschaftsdienste. To learn more about their work and possibilites to participate in a workcamp in different countries all over the world, check out their website.

Learning Luo and Kiswahili in Sega

Our hosts in Kenya, the members of St. Anne’s Catholic Church Sega, did their best to introduce us to as many of their traditions and customs as possible. This also included teaching us Swahili and giving each of us Luo names.

Laura Atchiene

The term “Luo” determines both, an ethnic group located in Western Kenya, as well as this group’s cultural practices and language.

In addition to their regular first name, Luos use surnames according to their times of birth. For women, those are:

Assien = In the morning
Atchiene = during day time
Adhiambo = in the evening
Atieno = at night
Find a list of more Luo surnames here.

Since I was born around noon, my Luo name is Laura Atchiene. Sounds nice, huh?

Useful kiswahili words

Jambo!

Betty, a girl from Nairobi, who decided to join our workcamp group, is doing a great job teaching us Swahili. In return,we are teaching her the equivalent German phrases.

Swahili	English	German
Jambo!	Hello	Hallo.
Habari yaki?	How are you?	Wie geht es dir?
(Msuri) sana.	(Very) good.	(Sehr) gut.
Asante (sana).	Thank you (very much).	(Vielen) Dank!
Karibu!	Welcome! You’re welcome.	Willkommen! Gern geschehen.
Karibu chakula.	Enjoy your meal.	Guten Appetit.
It’s delicious.	Ni tamo.	Es schmeckt gut.
Hakuna matata!	No worries!	Kein Problem!
Kwaheri	Good bye.	Auf Wiedersehen.
Lala Salama	Good night.	Gute Nacht.

This is my favorite song to remember the most important phrases. My friends from Tanzania tought me the song when we met during the International Youth Weeks in Frankfurt.

For the Germans among my readers: “Reise Know-How. Kauderwelch. Kisuahili Wort für Wort” by Hartmut Fiebig is a great book to learn Swahili. My travel guide recommendation is “Reise Know-How. Kenia kompakt” by Hartmut Fiebig. It’s a brief (300 pocket-size pages) introduction into Kenya’s culture, language and valuable travel advices for the major touristic places.

Jambo from Sega, Kenya

I returned to Germany in the end of September but didn’t find the time to organize and upload my pictures and articles yet. However, I eventually managed to do so. That’s why I’m happy no announce a series of posts about my life in Kenya. I’ll just pretend to still be on the road since I actually wrote the texts while traveling but didn’t get a chance to upload them due to a lack of proper internet connections. 

About Sega

Sega is a little village in Western Kenya. It’s located about 100km away from the country’s third largest city Kisumu and 80 km away from the Uganda border. It’s also one of the most peaceful places I’ve ever been to. The parish the six workcamp participants and me live in is located near a major route of this rural area yet you rarely ever hear a car passing by. Instead, the soundscape surrounding us offers gospel songs sung in church, playing children’s laughter, cocks, cows, pigs and heavy rains falling on our roof every evening between six and nine. If you walking down the road for a few minutes, you reach the market – the perfect place to buy everyday goods and jonnng the busy yet super relaxed and incredibly friendly Kenyans shopping, chatting and laughing together.

What do we do all day?

Most of our days start by waking up to cocks making a lot of noise and the sun shining through our windows, hitting our faces through the mosquito nets follow by having a rainwater shower by pouring the cold water over our heads and bodies using a little pot. Around eight, we have breakfast and afterwards split the group in two. One half, the four nurses in training among us, visits either the Health Center or the Mission Hospital to learn more about HIV- and malaria tests, voluntary male circumcision, family planning methods and the treatment of minor wounds and infections. The other three girls, including me and Betty from Nairobi, who decided to join our workcamp group, join the parish’s housemaids Vicky and Margaret in preparing lunch (I’ll tell you more about traditional Kenyan food in another post). After lunch at 1 p.m., we have a break, until those who worked at the hospital in the morning prepare our dinner and those who cooked lunch offer games and sportive activities to children from the near kindergarten or secondary school. Unfortunately, most teachers in Kenya have been on strike for higher wages throughout the past week, so that all but one schools in Sega were closed. Around 6 p.m. – that’s when the daily rainfalls usually start –our group meets back in our cozy house to play games and talk about the experiences we made that day. After having dinner together with Father Dan and Father Edwin, the two amazingly smart and funny priests of the parish hosting us, chattering with them and practicing our Luo (that’s the local dialect spoken in this area), we return to the guest hose to play games until we go to bed around 11 p.m.

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Make sure to stop by again to learn more about

• What we eat in Sega
• Learning Swahili and Luo in Sega
• And many of our upcoming activities.

The workcamp I am conducting is organized by the German organization Kolping Jugendgemeinschaftsdienste. To learn more about their work and possibilities to participate in a workcamp in different countries all over the world, check out their website.

Quote of the day (#8): Lasting a lifetime

Today, I am going to quote myself. I wrote those words only a couple of days ago while evaluating and reflecting upon my Erasmus semester in Debrecen, Hungary. I am writing this post while I should actually be packing suitcase. I didn’t think this was ever going to happen when I first arrived here, but I am super melancholy right now. Great memories made lay behind and great adventures and challenges lay ahead of me. I am incredibly excited to be surrounded by my family and friends back home in Germany again.

However, wherever you go, you leave part of your heart. I will most certainly miss living right next to a beautiful park, studying in a pretty university building, having brunch, lunch and dinner with my friends, going to Erasmus events, traveling a lot (at least I’ll stick with that one) and spending precious moments discussing our lives. Thank you for everything, my dear friends in Debrecen. Sziasztok!

Enjoying the view and treasuring the moment in Pécs, Hungary.

Studying abroad is an experience producing relationships and memories that can last a lifetime.You might struggle to keep in touch with your friends back home. You re-evaluate your interpersonal relationships on numerous levels. You build new friendships. Some of those might last a lifetime. You learn a new language. You learn to find your way around a formerly unknown surrounding. You get a chance to grow academically. More importantly, you grow personally. You might face some obstacles – and will most certainly overcome them. And most of all, you learn to enjoy every moment of your life, remember the importance of appreciation and to treasure the memories and friendships you make for they might last a lifetime.” (Laura Konieczny)