Protests and encounters

I decided in the afternoon to update my blog in the evening and although I'm feeling quite tired it seems I'm doing it anyway. It's been quite rainy here, a couple of hours ago I finally went to photograph the neigbourhood with all the wonderful DDR ramschackle houses in the area and it started to rain and thunder really hard.

Before that I was finally for the first time in the Spinnerei, al old fabric area here around the corner, which nowadays hosts all kinds of artist's studios and other creative things. We have Natalia's argentinian mother living in the house for four weeks and she is having an exhibition in Spinnerei. Natalia is a tango teacher and for the first time I also saw her dance a little bit in the opening of the exhibition today. I heard that this weekend there was a big party in Spinnerei as it has its 125th birthday. Damn, missed it! There are so many interesting things going on in this city the whole time, you could get stressed only by trying to go to all of them... Last week there was the yearly Bach-Festival in the city and I went to two concerts, both quite modern in style though and not only music from Bach. Yes, JS Bach used to live in Leipzig and that's why they have this festival every year.

At the moment there are quite many people in the kitchen eating and talking in Spanish. Natalia's mum can only speak Spanish, she seems to be a lovely lady, but we really have some communication problems.. There is a lot of Spanish in the house as Crisu also speaks Spanish, there's a Argentinian lady living in the first floor and Natalia's Argentinian friend Sadja practically lives here - although at the moment she is sleeping somewhere als because the mother has taken her bed. Well, maybe my Spanish will improve... And I get to know Argentinian culture, for example eating dinner around midnight!

Otherwise I'm just busy preparing presentations for the university - two a week...- and wondering about the actual size of the world. I have had some very interesting encounters here. Like meeting a lady called Maire at my salsa lesson, who had no idea her name is of Finnish origin. Or that my salsa teacher knows my Finnish salsa teacher. Or the German African studies student I met at a party who had lived many years in Finland and could still speak some Finnish.

But the most amazing of all the encounters have been suddenly meeting Hanna Küstner at a African sociolinguistics lecture. She worked in the same orphanage as me in Kenya, there were two German girls who came reagularly to New Life Home and with who I spent quite a lot of time. We lost contact during the years, but suddenly I meet Hanna here in Leipzig. Amazing! The other girl, Johanna, is married and living in Nürnber with his little son and husband, I try to visit her also. The world is really small... And Hanna lives just around the corner also here in Plagwitz!

I kind of feel sorry that I'm leaving in six weeks as now I'm finally starting getting to know my fellow students. The atmosphere at the Institute of African Studies is not the best at the moment, though. Last week things got really bad as it was finally decided who is going to be the new professor after mr Wolff retires. There has been a HUGE debate already for a year or so about the direction of the African Studies in Leipzig. African studies in Leipzig have been specialized more in social studies than linguistics, which are the main area in almost all other African Studies institutes in Germany. The other two professors are not linguists, and now the new professor is also an ethnologist. That means that the African linguistics in Leipzig are really in danger. They are also firing some people, who have been responsible for teaching literature and linguistics. It's unsure even how the institute will be able to provide the obligatory linguistics cources that are needed for bachelor..

The atmosphere is really tensed, the staff is really divided into two camps - linguistics and those in favor of a social approach. There have apparently been even meetings to discuss the future of the institute where the linguistics teachers weren't invited at all. And the linguistics professor mr Wolff didn't attend the big African Studies conference couple of weeks ago, which was a clear expression of opinion, as the conference themes were not related to languages and it was more organized by the economics and history professors. It was a really big conference and I think it was really weird that one of the professors didn't attend it although it was in the home town of the university...

Otherwise there have been also big demonstrations at the university against the Bologna process and the new university laws which make studying more difficult and strict, and the university structure less democratic. I haven't been following the debate closely, but for example one floor of the university's new seminar building has been occupied for more than one months now with rebelling students and all kind of actions and happenings have been organized. Last week was the big strike week at the university with really big demonstrations in the city.

My last six weeks in Leipzig are quite booked with all kind of nice things to do, and school stuff. Laura from Helsinki ist coming here 18th to 21st July and around 30th July Carin drives here from Amsterdam. After spending a couple of days here we will go to Prag, and after a couple of days there drive to Amsterdam. I want to go there to meet friends before I come up north. I think I'll book a flight from Amsterdam to Helsinki on 9th of August. I hope to see friends in Amsterdam and the beautiful canals and maybe my host sister Rosa who is pregnant - I'm thus also going to be a host-aunt this year and not only biological aunt.. ;)

Now I've been sitting too long and my back needs a break and some stretching. I really feel the weather in my poor bones have been aching quite a lot. Everybody hopes that the real summer comes soon - sitä odotellessa, Gute Nacht!