Monthly Archives: December 2024

December 2024

We are now in one of the darkest months of the year. December has always been special to me, and I love decorations and other Christmas-related things. As much as I think it is nice to remove the decorations after New Year’s.

Snowflakes falling. A walk in a temperature below zero degrees with snow and sun. Where the frost has bitten the trees. My dog sniffs for traces of the hare that has just jumped into the snow in the field. Some mulled wine and ginger cookies when I get home. In moments like this, I like to listen to Puccini, which reflects the sharp, severe cold winter weather.

Today, it is Lucia. I still remember many Christmas carols, the nervousness before my verse was to be read, and the candle wax, which unfortunately blurred the text on the paper cuff, so it could not be read.

Ending by sharing some music. Maybe some people from the party last summer will read this. Wasn´t she wonderful, Anna (not me), who sang in the greenery by the blooming fields? Right in the middle of summer.

Vietnam December 2017

A former colleague from Astra Zeneca moved with his family to Vietnam and I visited for a few days. I had the opportunity to see Vietnam and traveled to the myth-surrounded Hanoi. I was traveling alone but felt safe despite the huge and intense city. The French movie “Indochine” with Catherine Deneuve, which I saw several years ago, made me visit the French Quarter (see above).

A long ride by train brought me to southern Vietnam and HCMC, a vibrant city with historical elements like Hanoi. HCMC is a thrilling city where I had the film “Good Morning, Vietnam” with Robin Williams on my retina. I learned that there are many underground tunnel systems that I never visited. I visited a museum where Vietnam and the United States today are unified (see below). Such a long time ago, yet so historically close.

Movies romanticize, but when reality is incomprehensible and cruel, I want to escape to the world of movies. This was seven years ago. Will I ever go to Jerusalem?

Time will tell.