Category: Alltag im Exil
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Why I need you now
Ich habe mich nie hingestellt und um Unterstützung gebeten.Im Gegenteil – ich habe dieses dauerhafte, exzessive Betteln immer kritisch gesehen. Deshalb schreibe ich diesen Text nicht leichtfertig. Ich habe nur sporadischen Kontakt zu meiner Familie.Umso mehr hat mich der Anruf heute Nacht getroffen. Es brennt. Das Projekt, das ich vor vielen Jahren aufgebaut habe – Read more
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Katzenalbum #21 – Freitag, der 13. – Warum sie schwarz sind
Hey ihr Lieben, ein paar Tagewar es hierstill. Nicht, weil nichts war. Sondern weil ichviel am Computer saß. Manchmal frisst einen das einfach auf. Heute ist Freitag, der 13. Und genau deshalbwollte ich euchetwas erzählen. WarumAdi und Minnaschwarz sind. Ihr kennt diesen Spruch. Schwarze Katzevon linksund so weiter. Unglück.Pech.Böse Vorzeichen. Das gibt es nicht nurirgendwo Read more
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Cat Album #20 – Chronic, Calm, and Close
Hey everyone, today I’m checking in again with some personal news about the kitty cats. Chubby Adi still has this kind of chronic sniffles. No acute cat flu. None of the severe symptoms you usually know. Just this constant runny nose and sniffling. For years. I’m treating him with CBD oil. It helps him noticeably. Still, last night was a bit unpleasant for him again. The farmer here has a Read more
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Cat Album #19 – Workdays Without a Highlight and Technology on Trial
Yesterday was a workday without a break. Around the clock. In between, the stable—but without cats. Adi doesn’t want to come along. And Minna isn’t allowed. Her heat is tapering off. Final phase. A little more restlessness, then it’ll be calm again for a few months. That’s a good thing. So: stable rounds alone. Work alone. Cats stay inside. Anything exciting? No. And that’s the truth. This is not a place where Read more
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Cat Album #18 – Computer Work, Minna in Heat, and Why Some Doors Stay Closed
Today is not a day for big journeys. No farmer. No pelmeni. Today is computer work. I sit a lot. When I’m not in the barn, I’m translating—by hand, sentence by sentence, slowly. No auto button. No “one click.” That’s better this way. For Google. And for the text. For the cats, it’s more… tedious. Adi and Minna notice immediately: stillness, concentration, no movement. They circle around me. Read more
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Cat Album #17 – Open Doors, Clear Boundaries, and a Calmer Day After
Yesterday, more was going on than it seemed at first glance. I went over there several times. To the farmer. To his wife. We ate pelmeni. Took care of things in between. Laptop with me. A bit of internet. No clear schedule. Everything intertwined. And somewhere in between, the door wasn’t properly closed. Adi and Minna are allowed outside. They know this. They go along into the barn. They move around confidently on Read more
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Cat Album #16 – Pelmeni, reflections, and cats that know exactly when you're leaving
Today is one of those days when the rhythm is a little different. No evening barn duty. No computer until midnight. Instead: an invitation. The farmer and his wife invited me over for dinner. And I tell you: when this woman makes pelmeni, you can forget everything you’ve eaten so far. I have eaten a lot of pelmeni in my life Read more
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Cat Album #15 – Kneading, Needle Snow, and Two Very Different Mornings
We got up early this morning. Very early. Five o’clock. In theory: me. In practice: Minna. Adi was still half asleep. The big guy is not a fan of haste in the morning. He thinks the day can wait. Minna does not. Minna came straight onto my face. Then onto my neck. Then onto my chest. And then it started: the kneading. That stomping cats do since they’re babies. Pressing, stepping, Read more
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Cat Album #14 – When Even Cats Feel the Stress
Today was an exhausting day. Not physically. But mentally. Private things about me were spread on the internet. Assumptions were put out into the world. I was attributed something that I explicitly reject—the claim that I want to take the name of a famous person. That is simply false. I spent the entire day reacting. Explaining. Trying to set things straight. Read more
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Cat Album #13 – Consumption, the West Package, and Things That Simply Don’t Exist Here
The day was long. Not loud. Not spectacular. Just long. We were out and about a lot again. Barn. Back. Phone calls. Out again. Checking again. The cats were along today too. Not the whole time. Only when they wanted to. No one has to come along here. But if they do, then it’s a conscious choice. At the barn everything was calm. The sheep we had been worried about had settled back in under the Read more
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Cat Album #12 – Midnight. The End of a Long Day.
It’s midnight here. The blog post is done. The day too. One of those days that wasn’t spectacular—but heavy. Many phone calls. Many conversations. A lot of organizing. And that feeling in the evening that somehow you still weren’t enough. Not out of indifference. But because a day is finite. Minna spent a lot of time on the scratching post today. As she often does. Busy. Focused. This skinny cat, Read more
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Cat Album #11 – Barn Rounds, Responsibility, and Why Caviar Is Not Everyday Life
We have to go over to the barn several times every day. Not just once. Not “just quickly today.” Not like you leave animals alone for days. I’m only showing it to you consciously today because many people can’t really imagine what that looks like. But the walk is part of everyday life. In the morning. In between. And again in the evening. Checking in. Inspecting. Staying present. That’s how things work here. Today we had to be especially attentive Read more