A blog from Laura Naumann. So good, I have to share it (in German).

Die Coronakrise erscheint Laura Naumann als surreales Theaterstück, dessen Auswirkungen bis vor Kurzem kaum vorstellbar waren: geschlossene Grenzen, Menschen, die sich freiwillig totalüberwachen lassen oder ein Umarmungsverbot.

Wenn das Leben die Fiktion einholt: Grenzkontrollen wegen Corona – fast als wär’s ein Theaterstück.

„Ich hatte eine Idee für ein neues Theaterstück, in dem ein fieses, tödliches Virus ausbricht, das sich innerhalb von Wochen über den kompletten Globus ausbreitet. Das Virus trägt den Namen einer mexikanischen Biermarke und sieht aus wie eine Koralle. Das Ganze ist ein Ballett.

Ich hatte eine Idee für ein Theaterstück, in dem in einer globalisierten Welt ein globales Problem auftritt, und alle Länder machen als erstes ihre Grenzen dicht. Ich hatte eine Idee für ein Theaterstück, in dem in Woche fünf der globalen Viruskrise ein Ranking erstellt wird, welches der schön abgeschotteten Länder der Welt jetzt als am sichersten gilt und das mit dem Krisenmanagement am besten macht. Das Publikum darf abstimmen.

Ein Theaterstück, in dem alle Menschen zu Hause bleiben.

Ich hatte eine Idee für ein neues Theaterstück, in dem alle Menschen der Welt zu Hause bleiben müssen, weil draußen das tödliche Virus umgeht und allen Menschen, die kein Zuhause haben, wird deshalb ein Zuhause gegeben: Jugendherbergen und Hotels werden umfunktioniert, leerstehende Ferienwohnungen und Airbnbs zu fairen Preisen vermietet. Und es stellt sich heraus, krass, Wohnraum ist ja gar nicht knapp. Wir haben voll genug Platz für alle und „We will leave no one behind“ – Happy End.

Ich hatte eine Idee für ein neues Theaterstück, in dem 24 weiße Männer um die 60 darüber reden, wie ein neuartiges Virus bekämpft und ein Land aus der Krise geführt werden soll. Das Stück geht 12.000 Jahre ohne Pause und wird zum Theatertreffen eingeladen. Ich hatte eine Idee für ein Theaterstück, in dem alle Schauspieler Virologen oder Minister spielen und alle Schauspielerinnen Pflegerinnen, Krankenschwestern und Kassiererinnen.

Ein Theaterstück, das nie zur Aufführung kommt.

Ich hatte eine Idee für ein Theaterstück, das nur aus Prognosen besteht.

Ich hatte eine Idee für ein Theaterstück, in dem sich Menschen freiwillig Trackingapps auf ihren Smartphones installieren, weil damit ein Virus getrackt werden soll.

Ich hatte eine Idee für ein Theaterstück, in dem eine junge Wissenschaftlerin Makro-Smartphones mit preinstallierter Tracking-Software für Viren entwickelt.

Ich hatte eine Idee für ein Theaterstück, in der es Trackingapp-Pflicht und Kontaktsperre gibt – aber für Viren.

Ich hatte eine Idee für ein Theaterstück, das in einer futuristischen Welt spielt, in der das gegenseitige Berühren von Menschen gesetzlich untersagt ist.

Ich hatte eine Idee für ein Theaterstück, in dem die Körper der Menschen über die Jahre so mutiert sind, dass sie bei jeglicher Fremd-Berührung anfangen zu glühen und zu zerfließen.

Ich hatte eine Idee für ein Theaterstück, in dem eine Gesellschaft sich heilt.

Ich hatte eine Idee für ein Theaterstück, das nie zur Aufführung kommt, weil es keine Theater gibt.“

Corona. Home Office. Week 5 (out of 7) done.

We are healthy!

Spring. Spring. Spring! Wow & yeah! And that means turning our garden into our little paradise (so thankful to be able to live here)!

We missed the seasons while living abroad for the past few years. Now we got them back and loving it. Spring is fantastic after winter! Nature awakens again.

Everything is in full bloom. Flowers. Apple trees. And allergies… BBQ smells everywhere. Sleeping with open windows (cannot get enough of the fresh air). Waking up to birdsongs (sometimes a little too early at 4am). The smell of fresh cut grass. Blue sky. A smiling sun. Summing bees. Every day. It’s a feast for the eyes. And the soul. Is nature treating us for staying at home, isolated?

Time for t-shirts, skirts, shorts & dresses & Flipflops (or Birkenstock). Colors! (And sometimes again quite chilly and time to light a fire since heating is already turned off… It’s April!).

Just sitting in the garden and staring for a while is keeping us busy these days. And happy. It’s actually wonderful!

And we did & do a lot of cooking (our favorite part of lockdown).

Pulled pork: BBQed for 10hours. Hard work for hubby (chilling next to the grill with a beer (or two)).

Cooking traditional Easter meals.

White asparagus time just started & will continue for the next weeks. Yeah!

And a carrot cake, soooo good!

We exchanged with our neighbors who also made carrot cake:

Sometimes it has to be a Döner (local support of the week).

Easter is over. And all is left from the bunny (good! I started jogging again):

I’d like to use the chance to say thank you to all the supporters going with us through the Easter isolation: many thanks goes to Professor Dr. Gin, Baron von Merlot and Dr. Riesling. Grazie to Italy, especially to Signora Prosecco and Giovanni Aperol. Merci to our French friends Mr Pastis & Mrs Rose. Thanks to all of you for your excellent support to be with us in the times of lockdown. Looking forward to your continues support in the next few weeks!

Short work weeks continue… Easter bank holidays followed by unpaid holidays… how can we ever go back to a normal 5-day week in the office? I’m wondering… (2 weeks to go and who knows how May will look like…).

Besides more wonderful things are happening:

A local shopping mall donated 8000 chocolate Easter rabbits to local hospital workers.

Stuttgart teachers are donating money (money saved from canceled Easter vacations) to support the local owners from small shops to pay their rent (wow, that’s very generous).

And finally Germany accepted to rescue 58 refugee kids from the Greek islands…

Isolation makes creative. At least most women should be able to make a (2) face mask(s) (but then no bra anymore? Your decision, ladies…):

And parents in home office. Hilarious.

And the much expected news of the week: lockdown continuous for another 2 weeks (no!!!!!) but smaller shops and book stores will reopen again next week (yeah!). Small steps towards freedom…

Off, into another long weekend in isolation with best weather in the forecast…

Time to start thinking of what to do once lockdown is coming to an end… Vorfreude ist die schönste Freude!

Corona. Home Office. Week 4 (out of 7) done (home office was extended until end of April…). Half time. Maybe. Hopeful anyway. Yeah!

We are healthy!

It’s Easter time. We are still in lockdown (our plans to be in Ireland for family visit were canceled). That didn’t hold us back from shipping Easter parcels to Ireland, China and within Germany.

Unfortunately some bunnies suffer from serious leg breaks… and 25 chocolate rabbits are not considered „hamstering“ (lucky you guys!).

Also our postman got a wee Easter gift. Best delivery man in the world (not only these days).

A 7-year old girl was writing a letter to the local police office, worried that the rabbit couldn’t deliver Easter gifts due to being locked down. Super cute.

Happy Easter to everyone!

We have been creating weekly food plans (that’s so not us…) & shopping lists to reduce going to the supermarket to once per week only (we are queuing to get in, only max. 20 people allowed inside at the same time).

We stayed at home for the past 4 weeks (wow, that’s a full month!!!). No drive to work. No meeting friends for dinner or a glass of wine. No wonder I was so excited about our girls „what’s up date“ at lunch time this week.

No more theatre visits (most shows were moved to 2021). No shopping (well, besides groceries and online). I am missing friends. And family. And colleagues. The little face to face coffee breaks and lunch times in the office are greatly missed at the moment! The discussions and the debates (I can’t believe I even miss the debates…). Yes, virtual coffee helps, but it’s not the same. I especially miss our assistance (in every Telekom from home she’s been asking in the past few weeks: is everybody dressed or in Pyjamas? Laughter. She’s hilarious).

We don’t mind the lockdown but it would be kind of nice to go out and enjoy a cappuccino in a real Café, surrounded by other people and friends and so… you know what I mean?

I don’t like the term social distancing. Keeping distance isn’t what we do as humans. We want to be close and not apart. I’m looking forward that this part is over (already having ideas for a “corona survival party”). Until then let’s think positive during these times and then we won’t mind watching the world through our windows. We are not the only ones watching out, “somebody” is also watching in:

People are good in controlling their life’s. If we can’t, we freak out. Not many things happen spontaneously anymore. At the moment I believe the worst for people is that we don’t know were current virus will lead us to. We don’t have a plan. We cannot clearly see into the future. Am I afraid? Yes & no. Yes, times are uncertain but at the same time I believe we can survive the virus somehow. And maybe things are different afterwards. So I decided to see this as a journey. A journey on which we can write our own stories, pretty much a journey through the new corona life.

Why like a journey? Because I love traveling. I love to take photos and write about it afterwards. These days I imagine we are on a discovery travel. Therefore we need to soak up all the new experiences we make. And be open for new things to happen.

Corona brings out some undiscovered talents: becoming a soup chef (that was always on my to do list): veggie soup, leek soup, asparagus soup… the choices are unlimited. And it tastes sooo good (favorite stays with the white asparagus, though and fresh herbs from the garden).

We are discovering our garden love. Time makes it possible. Finally our wish to grow veggies becomes true: paprika, chili peppers, spring onions, tomatoes, carrots, radish, potatoes, leek, mushroom, sunflowers & poppies. And they are growing. Amazing! And my creative husband built a raised planter (originally our TV was moved in that box overseas).

So there’s something about this time, while widely uncertain, that can bring us closer together – while standing 1,5m apart.

Continuously, lots of good things are happening around us:

After Angela Merkel’s Corona test result came back negative, Syrians in Idlib saying thank you with a graffiti.

Medicine students and retired doctors are offering their support & helping out in hospitals.

Thousands of Germans offered their support for the local harvest of veggies & fruits.

Our neighbors so sweet: leaving us fresh eggs from their hens.

Goose bumps while listening to New Yorkers singing Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York”. Wow! Fantastic how people stand together these days!

And the virus seems to help speed up the digitalization in companies (home Office & online orders). Impossible turns into possible (about time…).

U2 has donated several millions to Ireland to fight the virus.

Hubby and I are thinking a lot of how to support in current situation & loved ones (without being able to move… not so easy). So we started supporting the locals. Every Wednesday a different restaurant. This week: pizza & ice-cream to go from around the corner.

Baking & sharing a delicious apple tart (& cream) with the neighbors.

Buying a voucher from my hair salon to help keeping up their cash flow for the time of shutdown.

Supporting the Netherlands in decorating our home with beautiful flowers.

Offering & posting facial masks to family, friends & work colleagues (Xie xie to Mr Li).

Being loyal & shopping local:

It’s not a lot (and doesn’t feel satisfying) but at least something we can do in current situation. I hope and believe that after all this is over all that will have really mattered is how we treated each other.

Besides we are trying to do the best with and in current situation. You may think we are getting tired. Tired of being isolated. Tired of each other… well, we are not.

Instead we are enjoying the time together, roasting pekan nuts with olive oil & rosemary.

We are enjoying a Sunday breakfast in bed.

Production is increasing at Turley Bräu.

We appreciate having the time to notice the weather again. Wonderful, even it’s been a bit crazy: from +17C degrees and sunshine to -1C degree and snow the next day. Hello, April! Hello spring!

We (kind of) move slow and time moves fast. My mind has cleared up, time & space for creative ideas again. I loved preparing some creative Easter gifts for some kids… hope they are going to love it (including a break for the parents).

April is also the month when reduced work hours (and salaries) will start. Also in our company… “Worries don’t change the future but making the present difficult” – trying to not worry too much about it. And despite the reduced salary we are still in a comfortable situation. And maybe it sounds a bit naive but I’m convinced we can master current situation.

And last but not least: have you considered yet getting extra dressed up for leaving the house once per week?

Enjoy the sunny Easter weekend! #stayathome!

Verrückte Zeiten. Macht es euch so schön wie möglich.

Corona. Home Office. Week 3 (out of 5) done. Isolation was increased to 5 weeks.

The best news: we are healthy!

This weeks blog is from a dogs point of view.

Hey there! I am Charlie. I was adopted in the USA. Later I moved with my parents to China and I’m very proud that I’m the only one in the family who barks proper Mandarin!

I have been practicing my German recently to keep up with the neighbor dogs… you can see I’m quite busy (cannot wait to see which language I have to learn next). Those neighbor dogs are quite alright, one of us is usually starting to bark and then the rest of us follows. We are a great team, defending our houses. It’s quite a nice concert (and I’m sure all those post men are super scared of us).

But recently, already a couple of weeks ago now, something has changed. My parents don’t leave the house anymore… (I wonder why). And they are not very amused with our dog concerts… I can tell you! They sometimes get really angry, especially when they are on the phone (they lock themselves in different rooms for almost all day and talk to strangers on the phone). I really wonder what’s going on and don’t understand.

I am not used to them being home during the day. All day. I decided to keep follow them around in the house to find out what’s going on. I stare at them… and still don’t understand.

But it doesn’t really matter. What matters is that when they are home that means all day food & play time, right? Eating all day… what a dream.

Well, it’s now day 19 of them staying at home and what can I say… there’s not more food and not more play time. In fact, they are interrupting my routine, especially my nap time! Now they are having lunch every day. In the same room where I’m usually napping. I need some “me time”, don’t they get it? At least the weather is quite good, still a bit chilly but sunny. So I love to be outside. All by myself. Chilling in the garden, enjoying the sun.

This is how my days go recently: waking up (in the nice cozy bed of my parents).

Stretching. Walking (I love those morning walks, nobody on the roads so I’m allowed to walk & run off leash into the fields. Amazing!).

Breakfast (getting a bit worried since I heard my mum saying that the dog food has been sold out in the supermarket… but I’m sure they will figure something out). Sleeping. Treat time (bribing me! Ha! But for treats I don’t care). Play. Sleep. Walk. Sleep. Play. Dinner. Play. Sleep. What an awesome life!

I don’t mind watching the world through our windows.

Actually, its been quite all right to have them around all day!

The parents point of view:

Charlie is so innocent. She doesn’t know what a virus is. She has no glue what’s going on at the moment. Corona? What’s that? She gives kisses as usual (and she’s the only one allowed). She steels food as usual. She’s lighthearted. She’s the best dog in the world.

She doesn’t get up with us anymore… she enjoys sleeping in…

That’s how you keep a dog busy. Sharing the soup bone with her (yes, sometimes she has to to in lockdown, too. When I’m on a customer call for example…).

When she did decide to get up… She’s our little co-worker.

She’s our reason to leave the house. We are enjoying the long sunny walks as much as she does.

She can get very demanding to be played with.

Day19 at home and the dog is looking at us, “see? This is why I chew those flipflops”.

The quarantine has us realizing why the dog gets so excited when something moves outside of the house, going for walks or car rides. I think I just bathed at a squirrel.

And yes, we think we are bothering her 🙂 because we have been home since 3 weeks…

Dear Charlie, be patient, it will be a little more weeks with us 🙂

Corona. Isolation. Week 2 (out of 4) done.

The best news: we are healthy!

Week #2 started with work and unexpectedly finished early with vacation. Corona is one thing. The virus additionally and seriously impacting the European economy another thing. Earlier this week I’m one of many of my company who was sent on vacation for the following 2 weeks. A day later I was requested to be back at work… so it’s all chaotic. But it really doesn’t matter since I’m at home anyhow (without any concrete plans, obviously). So I’m happy to work but also enjoy the hours off in-between (maybe some good practice we have to get used to in the future…?).

When I’m off I’m dreaming with the girls of being back in beautiful Iceland… these days we are so close and cannot even catch up for a coffee. It’s weird. Other than that the days go different than usual: sleeping in, reading, some days working, cooking, gardening and many long walks with Charlie. It’s all working out.

And lots of time to redefine what’s important (to us) in life:

⁃ Health

⁃ Healthy cooking & eating

⁃ Plenty of sleep

⁃ Outdoor activities (well, a little limited these days)

⁃ Sunlight

⁃ Less stress

⁃ Offering support to the ones who need it

⁃ Being nice

⁃ Being thankful

⁃ … the list is long

Not that I hadn’t known this before… I’m just refreshing my self-awareness. And it feels good! And right.

Not only the shelves in the supermarkets are empty… all streets and restaurants, play grounds… everything is empty, except the hearts. Most of them are full. Full of love.

There’s lots of lovely things happening around us. We have the best neighbors. They offered to share their successful toilet paper purchase with us last weekend (aren’t they cute?). Luckily, we also had a successful Monday lunch break: we got a pack of toilet paper (kind of just in time)! Yeah! It made our day. Yep, sometimes the little things keep you happy.

Maybe it’s karma: I posted all our leftover facial masks to Scott’s mum (she needs them more than us) this week before my former Chinese boss contacted me to tell me that he had shipped more facial masks to my home address – it’s so wonderful to see how people think and take care of each other these days. We feel very touched!

The south-west of Germany is offering the French Elsass available beds in hospitals to support the serious situation of Corona patients. And so does Sachsen for Italy. Neighbor country friendship.

Stuttgart landlords are taking over apartment rents for hair salons since they all had to shut down. Isn’t that beautiful?

German OEMs sharing their masks with hospitals while Pyjama and bra makers started sewing them. Solidarity is something wonderful! I’m impressed.

My employer developed a corona test which makes it possible to reduce the test time for results to 2.5hours! Times to be proud. Proud to work for a company who cares about others life’s.

And since this week German news on TV are being translated to those who cannot hear. That’s huge. And a picture can say sometimes more than a thousand words (for example the stockpiling / Hamstern).

All those examples (I’m sure there’s a lot more out there) show that crisis can also mean good things. I agree with Bill Gates who says that he believes that despite the chaos, there is a spiritual purpose behind everything that happens.

People becoming creative.

Pasta might be sold out… but flowers and veggie seeds are still available. The highlight of our week: planting flowers & veggies in our garden (that has been on our to do list for a long time).

Playing a Japanese game: buying virtual apple orchards, bakeries, cafés and a cheese factory… a great game these days… feels almost like going out.

Love is….

… falling asleep while listening to Björk.

… hubby reading his favorite German book to me.

Wherever you are in the world, a little bit of kindness can go a long way right now.

Stay healthy! We can do this! Together!

No more words needed… it’s so beautiful:

Just a couple of weeks ago we both wished to have more time. More time at home. More time for each other. More time in our beautiful house.

Time for cooking.

Time for reading.

Time to spend in our beautiful garden.

Time to spend just hanging around. Time to become creative again. Time to rest our minds. Time to listen to my favorite radio channel. Time to do nothing. Time to listen to favorite records (dancing included). Time to relax. Now the time is here! A bit unexpected.

Let’s make the best out of current situation. Besides we know that we are privileged: we can stay home. Warm. Reading. Working (thanks to our jobs which make home office possible). Getting educated. Creating. Talking to our loved ones. And our fridge is stocked with food. All of that during a worldwide pandemic. How lucky we are.

We are also worried about the virus and the future but also grateful for the shared times. Thanks for the additional time which we chose to spend wisely and are truly enjoying it. Together.

Corona. Home Office. Week 1 (out of 4 for now) done. Trying to get used to our new isolated life.

How do we experience it?

I’m back from Iceland. We are having beautiful spring days. Flowers started blooming. And on the other side we have a spreading Corona virus. It feels weird and quite unrealistic.

It’s times of home office. For our own safety. For others safety. Isolated but busy. My work day starts usually at 7amish… and finishes at 6pmish… with a wonderful shared lunch break with hubby cooking & eating followed by a walk with Charlie, our dog, in the beautiful spring sun.

Shops are sold out on toilet paper, milk, cans and meat… We were only able to get a last frozen chicken and duck breasts and lots of fresh veggies and fruits (that’s not bad, right?). It’s kind of funny that there was a last pack of toilet paper and a young man grabbed it before me… (well, we still have 5 roles left, not too worried at this moment). Some people complain that there child’s music lesson was canceled but they had already paid for it (first worlds problems). Colleagues carried their monitors from the office home: they were convinced that under no circumstances they could work from home with a normal laptop screen (we worked in countries with no monitors for the past 8 years). And young influencers are dum, licking toilet seats and proudly posting it in the World Wide Web.

I keep wondering: have we all understood yet, how serious the current situation is? And why do a lot of grown up people behave like children? Can we really not sit at home, isolated for our own benefit & our future?

The list continues and is long: lots of fake news (limiting myself of reading too much). Lots of panicking people. Lots of cancellations or postponed evens like a wedding party, my nieces communion, my granddads 87th birthday party, Easter vacation in Ireland, I also cannot continue with my motorbike driver license… yes, it’s not cool. It sucks. But what can you do?!

Some positive thoughts. Now or never: time to accept the situation as it is and use the time to relax, trying to get energized (1,5hrs more sleep every morning thanks to no driving), more time at home (for growing veggies). Time to cook healthy lunches & enjoying them with hubby! Trusting our government for making right decisions. Following anti-socializing rules. Re-thinking our independence (from other countries). Reflecting our own personal behavior and doings (in the past years). Time to read a book again. Yeah! Time to sit in the sun in the garden with a cup of coffee. Amazing! Time to enjoy spring and the beautiful flowers. Love it! Time to make family phone calls (Mela, I will return your call tonight!). Time to help out making English translations for new hospital rules to avoid spreading Corona. Time to be thankful for being healthy! Time to show heart: I signed up to do shopping for elderly people in our town. Time for flowers to cheer up our minds. Time for hopes.

And more positive aspects: China’s air was never fresher than these days… Venice canals are so clean that you can see fish and even the swans decided to return.

And yes, we did celebrate St. Patricks Day. Isolated but traditionally with Kilkenny beer, cabbage and corned beef. Yam!

All out there: please stay healthy! We can do this!

Fazit Isolation week1: it’s possible. It’s surprisingly nice!

When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade! It’s also good for the immun system 🙂

Iceland. Ice & Land.

Our girls trip. Reunion from Chicago, Karlsruhe & Hemmingen.

We arrived a week ago. First impressions: Wow, those shades of blue in the sky! Driving into the blue and the sky seems so close and endlessly wide… Icelanders are very nice people. And Aurora put a spell on me (on all three of us) even she decided to not dance for us… (that just means I have to come back).

Lagoons everywhere… A dip in a pool becomes a soak in a geothermal lagoon – just following the locals, it’s their secret to survive those ice-cold winter months and it feels soooo good!

We slathered rich silica over our face (that must be the secret of all Icelandic women).

Iceland, a symphony of elements, the power of nature, the Nordic nirvana. This country is a real treat: crisp clean air, an eyeful of cinematic landscapes and we are all transfixed.

A casual stroll transforms into a trek across a glittering glacier. We hiked on top of it! Wow!

Icelandic pony horses: strong & beautiful.

Untouched white wonderland.

All you need in Iceland’s winter: a down jacket, a 4WD (incl. seat heat), a jacuzzi and a lagoon and a fired wood oven – amazing!

Wherever you are on the island there is always delicious local fish.

Europes most northern city: Reykjavík. Famous for its colorful roof tops.

The ash of the volcanoes.

3 hours at -6C outdoor temperature – no problem with a jacuzzi. And after watching stars with a glass of Prosecco while getting soaked a good nights sleep follows – soooo good!

Majestic mountains.

Beautiful fjords.

Gullfoss (or the Golden Falls).

Adventurous car rides: unexpected snow waves… and fairy dust on the roads.

Trying to find the most beautiful words for this amazing piece of land:

It’s been magnificent.

Unique.

Peaceful.

The nature. Breathtaking.

There’s just us.

Those scenes. Oh wow!

That hot tub. Oh yes!

Elfes. Surrounding us. With us. Everywhere.

One of many favorite spots: I wish I could sit here forever.

The language is mysterious for us: try pronouncing Hverir, Klofalækjarkjaftur – all beautiful places in Iceland.

Dramatic, and extremely varied landscapes, massive glaciers, volcanic craters and lava fields, hot springs and geysers, and stunning waterfalls – Iceland’s sharp contrasts are something you need to experience to believe!

The weather starts getting warmer (by Icelandic standards of course!). We had average temperatures of around -4° C. Everything was covered in white.

Diamonds are girls best friends… there’s many at the diamond beach.

There seems no end to the talents of this breathtaking northern destination.

So many wows. How divine. What a beautiful trip we had!

The lead actor of this holiday: the amazing Icelandic nature & my beautiful girls.

Iceland, you are magical. I wish I could stay longer (no panicking here for CoV and it felt super safe and isolated…). I’ll be back sometime. Maybe in summer. Bye for now!