No More Secrets

This happened on January 13th and November 29th, 2009

Signs advertising lectures of the Lectorium Rosicrucianum, the Gnostic Christian order of the Rose-Cross, were plastered all over town. For years, I had wondered what they were up to. Weren’t they like an offshoot of the Freemasons, the people behind most conspiracy theories?

One day in January, I decided to find out.

Jehovah! Jehovah! Jehovah!

This happened on January 16th, 2011

I haven’t really had the chance to visit any strange religions since my move, so when the local for-.free newspaper had a notice that there would be a talk on who will go to heaven, I thought it sounds like something for me. I was hoping for some kooky sect, because I had missed one of them the other month. The info only had the time and address and nothing on who would be giving the talk or what organization it was. So I got up one Sunday morning and went on my way.

Being Watched, aka Bad SciFi Writers

This happened on May 23rd and May 25th, 2010.

Scientology is considered to be a dangerous cult in Germany, about which you are warned at school and who might pose as the bogeymen in TV thrillers. They are not recognized as a church with tax benefits, because German church law states that the religious group has to have humanitarian goals. They are also, together with left winged extremists, right winged extremists, islamists, and foreign terrorist organizations a separate category in the yearly reports of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. And probably the only group from that list I hadn’t visited yet.

In the Heart of Darkness

This happened on February 20th, 2010.

All names have been changed to protect the innocent.

I knew this was going to be a terrible idea, even outright dangerous.

Updates

Hi there, it’s me again.

I’ve edited the Ramadan text (even found a whole bunch of typos) and will hopefully now be able to add some new material which I collected in the last months.

Also I will now go semi-public (i.e. it has been pubic all the time, but I’ll show it to more people).

Casting Show Mayhem

This happened August 23^rd, 2009

In another attempt to become famous, I went to a three hour long casting for cheezy German TV shows. They are fictionalised court room shows, because taping real cases is not possible. In truth, I just wanted to find out what such a casting is like, and as I didn’t want to go to a casting show where you sing and it gets broadcast, this sounded like the thing to do.

The Gods that came from outer Space

This happened on April 27^th, 2009

Erich von Däniken is a staple name in UFOlogist cycles. The self-appointed expert on astro-archaeology is famous worldwide for his books with outrageous claims about extraterrestrials. Luckily for me, the Swiss author born in 1935 speaks German and gives regular presentations of his… let’s be neutral and call it “views”.

Christmas in the USA

This happened from December 22nd 2007 to January 4th 2008

The Text was proofread and approved by my dad.

Some Background

I was born and raised in Germany, but I have family in the States and have visited them quite often on vacation. My parents and I hadn’t been to the USA for some time and especially not over Christmas, so we decided to go there in late 2007. The following is part transcription from what I wrote on the flight there, part based on my extensive notes.

Visiting Londonistan

This happened from June 21st to 24th, 2009

Arrival

And then I was in London. I hadn’t been to the United Kingdom in ten years, and although it had been a quite important subject at my bilingual high school, I had no idea how 21st century England was like. This time, I wasn’t there because of school or for vacation, but because of a an assessment center (AC) I had been invited to.

1001 Nights of Ramadan, Part 4

The Seventh Night – At the University

This happened on September 09th, 2009

The Muslim Student Association prepared an intercultural Iftar for students at the university’s international office. My city has about 30,000 students, many of which are foreigners, but not all of them Muslims, of course. It was supposed to be open for guests to present Muslim culture, but I think there was only one guy who didn’t know what was going to happen.