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Business Information Systems, bilingual
The university of Duisburg-Essen now offers a bilingual field of study. A master of science in business informations systems (“Wirtschaftsinformatik”) will be offered from winter term on.
Due to a press release the English spoken lessen will be 30 to 80 percent. The lesson will be hold by native speakers or people with long term experience in English language surroundings.
The Ruhr and me have been in the New York Times
Quoting about the New York Times I remembered that recently – while campaigning – a Berlin based journalist form the New York Times came over from the capital. He wanted to watch campaigning here in the region. We don’t seems to be completely unknown in the USA, at least to Mr. Nicolas Kulish.
Here’s what he wrote (just where he writes about me:-) ):
As an unseasonably frigid rain fell Thursday in Bochum, Dirk Schmidt, 35, a local party leader for Mrs. Merkel’s conservative coalition, campaigned for a seat in the state Legislature at the Hannibal shopping center. He was greeted with support from party members, but also some derision.
“The party disappointed me once with the east,” an old man pushing a shopping cart shouted as one of Mr. Schmidt’s campaign workers offered him a flier. “I won’t pay a cent for the Greeks.”
Bochum’s Nokia cellphone factory picked up stakes two years ago and moved to Romania, with more than 2,000 jobs melting away in its wake. The carmaker Opel, which once employed 25,000 people in the city, today provides work for around 5,000 people, jobs that are also in jeopardy as Opel’s corporate parent, General Motors, restructures its subsidiary.
Ruhrtriennale – why not
Ever heard about the Ruhrtriennale? It’s a famous annual music and arts festival in the Ruhr area. The venues are sites of industrial heritage, e.g. the famous Jahrhunderhalle in Bochum. The program never really attracted me: ever it was too hard to get tickets or it wasn’t something I wanted to see. Due to some circumstances I am going to see some things. By accidents all of them will be at the Jahrhunderthalle.
I chose serveral things which would suite even people who are not easy with German language or don’t speak German at all. (Besides ‘The Tin Drum’ adpated as a stage play.) For example, the Triennale offers a variety of concerts. I chose to see and hear “Love’s Deep Ocean” which the program book of Ruhrtriennale describes as follows:
Whenever he appears on a concert stage the experts agree: Alim Qasimov, in the words of New York Times after a recent appearance at the invitation of the Kronos Quartet at Carnegie Hall, »is simply one of the greatest singers alive. His voice makes each line a revelation«.
If the New York Times writes about it, it should probably be enjoyable without knowledge of German language.
Self-Service Bike Rental
You might have seen them at some railway sstations in Germany. Self-rental bike from a company owned by “Deutsche Bahn AG”. The metropolis Ruhr now get’s it’s own network of bike stations all across the 11 larger cities. On June 18th, 2010 the first self-service bike stations have been started in Dortmund. Further stations and cities will follow.
The network’s name is metrorad combining the German words Metropole (metropolis) and Rad (from Zweirad oder Fahrrad). It is run by Berlin based company nextbike. Rental is easy: Just call the phone number printed on the bike. After successful booking you’ll get the code for the lock. When returning at the same or another bike station, just phone again. The price is cheap: 1 € per hour with a maximum of 5 € per day.
The best thing is that you can return the bike another station. You don’t have to return to you origin of booking. The idea behind the system is to add something to bridge hole of mobility in the region’s public transport sector.
I see another advantage as well: The network of bike stations can be used for individual or small group bike tour through the region. Once the network is completely establish you will be able to start a bike tour with metrorad form Bochum main station to the Ruhr where the railway museum is located. At the station near the railway museum (Bochum-Dahlhausen) shall be another metrorad station. You can also start form there or continue your tour towards Essen where are more stations. You won’t have to organize a round trip or take you bike with you.
There are many route to explore. www.metrorad.de contains sites in English.
Sunny Pre-School in Gelsenkirchen and soon in Bochum
Last Tuesday I wasn’t able to go to the meeting of the club of the supporters (friends?) of the bilingual Carolinenschule in Bochum.Therefore I just have second-hand information. But there is interesting news:
- There is progress with the new building for the school. They even started working on the secondary school which will be bilingual, too. The elementary school will move to the new building after the summer break.
- More interesting right now is that the will be a Pre-School (German: Kindergarten) soon. From 1st of September 2010 on, the Sunny Pre-School in Gelsenkirchen will open a branch at the Springorumallee where even the Carolinenschule will reside soon.
The offer of bilignual Pre-School and later adding a secondary school branch at Carolinenschule will complete the English language offers in Bochum. That’s good because I did not see any progress on another experiment.
Last Chance for FlicFlac
After all the campaiging this year, Pam and I are exploring the project of the European Capital of Culture Ruhr.2010. Especially, the Schachtzeichen-event was great. But now there is something that is a must see but will end soon.
The next two weeks will see the last days of FlicFlac which is a circus. Is not a classical, retro-style thing like Roncalli but more a modern art show. The title of the last programm indicates this, too. It’s ARTgerecht. The show can be watched without any knowledge of German language. It’s mostly juggling and acrobatics but not in the boring dog and pony show style. have a look at the pictures at the show’s website.
Usually the show moved aorund with its tent. For the last chance you will have to go to CentrO in Oberhausen (engl.). Here the link to a German newspaper article which motivated me to get tickets.
The Local’s guide to the Ruhr Valley’s year of culture
‘The Local’ (Germany’s News in English) provides an article “The Local’s guide to the Ruhr Valley’s year of culture” including a photo gallery. The guide contains a list of the highlights of 2010.
International School Ruhr opening September 2010
I really don’t have writen much about this project initiated by the ‘Initiativkreis Ruhr” and – as far as I remember – the CEO of the RWE company: The International School Ruhr is going to open in September 2010 in Essen. This is the link to its website.
According to a press release and the school’s website, the principal will be an American, Mrs Sharon A. Sperry. She worked at international schools around the world. The IS will offer service from Pre-Kindergarten (3 years old) up to the International Baccalaureate (IB).
American Drama Group: Romeo and Juliet
In December 2009 Pam and I went to watch a French play at the Schauspielhaus Bochum, the city’s theatre. It was a stage adaption of “The Little Prince”. Funnily enough, the play was arranged by the American Drama Group in Europe. Usually their plays are in the English language.
Anyway, in February the American Drama Group will return to the Schauspielhaus Bochum with Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet“. The stage play will be shown on February 2nd and 3rd, 2010. We’ve got tickets for Wednesday 3rd.
The last play in English language we saw was Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Considering the experience of the French play, I think I know the concept of the stage setting. The stage settings are minimalistic but arranged very cleverly. I lack the words and language to describe this further. The concept of the stage settings seems to support easy traveling and compatibility to different and even very small stages.
We are looking forward to another interesting and entertaining evening.
Wonders of the Solar System
Last year I have been to the exhibition at the Gasometer in Oberhausen. Seems to me and my wife that ‘gasometer’ is a British word which is used for large gas holders or gas tanks. The Gasometer in Oberhausen is no longer used as a gas tank but as an exhibition hall. Starting in 2009 the exhibition runs through this year – the year of the Ruhr being the Cultural Capital of Europe – the exhibition will end on December 30th.
At the desk inside the gasometer, there is a big poster advertising the audio guides. It is also available in English language. That’s the message for today.
The exhibition is really good. The large model of the moon installed inside is very impressive. The explainations next to the objects are good and as far as we remember some are in English as well. “Out of this World – Wonders of the Solar System” is worth a visit. A good suggestion for the next visit of my in-laws.
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