Our dangerous ski trip in the Alps
I learned to ski on the Alpine slopes when I was a child. In my home country far away, the ski area was small and bad weather meant that it was not open for long at a time. We lived in Switzerland from 1979 to 1980 and on weekends in the winter we went skiing, […]
The outdoor swimming pool
It is the summer of 1981 in the very small town of Kleingemund, which is opposite the town of Neckargemund on the other side of the river Neckar. The river then flows down the mountain and through Heidelberg, which at this time is in West Germany. The author Mark Twain stayed in Heidelberg in the […]
The bully
I’m a seven-year-old foreign boy, just arrived in Switzerland and don’t know the language. The decision to go to Zurich was made with a very short notice. Suddenly we are not home anymore but in a new country, I am put in the next elementary school with my sister. A new environment, a new language, […]
The steps to the castle
I travel back in my memories to the spring of 1980 in Heidelberg, where my sister Hekla and I are walking with our parents through the entire Hauptstrase, and have reached the town hall square next to the old church. The weather is warm, the sun is shining and we are all lightly dressed. Us […]
Sledding with my sister
Its 1976 in Iceland, and two small children walk together in the snow with their sleds, down the path along their house and towards the sled slope by the playground. It’s dark outside, but they can hear the laughter of the kids on the slope. They are a 7-year-old girl and a 4-year-old boy, looking […]
The Importance of Family Reconciliation
There is nothing more important to me than my family and the harmony of all its members. I have experienced when quarrels, misunderstandings or hurt pride have separated siblings, or parents and children. It is shocking and sad, to say the least. The worst thing is when this kind of disagreement is allowed to go […]
Travelling Back to 1979: Halloween Memories
I am travelling through my memories back to 1979, in the apartment building at Lerchenreinstrase 19, where my family and I lived in the fall. A lot of things happened that fall for me, I got into a lot of fights, learned to speak, read and write in German and I also learned to […]