Namibia
Describe a phase in life that was difficult to say goodbye to. When working at the DHPS in Windhoek, I was asked by the Principal and Board of the German Privat High School to extend my contract of 6 years to another 2 years. However, a new Principal took over and came back from BVA / ZfA, my extension was not approved by the ZfA, though the Board of the DHPS had asked me and my family to stay until 1996. My two children were both students of the DHPS and had to leave their best friends behind in Namibia. I found this heart breaking, indeed … So my wife and myself took a serious decision to compensate their frustration and losses: We both took 6 months of unpaid long leave and travelled via Van and two tents 6 months through NZ instead of taking our two children back to their German High School in Lower Saxony. Later they both confirmed: The best decision we had ever made since leaving Germany for six full years in 1988. We arrived in WHK on 1st Jan 1988.
W. G. Sebald und andere Autoren
— Blogbeitrag Literatur im DaF-Unterricht — W.G. Sebald und andere Autoren Ein Blogbeitrag von Peter H. Bloecker | Gold Coast, Queensland | 2026 Das Projekt Dieser Blog-Beitrag entsteht im Rahmen einer persönlichen Beschäftigung mit der Frage, welche Rolle deutschsprachige Gegenwartsliteratur im modernen Deutsch-als-Fremdsprache-Unterricht spielen kann und sollte. Als ehemaliger Deutschlehrer in Niedersachsen und langjähriger Fachlehrer für Deutsch und Englisch liegt mir dieses Thema besonders am Herzen. Es geht nicht nur um Methodik. Es geht um die Frage: Welche Texte berühren, fordern und öffnen gleichzeitig Türen zur deutschen Sprache und Kultur? Zu den bundesdeutschen Lesern, auch jungen Lesern? W.G. Sebald steht dabei vorerst im Mittelpunkt> Ein Autor, der selbst zwischen zwei Sprachen und zwei Welten lebte, zwischen dem bayerischen Allgäu und dem englischen Norwich. Seine Werke laden ein zur Auseinandersetzung mit Erinnerung, Verlust, Identität und dem langen Schatten der deutschen Geschichte nach den beiden Weltkriegen nach 1945. Die Stunde Null. Warum Sebald? W.G. Sebald (1944–2001) ist kein einfacher Autor, und das ist genau der Grund, warum er m E so wertvoll ist auch fuer Lernende der deutschen Sprache und Kultur. Seine Prosa ist langsam, nachdenklich, tief verankert in europäischer Kulturgeschichte. Der charakteristische Sebald-Satz, lang, mäandernd, voller Einschübe, ist oft eine Herausforderung für fortgeschrittene Lernende, aber auch ein Modell für stilistisches Bewusstsein. Besonders Die Ausgewanderten eignet sich für den akademischen DaF-Unterricht auf dem Niveau C1/C2: Vier Lebensgeschichten, thematisch verbunden durch Exil und Entwurzelung…
Elon Musk & Trump
When an AI Company Said “No” to the Pentagon — And Paid the Price A Report for Informed Citizens | 28 February 2026 What exactly Happened? On Friday, 27 February 2026, US President Donald Trump ordered every federal agency to stop using the artificial intelligence products of Anthropic, the San Francisco-based company behind the AI assistant Claude. In a Truth Social post, Trump directed every federal agency to “immediately cease” all use of Anthropic’s technology, with a six-month phase-out period granted to agencies like the Pentagon that had already integrated it into their systems. Shortly after, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the Pentagon would formally label Anthropic a “Supply-Chain Risk to National Security” A designation normally reserved for companies associated with foreign adversaries such as China or Russia — barring any military contractor or supplier from conducting commercial activity with the company. What Was the Actual Dispute? The confrontation had been building for months. At its core was a fundamental disagreement about what an AI company is permitted to refuse. Anthropic had been operating under a Pentagon contract worth up to USD 200 million to support defence operations. The company had made clear throughout months of contract negotiations that it would not allow its AI systems to be used for domestic mass surveillance or for direct control of lethal autonomous weapons. The Pentagon, for its part, demanded the right to…
Leonardo’s Notebooks
The Road of Learning does not come to an end. This text is about curious young minds. Understanding The World of Young Adults The Developmental Moment: Between Specialization and Wholeness Students at 17-18 stand at a critical threshold where educational systems increasingly demand specialization - choose your major, select your track, commit to a career path. Leonardo represents the countervailing force: the conviction that deep understanding requires integration across domains. His notebooks demonstrate that anatomical study enhances artistic representation, that understanding water flow informs both engineering and painting techniques, that observing bird flight connects mechanics with aesthetics. For students being pressured toward premature narrowing, Leonardo models what German educational philosophy calls Bildung - the formation of a whole person through diverse, interconnected knowledge rather than mere vocational training. The Question Method: Curiosity as Intellectual Practice Leonardo's notebooks reveal a mind that never stopped asking "why" and "how." His relentless questioning - Why is the sky blue? How does the heart pump blood? What makes an old person's face different from a young one? - mirrors the natural intellectual restlessness of adolescence before it gets socialized out by examination systems. He shows students that the questions themselves have value, that sustained curiosity is a legitimate intellectual method, not a distraction from "real work." In an era of algorithmic answers and AI-generated responses, Leonardo's process-oriented investigation reminds students that the journey of inquiry…
Panama
The most important invention in your lifetime is... For me the old style iPhone, as this device is with me all the time. Not wasting my time with Facebook or SM or Non Sense, rather use it for Navigation and my own reading plus research and more. Walking mostly without my iPhone. Why? The Mother of all questions, indeed ... Think and find your own answer, pls … How Beautiful Is Burleigh Beach? Once upon a time there lived an old swimmer in a little house in Burleigh Waters. Every morning he would go down to the beach and swim in the great ocean. The water was sometimes wild and sometimes gentle, but the old swimmer loved it dearly. "Oh, how beautiful is Burleigh Beach," he would say each day as he came out of the water. One day he found an empty coconut on the sand. Written on the coconut were the words: "Gold Coast Paradise - Queensland." "Aha," thought the old swimmer. "Gold Coast Paradise must be even more beautiful than Burleigh Beach. Everything there must be golden – the beaches, the waves, the fish, simply everything!" He went home and told his wife Maria Inés about the coconut. "We must travel to Gold Coast Paradise," he said. "I'm certain everything there is far more beautiful." "But we already live on the Gold Coast," said Maria Inés. "Yes, but…
The Big Loop
The Big Crab | Ballina | Credit phb Evans Head NSW | Credit phb Evening Camping NSW | Credit phb Australia is the perfect Continent for Camping! Why? Well, this is my personal view and thank God, not many people around the globe have noticed! So my point is: the next 20 years this will not change at all. While in Europe many people give up Camping for various reasons, Australia is the perfect destination for long term traveling via Campervan, Caravan or tent. Renting a small car and renting a hut on a campsite is easy enough! All you need is TIME … Aussies travel around the continent called the Big Loop … Some Grey Nomads even sell their house. Five or more years on the Roads … Pretty cool, indeed! Kindly from the Gold Coast your Peter H with Maria Ines 4 Feb 2026
Sentimental Value | The Film
HOTA Gallery View from Top | Credit phb Sentimental Value - Ein filmisches Meisterwerk: Filmkunst und das Thema Versöhnung - My Review Als ich gestern morgens an der Gold Coast in QLD Australien dank HOTA den neuesten Film von Joachim Trier erleben konnte , wurde mir klar: Dies ist mehr als nur ein Familienportrait - es ist eine tiefgründige Meditation über Generationenkonflikte, künstlerische Integrität und die heilende Kraft der Versöhnung.Triers norwegischer Originaltitel "Affeksjonsverdi" - wörtlich "Affektionswert" - trifft den Kern präziser als der englische Titel. Es geht hier um den subjektiven Wert, den wir Beziehungen, Orten und Erinnerungen zuschreiben: Im Kern um Familie und ein HOME. In London konnte ich Harold Pinters Dramen erleben, zuerst The Caretaker (Taking care ...) und The Homecoming. In Berlin (damals die Jahre im Studium an der FU) die Berliner Schaubühne mit ihren unvergessenen Inszenierungen: Der Kirschgarten, Shakespeare mit JUTTA LAMPE und Michael Koenig und anderen. Gute Filmauszüge von Bergmann wurden in meinen Leistungskursen analysiert: Mann und Frau, Beziehungen und Kommunikation und mehr ... Zum Film (vgl. dazu Cannes): Stellan Skarsgård spielt den begnadeten fiktiven Gustav Borg, einen Filmregisseur auf der Suche nach Erlösung. Seine Tochter Nora (Renate Reinsve) lehnt die Hauptrolle in seinem Comeback-Film ab - ein symbolträchtiger Moment der Verweigerung. Als ein Hollywood-Star Elle Fanning die Rolle übernimmt und immer mehr in ihrem Aussehen zur eigenen Tochter wird, wird der Film zu einer komplexen…
Dream Job
What's your dream job? My dream job was High School Teaching German and English Literature. No regrets & loved it till I retired in 2015 in North Germany.
Flowers
This flower is on my deck at present and will soon be my Passion Fruit for Breakfast … Passion Fruit Flower | Credit phb
Adventure
Coming home after three full weeks of camping, we had a longer break half the way in Maclean in NSW at the mighty Clarence River. Credit phb Credit phb Credit phb Credit phb
Road Trip
Think back on your most memorable road trip. Quite a few, actually, when living in Windhoek Namibia: The first three years from 1988 we travelled around 10 weeks into the Namib and National Parks annually and slept on our Landrover with a roof top tent, we had imported from Germany by container, awesome experiences, indeed! Credit phb
Quote of the day
Successful Life“A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and gets to bed at night, and in between he does what he wants to do.” Bob Dylan Maria Ines with me | Credit phb Credit phb