Porsche Museum

Porsche has culminated a 100 million euro ground-up renovation on its museum in Stuttgart, which will be officially dedicated later this week. The museum spans over 1,000 square meters of floor space, wrapped in stunning architecture and housing a collection of over 80 significant Porsches from the marque’s history, from the first 356 to the latest Panamera. Included among the expositions is a section dedicated to the evolution of the 911 Turbo, an array of competition cars – including Porsche’s victorious rally, Dakar and Le Mans challengers and Niki Lauda’s Porsche-powered McLaren – concept cars from across the decades, some of Ferdinand Porsche’s original tractors and more.

photo gallery via Autoblog

Kitty Hoff

A part of the blessing of living abroad is embracing and emerging yourself in the culture and everything it has to offer. In my opinion, everyone’s culture is truly unique even in our similarities as people which makes life all the better. For example, music. Jazz is jazz everywhere in the world but a culture’s interpretation of something doesn’t necessarily make it better or worse but absolutely intriguing!

I had the privilege in my quest for all things unlike my culture, to run across an extraordinary jazz musician by the name of Kitty Hoff, and her band Forêt-Noire, hailing from Berlin, Germany. Although, i know you won’t be able to understand much (if any) of what she’s saying, the vibe of the music her and her band created is supreme. This doesn’t at all take away from her lyrical content and substance either. My favorite song of hers, Ewigkeiten (Forever), talks about one’s own wisdom not being enough to see in the darkness and how it causes us to stumble. She asks the question, “how long will it take for you to fall from the many times you keep stumbling in the dark?” I love it because she doesn’t state anything other than a question, which forces one to think rather than be defensive. Ewigkeiten ends with her stating that “she can’t wait any longer because eternity is too long, so if you have some direction, a word or thought, give it to [her.] You never know when the next [opportunity] will present itself.” or in German…

“Weißt du, ich kann nicht mehr warten. Die Ewigkeit ist viel zu lang.  Hast du eine Vision, sag mir, wohin du gehst. Was ist der nächste Schritt, das nächste Wort, wenn du dann vor mir stehst Wann, glaubst du, öffnet sich die nächste große Tür Wenn jemand dir ein Leben lang vertraut, was gibst du ihm dafür!”

If you get a chance, check her out on myspace or on her website.

Also, on her myspace, you can click lyrics at the top of the media player. Copy & paste them here and it can help you get a better idea of what she’s talking about. Though, it can really only be understood and appreciated in its essence and entirety, in the language it’s written and performed in!

Frohe Wienachten!!

Merry Christmas to all from Straubing, Germany! This is my first Christmas abroad and i couldn’t have spent it in a better place with better people. Here in Germany they celebrate Christmas on the 24th and it’s actually pretty cool. It’s very family oriented and not AT ALL consumer oriented, which i love. They put all their focus on Christ which is what CHRISTmas is about… We sung carols as a family and they’ve fattened me up with food and treats like they were going to eat me later. I enjoyed it when i was eating but when i got full i started getting a little nervous… Anyway, since it’s Christmas, i’ll give y’all a little gift!

Make way for my eMagazine, the Sophisticate™, 1st issue at the end of January/beginning of February. As the time approaches i’ll let you in on more and more. Have a safe and Merry Christmas to all in the World!!

God bless,
hmb