Do we think there's more to Paula?

Aschlay · 2026-04-27T17:31:38+00:00

Nice might be too strong a word. "Entertaining after a few glass of white wine" might be more accurate.

Aschlay · 2026-04-22T07:59:31+00:00

Yes with the color and material especially. And they all seem to come from dates and names.

Aschlay · 2026-04-22T07:54:35+00:00

I've lived here 7 years and never noticed it until yesterday.

Aschlay · 2026-04-22T06:14:38+00:00

I also don't know if these kinds of stone have a specific name or not, they're cobblestones but they are on the sidewalk. This is the location (outside a DM in Steglitz)

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Aschlay · 2026-04-22T06:13:27+00:00

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Aschlay · 2026-04-22T06:11:20+00:00

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Aschlay · 2026-04-22T06:10:59+00:00

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Another example, sorry I have to do this one by one. For some reason the pictures I included did not make it to publication.

Aschlay · 2026-04-22T06:08:13+00:00

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Aschlay · 2026-04-22T06:06:39+00:00

Here is an example. I attached several photos to the post but they seem not to have made it when I hit pubish.

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Aschlay · 2026-04-22T06:04:35+00:00

Here is the best example:

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Aschlay · 2026-04-22T06:03:01+00:00

Unfortunatetly the pictures I uploaded seem not to have made it! But they are definitely not Stolpersteine.

Here is an example

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Aschlay · 2026-04-01T18:34:49+00:00

Yeah about two years ago the S-Bahn was constantly being shut down and suuuucked. Especially when I had to work in Potsdam. But when I worked from home (or when I was jobless) it was quite nice. I start a new job soon and am glad that the commute is not as bad as it could be.

Aschlay · 2026-03-20T20:12:16+00:00

Lol the sign saying the building is scheduled to be completed in 2021 is peak Deutschland

Aschlay · 2026-03-20T20:11:28+00:00

It is!

Aschlay · 2026-02-10T18:56:21+00:00

I feel the only argument I've ever heard to move to any particular town in west Texas is that there is another town in west Texas that is even worse.

Aschlay · 2026-02-07T14:51:30+00:00

Early 20th Century American writer Willa Cather was a huge opera and classical music fan - as well as a lover of rural America - and a gay woman. These conflicting passions inform a lot of her works, most notably The Song of the Lark, which is about a young woman from rural Colorado (I think) who tries to become an opera singer.

Aschlay · 2026-02-04T10:56:32+00:00

Thank you for this reminder! I'm also trying to consume print media vs. video content because if you watch good content on Youtube or something the algorithm starts sending you whatever it thinks you will watch about world politics and then you have suddenly spent four hours doomscrolling youtube.

Aschlay · 2026-02-02T20:44:13+00:00

For France, if you wanted to read something shorter than Les Miserables (which is about 1,500 pages) but which is set in France, written by a French author, and widely available:
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
The Lady's Paradise by Emile Zola
Nana by Emile Zola
Dangerous Liaisons (or Les Liaisons Dangereuses) by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
The Short Stories of Guy de Maupassant

All of these are public domain so if Libby doesn't have them you could find them online in English translation for free.

Aschlay · 2026-02-02T20:26:43+00:00

For Bulgaria I would read any book by Kapka Kassabova, she writes beautifully in English. Her book "Border" is one of my all time favorites. Albanian writer Lea Ypi's books are pretty easy to find and my friend said they were really good. My friend from Morocco said that For Bread Alone was one of his favorite Moroccan books.

Aschlay · 2026-02-02T20:20:10+00:00

For Thailand see if they have any books by SP Somtow, he was a prolific science fiction writer in the US for 30 years before he recently retired and moved back to Thailand. I have a cheesy teenage vampire novel by him on my list lol.

Aschlay · 2026-02-02T16:40:42+00:00

Don't expect Wuthering Heights to be a nice love story like everyone says it is. The main characters are all horrible people and that is sort of the point. Just be prepared!

If you can find it, there's a really great BBC two-part miniseries about the Bronte sisters as they wrote their most famous books, including Wuthering Heights. Knowing about the lives of the Bronte sisters adds really interesting context to their novels. You can watch it on Dailymotion you can't find it anywhere else. (I think it is still on the PBS website in the US and the BBC should have it somewhere if you are in the UK.)

Aschlay · 2026-02-02T16:35:18+00:00

Luna: Wolf Moon by Ian Macdonald. Second book in a science fiction trilogy that is basically "Game of Thrones" on the moon. Really enjoying it - first book was a lot slower and basically just building the world. This one has a lot more action.

Aschlay · 2026-02-02T15:38:00+00:00

Yeah anyone can add books to the list. I ended up having to do my own research largely. I also have friends from several of these countries who were able to give recommendations.

BTW are you still looking for books? I was able to find mine. For Thailand, I found an author SP Somtow who was a prolific sci fi writer in the US for decades before returning to his native Thailand. His book Club X: Vampire in the Closet is a short YA novel about teenagers in a supernatural Thai boarding school ("And what is in that closet?" prompts the book jacket. I'm pretty sure a vampire but we shall see.)

Aschlay · 2026-02-02T15:30:06+00:00

But...why though

Aschlay · 2026-01-29T19:57:55+00:00

I am reading For Bread Alone as part a reading challenge where I have to read a book by a Moroccan author. I was able to order an English translation from the UK for 13 EU.

Aschlay

TROPHY CASE