Good Morning Germany

New media is nothing new to me. I have been blogging here since 2007 and before that I had another blog. My website "Daily sope" went online 2001 and I work as a web developer. It's time for me to do old media.
The last months, I worked on a radio program. For the Millennial Generation: radio is a audio broadcast method that distributes live podcasts without the possibility to rewind or pause. It's like internet radio but without internet.
I write scripts and present. Several religions have airtime, each week another religion presents. My contributions are for the Baha'i Faith. The program is on air Saturday mornings 8 AM. I know what you are about to ask: "Hey Ira,  how many people listen radio Saturday morning anyway?" My answer is: "Maybe more people read my blog, maybe less."

  On Air  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37Dey4ZPg0k

Big Athens

My brother Soheil and I travelled again. After our epic stay in New York we choose Athens for our next trip. I went to Athens with my Family in the late 80s. Back than we wanted to go to the Acropolis but it's not easy for a Family with five small kids that speaks neither Greek nor English to get around in a strange city. Therefore, we had to leave without visiting the Acropolis and the rest is ancient history. Also this time we barely missed the Acropolis. We stayed over Christmas and the Acropolis and almost everything else was closed from Christmas eve till Boxing day. Fortunately, we could use the last day of our stay to see the Acropolis. Beside the Acropolis, we went to a Christmas celebration downtown, where we saw a group performing the Sirtaki. At that celebration, a caricature of me was created. While the artist was drawing the dance group finished there act. The spectators were thirsty for more entertainment, found some amusement in the drawing. A big group of people suddenly gathered behind the artist and were laughing while I had to wait till the caricature was finished. To not infringe copy rights, I'm not going to post the caricature here, instead you can enjoy some selfies.

The weather in Athens was just few degrees below room temperature, that's winter weather in Greece. All the natives were in the winter jackets, buttoned all the way up. My brother and I, we liked the pleasant temperatures and went swimming in the sea. It's nothing new for me to swim while most natives avoid the "cold" sea.

Technically another selfie

Here some further impressions:
What surprised me most: You can find your way around with English. In France and Italy I had problems and I heard from some friends who don't speak German about their troubles in Germany. The Greeks on the other hand speak English and all the signs there are in Greek and English.
What was very funny: Using my GPS navigation. I haven't changed the language settings from English to German on my device. It's funny how it pronounces with an English accent German street names. But that is German. It doesn't even tries to pronounce the Greek street names. Instead, it spells the names which takes for ever. "In 60 meters turn left on Pi Epsilon Lambda Lambda Alpha Sigma Kappa Alpha Gamma Phi Iota Psi."
What was not funny: Fanny packs; lots of them.
What I didn't like: Athens smells a bit like New York.
What I liked: Palm, lemon, and olive trees in the streets.

What does it say? - Greek Edition

Scroll down for answers!

High School of Rock

In the early 90s I changed from an elementary school to a gymnasium, an advanced academic high school. There, I showed that I have many talents: The first year I was successful in being a class clown. The year after I tried out as a know-it-all.
Soon, I found out where my strengths and where my weaknesses were: I failed English and English failed me. On the other hand, I was an A student in STM (in science, technology, and math). In several exams I scored A+. It's a good feeling to score A+ in STM. You know you have done everything right and you can be proud of it. Onetime, I managed to get an A+ in history. That brought some weird questions to my mind: What did I write different from the usual C rated exams? Was the teacher tired rating and scribbled A+ on my exam? It was an exam on marxism and communism - Does it mean I'm a communist deep inside? Ironically, the same teacher, who rated my exam an A+, after another exam presaged I wouldn't graduate. He told the class the name of one or two students, who, he predicted, will graduate, then the name of four or five other students, who, according to my teacher, maybe will graduate. Everyone else, including me, would surely not make it. But he was wrong or maybe he said that because he wanted to motivate us by reverse psychology. I noticed that when teacher told students in advance "you will never score enough to pass", the students scored enough. The teacher, who predicted I wouldn't graduate, forecast I will never write a book, which makes me more hopeful. Eventually, I graduated and had my graduation on my birthday.

Primary School Musical

Kids, in the late 80s, I changed my school. I went from a regular elementary school, where I didn't understand a word, to a language class, where I learned German. As a kid it is easy to learn a new language. After half a year in the language class and before the summer break my German was not fluent. I remember coming back from the summer break and, somehow, I could speak fluently German.
Before the summer break two Iranian sisters were in my class and they could help me out with things that I didn't understand. The two girls left and two Iranian brothers, twins, joined the class. The mentee became the mentor- I had to help the twins.
In the language class we sang a lot of German children songs. We learned a lot of songs about birds for example the "Bremer town musicians", "the bird wedding", and the sing-off between "the cuckoo and the donkey".
School is of course more then lessons. It was at that school where I was elected class president and was lead actor in two different productions of "Where the Wild Things Are". After one and half years in the language class, I could attend a regular 5th grade at the same school. There my grades dropped. My mother blamed video games and, therefore, she allowed us to play only during school breaks. My mom might have been right. In the sixth grade, I got better grades and I could change school and attend a gymnasium, the advanced academic schools in Germanys education system.