During my studies, I lived in Nuremberg for five years. I
had an absurdly great weakness for dogs and so it happened that
I joined a German-Moldovan animal association, which monthly
Rescued animals from local killing stations to bring them here to Germany
Through this organization, I met Christa,
a 75-year-old woman who works as a nursing station for the rescued
dogs.
Over three years a strange friendship developed,
who always followed the same rituals: Once a week,
mostly Wednesday mornings, around 12 o'clock I visited her
in her small one-room apartment in the north of Nuremberg.
There she lived alone with her dog and one to three
foster dogs. The apartment was modest and modern,
like everything about her. In spirit, she was essentially
younger than on paper. She had an eventful life,
left home early, traveled the world alone
traveled, married a criminal man and after the
Divorce lost interest in love. Mostly
We spent the first hour of my visit
that she told stories and that I knew everything
She then got up around 1:30 p.m. and went
into her small kitchen and prepared there, on the gas stove,
the same food every time: spaghetti with tomato sauce.
For this, 500g of strained tomatoes of the brand “JA!” were used.
into a pot. As soon as the viscous mass began to bubble,
She added half a cup of cream. Salt. Pepper. A
Basil leaf. To aid digestion, we walked with the vari-
ple number of dogs around the block. I told them about my
my studies, my plans, goals and worldviews
and she commented on every little outgrowth
my thoughts. Then I drove home.
Christa was always happy about my visits,
treated me like her little sister. I think she
liked that I still had life ahead of me, that I had the
had time to at least potentially make a difference in
this world and that they, with their stories and experiences,
nissen, could be a part of it to some extent.
In this interaction, a dynamic emerged that
Even after many meetings, I was not bored. When I
After moving to Berlin to study, the meetings became less frequent and
eventually disappeared completely. The connection was
designed for a limited time, but that doesn’t make them any less
valuable.The cozy warm feeling of our friendship-ri-
tuale, surrounded by behaviorally disturbed foster dogs,
Tetrapack tomato sauce and endless conversations in the
The intersection of our opposing time poles is also
Today, five years after I last saw her
have, still available.
