As passionated cook I received an amazing cookbook of the traditional and authentic recipes of the Emirates! It was written in 1995 and rather old and worn out, but the recipes are totally traditional which are lost in today´s up-to-date and always-modern UAE. It´s a pity, because traditions are so important.

I tried one recipe and it turned out delicious! My parents ate it in a swift. No leftovers for the lunches in my office....  :-(
This is the cookbook:

 When I read the first words in the book, that it was dedicated to His Highness, Sheikh Rashid bin Said al Maktoum of Dubai, my gaze wandered to the framed invitation letter my father got from His Highness in 1984. It´s a coincidence! This is why I will keep this cookbook as a true treasure. The invitation letter on special paper with embossed letters were for the inaugural of the power plant of Jebel Ali which were still under construction when I stayed in Jumeirah. It´s a warming memory for me, thinking back of Jumeirah.

This is the CI which will be implanted on the bones of my skull. For first time in my life, I had the opportunity to touch the CI and get a real idea of becoming "Bionic" as the English speaking world calls the people with an implantat.
The picture of the ear belongs to a brochure of MED-EL and it shows how the really thin and flexible cable (not really visible on the photo) will be put into the inner ear.

Today I met two wonderful and amazing ladies at afternoon who already have a CI. Malvina and Brigitte were helping me so much with their personal experience of being Bionic, especially Brigitte with her past stories of Morbus Meniére. I also suffer from Morbus Meniére and there is always a kind of scary thoughts, for example if I have to stand at the cashier at a supermarket for a long time, I feel something strange crawling up my spine  - it´s always a warning of a forthcoming dizzyness attack in where I will fell down without any help.
It´s scary.

Brigitte had surgery and since it her Morbus Meniére didn´t come back. What a relief!
Thus I am curious what will happens with my Morbus Meniére when having a CI? A very important question and I intend to ask Prof. Gstoettner about it at 10th July.
At this day, everything will be decided for the future. A long way is ahead...
But with my friends at my side, I am confident.

I visited my old kindergarten! Back to my childhood...
Usually nobody visits the kindergarten, but mine was a special one. Because of my HOH-handicap I visited a special kindergarten for deaf and HOH-children and got a special education.
Thanks to aunty Ilse I was able to learn how to speak and to use the power of the language with my hearing aids. I entered kindergarten with 2 years and experienced the "old" and the "new" kindergarten. The old one was in a 100-years old building which became a school then. The new one was some hundred meters far and the building was erected in the 70ies.
Today I also visited the new kindergarten and my aunty Ilse.
It was fun to see all these low furnitures the colorful paintings from children on the wall and aunty in her usual energy. Nothing changed.

The only one who changed was me. And I returned to kindergarten because I wanted to see how children with CI are living. Aunty Ilse gave me the opportunity to meet the sweet and cute children and took an old photo with me when I was 3 years old (about 1979).

The kids looked at the photo, then at me and one girl said:"You are old now!".
Gosh - kids are too honest!
But another girl hugged me at my waist and said:"No, she is not old. She is big."
Geeez! Another honesty, but better than the "old" one ;-)
But the sweet hug from the cute girl was worth to be "insulted" humourously.
It was good to be back in kindergarten again.
This is the last photo - nothing changed to today´s photo (at the top):

The same windows, the same wooden floor... (I am in the gray dress).

My friend Lucy gave me the hint of a new movie with Tahar Rahim and Antonio Banderas called "Black Gold". Then my father bought this DVD because he read in the newspaper that this story is similar to the finding of first oil in the UAE. The fighting between the tribes, exchanges of hostages and the bad influence of the American when in comes to the oil, also called black gold.
Paid with Qatari money this movie doesn´t have good critics but for me it´s one of the finest and near-to-authentic movie which matches the story my father heard in the UAE.
I am glad that I watched "Black Gold" - sadly the good-looking Ibn Idriss is one of the bad guys. But Tahar Rahim as Prince Auda is really dashing ;-)

Today I saw an amazing rainbow which lasted for almost half hour!

If you look closer, you will see a second rainbow above the first one. It´s really a wonder of nature. At this moment, I remembered a poem by Omar Khayyam of Nishapour (lived in 11th century Persia):

The mysteries of Life unknown to you and me,

This puzzling word unread by you and me,

Behind the veil of Life it´s talk of you and me,

When curtains falls, we cease to be you and me.



It´s always calming the mind of today´s hurries and worries when reading the poems of Hafiz, Rumi, Sa´di and Omar Khayyam.

Letters from Fes...

Today I received a letter from my brother Aziz from Fes. We are not siblings by blood but by mutual friendship and understanding. We share a lot through our cultures with respect and without hate toward the world of Islam.
Despite my words that I will not come to Morocco during Eid al Adha, my brother told me that his son Abdou always ask him if I will come...
Incha´allah, as god will.
Little Abdou wants to celebrate Eid al Adha with his Austrian aunt ;-) but first, everything about the Cochlea Implantat must be finished.
I feel so sad and somewhat lonely when thinking that I will miss Eid al Adha this year because it´s forbidden to take a flight within 3 months after the surgery.
Eid al Adha is a great celebration and the joy and happiness of Moroccan people is amazing!
I was looking forward to help Najat, Aziz´ lovely and warm-hearted wife, with the perparations and the cooking. It would be so wonderful to stand in the kitchen together and try to communicate with hands and feet because Najat speaks Darija only and I try to learn it from my brother.

It would be so wonderful to spend Eid al Adha in Fes. But Little Abdou has to wait for next year!

This is my wonderful keyboard Yamaha PSR-E303 which my friend Anja approved highly. She tried to test all functions and was satisfied. I am glad that I bought a good keyboard.
You can see the "Kashmiri Song" - it´s super difficult for a beginner but I try to play the part for Violine/songs to get the touch of the tones and melody.

The earphone on the left side is sometimes necessary at 11 o´clock PM to prevent a furious neighbour who might be catapulted out of bed when I play a strong tune as if a cavalry of old time would rush through the room ;-)

Today I went to Vienna´s University Clinic (AKH) and had a talking with Dr. Gstoettner, a well-known otologist and medical executive of the ear-nose-throath-departement.

It was the day when I officially pronounced my way with a CI. Dr. Gstoettner is well-known for CI-surgery and we had a talking about the medical aspects.

How long is the surgery? Is there a significant difference between a simple hearing aid and a electronic implantat (many American call them „Bionic“ for it)? How long is it needed for rehabilitation and re-learning hearing?

First of all, everybody should know that I am totally aware that this is a big decision and not an easy one! It´s a changing of a life.

I was born with high-degree hard-of-hearing and from my 11th month I was wearing hearing aids. They are not like everybody´s ear and they are only a substitute.

Nevertheless, I grew up with them, joined kindergarten and then a normal school for hearing children, not a special school. My career went up to university and I also learned foreign languages with my hearing aids. I know, it´s rather exceptional. But I lived my life with them and made my best with them.

In 2011 I got new hearing aids and something was missing. The tones were not clear anymore, it was somehow monotonous. A clear and bright „A“ sounds like a louder „E“. Crap! I don´t like this.

There is a strange feeling that the development of hearing aids are getting worse! For sure, digital hearing aids should be adjusted to each person, but they are also limited.

This is one of the reason why I decided a CI.

And it´s sad that a deaf friend told me that she will break our friendship if I decide for surgery.

It´s my decision and I don´t need such words from false friends who only use her status as „Deaf“ to get money and alms from the state!

It will be a long way....

At 4th July there will be a CT and MRT and at 9th July Dr. Gstoettner will tell me if my ear is ready for surgery.

Ta-da! At last, I went to Graz, capital city of Styria, yesterday. I entered the train at early afternoon in Vienna and two an half hours later I stepped out in Graz and there was the buyer of the Yamaha keyboard. Gosh, it was heavy!

I waited in Graz 2 hours and then went back to Vienna with the Yamaha as my luggage.

It was a slowly journey over the Semmering mountain where the train speeded only with 50 km/h!!! I missed the Japanese Shinkansen with high speed.

The keyboard was not expensive because it was slightly used, but the sound is wonderful. It´s a Yamaha PSR-E303 and I found out that all E300-series are very popular and hard to find as used instruments. New instruments are very expensive. 

Today was a great day full of life and music, it was the 1st Integrative Soundfestival during the Vienna Festival Weeks which is every year in May/June.
It was amazing to watch and hear handicapped and non-handicapped musicians on stage, especially when standing backstage with a kind and warm-hearted Deaf Sign Language translator.

The music went from Jazz, Rock, Gospels, Pop, Rap and Songs. It was a great joy to see all these talents and even the auditorium loved them.
I am looking forward to be part of the team again next year.

When the loud music rocked on stage, it was cool to communicate in Deaf Sign Language - there is no need for speaking. People were telling us, that this is perfect for on-stage-workers. We smiled...