It’s the 11th of November, or, at least, it’s still the 11th of November in my current time zone, and this means a few things:

• • today marks three years since I moved to Germany, and I hope there will be many more years to come to live a good life in my beloved Münster;
  • today is Elfter Elfter, that is, the beginning of the carnival season, a day that the people of Cologne love to celebrate and that I have learned to love as well, and it was during this huge daytime party in a bar of the Südstadt in Cologne last year that I made the promise that, within a year, I would finally travel for the first time to the other side of the ocean. It’s taken me some time to keep the promise, but I did, and I landed in Guatemala just one day before the year expired, which is why I sadly missed the Elfter Elfter in Cologne today. There will obviously be a lot more to tell about this trip as I’ve been here just a little bit longer than 24 hours, so I will save words for another time, but I can already say with absolute certainty that it was totally worth skipping the party this year;
  • and Elfter Elfter means that today AnnenMayKantereit released this song dedicated to their city, that is, Cologne, and this video that was filmed at their concert at Fühlinger See in Cologne this past September, when they played it for the first time. I was there almost in front of the stage and I remember this new song so vividly. I was actually already on my way to the concert at midday and walking along the lake on that beautiful sunny day, and the band was doing the soundcheck and playing this unknown beautiful song. I had to stop walking and listen in silence and try and grab the words. Also for some reason I feel I already got to know the soul of Cologne during my few visits to this city, and somehow I knew that AnnenMayKantereit would release that song on Elfter Elfter. And here it is: https://youtu.be/QLmIA8g55XY

Lots of love from Guatemala, happy belated Elfter Elfter, and see you all soon 🙂