Drinks of the Unknown: Rock Shandy

“Hi, have you met «Rock Shandy»?” Let me introduce you to a local alcoholic beverage, that is well-known and consumed quite often here in southern Africa: the Rock Shandy. I was quite shocked that it is not really known in Europe, not even in Germany, as the most important ingredient is made in a little town called Erding in Bavaria, most infamous for it’s “Erdinger Weißbier”, a German beer.

The drink consists of a mixture of 50% soda water and 50% lemonade on ice, but not any homemade American lemonade, I mean Sprite, SevenUp or similar. Afterwards you add a bit of “Angostura Bitter”, a herbal spirit with 48% vol. in concentrated form. In a 500 ml glass, a good 20-30 drops would suffice, depending how strong you like it. Don’t forget to stir. Putting a slice of lemon in as well certainly does not impair the incredible taste.

And for perfectionists: it does not matter if you put Angostura in first, or at the end – the taste is the same. I recommend this drink to anyone who enjoys refreshing drinks with a tasty mix of spices. If you know and enjoy Jägermeister, chances are you’ll love this too 😉

Rock Shandy without a slice of lemon, not stirred yet

Bottle of Angostura Bitter

Green…greener…Windhoek

I flew back to Namibia to spend the holidays with my family on February 3rd, as the semester break has started for many students in Germany. I was welcomed by a surplus of sun rays, as temperatures were already at an astounding 22° C when I arrived with Air Namibia at Hosea Kutako International Airport at  round about 07:00 the next morning.

Of course I remembered from geography classes that the main rainfall period is between January and March, so I expected quite a lot of rain during my stay. Now in Namibia people react to rain like people in Europe react to a sunny day – it makes them happy. And they have every reason to, as annual precipitation only adds up to 362 mm in and around Windhoek, which is located in the centre of the country. The south of Namibia is much drier, with Mariental only receiving 194 mm a year for example. Certain northern regions of Namibia however are evergreen, with rainfall adding up to 600 mm and more.

The last time I was in Windhoek was more than two years ago. And it was in winter, when most of Namibia’s landscape is as yellow and dry as deceasing saffron pistils. Keeping that in mind, I was overjoyed when seeing the entire countryside between the airport and the city centre, as it reminded me of all the summers and rainy seasons I grew up with as a child.

Another advantage of rain in Africa is the spectacular view of the sky, once it is coloured with the darkest clouds you could dream of. Since I am a huge fan of “end-of-the-world” scenarios, my imagination has a chance to drift of with an imaginary deluge.

Unfortunately, heavy rainfalls can also have devastating effects on man-built areas. The northern plains in Namibia have a potential to get flooded, ending up with destroyed crops and inundated cattle. In cities like Windhoek, entire streets can collapse once rivers start to flow with large masses of water. This was the case in the nineties, when parts of concrete sewer canals were laying next to street signs. But luckily, no such horrible events have unfolded this time.

Many people that moved onto the African continent seem to end up saying: Africa is all about survival of the fittest – to eat, or to be eaten. This is quite difficult to understand for people living in developed countries, but by simply looking at the mortality or crime rates of African countries, one might get the impression that things are quite a bit different here. But this does not only apply to anthropogenic aspects, as you can see the difference between life and death in the photos above.

Extreme places on our globe can change people’s foundations. I can only encourage everyone to travel as much as they can. Get out of your everyday life once in a while and see how different places on Earth are going to influence you…for better, or for worse. You decide!

UEFA Champions League: Bayer 04 Leverkusen – FC Barcelona

The UEFA Champions League continues in 2012 with the first matches of the last sixteen knock-out round, starting on Valentine’s Day. Defending champions FC Barcelona headed to Leverkusen, a middle-sized city with about 160,000 inhabitants, most infamous for the international chemical company Bayer AG, who also owns the football club. The other match that night was Olympique Lyon from France versus APOEL Nikosia, the surprising underdog team from Cyprus.

The game started off rather slow-paced. Leverkusen tried to keep the ball for the first ten minutes, however Barcelona took over after that and kept nearly 80% of the ball for the rest of the entire first half. Unfortunately, not much happened during that time. Barcelona kept the ball, played their ball-possession football and tried to create chances, which they managed to do only a couple of times. Leverkusen’s defense was stable for most of the first half of the game. Still, one assumes this is not what the fans bought their precious tickets for.

Daniel Schwab received a yellow card for his first foul in the 8th minute, which was rather controversial. Usually, referees only show yellow cards early in the match when a brutal foul was committed. This was, however, not the case with Schwab’s foul. You do not have to be a Real Madrid supporter to find some decisions in football matches going Barcelona’s way a bit too often…

The first chance in the match was in the 13th minute, when Fabregas tried to supply Lionel Messi with a pass. However, Leverkusen’s defender Schwab had been alert and was able to intercept just in time and put the ball out of play for a corner kick.

In the following minutes, the audience might have got the impression that Leverkusen’s players lacked self-confidence and had a bit too much respect for their dominating opponents. Such an attitude definitely does not contribute to beating FC Barcelona.

Barcelona kept on passing the ball, but was not able to create any danger for Lerverkusen’s goalkeeper Leno. One had the impression that if this were indeed Lerverkusen’s tactics, they seemed to be working. However, four minutes from half-time, the Barcelona players were able to start a swift attack, as Messi played a very accurate pass to Alexis Sanchez, who put the ball past goalie Leno into the left hand corner of the net.

The second half started off with a good goal-scoring opportunity, but Leverkusen was unable to take advantage of one of the rare chances on their side. Still, they seemed to want their fans to know that they are not giving up that easily. The game continued with good play from Leverkusen, as lots of head-balls showed Leverkusen’s advantage in height and created a chance for Kadlec, who headed the ball into the net after a cross from Corluka. Bayer was on level terms with the defending champions!

But not for long, as Barcelona took advantage of a counter-attack, as a pass from Fabregas set up Alexis Sanchez once again, who tricked the keeper and got past him. A low shot just past the right hand post put Barca back in front.

Leverkusen had a great chance to equalize once again in the 57th minute, as Renato Augusto tried to get past Victor Valdes with a low shot, but the Barcelona keeper prevailed. A strong phase from Leverkusen followed, as Robin Dutt’s team tried everything to get back on level terms. In the 64th minute, a shot from Castro was just saved by Valdes and steered towards the right hand post. Luck was definitely not on Leverkusen’s side.

In the following minutes, Leverkusen gave the ball away too often, which enabled Barcelona to take over again and dominate the match. They also created another chance in the 72nd minute, as Messi got past Leverkusen’s defense and even keeper Bernd Leno, but was denied by the aluminum in form of the right hand post.

The last great chance for Leverkusen took place in the 79th minute, as substitute Stefan Kießling was able to get on the end of a cross and head the ball towards the goal – only to be denied by Victor Valdes.

Another controversial scene took place shortly after, as Sergio Busquets pushed Leverkusen’s Castro towards the stands and ended up hurting himself by falling. As this was clearly a foul from the Barcelona man, nobody understood the decision by Scottish referee Craig Thomson, who booked Castro for the alleged foul on Busquets. Again the mighty Barcelona side gets overshadowed by questionable referee decisions, as so often since Pep Guardiola took over as coach in 2008.

With a corner kick for Barcelona in the 84th minute, Alexis Sanchez is denied his hat trick only by keeper Bernd Leno, who performed very well. However, he was unable to do anything in the 88th minute, as Barcelona struck for the third time, when Messi played a great through ball to Dani Alves, who in turn passed back to the short Argentine who put the ball into the net with a half-volley. The game ended 1:3.

In the end, Bayer Leverkusen simply were outclassed today and did not do enough, to have a chance of progressing to the quarter-finals. Interestingly though, this was the first time Barcelona was able to win an away leg in the Champions League round of 16 under Pep Guardiola.