1. Revision – Support Tuition for Grundstufe I and Grundstufe II students:
The Executive Committee has pleasure in announcing these Revision/Support sessions to which students enrolled in our First and Second Year classes can attend on a voluntary basis in order to have special grammar points which they are finding difficult to understand or on which they would like some revision, explained to them by one of our teachers. These sessions are also very useful to students who have missed some lessons due to family, work, or other reasons and who thus have the opportunity to catch up with the rest of the class.  Initially these sessions will be held every Monday, from 4.30 p.m. onwards on an individual or small group tutorial basis with the teacher explaining or revising grammar points. First session – Monday, 10th January. Those who wish to attend must book beforehand at the office against a non-refundable fee of 75 cents for each tuition appointment. Maximum time allotted for each individual/small group tutorial session is of 20 minutes.

2. Dresden – a special town in Germany:
A 4-session Landeskunde course conducted by Waltraud Wolff on Mondays at 6.30p.m. starting Monday, 17th January. Each session is of 90 minutes. Intended for students and members with a good knowledge of German and for German speaking persons. Course fee: LM8.00 payable even on the first day of the course. Course will not be held unless a minimum of 5 applications are received.

3. German for Business – for those with at least an “O” level in German:
Ideal for those working in an office, factory, hotel, bank and similar places where they encounter technical terms in German or have to read and write business German. A short course of just 10 lessons of 90 minutes each conducted by Olaf Rieck, Diplom Volkswirt, Diplom Sozialökonom. Emphasis on the spoken and written language. Lessons every Wednesday at 6.30p.m. starting Wednesday, 19th January. Course fee: LM25. Book early to avoid disappointment. Course will not be held unless a minimum of 10 applications are received.

4. Learning German for Fun - No textbooks, no examinations, no particular emphasis on grammar!!:
A course of 13 lessons of 90 minutes each starting on Friday, 21st January and continuing just once a week every Friday at 6.30p.m. until the end of April. Conducted by Marianne Azzopardi. Emphasis on the spoken everyday language aimed at those who just want to know “some” German quickly for travelling, communicating in German, place of work, etc. Course aimed at Beginners or at those who have started our courses and had to drop for one reason or other. Booking open from our office. Course fee: LM25. Book early to avoid disappointment. Course will not be held unless a minimum of 10 applications are received.

Other news:
On Wednesday, 15th December a Concert for Christmas with the participation of Simone Attard (piano), Joe Vella (saxaphone) and Paul Busuttil (trumpet) will be held at Messina Palace. This Concert will be followed by the Annual Certificate Giving Ceremony for successful students who were attending our 2003-2004 German language courses. The evening will start at 7.15p.m. Attendance by invitation only.

Ritianne Stanyer, a teacher at the Margaret Mortimer Girls’ Junior Lyceum, Alice Micallef, a teacher at the Maria Regina Junior Lyceum and Nathalie Rose Bezzina, a teacher at the Sacred Heart Minor Seminary in Gozo have been chosen by the Executive Committee to benefit from scholarships for teachers of German made available to the German-Maltese Circle by the Goethe Institute for 2005.

The Country of 1001 Christmas Markets

The Christmas fairs and markets of Germany are unique with nearly every town setting up one in its main square or in its old quarters. They are fun for everyone. Here you can buy all kinds of Christmas merchandise and gifts, especially traditional things such as crib figurines, toys, wood carvings, marionettes, candles and lambskin shoes. Many are difficult to resist - as will be the glass of delicious mulled wine (Gluhwein) you are offered and the baked apples that are very welcome on crisp winter days. For children a non-alcoholic version made from cherry juice is also available. The ambience is further enhanced by the aromas of hot chestnuts, grilled sausages and other tasty snacks. Youngsters especially will be attracted to the gingerbread biscuits known as Lebkuchen, the Weihnachtsstollen cake, the marzipan figures and other sweets. Most Christmas Markets start in the last week of November and run through to Christmas Eve or a day or two before. They are usually open every day from 10 in the morning till about 8 or 9 in the evening.

Ein neues Video der KuBus-Reihe ist eingetroffen. Erstes Thema ist diesmal der Wiederaufbau der Frauenkirche in Dresden. 1945 wurde sie bei einem Luftangriff zerstört. Nach der Wiedervereinigung im Jahr 1990 setzte sich eine Bürgerinitiative für den Wiederaufbau ein. 44% der Steine, die im Wiederaufbau verwendet wurden, stammen aus dem Trümmerberg. Finanziert wurde der Wiederaufbau zu einem sehr großen Teil von Spendern aus aller Welt. Am 31.10.2005, dem Reformationstag, soll die Kirche außen und innen vollendet sein und geweiht werden. Gegenstand des zweiten Films ist deutssprachige Comickunst. Obwohl 90% der Comics in Deutschland importiert werden, gibt es eine lebendige Comicszene. Einige deutsche Künstler und ihre Arbeiten werden in diesem Film vorgestellt.

The first question that came to my mind after I had met Lufthansa’s General Manager in Malta, Mr. Valdis Dombrovskis, was, of course, where does the name Valdis originate from? Well, Valdis Dombrovskis is the son of Latvian parents who were engaged in timber and sawmills in the vast forests of the Baltic. The unrest caused by World War II drove the family to Freiburg in South-West Germany, where Valdis was born. Though he attended a German school, Latvian was the language spoken in the family, with the result that Valdis grew up bilingual, a quality which he came to appreciate very much in his professional career later on in life.

In addition to Latvian and German, he studied French and English with the intention of becoming a commercial correspondent. However, in the meantime the family had moved to Munich, where the young boy was soon intrigued by the bustling activities at the Airport, then still known as München-Riem. With a reminiscent smile he told me that suddenly the idea of spending every day of his life in an office - from eight to five, year in year out - faded in view of the big wide world bidding him to join and explore by means of those exiting flying machines on the runways.

Well equipped with four languages, enthusiasm and the bouncing urge of a young man, he applied to join and was accepted by Lufthansa as a Passenger Service Agent at München-Riem Airport in 1970. During the following years he passed through all departments of the LH Station, including sales, reservation, aircraft handling, fuel, crew, catering, and weight trimming. Especially this last phrase struck me and I asked what it meant. He explained that for every carrier, all loads and particularly the distribution of weight, have to be taken carefully into consideration. – Comforting to know, next time one boards a plane with excess weight…. - Life looked settled, he found a young lady, married her in 1978, and the couple had a son and a daughter.

Valdis Dombrovskis had reached the position of Passenger Services Supervisor, when he realised, that though he was sending people and goods into this big world daily, he himself was bound to München-Riem. The year 1986 finally brought the change which would allow him to live his dream: He had the chance to join the Lufthansa Management Relief Group which steps into managerial positions in foreign countries, if the local management requires replacement for a limited time. During the following five years he worked and lived in 35 countries spread over all continents – and enjoyed it tremendously –. Finally the world was his. However, his alone, as his wife had no desire to leave Munich. The couple realised that the time had come for them to go separate ways, and the marriage was dissolved before he left Germany.

But, as often happens, the heart can prove to be stronger than flamboyant dreams - like being on the constant move, changing scenery practically every six weeks. A new challenge presented itself as a result of the political restructurings of Europe when the Iron Curtain fell. Among the many reshufflings, the land of his forefathers, Latvia, which he had never seen, gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Lufthansa immediately decided to open a Station in Riga: Valdis Dombrovskis applied and was chosen to set up an Airport Station with operations and sales. “When my feet touched the soil of Riga, I felt immediately at home; my parents’ homeland became mine, I was a Latvian amongst Latvians. A great peace came over me.” His position and work were demanding, yet, in his free time he roved through the practically untouched nature and wild life of Eastern Europe, the endless forests filled with an abundance of berries and mushrooms, with roaming moose and red deer, wild boar, lynx and wolves.

During the six following years he also added the Russian language to his repertoire, with the result that he was entrusted with the opening of a new Lufthansa Station and Sales Office in Yekaterinburg in 1994. This West-Siberian industrial city of 1.7 million inhabitants was founded in 1723 and named after Katharina I, wife of Tsar Peter the Great. And it is also the city on the outskirts of which the last Russian Tsar Nicholas II and his family were executed by the Bolsheviks in 1918. “Perhaps due to this horrific deed, but certainly due to industrial pollution”, Mr. Dombrovskis said, “there is something like a death breath, a curse, hanging over the city – visible as voluminous black clouds darkening skies and souls”. Well, he worked there for six years, in a city with four cold summer months and eight months of winter – for three whole months the temperature is permanently around -40°C. However, despite these rough conditions, he met a Russian lady, Galina, who manages her own hotel in Yekaterinburg - “the best hotel in town”, he added proudly, and married her in 2000. She is very much looking forward to join Valdis in Malta in a few months’ time.

It happened also in the year 2000 that Mr. Dombrovskis was transferred to the Central Asian state of Turkmenistan, beyond the Caspian Sea, twice the size of Great Britain. He became General Manager for Lufthansa in the city of Ashgabad, the capital with 0.5 million inhabitants. The change could not have been greater. This country consists for 80% of the Kara-Kum Desert with large camel herds roaming around the few oases; the country, however, has considerable oil, gas and mineral resources. And while in the preceding years Valdis had suffered under the extremely low temperatures of the Central Urals, the conditions were reversed here. He now happily recalls: “At night the temperatures cooled down to about +35°C.” Climate wise much more pleasant, were tours to the magnificent Kopet Dag Mountains in the south of the country. During his stay he was always aware of a very strict governmental control - former Party Leader S. Nijasow had been elected as President with well over 97% votes in 1994. The police force was strong; television and radio were censored, Western advertisements and press banned, although airline personnel had at least access to international press arriving with their carriers.

Consequently when after four years a new change was imminent, he was ready to leave Turkmenistan for Europe. However, after living and moving for ten years within the vast and sheer endless dimensions of the states of the former Soviet Union, the transfer to minute Malta first felt like a physical shock. The narrowness and insular confinement took him some getting used to – until he realised, that going places, visiting, hiking, was always merely a matter of minutes, everything was nearby.

Today Valdis Dombrovskis enjoys the pleasant Mediterranean climate and flair, loves the fresh Maltese vegetables and sea food - something he missed in Russia and Turkmenistan -, and has established a good relationship to his company’s customers as well as many Maltese people, whom he may call his friends now. And one item he pointed out especially at the end of the interview: neither Riga, when he was there, nor Yekaterinburg or Ashgabad maintained a German cultural institute. While here in Valletta he soon found the German-Maltese Circle offering German books, films, and interesting evenings, - and a cheerful mixture of German and Maltese culture in a venerable sixteenth century palazzo.

As part of this year's cultural activities organised by the German-Maltese Circle and the Alliance Française de Malte to commemorate the signing of the Elysée Treaty between the two countries (41 years ago), the eminent political scientist and author Professor Alfred Grosser gave a lecture at the German-Maltese Circle on the subject "France and Germany, the USA and the UK; new members of the Union and two special relationships". H.E. President Emeritus Dr. Vincent Tabone and H.E. President Emeritus Professor Guido De Marco were among the audience and participated in the discussion that followed the lecture. Picture shows Professor Grosser together with our president, Albert Friggieri, at the entrance of Messina Palace.

This year's Franco-German cultural activities also included a vocal and instrumental concert involving German, French and Maltese participants. The concert, which was organised with the help of the Mdina Cathedral Museum Commission, was held at the hall of the Cathedral Museum which was packed for the occasion.

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