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| April 2008 Newsletter |
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Activities for April
Wednesday, 2nd April
- Members with a good knowledge of German
are welcome.
Friday, 4th April
- Members are especially invited to
attend
Friday, 11th April
- Members and students are welcome.
Entrance is free. |
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Goethe Institute Examinations The German - Maltese Circle announces that the following Goethe Institute Examinations are due in May/June 2008: A1 Certificate, Zertifikat Deutsch (ZD), Zertifikat Deutsch für jügendliche (ZDj), B2 Certificate and C1 Certificate. Students attending our courses which are preparing them to these examinations will be receiving in the next weeks, an application form and further details. External candidates are requested to contact the office as soon as possible. The Examinations’ Timetable can be viewed on the Circle’s Noticeboard or, online on our website. Learn German the Fast & Fun Way The German-Maltese Circle announces another short course for Beginners in the series Learn German the Fun & Fast Way. This course of 12 lessons in which emphasis will be on communicating in German will start on Monday, 14th April. Lessons will be held every Monday in the evening. For application and further information, contact the office as soon as possible or visit our website. Tour to Adenau
The German-Maltese Circle is pleased to announce
that the
Tour to Adenau in the German Eiffel
Mountains which is being organised for members of
the Circle between the 27th August and the 2nd
September is fully subscribed. A meeting for those who had
booked is expected to be held for them in the last week of July. e-Library Members are reminded once again of the e-Library service from where members can browse through titles available in the Dorothea von Wendland Library in Messina Palace. Those interested can obtain their username and password by sending an email at: gmc@germanmaltesecircle.org German Language Awareness Magazines As part of its German Language Awareness Programme, the German-Maltese Circle has just published two colour Magazines – LOS Primar intended for schoolchildren attending Primary Schools and LOS Sekundar aimed at children in Forms 1 & 2 learning German at school. These issues include a Competition with many prizes to be won. Eurocamp 2008
If
interested and for more information, call at the German-Maltese
Circle’s office
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German
Film Evening - introduced by Frau Sirka Facklam. 
Are
you between 18 and 25 years of age?|
d d d d Corporate Members 2008 c c c c c |
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Adpro Instruments Ltd Bavarian Technology Systems Ltd Cheops Malta Ltd Dold Industrial Automation Ltd Hetronic Malta Ltd Lufthansa German Airlines |
Metallform Malta Ltd McNeill Ltd Oiltanking Malta Ltd Playmobil Malta Ltd ProMinent Fluid Controls Ltd Würth Malta Ltd |
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Jazz Concert |
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European Film Festival in Malta |
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Director Marcus H. Rosenmüller's first feature movie deals with a boy thinking that he is responsible for his mother's death and his unusual way to fight his feelings of guilt. 11-year-old Sebastian lives with his father and brother Franz in a Bavarian village. One day, he learns that his mother died on his birthday, which makes him believe he was to blame for her death. Dreaming of purgatory, Sebastian sees only two ways to avoid this divine punishment: becoming an immortal rock star or find a new wife for his father...
He who laughs last, laughs longest....
Welcome Home was inspired from a true story but turns
a tragic situation into a subtle comedy; it deals with the serious
issue of racism with humour by underlining its inconsistencies.
Two police officers are supposed to be deporting a
black African back to Ghana. But when they arrive in Africa, all of
a sudden the balance between black and white is turned upside down.
This deeply black comedy sees the white police officers being sent
off on an absurd odyssey through a foreign land in which they are
constantly confronted with their own prejudices which, with
circumstances revised, they find are now directed against them.
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Rolf H. Bott |
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At the Zentralstelle für Arbeitsvermittlung im Ausland (Central Office for Positions in Foreign Countries) he had applied for a position outside Germany. One of the various jobs they offered him was to work in a team to carry out a feasibility study of water supply, sewage disposal and management for future development in Malta with consequent planning procedure. This was a WHO (World Health Organisation) project, envisaged to be finished within one year, but extended to three years. Rolf accepted this option, as he was longing to see more of this fascinating world. And this is the way his life and work developed: Born in Freiburg, “the Gate to the Black Forest” at the beginning of World War II, the child Rolf together with his brother and his later reunited parents survived the aftermath of 1945 by moving about in southern Germany. Eventually they settled in a rural area near Freiburg surrounded by fields and meadows, forests and a brook. Besides school, farm work was their daily chore. Apart from this the boys had the freedom of roaming around also at night watching wild animals in the forest like the badger and the wild boar, the roe and the fox. They climbed trees even trying to chase squirrels (in vain!) and in warm summer nights Rolf often slept outside with the watchdogs. A great childhood which forms a person for life. He says: “The respect for nature, for any living creature has never left me.” He expressed sadness that many children do grow up without forming solid bonds to life other than with human beings. He matriculated in Freiburg in 1957 and was immediately drafted in the Bundeswehr (German Federal Armed Forces) serving twelve months and an extra six months as a reservist. He was happy to be with the pioneers, building roads and bridges, getting involved with planning constructions. True to his tendencies to engineering he started his studies at the Technische Hochschule Karlsruhe. His main subjects were Hydraulics and Water Engineering, graduating in 1966. In the meantime his father had started a company as Consultant Engineering, which young Rolf joined. His work included consultancy work for communities and towns in Baden-Württemberg. Dedicating himself wholeheartedly, he practically worked day and night, no weekends no holidays, being even unable to spend the money he earned. This was still the time of the “Wirtschaftswunder” and life was rewarding but tough. Consequently his wish to leave his father’s company and Germany grew. After an unsuccessful attempt to go to Brasil, he tried his luck at the above mentioned Zentralstelle für Arbeitsvermittlung im Ausland, and accepted to be part of the team planning the water supply of Malta. He tried to find Malta on the map, climbed into his Volkswagen beetle and off he drove through Italy to Malta. Here he joined the team consisting of two engineers from Germany, one Maltese engineer, three Maltese foremen and some draftsmen. Rolf Bott explained: “The water supply between villages and towns in Malta was initiated by the British in 1856, using cast iron pipes joined with lead. There were no plans available on the whereabouts of the underground pipe system. Only the fitters knew where the pipes were to be found.” And he carried on: ”Water was getting short, especially as the growing industry used lots of fresh water. Remedy plans included towing icebergs from the Arctic or shipping it from Italy!” It took the team half a year of walking around Malta before a complete mapping was accomplished. And he added: “During that time I really got a good impression of the country!” During the fieldwork the team found so many leaks that the Waterworks Department asked them to stop, as they could not cope with the repairs. The leak survey showed an initial figure of 40% loss. For interest sake he added: “In 1968 an average of 48 litres (5 buckets) were used per person per day in Malta, while the figure for the same year for the USA was of 400 litres. For comparison: today with hefty saving measures, the average domestic consumption in Germany is 125 litres per day.”
Rolf Bott and his team compiled a planning assessment taking into consideration the growth of the population, industry, tourism as well as the increase of domestic consumption due to a higher standard of living. Meeting rising demand necessitated the building of more desalination plants, careful use of the groundwater reserves, as well as the laying of numerous additional trunk mains. These actions became an urgent necessity since the upper water table was practically exhausted and the lower fresh water lens depleted. The submitted plans were adopted - even if only after a number of years. During his stay in Malta, Rolf also played table tennis at the German-Maltese Circle, and one evening the pretty Maltese girl Cristina and her sister appeared on the scene. Glances ping-pong’ed during the game and after, with the result that Rolf and Cristina got married two years later. They moved to Freiburg in 1972, where also their two sons were born. Rolf took over his father’s company in partnership, while Cristina learned very quickly and efficiently the German language. After retiring, the couple chose to live alternately for a few months in Germany and a few months in Malta. Hiking in the rural areas of Malta, swimming, sailing and playing tennis keeps them very agile and fit. But also playing the piano and sculpturing the soft Maltese globigerina limestone are hobbies Rolf had hardly had time for in his professional life, but are very much enjoyed now. True to his attitude from a very young age Rolf Bott describes his life’s philosophy swiftly with: “RISK is the spice of life”, - leaving my home by jumping six steps of the stairs, each flight, seven stories down! |
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Ein Kreuzworträtsel |
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Insert the equivalent in German |
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Across: 4. to give; 6. to be; 9. to offer; 10. to go; 11. to become; 13. to lend; 17. to say; 18. to like; 19. to hurry; 20. to live; 21. to build; 22. to phone Down: 1. to thank; 2. to begin; 3. to notice; 4. to believe; 5. to use; 7. to make; 8. to climb; 10. to win; 12. to hurry; 14. to last; 15. to lie; 16. to do.Courtesy of F. McAree Alcester Grammar |
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© 2008 German-Maltese Circle. All rights
reserved. Terms of Use - Disclaimer 
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On
the occasion of the 10th European Film Festival in Malta being held
from the 12th April to the 8th May the German Embassy
is going to show the film: 
Rolf
Bott discovered the German-Maltese Circle for the first time in 1968
and even helped out as a teacher for German for one year when the
number of students was at an increase and urgent need for German
speaking teachers arose. During this period he also served on the
Committee of the German-Maltese Circle. But originally he came to
Malta for a totally different reason. 
