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Last year I ordered some acid-free paper for printing my thesis, and I provided my delivery and e-mail addresses at work for convenience. But today I received a rather mysterious e-mail from the same company, saying, ‘Dear Mr. Kong, Your order has been confirmed as follows …’ How did this e-mail come about? I haven’t ordered anything from them of late, and when I read through the e-mail in more detail, the order was intended for delivery and billing to the animal house of my research institute. That’s clearly none of my business! The secretary at my department kindly followed up the matter for me. She then found out that the animal house did place that order, but the confirmation was sent to me out of convenience since the company had already got my e-mail address at work and/or thought that I was in charge. How clever … Other people have recently received another bizarre bill, albeit a lot more malicious. Television and radio broadcasts do not come free in Germany, and an authority is...

Christmas is normally a time for family gatherings, but to those miles away from home like my friend and myself, Christmas is just another holiday. We spent the time in Heidelberg, a small city with plenty of medieval flair. I have heard of Heidelberg a long time ago. To those of us in the field, it’s famous for its biomedical research; and whenever there’s someone from Heidelberg presenting a seminar, one will get a chance to see the same picturesque view of the city. Now I can finally see the real thing for myself! We spent the first day (24 December) strolling along the Main Street of the Old Town and making ad-lib forays into the many adjoining laneways. It was so relaxing without the massive crowd of tourists; we could have a good look at the churches and medieval buildings, and take as many photos as we liked. Reaching the end of the street, we ventured uphill to the Heidelberg Castle, to enjoy the view of the city and walk through the many buildings of the castle. The castle act...

Christmas is coming in 359 days! Here’s a sneak preview of what’s to come … (Since when has GK picked up his sixth sense? He’s probably just rehashing some photos from last Christmas, right?) Some of German’s Christmas customs are quite new to me. One can feel Christmas coming from early December when everyone is counting down to the big day. A common way is to use an Advent Calendar; as each day passes, peel open the little compartment for that day and eat the chocolate inside. I haven’t done such a good job counting down as I still have some chocolate left! Christmas markets also start at the turn of December. There were quite a few in Munich of varying scales. My friend and I chose to visit the two at Englischer Garten (English Garden) and at Schwabing. The Englischer Garten featured many stalls selling pretty Christmas decorations and nifty household items, including many things that I’ve never seen before. How I wish I had enough space for a Christmas tree in my flat and decorated...