This month Ciarán is joined by Ulrike Gasser, the newly appointed director of the Goethe Institut Irland and now proud Dublin Northsider. Originally from Munich Ulrike identifies with and appreciates many other cultures, especially the Middle East.  Having worked with artists in Ankara and Istanbul she learned to understand and speak Turkish which Ulrike describes as very poetic with many symbols and pictures. They chat about some particularities of Bavaria; about Turkish Germany, and how the Middle East has been and still is often portrayed inaccurately, the joy of books and other artforms and the way Germans celebrate Christmas with the Christkind and Krampus (bad Santa). 

Ulrike reads a section by Heinrich Boell, the post WWII author whose work started the vibe about Ireland in