If you find yourself wanting to get me something nice but don’t know what, here are some helpful suggestions. 🙂
Donations
The stage
Books
Food, drink & the kitchen
Donations
Instead of getting me a gift, consider donating to:
- organizations helping refugees from Ukraine or aiding the Ukrainian war effort (I compiled a list of such organizations, focusing on Germany, in spring 2022: check it out but be aware that it is out of date)
- ProVeg or any other organization working pragmatically to reduce cruelty to animals and increase the share of plant-based foods in the human diet
- BYSOL, Razam, or any other campaign to help victims of state violence in Belarus
- The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees or any other agency or initiative working to help refugees
- The Migraine Research Foundation or any other organization that helps develop treatments for highly prevalent but under-studied medical conditions
If you would prefer to get something for me personally, you’ll find some ideas below.
The stage
I enjoy opera, theater, and concerts much more when I have a front row seat. So gift certificates are always greatly appreciated, especially for the Theater an der Wien or Staatsoper in Vienna, the Deutsche Oper or Staatsoper in Berlin, or opera houses in the vicinity of where I live: Frankfurt, Wiesbaden, Darmstadt, Stuttgart, Karlsruhe, or Strasbourg.
Books
Seriously, they are everywhere. The shelves in my office are overflowing. The shelves at home are double-stacked. There are piles in every room. The to-read-urgently book tree is buckling under the weight of its load. So if you get me another book to read in my “spare time,” I will politely thank you while trying to suppress nervous laughter. If you still want to get me a book, please make sure it’s something I need for work (e.g. by checking my research interests on this page) and I don’t already have it! Also, if the book was originally written in Belarusian, German, English, French, Italian, Russian, Spanish, or Ukrainian, do not get me a version translated into a different language. Even if I want to read it, I will look for the original and disregard the translated version. (Sometimes I do use certain translations in my work, but there will be no way for you to know that I need a particular translation unless you ask me.)
Food, drink & the kitchen
- vegan alcohol-free wine
- good whole-bean coffee for an automatic espresso machine: fair trade and not too bitter (Arabica rather than Robusta)
- fair-trade vegan dark chocolate
- unsweetened soy milk in 0.5 l containers, a size that is often more convenient than 1 l cartons. Provamel used to produce them but has apparently discontinued the line, so if you can hook me up, please do!
- Please DON’T get me:
- alcoholic drinks of any kind, or alcohol-containing foods. I can’t stand the taste of alcohol
- any food that is not vegan (including honey)
- tea: we always have much more than we could possibly drink, and I personally only drink certain kinds of herbal tea anyway
- spices: I make my own blends and am very particular about the spices I use; I don’t like pre-mixed blends, and I like to buy my spices fresh in small quantities just before using/blending them
- sweets (including jam) in large quantities – we always have far more than we could possibly use, and end up throwing them away or re-gifting them
- recipe books. I like the idea, but end up never using them