kleines Deutschrock-girl

photos

So, I've got some more photos for you! As said previously I have found picasa to be an easier way to share photos, as opposed to uploading them directly onto the blog. But it's still really easy for you guys. All you need to do is cut and paste the below address and then you'll be lead to all my online albums. Just decide which one you want to look at and click away! I'm not sure where we were up to. I know you've seen Prague and Rome. I don't think you've seen Naples, Mt. Vesuvius, Pompeii, Milan and Switzerland yet. I don't think you've seen Feldberg or Titisee either. I've added some to the Freiburg album too, although I still have more to add to it.

Well the trips I did this year feel like a distant dream, but I've still got hundreds of photos to share with you:

Dresden
Leipzig
Clausthal-Zellerfeld (where my mum was born)
Goslar
Amsterdam
Rotterdam
Deft
Antwerp
Brussels
Austrian Alps and a bit of Graz
Vienna
Salzburg and "The Sound of Music":P

That's what's to come.

Love Ela

Christmas '07

Well my intention for the last few days of 2007 was to be good and answer emails, write a blog entry, upload photos, write in my journal, tidy my flat and have some quiet time, contemplating changes I want to make and making a list of new year's resolutions.

Well as usual, this intention remained an intention, but minus writing in my journal and doing my new year's resolutions, I've made a start on all of them. So I guess I should be happy about that.

My Christmas turned out to be not too bad at all! After my initial Christmas plans fell through, it looked like I would be spending Christmas alone. That was going to be a very character building experience and one that I had come to accept. But when my friend Lisa found out that I no longer had Christmas plans she got back to me quite quickly, saying that her family would be happy to let me crash theirs. So that was really lovely of her and them. Then she got back to me again and said that they (her and her bf Waldi) were going to Waldi's family on the 25th and that Waldi had spoken to his family and it was also ok if I joined them there too. So that was very very nice of Lisa and Waldi to once again look after me on Christmas. You guys rock! :) I even got some pretty sweet presents too, which was really cool, considering I was just the "blow-in".

Lisa's mum also invited me to a boxing day lunch with her side of the family, with Lis and Waldi, at this restaurant in Freiburg which had very blackforest cuisine. Lis and I both had deer. The serves were so big that we both couldn't finish! On Christmas eve, back at Lisa's parents house, the food was pretty amazing, including this super special sauce that Lisa's brother made, following instructions from a friend that he phoned in Sweden, and who then emailed him the secret steps. he had his laptop with him in the kitchen! It was funny. Our celebrations began with "real" Champagne! Spoilt!

After dinner we did the traditional thing of singing Christmas carols together (instead of watching them on "Carols by candlelight"! :P), reading the Christmas story and lighting the little Christmas tree candles (instead of turning on the Kmart Christmas lights :P). I must say Germans and Austrians know how to celebrate Christmas in an authentic way. It is far less commercial, in comparison with home. Although some would argue that it is becoming more commercial here. However, get this: Shops here are always closed on a Sunday. Europeans celebrate Christmas on Christmas eve, therefore this year being a Monday night. And guess what... The shops on Sunday were still CLOSED. Nuts (or perhaps not...)! The day before Christmas in Australia is retail intensity overdrive. But here it's a good old quiet little Sunday. Nuts.

Anyway, back to Christmas with Lisa and Waldi. So after presents we went to Church. We were half an hour early and it was already packed!! We had to stand up the back. It was a really pleasant, festive service, on the top of a big hill/small mountain in Spaichingen. The next day we had a grand breakfast and then it was off to Waldi's family. Waldi's sister is also called Ela, and with one 'L' too! It was nice to finally get to know Waldi's family. We had a pretty Polish lunch, which was cool 'cause it made me think of my own Polish grandmother and her cooking.

On Friday night, back in Freiburg, we saw this really sweet film, one that I'd been waiting for to come out (the new Til Schweiger one "KeinOhrHasen" translation no eared rabbit). I enjoyed it, and understood about 90 percent of the dialogue, which was often pretty fast. It was mainly the slang I couldn't understand and I missed out on a couple of jokes. But 90 percent ain't bad. It's the first movie that met my expectations in a long time.

Gabi and Josef's daughter's have been down from Berlin and their son-in-law had a concert at the concert hall last night. They had a spare ticket and asked me if I'd like to join them. It was really great. Swing music, a tribute to Glenn Miller. So you know, what I've learnt over the last few days is that if you just relax and keep yourself open to good things, things pop up and have a way of working themselves out (i.e Christmas, concert, movie etc). As always there's plenty more to tell you, but how about I post this for now. I'll post a link to the photos I organised too.

Einen guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr!

Literally: A good slide into the new year!
Figuratively: Happy New Year!

But only wished before 24:00 of the 31st, after then it's "Frohes neues Jahr!", which is simply "Happy New Year". Gotta love the specificity! ;) Well that's were I'm living right now and when in Rome... Have a good one guys!!

Love Ela xo

Coma

Hey hey,

Yeah yeah, I know, my blog has been in a total coma for just shy of a year... :(
Well what should I tell you? Hhhm. Perhaps start with the present.

It's a cold and grey Sunday afternoon. The weather is getting really chilly around here. I'm not really a winter fan so I'm not too excited about the early winter, although all the ski bunnies and snowboarders are. The ski season opened yesterday - three weeks earlier than usual. When I was at the train station yesterday, I spotted quite a few dudes sporting snowboards and the like.

Yesterday was a pretty "cultural" day for me. I had a meeting in Basel, Switzerland in the afternoon with my boss and another English teacher. So I decided to make use of being in Basel by going to "The Other Collection - Homage to Hildy and Ernst Beyeler" at the Fondation Beyeler. It was a special exhibition for the tenth anniversary of the opening of the museum.

***

A few hours later:

So the exhibition was really good. Cézanne, van Gogh, Kandinsky, Klee, Miró, Picasso, Bonnard, Léger, Ernst, Matisse, Monet - simply awesome. Brilliant exhibition. As I was approaching the gallery, a nice old lady asked me if I was going to the exhibition (“yes…”) and if I would like free entry, as she had a newspaper clipping for two free tickets for that day only (“yes!”). So that was pretty cool.

After the meeting with my boss I had arrangements to go to the theatre in Freiburg with Lisa and a language assistant that she had as a guest at her place for the weekend. It was good to go to the theatre, and do something with Lisa, but I was honestly too tired to enjoy it, and when I’m tired I can bearly understand German at all, so I struggled.

Well, I was gonna tell you a few more things but it’s now pretty late and I still need to do some lesson prep for tomorrow. But I’ve made a start hey…

Well overdue post!

Well hello!

Yes, I’m still alive! Sorry sorry sorry for neglecting this blog, and for as yet not replying to all emails. I really appreciate hearing from home, and I think about you – my friends and family – all the time. Since arriving in Germany in the middle of September things have been pretty go go go!! Big stuff has happened and I haven’t really had much time to myself – that’s the reason for not really being in touch. Another reason is that I don’t have internet access at home.

However, I would really like to tell you all what’s been happening – update you and assure you, my dear friends and family that you are always in my thoughts.

Well, where do I start? I don’t know whether to start from the beginning or start from now and work backwards… Hhhm. Maybe start from now and work backwards.

***

I’m writing this entry in instalments on my laptop. Once it’s finished then I’ll save it on a USB and submit it. So right now I’m on the train to Graz (in Austria). It’s Boxing Day. I had a nice Christmas in Germany, despite being unable to share it with my own family. My kind friends Lisa and Waldemar invited me to spend Christmas with them, the main celebration being on Christmas Eve here, which they call Heiligabend (“Holy Evening“). We had a lovely evening. Waldi cooked a wonderful four-course meal for us, including a delicious Tiramisu! Lisa and I felt very spoilt.

Two of my fellow language assistant friends also didn’t go home for Christmas, although Lara was lucky enough to have her mum come over from the US to spend it with her. They invited me to join them as well as Lara’s new boy, for a gourmet buffet breakfast at this fancy restaurant on the mountaintop in the city centre of Freiburg (spoil again! Thanks Lara and Chris). Dad, the moment I got your SMS they started playing Bing Crosby – Kooky, hey?! Made me smile and think of you :)

Then I was due to also spend some Christmas time with my friend Rachel, who is also a foreign language assistant in Freiburg, originally from Ireland. We met in the city and then went back to hers for tea and cake.

In the evening Lisa, Waldi and I went to the cinema and saw this lame film. I’m not sure what the English title is but it’s the latest rom-com with Cameron Diaz, Jude Law, Kate Winslet and Jack Black – sounds promising yeah? It isn’t!

So I was definitely not lonely over Christmas! My friends in Freiburg took good care of me, by making sure I wasn’t. So now I’m on my way to Graz, to spend some time with Arnim and Roli till I have to be back at school on the 9th Jan. I’m looking forward to a change of scenery and catching up with the boys.

Last week was really hard for my family and me. We learnt that my beloved grandfather has lung cancer. In the lead up to the news I was already under a dark cloud with feelings of deep homesick and potential depression. So yeah, last week was hard. Enough said. If you feel so inclined, feel free to send Dziadzi (my grandfather) lots of prays/positive energy/love/ strength, depending on which one is applicable to you belief system. I would appreciate that.

Just looking out the window now – can see snow. That’s my first snow sighting, was none in Freiburg. I’m already well into Austria now. It’s clearly colder here then in Germany. Shit! It’s summer in Australia L I love summer and I’m FAR from it. Oh well, not to worry.

***

Well I’m in Graz now, staying with Arnim and the family. For the last four days Arnim and I have been sick with bad colds, resulting in us both being very very lazy. We’ve just been lounging around, sleeping, reading and eating. Barely left the house. Think I should be doing more, but the body has probably collapsed in the bid for a rest, so I’m trying to do that. It hasn’t snowed in Graz yet. It’s around minus one during the day, which is considered warm for this time of year here. But this is fairly chilly for a little aussie gal! There’s lots of frost on the ground, which looks a lot like snow. Pretty, but slippery. Well tomorrow is the last day of 2006. We don’t have any New Year’s Eve plans yet, but will probably meet up with some old school friends and maybe go into town (I also attended the Graz Steiner school, for 3 months, 8 years ago).
Well there's obviously heaps more to tell you about, but I'll post this for now and write up the rest later.

I wish you all a fabulous start in the New Year!! Lots of love. Will see you back in Oz at some stage in the second half of 2007.

Photos!!

Below are a selection of my photos so far, since the last post. It took a very long time to post them all so I hope you enjoy them. I'm not very computer literate, so it was a big task. But I devoted the day to it as I've had eager requests from home for more.
So enjoy!
If you would like to look at them chronologically I would suggest scrolling down to my last new photo and working your way up.
Oh, and another thing, regarding comments. A friend pointed out to me that she couldn't post a comment without having a blog or gmail account. I looked into that and have changed the settings so now you can comment without restrictions, so comment away! Yay :)

Christmas in Freiburg

Lisa and me

Lisa and Waldi

Stefan (Lara's boyfriend), Lara and Chris (Lara's mum)

Our Christmas morning breakfast view of cold Freiburg

Rachel and me, on Christmas afternoon

Christmas in Freiburg

Christmas Eve with Lisa and Waldi

Lisa

morning frost on my bedroom window

The Freiburg Christmas market

Freiburg at night

The soccer

Freiburg SC (sports club)
Yes, I'm a Freiburg fan. They are a pretty weak team, playing in the second Bundes League. They move between place nine and thirteen on a ladder of eighteen teams. But fans never give up hope. Dad, very reminiscent of supporting the Western Bulldogs.. :( ha ha ha

Crazy people all trying to squish onto the first tram back into town, after the match!

Freiburg

My Flat

One of the rooms in my flat - part of the kitchen. Huge and cozy

Ice hockey

Lara (left), English language assistant from the US, and Sophie, English language assistant from Oz (actually from Monash too, and lived in Box Hill, before moving to Germany 2 years ago. crazy coincidence!)