Something's in the works....

... I may be taking this blog out of retirement.  We shall see...

Wow, blog FAIL!

So I really sucked at doing the blog thing this time. My bad. Next time, ja? ;)

Anyway, I've been in England the last week and a half. I came over and spent a fabulous weekend with Lara in London, then got picked up by my aunt, Carol, and stayed with her for five days. Whilst there we visited Cambridge (U Dortmund could take a few architectural tips), Windsor Castle (pretty awesome), met Carol's daughter, my cousin, also named Sarah (a running theme, it would seem), had a fabulous lunch with Carol and John's friends (hey Em, you think we've been friends a long time (coming on 2o YEARS, girl!), John's been friends with one of these guy's for 60-odd years -omg!), then on Friday we.... crap, I have no idea. Oops! ** Just remembered - I went into London to buy the last of my presents for people. How do you forget that?? I went to the Camden Markets, V&A Museum, then wandered around Covent Garden reminding myself not to buy anything because there was no room in my bags.

Saturday I went up to Morpeth (near Newcastle in the north-east) to visit my cousin Derek and his wife Beryl again and to say good bye. They picked me up from the station and we wandered around Morpeth, a gorgeous old market town, then went to the Metro centre in Newcastle, a big shopping centre. Had to keep doing the whole, "no room!" thing, but I think I'm going to go back to one of the stores and buy something. Woops. I'll just mail stuff home. Eurgh. Then on Sunday we went to visit Derek and Beryl's son Mark and his girlfriend at their lovely Victorian/Edwardian house. It was great to see them because they're now expecting a baby, due next month. Nuts! Then we went to my Auntie Winnie's house to meet up with her again. Auntie Winnie is my Nonno's sister and she's just adorable - pint-sized and really lovely, and she says words like "bairns". Bless! She also looks exactly like Nonno but with prettier hair. It just weirds me out a little. It was a good get-together: there was Auntie Winnie and Uncle Sid, their sons Martin and Jim, Martin's wife Ines and his daughters Sarah (told you there was a theme) and Jemma, as well as Sarah's daughter Thea. It was so lovely to catch up with everyone before I left because who know's when I'll be back again? Then on Monday (yesterday) Derek and Beryl took me to Hadrian's Wall which was pretty damned awesome. It totally would have sucked being a Roman soldier though and having to patrol the thing because it was in the middle of nowhere and the wind just cut across the valleys in the cold. From there Derek and Beryl had a surprise for me. I thought we were driving home and looked up and saw a random castle in the middle of the woods, and just as I exclaimed, "Ooh look, a castle!" we turned up the driveway and went into Langley Castle and had a coffee and some sandwiches. Oh yeah.

Now I'm on my way back to Carol and John's place on the train. Gotta love the free wifi on these Eastcoast trains. I go home in two days' time and I'm more than ready to go, especially after the bad news I received last week. Missing everyone like crazy and can't wait to see everyone again.

Just some quick observations:

• there were no Australians in London this time! When I was here last year every second voice had an Australian accent. This year all the tourists were Italians, Spanish, and Germans. I think the Aussies have gone south for winter.
• Northumberland is still the most ridiculously gorgeous place. Serious thoughts of living there one day. It probably didn't help that Derek took all the gorgeous scenic routes whenever we drove anywhere.
• For such a small island, and with such a big population, it's astonishing how much open space there is here.
• If it weren't for the crappy weather I wouldn't hesitate in living here.

General whinge because I'm sick, tired and just cos I can!

So, after almost 25 years (do you know how hard that is to say without wanting to cry from the shock of it all?!), I know myself pretty well. One thing I've found about myself is that when things start to feel like they're getting on top of me, I pretty much just shut down. I do absolutely nothing but think of all the things that need doing. I sit and stress and stew and do absolutely nothing. Then, at the 11th hour (is that the right saying?), it all comes together, I pull my finger out, and for some odd reason it all seems to work.

So it is that I spent all day today doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. I got woken up by the dickwad downstairs who thought that 6:30am is the perfect time to play his shitty techno music. Actually, it is the perfect time if you want me to Lorena Bobbit you. Especially because I've (of course) got a cold. Argh. We all know what happens when I'm sick. Rash decisions are made when I'm sick. I like to hide away from society and only come out for food and tea. I had planned to sleep all day and then work on assignments that really need to be done before I leave.

But of course, that didn't happen. Instead, I watched TV all day.

And I stressed. And stressed. Mostly about all the crap I have to do in the next 11 days (11 days!!!).

I also stressed about all the crap I have to pack. Oh. Shit.

I'll definately need to send a bunch of stuff home. Namely, books. Oh gosh, the amount of books I bought while I was over here! Crap. And not just books to read, but bloody tourism books, like The Guide to Edinburgh Castle etc. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Something else that seemed like a good idea at the time (nay, EXCELLENT idea at the time) was buying mugs at all the Christmas markets I went to. Yeah, good work. Breakable and heavy. Just the way I like it.

Plus all this uni stuff that needs to be sent home. And shoes, although I think I'll be throwing a couple of pairs out. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to say goodbye to my beautiful tan boots. They were never designed to have to deal with a real winter, and they haven't been the same since I fell over - twice - in a random Prague nightclub. (You should have seen how bruised my legs were! Lesson: absynth is BAD!)

And now because of the fog my head is in with this cold, I've forgotten what I was talking about. Can't be arsed re-reading. So Tschüss!

Zwei Wochen...

Actually, less than that: 12 days left in Germania. Oh my gosh. So, being the to-do-list queen, I've decided to think of all the things I need to do. In my day planner I have about a zillion to-do lists and I structure them in a way that it looks like I've done a thousand things, when in fact I haven't actually finished any of the things, just part of the stuff I need to do. For example: if I needed to send stuff home, I would have that as a heading and the rest of the stuff in the list would look like:

• Buy a box.
• Sort through stuff to send.
• Pack stuff.

So essentially I could do all the stuff in the sub-list and not actually do what I'm supposed to do. It makes me feel productive without actually being productive. Everyone's gotta find their style.

Anyway, here's my To Do List, but without the misleading sub lists:

• Sort through books and clothes and figure out what needs to be sent home. Then cry when I have to pay the 50 Euros per box - in CASH (damn you, Germany!).
• Visit: Münster, Aachen and Köln.
• Take some more photos of Altena.
• Take a photo of the year 5 class I've been visiting/teaching.
• Finish assignments and crap. Argh.
• Return library books. Pay fines. Grrr.
• Take schein forms to the teachers to fill in. You know, so I can actually prove I went to their classes.
• Buy presents for everyone.
• Buy presents for ME.

Can't think of anything else, but hopefully I'll cross out everything from this list. Otherwise it's not going to be fun. I can't believe how quickly this last month has gone. It's bitter-sweet. The homesickness finally wore off after Christmas, helped largely by my fabulous trip to Trieste, and just when I've finally settled in I've got to pack up and leave.

And I finally went out again last weekend, thanks to my friend Kate. It was a little surreal because we ended the night at a club for the farewell of Kate's friend who was going back to Newcastle. So weird. Have I mentioned that I met Kate when she did and exchange in Newcastle uni? One of the other German girls she went over to Newy with started dating a guy who came over here with her and lived here the last year. Now he's going back.

AND I might be going out this Friday night again. That will make it my 4th time in Germany. And I'm going to a restaurant on Saturday night. I wish I was lying when I said that it's my first time in Germany actually going out for dinner (apart from when travelling and such). It's been a long six months.

Amsterdam: The Cliff Notes Version

So because there's only one month left, let's give you the short'n'sweet version of my weekend in Amsterdam, complete with dot points! You're sure to pass the exam I'm going to give you when I get back.

• First, because Rachel piked out (tee hee! I keed! I keed!...but not really, dirty piker), it was just my friend Kate and I who went.
• We took the ICE train which was, shockingly, on time. I was only aout 3 hours and 19 Euros to get there. Deutsche Bahn comes through, but only when it's to go outside the country. Heaven forbid trains run on time within the country. I don't think I've conveyed my hatred of DB enough. That's a post on it's own. Suffice it to say that I have made it my mission to single-handedly dispel the myth of the punctuality and reliability of the German rail system.
• We stayed in the Leidseplein area, where most of the restaurants and going out area are.
• Friday night we got terribly lost wandering around trying to decide what it actually was that we wanted to eat for dinner. Ended up seeing a massive amount of the city before we decided on pizza, something you can get EVERYWHERE. Meanwhile, we also found ourselves on the other side of town to where we thought we were. In Kate I've found someone just as crap with direction as I am. Yay team!!
• Saturday we decided would be our shopping day. Went to the markets (meh), down the international shopping street, wandered through the flower market (tulips are my favourite flower. Obviously I was in flower heaven. Stupid customs not letting me smuggle in some awesome bulbs to Australia. GRRRR), then in the afternoon went through the 9 streets district. Guess why it's called that??? Go on! It's because there's 9 street with a bunch of shops on them. I bet you didn't guess that. It was quite cool there, but the Dutch have a weird style.
• The Dutch have a weird language too. It's really similar to German, but with English intonation? If that makes sense? It's like, if you're not paying attention it sounds like English because of the lilting tone and the vowel sounds, but it's actually really close to German.
• Met up for lunch on Saturday with a guy from Canada who I met in Rome. He's studying in Amsterdam, working on his masters or PhD or something. It's good to know someone local - he gave us a minitour and we learnt lots of interesting facts about the 'dam, like the reason there are hooks on all the buildings was so they could move furniture into the top apartments, plus other random info.
• Went and got some sangria at a Mexican restaurant. Here's a tip: find out how much it costs FIRST. Yeah. Half-way into our second pitcher we discovered they were 19 euros each. We could have travelled home and back for that money. Anyway, we asked for a deal because we're so lovely and they ended up giving us another half pitcher for free.

This then led to the most random night EVER.

First we were talking to one of the waiters who was around our age and found out he, his wife, and some friends were going out once the restaurant was closed. Then we chatted to one of the others and managed to get an invitation to join. Or so we thought.

Instead we were met by one of the older waiters who, alone, was apparently going to take us out. And he did. Kate and I kept wondering what was up, and more importantly, what was expected. But nothing was, he was just being really nice to some poor students and we ended up having a good night and some free drinks. BUT it was still the weirdest night ever.

Good times.

• Next day: museum day. Went to the Van Gogh museum which was fabulous. Took us awhile to find the entrance though. Dear Amsterdam: invest in signage.
• Ended the day with the Anne Frank museum. Very moving, but I kept imagining John Safran making out with that girl in the attic. Yep, I bought John Safran's Race Relations on iTunes.
• MondayL out of money and a whole day to kill. Wandered through Vogel Park. Nice, probably fabulous in summer. Absolutely horrible in the 0 degree weather.
• Explored the red light district. Felt a little awkward, especially because all the guides about Amsterdam say not to really look at the windows because it's really frowned upon. But then where do you look?? At the freaking canal? Also incredibly awkward seeing guys come out of rooms and see the curtains open back up, ready for business.
• Went into a ransome store and got given a free jewelery box for some reason. Being friendly or something? Who can say.

We eventually caught the ICE back home. And that, my friends, was my Amsterdam weekend.

ARGH!!! ONE MONTH!!!

So, as my title may suggest, I'm slightly panicking because I am back home in one month. I leave Germany in 15 days to go to London. I leave England in 27 days and I arrive home two days later. Holy eff. I'm not ready!!! I have so much to see! So much to do! So much to write about!!

Things I need to write about:

• Amsterdam
• Prague
• Trieste
• The Black Forest and visiting Miriam and Natalia

and that's just the travelly bits. I still have to tell you about the Gymnasium (high school) I visit every week. I'm teaching a lesson there tomorrow for the first time. I'm freaking out. It's only to year 5 kids, but I think that's even worse because I have to teach them English. Erm... I don't even speak English very good. (See? I used "very good" instead of "very well." Mostly it was to prove my point, but it's proof that I shouldn't teach English as a second language.) Anyway, I've baked ANZAC cookies to sweeten the deal. I'm worried I haven't cooked enough. I cooked 40 but I'm bringing 30. Hey man, I slaved over a hot stove, or something, so I should get some too!

Anyhow. Argh. Panic stations!!!

... and then Rachel spoiled everything.

JOKES! But Rachel coming here and then leaving did have a huge affect on me.

Rachel came here after her trip to Morocco from December 8th to the 10th. I was so excited to be seeing her again (she'd also come for a weekend in November before she left for Morocco). So excited that I forgot what time she was coming. Even though it was written in my diary. That I carry everywhere.

So after picking her up about an hour after her plane arrived (you're welcome), we headed back to Altena. It only took about fifty hours because of train connections, and because the train at Hagen just decided not to work, which is great fun when you're stuck with a train-load of drunks on their way home from the Christmas markets. We had also made the most of the journey by waving at ourselves in the window of the train, only to realise that just because we could only see our reflections, it didn't mean that the people on the platform couldn't see us being ridiculous. A world of awkward.

The next day we set off for the post office so Rachel could post all her clothes and things home, then headed to Dortmund Weihnachtsmarkt. Lots of fun was had there, including gluhwein drinking, riebekuchen eating, and wandering. From there we went to Hagen and enjoyed those Christmas markets.

And then early the next day Rachel caught a train to the airport and left for Berlin. And then I suffered from a major case of the sads. I know it sounds ridiculous to say, but knowing that she was going home (and going home in the most awesome way - surprising everyone for Christmas) killed me. Knowing Rach was at least on the same continent as me helped me feel a little less... alone isn't the right word because I'm surrounded by people. I think it was just comforting, and the short amount of time we spent together was so good (Krakow and Altena x2).

Anyway, 2 months!

Woops, forgot to blog

So, it's been a very long time since my last post, mostly because I've been so damned busy with uni and travelling and doing nothing... Also, I've been incredibly homesick. Like, bad homesick. Like, crying when I speak to people back home (silently though - I don't want to freak people out while I'm talking to them). I'm pretty sure I was never this homesick when I was in America. Or maybe I can't remember. I remember getting pretty low when it got cold, but I can't remember it being this bad.

So anyway, at the moment I've spent the entire day in bed because my lower back is debilitatingly painful. Great fun. I'm so bloody geriatric - I even struggled to stay awake for midnight on New Year's. And now this back. I just woke up with it and thought I'd slept badly, but unless I kicked myself in the kidneys in my sleep (who can say?) it wasn't my sleep. Which annoys the crap out of me because I had been planning to go to Dortmund and do some shopping today. Erm, no. Not happening. Hopefully I'm better tomorrow because I would like to go to the gym, something I haven't had a chance to do in two weeks, what with uni and travel, and I'm not too happy about it because this gym membership cost me a fortune and it end on Jan 26th. Grr.

So, on that note, let's get back to regular blogging and recap on the events of December and the beginning of January.

December began with Dublin, a place that I was really looking forward to visiting because I was going to be catching up with Nicole and I was also excited to be spending the weekend in an English speaking country.

Turns out it's not an English speaking country. I had no idea what anyone was saying the entire time. I really hate to say this, but I didn't really enjoy Dublin very much at all. The only good part was seeing Nicole again, the awesome coffee at the cafe attached to the hostel, and the fact that the pub across the road from the hostel was called, "The John Lynch." Other than that, there's really nothing special about Dublin as a tourist. I know that seems really harsh to say and I feel so bad thinking it, but I really struggled to do find anything to do. I took about ten photos the entire time. There's a fabulous museum called the Chester Beaty Library, which houses a collection of rare manuscripts and artefacts, but unfortunately we could only spend an hour there because we didn't realise it closed at 5. I actually ended up spending a LOT of money that weekend because it's such an expensive city. You really couldn't buy a meal for less than 15 Euros. Dublin killed my bank account.

And that's about it.

I did try my first Guinness. I don't really mind it - it's just a heavier altbier, but it's like a freaking meal it's so heavy.

I hate to be such a downer about it all, and I hate ragging on someone else's city. I guess it didn't help that I was really bloody tired the entire time I was there, and feeling incredibly poor with having to spend $12 on a shitty sandwich. I think I'd eventually like to go back to Ireland when I'm older and hire a car and drive around and see the actual countryside, then I think it would be great. But for now, overall feeling of Dublin is one of meh.

Here's a link to the small number of photos I took.