Eurovision update

And of course the lovely Lena won! By a massive amount of points far away from 2nd place. Germany will now host the 2011 Eurovision Final, typical, the year after my stay. I really would've gone had it have been here this year. I'm so proud on Germany and Lena, feels as if Australia won something. Congrats Lena!!
Here she is with her Norway beanie on.

Eurovision!

Tonight is the Eurovision Final! I'm so excited as Lena, Germany's entry, is tipped to win. Even if she doesn't I'm still happy because from her first song during the German qualifying rounds I went for her and she won! So cool when you pick the winner right from the start. Lena's song, Satellite, has been on the radio here non-stop for over a month now so I think everyone is a little sick of it but she's still adored I believe. Here's the song, Steffen and I always shamelessly sing along. We know all the words by now... Shamefully.

Phase 2

Phase 2 of my gap year is approaching with an unbelievable amount of speed and let me tell you, I could not be more excited. The strangest of things is that the destination I am the most excited for right now is.... Turkey !? Turkey of all countries in my 'local area' is not one I had plans on visiting. Never in my life had I even wanted to go to Turkey. Ok, maybe for a Gallilpoli pilgrimage one day but then get out of there you know. The Turkish people in Offenbach are slightly annoying too so that made me even more against Turkey. To top it of the only two places in that country I know are Istanbul and Gallipoli.

So, why am I going there and why am I excited?
Well, Michelle, my cousin/ backpack buddy really wanted to go. I skimmed over the tour and decided okay, why not. Time passed and last week we spent from 2pm till 9:30pm booking and planning our backpacking trip. It's going to be full on! Anyway The other day at work I had a free hour so I decided to look at some of these Turkey places on flickr, since I had no idea where or what they were. I still don't, but at least I know what they look like. In the first 5 minutes I was hooked. Turkey is like Greece but more eastern. It is unbelievably beautiful, I just cannot wait. Much of the tour is on the coast so we go to the beach alot and kayak over sunken cities. I didn't even know of such things! And I'm sure the mud bath included will be great after our giant tomato fight in Spain.

Besides Turkey we're going to (in order): Amsterdam, Ireland (Belfast, Dublin, Giant's Causeway), Barcelona, Valencia, Bunol, Turkey tour ( http://www.traveltalktours.co.uk/traveltalk_turkey_td1.htm), Greek Island tour ( http://www.traveltalktours.co.uk/traveltalk_greece_gs.htm), Athens and then possibly Prague. So to give you all a little sneak preview of some of my destinations I've found some clips on youtube. beforehand.







This one's just funny,



And I should maybe get myself some of this stuff

Heating Up

My reason for not blogging for a fair few days is simply that the weather here has just been too good to be inside for a long time. We've been rolling around in the mid to high 20's and it doesn't get completely dark till 10pm. So most days I've been on my bike riding to Frankfurt or up the river in Offenbach. I love how here you can go out on any random sunny day and see something out of the ordinary. Like the other day I was riding along in the park and there was an orchestra in the gazebo. It was so Grandma. Nevertheless I sat down in the sun with my bike and made a good ol' daisy chain while listening.

The day Before Steffen and I had pizza down by the river in Frankfurt again. A few days after that I even got a sunburn from lying in the park for an hour. Marco Steffen and I rode our bikes and razor scooter to the park which is on the way to Frankfurt to play some football which was really fun. Steffen made friends with this powder puff dog which wouldn't stop barking at him while following him.

This is a Bierbike they peddle and give you beer.

From where I ride my bike into Frankfurt along the Main

And this is the two weird boys I hang out with...

Most recently though Lucy, Marco, Steffen and I met up and went to the 'Beach Club' which at first was really weird. It's an area between to ways of water that is built up and is fully sand with sun beds, large beach cushions, deck chairs plus bars with lounge areas and so on. We played beach volleyball and football and just laid in the sun which was perfect. However afterwards the 'sand', if you could call it that, had made my feet completely black. I really can't remember the last time I had such black feet. Felt so dirty. After we went to the Eis Cafe and got large ice creams then came home and Steffen and I watched 500 days of Summer. Besides having to work the morning it was a great day.

Now everything is rainy again.

Lessons Learnt

For the whole first month of being in Deutschland I was sick for about 80% of the time and now I have got it again really bad. I just can't stop coughing, sneezing and everything else that comes with a head cold or whatever this is. I'm actually sorry for my close quarter neighbours that they have to listen to me all day. Anyway, amongst this illness I've been reflecting on my time here since I've officially hit 6 months and Ive decided to do a little list of some things, so here goes:

1. There is no foolproof way to escape getting sick when you live with your sick partner. You will ALWAYS get sick too.
   
2. German locks are messed up. I'll never forget the cold snowy day I spent on the steps outside waiting for Steffen to get because I couldn't unlock the door. Or the day the teachers at school had to spend a few minutes teaching me how to unlock the door.
3. In Frankfurt the pigeons don't move for you. YOU move for the pigeons. This especially
   counts when riding a bike.... Stupid obese pigeons. The same practice goes for some people in H&M as well but we won't go there.
4. If your boyfriend works in a lounge and a football game is on don't count on him being home till that's finished even if the shift finished long beforehand.
   
5. Also I've learnt that if I tell Steffen not to buy something i.e an extremely loud German World Cup Horn, he will just get his best friend to buy it and bring it over later.
6. Always check under the couch when you've lost your wallet. It will save you 2 hours at the police station with a policeman that thinks he's God's gift to the world.
7. Macarons from Frankfurt are like dog poo to the one's in Paris.
8. How childish and unreliable adults can be towards their work commitments really amazes me sometimes. Definitely opposes the environment I grew up in.
9. That the German language sounds its worse when Germans are trying to prove a point or are complaining. Omg, I can't stand it.
10. German hairdressers have a thing for cutting your hair short, Steffi confirmed all my suspicions on that one.
11. Sunday is the worst day in Germany. Nothing is open, everything is dead. I hate it.
    
12. DHL and Deutsch Post are incredibly unreliable.
    
13. Never ride in the bike lane going across the bridge that goes directly into the CBD of Frankfurt. Exchange to the footpath otherwise you will find yourself in the middle of two fast lanes of traffic. I really thought I was going to end that day in hospital.
    
14. I've been fortunate enough to experience and/or witness the 'high-life' on a number of occasions here and I've really learnt that money doesn't make you happy.
    
15. Red wine will always be better than white wine but red champagne is the best, with the slightest exemption for Moet & Chandon.
16. The best full German conversations I've ever had were with old men. First being Steffen's Opa, he's awesome. Second being an old man at Steffs Lounge.
    
17. It always seems really special to see Germans being proud to be German, waving their little flags and all.
18. Toom is the only place to do your grocery shopping in Germany. Don't bother with Aldi, Penny Markt, Tegut, or any other and Rewe is only good for small supplies like Spar in Australia and in France Match is your best bet.
    
19. And most importantly After-Eight (spearmint choc chip) is the best ice cream to buy from an Eis Cafe and Cookie Dough is way better than New York Super Fudge when it comes to Ben & Jerry's.

And here are some pics of my six months to end with.

3 parties 1 night

Last night was so fun. I partied with the most everyday people to the rich peeps of Frankfurt all in one night. Here's how it goes. Steffen and I slept for the most part of Thursday and watched Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen between snoozes. At about 8 we decided it was time to get going so we packed all our warm clothes for the cold scoot drive (I wear my slippers on scoot at night). We began at macca's for dinner then drove back out to Lämmerspiel near the Waitz for the first little get together. In a tiny almost run down apartment we met up with 3 other workers at the Waitz, Jenny, Vans and Katrin. As well as 3 French guys, I forget their names though. Conversation was crazy, there was German, French and English been thrown around, poor Steffen was the worst hit as he was the only one that understood all 3.

A bit after 10 we left and drove to Frankfurt to the Dreikönigskeller (Three Kings Cellar). It was a tiny tiny room underground, Steffi from work had invited me so I think we really made her night by going, she was so happy. She also say's that I am disgustingly young. The crowd ranged from 18 to 50 something with most being 35ish I think and let me tell you, these guys really got into it! The band, Hot Wire, was really good. They played everything from Johnny Cash to Red Hot Chili Peppers. Marco joined us too and overall it was an interesting experience and a whole new scene but I'm glad we went.

Once the band finished we had the intentions of going home as Steffen is sick with the flu (which I know have as well, thanks darling). This didn't happen though. We ended up walking through Frankfurt across the bridges in the freezing cold pushing scoot to end up at Roomers. Roomers is a fancy dancy Design Hotel and bar which has a little party every month. Marco's dad Chino was there as he is the wine supplier so we were asked to join. We really looked 'off the street' compared to some of the crowd but who cares when the drinks are fantastic as well as the awesome decor. There was something about their almonds too because they were the best I'd ever had. We only spent a short time at Roomers though and on the way home we ended where we had started. Steffen and I walked through the Macca's drive-thru for our Magnum Mcflurry's while making car noises then off to bed it was.

Overall it was a great, extremely tiring night and today we both woke up around 12 sicker than before but it's alll ok, the 5 day weekend goes on.

The Waitz Night

I told you all the other day that I had been instructed to have a nice dress picked out for Wednesday night. Then I was told that we won't be staying at home on Wednesday night and this is why:

I was at the hairdressers (nasty child cut it way too short, again) and Steffen came and said he had everything packed and I really had no clue where we were going. Even though he thought he had everything packed we still had to rush home to get the camera and a few other things. Next I found myself on some tiny road in the forest on the back of Scoot still having no idea. Then we finally came into some familiar territory and we were heading towards The Waitz hotel (pronounced vights) where Steffen works. I really didn't think we'd be going to the hotel because why would Steffen go there on a day off? However I was wrong. We parked at the hotel and Steffen told me that every apprentice has the opportunity to experience one night at the hotel. I really didn't know how to take it. At first in the reception it was really weird and the thought that people I knew would be serving me as a customer was weirder. We were handed our key and went up to our room. I had seen some rooms before so I had a particular one I was hoping for and, we got it! I was so excited to have the two storey room. It's so cool and of course Steffen had organised to have a bottle of Moet already chilled and waiting for us.

Our room in the morning so of course it looked nicer.

After settling in and discovering the room we went down to the wellness which I call the 'well'. It was fun going through reception wearing the white dressing gowns and the room was fun too, we used the sauna mainly and I got to use my new swimmers.

After that we got ready for dinner and we decided to really dress up. Regretfully I never got a picture of us which is really really annoying. Steffen wore a suit and I wore a short black dress, stockings with a seam up the back and my black heels. Very sexy as I was told ; ) It was so nice at the restaurant because two of the employee girls came up to me and said how nice I looked in English which meant so much to me. The food was really good too including the little fancy one fish stick and about 8 chips piled up joke from the kitchen. After all the food, five courses in total, we went to Steffs Lounge and the drinks just kept coming. It was good to see some people again and I achieved a full German conversation with an old man. I'm sure it went for over an hour. So weird, we talked about everything from travel to gospel. He really loved gospel music. At about 2 or something we headed back upstairs and just crashed.

Annoyingly this morning I woke up at 7 fully awake. Now why doesn't that happen on work days? It was so nice to wake up on beautiful white sheets. Unlike here at home. Poor Steffen woke up sick because of the air con at his exam yesterday. At breakfast we tried pretty much everything getting up and down, up and down filling our plates. We don't have much food here at home because we didn't do the shopping and its Fathers Day here in Germany making today a public holiday so it was a good idea to fill up. Soon after we checked out and are back at home. The night was so great and a total surprise and of course things are always best when they are free.

http://www.hotel-waitz.de/

Triumphs

I have been very busy over the last two days. 5 to 6 hours cooking everyday at work as it's expo week for the kids. Fun Fun Fun, let me assure you. I've also ridden my bike 20kms each day to Frankfurt and back. Buying Roxy swimmers, top and a free beach towel for summer, fake tan for summer, Hollister spray and lotion for summer and some macarons because I felt like it. I also did exercises both days when I came home, for summer. Thankyou Cindy whitmarch, that hurt.

Amongst all of this I overcame a little fear I have. It's quite silly and I'm sure can only be understood if you've been in a similar situation. My hair, materialistic as I sometimes am, is extremely important. The first time I had my hair done in Germany Steffen organised it all, which was fine. But I got handed the learner hairdresser, and I understand we're all learners at some stage, but please don't learn on me! Result: my hair was cut too short and the foils weren't even close to my scalp and it took 4 hours. Steffen went mad over how many times I said 'My hair!'. This time I decided on a new hairdresser and I wanted to be able to go down and book it myself. So I came home from work on Monday and just mopped around trying to stop myself from crying because I was scared that it would end up resulting the same way it did when I went to pick up my coat from the dry cleaners months ago. The lady was extremely rude and her and her friend laughed at me for my slowness in understanding them. Thanks for that. Back to the present, Steffen left for work and I rode my bike into the city to book my hair. Trying to look my cutest (because it always helps to gain their sympathy) I walked to the desk and it went like this:

Me: Hallo, Ich komme aus Australien und my Deutsch ist nicht so gut aber ich möchte diese (points to which hair package I want).
Lady: Deutsch Deutsch Deutsch. 12 folien ist nicht viele. deutsch deutsch deutsch.
Me: Ihr denkst mehr?
Lady: Viele mehr!
Me: Ok das ist ok.
Lady: deutsch deutsch deutsch Mitwoche?
Me: Klar.
Lady: deutsch halb driezehn deutsch. crazy deutsch.
Me: ....... Ahh Warte bitte. ( I'm suddenly lost in translation and my mind is too full). Funfzehn Uhr?
Lady: Ok Ich schrieben es für sie. Haarschnit auch ja?
Me: Ja ja. Ok danke tschüss. Bis Dann

And so I walked away a proud woman. Fully basic German was used but I had a good experience which is all that mattered. To talk to adults in German, for me, takes a lot more confidence than for the kids, they don't care and somehow always understand me. So that is my story and I'm getting my hair done on Wednesday at 3pm so you all know ; ) and I've been told to wear a dress that night. Steffen has a surprise! I'm so excited.
Bis bald

Happy Birthday Sophie

As a sister I have to laugh when I think that sophdog's 16th birthday is on Mothers Day. Just think, when when you have kids and it happens you'll get double presents! Probably not though. Soo this is a post for Sophie. She is a weird child, she even blocked me a facebook. Take me back :( I want to keep judging you through your photo's!

Soph is good in many ways though. Examples: She is easy to train. I was always so proud of her when she ran to the car so quickly after school so we could leave asap. She stopped dawdling pretty quickly let me tell you. She helped me in art with my coke cans. She knows when to avoid me on bad days and days after parties. We went on some pretty cool drives as well. Driving to school with her every morning was fun too as we'd always change the music once we dropped mum off. Sophie is also great because for some reason she took money to school so we'd go to macca's after school. Good child.

She's also pretty brave too sometimes. Like she drank one of my surprise drinks which ended up being milk and tomato sauce. Soph even sometimes would pack my bag for school if I was in a rush. She's also useful to find out what mum is saying about me when she's not talking to me so soph becomes the sneak. Sophie also gave me her ipod :) And I'll never forget the weird stories she use to tell me once I was in bed. I can't wait to go to the Harry Potter sites with her in England this summer! we'll be like two freaks. But till then Happy 16th Sophdog, and good luck with your drivers test! Kill the car and I kill you ;)

Mother's Day

Well, first and foremost, Happy Mothers Day to Mum and Grandma too.

My Mum is a pretty tough chick-a-dee, I mean, she's been raising us three kids for years now. That's a feat. I know I've cause the woman alot of stress and bad times but I have millions of great memories with my mumsy. Including every Delta concert we went to and dancing and singing along with Delta all 3 times. The Celine Dion concert, where mum gave up on the 2 seats as they weren't close enough but I rang ticketek back up and got some better ones. At the actual concert we moved down a few rows anyway because many people couldn't go as it had been postponed. That was a great concert. The John Farnham concerts too. The many roadtrips to Sydney and back. Going to all the girly movies, all the drives we did on my L plates. Especially one at night in SWR when we got stuck on a tiny no through road. Dance Eisteddfods. Staying at the Intercontinental Hotel for one night. Going to the Hotel School Interview in a complete suit and neat hair, being rained on and us buying a brush at Intercontinental and fixing me up in the toilets. Getting my Tiffany and Co. necklace. Shopping in Victorias Secrets in Hollywood and San Fran. And even times way way back, like watching ER when Dr. Carter was still on it on Thursday nights. So, Danke Mum für alles, Ich Liebe dich! xoxo

Peek-a-boo!

It seems in the last few days Australia has been playing peek-a-boo with me. Yesterdays post was a clear indication that I clearly can't get some top Aussie cuisine out of my head. However this is not all. At school I was glancing through a Realschule (kind of school certificate) and there was more than one test that included a section on Australia. A student began asking me about ice cream in Australia and telling me about an Australian ice cream place in Frankfurt. The student I tutor brought in a magazine with a section on Qantas and a poster of a plane flying over Sydney (I couldn't help but point out my future university and how I climbed the bridge to him). This picture above also came up on a website a randomly visited. It all makes me think about when I'll be home again. I'm not homesick as such, it's more of a complete rush of excitement. I'm so excited to be moving to Sydney, finding my first apartment (I've already started browsing on Domain for some ideas), decorating this apartment (I constantly look on Apartment Therapy for ideas too!). Also starting University! I get to wear sassy business clothes. Also my internship, lately I've been thinking whether to do it overseas or in Australia. I'm also guilty of thinking about where I want to travel to next. Horrible, I know. Mind you this is normally when I'm bored, I still have a gigantic summer in front of me which is taking me to; England, Scotland, Italy, France, Denmark, Holland, Ireland, Spain, Greece, Turkey, Czech Republic and possibly some of those little countries in between. But sometimes, just sometimes, Australia seems to peek out of nowhere and remind me of where all this travelling ends and another part of life begins. Like right now, I'm just dreaming about my first morning back waking up in my bed again and walking out to the backroom and seeing the sunny backyard and pool. Deary me.

Food Cravings

When you travel to far far away lands you find that sometimes, completely randomly, you get cravings. Today my craving is for Woolworths Chocolate Birthday Cake! I don't know why or how but it is. I'm just dying for a piece, a very big, piece. Other cravings have included mum's spag bol. or maybe just the Venetian sauce that she uses. Steffen is a great cook but his spag bol doesn't come close to my unfortunately high standards that I've developed over the past 18 years and 10 months. Other things involve a good warm bowl of weetbix and milk in the morning. Schweppes Lemonade. Sara Lee Rocky Road Ice Cream and my annual obsession with Sara Lee Ultra Choc that KFC sells for mothers day every year. Fredo Frogs and Caramello Koalas, the big $1 ones. Oh man, my Smiths chicken chips which Mum sends over regularly. Thanks Mum. Meat Pies are also high on the list. Steffen even misses these. Poor guy, hasn't had one since last July. But seriously I would consider paying €20 for a hot Barnetts Bakery plain meat pie with tomato sauce put in the meaty part of each bite to cool it down. Awww. I don't really miss Tim Tams or Vegemite as I can easily buy them in Frankfurt from the Australian shop. So I guess cravings, in the end, are the things you can't have.

Mmm Woolie's birthday cake.

Nomnomnomnom

The Hills Jnr

I really have to share this reenactment of the popular MTV show, The Hills. If I remember I watch the show on weekdays at 2:30 after work but unfortunatly it's very old episodes. Anyway I came across this on another blog, I love 'Audrina', so cute!