Yeah so I'm back at work on a Monday and it's a bit of a let-down after the following:
FRIDAY
I had the day off work to go to Berlin. I took the train there and met Josephine Blümel, a girl who spent the first half of 2007 at Friends' School so that's how we know each other. After getting to her place, she took me for a bit of a drive on the Autobahn just near her house, and when we had a clear way ahead we went as fast as 230km/h - that's 50 more than my previous fastest speed of 180 back in Uelzen in June 2007! Didn't feel scary at all, cause of the sheer size of the highway. 160 on this thing feels like a normal 100 in Tasmania.
In the evening we went to a bar to see Eskimo Joe perform - that's why I came to Berlin on this particular day. The concert was wicked! They played 5 songs from the upcoming album, quite a few favourites from Black Fingernails, Red Wine and also a few from the older albums, a good mix. Josy and I were way close, only a few people standing between us and the stage. I got some cool photos and videos and sang along with all the songs I knew, which I think they noticed, cause they're not big in Europe at all it would have been surprising to see someone who knew their stuff.
After the gig, Josy and I each bought a T-shirt then we were randomly asked by a couple of people to do an interview for some kind of indie rock magazine based in the USA. We answered a few questions in front of their camera and are not sure what to expect from it! Anyway, we rejoined the crowd to queue for autographs. Stu McLeod came past while Kav Temperley was at the desk, and because I had a permanent marker already I asked him for a signature which he was fine with. He signed both Josy's and my copy of Black Fingernails, Red Wine as well as my setlist I took from the stage after they finished playing. Then Joel Quartermain came past on his way to the bar and was more than happy to sign our stuff too! I left him with my marker cause he had a few more fans gathering around him, and Josy and I got to the desk and had Kav sign our stuff, completing the set of three, we left very hapy indeed!
SATURDAY
Josy and I spent the morning going around Berlin's Alexanderplatz area - we went to Media Markt and Saturn (both are like JB Hi-Fi but bigger) and bought CDs, we looked in the Marienkirche, we browsed the local markets, we ate lunch and were going to go up the TV Tower but decided against it due to the queues and the amount of time we had left. Eventually, the time came for me to say goodbye and I took the S-Bahn to the main station then got the train home.
Not even an hour later, it was time to go again - Camilla and I went to the Neustadt to go to a barbecue. It was organised by the Dresden CouchSurfing community, that website where people offer travellers a bed for a night instead of having to pay for accomodation. We got there at like 6 and ended up leaving after midnight. It was cool, there were about 40 people there and a whole ton of food and drink that everyone brought to share. I talked to people from Spain, USA, Chile, England, and some locals as well. It was a really fun night.
SUNDAY
After getting an hour less sleep due to the beginning of daylight savings, Camilla and I joined a group of people who were at the barbecue who'd organised a bit of a hiking trip for the day. We took the train south-east to "Saxon Switzerland" - an area of Saxony (nowhere near the country Switzerland) that has a lot of wilderness, walking tracks and small touristy towns. There were 10 of us in total, during the day I talked to most of the others so I've made quite a few friends through CouchSurfing now.
We walked along the river Elbe for a while and then headed up through some awesome cliff paths then some rainforesty type scenery that reminded me a bit of Tasmania. After like 3 or 4 hours of walking and stopping periodically for drinks and stuff, we arrived back in the town we started and went to Ria's house - she's one of the CouchSurfers and happens to live in this town. We had some awesome cake and played cards and sometime around 5 the rest of us caught the train back to Dresden.
So yeah, unlike a lot of my recent weekends, I feel like I really made something of this one and should get out and do things more often - there's a whole lot more of Dresden and Saxony I haven't seen yet.
This week I'm only working three days because from Thursday to Sunday there's a big Lattitude meeting - all the Aus/NZ volunteers who are doing placements in Germany are meeting up in Erfurt, a city in the middle of the country, and so my next post will probably be in a week, talking about just that.
Tschüs ya'll.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
Funny story...
That title is something I say far too often at the moment.
A couple of days ago
I was on the computer when Daniel (my mentor) came in to tell me a meeting had been cancelled, and I was like "yeah I already knew, thanks" and he's like "do you have any questions at all" and I said I didn't. Then he didn't get up from the chair next to me, and I felt like saying "why are you still sitting there?" but I couldn't because unlike him, I know how socially interacting with people works.
So he proceded to sit there for the next quarter of an hour or so, just watching what I was doing over my shoulder. And I really wanted to just swear. But instead had to try and get him to leave through boredom. I couldn't use E-mail, Facebook, anything at all that concerns my private stuff I don't actually want him to see. I instead started reading a long report on a recent Arsenal game and eventually he said he was going back to his classroom. Then I went into my conversations being like "sorry, I wasn't replying just now because my mentor..."
Same day, after work
I left kinder, and in the distance saw a line 7 tram arriving at the tram stop, which I knew I could never catch even if I sprinted. So instead I sprinted over a car-park to the next tram stop around the corner, hoping to catch it there. I could have got there except I was on the wrong side of the road when it arrived and couldn't get over cause of traffic, and another tram coming in the other direction. Then I thought I'd go to the tram stop 2 stops away from this one, cause that stop was going to be my destination anyway, to change to a line 12 tram.
I knew I had to run though.
And I did.
Like 500m.
And I got there just as the new line's tram was arriving, and ran up to the end door. There was an elderly man in front of me, waiting for his wife, who was hobbling over to us. Because I'm such a nice person, I let her go past me, and the two of them got on, then the door began to close, and I pressed the open button several times but the door kept closing and stayed shut, and the tram departed. And I swore not quite loudly enough for anybody else to hear. It was like, reverse karma. If I hadn't let the elderly lady go in front of me, I could have been on the tram before the door closed. So I was there, absolutely stuffed from running that distance in my warm jacket, having not kept fitness up since arriving in Europe. I browsed in a Euroshop (everthing for 1€) until the next line 12 tram arrived.
What else...
Evermore released their third studio album today! I've pre-ordered it on iTunes store and will download it next time I go to the hostel near my apartment to use the internet on my laptop. Which could be tonight. It's a concept album, which is quite different from what the guys have done before, with some more synth-techno type songs and some more symphonic songs. But generally there won't be anything like "Light Surrounding You". Buy it! Unless it's bad, in which case I'll blog about it ASAP to stop you guys buying it and blaming me when you hear it. But it won't be bad, will it?
ooh what a mysterious ending.
A couple of days ago
I was on the computer when Daniel (my mentor) came in to tell me a meeting had been cancelled, and I was like "yeah I already knew, thanks" and he's like "do you have any questions at all" and I said I didn't. Then he didn't get up from the chair next to me, and I felt like saying "why are you still sitting there?" but I couldn't because unlike him, I know how socially interacting with people works.
So he proceded to sit there for the next quarter of an hour or so, just watching what I was doing over my shoulder. And I really wanted to just swear. But instead had to try and get him to leave through boredom. I couldn't use E-mail, Facebook, anything at all that concerns my private stuff I don't actually want him to see. I instead started reading a long report on a recent Arsenal game and eventually he said he was going back to his classroom. Then I went into my conversations being like "sorry, I wasn't replying just now because my mentor..."
Same day, after work
I left kinder, and in the distance saw a line 7 tram arriving at the tram stop, which I knew I could never catch even if I sprinted. So instead I sprinted over a car-park to the next tram stop around the corner, hoping to catch it there. I could have got there except I was on the wrong side of the road when it arrived and couldn't get over cause of traffic, and another tram coming in the other direction. Then I thought I'd go to the tram stop 2 stops away from this one, cause that stop was going to be my destination anyway, to change to a line 12 tram.
I knew I had to run though.
And I did.
Like 500m.
And I got there just as the new line's tram was arriving, and ran up to the end door. There was an elderly man in front of me, waiting for his wife, who was hobbling over to us. Because I'm such a nice person, I let her go past me, and the two of them got on, then the door began to close, and I pressed the open button several times but the door kept closing and stayed shut, and the tram departed. And I swore not quite loudly enough for anybody else to hear. It was like, reverse karma. If I hadn't let the elderly lady go in front of me, I could have been on the tram before the door closed. So I was there, absolutely stuffed from running that distance in my warm jacket, having not kept fitness up since arriving in Europe. I browsed in a Euroshop (everthing for 1€) until the next line 12 tram arrived.
What else...
Evermore released their third studio album today! I've pre-ordered it on iTunes store and will download it next time I go to the hostel near my apartment to use the internet on my laptop. Which could be tonight. It's a concept album, which is quite different from what the guys have done before, with some more synth-techno type songs and some more symphonic songs. But generally there won't be anything like "Light Surrounding You". Buy it! Unless it's bad, in which case I'll blog about it ASAP to stop you guys buying it and blaming me when you hear it. But it won't be bad, will it?
ooh what a mysterious ending.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
I should have added...
I bought myself a guitar last week.
It's acoustic.
Quite a nice one, €199.
And it has a pickup and volume/tone controls and a cutaway, so I suppose you'd say it's acoustic-electric. But I'm not looking like getting my hands on an amplifier anytime soon.
I got it cause I wanted some kind of instrument to be able to play in my apartment, and I got this acoustic one so I can play it with some of the songs I do in my English lessons at the kindergarten. At the moment, it's been "If You're Happy and You Know It". Works quite well.
What else? Erin and I went out to a club called Downtown on Saturday night. Mil was away in Berlin. Was awesome fun. We both got talking to a few new people and had some drinks.
Oh and I went and met other new people on Friday night in a gaming pub, that was a meeting between people in Dresden organised on CouchSurfing.com.
Um, tschüs! I'm kind of late for a meeting!
PN
It's acoustic.
Quite a nice one, €199.
And it has a pickup and volume/tone controls and a cutaway, so I suppose you'd say it's acoustic-electric. But I'm not looking like getting my hands on an amplifier anytime soon.
I got it cause I wanted some kind of instrument to be able to play in my apartment, and I got this acoustic one so I can play it with some of the songs I do in my English lessons at the kindergarten. At the moment, it's been "If You're Happy and You Know It". Works quite well.
What else? Erin and I went out to a club called Downtown on Saturday night. Mil was away in Berlin. Was awesome fun. We both got talking to a few new people and had some drinks.
Oh and I went and met other new people on Friday night in a gaming pub, that was a meeting between people in Dresden organised on CouchSurfing.com.
Um, tschüs! I'm kind of late for a meeting!
PN
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Eine Reise nach Köln
So last weekend I made my first trip outside of Dresden since arriving. If you don't count going for a day trip to ski.
I left Friday night and spent that night on the night train direct to Cologne (Köln), arriving at like 6:15. It was good! Well worth it, cause then I maximised my time efficiency. Later in the morning I met up with Ines. That's a girl who I know cause she does promotion for Sparkadia, a Sydney band I went and saw in November, and before that gig she contacted me and asked me to promote the concert, which I did, and I got in there free and got to go out with the band afterwards. Then I talked with Ines some more and I suppose we're friends now. She's 26, living in an apartment in Cologne and working in something to do with Biology.
We spent Saturday together, first at her place then cruising all Cologne's streets of shops, they've got tons and tons of mall space! In the evening we saw Protest the Hero, a hard rock band, at "The Underground", a bar/gig place. We were joined by one of her friends, and Elliot Steele (a friend from school for those of you who don't know. Apart from through me, Ines and Elliot don't know each other.) It was pretty good! Elliot was there cause we arranged it and shiz. Then Ines and Elliot and I had some fast food, drank some beer and watched Monsters Inc.
Then Sunday I said goodbye to Ines and spent the day with Elliot, first we went southwest into the country for an hour on the train, to Steinfeld. That's a small as town where his placement is, in a boarding school in a huge old building. We then went south east to the city of Bonn, former capital of West Germany. It's quite beautiful, same as every German city really, but we didn't do much more than just cruise around because on Sunday almost every business in Germany is shut. Much more so than in Australia. The evening was spent back at the boarding house, chilling with some of his students who are his friends as well, cause his placement is with school kids not kinder kids, so that goes up to our age and a little bit above even!
Monday, I briefly spent some time at school with Elliot then said tschüs and got the train back into Cologne. I went to a gigantic music store called, wait for it, "Music Store". To go off track for a minute, everything in Germany seems to be more stylish or fashionable if you write it in English. All the messages on the kinder kids' clothes seem to be in English. So yeah, Music Store ftw! Anyway, then I caught a 2pm-ish train from there to Frankfurt Airport, taking an hour, and changed to a train to Dresden which lasted a further five hours, putting me back at home at 8pm. And I live like next door to Dresden central station, so I just got out of the train and walked over the road to the flat.
I was pretty cut that the trip was over already, cause I was looking forward to it a lot and the 2.5 days or so just went by in a flash! But I only had to take one day off work (that's why I didn't work Monday, for those who may have been asking) and I only paid €20 for travel - that was for a bed in the night train, cause the rest went on my faithful Eurail pass. So there, first blog in a while! If you leave a comment, maybe I'll think about writing another one!
I have a good random fact to end this one - at the boarding house Sunday night, we ordered pizzas, and something I noticed about Germany is that a pizza comes to you whole, not sliced. You could slice it yourself, but what Elliot's friends did was simply pick it up and fold it and eat it kind of like a gigantic sandwich. Yum?
I left Friday night and spent that night on the night train direct to Cologne (Köln), arriving at like 6:15. It was good! Well worth it, cause then I maximised my time efficiency. Later in the morning I met up with Ines. That's a girl who I know cause she does promotion for Sparkadia, a Sydney band I went and saw in November, and before that gig she contacted me and asked me to promote the concert, which I did, and I got in there free and got to go out with the band afterwards. Then I talked with Ines some more and I suppose we're friends now. She's 26, living in an apartment in Cologne and working in something to do with Biology.
We spent Saturday together, first at her place then cruising all Cologne's streets of shops, they've got tons and tons of mall space! In the evening we saw Protest the Hero, a hard rock band, at "The Underground", a bar/gig place. We were joined by one of her friends, and Elliot Steele (a friend from school for those of you who don't know. Apart from through me, Ines and Elliot don't know each other.) It was pretty good! Elliot was there cause we arranged it and shiz. Then Ines and Elliot and I had some fast food, drank some beer and watched Monsters Inc.
Then Sunday I said goodbye to Ines and spent the day with Elliot, first we went southwest into the country for an hour on the train, to Steinfeld. That's a small as town where his placement is, in a boarding school in a huge old building. We then went south east to the city of Bonn, former capital of West Germany. It's quite beautiful, same as every German city really, but we didn't do much more than just cruise around because on Sunday almost every business in Germany is shut. Much more so than in Australia. The evening was spent back at the boarding house, chilling with some of his students who are his friends as well, cause his placement is with school kids not kinder kids, so that goes up to our age and a little bit above even!
Monday, I briefly spent some time at school with Elliot then said tschüs and got the train back into Cologne. I went to a gigantic music store called, wait for it, "Music Store". To go off track for a minute, everything in Germany seems to be more stylish or fashionable if you write it in English. All the messages on the kinder kids' clothes seem to be in English. So yeah, Music Store ftw! Anyway, then I caught a 2pm-ish train from there to Frankfurt Airport, taking an hour, and changed to a train to Dresden which lasted a further five hours, putting me back at home at 8pm. And I live like next door to Dresden central station, so I just got out of the train and walked over the road to the flat.
I was pretty cut that the trip was over already, cause I was looking forward to it a lot and the 2.5 days or so just went by in a flash! But I only had to take one day off work (that's why I didn't work Monday, for those who may have been asking) and I only paid €20 for travel - that was for a bed in the night train, cause the rest went on my faithful Eurail pass. So there, first blog in a while! If you leave a comment, maybe I'll think about writing another one!
I have a good random fact to end this one - at the boarding house Sunday night, we ordered pizzas, and something I noticed about Germany is that a pizza comes to you whole, not sliced. You could slice it yourself, but what Elliot's friends did was simply pick it up and fold it and eat it kind of like a gigantic sandwich. Yum?
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