Abfahrt

Es ist alles gepackt, der letzte Businessplan bewertet, die letzte Versicherung gekündigt und seit heute bin ich offiziell kein Bürger Deutschlands mehr.

Oh, that was German.
Well, all is packed and all is organized and I am officially not living in Germany anymore. I left. I have it written here, with a blue stamp of the city of Leverkusen.

In half an hour I am leaving to the airport to check in and to leave. And finally there comes the point that Jenny thought would never come: I am scared. Not badly, but anxiously. I would lie if I said the Air France Crash wouldnt make me feel a little weird about flying over the atlantic, and yes, at one moment or the other I thought "What the hell am I doing here?"

But most of you know me well enough to figure that this mood doesnt last. There is no way back anyway, so why worry? Rather smile and laugh and wonder what awaits me. Happily.

Goodbye and see you when I landed ;)

24h

It is time to actually stick to my resolution and to write into my blog. In 24 hours my flight leaves for Madrid, where I will change planes to fly to Sao Paulo.

All this waiting and now it is finally time. Weird, somehow. And so much that happened and that had to be done in the last week.
I spent the last long weekend in Holland at the beach, got a little tan and enjoyed. Then of course, all the other things like packing needed to be done quickly as lying lazy on the beach does not really pack anything... I was in Rome for work from Monday to Wednesday night, so this didnt really help me in packing either, but I loved it. Finally, on Thursday, when I had a day off I really sorted things out as the rest of my stuff was supposed to be picked up on Friday morning. On Friday morning however, I was told that the people would run late and only arrive at tweleve, so all the rush for nothing ;) Once everything was packed I had to bring my car back to the rental station and drive by the bank to coordinate that I am leaving the country... however, they didnt really believe it and wanted proof (which I couldnt give, cause of course the offices were closed and I could only go on Tuesday). Also on Friday, Rémy's little daughter Julia was born. She is the cutest little girl on earth and I am very very happy for Ruth and Rémy!!! =)
On saturday I picked up my friend Jenny and we drove in a pretty convertible and nice loud music to the 30th birthday party of Schröder. On the way I dropped off a little joke birthday gift at another friends house. I am not sure what he is thinking about it (but he will never ever read this, so whatever) but I had my fun handing it to his dad who had no clue whatsoever who I am or where I came from on a random Saturday afternoon... Plus, if I say "or else I will send it to you by mail" I need to stick to it ;)
Either way, I spent a very very nice weekend in Herford and around and the party was amaaaaaazzing.

The only sad part was, that Vanni really started to cry cause I am leaving. It made me feel miserable. But then again, I am so happy that things are finally starting. We listened to some sad songs like Westernhagen's "Freiheit" and "Freunde" from Die Toten Hosen and in the end, the smile was back on her face. ouf.... I mean, I am far away, but not thaaaaat far... :)

Sunday we spent on the couch and on the terrace. Thats it ;)

On Monday I drove home, again with the opened car and loud music and to be honest: I felt like the cooooolest person on earth with my hair blowing in the wind... hahaha. Seriously. I loved it. And I heard a new song in the radio, which just fit so perfectly... It is called "Wir werden uns wiedersehen" (We will see again) from Selig.
Monday night I spent with baking cakes (though there werent as many eggs in the fridge as I was told, so I had to postpone the cheesecake to Tuesday morning) and had friends over to finish of the beers that were left over from my party in April. This time Jenny nearly started crying but then we said goodbye and see you soon, and I am back soon, etc. quickly and saved her from a messed up make-up ;) It is so weird to see friends worry so much and be so sad. Makes me sad. Yet, and thats even weirder but true, it also makes me feel happy because it shows me that those people are better friends then I could ever wish for...

Today was the last day in the office. And as weird it was to come back after 1.5 years, as weird it is to leave again. We had a ton of cake and coffee and nice speeches and well, I will be back ;) Hehehe.

Thats it so far. I will go now and "dine in the castle" with my parents, my sister and her boyfriend... it is a nice little restaurant here in town with a nice terrace and I think it is going to be a great last night.

By this time tomorrow, I will be somewhere over Paris ;)

Here the Toten Hosen Song called "Freunde" ("Friends")

Goiânia

So I finally did arrive in Goiânia.

It was a long way to get here, but I made it. And Sao Paulo International airport now officially is the most boring airport in the whole wide world. I mean, seriously. The Goiânian airport on the other hand is just very small. It reminded me a little bit of the airport in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Just one little house, two belts and a walking way where you walk from the plane to the baggage claim, all across the airport.

I was really tired, so I really didnt see much of what was going on. I was picked up by Georgia, the girl who organizes my relocation, and Ismael, a guy that comes from Goiânia and that also helps me around and shows me everything.I went to the hotel and slept.

The next day I met Ismael and Georgia and we did a city tour for the whole day. They showed me all the different areas and places and we stopped for coffee and had a long chat in the sun. It was really nice. The city reminds me a bit of cuba's and mexico's little cities that I have seen. A little run down on one hand, on the other kinda charming. It is very green but then again, the buildings are sooooo grey. I dunno. It is safe and seems nice, and I think I could live here. Its a big step away from europe though. In many ways. The streets arent as cosy nice and pretty as what I had in madrid, but the living conditions in a condo with pool and everything are above all standards I could ever afford in Europe. A little weird, that feeling.

We had lunch at a place that serves local food and it was very very yummy and a lot! Food, I think, is really important in this town... They have so many little restaurants and at night they all go to the burger places...

We also went to the mall to get me a brazilian sim card and to see whats going on there... basically, we just had a very nice, relaxed day of walkind and driving around, seeing things and talking about everything... They are really two very nice people.
Also, we went to this one place where they have nearly 60 different sorts of fruit icecream. I tried one, but I was still full from lunch...

There isnt really much more to say, except that I had a great day but am tired from the wierd heat/humidity and that tomorrow we will go house hunting. That is really a very exciting part, as the flats I am going to look at are going to be really nice and big and with a pool for the condo!!!
Crazy, crazy, so much luxury! Tomorrow then I will also take pictures... I didnt today, I kinda forgot...

Well, as you can see from my post, I am really tired... I look over it and its a little all over the place... Ah well, maybe tomorrow I know more things to say... :)

Visiting Brazil

So, it is finally official... well, I still don't have a ticket, but after weeks of begging and organizing and making people find a way around stupid rules, we all together found a way and now I am officially allowed to fly to Brazil for the wekk 23rd to 29th of March in order to attend a couple of regional meetings where I will be able to meet my future boss and colleagues. It also finally gives me a chance to visit the place where I will be moving in a month and a bit... So I am very excited about going really, though, I am a little scared as well... but who knows... its gonna be great, I hope, and why shouldn't it be?! Hahaha, yeah, I am really kinda trying to keep me on the positive road here... not that easy all the time...

So I received most of my vaccines last week, but I gotta go back to get a second and third rabies vaccine, but it isnt just rabies: it's against vampires :P That's what they call the little bats that live in the countryside and regularily dive down onto cows and sheep in order to push their teeth into their meat and to suck out some blood. And well, sometimes, the cow turns out to be human... ooops... kinda scary, isn't it?

That's all there is to say about Brazil for now, but I will tell you more as soon as I have actually been there ... :)

And, just as a little sidenote, I couldn't resist to open the chimney and to blow air into it to get the fire a little more going, and as a result I have to clean the floor now... ah well...

Pictures of the Past

I spent my weekend in Bremen, where my aunt and uncle as well as my Grandma live. I went there because my Grandma is now nearly 89 years old and she is getting very very forgetful. Meaning, if she knows who you are its already very good.
I wanted to see her before I go to Brazil as in this age, you never know what happens. So it came that I spent some hours drinking tea or coffee with her and saying all the same things over and over again. Sad somehow, great on the otherhand.

It is just so very sad to see that she always feels lonely. Even if you spend many many hours with her together, as soon as you are out of the door she will feel alone and think, forgetting about the visitors she had earlier, that noone cares or comes to see her. The thought of her feeling so alone makes me sad and crazy.

On the other hand, she seems to feel satisfied with her life and the world around her. She does not complain about more than being lonely and she arranges her life as good as she can. That makes me proud. It makes me proud because she had a rough life the first 20 or 25 years. Her mom died early and she was sent to a very strict boarding school which she hated. As soon as she could leave she left to Paris to study french and become a translator. She came back to Germany when World War II had started and her hometown Nürnberg had been bombed. There she stood, a young girl with a suitcase in front of the empty burnt down house of her parents.
Later, her younger brother and father were killed at the war-front and she had many more years of horror and war to live through.
My grandma married my grandfather, however, she was not good enough for her mum(ster)-in-law. Not even with a grandchild for her parents-in-law she was good-enough, as it was only a girl. It was only a couple of years later that things changed, but then they really did and I think my grandma had an amazing live with three great children and a wonderful husband. They lived in Hamburg, Caracas (Venezuela), Munich and Frankfurt; and the appartment in Spain was (and is still) always filled with family. Probably these great years made up for the trouble she had encountered, resulting in that satisfaction that she seems to have regardless of her lonelyness and her fading strength to walk around or to remember things...

Before I drove home yesterday, we sat at her little coffee table and looked at old and very old pictures from my family. Cute pictures of me, my sister and my cousins; pictures of my young dad and his sisters; pictures of my grandparents. She didn't recognize to much and kept confusing my cousins or me with my dad when he was little, but yet she enjoyed looking at all those pictures I think.

In the end I found a picture of my dad, on the balcony of their appartement in Hamburg-Altona, being nearly two years old. His blond hair goes all the way over his ears, he smiles, wears a bib overall of cord-rows and a white longsleeve shirt underneath. He looks exactly like a girl. Like me. We put a picture of me, age one and a half, next to it. I smile, my blond curly hair reaches my ears and I am wearing a rose-couloured cord-row bib overall and a white longsleeve shirt underneath. If it wasn't for the black/white vs. coloured, one could exchange the picture from 1955 with the picture from 1986 easily.

Madres

I am flying back to Madrid today, only for the weekend though.
Wonder if its still gonna be the same. I mean, not much time has passed since we were all really living there and a lot of my friends are still there working, or looking for jobs in this weird time of crisis...
When I was in Canada I had to write this thing called "inner monologue" for English and I wrote it about leaving Canada and hoping to return "home" when I come back for graduation. I got a 100% for my little piece of poetry, however, Ms. Artiss, my English teacher at the time said to me: My dear, I left England when I was small and as much as I wish it would come true, in fact you will never return "home" whenever you left a place. You will always have to stay for a while and make it home again..." She was damn right that smart lady... But nevertheless, Canada stayed at least like a second home to me and I feel comfortable being there.
Madrid, I hope, will stay the same.
Germany really didn't. I feel home and visiting at the same time having to build friendships completely new and trying not to be too sad when I am forgotten to be invited for parties etc.
I think knowing that I will leave to Brazil soon makes it worse.

However, lets stay positive: I gotta catch a plane and keep playing jet-setter. Madrid, party-city, I am coming!

Hungry for Spicy Food

After coming back from Angkor Wat and my nap, I did not have dinner as I was tired out and the heat and especially the humidity made me lose any appetite.
When I finished my tea this morning and set off in the city the heat was still too much for me to take and to eat in it. Yet, when I arrived at about 12:30 in the middle of Siem Reap the smells got me hungry and full of appetite despite the weather around me.
I sat down in a little soup restaurant with fans, which turned out to be viatnamese and served wonderful spicy food.
On the table next to me sat a girl and we started talking. She comes from Canada and is on her way for two years now, teaching English in school times for a couple of months up to half a year and then moves on to travel until the money is gone (which is when she starts teaching again). We had a really nice talk and later went to the market together to stroll through the various stands of cloths and (fake?) jewllery.

Later on, Kim (thats the canadian girl's name) left to go to the gym. She had already lived in Siem Reap for two weeks now and enjoyed the city and her volountary work.
Myself, I still wanted to rent a bike to see some more parts of the city. I followed all rent-a-bike signs i could find, however, I never found the store that goes with it. Maybe, the few bikes these rental services have were all ready gone and I was too late. I don't know.
Anyways, I decided I should see some more of the city and set off by foot. It didn't take too long for me to realize, that the visit of the temples was not only mindblowing but also heavy leg training (from all the stairs) and my muscles right above the knees were so sore, that I could even feel it when walking camly and really not any stairs or slopes, after I had walked for a while. I kept going but after quite a while decided to sit down in a cafe and to have a nice break over a cold lime juice, just watching the Cambodian People folowing their usual saturday precedures. I enjoyed it a lot. People Watching here is very different than on the terrace of El Lateral in Madrid, where it is mostly about making fun of expensive dresses that make the ladies look like saussages or about the parking skills of girls, whos hair is never the less perfect (eh, Amber?).

As the plan to go to the concert is still standing, I am back now to take a shower and to get everything ready for tomorrow morning.
Later on, I might go back to the city to meet up with Kim again who said she would be in the Banana Leaf bar this night, in the famous pub street. Maybe I can get Martin the swiss guy to come with me, as he is wanting to do some voluntary work and to stay here some longer. Kim could maybe help him with that (yeah yeah, its all about the networking, as always... ;P)

Last but not least, I read the email today that York's wife gave birth to a little baby girl named Rubi! Welcome to Madrid, little one; happy birthday! And Congratulations to Luly and York, the proud parents :)