With Kater in Cocoa

Hi there,

I'm not even trying to explain what took me soo long to come up with a new post in this blog.
Life since I left Straya has been friendly most of the time, less sunny though . To make it short: after I had spent almost 5 months with my folks in Berlin I moved to home of Oktoberfest - Munich in June last year. Although the city couldn't be more different to Berlin I quite like my life there. Munich people are weird and there is definitely potential for more stories. There are plans to tell you more about life in Bavaria later on but we all know that this is probably not going to happen before a long long time. My last four weeks in a nutshell: my life is a soap opera!

I am enjoying holidays in Florida at the moment - very close to Cape Caneveral - where else would Frau Rakete go? I got kind of adopted by one of my best friends for the next few days until another friend arrives and we are going to start our FL road trip.

Having lived in Australia for two years made me think I got used to big sized super markets and all  other kinds of things. However my first two days here have taught me better. Everything is not just only one size bigger in America. I was laughing about the enormous size of my friend's fridge until I have had a look into it and understood why it would be sheer impossible to have it even slightly smaller. That also explains the vast number of obese people I have encountered during the last two days...crazyness! Even there it has to be the extra bit. People are not just slightly overweight here, they actually do have more than just a little problem with their weight or shape...I am feeling pretty thin at the moment and am positive to run around in bikini only soonish. I am definitely in summer shape compared to most of the others.

Another stereotype also already proved true - people are friendly. Also pretty outgoing. Hadn't been in the country for 3 hours and already scored my first telephone number from a quite interesting dude. :-) Could not have been luckier to meet him as I had 7 hours of waiting time in Atlanta with the most boring book in my luggage. Only understood half of what he told me as he spoke English pretty much the way I speak German...way to fast. Ha! He told me that some things still sound quite Ozzie the way I pronounce them...whoot!

The accent has been an issue more than once now...got told it's pretty exotic by more than one person now. Guess exotic is better than German :-)

Hmm, that's about it for today. Not right back in the flow yet. Hope this is to change as I have planned to send out updates on my journey via this platform here.

Enjoy your day everyone!
Cheers
Tina

Pictures: Trip to Canberra - Hauptstadtbesuch

Wollongong from above

 Australian War Memorial

ship's propeller

national hero and his donkey, which he saved wounded with

inside the memorial

somehow this guy reminded me of childhood and I have no idea why

kids leaving poppy seed flowers at the memorial's walls

sky over Canberra

I loooove the colour changing option on my cam

 Canberra's surroundings

 I

 II

 National Museum of Australia

Sydney - Pictures of the Big Smoke

Sydney Harbour Bridge and Surroundings

Bondi Beach

 

Sydney - more than first impressions

Hallo in die Runde,

Again, I'm feeling incredibly bad and ashamed I've neglected this blog for such a long time. No excuses so straight to business.

What shall I say? Sydney - it's a city, a real one. And a beautiful one too. As much as I liked Perth's beaches, they bored me to tears after one and a half years spent at the Indian Ocean. Everything's different here. I have to admit the ocean (this time the Pacific) is not as half as nice but the rest of the city is just amazing.

The city is built around the Sydney Harbour, as far as I'm concerned one of the biggest and nicest natural harbours in the world. The water is turquoise and picturesque little boats are set on it to please the eye :-) Going by ferry is actually a real mode of transport here. I just remember the small ferry in Baume which no one ever seemed to use. That's different here. And I tell you there is no better way  to start your day than with a ride to work or school by ferry. No matter how tired you are or how bad the headache from yesterday's last beer ... everything just vanishes on one of the vessels.

The neighbourhood where we reside is not too far away from the CBD and every morning I can watch people on their way to work doing things which still amaze me. There are the sporty fellows who run to work: half naked with their business suits in dry cleaning plastic bags in one hand and the omnipresent I-Phone in the other. On their back a backpack with all the other essentials for the day.

Then we have the half sporty ladies already dressed up in their business chic but with running shoes on their feet to fight the steep hills which North Sydney comes with.

The others who are not as enthusiastic about getting sweaty in the morning share my bus or the ferry, many of them still adding the final touch to their make up while riding bus or ferry. Waiting for the bus is different here and you can tell that there definitely is English descent. You have to queue up in sometimes ridiculously long lines (around the actual bus stop) in order to wait for the bus. By the way, weather does not give you an excuse to step out of the line to find shelter in the bus stop house ... hmpfh!

Actually one has to queue everywhere, for everything. Almost. Somehow there hasn't been found a rule for boarding and alighting trains. There's always a handful of people standing on the platform right in front of the doors so you can't step out of the train. Argh! If you are lucky these guys try to jump aboard before you've even left. ARGH! I have to admit that those platform anarchists are mostly middle-aged who obviously don't know strict queuing rules from their home countries either. Refreshing in the queuing jungle but also the cherry on top of the stress pie :-)

By the way people dress different in the eastern states. Here you share public transport almost exclusively with either kids in their fancy school uniforms or business people in their fancy business dresses. Secretaries, PAs and other "lower employees" can be distinguished only by either the enormous heights of their heels or the fact that they are wearing thongs.

Over the last weeks I could observe the visitors of one or the other company Christmas party. OMG! European Christmas parties start with getting rid of the several layers  you've chosen to save you from the blistering cold. Here girls come half naked, with dresses that only sparely cover their boobs or bottoms. To make the whole outfit even more adventurous it's combined with high heels of ridiculous heights and one or the other alcoholic beverage too much. :-) How can you not love Australia?

As B and I are living in a rather leafy neighbourhood we also neighbour heaps of birds and they are even noisier than the little fellows in Palmyra. After a wild mating season we now have heaps of very young birds around demanding their parents to bring on more food pronto. It gets pretty annoying in the mornings but I lost my heart to rainbow loris which even come to our window to claim their share of fruit salad. TRUE STORY and pics are posted below.

Well well, my first blog in English. I'm proud although I have to admit the next one is most likely to be in German again. There are so many more things to tell. Anyway, the weather is nice (after weeks of constant cold and rain) so I want to get out of the house.

A lovely day to everyone and if I won't find time or motivation to update the blog before Christmas a HAPPY CHRISTMAS to everyone! :-)

Cheers
Tina

Abschiede - Kinotip - Move!

Ein immer wiederkehrendes Ereignis, wenn man eine längere Zeit im Ausland verbringt, ist der Abschied von dem einen oder anderen lieb gewonnenen Menschen. Nicht nur, dass man sowieso schon soweit weg is von allem, was irgendwie Heimat is, nee dann verschwinden ooch die Mitstreiter wieder so mir nichts dir nichts zurück nach Europa. Dit nervt! So. Wollte ick ma gesacht haben.

Ansonsten feier ick ja hier demnächst einen ganz besonderen Abschied: meinen eigenen aus Perth. Nach knapp 1 1/2 Jahren in der sonnigsten aller Australischen Städte heisst es Koffer packen und auf zu neuen Ufern. Also ganz genau gesagt, einmal ans andere Ende der Insel. Es geht nach Sydney!!! Yay!

B.s erster Arbeitstag im neuen Job ist der 5/9 und während B arbeitet und sie Brötchewn verdient, werde ick mich wohl in Sydney um eine geeignete Bleibe für den Verdiener, die Deutsche und Katzenmann Action kümmern. Uuuh, wie aufregend! Ich bin so gespannt auf Sydney und das Leben dort. Bei meinem ersten Besuch bin ick ja großer Fan der Stadt geworden, mal sehen ob Sydney halten kann, was es im Dezember versprochen hat. Ick werde berichten, wie gewöhnlich mit einigen Monaten Verzögerung :-)

Letztes Wochenende war ick mit B. nochmal im Umland Perths unterwegs. Es ging in den John Forrest National Park. Finde ick Perth mittlerweile ziemlich langweilig, muss ick sagen, dass so ne Tour in den Busch echte Wunder bewirken kann. Das Land hier ist so anders und schön, dass ick mich jedesmal neu verliebe. Und weil ich das euch nicht vorenthalten will, gibts heute mal wieder ein paar Bildchen.

Ah, ganz groß am Sonntag Abend: Kino in Fremantle: RED DOG. Man, wat hab ick jelacht. Und geheult! Geschichte von einem Kelpie (australische Hunderasse), der durch die Pilbarra steift, und jedermans Hund ist, bis er sein wahres Herrchen findet. Nachdem der bei einem Motoradunfall ums Leben kommt, sucht Fifi Herrchen über Jahre hinweg, durchstreift einmal ganz Western Australia und wurde wohl auch in Japan gesichtet. So, zwischendrin und am Ende is alles ganz doll traurig, aber alle anderen Szenen sind herrlich! Fand icke. Und 75% der mitgekommenen Mitgucker auch. Die restlichen 25% sind australisch und er meinte, das wäre halt normaler Australischer Humor...nix besonderes. ...weiss ick nich, kann den Film aber dennoch sehr empfehlen!!!

So, jetze aber Schluss hier!

Grüße aus Perth, wo man innerhalb weniger Minuten den fettesten Sonnenschein und dann apokalyptische Wetterverhältnisse hat. Verrückt!

icke

Ich weiss, ich weiss, ich sollte öfter schreiben, aber ich weiss nicht wovon. Es gibt nichts wirkliches zu berichten. Das Wetter ist schön, meistens. Ansonsten ist es schlecht.
Heute gehts in den King's Park. Den kenne ich ja schon, aber ick glaube, heute gibt's ne Tour oder so. Oder ne Ausstellung...weiss ich nicht mehr. Aber kann ja eventuell danach berichten.

Am Mittwoch war ick mit anderen Deutschen auf nem Kurzfilmabend. Sehr zu empfehlen: Skate Path, Share Path. Schöne Bildchen plus coole Musike aus Perth/ WA.
Auch sehr schön, aber n bissi dolle anrührend (Pipi in den Augen) war der schwedische Beitrag "Passing Hearts". Ganz groß! Achja, die Veranstaltung hiess "Futureshorts" und die ist global. Also gibts die auch in D und A und sonstewo. Deswegen: nachkieken und hingehen!!!

So, das wars von mir hier. Werde ganz bald wieder schreiben. Dann vielleicht sogar mehr.

Bestes
Tina

Fotos: Bali

Sonnenuntergang I

Sonnenuntergang II

Flora an Sonnenuntergang

Lieblingsblume

Minialtar ... davon gibt es unzählige

nochmal Altar mit Opfergaben

Opfergaben liegen wirklich überall rum und riechen nach Räucherstäbchen und Reis

Tempel, Name vergessen.

Tempeldetail

vorm Tempel I

vorm Tempel II