Auf Wiedersehen..

This day one week ago, I was still going with Gunnar to the baby gym. I hope this Wednesday, he's enjoying it as well with Kateryna. At first, the gym was a real disaster for him. Terribly shy, he refused to let any other child be near him, and didn't want to climb on any of the exposed play things. While all the other kids were climbing and running around like maniacs, unbothered by any fear or social encounters, Gunnar just cried and cried and only wanted to go home. And I didn't force him, I was extremely carefull and patient. But nothing worked, it was really strange. Gunnar was just different. But one day he went with his dad, and since then he shows less and less fear. He even seems to enjoy it now! Like last week..

I had already been introducing Kateryna to the baby gym, but because this December 2nd was my last day in Neustadt, I went again with them. Gunnar still doesn't like getting a stamp on his hand afterwards, so then again I got a nice elephant on my arm from the teacher. When we got home, Kateryna had to go to her language course, so I went to get Gunni to sleep. He semed excited that after a few weeks I was bringing him in bed again, so he didn't fall asleep easily. "Noch ein Buch.. noch ein Lied.. noch ein bisschen kuscheln..!" But I refused to let him get out the bed to get another book or toy, and then his mother came because she heard him whining. She finally got him to sleep, but when he wake up again, he was still tired. And Malte got home sobbing over stomach cramps. It was as if both kids had been worrying about what was going to happen; Malte sick from the tension and Gunnar in such a bad mood we had rarely seen him in.

Malte also wasn't so enthusiastic about the Peter Pan play he had seen this morning because of the scary Captain Hook, but luckely he was still cheerfull enough to make some last pictures with me. Gunnar didn't want to do anything, execpt for eating a rice waffle with Vitam. We gave him one and then he demanded another one, which we refused because Vitam is very salty. He didn't take that well and cried furiously for at least half an hour. Even when his dad came home he didn't stop, it was like he had a tantrum or a frustration attack, the Vitam rice waffle was not to go of his mind.

To make it even worse, Malte (and so Mieke neither) couldn't join me on the train to Hannover because he turned really out to be sick. Like the two kids were both sabotaging my depart! I had to leave quickly now, because Rainer came home at ten past three and the train left at half past three.

I said goodbye to Philipp, Mieke and Malte (who asked very surprised "why are you crying mammie?" and smiled amused at me when she answered that I was leaving).. then had to run out of the house and race to the station. A few minutes later, Rainer and Gunnar arrived there by car with my stuff. Happily in the train Gunnar seemed cheerfull again, and he was singing a crazy christmas song he had learn from Malte. From me had learned more Sinterklaas songs. The prove that he really learned to understand dutch: by singing "but the horse must go to bed" (in "Zachtjes gaan de paardevoetjes"): he once objected and proposed that the horse got a little playtime first.. ^^

In Hannover, we had to wait half an hour for my train and Rainer proposed to take a seat in.. World Coffee :) I choose an Orange Wochachino but when Rainer got back, he had also bought us some chocolate cake! Gunnars mood got even better and he devoured his cake in no-time. For the grown-ups who knew what was going to happen in a few minutes, it was more difficult. Just looking at those two Merkels made me miss them already.. like the other Merkels as well. But the coffee was really nice, and I was glad we had gotten some time for it. This moment got even more emotionall when Rainer suddenly presented me the family's "goodbye gift": a "Merkel-coffee-cup" with my own name! And a candy heart from the christmas market and a sweet christmas card "from Gunnar" with many thanks.. I was really, really touched. And then we had only ten minutes left. We guickly got up, I put on Gunnars shoes again because he had wanted them out too when his jacket had to get out, and we run to the train, were Katya had arrived just in time to say goodbye as well. Rainer put my suitcase and backpacks and bike into the train, I embraced them and took Gunni for a last cuddle on my arm, then the conductor whistled and I had to jump on the train. When the train drove a way, Kateryna was waving, Rainer crying and Gunni grinning, just as his brother leaving me with his sweetest smile.

The full moon was shining yellow like cheese and seemed to have a face, like Gunni always said. In the hurry I had forgotton to cry, and even to take the present with me in the train! But I knew that I would visit them again, soon. "You belong with us now.." they had said, and even more with that special designed mug, I somehow felt as if I was leaving my real family (the third one).

Originally, Benjamin would have accompagnied me on my travel, but because of his new job he couldn't do that anymore. Now Willem was waiting for me at Hengelo station, who helped me getting in Enschede and a few days later in Wilnis with my stuff. I felt sad and bored being back in NL, but it was great having Willem back around and seeing my mother and sister and omi a few days later with Sinterklaas (6 dec.). I miss the family, their house and especially their kids a lot now, but I feel comforted in leaving them with Katya and in taking home so many good memories with me. In January I will visited Neustadt again, for Benni will then perform a theater play from Schiller in Stadthagen. I just can't wait! :)

The handover

Yes, you read it well. It's not Hanover but Handover this time. Or the handover of Hanover, and our Gunni in Neustadt.

The Monday after my last article, we had a special dinner. Two Ukrainian girls had joined us: Rymma, who the kids and I had already met on the day we went to the zoo, and Kateryna (Katya), her younger sister. The reason they met us was that Kateryna had come for an important function: au-pairing Gunnar part two! In August, she had already visited us for a "job interview", and I got a good feeling about her. She was interested and sweet to the kids. Malte wasn't so interested because he had fallen on the street while waiting for her and was sobbing. But since she arrived the 16th, he

is completely in to her. Gunnar however, was very suspicious at first. He didn't leave my side for days and we had to babysit him together, to let him get used to her. Something I admit I liked :) But after a week, he seemed totally at ease and even let her put him asleep. I showed Katya everything and we went to babyturnen and Spielkreis together. Surprisedly, there were a lot of Russian women (Katya speaks Russian) too, which annoys her (she wants to learn german, and fast!). Gunnar has to learn Russian now. What a challenge! Rainer demands that Katya speaks only Russian to him, like I Dutch, but we find that is impossible. She has to throw in some German keywords, otherwise communication becomes a problem for Gunnar doesn't understand a word yet. But she reads him a lot and at first Gunnar found it funny and asked me for translations, but now he just nods and listens, also when she speaks. And of course, the family learned to say goodnight ("[Spakoja noche]") in Russian..

My Dutch lessons however, got a painfull setback. I must have catched a cold on the roof of the Hanover observatory, and for almost a week my throath was so bad that I wasn't able to speak, not even sing songs! And that in the Sint Nicoals period.. :(

But somehow Gunnar still remembered "Sinterklaasje, bonne bonne bonne.." and ev

en made his own version of it (" Gooi wat in m'n Schupkarre..")! Sinterklaas was so flattered that on Friday he really threw someting in his shoe (and Maltes)..

Katya and I now share my room, because it will be hers soon, and that is very "gezellig" :)
The first weekend, the family was not there and I went with Katya to Hanover to search for the Dance school. I also got my last german haircut from the nice guy of the Cut Club that even remembered me. The next weekend, we also were alone, but Sunday Katya and Rymma took me to an anatomic exposition with REAL bodies..! It was a bit creepy but very interesting. One body was slashed in hunderds of pieces and so you could look into everything. We also saw a baby skeleton: it had a laughing head! Isn't it wondeful, babies are born with a smile..

The Christmasmarket had begun and on Saterday we walked a bit through it. It was exactly so like last year. At nine we went to World Coffee, were I had organised a little "carrotmob" to celebrate my last days in Germany. I had invited most peope I knew here (10 oder so) and they didn't all show up but Katya, Rymma, Isabelle and Benni had come, and that was really nice, not only because of the delicious hot chocolate/whococinos and cake. I

was happy to see them again before leaving.. and Benni even had made me a "goodbye gift".. a mug with a group picture of this years weekend in Bückeburg! Awesome.

Now I'm still enjoying my last days in the family and with "handing over the stick" to my "trainee" Katya. I guess poor Gunnar still doesn't realize what will happen this wednesday, and actually me neither, but Malte reminds me sometimes about it: "The dinosaurus is sad, because he's exctincting, Silvia is sad, because she's leaving.." :'(

Dancing with stars

Ok, I admit it. Bollywood dance is not very German. But since Bride & Prejudice I always wanted to do this once and this saterday I had the chance to do it in Neustadt. In NEUSTADT. So a Dutch girl goes to a German class of Indian dancing.. and got charmed immediately. This dance style is so elegant, and powerful at the same time. The movements also mean things, in one dance a whole story is depicted, especially by the hands. That makes it even more magical. The dance is may look easy which it is totally not, but we got a very good teacher that learned us in four hours almost a complete choreography. So that we at least got the feeling what it was like (sweating, sweating..). It was great fun. From every dance style I once tried (jazz ballet, streetdance, salsa), this I found the most interesting.

When I got home the kids jumped on me, and Mieke made a nice "price" of icecream with baked apples. Then they found I had to perform something I learned. Unfortunately I found it really hard to remember the dance sequence by myself and in such a small space it didn't go particulary well. But the audience was amused anyway. Then Malte wanted to dance and together with Gunnar he made a cute performance on the Sankt Martin song. His father then also had to show his talent by showing an "indian" dance too (*rofl*) and an italian dance he danced once with Mieke. So sweet.. then he danced with Malte and Gunnar with me and suddenly the whole family was dancing (except for Philipp who had escaped). We danced until we saw the sky turn pink and Rainer decided to take the kids out. Gunnar was a bit sad, he said it was just so funny and didn't want to let me go, but I really needed to take a shower now..

The night before was wonderfull as well. It was the "Night of Astronomy" in Hannover and I went there after dinner to catch a speech about "Gravitationswellen" and a new space project called LISA satellite. Very interesting. The "Rathaus" looked magical in space lights (see video) and four girls were playing clarinet songs. I got a star cookie and a knowing walnut and then a special bus took us to the Hannover Observatory. And there we could look through a real telescope! The sky was a bit cloudy but we saw Jupiter with two of his moons in a straight line, the seven Pleiaden and even a dim light of the Andromeda Galaxy, our neighbours.. It was amazing. Two kids and I also saw a falling star, but I won't reveal what I wished for :P

Meanwhile, there was another lecture going on and I managed to hear the end. A woman asked the young man a question, but it was more like a statement and a long story then actually a question. The story was about a coincident with dates and her statement was that nothing in life is coincident but that life has a purpose. The scientist calmly commented that everyone experiences such coincidents but that there is no purpose behind it, and that science is not interested in the purpose of life anyway. Science, he explained, isn't saying what things are, but is searching for theories and models to explain phenoms. I found this discussion was getting interesting, but sadly it turned out the woman was not up for discussion. She just rattled on with her story. Even when we were waiting for the bus, she was getting on and on about it. It was really strange and I got the idea that the woman was somewhat crazy. She talked about personal events that could be predicted by numbers of their dates and that she had calculated everything in the Bible and got some big rules out of it. She had gotten seven kids also her job was done. She then asked me what my birthday was. I almost curiously excepted a prediction now but she just murmed something and then ratlled on. The story was difficult to follow but in the end I believe she just wanted Jezus light and peace to come into the world. Another thing she postulated was that the earth is the heart of the Universe. A little centralistic, but really sweet thought, I found. Not only have we become the eye of the Universe, with whom we were looking at its planets tonight, now we were also the heart. Of course, if love is anywhere, then it is on earth :)

Sealife 2009

It's an unbelievable feeling that in a few weeks, I won't live here anymore. The thought of it makes me sad, but I knew from the beginning that I couldn't stay here forever. And I feel now that I've learned about everything what I needed to learn here. Time to leave the eldery house again..

Last Saturday, I even got my "au-pair exam", accidentally as both parents couldn't be with the kids for one whole day. From breakfast till bedtime, Gunnar and Malte would be under my responsability and have to be entertained non-stop. Now I would really experience the joys of a real full-time mother.

Strength arrived already on Thursday, when Anna came into town! She was on her way to Magdeburg and stayed until Friday. Earlier this year I had met her in Hannover, but know she could finally meet my family and see Neustadt. She liked it all and it was very good seeing her again. She even bought the children a "Petterson and Findus" book..

So the next morning, the test started at half past 9. The kids were in a good mood because of a nice lantern walk on friday and my promise of taking them out today. So breakfast and teeth brushing went fight free. Until half past 10, we played a little upstairs and I read them Anna's book. It was the same story as we had seen in a puppet theater recently, the story about how Findus came to Petterson, so the kids liked it a lot. Then it was time. Getting them to put on their jackets and shoes can take quite a while, but in 20 minutes we were ready to go and waiting for the bus. "Busje komt zo, busje komt zo.." I sung the kids, what of course was quickly transformed by Malte in "Arschbus kommt so." Because I was in a good mood too, I told him that, only for today, he was allowed to swear as much as he liked, but NOT at Isabelle. I thought by swearing all day whithout comments he might get tired of it and hopefully grow over this child-puberty phase of Arsch, Scheiße and verdammt noch mal. How a four-year old ever got in this phase is still a mystery to us.

"Busje fahrt zo, busje fahrt zo..." sung Gunnar in the bus. "Treintje komt zo, treintje komt zo.." I continued on the station. And indeed. Around 11h40 we arrived at Hannover Bahnhof. We took the elevator because of the pram. "No not that button, are you stupid?!" said Malte and some people were raising an eyebrow.. Isabelle would wait for us "under the tail" of the horse of Ernst August. I had asked some people if they would join us to Sealife, and I was very happy she would. Unfortunately she texted me that she was late, now I had to entertain the kids for 50 minutes in a train station.. what to do? I decided to go to Virgin, where they had some childres books. That was good, we also could sit there. But after a while, Gunnar suddenly said: "must pee". Nooooooooo! Gunnar is now over his diaper phase. We had taken his "mobile toilet" with us, but there was no way we could use that here, without possibility to empty it. So we had to go to McClean. They had a special toilet for wheelchair and pram owners, but it was occupied, and another woman was waiting for it. So we waited and waited, because normal toilets cost 1 (!) euro. When we were finally finished, it was 12h30 and Isabelle was already waiting for us now. But we managed to find each other. At first the kids were shy, but that would soon end. I bought them a bretzel, we searched for an elevator, took the metro and then we finally arrived in Sealife.

Navigating through small hallways with a pram and two kids on my hand, meanwhile admiring the beautiful fish, sharks and rays, meanwhile making pictures and conversation was somewhat stressing too, but happily Isabelle, the kids and I enjoyed ourselves a lot in the great aquarium zoo. Funny enough one year ago I was in Sealife too, but then in Scheveningen.. :)

Gunnar was fascinated by all fish, especially the sea horses, and Malte couldn't wait to see the sharks. At the end we had a little drink (I shared my Icetea with the kids) and tasted some "pepernoten" that Anna had brought me (whouhou!). Then we went back to the train station. The kids were really comfortable with Isabelle now and in the metro they even started to playfully swear at her.. oh, so terrible!! Happily Isabelle worked in a Kindergarten..

In Hannover, we passed by the "magic well" with the

music, where Gunnar and Malte danced a little at. Then Gunnar discovered some leaves lying around trees. Nature has a magical attraction on children too, it appeared again. I had to tear him away to get him back into the pram, because Malte was now complaining about toilet needs (and I had asked them in Sealife, grrrr). Meanwhile Gunnar was crying like a maniac, because he wanted to walk in the leaves. We also discovered that we had lost his sleeping rabbit... a disaster. But once in the pram he fell asleep almost immediately, so tired was he. So after visiting McClean again, we decided to go home.

Isabelle stayed with us until the train had come. "Where is Isabelle?" asked Malte repeatedly, as he was missing her already. I feeded him some organic gummy bears (I agreed with him that they tasted weird) and read him a book. In Neustadt, we looked for a bus, but of course they didn't go on saturday afternoon. "Dreimal Scheiße", I murmed.. Malte looked up, surprised. "Yes!" I grumbled. Now we had to walk the long road back home. Not a problem for me, but for Malte, without kiddyboard.. To make it even worse, Gunnar had woken up, demanding a toilet. I had no other choice than to put him on the pot and throwing the pee in the bushes. After a while, Malte started to complain of being to tired to walk. Gunnar didn't want to walk either. So I tried to put Malte toghether with Gunnar in the car. Gunnar didn't like that and the pram got really heavy, but somehow we managed to drive. It started to get dark and I distracted them with some Sint Nicolas songs.

When we got home I made a mistake. I lifted Gunnar out of the car, but then the car lost its balance and tumbled behind, with Malte still on it. Crying, crying, crying. But he was ok. Philipp was already home and he took over the kids for me for half an hour so I could prepare dinner. That was so great, he even put on the dutch K3 Cd. The pizza was not a salami pizza so the kids didn't eat much of it, but at least finished their Kartoffelpuffer. Philipp also helped with the teeth brushing and then I read them the last pages of Anna's book. I asked Malte if he had a nice day, and he said yes! He cuddled me and didn't want to let go of my hand, what reminded me of Kirsten when I say her goodnight. But he quickly fell asleep. Gunnar needed some more time, I had to sing many songs and it wasn't until 20h30 that I could leave the room without him noticing it. I cleaned up the kitchen and toke a long shower. Hèhè.. At about 22h30, Rainer came home. I was released! :)

Sankt Martin

By the way, today is a special day too.. it is "Sankt Martin"/"Sint Maarten"/"Saint Martin"! Just like on Halloween's Eve, children are performing trick or treat: they ring the doorbell of people in their street and sing them a song expecting sweets in return. Only with Saint Martin the kids don't wear scary costumes but a lantern instead. In the Netherlands, the tradition is limited to the south but here in Germany it seems that it common to the north as well. And of course Malte and Gunnar wanted to get their candy too! "Silvia goes along in every stupidity, so she will go with you for sure" was their mothers nice remark. So there I went with the two whippersnappers. "To Biecks or not to Biecks?" was the question. We went to them first. The Biecks, who also have a black cat called Moorle, said that we were the first who were singing such a lovely song, the other kids had just sung something stupid. The song went like this:

Herr Joan also rewarded us rebundantly with bonbons and cookies. Five other doors later, the kids' bags were full and their stomachs would be soon. I also had gotten something. I remembered only one Sint Maarten trip in my life, that was when we lived in Terneuzen and we got home with a giantic bag full of sweets. That was "the hammer"! Now fur those Merkel kids it must have been great too, cause the 11th November is a "merkelday", or "destiny day"..

9 months --> 10 months !

Shame, shame, shame.. no writing for all those days! But the last months have really flown over. If two kids, Germany, "Wahlkampf" and learning german wasn't enough, then I still had my thesis to write on.. hence the lack of time to write here, unfortunately.The first thing I didn't get to write about was the fabulous day in September when Malte, Gunnar and I were allowed to visit the fabulous Hannover Zoo. I was really excited, not only because it was my first trip to the Zoo since ages, but also because it was my first big trip alone with both kids. Happily everything went wonderfully well.. The evening was also wonderful: there happened to be a great free concert of SILBERMOND at the Hannover
Messe! And I didn't have to go alone to that either. Gaetan had sadly left the country, but his EVS follow-up Isabelle was very nice as well and a big fan of the great german band! The concert took place for the occasion of the Ideen Expo, I wrote something about that on my regular blog. This special day ended with a bang: beautiful fireworks on (Peter Fox) music!The next events were related to battling climate change and my purposes of being a "german green" this year.. I participated in a global flashmob with Greenpeace in Hannover to wake up world leaders, and in the "Wahlkampf-hochtouren" of the German Young Greens in Wolfsburg to propagate the Greens in the days were Germany needed to choose a new government. It was a bit decieving that our feared "Black-yellow" nightmare came true, but nevertheless a nice result for the Greens was attained.
Other joyfull days include the day I spent with Isabelle in Minden because of a new "Benni and Johanna"-play (Dürremat's "Die Physiker"),

which was again worth the travel, and the "farewelltrip" the family already had to gave me in Oktober because of their full agenda. So the 18th they took me to Celle, a beautiful small old city were we got a guided city tour and visited the Bomanns (the first German Green!) museum. They told me a funny legend, namely that Celle and Göttingen had to have a prison and an university, and that Celle choose the prison, because "we don't want students, they only give trouble".

So they had rather criminals then students! Maybe because of the name - Celle("cells")? :)
One week in Oktober the family also gave me a holiday, when they went on a religious camp on Baltrum with their pastor (Stephan Jakobs). I used a few days of this week to make a short visit to Enschede and move already some stuff back home. Because originally, I was intended to leave on the first of November. But the bureaucratic agencies in Ukraine made it impossible for my follow-up, Gunnars next au-pair girl, to be here in time. So I decided again to stay here again one month longer.. A decision I didn't had to think long about.. :-)

Holidays at Steinhude

I wonder if Gunnar will ever remember me when he grows up, but for now it seems as if he sees me as some kind of family member. This appeared to me when he was summing up the members of another kids family: "Lisa's mum, Lisa's dad, Lisa's Silvie..." :D
Talking about family: my "real one" was here for the holidays! "Here" as in "Steinhude", a place not far from Neustadt at a great lake (small inner sea). A few days before, I got a visit from Willem as well. We met in Bremen, not far from both Neustadt as Enschede, and there we visited the Universum, a great science museum that can best be compared to the NEMO in Amsterdam. Of course we saw also the Bremer City Musicians and the old innercity, which was really nice, and had dinner at a "dutch" pancake ship. "Dutch" between brackets, cause although they called it the "Pannekoekenboot" they didn't even had real pancake sirup! And the pancakes were somewhat lighter, containing more eggs than dutch ones. But "lecker" nevertheless.Although I still had to babysit this week, Willem and I used my free afternoons to visit Tropicana Stadthagen (oh gorgeous swimmingpool), the Neustadt innercity and my mama, omi and sis in their appartment in Steinhude. The Merkels also were so kind to organise a dinner for my family and Willem at their place, and that was awesome. Gunnar enchanted my grandmoter almost immediatly and Malte found in Kirsten his newest play-victim. He tought at first that see was me ("Huh Silvia why are you wearing sunglasses??) and was really sad when she had gone home. His joy was indescribable when she came to visit him another day: astonished, his mouth fell open, he ran at her and gave her a big hug!
I also went to Steinhude with Gunnar one morning, to visit all togheter the cute butterfly farm. Gunnar liked it a lot. Another day we went for a boat trip on the Steinhuder Lake and on Sunday we visited the Herrenhäuser Garten and the Berggarten in Hannover. I also showed them around Neustadt and stayed one night at their place. We all really had fun and great weather. Although I still had to work, it felt like a real holiday for me, too. It was great to see my dear family and Willem again and have them here in my world!

8 months --> 9 months !!

Yep, you see it right. The title of this blog has changed: I will stay here one month longer! The kids are happy with me, I'm happy with the kids and the parents still don't complain :) They even want me to stay longer, as it is hard to find another dutch speaking au-pair. But I'm not sure if that's possible for me, as the future is quite unsure at the moment. Anyways today I'm here for 6 months now and I'm still loving it. The kids are so great and Germany leaves me lots to discover. Unfortunately the language course has ended, which was so interesting (I really like language)! And the weather was so good that I often took my bike to get to Garbsen, to drive a beautiful 2o km hin, discuss the newspaper with the teacher and the other participants, scribble down some grammar rules and cycle wieder zurück. So when I got invited to a Sheakespeare play in Bad-Rehburg (at about the same distance) from Benjamin and Johanna's theatergroup 'Fremdsehen' I took my bike as well.The play was lovely. It was played so vividly and funny, I enjoyed very much this Summernight's dream.. it was already the 3th theaterplay I enjoyed here in german language (after '8 frauen' and 'the death poet society') and again it was such a pleasure for my ears.
The night hower, was endless. I cycled and cycles without getting wieder zurück. Finally I found myself almost in Nienburg! Totally unnoticed I had took the wrong turn somewhere. Being lost at night on an highway is not funny. Happily there was Linsburg, the most unknown smallest town but with the nicest hotel owner. She let me sleep in a room for only 15 euros (all I got with me) if I didn't had breakfast. A room with shower, television and a bed for which I was so greatfull. The next morning, I drove home the easiest way and got there within an hour. An adventourous trip of almost 60 km for Sheakespeare - his play was worth it :)

Meanwhile, the family was on holidays. They went for 2 weeks to the Danish island Romo. I missed them, so I had to listen to other germans during dinner - Otto Waalkes and the Wise Guys, delightful. You must hear them. Then I went to Enschede.

An unexpected visit to my university city, cause I needed to discuss my paper with my thesis teacher. Afterwards I was warmly recieved at "the flat" for dinner and organic gartens and nexus, and I stayed there to enjoy the next day with willem, and took the train back in the evening. Two days later, the family came home and they had a suprise for me: Gunnar could say my name! "Siwwia" sounded at least some more like it, than "Uwha".. suddenly my strange nickname was gone! I don't know how they did it - without anyone speaking dutch there - but somehow he must have remembered me :)

Ein Sommernachtsabentuer..

Here's the circle I cycled to get to Shakespeare (see artikel of August 1st)

Super schönes Gedicht..

Was es ist - Erich Fried

Es ist Unsinn
sagt die Vernunft
Es ist was es ist
sagt die Liebe

Es ist Unglück
sagt die Berechnung
Es ist nichts als Schmerz
sagt die Angst
Es ist was es ist
sagt die Liebe

Es ist lächerlich
sagt der Stolz
Es ist leichtsinnig
sagt die Vorsicht
Es ist unmöglich
sagt die Erfahrung
Es ist was es ist
sagt die Liebe

schon Bergtag..

Ahlala, it has been too long since I last offered the pleasure of reading an update on this blog.. how time flies here ! Now I'm already here for 4 months - halfway - I really ought to give you some news. Where were we?
Ah, yes, the magic.. well, the family did after all manage to "zauber" me away, actually. For they let me have a week of Easter holidays, that I homesickly used to make a very short trip back to my "Heimat". Not exactly in need of, but really nice to see my mother, sister and best friends again. The greatest however was that I also could take some with me back when I had to return: Willem, who I picked up in Enschede, and Herman, who got a few days later all the way from Den Haag! I was so proud to show them Neustadt, Hannover and of course my dear guestfamily, who heartily welcomed my two guests. They took us to a typical german Easter fire and even hided some Easter eggs for us :)
On the end of April, I had to do a short visit to the Netherlands again, for FYEG was having its Spring Conference in Maastricht ! It was inspiring, and so great to meet Young European Greens again. Can't wait for the possible wintercamp in Copenhagen.. But that's not in Germany, so I won't talk about this here. And wat did I do here? Right.. I got sick. Just as the whole family ! Some kind of flu (not swine involved, we're vegetarians!) with heavy stomach aches. And we got it twice ! While back home I couldn't even remember the last time being sick, here I didn't turn out to be so resistent.. But anyway, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, so a few weeks later I already regained the force to cycle to my language course: about 20 km "hin" AND "her" through beautiful country sides.. ah yeah I stay a dutchie after all ;)
Then in may some more exciting events appeared. Like, of course, the Eurovison Songcontest.. oh how I love the winner (from Norway) and the beautiful entry of Portugal ! But coolest of all was the chance that I got to return to Bückeburg for some days, to attend their town twinning festivities and also big reunion with Sabé and Nieuwerkerk!! Another great time of doing European bonding activities, catching up with old friends..
Speaking of Europe, I hope you all voted in this months European Elections ?? Unfortunately I could only promote here, but nevertheless the Greens got some good results :) Die Grünen seem to be more popular as GroenLinks: they got 12 % of the German votes, good for 14 seats in the EP. Including the young greens !
Some other exciting news ? Oh yes.. Gunnar can talk!! Well, up to a few two-words sentences (" ich möchte", "MEHR", "koekje ete"- preferably in that order) that is :) But he's learning more and more everyday. It's amazing how much he already understands. Even dutch =D

eine Zauberfamillie

"Young children look at the world differently than adults do", wrote Crétien van Campen (2009). They "perceive their environment as a magical world where puppets and castles come alive." This fact was amusingly proven by our three year-old, who told his Kindergarten teacher full of proud: "my daddy is a wizard!" Although his father honestly admitted that the magically dissapearing and reappearing of the pencil by every family member, and even the great dissapearing-illusion of their au-pair mädchen, was just a trick we succesfully played on him, he preferred the "most understandable" explanaition: "Look, pappa can do magic!" :)
Reason for this fun was the CD I found this week in their collection: Herman van Veens' childrens songs! Auf Deutsch!! I didn't even know our beloved singer was know here.. from o.a. Alfred J. Kwak ("Warum bin ich so fröhlich, so fröhlich, so fröhlich.."), Dikkertje Dap ("Pummelchen Pum", noujaa..) en "Als hij kon toveren" (If he was a wizard).. Such a nostalgic joy to hear again! Yet another surprise was the discovery of Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf" and Saint-Saëns' "Karnaval der Tiere" on one of their CDs. Another indespensible sound in a childs lifetime! And Gunnar liked it already. Therefore, we build the Peter story:

Another 'Peter-story' did I hear on a CD, with a sort of children's Schlagers: "Osterhäschen Peter, du bist noch zu klein. Nein, nein, NEIN, LASS DAS SEIN!!" How sweet, the German baby songs.. :P
Some of those Gunnar does like however, are the ones I learned at every gathering of freshly produced humanness. "Hoch am himmel, tief am Erde, überal ist Sonnenschein..", "Wir fahren fahren fahren fahren faaaahren, wir fahren in die grosse weite Welt.. " or "Alle leute, alle leute, gehen jetzt nach Hause." And, of course my favorite: "Grün, grün, grün sind alle meine Kleider, grün, grün, grün ist alles was ich hab'.. Warum lieb ich alles was so grün ist? Weil mein Schatz ein Jäger ist!" Obviously, I'd rather put instead of this "Jäger" a "Grüne" (green one) LOL, and preferes Malte to avoid the R like a Chinese and sing "Klün, klün, klün.." :D
However, the song Gunnar adores the most is still a classic Dutch one (of course, hehe). Or maybe he just likes to make fun of people.. But totally unexpectedly he's able to burst out with "Hihihi, hahaha..!" on the melody of "Zag twee beren broodjes smeren". Second place winner is "In de manenschijn" which I absolutely have to sing before he'll fall asleep. "Maantje tuurt, maantje gluurt" and "Hoedje van papier" are also part of his Dutch Top40. And there is a French song I particulary like to sing for him (but happily most times don't need to).. Bénabars Berceuse! ^^ See here a piece of this brilliant Wiegenlied translated:

"Das, was du dich lachend anschaust, dass du für Fallschirme nimmst,
das sind meine Augenlider, mein Kind,
Es ist hart, ein Erwachsener zu sein.
Komm, wir spielen offenes Spiel, wir liegen die Karte auf den Tisch,
wenn du dich einschläft kaufe ich dich ein Handy, eine Ponyherde, ein Dynamit...
ich füge dazu ein Känguru, wenn du dich jetzt gerade einschläfst.
Warum willst du nicht schlafen warum schläfst du nicht?!
Ich möchte dir gern ein Schlafmittel geben,
aber wir haben kein mehr,
frag mal dein Mutter.. "

Bloopers & bizarre

Two international evenings in the week are not the only moments I learn more about the blue-white German language.. at home, I have to speak it all the time and happily they correct me when I say something not entirely correct or simply impossible. And so I learned, for example, that:
* something is not "peinlich" (painfull) when it hurts
* something is not "dreckig" (dirty) when it tastes bad
* someone is not "gehe etwas machen" when one is going to do something (he simply will: one "macht etwas"!)
* someone is not going to "lecker schlafen" / be "lecker warm" / have a "lecker Wochenende" (like the Dutch say - the Germans only use "lecker" for food !)
Anyways, the starter errors, that lead to a lot of giggles from the Merkels ("let's make a book, The Mistakes of Silvia")..

Then you also have words, that for a Dutchie are easy to confuse. Some more prove that German and Dutch is more different than you think:
* "knapp" is not "knap" (clever/handsome), it means near/narrow,
* "schlimm" is not "slim" (smart), it means worrying/grave,
* "mogen" is not "mogen" (be allowed to) but means to like,
* "durfen" is not "durfen" (have the courage to) but means be allowed to in German..

Something that made me laugh however, was that Malte bothered in Kindergarten every parent with "how to count in Dutch", that in Germany warning signs don't softly say "verboten" but "VERBOTEN!", that the newspaper Frankfurter Algemeine Zeitung reports about all the historic documents being lost after the collapse of Köln's city artchive, while Bild only worries about the possible death of 9 persons due to the "earth trembling" crash which it compares with 11 September, and that Gunnar has the same toy box (but -as a German- more "grundlichkeit"!) than this clever guy:

Feeling international..

The past days were not only German.
Last week, Gaëtan had his mother and brother over in Hannover, and invited me to join them on wednesday for a visit to Johanna in Hildesheim! Great to see her again, and her city (which has a beautiful old innerpart), the city with the 1000-year old rose-tree.. But secretly also nice to hear people talk french again (or agreeing with me that nearly all men are blöd! :P). And what does a french family do in a German city? Buying croissants and going to parfume shops, of course.. lol!!
To my happy surprise, I appeared to be invited again on friday, to enjoy some french haute cuisine.. with Johanna and Benjamin as well ! The tartiflette Gaëtans maman made was delicious and we played nice old Jungle Speed afterwards, which I lost shamelessly (as usual) but was big fun (as usual, too :).
One can find this story 'international' already, with 3 french, 2 germans and 1 dutchie, but the next day, I also met an american (Ashley) and an australian (Amy)! Two enthusiastic, cheerfull girls who also happen to be an au-pair in the district of Hannover. Girltalk, hot chocolate (at 'World Coffee'!) and a little book shopping: just what I needed :)
But that's not all.. yesterday night, I also met some really nice people from Indonesia, India, Kenia, Poland, Tjech Republic, Russia and Shri Lanka! It was at my first Deutsch Sprachkurs lesson. It was a hard reality shock: they immediately recognised my dutch accent, and my grammer appeared to be in such a deplorable state! Fortunately there was tea, and a delicous, really delicious Chinese cake.. when at home, a typical german dish awaited me: sauerkraut !
But the greatest thing to be here stays, that after a busy day of bringing Malte to Kindergarten and walk back, returning to Kiga because we forgot his bread, going with Gunnar to the bakery, changing his two poop diapers, building zoo's, "telling" books, putting little cards endlessly out and into boxes, etc. Malte comes home and tells his parents: "Today was really nice. Silvia ist so lieb, sie musst für immer bei uns bleiben..!" :D

Uhwawa

The second week was a little less easy..
We discovered a problem, when Gunnar discovered his father would be letting him alone every morning. And he protested fiercely against it.. Then, the tooth brussing turned out to be a mission impossible. Impossible to talking him into opening his mouth, except for when he started to cry.
Third problem: I'm suppossed to take him out every morning for half an hour at least, but when I put him in the pram, he falls asleep. And then he won't fall asleep at twelve. Last friday, I read him 3 books and sung about 25 songs, but his eyes stayed wide open.
But, this morning, we got some solutions: I have to rise earlier (jeej!) so he can get used to me sooner, and when we go out, I should talk to him all the time. The last thing not really effective so far, but working on it :) The toothbrushing however stays a dramatic event.
The afternoons were also a little more heavy. To see where everything was, I went with them to Maltes turnclass (and joined the childrens gymnastisc, hihi), Gunnar's "spielkreis" in the church, the Kindergarten again to practise riding with the kids on my bike, and the far-away libary (they gave me a pass!) where I read thim this fantastic book about an elephant who turns into all kinds of 'contradictions' (ever seen a mountain-shaped elephant? hihi), incredibly funny. I also did some extra babysitting, just for a help.
But it's starting to produce results, I guess the kids still like me (Malte: "you're wearing a funny fur today, Silvia!"), Gunnar even cried my name when he woke up this morning! Well, my name, that is, what he makes of it: "Uhwawa!" :D
The second weekend was also heavier, because of Valentines day (of course..). The nice cold snowwalk however and the lovely family (who also offered me to go with them to the swimmingpool, but I was too tired) warmth, made it fine after all. I'm so happy to be here, I feel so 'adopted'! :)

Malte is back !

To continue my last article.. the german weekend was sehr gut! Sunday, we had a very nice "family trip" to the interesting Landesmuseum in Hannover, which has exhibitions about nature, physics, archeology, art and so on. Because we had only 2 hours we couldn't see all of it, but I stayed with the kids to watch the fish, the animals.. and a giant dinosaurus which Malte had to show everyone :)
The theaterplay "Acht Frauen" I went to see, was brilliant. Very nice play, exciting just like the movie (but unfortunately without the songs!!) and I surprised myself about how well I could follow the german conversations..!
This week, Malte went back to Kindergarten, better and cheerfuller again. Before beginning at dinner, the family takes each others hand, says "Guten Apentit" and sometimes sings a short (religious) song as well. So sweet! Yesterday, they asked Malte which song he would like to sing, and he answered "that of the sun, because Silvia is here.." :) His mother remarked "but Silvia is now always here" and then he smiled surprised, as if he still couldn't believe it.. hihi! And after dinner he wanted to sit on my lap (for Gunnar had already taken his mothers') and said that he would use it as a "nest", for he wanted to cuddle a bit.. so cute.
But, he didn't loose his temper and his wits as well.. today I was in the kitchen when Malte walked in, and promptly remarked: "hey, you look like Grandma!" Eh, pardon?? I just hope it was because I was wearing a brown vest..
This morning, I had it quite quiet, because I only had to take car of Gunnar. But we went out for a walk (well, walk, more like mouse-stepping 5 meters in the wet snow and stalking the neihgbours' cat..) and I (tried to) play some childrens' songs on my flute. And on the kazoo! Haha. Except for the teeth brushing (which is used to be a drama), everything went well and so I passed the Gunnar-sit-test :)
This afternoon, Friederike had to go to the dentist, and so I had to entertain the two kids again for a few hours (she gave me an earlier break in the morning for it). An opportunaty which Malte of course fully used! For example to help him play his famous "Schwimmbad": his blue matress on the floor, little chairs next to it, and voilà, there you go! As I remember how fun it was as a child to jump on a matress (VLEDTOEGO!! :D ), I heartly supported this game, that he also played on the first day that I met the family in December..

Le bilan after one week au-pairing..

Today I'm enjoying my first weekend in Neustadt. One 'work-week' has passed and I'm still feeling good, although the last two days were somewhat more heavy than the first. Thursday morning, I would have to bring Malte to the Kindergarten, but when we rose he appeared to be still to feverish. And he had contaminated Philipp.. so we hope the whole family doesn't get the fever now (fortunately I rarely get sick, but I still catched a cold already). And we all hope that Malte can return to the Kindergarten soon, because he is driving us crazy! When I play too long with Gunnar in the mornings, he gets 'jealous' of attention and tries to sabotise our games... also, he won't eat much at dinner and instead cries or plays with his food all the time. Sehr anstrengend!
Gunnar however is a magnificent baby. Most of the time he is pretty quiet and I had no trouble yesterday, when Friederike came home later, putting him to bed for his afternoon-nap. But he was already tired, at half past 12 he almost fell asleep on the ground! As instructed, I changed his diaper (party time: he had "geschittert"..), read him a little book and sung him some songs in Dutch, until his eyes slowly closed and he started to snor. So easy, I couldn't believe it! Then, the not so easy part.. keeping Malte quiet, which he tended to use as a bribing method: "Let me do that, or I will make noise!" But happily he didn't say that often and did really his best to lower his voice when I asked him too.
This morning, Malte came to wake me around half past 9, for his mother had made us some porridge for breakfast. On saturday, they also like to eat warm at lunch, and for a change, they let me choose and cook the dinner. Not knowing so many dutch dishes (apart from 'stamppot' and 'boerenkool') I decided to make my favorite mexican meal: nachos with chees, red unions, tomatoes, paprika and crème fraîche. They found it a little strange (tortilla chips for dinner?) but liked it, or so they said :)
Now that I'm writing this, they're giving me a suprise as well: Rainer bought me some small speakers for my laptop music!! From Logitech, but they work very well. I'm so spoiled here! Talking about spoiled.. I still get some birthday cards and letters here, thank you so much :D Philipp is also happy with that, for he collects "Briefmarken".. so please keep sending me that stuff, with nice dutch stamps :P
So, what else does one do on the weekend in Neustadt? I still have to find out, but I heard some rumours that tomorrow, we might go to a museum in Hannover.. and for tonight, I also found something interesting: a theater play of "8 Femmes", a french murder-musical-comedy that I know by heart, so if I won't understand all the german talk, it won't matter! And maybe Gaëtan, who -of course- likes this movie too, will join me, so then we'll have already some french colonisation as well..
Juhu weekend in Deutschland, ich freue mich! :)

Eins, zwei, drei..

Today is already my third day as an au-pair in Niedersaksen, and I still like it :)
The first night, I slept very good but had a strange nightmare: I dreamt I went to buy some things, and in the Yves Rocher was a man who offered me a short workshop. But that turned out to be a means to secretly hypnotise the customers and to use them for experiments! Fortunately I got away in time because I discovered he was stealing my money as well. But then I got home much too late and the Merkels were very dissapointend..
Happily, that didn't happen for real :) But we did have some bad luck: Malte (the 3-year old) was having the fever, and so Friederike couldn't go to her doctors appointment with Gunnar (the one year old). So she used this morning at home to learn me how to take care of Gunnar. Changing diapers, preparing his siësta.. She said I could read him stories and sing songs in Dutch, for she wanted me to learn him my language. How cool is that! In the afternoon, she took us out for a walk in Neustadt, to show me were Maltes Kindergarten and their church was. She had a big backpack where Gunnar could sit in, and big Malte was lying in the pram because if his illness, so that was a pretty funny sight. The houses in the streets of Neustadt are beautiful, big, new, and very colourful. There are also a lot of gardens, which makes the city nicely green. It was still very cold (brrr).
The next day, they told me to be ready at 7h45, but when I got there for breakfast, Rainer told me that poor Malte was still ill. But the good thing was, that Friederike could use this morning to go for a little shopping with us in the town's centre. We went there again with the pram, the backpack and the kids. Bringing your kids is very appreciated in Germany; they got a present from the salesmen in almost every shop we went! In a T-mobile shop, I got a 'gift' too: a Sim-card of 10 euro for only 0,99 euro! It was a sort of a promotion.. In one of the many bakeries there, we bought a little snack - mmm, my first bretzel :D Friederike also bought me some stamps and changed my internet cable - 10m turned out to be too short, and now with my 20m, I'm almost able to walk with my laptop throught the whole house and still have internet :)
Back at home we had lunch (also german bread) and I had nearly finished it, or Malte took my hand, pulled me to the stairs, and cried excitedly: "SPIELEN!!" Impossible to escape.. but of course I glady played with him for a while. Which was very funny and very good for my german; he talked to me non-stop and asked repeatedly: "verstehtst du das?" It took me some time however to understand some things he said, cause he had much trouble saying the "R" and sounds like "malgelitte" were not easy to link to a flower directly. In revanche, his mother told me to learn him some dutch words, and to count to 10 in Dutch: something the whole familiy finally managed to do, with only some difficulties pronouncing "negen" (9). They still can't believe how we dutch pronounce the "G" so sharply :)
In the evenings, the family cooked as always a very good vega dinner or "Abendbrot". They told me not to do anything for it, but I proposed to help them sometimes, as I'd like to learn the German cooking art.. Today, they made a typical sweet "abendessen": milchreis, een soort rijstepap wat men eet met kaneel en appelmoes. Lecker! The only thing I pity, is that the family doesn't do desserts often, and I'm suddenly missing the dutch "vla" :) But as a compensation, they make my ideal breakfast: muesli with cruesli, fresh fruit, banana chips and milk, the whole without raisins. Mmm!
Today, I woke up with radio FFN on my alarm clock. It's not Aero Jazz, but still made me cheerful :) This morning, I would be left alone with Gunnar and Malte (who was quiet better, but able to contaminate the other kids) until 11 o'clock. Friederike thought it might be to "anstrengend" for me if I would have to take care of both kids already for a long while, so she came home earlier. But I didn't had such a hard time, the boys played cheerfully and Malte had a lot of fun learning to take pictures with my camera. So in the afternoon, I still had energy to take Malte with me for a walk to the "Neukauf" to buy some lotion and.. Kiri !! The other cheese from the factory in France that I like so much :) Unbelievable that we can find things from Sablé-sur-Sarthe in my "German" Sablé"..
P.S. pictures are on my Facebook profile!

Jetzt geht los!!

Da bin ich dann, in Deutschland.. und es geht mir gut! :)
So, my birthday started on last saturday night, officially also, because I was born on 0:02 h. We played some games (on the table and the Wii) and listened to Virgin radio, with which Fritz still managed to get some french colonisation ;)
The next day, I opened Janes present (so sweet) and went with Gaëtan to Enschede City, to show him the Oude Markt at least. Then at 4 o'clock, Willem walked (and biked) with my heavy suitcase and us to Enschede Drienerloo, where Gaëtan and I took to train to Hengelo. There, at 16h58, left our train to Hannover.. For the whole time, we were more or less speaking in French, English and German, but when we would be passed the border (around Bad-bentheim) we agreed to speak only Deutsch for now on - at best with a french accent :) Arrived in Hannover Bahnhof, the elevator appeared to be broken.. but a nice German offered us some help on the stairs with my bike! (although Fritz already managed it). Around 20h, we got on the train to Neustadt am Rübenberge, were we arrived a small half hour later. Happily, there Rainer was with the car, so we didn't have to walk all the way with our heavy stuff. But when I got my feet on Neustadt ground, there was a small layer of snow, and it looked so nice, snow on my birthday! Inside the Merkel home, Friederike, Philipp and a lovely vegetarian dinner awaited us. There was even some French cheese of Sablé (Babybel) ! And a birtday ice-cream! I also got as a present, a tourist book of Hanover, a huge Ritter chocolat and a very sweet card. It was a strange birthday, but I still felt spoiled :) We also drunk some tea afterwards and when Gaëtan left, it was already past twelve. Very tired but also very happy, I fell asleep in a warm big bed in a beautiful room..

Ich fahre ab!

Juhu, morgen ist es so weit! Dann fahre ich nach meine neue Familie! Ich freue mich schön sehr viel..
This Tuesday evening, I already drove to Enschede with Willem, who helped me enormeosly with my enormeous lugage in the train :) There, at our flat at the University Campus, we celebrated his birthday, played some typical boardgame-geek games (Colonists, Aquire, etc.), watched some awesome BBC Connections episodes, cooked (well, I was the chopping Turc), eat, slept, etc. etc. the normal things which we like to do there. And I tested the new skating rank (groovy!), unfortunately all alone because the Climate Hero had probably more important stuff to do :) Willem also managed to fix my broken suitcase wheels (mission impossible, but not for Willem..) who did not entirely survive the trip to my halfway destination.
For the second part of the journey, my assistance will be our famous frenchman: Gaëtan a.k. Fritz, who will come all the way from Hannover this afternoon to be at my mini-birthday-party tonight and to be my helping hand tomorrow, when we'll take the train to Neustadt am Rübenberge..
Also, das Abenteuer kann beginnen..!

Life changing times..

"Et j'ai peur, de laisser derrière moi
Tout ce qui compte à mes yeux
Oui j'ai peur que d'avoir le choix
me fasse hésiter un peu.."

("And I'm scared, to let behind
everything that matters to me
Yes I'm scared, that having a choice
will make me doubt a little..")

I don't remember who wrote this French song, but it's so beautiful and so true. Only a few weeks now before I leave the Netherlands. Wilnis, Enschede, Alphen & Utrecht: I will miss you so, it somethings worries me if I'm making the right choice.. But don't worry, I had this feeling as well before leaving to France, and that turned out to be the best year of my life. And sometimes in life, you just have to take risks.. (living on the edge! ;)) . So I know that I just have to do this, and I'll probably be fine. Enfin, "Mon paradis, c'est ici, que je veux qu'il soit..!!" So after all, I'm still very looking forward to my big German adventure (yeeey!), and I promise to write lots of stuff on this blog that will hopefully thrill and delight you all.

Si, ça existe, l'amour en Allemagne ! ^^ Love in Hanover ♥

Germans are absolutely not romantic, is the prejudice (and my impression so far..). But then I happened to read this:

It is a dream that has been shared by lovers across the centuries – the chance to elope to exotic lands. But few would have been as bold and spontaneous as six-year-old Mika and his five-year-old sweetheart Anna-Bell who, after mulling over their options in secret, packed their suitcases on New Year's Eve and set off from the German city of Hanover to tie the knot under the heat of the African sun.
(...) Donning sunglasses, swimming armbands and dragging a pink blow-up lilo and suitcases on wheels packed with summer clothes, cuddly toys and a few provisions, they walked a kilometre up the road, boarded a tram to Hanover train station and got as far as the express train that would take them to the airport before a suspicious station guard alerted police. "What struck us was that the little ones were completely on their own and that they had lots of swimming gear with them," said Holger Jureczko, a police spokesman. He described Mika and Anna-Bell as "sweethearts" who had "decided to get married in Africa where it is warm, taking with them as a witness Mika's sister". Anna-Bell told the German television station RTL: "We wanted to get married and so we just thought: 'Let's go there.' " Mika said: "We wanted to take the train to the airport, then we wanted to get on a plane and when we arrived we wanted to unpack the summer things and then we wanted to go for a bit of a stroll in the sun." (...) Asked why they failed to let their parents know, the children said they thought they would not be gone for long. (...) To allay their disappointment at being caught, Hanover police gave them a tour of the police headquarters. Jureczko said: "They'll have the chance to put their plan into action at a later date".

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/05/german-children-elope-mika-annabel

Neuer Morgen, neues Leben

Happy 2009 liebe Freunde !!
I'm not in Germany yet but it already feels like my new life has just begun. A brand new M()rgen (hihi). It's a new day, a new morning has broken. A fresh year lies ahead of us, it's up to us to make it *sparkling*.. like the brilliant IKEA-slogan says: Design your own life. Juhu! I even feel like singing this horrible song ("Als de morgen is gekomen..") in German, of course:



Ok, I admit, this was terrible, but I just thought, if Jantje Smit can learn German, then so must I be able, right? ^^