Aufwiedersehen Deutschland - Bis Bald!

With mixed feelings we bade a melancholic farewell to our wonderful life in Essen on the 10th January 2011. We feel positively uprooted from our rich and happy existence there. We can only hope that the memories of our Essen 2010 Abenteuer remain as vivid as our lovely purple home on Hans Luther Allee.

We have so many people to thank for helping to make our sojourn memorable:

- Hubi's old uni friends inundated us with welcoming gifts and useful things for daily life (Andrea, Rupi, Kristina, Jani, Tilli Rings , Susanne, Markus, Sophie Berrisch-Rahmel, Bernd, Kirstin und Tobias Woelbert, Bernd-Willi, Theresa, Elsa, Darius, Silvin Zanke)

- our amazing relatives who literally bent over backwards to collect us from airports, cloth us warmly, bake for us and endure many sleep-overs with 2 excitable little cousins (Jersmanns, Aschofs and Beissels)

- the supportive Maria, Thomas und Jonas Wessendorf who sadly could not come to live at Ormond Grove, so stayed home and helped steer our way through life in Essen

- Hubi's lab team-mates who laughed at all his jokes and LOVED pavlova

- our immediate neighbours, Alexandra, Peter, Max und Katinka Aranowski, who spoilt us rotten despite the thunderous noises we generated above their ceiling

- our Aussie mates, the Doleys, who also experienced 6 wonderful months exploring das Vaterland

- our Italian friends Cristina, Salah and Miriam, who jumped on a train to travel 300km to Toskana with 3 days notice to be with us

- the Hermann/Lamprechts who cooked amazing food, fixed Stephanie's ears and invited us to BVB09 football games

- the delightful and supportive new friends at the Volkshochschule (Hilmi, Lilia, Magda, Beate, Ivona etc etc)

- Samantha's very patient German teacher, Heike

- The Ahaeusers of Bad Vilbel, who we stayed with when casting our vote in the Australian Federal Election, and who were with us in Essen when Sebastian Vettel became world champion

- the lovely new families we met through the Badelebenschule (parents of Anna, Milena, Maria, Lena, Catharina, Silvia and Sara)

- the very patient teachers Frau Gersmeier and Frau Ritter who taught both girls to speak fantastic Deutsch

- the incredible Kleine Malschule run by Wanda, which helped both girls generate artistic masterpieces

- a handful of lovely friends who visited (Fraser, Linda, Marie, Mick, Petra, Rina, Clement and Alex); and

- our stoic friend Isabelle, who capped off Samantha's 'German-Experience' with a Gutschein to Claudia Thermal where nakedness was mandatory!

DANKE! Es war echt wunderbar!

p.s. the last few photos show our acclimatization process via Singapore and a hands-on visit to the zoo.

Xmas at Kronplatz in Sued Tirol

In the days leading up to our journey south, Essen was increasingly blanketed in snow. With each day forecast to have even more snow than the previous, our plans to drive 860km to Sued Tirol on the 24th December, started looking as bleak as the views from our bedroom windows. Despite grave fears of being stranded at some isolated Autobahn petrol station, with nothing but automatic cleaning loos for entertainment - we set off. The first hour of our journey was spent sliding in the one usable lane at 30km/hr with the other crazy drivers on the Autobahn. At that speed I calculated we'd be at our destination around 2am!

Eventually our average speed grew steadily to almost 100km/hr, as the further south we got, the less snow we encountered. Very odd. And by the time we hit Austria then Italy, the trees were green and the roads completely clear from snow. Oh no! Had we driven almost 10 hours to ski fields devoid of snow?

We arrived in Kronplatz at 10:45pm, after 13 hours behind the wheel. It was almost as bad as flying to Australia, except one's ankles don't seem to swell up as much. Our lovely hosts had placed a Christmas tree in our apartment, and had even decorated it.

The following day we hired our skies and hit the slopes. The concentration of snow canons dotted up the piste reminded us of Australia, but the snow was good.

Mia and Steph spent Day 1 telling Hubertus he was the worst teacher ever to have lived. So we booked the girls into the local ski school where tuition was a mixture of Italian and German. Despite this they soon learnt to master the snow plough. The teachers had a cute habit of calling parallel skiing "pommes" and the snow-plough "pizza". By Day 6 both girls participated in the mandatory slalom downhill race in their groups. Mia scored a bronze medal and Steph a silver. Steph was over-joyed and Mia said it was the worst day in her life!!!

Kronplatz is a very pretty place. Early in the week, the weather started off at minus 15C then rapidly warmed up to a pleasant minus 3C, during which we enjoyed most of the week under beautiful blue skies. The mountain is literally littered with scrumptious restaurants you can ski to, then sunbath outdoors whilst enjoying a beer or Italian aperitif with a yummy pasta.

A lovely week of snow, sunshine, Christmas presents, gluehwein, slalom medals, cousins and aching legs in Sued Tirol was a fantastic way to spend one's last days in Europe. We completed the visit with a New Year's Eve family tradition - Doris and Kristine baked home-made Berliner buns - I think I ate FIVE!!!

Mia is SEVEN.....?

Party party party - December has been filled with good-bye parties, Christmas parties and birthday parties - it's never ending!

We're currently all recovering from hosting Mia's party at home. 10 delightful little girls bounced around our apartment for 3 hours. Fortunately it was pure pleasure, which was just as well as we had to cancel Legoland at the last minute due to 6 cancellations the night before! Everyone still intending to risk driving there on treacherous roads were very disappointed.

In the morning Mia took a Pferdegeburtstagkuchen into school with SEVEN candles. She is the youngest in her class and all her friends are either seven or about to be - so she decided she would be too. ... ;)

Borussia Dortmund

Who are Borussia Dortmund?

They are none other than the Herbst Meisters (half season champions 2010)! And their fans are fanatics. I could compare them to Glasgow Ranger fans or maybe even Port Power fans! ie wild, intoxicated, inflammable, obsessive and steadfastly loyal. And you guessed it.... Hubertus is Fan Nummer Eins (1)! The stadium holds 82,000 maniacs and when in full swing are so loud you need earplugs. The most obsessive choose to sit in what is called Die gelbe Wand (the yellow wall). This section of the crowd has two 'conductors' one to orchestrate the singing and the other to watch the game, therefore ensuring the correct song is sung at the correct moment.

BUT I got a special invite into their locker room! ;0

Let it snow.....

Aufwiedersehen

6 months is a strange amount of time in one country. It's:

- just enough time to make new friends before saying good bye :(

- just enough time for the girls to learn how to speak, read and write a new language

- just enough time to meet all your old friends once to say 'Hi', then once again to say 'Good-bye'

- just enough time to visit a few neighbouring countries

- just enough time to finish a research project; and

- just enough time before the lady in the local bakery trusts you enough to tell you gossip about the neighbours

Here are some snaps of my favourite 'new' friends at the Volkshochschule. I wonder if I will ever see them again....

NINETY and still going strong!

On Sunday we celebrated the 90th birthday of Hubertus' father Paul. He is an old battle axe; prepared to debate anyone on any topic at any time (the old lawyer in him); can quote a 3 page poem by Goethe at will; still loves to dance; only recently gave up swimming several kilometers every week; can eat a weeks calories in one sitting and looks way younger than the Dalai Lama (who is only 76 yo!).

We celebrated at a local restaurant with all living family members (apart from his younger sister who is confined to a hospital bed). Steph and Mia sang 3 German songs and 1 in English. Sofia and Kathi dance to the tune of "It's a Fairytale" and his favourite comedian (Heinz Ehrhardt) was impersonated beautifully by a "surprise guest". It was a very enjoyable and pleasant day. However, I think the high-point was the wild cellar party that followed - Mia entertaining everyone with her outrageous dancing - something Paul himself was infamous for in his youth!!