Illusion

Sonntag, 26.11.06

It has almost been a week since I broke my bike lock. But that hasn’t stopped me from cycling as I haven’t gotten round to getting a new one yet. This is mainly because I’ve continued to wrap the broken lock around the bike with its neighbouring post which so far has worked since my bike still remains. However, I have suffered a few cuts from the sharp metal ends from where it has been cut so I will be getting a new lock soon! That is unlike Anita’s case as she didn’t lock her bike at all, and inevitably it got stolen although she doesn’t mind given that the seat was broken anyway so whoever has it now won’t be having a comfortable ride!

Unfortunately, I have to admit that in the past few days, I have been ein bisschen homesick. I have had a dip in motivation in working especially there are no deadlines just yet. I have otherwise spent most of my time in college, either in the Gute Stube [café] or on the internet in the computer room and then watching episodes of ER, Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock when back at halls. No wonder people say November is the most depressing month of the year. However, December is almost here so things should be brightening up; should make a visit to the Christmas markets which have recently started and counting down the 20 days til the gang comes over.

Bad bike day

Dienstag, 21.11.06

Since I last wrote, things have been quite ‘normal’; regular days at college during the week, going out for Kölsch at the weekend, although that is not necessarily restricted to those 2 days, sandwiched between working on projects and going for ‘Kuchen und Kaffee’ [cake and coffee] on a Sunday afternoon.

I had left my bike overnight at college since it was raining heavily after having dinner at a local Brauhaus [Brewery House]. As I returned to it today to go home and get ready for badminton, I was greeted with several souvenirs from birds. That didn’t particularly bother me, but I was already in a hurry to get back so I could squeeze in a trip to the supermarket to contribute to the joint dinner later. When I went to unlock my bike shortly after to go to badminton, I exerted too much force in turning it so it deformed, then eventually breaking, leaving half the key still in the lock and rendering my spare key useless.

Luckily, after a few attempts myself to save the lock, I bumped into Frank who was able to eventually cut it. I made it to badminton on time but unfortunately, there were already too many people. So I rode back home, am now writing this before meeting Eeva and Joanne again for that dinner.

Karneval season begins

Sonntag, 12.11.06

Yesterday, on the 11^th November at 11:11am was the celebration to the start of Karneval Season, the 5th season of the year. I struggled to wake up in time to make it to the Old Town to witness the beginning of the season. It was quite funny to see all these people dressed up in a variety of costumes waiting at the bus stop! As I walked towards the Old Town, I saw a parade of drummers as well as a brass band playing some traditional German songs with the passing crowd singing and dancing. I just don’t understand how people could start drinking at this time! After fighting my way out of the crowd, I headed back home to do some food shopping and work before I participate in the drinking. I don’t think I would have coped drinking the whole day.

I joined Eeva and Holly to cook dinner at Joanne’s before we ‘dressed up’ in random outfits we had; I was wearing a scrubs top with a witches hat whilst Joanne had the trousers with an afro wig and hat. Eeva and Holly shared a Santa outfit with a punk like wig. Out on the streets, people were just singing, dancing and of course drinking. There was so much broken glass around although there were people pushing trolleys filled with empty bottles to earn the 8 cents a bottle. Apparently it is a tradition to throw your bottle at the ground once you’ve finished but it was pretty dangerous and it was almost like walking on a carpet of broken glass. We soon joined the others at a bar and had a good laugh trying on all the different wigs and hats. It continued to another bar/club and then another before I decided to call it a night. I will need to improve my stamina if I am to survive the festivities for the end of Karneval at the end of February. It will be 4/5 days of constant celebrations just like yesterday.

New discoveries

Freitag, 10.11.06

The past few days have been a bit different from usual. After a short spurt of badminton on Tuesday evening, I joined Joanne and Jen to go to a concert at the Dom. It was quite something. We arrived just as it started at 8pm and there were lots of people; all the pews were full and many more were standing at the back. It began with some solo organ performances before the adult and children choirs with a big ensemble finale accompanied with a string orchestra. The intensity of the music was heightened by the vast interior space of the Cathedral which echoed in the still crowd. With everyone so quiet and still throughout the concert, it gave me a chance to admire the Dom without the usual business of tourists and cameras during the day. When the performance came to an end, an hour and half later, the audience literally went wild and some were very generous with their donations on the way out. I was really glad I went, definitely worth missing some badminton for.

After class on Thursday, I went downstairs to the Gute Stube [Good Room?] which is the college café run by the students. At last, the building works have almost finished and a hot spot to surf the net whilst enjoying a coffee. A more social spot than sitting in the computer room, although easily distracted to play fussball or to have some free soup and snacks. Where does the college get the 15€ a day budget for the café to spend on the students? And I think its pretty cool that students are also in the process of making the furniture, designed by a Professor, to go in this new café.

Later that evening, a group of us from halls went to Salsa class at the university nearby. It was my first time going to a dance class and had fun trying to learn the moves and steps.

Today, a group of us Internationals went to Bonn to see the Guggenheim Collection. It was really good as there was everything from architecture to painting to installation to sculpture. The museum was fairly busy with several tours running simultaneously. It was funny to see the tour leader speaking in to a microphone with the participants each with a radio receiver and earpiece although they are not more than a few meters apart. Such a shame I wasn’t allowed a camera into the gallery, there were so many great photo opportunities and not necessarily of the works!

Lazy Allerheiligen

Mittwoch, 01.11.06

It has been a rather lazy day for the middle of the week. Today is Allerheiligen [All Saints Day] which is a national holiday since the Catholic Church is most dominant in Germany. Woke up just before noon after getting home around 5am from the party. It would have been earlier if it wasn’t the heavy rain which kept me indoors. The party was good fun, plenty of laughs and drinks. Shame that not everyone dressed up though!

Spent the day washing 3 loads of clothes which meant countless visits back and forth to the laundry room in an attempt to try and wash the loads consecutively although that wasn’t successful. There were too many people wanting to wash clothes in the one and only machine in the building!

I was also trying to set my computer up to get connected to the internet again but with no luck. Can’t seem to get an IP address from the DHCP server; whatever that means! So that means, sitting on google tomorrow at college to try and find an answer.

As a slight compensation, I watched the first 3 episodes of Lost season 3. I was only meaning to watch one episode but of course couldn’t resist as it was sitting there on my computer. :)