Weddings, rain, and crocuses...

I am attending a wedding today.

And it is raining in a melancholy way.

The guests are all happy, and smiling, and the bride radiant... (she is Australian and carries sunshine in her soul) ... the groom dashing and charming (he is German but was raised in France). The official ceremony took place this morning, and the reception will be this evening.

It is amazing how many Australians end up in Germany because of love.

A few end up here for work. I've heard that a few actually visit for Oktoberfest and in their hangover - actually forget to go home (although they are few and far between and mostly stay down south in Bavaria). But, for most, it is love the brings them here.

I've not actually heard of any that voluntarily choose to end up here. Germany is not like France or Italy. It's a nice place to visit but very few Antipodeans harbor long held dreams of permanently residing here.

And the german language is not pleasurable to learn like french or italian. Very few people voluntarily take evening classes or long european holidays to learn Deutsch. And while I've developed an appreciation of its merits - the german cuisine does not inspire many award winning restaurants or culinary accolades.

The rain is making me melancholy.

And, more than this, for the last few months I've been homesick in a way that is close to paralyzing. There is a black dog that has been residing inside me and he's eaten my sense of humour, my hopefulness, my motivation, my ability to appreciate all that I do have, and my german grammatical homework.

But tonight I will muzzle him, put him on a leash, and dance and rejoice in someone else's cross-cultural love and try to ignore how it will inevitably demand a life-time of being on conflicting timezones with family and loved-ones, missing significant birthdays (and birth days), no popping in for casual week-end barbies, and lots of expensive international travel.

woof. woof. woof.

My life according to Ella Fitzgerald...

Yet another random time waster that came to me awhile ago... the rules are:

Using only song names from ONE ARTIST, answer these questions. Pass it on to 15 people you like and include me (not to be too presumptuous...) You can't use the band I used. Try not to repeat a song title. It's a lot harder than you think! Repost as "my life according to (band name)"

Pick your Artist:
Ella Fitzgerald

Are you a male or female:
Hallelujah!

Describe yourself:
Things Aint What They Used to Be (And You Better Believe It)

How do you feel:
The Best is Yet to Come

Describe where you currently live:
Duke's Place

If you could go anywhere, where would you go?
Summertime


Your favourite form of transportation:
Trav'ling Light

Your best friend is:
Just a simple Melody

You and your best friends are:
Like Someone to Love

What's the weather like:
The Sun Forgot to Shine This Morning

Favourite time of day:
Five O'Clock

If your life was a TV show, what would it be called:
I found my Yellow Basket

What is life to you:
It´s Wonderful

Your relationship:
I Got a Guy

Your fear:
My heart belongs to Daddy

What is the best advice you have to give:
T'aint What You Do (it's the way that cha do it)

Thought for the Day:
Bei Mir Bist Du Schon

How I would like to die:
My Last Affair

My soul's present condition:
I got it Bad (And that Aint Good)

What would you like to eat right now:
The Muffin Man

My motto:
A-Tisket A-Tasket

Back to school!

Last week, in an attempt to reduce the emerging (and ever growing) chasm between my and the Caspi-Man's ability in the spoken german language, and to overcome my pidgin tendencies, I returned to language school.

For the next two months, for four hours every morning, I will be (once more!) struggling with the nuances and mysteries of German grammar. Well, actually, I do that pretty much everyday, but now I'm doing it, for the first time in 2 years, in a controlled and monitored setting. With tests. Ugh. (Like I wasn't feeling bleak and blah enough as it was!) German grammar does not come easily to me. It's a bit like a forced labour, with forceps and episiotomy, and no epidural. And nothing miraculous to fall in love with at the end.

But on the upside, it does stop me feeling blah and bleak about the mornings I had recently been spending on pretty much pure procrastination...

A friend pointed me in the direction of this site, where you can sign up for sentences delivered daily to your inbox. Here is a selection of last week's offerings:

• Red' nicht mit mir in diesem Ton, du Wichtigtuer! (Don't talk to me in that tone, you busybody!)

• Seit er einen seiner Ferraris verkaufen musste, leidet er unter schweren Depressionen. (Since he had to sell one of his ferraris, he suffers from severe depression.)

• Vertrauen ist gut, Kontrolle ist besser. (Trust is good, control is better.)

• Wenn sie ihre Regel hat, ist sie immer unausstehlich. (When she has her period she becomes insufferable.)

I am yet to use the 2nd example in its entirety. (However, if you replace the pronoun with "I", and the noun with Career/Homeland/Beloved extended Family, and the verb with leave/abandon/sacrifice, I probably use variations of this on a daily basis...)

I have just learnt ...

that it's not just cyclonic storms that get names here ( Xynthia passed Düsseldorf yesterday arvo and wrecked much havoc)... but so do ALL meteorological lows AND highs...

WHO, I wonder actually gets to name them?

And, are they subjected to the same rules and regulations (here in Germany) as humans - who must submit names for state approval to ensure they don't give their off-spring ridiculous monikers?

Curious minds wish to know...

Word of the day:

(die) Marotten.

Quirks. Or idiosyncrasies.

Rhymes with the German word for carrots. (No, not Möhren, the other word...) Bound to enhance my daily exchanges!

Cold rainy days ...

spent home from Kindergarten ... baking biscuits...

Tomorrow...

I'm going to Paris.

Paris, France... for 3 glorious days!

I shall eat escargots, wear a beret, and visit art galleries.

I will try to remember something (anything?) from my 3 years of high school French -where I didn't do German - because when, in my life, was I ever going to NEED GERMAN?????? (And besides which, the french class got to go to a French restaurant once a semester.)

Actually, I will only be doing those things for 1 day - because on the other 2 I'll be attending a conference... my first since motherhood descended all those (5) years ago...

I am excited and apprehensive in equal measure.

It has been a long time since I've been a delegate at a conference. There was a time (in the distant, far away past) when I use to speak at them quite regularly... I do not remember the person I was back then... but I'm hoping the next 3 days with old colleagues might remind me...

GODAMMIT! Wish I thought of this...

very original idea for a 5 year old's birthday party...

A behind the scenes look @ Düsseldorf International Airport!

The invitation was in the form of a boarding card, we went on the sky-train, and then met our guide who took us all on a special bus across the tarmac, in front of planes, (pilots waved at us), and past all the small jets, and fire trucks, and then we saw police helicopters land, before parking at the end of the runway and watching planes come over our heads to land.

How cool is that?

PyjamaMELODRAMATIC!

In a fit of "the pen is mightier than the sword" inspiration - I attempted to illustrate a moment of intense personal frustration by symbolically slitting my wrists with a ball point pen.

(Haha! That made my point!)

After I'd scrubbed my forearm clean of the ink evidence - my good friend Tamzinite - highly amused by my antics - decided to plaster my wrist with this quote:

"it's the truth even if it didn't happen."

(by some dude called Kasey. Whoever he/she may happen to be.)

Perhaps these are words that can be lived by? (Nah, the Caspi-Man has a pretty good grasp on "the truth" and there's no way he'd let me get away with that for too long.)

Tamzinite also had a quote (by someone called Gide) for The Ger-Man's left bicep. It read:

"everything that needs to be said has already been said. but since no one was listening, everything must be said again."

He flashed his arm a lot at people over the next few days. (Mostly me.) Methinks he even considered having it permanently tattoo-ed...

HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?

We've returned from high summer in Oz, to sub-zero temperatures here in Deutschland and the magic of snow... and as I downloaded photos from various apparatus, I was struck by a sudden realisation:

I seem to be raising one of those pretentious twats... The sort that thinks it's completely normal to surf through the summer, snowboard in winter, and who very much intimidated me when I was in my twenties!

So, a few weeks ago ...

a few of the Ger-Man's work colleagues (who were visiting from distant, foreign lands) decided to give the Caspi-Man a present.

A large box - all fancily wrapped.

The Caspi-Man gleefully unwrapped it...

How, um, ... seasonal.

The Caspi-Man LOVED it!

Later that night, when I went in to check that he was indeed asleep, turn off his light, and straighten his covers, I discovered he had managed to drag it into bed with him. It has become his new best friend.

"Ah, better a blow up Santa when you're nearly 5, than a blow up doll when you're 35!" commented a friend. (!!?)

"THAT is NOT coming to Australia." said my Darlink Sister. "Full Stop."

I'm dreaming of a humid Christmas!

Just like the ones I used to know...

In a mere 2 days we're making a seasonal pilgrimage to the land of Oz, to celebrate Yuletide with beloved friends and family. It has been 3 years since our last Australian Christmas... and there is much I am looking forward to:

-Sun

-Beach

-prawns, moreton bay bugs, oysters, lobster & mud crab

-people who understand all the verses of six white boomers!

-watching rhino-beetles ricochet off ceiling fans

-cricket and the Sydney to Hobart yacht race

- the afore mentioned beloved friends & family

But it must be said, there is something, well, magical about Christmas in Deutschland. The candles, the elegance, the sparkling golden lights, the famed markets, the scents everywhere of cinnamon and clove and evergreen, Glühwein, and the promise of snow.

Not for the first time, I want to be in two places at once! I also want to know (as I select our suitcases) if Santa Clause et al, can be persuaded to employ a drop shipment policy.