SuDoku4Breakfast

Jackpot, Tag 81 - 308: Mischbrot mit Rückblick

2011-10-19T23:08:00.000+02:00

Mein glutenfreies Brot ist mal wieder verschimmelt und inzwischen hab ich's eh' über. Also beschließe ich, mir heute neben einem Käsebrötchen beim Bäcker auch ein halbes Mischbrot zu kaufen. Die Wochenendrötchen und/oder der -kuchen waren schon das eine oder andere Mal glutenhaltig. Vielleicht geht das inzwischen ja auch wieder dauerhaft gut?!

Mein halbes Jahr ohne Gluten und Ei ist um, in Maßen scheint beides wieder verträglich. Zu 12 Monaten ohne Milch fehlen noch 2, da bleibe ich auch einigermaßen standhaft, denn Milch geht noch nicht.

Die 227 Tage seit meinem letzten Post waren mal einfacher und schwieriger - wer hätte das gedacht? ;)
In Paris war's ganz einfach: ein vorzügliches Abendessen im "Des Si et des Mets", dem Restaurant Sans Gluten, und ein kleiner Einkauf bei Naturalia, einer gutsortierten Biomarktkette, bei der es sogar frisches glutenfreies Brot gibt.
Selbiges habe ich mit nach Armenien genommen, denn ich ahnte schon, dass ein glutenfreier Aufenthalt dort nicht leicht werden würde. Wie schon in Paris war es kein Problem, zum Frühstück das eigene Brot mitzubringen. Essen gehen oder Lebensmittel einkaufen waren aufgrund der fremden Sprache jedoch sehr schwierig. In Begleitung von Muttersprachlern fand sich immerhin ein glutenfreies Gericht auf der Speisekarte im Restaurant. Wirklich verbreitet scheinen derartige Allergien und Unverträglichkeiten aber nicht. Am letzten Tag verschwand mein Rest Brot aus meinem Zimmer. Wurde es versehentlich entsorgt oder brauchte es jemand dringend?

Kein glutenfreies Abendessen in Armenien

Aus sprachlicher Sicht kompliziert wäre es auch in Polen gewesen, hätte ich nicht auch hier einheimische Hilfe gehabt. Hotel und Caterer in Sopot bei Danzig boten glutenfreies Brot und Mittagessen an, das vorbestellte Abendessen im Restaurant hatte eine leckere glutenfreie Alternative, und bei Spontanbesuchen in anderen Lokalen bemühte man sich immerhin.
In Deutschland kommt man ganz gut zurecht. Irgendwann weiß man ja, wo man einkaufen und was man essen kann. Sehr hilfreich war auch das glutenfreie Mensa-Essen unseres Studentenwerks.

Ansonsten habe ich herausgefunden, dass mein Brot im Backautomaten besser gelingt, wenn ich es von Hand bzw. mit dem Mixer rühre und dann im Automaten nur backen lasse. Übermäßig lecker isses leider trotzdem nicht.

Nun bin ich gespannt, wie's weitergeht. Wieviel Gluten verträgt der Mensch? Und klappt's irgendwann auch wieder mit der Milch?

PS: Dieses Jahr gibt's Grünkohl mit Gluten - und weniger Alkohol :D

Jackpot, Tag 38 - 80: Grünkohl II und ein glutenfreier Geburtstag

2011-03-05T21:51:00.033+01:00

Grünkohl geht auch ohne Gluten! Und er ist lecker!
Das habe ich Anfang Februar erfahren. Da war ich nämlich bei den Eltern einer Freundin zum Kohlessen eingeladen und sie haben extra eine Portion ohne Hafergrütze gemacht - klasse! Und es war ein toller Abend - nur ein bissl zu viel Alkohol

Kurz darauf: Mein Geburtstag.
Geburtstagskuchen für die Arbeitskollegen: Brownies (mit und ohne Gluten). Die Backmischung von Bauckhof ist der Hammer und kommt noch besser an als die gekauften glutenhaltigen Brownies. Ruckzuck sind alle Stücke vertilgt.

Ermutigt backe ich eine Woche später Buchteln aus gluten-, milch- und eifreiem Hefeteig. Dieser riecht verführerisch, als er im Ofen steht; auch als er aus dem Ofen darf, ein Gedicht.

Dann die Ernüchterung: Ausgekühlt ist der Teig hart und trocken
Ein paar Stücken sind noch eingefroren... Mal schauen, was ich damit mache. Vorerst beschließe ich jedoch, bei den Brownies zu bleiben.

Jackpot, Tag 19 - 37: Mensaessen, Gulaschsuppe und Brot

2011-01-21T23:24:00.000+01:00

Drei Wochen Mensaessen in der Mensa Südstadt - großartig!
"Auf Anmeldung gluten- und kennzeichnungsfreies Essen" warb die Mensa - prima, das kann ich doch direkt mal ausprobieren! Noch im Dezember hatte ich angefragt, ob ich ab Januar entsprechend meiner "roten Liste" Essen bekommen könnte. Der Chef meinte sofort, das sei kein Problem, ich sollte einfach mittags an der Theke nachfragen, und nahm eine Kopie meiner Liste entgegen.
Die ersten zwei, drei Tage waren etwas nervig, weil ich mitten im Fluss der Hungrigen rumstehen und auf mein Sonderessen warten musste. Dann verabredeten wir jedoch, dass ich morgens in der Mensa anrufe und mein Essen dort abspreche. Je nach Angebot kann ich ein oder zwei Gerichte bzw. Komponenten direkt von den Theken wählen oder ich bekomme etwas extra zubereitet. Da ich quasi immer zur gleichen Zeit mit meinen Kollegen in die Mensa pilgere, können die Mitarbeiter mein Essen zeitlich eintakten. Inzwischen bin ich dort auch bekannt ;) Ich hoffe, die rollen nicht jeden Morgen mit den Augen, wenn ich anrufe.
Auf jeden Fall ist es total entspannend, dass ich täglich dort essen kann und mir nicht etwas von Zuhause mitbringen muss! Ein dickes Lob ans Studentenwerk Rostock!

Für mich selbst zu kochen ist mehr oder weniger erfolgreich. An aufwendige Gerichte traue ich mich noch nicht ran - hab derzeit auch gar keine Zeit dazu. Also gibt's am Wochenende Pellkartoffeln mit Butter. Letztens war der Plan, eine Gulaschsuppe für einen Abend mit Freunden zu kochen. Die Zutatenliste war perfekt; ich hätte mitessen können... bis die ungarische Gulaschpaste ins Spiel kam, deren Zutatenliste völlig harmlos klang. Nun ja, den anderen schmeckte die Suppe :)

Dafür war mein erster Versuch, Brot zu backen ganz ok. Ich habe so einen Mehl-Mix von Schär genommen, der ließ sich ganz gut verarbeiten. Während es backte, roch es seeeehr lecker. Es schmeckte nur etwas fad. Wie das abgepackte Brot wird es besser, wenn es aufgetoastet wird...
Beim nächsten Mal muss mindestens irgendwas mit in den Teig: Kräuter oder irgendwelches Gewürz.

Mann, mann, mann, ich habe schon lange nicht mehr sooo viel über Essen nachgedacht wie in den letzten 37 Tagen. Dabei stehe ich da eigentlich so gar nicht drauf. Auch von Diäten halte ich nix, sondern war bisher davon überzeugt, dass man sich nur ausgewogen ernähren muss und dann "passt das schon alles". Nun gut. Irgendwann kommt da vielleicht auch etwas Routine rein.

Übrigens war der Arberger Hof in Bremen superklasse!
Eigentlich wollte ich dort zusammen mit anderen Geocachern Grünkohl essen, doch der wird mit Hafergrütze angedickt und ist damit tabu für mich. Ich bekam stattdessen ein sehr leckeres Ersatzessen - superklasse!

Jackpot Tag 12 - 18

2011-01-02T22:21:00.000+01:00

Entspannen zwischen den Jahren, ein bisschen cachen, ein bisschen mehr cachen gehen und das Jahr cachend ausklingen lassen ;)

Positiv überrascht war ich vom Kaufland daheim, das eine ganze Reihe glutenfreier Produkte im Sortiment hat. Mein Einkauf hat mindestens doppelt so lange gedauert wie normal, weil ich überall gucken und das Kleingedruckte lesen musste :) Leider fällt noch eine ganze Menge Zeug weg, weil Milch und/oder Ei drin ist *seufz* Aber immerhin, man bekommt die Sachen relativ problemlos zu kaufen. Und sogar günstiger als in den Geschäften, die ich bisher in Rostock aufgesucht habe.

Ein bisschen rumprobieren muss ich aber noch, um Cachen und Ernährung zusammenzubringen. Wohin geht man nach 2 Nachtcaches, wenn man so richtig durchgefroren ist? In ein Bistro - weil grad kein Schachtelwirt in der Nähe ist. Pizza und Döner fallen ja derzeit weg - aber die gefüllte Aubergine mit Reis war prima. Und eine nette Abwechslung zu den Pommes beim Schachtelwirt. Die Garnitur aus Tomate und Gurke habe ich quasi automatisch mitgegessen - auweia! Ist aber nix passiert. Vielleicht sind Allergien mit Stärke 1 nicht so schlimm? Ich hatte ja schon beschlossen, auf diese Lebensmittel nicht ganz zu strikt zu verzichten.
Ätzend ist, sich vorher genau zu überlegen, was man während einer Cachetour so isst, zumal dieses glutenfreie Brot ungetoastet bzw. lange nach dem Toasten eher bescheiden schmeckt. Das Landbrot von Schär war ganz besonders unangenehm, das hat irgendwie sehr eigenartig geschmeckt. Bäh!
Außerdem hab ich seit der Ernährungsumstellung gefühlt ständig Hunger. Ist das glutenfreie Brot weniger gehaltvoll oder esse ich nur weniger von diesen Brotscheibchen? Die sind viel kleiner als normales Brot.
Besonders eigenartig finde ich ja, jetzt ständig weißes Brot zu essen, das noch dazu etwas süßlich schmeckt. Haben wir nicht immer gelernt, dass dunkles Brot viel gesünder ist als weißes? Tja, meine Strategie, immer gutes Roggenvollkornbrot zu essen, war, wie ich heute weiß, völlig falsch. Dann eben Weißbrot...

Wieder zurück in Rostock habe ich mich übrigens gleich noch mal im gluten-, milch- und eifreien Backen versucht und das eingelegte Obst aus meinem Weihnachtslikör zu Plätzchen verbacken. Seeeehr lecker. Nur etwas feucht(-fröhlich).

Gluten-, milch- und eifreie Plätzchen mit beschwipstem Obst

Mitbringparty zu Silvester: Massenhaft Bouletten, bei deren Vernichtung ich nicht helfen durfte, ein Kartoffelsalat ohne Mayonnaise, der lecker war - wenn der Balsamico ihn nur nicht so grau hätte aussehen lassen, ein Reissalat, von dem ich noch 3 Tage lang gegessen habe, und Pfannkuchen, an denen ich leider nur schnuppern durfte. Ist in Apfelkorn eigentlich auch Gluten?

Frohes neues Jahr!

Jackpot, Tag 9 - 11: Weihnachten überstanden!

2010-12-26T21:54:00.000+01:00

Die Schlemmertage sind überstanden - und so schlimm war's gar nicht. Letztendlich sind mir eine Menge Kalorien erspart geblieben ;)
Die Weihnachtsgans war perfekt und absolut speiseplankonform. Ok, die Soße nicht, aber ich mag das Gänsefett eh viel lieber.
Meine Familie hat sich inzwischen wohl auch an meinen extra Toaster gewöhnt. Alles prima für den Moment.

Jackpot, Tag 9: Mein erster Kuchen

2010-12-24T17:06:00.001+01:00

Ich will Kuchen! :D
Die Zutaten für meinen erste gluten-, milch- und eifreien Backversuch:

Mehl-Mix C von Schär (inklusive dem Rührkuchenrezept auf der Rückseite der Tüte),
Butter,
Ei-Ersatz von 3 Pauly,
Sojamilch,
Weinstein-Backpulver von Werz,
Zucker,
Kirschen

Klingt merkwürdig, schmeckt aber ganz gut. Und bekommt! Ist sogar ein bissl aufgegangen...

Frohe Weihnachten!

Jackpot, Tag 5: ein Toaster und ein Fehlgriff

2010-12-20T22:19:00.001+01:00

Der Titel sagt schon fast alles. Der Toaster ist gekauft - wird morgen zum Frühstück eingeweiht - und ich hab irgendwas falsches erwischt. Vermutlich die Krakauer, dabei stand in der Zutatenliste nix Verdächtiges... War gleich wieder wie früher :( Nun ja, Rückschläge gehören wohl dazu...
Die Mitgliedschaft bei der DZG ist beantragt. Mal gucken, wie lange es dauert, bis der Einkaufsführer bei mir eintrudelt und was da im Detail drinsteht. Zumindest das Gluten sollte sich dann nicht mehr vor mir verstecken können...
Nach einiger Suche zeigte sich im real heute auch das Regal mit den glutenfreien Dingen... Für mich waren Cornflakes dabei - wie lange habe ich schon keine Cornflakes mehr gegessen?! Und dann jetzt mit Sojamilch... Öfter mal was Neues *g*
Mensa war heute langweilig: Kartoffeln, Blumenkohl und Mischgemüse. Fleisch und Fisch fielen komplett aus. Im Januar werd ich mal testen, wie die Mensa glutenfrei kocht und ob sie das auch milch- und eifrei hinkriegt.

Jackpot, Tag 3 + 4

2010-12-19T23:18:00.000+01:00

Wochenende... vorbei!
Habe gestern 2 Zöliakie-Kochbücher geliehen bekommen, die zumindest einen Hauch Normalität vermuten lassen. Muss natürlich gucken, was in den Rezepten jeweils an Milch- oder Eihaltigem aufgeführt ist, aber immerhin ist's ein Anhaltspunkt, was die unterschiedlichen Mehle usw. angeht. Hab mir direkt noch ein Buch mit Rezepten ohne Milch und Ei bestellt - wenn ich das dann kombiniere, habe ich hoffentlich brauchbare Rezepte. Anscheinend gibt's ne ganze Menge an Rezepten und Infos zu Laktoseintoleranz, aber nicht ganz so viel, wenn's ums Milcheiweiß geht. Na, mal schauen.
Am späten Nachmittag ging's in die Stadt, ins Weihnachtseinkaufsgetümmel - gar nicht meins! Wollte aber unbedingt Gummibärchen (gluten- und laktosefrei) und einen Toaster (bei Saturn ab 30 €, musste erstmal ausfallen). Statt des Toasters gab's ein paar Vorräte bei viv und dm. Die Auswahl ist in beiden Geschäften nicht schlecht, aber immer die Zutatenliste lesen, das nervt mich jetzt schon!
Eine Tasse Glühwein auf dem Weihnachtsmarkt und zwischendurch ein paar Gummibärchen, ganz ohne irgendwelche Beschwerden - ich bin begeistert!
Abends wurde ich bekocht mit Kartoffeln, Blumenkohl und Schweinefilet - statt Soße gab's etwas zerlassene Butter - und ein Glas Rotwein dazu. Perfekt!
Heute auf Cachetour, den ganzen Tag unterwegs. Härtetest. Selbstgebackene Plätzchen: Nein danke. Unsere heißgeliebten - weil so praktischen - Fertigbouletten und Frischeiwaffeln: Nope.
Nach erfolgreicher Dosensuche ging's zur Abwechslung mal nicht zu Mc Donald's, sondern zur Burger King. Gleich mal checken, was dort geht. Auf der Rückseite des 'Tray liners', des Papierchens auf dem Tablett, steht ne Menge drauf, aber viel bleibt nicht übrig, nachdem ich mal alles ausgekreuzt habe: Apfelpommes (in Stäbchen geschnittener Apfel), Wasser, Cola (auch light und zero), der Delight Salad (der aber Tomate und Gurke enthält...), Fanta, FruchtTiger, Orangensaft, Pommes (... habe im Netz Gegenteiliges gefunden...), Apfelschorle, Eistee, Sprite, Balsamicodressing.

"Große" Auswahl bei BK

Getränk + Salat + Pommes könnte also funktionieren. Alles andere ist fürs nächste Jahr tabu. *seufz*

Heute bleibt's auf jeden Fall bei einem heißen Tee und mitgebrachten Keksen und nem Apfel-Zimt-Riegel.

Aber, was soll ich sagen? Insgesamt fühlt sich das Ganze wesentlich besser an als noch vor 4 Tagen!
Wenn das kein Erfolg ist?!

Jackpot, Tag 2

2010-12-17T21:33:00.001+01:00

Als der Doc sagte, ich hätte den Jackpot gezogen, glaubte ich noch, er meinte das positiv...
Dann kam der Hammer: Typ-III-Allergien gegen

Stärke 4 von 4, "sehr stark": Kuhmilch
Stärke 3, "stark": Sauermilchprodukte, Ziegenmilch, Schafsmilch, Gluten, Dinkel, Gerste, Hafer, Roggen, Weizen, Vollei
Stärke 2, "deutlich": Haselnuss,
Stärke 1, "schwach": Rind, Gurke, Tomate, Himbeere, Labkäse, Senfkorn, Meerrettich, Sonnenblumenkerne, Honig

Was da übrig bleibt? Auf den ersten Blick nicht viel... Was der zweite Blick bringt, wird sich in der nächsten Zeit herausstellen... Mindestens 3 Monate auf die Nahrungsmittel mit Stärke 1 und 2 verzichten, 6 Monate auf Stärke 3 und 1 Jahr auf Stärke 4. Dann hat mein Körper die Allergien vielleicht "vergessen".

Super Timing, so kurz vor Weihnachten! Aber genau genommen habe ich es so gewollt.
Seit 8+ Jahren schlage ich mich immer wieder mit Darmpilzen rum. Wenn der Leidensdruck hoch genug ist, geht's zum Arzt. Der verschreibt Nystatin, aber damit ist's nicht getan, wie ich jetzt weiß. Die Ursache muss beseitigt werden. Diesmal war ich beim Heilpraktiker, der (standardmäßig?) von Schwermetalleinlagerungen und Nahrungsmittelallergien sprach. 200 € später hatte ich ne hübsche Tabelle mit rotgefärbten Feldern in der Hand (Ok, die Rechnung kam noch nicht, ist aber angekündigt). Neben der Ausleitung verzichte ich jetzt also auf die obengenannten Lebensmittel - und auf Zucker, denn der Pilz ist ja auch noch da.
Wie das geht? Keine Ahnung. Werden wir sehen.

Herausforderung Nr. 1: Brot. Überraschend große Auswahl im Bioladen um die Ecke, aber die erste Kostprobe war nur mittelmäßig lecker. Dafür war die Verkäuferin im Laden total lieb.
Beim Brot soll ein Toaster helfen, steht jetzt also auf dem Einkaufszettel. Ich besaß bisher keinen, wollte aber sowieso einen kaufen. Trifft sich gut.

Herausforderung Nr. 2: der tägliche Mensa-Besuch mit den Kollegen. In unserer Mensa kann man glutenfreies Essen vorbestellen. Nicht schlecht! Habe ich gestern und heute aber nicht gemacht, sondern einfach mal so probiert, was ich finde. Gestern waren es Kartoffeln, Hühnchen und Bohnen, heute Bratkartoffeln mit Erbsen und Möhren (pur, nicht angedickt). War gar nicht schlimm ;)

Bilde ich es mir ein oder geht's mir heute tatsächlich schon besser? Keine Ahnung, welche Rolle die Psyche dabei spielt. Sicher keine unwesentliche.

Damit geht's auf ins Wochenende.

Geocaching Treasures - Coole Dinge in Dosen

2010-05-04T22:16:00.001+02:00

Manchmal findet man wirklich coole Dinge in einem Cache. Heute: Eine Zeitungsente.

Here's one of my favorite items I found in a geocache: a canard (newspaper hoax).

10 Jahre! Rostock, Germany

2010-05-02T01:08:00.002+02:00

Wir feiern 10 Jahre Geocaching und lassen die Cache-Entwicklung in MV einmal Revue passieren.

Die folgenden Tabellen listen für die verschiedenen Cachetypen auf, wie viele Caches jedes Jahres noch aktiv sind, wie viele in den folgenden Jahren archiviert wurden und folglich wie viele Caches insgesamt pro Jahr gelegt wurden.

Die Zahlen stimmen wahrscheinlich nicht 100%ig, Tendenzen sind aber in jedem Fall sichtbar. Danke an xylanthrop und SiGMa04.

April Fool's Cache

2010-04-05T22:17:00.001+02:00

For our traditional kebab event on Holy Thursday ("Dönerstag" = kebab day), we were invited to go for a First to Find on a new multi cache. The listing was sent to anyone who logged a "Will attend" for the event the night before. The story sounded interesting enough, air-raid shelters underneath an old park/cemetery in Rostock. Equipment to get the cache included a roll of toilet paper or paper towels and about 1m of ribbon. Curious enough! The cache owner and event host promised kebab coupons for the FTV (sic!).
I thought there were letters missing in the first paragraph, but postponed a closer look until the next day. I could still go caching after work, before the event.
Still I thought about the new cache all next morning and decided to take a closer look. The missing letters spelled "april"! I knew it! I asked the owner, if FTV would mean First to Verarscht (=kid, sh**) and while first trying to tell me it was a typo since F and V are very close to each other on the keyboard, he soon asked me not to tell anyone. I learned that the box at the 2nd station, which, according to the listing, would contain instruction notes, held a note saying "April, April" and a number of laminated medals to be attached to the ribbon.

What a great idea! Now we both looked forward to seeing who would be the ones wearing those medals for the kebab event! It even felt quite weird not to "have to" go caching before the event :) More time to spend at work.... *rollingeyes*
When I arrived to the event, I learned that one of Rostock's newbie geocachers won the FTV (= First To Veräppelt) and a few more had tried to find it. One even wanted it to be his 500th find!
Most people kept quiet about it, so other teams left early to go for the cache. In the end I went with a close friend, another team, the owner and his girlfriend. She knew about the fake geocache, so it was only 3 people who "really" went geocaching. We followed the instructions and collected all information until we reached the box at the 2nd station.
You've been fooled! :D

This April Fool geocache was a lot more fun than my radio station telling me it was one hour later than it actually was, more fun than another radio station telling me 13 secret Beatles songs have been discovered, playing one of the exclusively - which I could sing along immediately (I forgot what it was) or telling that a Dutch millionaire got Jens Lehmann (1st Bundesliga) to play for Hansa Rostock (2nd liga and fighting)... Thanks to the owner!!!

Wall Tattoo Project (Part I)

2010-03-12T20:24:00.015+01:00

Here's Yet Another Wall Tattoo Project (YAWTP):

I started out with a set of wall tattoo stickers I have bought a while ago but have never used. Actually I moved away from the place I intended to use the tattoos at and in my new place the color just didn't fit in.

Luckily I still found a way to use them :)

I have bought pink paint for my bedroom which sported plain white walls ever since I moved in.

However, painting the whole room in pink would be boring - even a whole wall would be, so decided to use the wall tattoo as some kind of inverted stencil.

Before painting the wall, I stuck the different parts of the tattoo to the wall.

The only nasty part about this project was the fact that the tattoo has a transparent border - to make the delicate parts more durable I guess. This transparent border would spoil my very own version of the tattoo, as the paint will not show all those litte details. The only way to deal with that was to cut away the border.

I used small scissors and all this cutting hurt my thumb... So this is probably easier with wall tattoos with less details or without transparent borders ;)

When all stickers were placed on the wall I painted it in pretty pink, generously spreading paint all over the stickers. Afterwards I removed the stickers dumping them into the trash (Sorry stickers!).

Make sure to tightly press the edges to wall so the paint won't go between the wall and the stickers! You can see it didn't really stick to my woodchip walls...

I tried to fix some of the not-so-nice edges using Q-tips and a small paintbrush until I decided to just go with the funny effect.

And here's the final result. Not too bad, eh?

Geocaching Cookies

2009-12-29T12:13:00.015+01:00

Christmas is over, I know.
Still, it doesn't have to be Christmas to prepare a treat for your geocaching friends!
I made them for our "mulled wine event" held at Rostock's Christmas Market on December 12.

Actually, you can use your favorite cookie receipe; any receipe that is good for cutting cookies. So the cookie dough is the easy part ;)

When you're ready, roll out the dough with a rolling pin (or a glass bottle, if you don't have a rolling pin. I don't have one and an empty wine bottle works just as well!).

I came up with 3 different shapes for my geocaching cookies: A "micro cache" film canister, a GPS device, and the geocaching.com logo.

For the micro cache and the GPS device I cut their shapes from cardboard and used a knife to cut the dough into shape.

While starting to cut the micro cache cookies, I found there's an easier way: Use a (juice / water / wine) glass to cut circles, then use a knife to cut the circle into 3 parts, the middle one being the micro cache cookie.

The little GPS devices are hand-cut, sorry. But it's not too much work, really.

What's really easy, is cutting squares for the geocaching.com logos. Just cut the size you want them to be.

Here they are - ready to go into the oven! See the little witches on the right?

Unfortunately their brooms broke off and they didn't look too nice with their chocolate cover, but they were quite tasty anyway ;)

When you're done, bake your cookies according to receipe and let them cool off.

Next comes the fun part: decoration!

I dipped the little GPS antennas into melted chocolate and let them dry before continuing with the names on them. I also dipped the micro cache cookies into the chocolate to make it look like the lid. And guess what: the micro cache cookies are done!

I used Schwartau Zuckerschrift to write the names of the geocachers onto the little GPS cookies according to their "will attend" logs in the cache listing.

I decided to make one cookie per team plus a few "Cacher" cookies for those who would attend without "will attend" log.

For the geocaching logos I used Back- und Speisefarben to dye the frosting. I only made one color frosting at a time starting with yellow (so I could reuse the rest for the red rosting). It was fairly easy to put the frosting on the cookies using a simple teaspoon. Just make sure it is not too runny - use more powdered sugar if it is. After the yellow frosting I made the red one as the fields are opposite each other on the logo and I didn't have to worry about the frostings running into each other. While I let them dry I continued with writing names to my little GPS cookies. Blue and green were easy to do, too. When everything was dry I used the rest of the chocolate to make the circles symbolizing the details on the logo.

The cookies were a big success at our geocaching event. People marveled at the effort and were delighted with finding their names on the GPS cookies. Plus they were a nice treat to enjoy along with the mulled wine :)

(c) TeddyOnTour

What do you think? Wanna give it a try?

Candy Flower Bouquet

2009-12-10T19:37:00.018+01:00

Ever wondered what to give someone who already has everything or who doesn't want anything?
I was invited to a wedding in Singapore and the couple didn't want anything as their biggest gift from their friends for them was us coming to Singapore for their special day.
Still I didn't want to come empty-handed, so I came up with the idea of a candy flower bouquet. And here is how I made it:

I bought all kinds of chocolates and candys (about 60 items, all separately wrapped and 2 of each type for the happy couple) and tied sewing thread around one end of their wrapping (about 30 cm per candy using a Cow Hitch knot).

The next step was to arrange 4-6 chocolates into a small bunch and tie them together. I used small pieces of wire which were quite easy to handle, but more thread can be used, too.

Lots of tying...

... and trying not to eat the chocolates myself ;)

Assembling all those small bunches into one large bouquet would have turned them into a big messy bulk, so I cut out a circle from cardboard (the back of a writing pad or any cardboard box that is at hand) and covered it with a green napkin (green paper works as well).

I attached all the small candy bunches to my cardboard circle, leaving a few centimeters between them so there is enough space for all the lovely candy. A large sewing needle works really well here, as one can easily poke holes into the cardboard to pull all the threads that were tied around the candy wrapping in step 1 through the cardboard. I tied several knots to each 2 strands of thread: to the opposite ones, to the neighboring ones etc, to attach the candy really well to the cardboard circle (Don't look at the small holes in the photo! Those were my first attempt to attach them one by one...).
Once all the candy is attached to the cardboard circle, we're almost done!

I used a cheap (green) plastic ice cream cup with a foot (shaped like a champagne glass, but more sturdy, of course) as my bouquet base and put a few cardboard squares on top (not too large so they are not visible).

The finishing touches are Tortenspitze to give it a Biedermeier look and a few fake ivory leaves (a bargain from the swedish furniture store that has been sitting among my diy stuff for a while).
The chocolate hearts are stuck to the bottom of candy like the green one in photo 2 using double-sided tape.
Doesn't look too bad, he?

Now that I am done writing this, I found this website with the same type of candy flower bouquets. They also look nice with one wrapping colour only.

Liked the idea? Create your own candy flower bouquet! It's easy! And maybe share a photo of it?!

444 Caches in 444 Days

2009-11-03T20:39:00.002+01:00

Yeah, here we go!
As of today, I have been geocaching for 444 days and so far I found 444 caches! That makes it one cache per day ;)

# 500, here I come!

Artsy Weekend Project

2009-09-28T19:39:00.015+02:00

Here's my really cool weekend project: a self-made wall tattoo.

I once found this wall tattoo saying "witch kitchen" in an online store, but never got around to buying it...

Firstly, I didn't like the bright red colour that much. Secondly, the bristles of the broom were on the wrong side for what I had in mind. Thirdly, wall tattoos don't stick too well to my woodchip walls.
That was when I decided to do it myself. And here is how I did it:

I used my favorite image processing software to put the bristles on the "right" side. No need to be super perfect as the image will only serve as a stencil. Also the resolution of the product picture was rather low, but this didn't matter much either. After printing it to the proper size (split across 3 pages), I used a pen to draw over the outline (making up for the aliasing effect of my low resolution image) before cutting out all the letters.

Since I had printed it to slightly self-adhesive paper, I could then stick my stencil right to the wall. Masking tape works quite well for this, too.
The next step was to bring the outlines of my stencil to the wall using a simple pencil. Small corrections can easily be made as the dark paint will cover them anyway.

The last step after taking off the stencil was colouring my wall tattoo with the chosen colour and fine paint brushes. This took about as long as the soccer game I listened to at the same time ;) I was shaking a bit every now and then while painting, but changing position and resting my hand to the wall (carefull with the wet paint!) helped quite a bit. Also small shaky bits didn't matter too much because of the uneven woodchip wall.

So this is what it looks like now :). Cool, he?
Actually the hardest part was not to bump my head on the overhead cupboards and to be able to reach over my counter to paint the wall. It might be a good idea to paint a wall tattoo like this one BEFORE adding the furniture :).

The best part about it though: I didn't have to spend a single cent for my cool new wall tattoo! The paint was a leftover from a friend. You need really little for an image like this.

(Almost) A cache a day

2009-08-17T00:36:00.006+02:00

One year of geocaching!
Wow, and what a year it has been! Thanks a lot to all those cache owners whose caches I have found, thanks to all the nice people I have met (and probably wouldn't have met otherwise) and to anyone who went geocaching with me!
It's been an amazing experience so far: I have been in the outdoors more than ever before in my life (I think - always been more of a couch potatoe, I guess), I have seen places I wouldn't have seen w/out geocaching and I have shed a few pounds, hehe.

I was trying to have 365 geocaches today, making it one per day. Unfortunately we were caching basically in my homezone all weekend and most traditionals already have a big smile on my map... But 361 is not bad either and 0,9890410958904109589041095890411 is almost 1, isn't it?!

Maybe this one should be my next geocoin?

Happy caching!

Trackable Items Collection

2009-08-14T10:34:00.004+02:00

In August 2008 I got introduced to geocaching. Now I am almost celebrating my first anniversary (Sunday!) and I still love it!
Here's a little gallery of trackable items I have sent out with different missions. I own a few more geocoins I am keeping at home and only take to events or log into special caches.

You can see how far they have traveled until now.
If you see a little box in the bottom right corner, then the item is currently located in a geocache. If there's a little smiley, then it's in the hands of another cacher, hopefully on its way to another cache. Grey icons - as opposed to green ones - mean they haven't been moved for quite some time. Get'em going, fellow cachers!

Heartbroken Songs

2009-05-20T16:33:00.003+02:00

I figured I have songs for lost relationships. It seems they give some comfort when there's nothing else that can comfort you. I am listening to them over and over again until the pain fades.

Heartbroken Song #1: Against all odds (Phil Collins). Very melancholic.
Later, the song "Almost Lover (A Fine Frenzy)" kept reminding me of that special person...

Heartbroken Song #2: Big Girls Don't Cry (Fergie) - more defiant than sad. Gettin' up again, kickin' his ass.

Heartbroken Song #3 and a very recent split-up: Top of the World (Dixie Chicks) - The lyrics tell a different kind of (love) story, but we've been listening to this song (and similar ones) together in the car...

What are your heartbroken songs?

My new hobby: geocaching

2008-08-18T11:49:00.006+02:00

I am totally hooked to a new hobby: geocaching. Of course, that's not exactly a new thing, but it's new to me and I love it. I wish I didn't have to sit in the office right now but could go on another hunt.
How I came to geocaching? Well, I had a friend over this weekend. We've talked about geocaching before but it wasn't until she was in my place that I thought about doing it myself. She showed me their website http://geocaching.com and got me all excited. There are soooo many caches hidden around here. I never thought Stralsund oder Ruegen would be offering stuff like that!!!
We quickly set up my PDA with the GPSTuner software (a demo version, but I think I'll actually buy this piece of software) and then picked our first geocaches for Stralsund. The very first one was an easy find for my friend who had been geocaching before. Perfect to get me even more into it. We decided to try again after dinner, but unfortunately we have already been walking around town for too long that day, so we became tired pretty quickly and didn't find any more caches. But the next day we were a lot more successful: 3 caches found on the island of Ruegen, one in Stralsund (the one we had tried the day before), another one nearly found (we didn't bring the flashlight as we didn't think we'd stay out that long) and one more that we started...
I can't wait to get off work this afternoon to retrieve that nearly-found one.

Looking forward to more geocaching now. Will try a few in New Zealand next week, where I'll be on a business trip.

Wuschel in mouse heaven

2008-05-25T21:26:00.004+02:00

Today, my favorite mouse died.
I knew it was going to happen one day, but still I am upset.
He was such a tough little mouse having survived Rambo, who ruined his left foot, and a missing part of his tail... After being separated from Rambo he lived with Krümel (Crumby) and Flummi (Bouncy) - again with fights, then with his mouse dad again who died of age after a good half year together. In the end he got along quite well with Krümel again until this afternoon when I found him in his cage licked off by Krümel who seemed as upset as I was when I saw my little Wuschel (Wispy) dead... I suppose he got an inflammation in his foot again. It didn't look so good... Poor Wuschel. May he rest in peace in mouse heaven.

Time to say goodbye*

2008-04-24T21:10:00.007+02:00

Saturday.
This is our last day - incredible how fast those 3 weeks have passed!

After breakfast, packing, and cleaning we drive over to Oakland to the Cruisa America office to return the motor home.
While we take a last look at our dear motor home, the lady in the office hardly casts a glance. We get reimbursed for the day we lost because of the open valve and the weak battery, leave our leftovers with a German couple who starts their 6-week-tour today, and wait for a friend to pick us up. She lives in San Francisco and we can leave our luggage in her place as there are hardly any public luggage lockers available. Since we're five people with 5+ bags, she needs to do two trips, dropping me and my brother off in Chinatown before she gets the rest of us. While waiting for them, we buy some more stamps to mail our last postcards and a state quarter collector's album for my brother.
By then we're reunited, meeting up with a friend from my year in France.

(More pictures at: http://galerie.photo-fisch.de)

Now my brother wants to shop at the Levis store at Union Square. He promised to bring home two pairs of jeans for a friend of his, but first he needs to figure out what the European colour codes relate to in the US - thank God there's wifi in the store's foyer. *smile*
We need a Starbucks coffee as a reward for waiting now! Sitting down at Union Square which 6 years back was only a big construction site, we munch on our sandwiches and just can't figure out what to do next. It is afternoon, we have a few hours left before we need to get to the airport.
So we're trying to find a bus to the Golden Gate Bridge. Not that easy, but we manage *smile* We need to change buses once and walk a bit inbetween, but we make it to the bridge!

(More pictures at: http://galerie.photo-fisch.de)

It's awefully windy out there so we only manage to stay for a couple of minutes before catching the bus back. We go to our friend's house where we left our luggage. She most generously offered to take us to the airport as did the other friend. So we load our luggage into the cars and split up. My parents and my brother are taken to the airport while me and my other brother still need to buy one or two extra bags - too much luggage to take back *g*.
Unfortunately, the nearby Walgreens doesn't have any, the little shops in Chinatown where we saw bags today, are already closed, and there's no Walmart to be seen along the freeway. Bad luck! We're forced to buy two rather expensive and small bags at the airport now, but well...

The check-in takes forever. We should have reserved our seats in advance and my brother can't just get off in Munich instead of coming to Berlin with us. Luckily, there's always an exception to the rule *smile*. Now we've got to hurry, there's hardly any time left to grab a bite to eat - our names are called for immediate boarding! See you in Germany!

* Sarah Brightman

If you're going to San Francisco*

2008-04-23T21:54:00.006+02:00

Friday.
Our yesterday's hostess has to go to work today, but her husband takes us out for breakfast to the International House of Pancakes. This place has been on our list anyway *smile*
Whew! Sooo full already at breakfast! *g*

Let's go to San Francisco! We have chosen a campground just in the north of the city and close to public transportation as Dad does not want to drive the motor home through the city and up and down the hills. But where's the bus? Is this going to end like it did in Malibu?

No, it is not. After a good half hour, our bus arrives and unhurriedly takes us across the Golden Gate Bridge and into the city.
We're getting off at Lombard Street to take a look at the world's most crookedest street. For the way down we choose the stairs though.

(More pictures at: http://galerie.photo-fisch.de)

We're walking over to the wharf to look for tickets to Alcatraz. The ferry company must have changed since I have visited the island, we have to walk from pier 39 to 33, but there are already signs posted saying 'Next available tickets: Monday'. Bad luck! We didn't learn from our last effort to get Mom and Dad to see Alcatraz. We really should have booked in advance.

(More pictures at: http://galerie.photo-fisch.de)

But we won't be bored in this city! Back over to pier 39, doing the touristy thing: Souvenirs, clam chowder, and then a cable car ride! A must-do in this city - not sitting inside, but hanging on the side!

Down at Market Street we only manage a Starbucks coffee to warm ourselves up before taking the bus back to our campground. We need to pack our bags and tomorrow we'll say good-bye to our dear motor home...

* Scott McKenzie

We're in Sacramento, a wonderful town*

2008-04-22T22:32:00.009+02:00

Thursday.
Waking up early, Dad wants to hit the road as soon as possible. We have quite a bit to go until Sacramento, especially since yesterday we didn't get as far as we wanted because of the fire.
So no coffee, no breakfast; bathroom and dressing on the road. We make it as far as the road barrier thinking 'Oh no, it's still not open!' I get out of the car to ask, Dad gets out a little behind me, and there's already an officer coming towards us telling us to drive the car up to the barrier, then follow the CHP car through the barrier. Neat! The California Highway Patrol leads us through the fire site!
Looks like they managed to put it out, there's only little smoke left and some firemen guarding it.
We're continuing north along Highway 1 until we finally reach Big Sur and its gas station. $4,959 per Gallon! That's the most expensive gas we have found so far! Dad doesn't want to risk anything again, so we don't just stick with the couple of Gallons needed to reach Monterrey or Santa Cruz. Deep cut into the budget. Ouch!

(more pictures at: http://galerie.photo-fisch.de)

Some time later we stop for more gas, breakfast, and some internet as dad needs to work a bit. Then we're back on the highway heading towards Sacramento, arriving there around a quarter past 2. Funnily familiar taking the highway into the city and somehow not familiar at all. It's been 6 years!

We find a parking spot in downtown or actually 2 *smile*, then walk over to Old Sacramento down by the river. Old Sacramento still looks like it was from the times of the wild west, all wooden houses, wooden sidewalks, and old-fashioned stores. I loved this place back then and I still love it today. Even the salt water taffy store is still there so we stock up on those tasting a few along the way through the store *smile*

(more pictures at: http://galerie.photo-fisch.de)

Then my brother and I head off to the nearby mall. There's not much time left before we want to head over to our friends' house, so we gotta hurry but I really want to shop at GAP where we used to shop 6 years back *smile*
And I do, buying a pair of pants and a sweater. Even my brother buys pants for himself. A Starbucks frappuchino on the way out and back to the car.

The BBQ at our friends' house is great! Soooo good seeing them again. Mom's got her admission ticket to California, her famous cherry pudding *smile*, ready and to the delight of our hosts even prepares another one live during the course of the evening. We eat and chat until late that night before we go to sleep in our home sweet motor home in front of their driveway.
This is probably the nicest evening of the whole trip!

* Middle of the Road

Miles travelled by RV: 250+
Current location: Sacramento, CA
Next stop: San Francisco, CA

Fire!

2008-04-18T22:57:00.005+02:00

Wednesday.
Yesterday took us as far as Oceano, some 30 miles south of Morro Bay, where we enjoy our first RV park offering a heated pool and jacuzzi. Too bad they close at 10pm! We could have stayed there all night *smile*

Miles travelled by RV: 221
Current location: Oceano, CA
Next stops: Hearst Castle, Big Sur, Monterrey, and Santa Cruz, CA

Today we headed to San Simeon to visit Hearst Castle. This 'ranch' was built by William Randolph Hearst to house his art collection and to entertain his guests - pretty impressive and with awesome ocean and mountain views. We're taking a 75 minute experience tour offering a great overview of his property: 1 main house with 110 (!) rooms, 3 guest houses, and 2 pools. He also had tennis courts and his very own movie theatre! That's one fine summer cottage, he? *smile*

(more pictures at: http://galerie.photo-fisch.de)

Afterwards we're heading further north along scenic Highway 1 that winds along the coast. About 20 miles south of Big Sur
we're stopped by a car coming from the opposite direction, it's passengers waving at us. The road is closed ahead because of a fire and we better turn around, they say.
Hm, what do we make of this? Should we trust them? Maybe someone else will tell us the same thing? We didn't have much gas when we reached Hearst Castle, had returned to the nearest gas station, but only gotten very little gas as it seemed awefully exensive there. Turning around here because of the fire could run us out of gas now... Eventually, at some turnout along the road we see smoke, we stop and are told by some other travellers, that the road indeed is closed and will be for at least another 6 hours making it midnight until anyone might be able to pass.

(more pictures at: http://galerie.photo-fisch.de)

They advise us to just spend the night out here. Certainly, tonight no-one would fine us for overnight camping while it is usually forbidden not to stay at designated campgrounds. Well, not exactly where we wanted to spend the night (no wifi, hehe), but we wanted to boondock at least once anyway. We heat up all our left-over food for dinner, have a glass of wine, and go to bed.

Miles travelled by RV: about 117
Current location: about 15 miles south of Big Sur
Next stop: Sacramento, CA

Everybody goes to Hollywood*

2008-04-16T06:05:00.010+02:00

Tuesday.
Since we didn't manage to catch a bus from Malibu to Hollywood yesterday, we're going there by RV today. Can't really visit LA without seeing Hollywood Blvd., can you?

(more pictures at: http://galerie.photo-fisch.de)

I don't really remember the exact location of the Walk of Fame from 6 years back, and since there's a handy parking spot on the corner of Sunset and Fairfax, we need to walk a bit. Time to admire the beautiful flowers which seem to grow and bloom at ease over here, while in Germany it is sometimes pretty tough to get them to survive a winter.

At La Brea, we finally find those famous stars on the sidewalk. Really touristy, we're reading the names of those persons we know aloud. Try our feet and hands on the celebrities' prints at Graumann's Chinese Theatre. Take our picture with the Hollywood sign in the back at the Kodak Theatre. Not really touristy: We don't buy a single souvenir *g*

(more pictures at: http://galerie.photo-fisch.de)

The walk back to the car gets a bit annoying as my feet hurt from new shoes and blisters and we're trying to walk a bit faster than normal as those 2 hours of our parking spot have run up. Don't want our RV being towed away in the middle of LA...
But it's still there, no need to worry. And I am finally returning to my comfy Brasilian flip flops or havaianas.

We're on the highway again, left Los Angeles behind. Highway 101 winds beautifully along the coast. Between Valencia and Ventura we marvelled at lemon and orange trees growing along the road. In Summerland we finally found a post office to mail our postcards home and had some delicious burgers. Some 80 miles still to go. Our navigation system says 2,5 hours. Let's see.

* Madonna

We got our kicks on Route 66

2008-04-16T06:04:00.009+02:00

Monday.
Our first breakfast outside in the morning sun turns out to be a little difficult with blossom pedals and pollen flying around. It almost looks like snow, but this time we're not worried *smile*
A quick stop for gas, but no post office in sight, and we're on the highway again. LA, we're comin'!

(more pictures at: http://galerie.photo-fisch.de)

No more 'nothing' to keep us company but houses, cars, fast food places, and gas stations everywhere. Our travel guide tells us to catch the last bit of Route 66, so we're trying to find our way to Sunset and Santa Monica Boulevards. It's almost rush hour, driving's not easy at all. At Ocean Avenue, almost at the waterfront, Santa Monica Blvd comes to an end. And so does Route 66.

With some minor difficulty we find a parking spot for our RV, then head off to the beach to dip our feet into the Pacific Ocean. It is warmer than the Colorado River a couple of days ago *smile*
We're walking once up and down the Santa Monica Pier, then across the street to Palisades Park to visit the Route 66 Historical Plaque dedicated to Will Rogers in 1952.
It reads:

(more pictures at: http://galerie.photo-fisch.de)

Will Rogers Highway
dedicated in 1952 to
Will Rogers.
Humorist. World Traveler. Good Neighbor.
This is the Main Street of America.
Highway 66
was the first road he travelled in a career
that led
him straight to the hearts of his countryman.

And Route 66 was the road we travelled for almost 2 weeks. Ok, we did not travel it all the way, but come on, we travelled Route 66.

From Santa Monica Pier we're heading north to Malibu Beach RV Park where we have an ocean view campsite for tonight.

Miles travelled by RV: 134
Current location: Malibu Beach, CA
Next stop: Morro Bay, CA

Leaving Las Vegas*

2008-04-16T06:03:00.005+02:00

Sunday.

(more pictures at: http://galerie.photo-fisch.de)

Daytime Las Vegas looks more friendly than I remembered it from 6 years ago. We wake up late after this short night and therefore, miss the free pancake and coffee breakfast that this KOA offers. Since the check-out is at 11am, we just have a cup of coffee before leaving the campground, heading over to see the famous 'Fabulous Las Vegas' sign. It is almost noon and we still haven't eaten breakfast, so we stop at Target, on the outskirts of the city where we have our first Starbucks coffee of this trip. A frozen one.

(more pictures at: http://galerie.photo-fisch.de)

Now it's time to hit the road again towards Los Angeles. We would like to spend the night in one of the State Parks around San Bernardino, but we don't get this far. The night was short, the day, too, and now the evening sun makes it really hard to drive and see. After some 40 miles on the historical Route 66 with - guess what: nothing! - we end up in Victorville, on a shabby campground as it seems. This one used to be a KOA, it still is in the catalog, but all KOA signs are covered. We have another BBQ with marshmallows for desert. Yummy!

* Sheryl Crow

Miles travelled by RV: about 200
Current location: Victorville, CA
Next stop: Los Angeles, CA

Viva Las Vegas*

2008-04-15T19:40:00.003+02:00

Saturday.
Yesterday we skipped Oatman as it is said to be a tough road to drive. So this little gold mining town is on today's schedule even if that requires a little detour. The road we're on is prohibited for trucks longer tham 40 feet and we soon understand why: it goes up and down and up and down all the time making us feel like we were on a small roller coaster.

(more pictures at: http://galerie.photo-fisch.de)

In Oatman the first inhabitants we meet are a bunch of burros waiting for carrots in the parking lot. They even seem to pose for our pictures! Apart from those burros - or in addition to them Oatman is pretty touristy but charming somehow. We watch a little set-up gunfight in this perfect setting, shop for souvenirs and enjoy another ice cream cone.

Then it's time to hit the road again. We want to reach Las Vegas tonight. By late afternoon we stop at Hoover dam to hop from Nevada over to Arizona and back again *smile* Lake Mead looks awesome, tinted in bright blue in front of those red and orange mountains.
Reaching Las Vegas at sunset, the city just starts to sparkle. Our campground is very close to the famous strip at the Circus Circus hotel and casino. A huge concrete place surrounded by hotels, parking garages, and a construction site. No camping romance, but hey, we're in fabulous Las Vegas!
Hungry as we are, we're heading straight over to the Sahara where we've seen an ad for a $6,99 buffet offer. Unfortunately this price only applies to 'value card holders' which we are not. Becoming one seems to be connected to handing over your credit card - a thing that only 3 of us could do anyway. Since we don't really understand how this is supposed to work anyway and we're uncertain about what to do with my youngest brother being less than 21 years of age, we end up in McDonald's for dinner. Oh well.

(more pictures at: http://galerie.photo-fisch.de)

Afterwards we browsing Las Vegas' largest souvenir store. I am thinking about buying a jacket as it is a bit chilly but I can't find one so I am wearing my brother's new CSI Las Vegas sweater which is about 3 sizes to big for me *smile*
We're taking to elevator up the Stratosphere tower to catch a glimpse on all those lights. The view is fantastic. I love watching cities by night. Over here, you can clearly see the city being neatly devided into blocks, among them, the twinkling headlights of dozens of cars and inbetween, the colorful, glittering Strip.

Back on ground floor we start a really poor attempt with some of the slot machines before getting on to a taxi up the Strip. Not bad having all those hotels and casinos fly by! We get of at the MGM intending to walk some of the Strip back towards our campground. Only halfway through we need another taxi. We're too tired to walk any more and our feet hurt. Nighty night!

* Elvis Presley

Miles travelled by RV:
Current location: Las Vegas, NV
Next stops: San Bernardino, CA

It's a small world

2008-04-15T19:39:00.007+02:00

Friday.
In the still icy cold my brother takes sunrise pictures and we wait for the KOA office to open so we get the wifi code.
At 8am we walk over to find neither the office open nor the clock inside the office to show 8am. So our guess was right.
An our later the offices does open and we're learning that Arizona indeed does not change to daylight savings time. It's pretty easy, says the owner, in summer they
have the same time as California and in winter it's the same as in Colorado.

(more pictures at: http://galerie.photo-fisch.de)

At the same time as 3 bus loads of frenchmen we walk along the touristy part of Seligman. Heureusement, we are the only ones to discover Frank and Lynne's Historic Seligman Sundries, a small and cramped but colorful shop. Just like the original sundries this one offers a little bit of everything, except for the pharmacy part, explains Lynne. We're telling her, we're from Germany, and she mentions her last name: Geyer. She's from Tauber-Bischofsheim, which to our educated guess is about 400 miles from Berlin. 'It's a small world,' she says.
The rest of the shows is filled with those typical souvenirs we have seen along the way, a little kitschy, but nice somehow. I want to have an ice cream cone at the Snow Cap, but the guy tells me I can't have a sundae since it is only Friday. Ha ha.

Back on Route 66 towards Kingman past Peach Springs. We stop at the Grand Canyon Caverns to do a 45-minute-tour. Cute little Kay rattles down her text with some jokes here and there, making it quite a fun tour - even for my brothers *g*

Back on the surface and on Route 66 there's some more of our beloved nothing. The landscape is scarce, but nice somehow. In Mesa Vista, on the outskirts of Kingman, there's civilization *smile* Larger houses and even a golf course sporting bright green grass.
We need a coffee break now before we continue through what is left of Route 66 in Kingman. A bit disappointing - or did we miss something? Eventually, we're back on the interstate to Needles. Not much Route 66 left here either: a run-down motel, out of service but at least occupied by someone. No use to stay, so we continue along the Colorado River going north to Bullhead City. On our way we stop for a beautiful sunset (and more pictures *smile*).

(more pictures at: http://galerie.photo-fisch.de)

Bullhead City is larger than we expected, streching out along the river. On the northern end of it, we find the RV park we were looking for. El Rio Waterfront, at the immediate waterfront indeed. But the river has to wait for the next day. For now we're enjoying our BBQ, marshmallows and the nice evening temperatures.

Miles travelled by RV: 177
Current location: Bullhead City, AZ
Next stops: Oatman, AZ, Hoover Dam and Las Vegas, NV

The Grand Canyon

2008-04-12T17:25:00.007+02:00

Thursday.
Being in Flagstaff, we couldn't miss out on the Grand Canyon! But with all our morning routines and little delays like a broken waste water hose cap we only reached the National Park at 1pm.
There were quite a few people in the park already, but only little compared to the crowds during the summer months. We parked in lot E and walked over to take the red bus towards Hermit's Rest which, due to road construction only operates until Hopi Point. Already at the 1st of the 4 stops, the view is awesome!

A squirrel catches our attention, jumping up and down the rocks, getting as close to the rim as possible. We decide to walk the 1.1km over to the next bus stop that takes us along the rim with ever new views appearing in front of us. Of course, we're tempted to go closer to the rim than the trail suggests. And we try, but this tickeling feeling in my tummy keeps me from overdoing it. Sitting on a large stone at the rim, taking in this gigantic view - I have no words to describe that!

(more pictures at: http://galerie.photo-fisch.de)

Time is running, so we hop back on the bus towards the 4th and last stop, Hopi Point. Over here, you can even see the river down at the bottom of the canyon giving you an idea of its depth. Just incredible!
In the nearby IMAX theatre, we fly through the Canyon, take a rafting tour and learn some history about it. Pretty amazing!

But we have to leave, put a couple of miles on the meter. Williams' main street is kind of cute with at least some Route 66 flair.
Its RV park only offers Wifi in its laundry, but if the owner puts us 'really close to it, then we should get some signal'. No, thanks. This RV park doesn't look that nice anyway.
So we continue through Ash Fork (just as run down as most of the places along the route, and also no internet at the RV park) towards Seligman. On our way, we're waiting for the sunset at 6.58pm, but at 10 to 6, the sun's still quite high up in the sky. Strange. Did we miss a change in time zones? Or does Arizona boycott daylight savings time? We might have read something about that...
An hour later the sun sets beautifully in front of our cameras.

(more pictures at: http://galerie.photo-fisch.de)

Thanks to late registering we'll stay at the KOA campground in Seligman, but we'll only get the coupon for the wifi the next morning. Bad luck.
We walk over to the motel that has a pizza joint attached, but looks so shabby and empty that I first ask if there was any pizza left for us. And there was! 2 large spinach and 1 large hawaii pizza feed the 5 of us. We're stuffed! Giggeling and laughing we sign a souvenir dollar for the owner and crawl into our beds.

Miles travelled by RV: 197
Current location: Seligman, AZ
Next stops: Kingman and Bullhead City, AZ

Standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona*

2008-04-10T16:04:00.013+02:00

Wednesday.
We're leaving the campground and go looking for an ACE hardware store where my brother hopes to finally get his MagLite 6. On the way we cross downtown, but none of us really wants to get out of the car for some sight-seeing. It is still snowy/rainy - not enjoyable at all. Next disappointment: No MagLite 6 here either. Maybe they'll at least have those shoes Sebastian wanted in Gallup's Walmart (they didn't have his size in the one in Canyon, TX, and he's been asking for a Walmart ever since)...
He's lucky as is the rest of us. We all find one thing or the other so at least this little shopping was successful today.

(more pictures at: http://galerie.photo-fisch.de)

Back on I-40 towards Flagstaff. There are a couple of touristy points on our schedule today, but the snow gets thicker and thicker. After only half an hour with the snow piling up on our windshield, strong winds, and trucks passing like it were the easiest driving conditions, we give up and stop at a gas station, stocking up on gas in case we need to overwinter somewhere *smile*
The cashier is very slow (this gas station is our first one without self-service), he had cleaned his modem yesterday and had trouble with it ever since. So no credit card payment here.

Meanwhile, the snow has stopped. We continue westwards, reaching the Petrified Forest National Park around 1pm. Given the unsteady weather we are expecting to keep it short, just drive those 28 miles through the park. But already the first view onto the southern rim of the Painted Desert lets us jump out of the car to take in the view - and tons of photos. *smile*
It is still chilly, but we stop at almost every view point and spend almost 3 hours in the park - definitely a must-see in better weather!

We're trying to speed up to reach Flagstaff stopping in Winslow ("Standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona", The Eagles), at the Meteor Crater (to discover that it is closed for today; it' 6:35pm already), at the Twin Arrows which look even more run-down than my travel guide depicts. That's what you call 'Faded glory' I suppose. Mom's more practical: Someone travelling Route 66 in 10 years will find hardly anything left with all this wear and tear. The last gas price at the (also closed) gas station attatched shows 1.369 per Gallon, so it's definitely been a while...

We exit the interstate in Winona (Don't forget Winona!), not much to see here, but the road leads a bit into the San Francisco Mountains and we enter Flagstaff from the north. The first campground offers neither Wifi nor showers - what a no-go! *smile* The second one, a KOA again, is way better in terms of its equipment so we stay here, taking a walk to a nearby BestBuy for an external hard disk to put all the photos on (still no MagLite for my brother) before our frozen microwave dinner. 10 for 10 Bucks was the offer - it shows or rather it tastes, but not all that good *g*
Oh well. Mom asks to go out for dinner tomorrow. She has not yet been to KFC, so that's on our list of must-do's *smile*

* The Eagles

Miles traveled by RV: 225
Current location: Flagstaff, AZ
Next stops: Grand Canyon and Williams, AZ

Ice (cream) and snow

2008-04-10T07:55:00.006+02:00

Tuesday.
Albuquerque's Old Town is kind of cute with those adobe houses and matching decoration. It's pretty touristy of course, but well worth a visit and perfect for some ice cream out in the sun.

(more pictures at http://galerie.photo-fisch.de)
Going east for a couple of blocks on historical route 66, here called Central Avenue, we get scared when we're supposed to go underneath Hwy 25 with only 13'11'' clearance on a very steep underbridge. The instructional video we watched back in Denver indicated a clearance of 12 ft, the rental staff even spoke of 14. Now this bridge shows clear signs of others who have tried and failed, so we don't want to risk ruining our AC unit on top of the car. We turn around and head west towards Gallup, stopping a couple of times on the way. Our travel guide suggests arriving in Gallup at sunset, so we have some time to spend.

On our way we cross Rio Grande a couple of times, but it is somehow disappointing: it is not that grande... Maybe last year was a dry one.
The travel guide also tells about Mount Taylor, the bald mountain, for at about 3000 m height there are no more trees. But where is it?

(more pictures at: http://galerie.photo-fisch.de)

In Budville we stop at some abandoned trading post for some coffee - gotta make it ourselves. There's not much left here of those golden days of Route 66. Looking straight ahead, down the road, we finally see Mt. Taylor, which really looks kind of naked around its top.

In Villa de Cubero, Hemingway is said to have written his 'Old man and the Sea'. He definitely found enough solitude here. *smile*
Through San Fidel, past abandoned gas stations, motels, and shops that suggest better times, into McCarthys. Easy enough to discover the little mountain-hugging Santa Maria de Acoma church. A little later we're impressed with black lava rocks covering the ground for miles.

Grants, Prewitt and Thoreau are just further small places along the way that leeds to the Continental Divide, also called the Nation's roof. Up here, all rain water to the left flows into the Pacific ocean, to the right it drains into the Atlantic. The Indian market nearby is already closed, so we miss out on 'rubber-tomahawks and other indian kitsch' as our travel guide calls it.

Now we really want to reach Gallup as it is slowly getting dark. We still need a supermarket and have to find tonight's campground. The latter seems to be a real treat. At 8:02pm its owner, John, assigns us a spot that was reserved until 8pm. 'It's your lucky day,' he says.
Next to our site, there's another Cruise America motor home - the first one we see - but there's no sign of its owners, not tonight and not the next morning, when we find it is snowing! It doesn't last, but still we're worried about the road conditions. Do we have to skip the Grand Canyon?

Miles travelled by RV: 179
Current location: Gallup, NM
Next stop: Flagstaff und Williams, AZ

A small town called Las Vegas

2008-04-08T06:50:00.008+02:00

Another KOA campground - with wifi! *g*

Before uploading my last post in a small town called Las Vegas, NM, this morning, we left our campground in Santa Rosa, heading for breakfast at Denny's. For the first time during our trip we had some trouble finding free internet access, finally finding a public network near the uni campus in Las Vegas. Apart from that, there was not much more to see; only our favorite 'nothing'.
We continued through sleepy little places along the route towards Santa Fe, which was quite charming somehow. Almost a bit European, but certainly with a strong hispanic influence.

Afterwards we went food shopping at Albertson's, hoping for a campsite equipped with a BBQ grill - and our hopes were heared. At KOA in Bernalillo, we met an extremely friendly host who, even though there were no grills at the individual sites, went to fetch one with his little golf car.
Another camping addict from Washington, D.C., told us to buy an RV, it was worth its money and he even had 3 TVs in his.
So we had our first, very delicious BBQ in the very mild evening air, deciding to repeat this as soon as possible, since there's still some meat left and also I forgot to buy marshmallows. No BBQ w/o marshmallows! *smile*

Anyway, tomorrow we'll visit Albuquerque, NM, and continue towards Gallup. We already booked a camp site in the real Las Vegas in Nevada, the one very close to the Strip. We're planning to be there this weekend.

Miles travelled by RV: 195
Current location: Bernalillo, NM
Next stops: Albuquerque and Gallup, NM

A Day Without Wifi

2008-04-07T20:11:00.006+02:00

It is Sunday evening and we're at Santa Rosa Lake State Park - without Internet! We're coping somehow *g*
Like my dad and my brother I am preparing my post offline, hoping that we'll find an open Wifi net tomorrow.

Yesterday we visited Palo Duro State Park with its awesome red rocks, driving and walking through the Canyon, taking even more great pictures. Pretty amazing! The sun is up, and without the wind, creates a good summer heat. We're peeling off our clothes and I am finally walking in flip-flops, feeling really american *smile*.

Afterwards we drove into Amarillo, walking a small part of 6th Street which is part of the Historic Route 66. There's a Sidewalk Sale going on - typical flea market junk, but fun still *smile*
Our next stop turns my brother into the proud owner of a black cowboy hat (Afterwards he'll look into the mirror more often than ever before and take pictures of his shadow in the red desert sand *g*). It's the perfect accessory for the first Route 66 roadside attraction: The Big Texan Steak Ranch.

They are advertising a free 72oz. steak for free if you can eat it within an hour. My younger brother considers for a moment, and declines, but after his 21oz. steak regrets not having tried it. While the rest of us eat modest 6 to 12oz. steaks, there is actually someone taking on the bet, but failing piteously. Their hall of fame claims someone ate this huge piece of meat within less than 9 minutes!!! We are speculating about how to achieve a thing like that, but enjoy the evening with our 'small' portions and live music (even at our table!) from a sweet trio, each of them at least 72 years old, I guess.

Miles travelled by RV: about 90
Location: Canyon, TX
Next stops: Santa Rosa, NM

I woke up late on Sunday morning (at least later than usual), so there was no time to write. After a nice hot shower and breakfast we left our campground and went west on I-40, Stopped at the famous Cadillac Ranch, left Amarillo behind. Finally we're on Route 66, just before its MidPoint. It is just like the travel guides describe it and like we have imagined: There's nothing *smile* 'Nothing' has become our running gag: nothing here, nothing there, nothing pretty much everywhere. Of course, this 'nothing' is not true. Again, we're impressed with the space, with the flat land that lets you see so very far - 'This land is so flat, you can see for two days,' they say. The road goes straight on for miles on end and, for a change, my dad makes my mom drive a bit.
Some of the small places along the road look long deserted, but a particularly nice point is Adrian, TX, home of the Midpoint café and a sign marking the geo-mathematical center of the Route 66. 1139 miles either way and a lovely café inbetween. Lots of Route 66 memorabilia paired with the charm of an old 60's diner. Loved it!
After a cup of coffee and my first BLT on this trip, we continue towards Santa Rosa, where we visit a little Route 66 Car Museum with shiny (still or again?) cars from the 30's to 70's and lots of related bits and pieces. Very charming!

Our last stop for the day is Santa Rosa Lake State Park, where there's a little more space to the left and to the right of your RV and you're surrounded by a beautiful scenery. Even though there are BBQs attached to each site and the sun is still sending some warmth, we decide not to head into town again to buy meat, but to enjoy those last sunny hours of the day down at the lake.
Mac'n'cheese at those outdoor picnic tables, a board game during sunset. Heaven!

Miles travelled by RV: 194
Current location: Santa Rosa, NM
Next stops: Las Vegas, Santa Fe, and Albuquerque, NM

The way to Amarillo

2008-04-05T14:27:00.004+02:00

It is 7am and I am still somewhat tired. Actually I am up at the same time as the days before, but we have 'lost' one hour when we entered Texas, since they are on Central Time, not Mountain Time like CO and NM.

Yesterday morning, after a hot shower and an egg and bacon breakfast we hit the road - on the way to Amarillo.
On our way, we stopped at Capulin Volcano National Monument. Very scenic views - and we haven't even been to the very top. (Check out my brother's website for photos!)
We even caught a bit of colour, better put sunscreen on our next shopping list!

While driving, again, we admired this 'Nothing' that surrounded us. Kind of a running gag for us now: Why are you going to Colorado? There's nothing to see! - That's why we're going! - You have been to the US; what did you see? - Nothing! *g*

In Amarillo, dad had to stop at that Big Texan Steak Ranch to take a look. You'd think he'd take us out for dinner, but no, at least not yesterday. Tonight maybe.
Instead we continued to Canyon where he'd hoped to find the campground at Palo Duro State Park, but we end up at Palo Duro RV Park. So what! It's cheaper than the KOAs we have been to before and not bad either *smile*
Our evening program is provide by Canyon's Walmart Supercenter: Subway dinner and a little shopping spree.
Nighty night!

Current location: Canyon, TX
Miles driven: 262
Next stops: Palo Duro Canyon State Park and Big Texan Steak Ranch, Amarillo

A few small repairs

2008-04-04T14:40:00.007+02:00

First thing this morning was calling travel assistance about that funny battery. They decided to have it replaced and send us to a repair shop in Colorado Springs. We also asked the staff there to have a look at the leak we have discovered in the morning when we filled up the freshwater tank. Travel assistance claimed it was just an overflow from filling too much water into the tank, but the mechanics and us thought it was something else, a crack in the tank maybe. So we decided to go over to Cruise America's Colorado Springs branch and had the poor lady there do her very first RV repair *smile* The problem was a little valve, that was supposed to be shut. Easy enough to fix it then.

We hit the road again around one o'clock, skipping the Garden of Gods since the sky took on a threatening kind of grey. Rain and snow fell, so we were happy to get away, driving south and even past Pueblo (the campground doesn't offer Wifi, so dad had already taken it off the list *g*), past Trinidad (which we had planned on staying at tonight), into Raton, NM. The sky opened up and we even had some sunshine along with the view!

We were so amazed by those long, straight roads... Don't think we have those at home. Not enough space in our country *smile*

In Raton we found shopping places right across the street, perfect to satisfy the happy campers' needs. After dinner, prepared by our on-board-cook Sebastian, we had a glass of wine and then curled up in our beds - that's where we still are *smile*
The heather's going on and off at a cozy 16°C (~60°F), the sun is up and so am I - time for the rest of the crowd to open their eyes!

Miles travelled: 160
Current location: Raton, NM
Next stop: Amarillo, TX

The frost alert woke me up

2008-04-03T14:13:00.009+02:00

Good morning everyone!

This has been our first night in the RV, the first night on a campground.
Again everyone is still asleep, so I'll take advantage of that. It was the little thermometer my Dad installed last night that woke me up. At 20 past 5! It was 2.8°C - about 37°F - but no need to worry at that time of day. Didn't know how to turn it off so I just took the little sensor inside. Unfortunately I couldn't go back to sleep afterwards. Ah well... Blogging time *smile*

So, let's get you updated.
We went to pick up the RV around 11am yesterday after a large breakfast at Denny's. It was pretty easy to get through the pick up process. We watched a little video, did some paperwork and were allowed to put our stuff into the RV. Pretty easy, pretty amazing (Remember, this is our first time travelling by RV *smile*)
Dad had tons of questions, walked around, tried this and that. He had read about a billion forum threads beforehand about virtually everything on RV's and their rental... He brought a long list of things to check and so my brother discovered there was a latch broken on one of the rear windows. Anyone could just enter the vehicle from the outside, just by sliding that window. We asked for assistance and since they couldn't fix it, were given another RV. So, move all your stuff and do the checks again (We were all a bit ... how should I put it ... irritable maybe, 'cause we felt my dad overdid it a bit. But then, we'd be made liable for any damage in the end, so better check beforehand...)
Anyway, we finally got everything settled - I imagined the rental staff to sigh in relief - and left the rental to return the other rental car.
Afterwards, still pretty close to the airport in Aurora, we made a coffee-toilet-shopping stop. We bought dinner and breakfast stuff, things my dad had read we would need, and marveled like people marvel in supermarkets in a foreign country *smile* We ever got our first shopping card from King Soopers.
When we stowed away all our groceries, we discovered the RV battery was low, almost dead. Big worry! It must have something to do with the fridge, but how do we know... We decided to start driving to charge it up, so that's what we did. The Colorado Springs KOA campground office was already closed, but there's always a self-registering available. Everything else went ok, the hook up to water and electricity, yummy Mac'n'Cheese dinner, even Internet *smile* Only the water heater was a bit weird, didn't heat up but leak, so we decided to leave that for the morning.

And here we are: family is slowly waking up. We'll call travel assistance about the battery if it still is low, then decide what to do today. Garden of the Gods is said to be a must-see, so we might do that. Then continue on to Pueblo, Co.

Have a good day!

Miles travelled by RV: about 120
Current location: Colorado Springs, CO
Next stop: Pueblo, CO

Our adventure begins...

2008-04-02T14:23:00.011+02:00

Hi everyone!

We have arrived in Denver, Colorado, yesterday.

Immigration was alright - we were split up into different queues only to be told we'd better stay together. No big deal really. No, we don't have fruit in our luggage. Enjoy your stay. Bye bye.

All our luggage arrived with us, without any damage, and the two cherry jars and the two cherry liqueur bottles didn't break either.

We were taken to the car rental place to pick up a huge white Chrysler, that we took for a scenic ride through Denver. It was a little tricky to find our hotel, but all it needs is a call to find out the Bryant Street you are on is not quite the one where the hotel is located upon *smile*.
After check-in 4 of us went for a little walk in downtown and had a yummy fast-food dinner while the 5th was sound asleep in his hotel bed *g*. Ah well, there's always take-out.

The last thing we did was getting up to the 14th floor of our hotel, to the Skybox, to have a little nightcap (aweful beer *yikes*) and to enjoy the Denver city lights.

Now it is almost 7 in the morning. Everyone else is still sleeping - but I get to have the computer, hehe. Today we are picking up the RV and returning the rental car before heading towards Colorado Springs where we'll catch the first campground on our route. Stay tuned!

Miles traveled by RV: 0
Current location: Denver, CO
Next stop: Colorado Springs, CO

Getting ready....

2008-03-29T20:14:00.004+01:00

for our big trip.

We have started a family blog about the trip, but we'll write it in German, so I'll try to keep you updated in English over here.

We'll fly into Denver, Colorado, on Tuesday where we'll pick up our mobile home the next day. The trip then takes us to Amarillo, Texas, where we'll get onto the famous Route 66. The Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Sacramento and San Francisco are on our list - stay tuned to read how we get along during the 3-week-trip and if we can stick to our schedule!

Mooch a book!

2007-12-01T16:22:00.002+01:00

Do you know BookMooch?
It's an excellent way to give away books you have read and to receive books from other moochers. So far I have mooched with people in New York, Portugal, the UK, and Germany. Great thing!

Here is a selection of books I am giving away. Happy mooching!

Get free books from BookMooch.com

Oh dear blog, I have neglected you so badly...

2007-05-04T22:30:00.001+02:00

I really have...

Lots of things have changed ever since I lasted posted here.
Thesis finished, job found, moved... now settling in.

I am now living in a really gorgeous appartment right next to work which is very convenient in the mornings and for lunch breaks :) Only disadvantage: My boss sees me doing all those ordinary things like changing tires on my car (Yep, I bought one - a real must up here) or going over to the park in my jogging clothes. Well, you can't have everything, can you? But I do have a brilliant view over to the sea from my place. I'll soon put up some pictures to prove it :)

Long time no read

2006-06-17T14:14:00.001+02:00

Just received a letter from my dear Irish friend. She included a poem which I am gonna post to everyone - Don't Quit!

Don't quit

When things go wrong as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all up hill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must, but don't you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As everyone of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don't give up though the pace seems slow-
You may succeed with another blow.

Success is failure turned inside out-
the silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far;
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit-
It's when things seem worst that you must noch quit.

Fits my mood very nicely.
Lots to think about at the moment plus all "daily" stuff: writing a diploma thesis, tutoring 1st year students in programming (they have 4 weeks left till their exams), trying to reconcile my mice and to find them a new terrarium...

Don't quit!

Birthday Mail and a day in Bremen

2006-03-04T22:56:00.001+01:00

What a surprise when I opened the compartment of this funny Packstation, the Deutsche Post-locker for self-pick up.

The box didn't look like it came from somewhere in Germany - quite exciting to find it came from Brasil!

My dear "Brasilian brother" Felipe had ordered a birthday present for me - awesome! I think my favorite are the pale pink (sorry for the pic) earrings...

------------------------------------------------------------------

Next day: Emilia coming to visit! She'd spent half a year in Bonn and her last stop in Germany would be lovely Bremen.

She arrived around noon we started by walking through city center - stopped by the Bremen Town Musicians :)
The Schnoor quarter is definately a must - cute houses in tiny streets...
Last thing we did was visiting Botanika, a rhododendron museum in the middle of rhododendron park. Ok, not too much to see in winter, but still nice! Who would have guessed there's so many different kinds of rhododendron?

Too soon it was time for Emilia to catch the train back to Bonn - shared it with soccer fans (Werder Bremen vs. Borussia Mönchengladbach 2:0) and people returning from Karneval sessions...

New kitchen

2006-02-11T22:08:00.001+01:00

Here's our new kitchen!

After 25 years they finally decided to change all kitchens which meant emptying the old one on Wednesday night and on Thursday morning watching the caretaker working ;)

What's new:

Fridge ist bigger ;) And it has a freezer compartment - Ice Cream!!!
Hobs are no longer on top ot the fridge - which is wise but now they are right in the middle - weird!
Layout of the shelves is different, seems like there's less space now

What a mess behind and underneath: found coins and an old scratched ABBA record in there....

The unhappy hamster

2006-02-10T07:59:00.001+01:00

Programming results came through: 13 out 27 failed, a lot more should have, including all 1st-year's...
Next chance for them is mid-March.

Damn, 15 weeks of working with them and still it didn't get into their heads. What can we do? How to teach programming to novices ? Any suggestions?

This is how we're teaching it: Java-Hamster-Modell (german only)

Busy, busy, busy

2006-02-08T21:46:00.001+01:00

How busy life has been - last blog was more then a month ago...
Project is done - well, almost done. Still have to write a documentation. As well as writing out the presentation a friend and I gave on SAP NetWeaver.

Last year ended being busy - this year started in just the same way. Lots of things to think about!

But, starting on Friday: Vacation! At least a little bit. Going home for 2 weeks - birthday time ;)

Lots of plans for next semester: writing my diploma thesis (still deciding about the subject ;), tutoring again, hopefully continuing spanish and sports, and, and, and...

And the best: People coming to visit! Emilia from Finland will come to Bremen for a weekend, Felipe from Brasil comes in early July and - yes - we're going to watch the soccer semi-final in Dortmund! Keeping my fingers crossed for Mari to be able to join us in Berlin afterwards!

So much about my plans ;)
Keeping myself busy, busy, busy....

Merry Christmas!

2005-12-26T00:57:00.001+01:00

Days have been extremely busy - those quiet holidays forming a nice contrast now. Doing nothing, eating a lot, only doing what I want to do... Awesome.

Received 2 SuDoku books for Christmas (among other things) - haven't even finished my own yet... Didn't get any snow though - no surprise actually. It's been way too warm for days now...

Watched a documentary on Santa Clause village today, recognized the Post Office and remembered the good time I had up in Rovaniemi, Finland, last February. The whole trip was more than awesome - something to remember for the rest of my life!

So that's it, lazy holidays :)

Christmas is coming

2005-11-26T20:44:00.001+01:00

Ever since I looked out of the windows this morning seeing the snow that had fallen overnight, I am in the Christmas mood.
Now I am ready to buy Christmas candies and listen to Christmas music.

Funny, 'cause last year, I didn't really get that feeling. Not until I arrived at my parents' house on the 22nd of December.
We have been to Strasbourg to see those famous Christmas markets, singing carols all along the way in the car, but still the "real" feeling only came on that date.

Probably it's because of the snow - even though it's not much and it has almost gone now, but I feel all excited for Christmas to come.

Thank God it's Friday

2005-11-04T21:30:00.001+01:00

Week went by in no time. Busy, busy, busy.

Laptop's been okay for a while now. Should I put away the monitor now? Bet it starts all over again ;)

Decided to participate in "Weihnachten im Schukarton" (Christmas in a shoe box) some weeks ago. Bought all kinds of stuff and took some I already had at home:

scarf, hat, gloves,
toe socks,
pencils and coloured pencils,
writing books and a colouring book,
playing cards (Sorry, Abel, but it's for a good purpose),
a teddy bear,
chocolate,
tooth brush, tooth paste, soap, cleaning towl
pony tail holders, cream
...

Had a hard time closing the box. Had to leave out the drawing pad and one little notebook.
Hope the little girl who receives it will like it.

It's not over yet!

2005-10-21T20:06:00.001+02:00

Laptop's background illumination failed again. Now working on a tiny old monitor (Stone age is back ;)
Guess I have to go for a new laptop pretty soon.

Did I mention I hate computers?

What a day!

2005-10-21T19:21:00.002+02:00

Thank God it's over!

The day started with our first project meeting. It went okay except for the one who left before we finished ("It's okay, I'll do my part all by myself.") Her part in the project is different from ours, so we weren't concerned by each other's brainstorming. Only the tone of her voice made me feel bad afterwards...

Went to pick up a packet from the post office on my way home - underestimated it's size. Tough job taking it home on my bike. It moved to all possible directions, opened (!), and fell off my bike.
Never seen a delivery this well-packed: Two different sized boxes in a (much) bigger one, hardly any padding, so those two boxes kind of flew around. Should complain to this mail-order company!

Meanwhile, it started pouring cats and dogs, and the cardboard soaked and softened. Knocked over another bike just in front of our house and dropped the box to the floor. Dragged it upstairs. The box looked horrible - like it had been sitting outside for ages...

I was soaking wet and sooooo mad! Cancelled vet appointment and went to sports class instead.

It was great and I felt a lot better afterwards! Went home quite cheerfully - only to discover I had left my shawl on the bus. My favorite one.

I think I'll send back the packet.

2005-10-18T23:50:00.001+02:00

Just watched "Side by Side" with Susan Sarandon and Julia Roberts.
Bursting into tears when she gives the christmas presents to her kids...
How come I am so sentimental lately?

Ischa Freimarkt!

2005-10-18T11:10:00.001+02:00

Caught it on the bus today, on my way home from university.
Bus doors opened right in front of the Freimarkt area and this sweet warm smell filled the bus. Sugary and comforting somehow...

Bus doors closed again and the smell was gone.

(picture taken from www.bremen-tourism.de)

I hate computers!

2005-10-17T23:38:00.001+02:00

Argh!
Nothing seems to work - and there's no explanation of why things don't work...
My laptop display stopped working yesterday afternoon (it's my second laptop and also the second with display problems). Luckily I had an old monitor at hand to connect to my laptop (bought for some 5 Euros at the first laptop's breakdown). Awefull image quality, but better than no computer at all...
Later yesterday, my wifi card stopped working. Why? No clue. My computer just didn't want to recognize it anymore. No idea why.
But that's not all :)
My roomy's computer hasn't been working properly for a while now. She had problems opening certain websites and we couldn't find out where they came from. I mean no viruses, spyware, not hijacked... Only this weird Zone Alarm. Today she went to some computer help on campus and they told her to re-install Windows - great!
The installation went well - until Windows was supposed to start and asked for a password. Password? Me don't know no password!
No way of getting rid of this strange password, so she'll go to this guy again tomorrow...

And what happened to my computer today? Dunno. Laptop display is working again so far and my wifi card works again after I put my system back to Friday's state.

Let's see what happens tomorrow - starting in 9 minutes...

my first blog

2005-10-15T22:13:00.000+02:00

So this is my first one.

Surprised I'm writing in English?