I HAVE A DATE

well here we have it! I have finally booked my ticket to Berlin:

I leave Darwin at 1700 on the 23rd of June and get into Frankfurt and subsequently Berlin on the 24th of June.

To celebrate I bought myself more winter PJ's :) Anyone who knows me will know that they are my favorite article of clothing.

So I am now in possession of my two favorite things - plane tickets and PJ's - I am a happy Beth!

In other news, this morning I received two assignments back and am really happy with the results. So far I am at a HD average. I am especially proud of one of my High Distinctions - out of a class of 250 there were only 6 HD's and I was one of them. I think all my work is paying off. I have been accepted into a special honours style extended research program for Linguistics at my University in Australia and, because they are interested in my cross cultural Swiss/australian work, I have been given permission to work across both the German and Linguistics departments which is a first for my Uni.

So back to it...

mongolian BBQ's

THANK YOU to all who came to my mongolian BBQ on Sunday :)

To all who didn't - you missed out!!!

pool (and perfect weather for swimming), food (the best amount of stuff to randomly stirfry), amazing lighting effects (care of Dad), a clean snooker table (!!!!!!! the last time I saw it was for my farewell party in 2001!!), my Dad's incredible coffee (thank you to all who didn't drink it - this is going to be a crazy study week with three assignments due and now I have enough to keep me going!) and great people (Thank you for trusting me even though you all didn't really know each other!) - I had a lot of fun and can't wait now for the birthday spaghetti fest! (which will be on the 25th of May at my house.)

This week I am going to be semi out of contact- I have all my assignments due, all my applications for Berlin due and am now working afternoons as well as nights at DEC. (in the box office and as Bar staff).

My appointment with the eye specialist from Adelaide is on Tuesday - I will keep you all posted.

WOOHOO -(eye update)

there was NO injection!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THANK YOU for all the prayers, support and positive energy that must have gone into today's appointment. You've all been fantastic.

So it was with great trepidation that I went to my appointment this afternoon. I had been so scared about the injection. At the start I was so surprised! Until now I had only been able to read part of one of the letters on the biggest size you can get on the charts. but today I could read two whole lines!! The biggest and the next down. Admittedly the biggest are about 20 cm's big.. but there was an IMPROVEMENT!

The specialist looked into my eye and said, although there is still more inflammation than he has ever seen, it is slightly reduced and he is happy with that! He also said there is more debris in my eye which explains the fact that I have been seeing small black things EVERYWHERE lately. Seriously, I am constantly swiping away non-existent ants, silverfish etc. because I can see these black things running across walls, chairs, tv's :) So no injection. AND to top it all off, my specialist has invited a specialist from Adelaide who is the best in southern Australia in the field of Neuropthomology to come up here and look at my eye (I am interesting to certain people at least!) So he is flying up here at the beginning of May. So two positives out of today!!

Thank you all again just so much for all the thoughts and prayers. It is obviously working!!! love to you all and THANKS

insomnia...

What a crazy weekend that was!!!

This week has been a ton of fun. I had been working day and night at DEC last week. Then I got to do some Uni work again on Monday and Tuesday. Thursday night a friend invited me to go and see a play that he was in. It was a lot of fun and I got to see a lot of people that I hadn't seen for a long time.

Friday saw me working at DEC for a cabaret style show. Afterwards I went out with the people from work and got to play taxi for everyone there. between hanging out with a friend afterwards and uni work, I ended up getting about three hours sleep.

Last night I was on the Bar for the symphony Orchestra's concert. Work didn't finish till 1am!! afterwards I went to a birthday party with a friend and stayed till about 4.30am.. we didn't see the point in going to bed, so we stayed out to watch the sun come up over the ocean (It has been SO long since I have done that!) then we went to McDonalds for breakfast (the only place open on Sunday mornings...and the only place I know of that would sell me greasy enough hashbrowns) bed sounded ridiculous at 8am... so instead, we drove out to Berry Springs.

This week should be a lot easier! (I hope!) Tuesday I have my next appointment with the eye specialist so I would appreciate any prayers and thoughts on that day. They are planning to do the steroid injection to the eye socket.

I am booking my tickets to Berlin this week. My last exam is on the 20th of June here in Darwin and I can leave anytime after that although I want to give myself a few days grace. I am shooting for the 24th of June. Irma found me this website of the mum off the family I will be with in Berlin. I will be in Tuscany then from the 8th to the 18th of July.

I will post the results from my cultural survey here soon :)

First time for everything

I just had my first little frog come and visit my bathroom :) I walked in and found him sitting on the toilet.. it then took dad and I 10 minutes to get him out of the house. It appears he really liked to jump - everywhere. He also decided that under the fridge was a good place to avoid the stampeding humans after him. I have to be the only person in the world who manages to scream when a frog jumps though. At one point he conveniently landed on my foot but my foot didn't conveniently manage to move him towards the door seeing as it was too firmly attached to a shocked Beth.

and yes, that was probably the most exciting moment of my day!

study, a wedding and one exhausted beth

Today I received an email from the head of admissions at the Uni in Berlin. They are going to take me straight into their new MA program instead of the old European one because it is more streamlined and is exactly comparable to the US and Australian systems. They are taking me in in good faith that, before graduating with my MA, I will have received my BA (which is happening next year anyways). So yes, I will be enrolled in my MA before i have finished the BA :) They are letting me do English and linguistics studies and attend german courses to compliment my intended focus. The admissions guy also said he would be putting my name forward for admission to the PhD program! (Did it help that the head of admissions is an expat aussie?? more than likely but there are no gift horses being looked in the mouth here!)

Today my brother decided to make his engagement official and they are now looking forward to a wedding sometime in the middle of this year. So my family gets a wedding after all... I have been asked to be a bridesmaid but I am not sure that I will still be in the country.... today they tried to pick a date - they stated the free days they have in the next 6 months, stuck them on the wall and then threw darts - the first one to hit was the date.. so as it stands at the moment we are looking at the end of July.. he he.

This weekend saw me working three jobs again and pulling 12 hour shifts. Something I haven't done for a long time. It was a lot of fun though. Ended up laughing more than serving anyone! Working hard through my 'holidays' to get all my assignments and readings done. Thank you to all who have been helping me with my Cultural survey!

the eye 1

so today was my next eye appointment.

the prognosis is less than cheery.. although I'll be damned if I let it bring me down.

the doctor said that both he and the brisbane doctor (confirmed once again as being the best in australia for neuropthamology - the subcatagory of opthamology...) concurr that chances of me ever regaining any sight in my left eye is slim to none. So hey instead of no headlights, I might be able to see one! or.. instead of just the edge of the TV screen, I may be able to see the people ON the screen!!

ouch

and the even ouchier thing? I am now scheduled to receive an injection of steroids in 14 days time. I can't take any more steroids orally or I will end up getting really sick. The side effects from my last dose were getting pretty horrific. So the next step is injecting a slow release, high dose steroid...into my eye socket. If my condition worsens considerably in the next two weeks, it will have to be straight into the eye ball although they do that as an absolute last resort. They can't put me under full anesthetic so I can only take panadeine forte and then have local anesthetic . Apparently it still hurts a lot.

I am not quite sure what to think. And once again I am floored that something like this can just happen without rhyme or reason. And I am still completely positive that it will get better.

Prayers and positive energy are so welcome right now...

guys and dolls revisited

Last night saw the remaining cast come back together for a semi-reunion.

The way we were:

The way we are now :
Now I want to get on with my planning for a new york trip :)

Easter day

Easter morning- the parentals... Easter was great - LOTS of chocolate (be still my beating heart) and just plain fun. Church in the morning (the tomb looked awesome - I think the two workmen aka dad and marcel, just needed a sleeping muse to help them with their creativity.)
Afterwards Mum, Dad, Marcel and I went out to lunch - hat's off to Marcel for surviving my mum on wine :) It was a really really funny lunch and was followed by an amazingly interesting game of trivial pursuit - interesting because Marcel didn't understand much (and still got more points than me? :)) and because they were old-ish questions. (is anyone really meant to remember which two cricketing legends in 1979 had the same first name?) . I did however, learn something which made me very happy - James Joyce also wore an eye patch :) so I am amongst the best when it comes to being a part time pirate!

An hour after we got back from lunch, I was picked up to go to Easter dinner with friends. It was a really fun night involving the cutest little puppy in the world, and way too much food. I think I proved why I don't get let out in public much... spent most of the night blushing because my mouth spoke before my mind kicked in :)

Hope you all had a great easter too!!

HAPPY CHOCOLATE FEST

Easter Darwin style...

Dad and Marcel in the pool after having worked for hours up at church doing the lighting of the tomb (oh so normal :))

Today I learned that a whole carton of beer actually can bounce on tiles with only 4 casualties but spectacular spraying, and that sudafed leaves me asleep on the floor of the church for 2 hours... yay for change of season.

HAPPY CHOCOLATE EATING!

my 'sliding doors' moment

With all that's been going on lately, I thought it was time for a change. so this is me this morning... although you may not believe it .. looks very different from the back ;) Personally I think I beat Gwyneth hands down. he he

Der Anfang

Well kids, here it is! The way to save you all from group emails!!

Am currently still melting in Darwin, heading off to Berlin at the end of June for the next two years to work for a family there (more about that later). I will be living in Prenzlauerberg (for all of those who are going to come and visit me!) and also studying at the FUBerlin..

Currently working here at night (alot) and here part time again as well as trying to make sense of my dad's office.

I am a full time student again (part time procrastinator) studying Linguistics and German externally through UNE and am loving it. I had forgotten how much of a complete nerd I love to be.

Easter is approaching and the weekend will see me helping to put up the tomb at church (what used to be the Sewer of the Les Miserables set up here :)) and handing out easter eggs to unsuspecting children (will it be the tail or the ears that give me away?)

There will be recent photos soon!