perth

I am safely in Perth although that was an effort in itself! There were crazy winds here landing and I have honestly never been so scared. The life rafts popped out of their holds in the ceiling and came down the aisles because of how bumpy it was. We touched down once, were buffeted back up in the air and touched down again on the opposite side of the runway, went back in the air, almost scraped a wing on the tarmac because of how we were tilted and then finally managed to touch down properly!

I have spent the evening reading and catching up with Grae. I am so lucky to have a friend like him here in Perth.

Tomorrow I start at the hospital which I am a little nervous about. Thoughts, prayers, crossed fingers and all the rest would be most appreciated

PHOTOS

Back in Berlin :)

Kreuzberg/Neukölln... back where I used to live.

sandcastle building competition near the hauptbahnhof, Berlin

me in the new area where I am now living


The breakfast table at the villa in Tuscany


The view from the main house at the villa in Tuscany


The closest village to us, Cetona. I loved walking around this quaint place


Back in Berlin... right near where I live, on the boarder of east Berlin. This is so typical of Berlin which is covered in the most amazingly political street art. I promise more photos will follow.


me at the Berlin open air last Saturday
The rest of Berlin at the open air :)

home again home again jiggity jig

I leave Berlin tomorrow morning :( See you all soon either in Australia or back here in Europe :)

wandering berlin (Oh Berinl!)

Yesterday I was so excited to be back in Berlin!! I decided I was going to walk the majority of the city (yes I was over bored. had so much pent up energy from Tuscany :)) I now am the proud owner of about 10 new blisters. But it was worth it! Yesterday was the most perfect summer weather Berlin has put on show for us yet. I walked from where Shane and I used to live down to one of the canals and i think I got gloriously lost a few times. I got there in the end though (I think it helps that sometimes you cannot cross the canals so you HAVE to go in one direction :)) I felt so at home in the city where people wear their pyjamas to bars. (no joke. I saw three different people at three different bars wearing their PJ´s!) They have decided to go offensive with drugs here and there are now sniffer dogs on the trains. Wait, did I say offensive? I think I mean they like showing off their big pretty dogs. Every time the dogs bark, the officers just tell them to shut up and sit down :)

I am home in Darwin on the 24th. I get to spend the 22/23rd in Brunei. I leave again for Perth on the 29th. Andrew´s wedding is on the 11th of August at the Gold Coast - so I will be around in Queensland then for any potential visits :)

back in berlin

I am safely back from my time in Tuscany. We were staying at a villa outside of the city of Cetona. It was an amazing set of houses and a pool. I am now an italian shade of brown from the sun and from teaching kids how to swim (yup beth the swimming instructor). Actually this week I managed todo a fair bit... Taught Jakob how to read, how to write and hold his pen properly, how to swim, how to tell the time, how to bake bread (funnier stories about the family´s complete incompitence when it comes to cooking or even warming things :)) i swear I am about 5 kg´s heavier thanks to the AMAZING cooking and desserts! Aside from that, I am really happy to be back in Berlin. Working tonight for the family then I am free. Leave Berlin on Sunday morning. Sepnd the whole of Monday in Brunei and am home in Darwin Tuesday afternoon :)

prenzlauerberg: healthfood capital of the world

As I have been wandering slowly around my new home of Prenzlauerberg, I have begun to realise that it has to be the healthiest place in Berlin if not the whole world. On the corner opposite us is the Biomarket (organic market/shopping centre), then you have the Biodrogerie (organic chemists), the Biospot (organic food shop) and, my personal favorite, the Bio pommes laden (organic fries/hot chips shop!: I kid you not - apparently germany´s healthiest french fries :).. I can attest to their yummy-ness but am not sure of much else). I was so grateful then when, as I was walking down the road towards alexanderplatz, I came across the (no joke) "White Trash Fast Food" restaurant. I somehow let out a sigh of relief that I truly was in Berlin after all!

funny conversations

Lately I have taken to writing down conversations that I have overheard. the day before yesterday on the train, this is one that I had the pleasure of listening to :) There was this one VERY obnoxiously loud german guy who decided he needed to annoy the whole carriage. He was travelling with a veritable harem all who seemed infatuated with him. In any case:

man: And this one time there was this woman who was looking for her train carriage, you know how they are numbered. she suddenly said "oh man I am looking for carriage number 2 but there are so many of them, I just don´t know which one is mine!" (insert raucous laughter) she was looking at the sign that said 2nd class!!!
woman: (said very seriously) oh that has happened to me before too!
(Laughter abruptly stops)
man: oh.. umm. I see.. well.. umm..


yesterday I was talking to Jakob who said suddenly:

J: Beth (Bess) I had imagined you so differently!
B: Really? How did you imgaine me then Jakob?
J: Na... I imagined you would be so sad. But you laugh all the time!
B: Why did you think I was going to be sad?
J: Well you only have one eye that works! I would be sad if I only had one eye.

I had to laugh. Then I was able to tell him that I wasn´t sad at all :)

This morning I had only just woken up and the doorbell rang. I jumped up and ran to the door.. I could only see the top of a head through the door... It was Jakob who had come to see if he could wake me up :) He wanted to invite me to take him to Legoland today! Instead I went to breakfast with the Habsburgs. It was a really really lovely restaurant. The whole family is just so lovely. We talked a lot. The kids wanted me to go with them to their country house this weekend (apparently the kids had a "bethomania" session this morning where they didn´t stop talking about me and wanted to see me.. hence why Jakob was allowed to come and wake me up this morning!) I have decided not to go though. I wanted to have a moment for myself before Italy. I love Prenzlauerberg, where we live. It is an amazing area!

interesting facts...

At Dinner tonight, I learned alot about Switzerland and the Swiss:

e.g that in summer you can go mushroom picking (just the plain variety kids) - anywhere, where it is written. The only catch is that, per person, you can't take more than 2kg's a day. ok a little strict perhaps but you know this is a swiss story when they then start saying that there are police who control the weight of people's baskets. Not leaving the mushroom picking site...no, afterwards, in a narrow part of the road where you can't turn around. Better yet? you get to pay 200 Franks for being so rude as to have picked over your allotted 2kgs, thus depriving the other pickers of their rightful mushrooms.

when talking about the paper I had just written on the differences between Swiss and Australian manners, I started a major discussion about the swiss youth of today. Not the usual, drugs, sex, rock and roll business. No. The heads were shaken, sighs were heard - The youth of today put their feet on desks during breaks in class!!! They leave their jackets on the floor in the lecture halls and (the worst of all) they have forgotten their table manners. (Which has been attributed to the western style of eating on the go all that "fast foods und Hamburger!" and not eating lunch at home with the family where all youths belong). I was then informed that "naturally" the swiss all knew what was the right thing to do when it comes to manners. They have all have "knigge" training in the back of their minds when they are out. Oh Yes indeed they are trained. I seem to remember elbows being smacked off the table, stern looks reminding me my plate would be empty before I was able to get up but nothing like this.

thursday

merci viu mau a aui, wo sech d zit gno hei mi z gseh - es het mi so gfröit wieder z fribourg z si u euch z gseh!! Es tuet mir leid, dassi nid aso lang ha chönne bliibe, aber ds nöchscht mau bliibini länger oder dir chönnet abe ou uf Berlin cho (würd mi nämlech fröie)!

Tomorrow I leave Switzerland and head to Berlin again - this time with 4 times as much as I came with. But at least Philipp's cellar is empty now! Tomorrow night I am going to be moving into my new apartment and i am really really excited. A new chapter will finally be beginning and I can't wait. I leave for Tuscany on Sunday

so many books too few bags...

After 8.5 hours in a train yesterday, I finally made it to Fribourg where, excepting the continual road works, nothing much has changed :) It seems I yet again bought the amazingly cold weather with me! It really is like being home again though. It was great to see my friends and'family' again.

My biggest find for the day is that all my textbooks, written by australians and published in australia, are cheaper here in switzerland. My scary moment for the day was realising that Switzerland was cheap in comparison to Euros and the rest of Europe.

I am now sorting through four years worth of books and clothes. The red cross in Switzerland is going to absolutely love me. Except for the fact that everything still smells like it used to when it was still wet from the washing machines in Berlin, most things are just too old to bother keeping. Thanks to the small library shane and I collected last year though, I am going to have to take about four bags full of books home again!! A lot of things seem to have gone missing as well somehow during the past year. Friends have already thanked me for things that they found in amongst what I left here. I guess it is good that I could share?? :) In total though, for those of you who saw me arrive last year with a whole moving van, I should be leaving with four small bags... oh the discipline!!! (and eternal love affair with the ridiculous amount of H & M's on Kurfürstendamm in Berlin :))

FACISTS

Last night Shane and I were at a Blues/Jazz/Funk concert with a band from Tokyo...

At one stage the lead singer stood there and said "Buy my cd!..Now! By the cd! I mean now! You will buy the cd now! You will!". He then proceeded to start cheering and with one hand in the air started shouting things that the crowd were to repeat and which the crowd was repeating until...

(and only in Berlin will you suddenly hear): "FACIST! You think you can control the masses!"

I think I have been laughing ever since.

Tonight is my last night in Berlin - tomorrow I go to Switzerland for four days and then I come back here again for a few days before heading to Tuscany with the Habsburgs. I moved a few small things into my new apartment today which was fun. The area is just amazing. There are so many cafes and small shops, playgrounds and parks. I will definitely feel at home there.