Another Countdown Begins...

It's official, we're moving.

Well J got offered a higher position at another company. It so happens to be in another city and it includes Managerial training. The title that would probably take him a few years to achieve on his own and only if he could afford to fork out thousands of Euros so he could return to school for the training and in turn apply for a higher position.

But the offer is there and he doesn't have to pay for the training either. Both his boss and big-big boss agree that he's fit for the job and yes, i'm very proud of him!

I'm more than certain he'll do a great job and that he deserves every little bit of it.

So the past couple of weeks we've been weighing up the Pros and Cons and trying to decide whether this is a good step to take. And after much consideration and moral support, J has decided to say, Yes. Although it's not Australia - our long term goal, we figured it's a step in the right direction. If he climbs the corporate ladder and if things go well, who knows what could happen in a couple of years and which destination we might end up at.

*Shrugs*


So chances are we're moving to a town called, Gütersloh.

In case you're interested in Germany's geography the following are the distances: It's 91 km from Dortmund [where 2008's Love Parade was held]. 61 km from Münster. Less than 130 km from Hannover. But it's only 18 km to Bielefeld. And according to Map24 the move from Düsseldorf to Gütersloh is just short of 160 km.

Our original plan was to move to Bielefeld a neighboring city which is A LOT bigger and J would commute. Basically it has more night life and things to do in general. It has a huge university which would mean the age group would be around our age - so that's comforting. I went as far as ordering the city's brochure and leaflets just so i can get some background.

But then again, maybe it's a lot safer for me to be living closer to where J works, should anything happen at least i know he's not so far away.

So many decisions to make, so little time.

Although small, Gütersloh seems to have all the major department stores like in a big city [Karstadt, C&A and Mediamarkt] but just at a smaller scale - mini in fact. Their city centre consist of just a few blocks and Life is pretty much quiet much like the country side. Throughout my life i've lived in much bigger cities [Denmark, London, Paris, Melbourne, Kuala Lumpur, Düsseldorf just to name a few] and now i'm moving closer to the outskirts where there's a limit to how many storeys a building can have. Skyscrapers are a no-go.

Strange to think that only years ago i wouldn't dare to even consider moving to such a town.

Love and Relationships are indeed funny things.

I'll be honest and say i'm a mixed bag of emotions. But Change can bring opportunities and better things. So i can't help but be excited. I mean if it's for our future and if it means getting ahead in Life, than we all have to make sacrifices. But we're going to drive up there again in the near future to check out the possible areas that we could live in.

And since there won't be much else for me to do there, i will have to return to classes and learn German again. A promise is a promise. Let's just hope my class is not filled with Aunties, Omas and Opas.

J and i joked around that ever since we got together as a couple and quit my job, all i've been doing is moving. 3 months in Singapore. 6 months in Bonn and now 9+ months in Düsseldorf. Now that i look at it, there seems to be a pattern. Maybe i was right when i said, everything happens in 3's.

But my whole life has been about Moving - all thanks to my dad changing jobs and trying to get ahead in Life.

2 years here another few years there. Never staying still and always having to adapt to my surroundings. I'm almost thankful i didn't build up on my social life here because that would be just another set of good-byes to spill.

Maybe cause it's Summer, more people will decide to move out now. Let's just hope we're lucky in finding a suitable and affordable 3-bedroom apartment. Seriously, trying to find an apartment is so time consuming and frustrating. It's nearly impossible to find one especially since the academic year is starting and all the affordable flats are taken.

It sucks to think that only recently we unpacked Little L's bedroom and now we have to pack our whole place up again. One good thing about moving is rent and standard of living is a lot cheaper. Yay for lower fixed costs! And who knows, we may even be able to save enough money to have a family of our own one fine day.

o.O

I'm like a modern day international nomad - i still can't decide if that's a good or bad thing.

Dial 1-1-2 for an Emergency.

No i haven't forgotten about you. This time around i actually have stuff to say. In fact i still have Ireland pictures to upload and even more news to share. I've just been really slack and have found myself more occupied than usual. So i'll try my best to regurgitate my thoughts a.s.a.p...

The past couple of days has been H-O-T. I think it reached 33 degrees celcius at one point. I nearly forgot what it was like to be sweating, all. the. time. It's not really humid, it's just uncomfortable when the air is just still. We unfortunately don't even have a fan, as most of the year it's rather cool, so there isn't really a need for a cooling device.

Yes Summer is definitely here.


So anyway, what started as a quiet Saturday immediately became drama.

We woke up relatively early. I called my sister to wish her happy birthday and then J and i decided to take a short stroll to the supermarket to get some croissants so we could bake them in the oven. J wanted a bottle of Sekt- for no apparent reason, just thought it would nice to have a chilled glass whilst taking the opportunity to do absolutely nothing.

It had been awhile since we walked around the neighborhood. J's been super busy with work and has been recovering from yet another cold. Our weekends are usually jam packed with activities that we don't actually have time to just sit back and simply relax.

So everything was going well until i noticed something on the wall.

Pointing to the corner near the window just as i was about to take the sausages out of the fridge, i busted out with, "What's that!?"


A stain that could only be described as a water mark had found itself on our kitchen wall.

"Oh shit, there's a water leak... somewhere."


A quick scan around the kitchen, we noticed there was an even bigger water stain near the doorway. You could even feel the water building up in the back of the wallpaper.

And before i knew it, J was out the door and was running upstairs to ring our neighbors doorbell.

J feared that our neighbor might have left her washing machine on whilst she was out and it broke down. Apparently it's happened to his ex and the cost was somewhere in the thousands. My fear was perhaps our neighbor maybe died.

Not to be morbid or anything but you never know. Having someone murdered in the apartment below in my past, i was quick to jump to the conclusion that our middle-aged neighbor slipped in the bathtub and was now face down and very much dead.

Wouldn't it be just my luck?


So J's next step was to call the fire department. Within minutes two men in uniforms came up the stairs. Their original plan was to climb over our balcony and make their way up and break in from there. They were having trouble breaking into the door. Which was rather comforting as that means our doors are very secure. Their Spiderman stunt was soon called off and they continued with making their way in via our neighbors' front door.

Seriously, it was so drama with all the banging.

It wasn't long before our neighbor below us and the one across come to our flat to investigate. As we feared that the water damage would get worse in time. It was better to be safe than sorry in case there was a broken pipe.

Eventually the firemen got into the neighbors apartment.

Nothing was flooded.

And to my delight nobody was dead.


They then called the police because now our neighbors apartment had no lock. It was their duty to sit outside to make sure that nobody would steal from her. J asked if we could take a photo for my "diary" and the very tall police officer agreed.

All the doors are built to a normal height but looking at how tall the officer was makes me think he must be close to 2 metres tall if not more!

Woooh... I must look like a midget next to him!

The handyman came in to evaluate the damage and it wasn't long that our neighbor confessed that she had bought a new washing machine. After close inspection, they found that the tap was not properly fitted and water had seeped under the laminate. In turn the water found it's way through the cracks and into our kitchen walls. Apparently, they had to break a small hole in our neighbor's wall to dry the area.

Her insurance is paying for any damages and although it wasn't such a huge mess, it was still rather scary to think what could have happened and what bigger costs could have been involved.

We later heard that not too long ago another apartment had the same problem but the damage was quite bad that they had to remove the window and rebuild the wall. Now that would be totally messed up.

...

Everybody was grateful that the day didn't end up in tears or huge costs. I swear yesterday our apartment had seen the most visitors. Not only has four of our neighbors had a peek in our place but so has a fireman, a female police officer and a handyman.


A bottle of Sekt for only 2.29 Euros - what a bargain! A little sweet but still drinkable. What better way to keep the panic/stress at bay than to knock back a few glasses at the start of the afternoon.

Baby A turns One.

Once upon a time J and i were in the supermarket getting our groceries for the week and i panicked when he told me his ex was in the next aisle. This was around the time when his ex didn't know that he was dating someone new. We kept our relationship under wraps for some time - we had our valid reasons. Maybe she had an idea but wasn't sure. I don't know, it's not a topic i want to talk about with her anyhow. And with all the jealousy stories that i had heard whilst they were together and knowing how much they fought, i didn't feel like being the cause of another argument.

So my only reaction was to run to the end of the aisle.

I think i hid somewhere in the vegetable section. Not because i thought i could protect myself with cabbage or cucumbers but it was the closest i could get to and the most crowded. And if it meant ducking down to get a closer look at the floor to avoid eye contact, i was willing to scoop down to any level.

I also remember a time before that when J and i would avoid that particular supermarket all together in fear that maybe her neighbor will see him with me. Her neighbor apparently likes to talk a lot, so the last thing we wanted was another confrontation in case the neighbor decided to inform the ex that she saw J with some random Asian girl.

So for those few months we went to other supermarkets, even though they were more expensive. Why? To save the peace and so he could keep seeing Little L without a fight. It was a rather fragile time for everyone.

I wouldn't be lying if i said, i feared for my own safety.

[Fast forward to now...]

I just got off Skype after an hour. And guess who i just spoke with? J's ex.

Today is Baby A's 1st birthday. J has to work late tonight and so he told me to just jump on Skype and wish the little man.

"But you're not going to be at home. Isn't it better just to Skype with them tomorrow when you're around?"

"It's his birthday today, you have to."

"Okay fine. I'll put Skype on."

So i get a SMS from her 2 hours later saying she'll be back home around 7 my time and that we'll Skype later. [She now has my mobile number because when we were in Ireland J ran out of credit, so i used my phone to send her a message.]

Uh oh. I am now contactable, there's no turning back.


So anyway i get to sing happy birthday to him and we all clap together. I doubt he understands the concept of Skype as he was more interested in the headset and everything else around him. But she shows me what they bought him for his birthday - little cars that can roll down a ramp and he absolutely loves it!


And for such a small thing, he's got quite a grip and at the age where he wants to put everything in his mouth. I manage to get a screen shot of him as he tries to throw the ball but instead gets distracted by the head set that is sitting on the bed. Seriously, he's so cute and it wouldn't surprise me that when he grows up he'll be a heart breaker.


So i end up talking to the ex for most of the time. I'm not sure what we chat about but it was probably about the weather, the kids, upcoming holidays and our time in Ireland. In fact, 23 minutes into our conversation i think we were actually laughing.

About what? I'm not sure. Hard to believe that J and her used to argue so violently. But that's between him and her. I guess as long as we can all be grown ups and remind ourselves it's all for the kids, we should be alright.

I still can't believe i'm actually talking to his ex.

Later i spent a couple of minutes chatting with Little L, as i think she felt left out that i called just to chat with the mother and to wish Baby A. We play some random games to keep her entertained as i notice she's struggling to keep the conversation in English going.

I think we're all still trying to get used to the idea that we're all on talking terms. More importantly trying to build on some kind of relationship.

Back Home in Deutschland.

In a span of 5 days i took over 1000 photos, so in that sense i was the true tourist. Any chance i got, i busted out the camera and was trigger happy. Overall i had a great time and i even came home with a tan and a sun burnt nose. I thought Germany was pricey but Ireland is super expensive!

It's crazy.

On Friday there was some communication breakdown between us and them - them being J's ex and the ex's current boyfriend, but eventually that was cleared up and we all got on like a house on fire.

The very fact that i could converse in English made it so much more easier. Apart from J, my sister and my parents, i don't really speak English to anyone else. So being able to have a long conversation and to be understood felt sooooo good. Simple things like being able to leave the room and still being able to understand what's going on on the TV because it was in a language i understood, made me feel so much more comfortable.

Anyway, back to Us & Them, it was strange at the start.

I would imagine i had been flung back into J's past and i was in fact watching his past life with him and his ex. There we were sitting in the kitchen and our daily lives going by.

Not sure how to explain it but the whole situation is still very strange and new.

But we even went to the extent of all of us sitting down at the dining table and having meals together. Like one big happy family. And from the outside everyone seemed to be getting along just fine. We got along with the boyfriend and although the standard breaking-of-the-ice questions about the weather did come up, there weren't any uncomfortable silences. If all else fails, just talk about how great Little L is improving in English or how cute Baby A has become.

But we all agreed at the end of the day, all this effort was for the sake of the children and that that we all have to make this work.


But i have to say it was an exhausting trip but worth the visit. Basically from door to door it took about 12 hours. (Düsseldorf > Dublin > Waterford). Why is it that we're so close on the map yet so far in real life?


Oh and can i add, that i think it should be compulsory for all, especially children to cover their mouths when they cough! I curse that red-haired leprechaun child who insisted on coughing non-stop without covering her mouth throughout the whole plane journey back home.


I'm surprised there wasn't an announcement on the plane. On our flight from Düsseldorf to Dublin, the stewardess informed the passengers of Swine Flu and that should they need to cough or sneeze, they should do so in a tissue. And then continued on to informing us of ways of preventing the spread of germs - which i thought was good.

But what about the flight from Dublin to Düsseldorf? NOTHING! There was no such announcement.

Apparently this little girl and her mother hadn't heard of common courtesy and manners. And because of her, she is probably now spreading her germs in the city that i live in. In fact, i've heard most of the swine flu cases in Germany are here and it's only those damn travelers to blame!

Seriously, my paranoia made me even move from my original window seat to the vacant aisle seat. J even directed the air flow to blow in her direction, in hope that the germs would backfire and fly back into her face.

Seriously, it was so disgusting, i kept saying out loud, "COVER YOUR MOUTH CHILD!", hoping that she would hear or that her mother would get the idea. I kept turning around and giving her the evil stare. I didn't care. I don't want to be sick.

And the minute we were allowed to disembark from the plane, J and i bolted out the door. Her coughing kept following us. I swear, it was like a living nightmare. You should have seen the paranoid faces of the passengers who sat near her. Everyone looked quite stressed out each time she coughed.


All i can say is, please let me NOT be sick in the next couple of days.

Anyway, give me some time to sort through the pictures and collect my thoughts. I'll be back soon...

Fresh Rolls + The Luck of The Irish.

I woke up just past 10 this morning and found J still passed out beside me. Thursday was a public holiday, so it was odd to see him still in bed at that time. For the past week he's had the early shift and we've both been woken up by a screaming alarm at 6 am on the dot. The sun rises just after 5am but it's been raining pretty much non-stop for the past few days that it's always so gloomy in the morning.


I'm still not a Morning person, so the shit weather doesn't help. Occasionally we'll have bursts of sun which last all of a few minutes. Enough time to run to the car, to the corner store or in my case, take a photo of my Fuchsia flowers bursting with bubble gum coloured goodness.

So anyway, we had this sudden urge to check out the bakery up the road. Last week J needed to get his car serviced so he had to take the bus and on his way there he noticed that a new bakery had opened. Unsure whether they were still open since most bakeries tend to close early on public holidays, we decided to just check it out. We jumped out of bed, grabbed some loose change and were out the door within minutes.


They had a special deal which was hard to resist and was far cheaper than any other bakery we've been to. One had a choice between either four croissants or 4 Doughnuts or 5 bread rolls + 2 croissants for 2 Euros.


Apparently the guy had just opened the bread chain a month ago and was rather talkative. He was keen on sharing his ideas about how he intends to fix up the place and eventually take over the place and call it some other name. J was just as eager to join in on the conversation and fuel his excitement. Great entrepreneur and was very people friendly.


Since it started to drizzle again, we thought we'd get a coffee too and wait it out. So for 2 croissants +5 rolls + 2 freshly brewed coffee, it cost us 4 Euros which we thought was a really good deal and the croissants weren't too buttery or flaky. Plus the rolls tasted really good and weren't super hard that it would cut the roof of your mouth. I hate it when that happens!


We then decided to take a walk around the neighborhood and checked out all the houses. Each one was unique and some had much more character than the other. One particular garden had these strange looking flowers growing in their front yard. It looked like a creature from the deep sea ocean.


Once opened the pastel blue flower looked like it sat on a bed of thorns. Like a spider on a web but not really. It looked like it belonged in some science fiction movie. It was very strange looking.

...

But that was pretty much my day with random sleep intervals and last minute print outs. Oh in case you haven't been following my Twitter, J and i will be sitting on a plane in about 9+ hours on our way to Dublin, Ireland.


It was Little L's 7th birthday last week and so J thought it would be a nice idea if we go and surprise her. J's been missing her heaps lately and i can see this trip would mean a lot to him. I can't believe it's already been 2 months since we said our farewells at the airport.

But seeing that we couldn't be there for her actual birthday, we decorated a plate with cookies, cake decoration pieces and stuck 7 candles in them. We then lit them and sang her happy birthday. She doesn't look so excited in the photo but i think she's just waiting for us to stop singing.

And so over the weekend we told her we were sending her her birthday present and that it will arrive on Friday. We wrapped up a random box we found in her room and pretended that that was the package she should wait for. So yea, i don't think she has any idea we're coming to see her.

But i am certain she will freak out when we get there.

Guess what airlines we're flying with!?

Aer Lingus! No guessing whether the person who came up with that name had sex on his mind that morning. Seriously don't say YOU didn't think of that "C" word! I wonder if anyone has ever asked if they do any "extras" on board...

*Giggles to herself*

OK i'm being silly. I need to sleep soon as we're on the morning flight.

Anyway, tickets were really cheap because it's off season and if i'm not mistaken we only paid for the taxes. So all up it came up to 157.38 Euros for the both of us. Still not cheap but we're taking this as our annual holiday.


When we asked what she wanted for her birthday, her list included chocolate made in Germany. So we bought a variety and made one big mixed bag. We also thew in some Deutsche Bratwürste [German sausages]. We also got a game that teaches kids how to speak English but i reckon she'll be quite good at it already, as her English has improved drastically. Children are sponges in that way, they can absorb everything and languages are by far easier to comprehend when they're younger.

Although, i do reckon her mother is so not going to be too pleased knowing that we bought all this sugar for her. But oh well. It's not every day she turns 7 right?

But guess who's picking us up at the airport?

Yup, the ex and her boyfriend. Originally it was just the boyfriend but now apparently she wants to come for the ride. Her reason was so she knows the way there should she need to drive to the airport in the future. The airport to where we plan to stay [and the town that they live in] is about 3 hours away! Well it's going to save us 36 Euros for 2 one-way train tickets, so we can't complain.

But it sure is going to be a very interesting car ride. I wonder if war will break out? Who knows. Let's just hope the luck of the Irish will keep everyone at Peace and talking civilized.

Not sure if a game of "Eye Spy With My Little Eye Something Beginning With [insert an alphabet]..." would be a good ice breaker. By the way, the kids will be at school and Baby A will be at the day care centre, so it's not like we can direct the attention onto them.

Fingers crossed everything goes well.

Don't worry, i'll be sure to take photos. I'll be back next week. Have a great weekend and be good to yourselves!

Random road trip to 3 Cities.

I'm not sure what happened to the weather but over the weekend it pissed down hardcore. One can only blame global warming for such conflicting weather. We originally wanted to go for a drive to the neighboring cities on Saturday but the weather was so bad and neither one of us could peel ourselves from the sofa, so we decided to shift our road trip to Sunday [7th of June].

Just for your information Germany tends to cease function on Sundays meaning all shops and supermarkets are closed on that day as that is their "rest" day. So really there wasn't much to do but just to browse and have a feel for the city.

We had 3 cities in mind: Dortmund, Münster and Gütersloh.

I could try and tell you how to pronounce those above cities but even i can't even get them right. I often find myself stumbling over those damn umlauts [those dots above the 'u'] and swallowing my words. Yes the German language continues to confuse me like hell with its' grammar and tones.

Seriously i could bitch and moan until the cows come home but deep down i know i will have to learn to love it.

Grumble... grumble... Yes i know i have to get my arse back to German classes. I don't need reminding.


So our journey between Düsseldorf to Gütersloh was approximately 158 km, which according to Map24 it says it took an hour and 45 minutes. We figured we'd go to the furthest place first and then make our way back by hitting the other towns.

Gütersloh...

Unfortunately, i didn't take that many photos there. Not sure why i guess nothing struck me as exciting. An industrial small town with a population of just over 96,000. But they still managed to have all the big department stores like Karstadt and C&A but all at a smaller scale. One plus point was food and everything in general was much cheaper. For example a regular Margarita pizza at one restaurant was 2.50 Euros whereby the same sized pizza in Düsseldorf would be closer to 4 Euros.

Yes every cent counts.


The main city centre was rather small. I reckon one could check out the whole city centre in an hour, if not two. But in general the people really friendly. Everybody went along doing their own business. There were no evil stares and even though i was probably the only Asian there at the time, nobody seemed to mind, which was quite nice.

Oh and the town has a helluvalot of shoe stores. So if you're in need of shoes at a good price, head to Gütersloh!


I figured the people at Gütersloh must be really proud of their toilets because no where have i seen such a store that sold such a huge variety of toilet cleaners. This store seemed to stock every bathroom fetish desire.


Although i can't say too much about their fashion sense. Or perhaps they need to hire a new window display stylist.


A cow. Not much different to those overseas. I just thought i'd add some life to the pictures and the fact that i was pretty much at the country side.

Next stop was Münster...

A decent sized city with over 270,000 people living there. They have a big university there with many residents choosing to ride their bicycle every where. I can only assume because parking is expensive and the narrow roads make it hard to manoeuvre around.


This is one of the streets in the Altstadt. Basically bars and taverns line the street one right after the other. And on a good day the tables and benches would probably be filled with customers.


One store sold eyeglasses and in their display window had antique pieces and the old fashion lenses that they used to test ones eyes.


A little up the road one would get into the shopping district. There was a beautiful church in the middle of the cross section.


And the buildings stood side by side behind the of main street covered in cobble stones. Those featured stores had their names in bold gold coloured letters on the front of the buildings and each one was different than the next. Everything looked so fancy.


I couldn't get over how beautiful all the buildings looked. It was like a picture in a postcard or fairytale. A stereotypical view of what one could imagine a German city to look like.

But what a shame that the weather was so shit.

Final stop was Dortmund...


A much bigger city with a population of over 580,000. The city centre was massive! The streets were lined with stores and the pedistrian walkways were far wider than those that i'm used to.


The buildings were a mix of the old and the new. The detail on some of the buildings were gorgeous.

We stopped by Maccas in search for my Gemüse burger [vegetarian vegetable burger] but was disappointed to find out that their suppliers had not yet ordered them. Damn, it must be only in Düsseldorf. But look what i saw on the wall...


Mens World featuring the Hustler Fashion Party. For those that don't know, Hustler is like Playboy but not really. But seriously, my first thoughts were, only in Germany would it be considered OK that such a huge fast food chain be one of the sponsors for a brand known for their beautiful girls and sex.


With a random church being restored.


Even though it was 18 degrees, we figured we'd squeeze in an ice cream. The shop even had one ice cream dedicated to their very own BVB Dortmund football team [as seen in the top left corner in yellow and black].


Some random sign i found with interesting labels on them.


But i've noticed a trend in most of the German cities i've visited. They all seem to have a mascott. In Dormund's case they have the flying rhino. Not sure what that's all about but in various spots around the city one could find these flying rhinos as a marketing tool for a brand or store.


Quite clever and definitely eye catching. If i had the time and if i actually lived there, i would probably make it a point to try and photograph all of them...


For no reason, just thought it would be something to do.

Cutting Costs.

I'm trying to quit smoking.
.
.
.
Again.

My last attempt was at the end of 2007 - which i will add was somewhat successful as i made it to 5 weeks. But due to an unforeseen circumstance of my neighbor's mistress being murdered below my apartment and a certain someone pouring on the hatred on me, i succumbed to the evils of nicotine.

I calculated that a standard pack of 18 cigarettes costs about 4 Euros = RM20. I used to smoke about 10-15 sticks a day and the amount varies depending on my state of mind, intoxication level, boredom and situation.

Then when i moved to Germany my funds were down to a bare minimum. I was lucky to even be able to afford groceries. Even the occasional take-away coffee from those coffee wagons was considered a luxury.

Yes, i definitely learned the value of Money. Damn this exchange rate.

But my 15-year habit made it nearly impossible to give up. So i tried buying loose tobacco and that ended up being far more cost effective. I eventually taught myself how to roll minus the aid of a machine. Tricky at first but determined to make decent looking cigarettes without them resembling joints.

Eventually with much practice and patience my nimble fingers were able to put together a cigarette + paper + a slim filter in record time.

Majority of people who hand roll their own cigarettes will tell you that their cigarettes taste far better than those pre-made ones. And it's true. They will also prove that the burning time of a self rolled one is much slower, in turn saving money in the long run. Something to do with a different kind of paper. Somewhere i read that normal cigarettes use some kind of sugar laced paper which in turn makes the paper burn much faster hence smokers tend to smoke more as they only get a few drags per stick.

Then a few months ago, i swapped from my regular loose tobacco [which would last me about a week per bag] and cost a little over 4 Euros to a cheaper brand that tasted much better and was only 3.65 Euros.

But now we are told that the prices of tobacco and cigarettes are going up again, if they haven't already.

J and i calculated that if we both quit smoking, we'd save around 300 Euros each per year! That's if we continue buying the cheaper brand and that's NOT including the random normal packs we might buy. I mean if it means a partial plane ticket to fly half way across the world, then i'm all up for it.

So i'm taking it slow.


I'm down to the last scraps of dry as ass tobacco = enough to make a total of 1 cigarette. Not the best and not really worth it. But like in all emergencies, it is there to tame the bitchiness should it arise.

I think my partial collection of empty slim filter plastic bags dates back 7 months: 120 pieces x 13 bags= 1,560 cigarettes. And that number doesn't include the normal filters and those cigarettes that we smoked without filters.

So yea, it's quite a lot.

But i'm proud to say in the past 4 days i've smoked a total of 1.5 cigarettes!

And when the craving hits, i treat myself to two drags - which isn't technically "QUITTING" but the taste is rather off and that usually encourages me to put it out again.

So we'll see how long this lasts.

J's been really good at it, he's gone cold turkey! And he used to smoke way more than me per day.

Maybe if i put my mind to it, it'll be like my sudden decision to become vegetarian over night. I mean it's already been 6 years sans flesh. Why can't i do it with smoking? I mean if i wanna have kids ONE DAY, i said one day not anytime soon, i should start somewhere. Right?

Let's hope i don't get into binge eating.

...

It's way too early. I need to go back to bed. I can already hear the craving calling out to me. Repeat: Mind over Matter.

Shimmy Shimmy Unterbacher See

I know, i know i've been a bit slack lately when it comes to the posting. But seriously Time just seems to get the better of me. We're half way through the year and i'm writing about what i did the weekend before last as opposed to what happened during the weekend that just past.

So before it all catches up and i end up having a tonne of photos to sort through, i better post these up before it gets too late. Plus i need to upload the photos that i took over the weekend.

Anyway, the following photos are from the 30th May...

Again, apologies for the tardiness. Since our last visit to the Sechs-Seen-Platte, J checked online to see if there was a lake closer to home. And true enough there was one only 10 minutes away called Unterbacher See.


It so happened to be a beautiful weekend, and it seemed like everyone and their dog was out that day.


There was also a camping ground there and a relatively small mini golf area. The public could play mini golf for a small fee whilst campers had free access to it as part of their daily charges. In a separate area people could also rent barbecue pits for a day.


But our main aim was to head to the small beach. Unlike the beach that i'm used to with the sound of crashing waves, this beach was by the lake and was silent.


On one side you have the soft grass where people can lie where they please should they not like getting sand in odd places.


And then just a few meters ahead was the man-made beach. This was the closest i got to lying on sand without having to pay for a flight. Although access to this beach wasn't free, each person pays something like 3 Euros. But there's clean toilets, lockers and the area is very well taken care of. I can imagine when it's really hot, that place must get really packed!


Of course we came prepared with our own food. Whenever we can, we try and save and it sure beats having to pay for food that probably is over priced anyway. Our picnic bag consisted of nachos, cheese sandwiches and our very own fruit salad.


They had this orange plastic fencing around the water to prevent toddlers and children running out into the water unintended - which i thought was quite practical but a bit of an eyesore.


Lazing around on an over-sized towel, soaking in the sun and testing out our new shades.


Random birds would fly past and we'd watch ducks swim alongside some random woman whilst she did her laps.


Upon exiting there was even a sign to say the waters' temperature was 19 degrees celcius and the temperature in the air had climbed its way up to 23 degrees. We didn't make it in the water but maybe next time.


The journey back to the car was further than expected and one had to walk past the camping ground which was a good 15 minutes walk.

...


We decided we'd check out Rheingold, a dance club that we've gone to a few times. Usually every month they have this event that goes on for 3 days. Well technically if you go by the hour it only adds up to 36. But since they open their doors at 10pm on Saturday and only shut them on Monday at 11am, one could look at it as a 3 day event.


Local DJs played and it was a mix of tech-house, house and techno. And i have to say the crowd was relatively friendly and nobody gave us the evil eye so that was comforting. I have to say, i had really good time and the music was quite good.

We met this one guy who apparently says he's one of the DJs father. At first we were very weary cause out of nowhere this stranger buys us a round of soft drinks and tells us we should replenish our dehydrated bodies. Then J openly asks him whether he put anything in our drinks and of course he said no. You never know what kind of weirdo will spike your drink nowadays.

We waited an hour after our first sip and figured the drinks were safe. Constantly keeping an eye on the glasses in fear that somebody might spike them. But everyone was busy doing their own thing.

The guy basically stuck around us till we left and each time he went to go get a drink he'd get us a fruit juice, tequila shots, water or soft drink. What a nice guy we thought. At one point i felt guilty for taking the drinks but we were running out of credit on our drink cards and i was like a camel in a desert, i was so damn thirsty. Well it's not like we asked for the drinks and he seemed to want to buy them.

Strange but true.

[courtesy of tryy.de]

Anyway, it was so good to put on my dancing shoes again. I couldn't wait to shimmy the night/morning away. But like everything, it came at a price and unfortunately felt rather crippled when i got home 24 hours later. I'm not as fit as i used to be but my gawd, it felt good to be out and about again.

It felt like old times.