I have not got round to Christmas cards this year and the review of 2008 is still to come! So this is my chance to wish everyone a happy Christmas and a blessed 2009.
Monday, 22 December 2008
Sunday, 21 December 2008
Mystery...
Back in the summer I opened my mail box to find a copy of 'Just Walk With Me' and today I come home to find a copy of 'The Barbarian Way'. I have a mystery book donator! Not got round to reading the first book yet, but I've just looked up the second book and the reviews are far from positive...!!!
Saturday, 20 December 2008
Germany - Day 4
Our intentions of getting up early today did not happen! Once we were all awake we headed into Breman. We took a detour via Breast for Joel to take some photos!! We looked round more christmas markets and shops. It is a pretty little town and I really enjoyed the 'christmassey' feel to it all. I have got used to being in Germany and I will be sad to leave tomorrow.
Words we learnt...
alles gute = all good/best wishes
alles klar = all clear/understand
Words we learnt...
alles gute = all good/best wishes
alles klar = all clear/understand
Friday, 19 December 2008
Germany - Day 3
Today was a relaxing day. Tabea had to work so Joel and I chilled out a lot. It was nice to sleep in for a while! Joel and I ventured to the local playground and supermarket. Many funny pictures taken in both!!
We then went to join Tabea and her older youth group. We sat in on the end of a young kids group where tabea was doing a game that involved passing matches around! There is not the same level of health and safety here in Germany!! The phrase translated was 'I see a light, i have a light, i pass it on'. Joel and I had small testimonies translated that we shared with the group. I spoke about the move to n:flame and the gap year.
We then hung out with the group socially. It was fun trying to communicate across the language barrier.
We then went to join Tabea and her older youth group. We sat in on the end of a young kids group where tabea was doing a game that involved passing matches around! There is not the same level of health and safety here in Germany!! The phrase translated was 'I see a light, i have a light, i pass it on'. Joel and I had small testimonies translated that we shared with the group. I spoke about the move to n:flame and the gap year.
We then hung out with the group socially. It was fun trying to communicate across the language barrier.
- Words we taught Tabea and the youth...innuendo, thank-you-please, brap (!), mammories (!),'on me head son', 'you're havin a laugh'
- Words we learnt...heisse Schnitte = hot slice, heisse liebe = hot love
Thursday, 18 December 2008
Germany - Day 2
Far too tired this morning from all of the walking we did yesterday! Today Tabea had the morning off so we went to a town called Stade. More beautiful shops and Christmas markets. Purchased myself a few little treats. The most exciting thing was the camembert stall. My once a month purchase from Tesco was freely (in exchange for euros!) available on a market stall. Happy days!!
Still no snow today, I do feel cheated. That or the BBC website lied! Maybe I should write a strongly worded email to the met office!
This afternoon involved some chill time followed by a visit to Tabea´s church. We got to sit in on her hour of youth club. It was different to what I would call a youth club as it was everyone sat round a table for the whole time. Language is not my strong point and I felt so ignorant not being able to communicate with these young people, their English was definately better than my German. All Joel and I could mainly do was sit and listen! The church out here is different, people will attend but not actually base their lives on it. Tabea shared a story involving Mary & Joseph, but then told us that many of the young people will not actually know who they are! The session ended by singing some songs in English, including `What If God Was One Of Us`by Joan Osborne!
We then went to a big supermarket and stocked up on a few treats for the rest of our time here, we couldn´t get too much as our hand luggage is limited, mine especially!! The rest of the evening was relaxing and I got the chance to meet with a guy who would like to follow Jan´s example of doing an n:flame gap year, but in 2010/11!
Words we learnt today....
arschkarte = loser!
tschuess = goodbye/see you
(Found out that Andy who was here previously had taught the youthgroup 'cow tipping' and 'skinny dipping'!!)
Still no snow today, I do feel cheated. That or the BBC website lied! Maybe I should write a strongly worded email to the met office!
This afternoon involved some chill time followed by a visit to Tabea´s church. We got to sit in on her hour of youth club. It was different to what I would call a youth club as it was everyone sat round a table for the whole time. Language is not my strong point and I felt so ignorant not being able to communicate with these young people, their English was definately better than my German. All Joel and I could mainly do was sit and listen! The church out here is different, people will attend but not actually base their lives on it. Tabea shared a story involving Mary & Joseph, but then told us that many of the young people will not actually know who they are! The session ended by singing some songs in English, including `What If God Was One Of Us`by Joan Osborne!
We then went to a big supermarket and stocked up on a few treats for the rest of our time here, we couldn´t get too much as our hand luggage is limited, mine especially!! The rest of the evening was relaxing and I got the chance to meet with a guy who would like to follow Jan´s example of doing an n:flame gap year, but in 2010/11!
Words we learnt today....
arschkarte = loser!
tschuess = goodbye/see you
(Found out that Andy who was here previously had taught the youthgroup 'cow tipping' and 'skinny dipping'!!)
Wednesday, 17 December 2008
Germany - (full) Day 1
So Joel and I arrived safely in Germany last night. We are staying with Tabea in Ahlerstedt, North Germany. To save on costs we decided to take just hand luggage, and I some how coped with this!! The size of my case for 5 days is amazing!!
Tabea took us round Hamburg today. As it is my first trip to Germany everything was exciting for me. We saw lots of Christmas markets and wandered round lots of shops. The signs and langauge make for some amusement at times. I have taken quite a few photos, but sadly only brought my compact camera with me! (link to photos to follow, once I have uploaded them back in the UK!) We walked miles and miles around the city and it was so good to sit down in a bar at the end of the day and have a banana beer! We saw the harbour, the red light district, the football stadium, went up St Michael`s church tower, ate crepes and much much more.
It was supposed to snow today, but did not. We were quite sad about this! It has been so good to see Tabea again. I wish I had got to know her more when she lived in North London! She is being an awesome translator and tour guide.
Words we learnt today....
ausfarhrt = exit
weihnachts markt = christmas market
Tabea took us round Hamburg today. As it is my first trip to Germany everything was exciting for me. We saw lots of Christmas markets and wandered round lots of shops. The signs and langauge make for some amusement at times. I have taken quite a few photos, but sadly only brought my compact camera with me! (link to photos to follow, once I have uploaded them back in the UK!) We walked miles and miles around the city and it was so good to sit down in a bar at the end of the day and have a banana beer! We saw the harbour, the red light district, the football stadium, went up St Michael`s church tower, ate crepes and much much more.
It was supposed to snow today, but did not. We were quite sad about this! It has been so good to see Tabea again. I wish I had got to know her more when she lived in North London! She is being an awesome translator and tour guide.
Words we learnt today....
ausfarhrt = exit
weihnachts markt = christmas market
Tuesday, 9 December 2008
Monday, 8 December 2008
Festive Gathering
Here a shot of me and everyone who is either on the GAP year in a full or part time capacity. I've really enjoyed working with them so far this year and look forward to all that 2009 has in store.
Monday, 1 December 2008
Film Review
Firstly I had to look up what Changeling meant, as there was no reference to it in the film. This is what Wikipedia had to say, and it makes sense! I did not read anything about this film, had only seen the trailer, so did not know what to expect really. The production of the film with the 1920s-30s setting was good, (I found Angelina Jolie's costumes amazing!). There was a gory element to the film that was totally unexpected, so I give a warning now. It seemed a very long film, and I kept expecting it to end on a few occasions and it didn't. As this film was based on a true story, I found it amazing how corrupt the LAPD was then. I would reccomend going to see this film if you have a spare 141 minutes!
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