Between Paris and Now…

… a lot of things have happened.  These things were important, but not large enough to take up a whole blog post each, so I’m writing a bit of a bits and pieces blog to update my lovely fans (that’s you, if you’re reading this) on my lovely life.

1.The twins turned 1. I’m pretty sure they didn’t really get what was going on, but I was excited.  I’m sewing them summer dresses as a present (they’re not finished yet, but neither is winter so that’s ok!) and I’m still excited that they’re actually a year old!!! We celebrated with extended family coffee and cake – in true Erichshof style, there were approximately 10 cakes! 

2. Australia Day (this actually happened on the same day as #1).  Celebrated by going to the pub with Ellie (the other Aussie Au Pair!!), drinking beer, eating Tim Tams and playing cards with Aussie Flag playing cards (thanks Courtney!)

3. Max’s Birthday.  Celebrated at his house with his extended family.  There was pizza.  I gave him M&M’s, movie tickets, a Ferrari, and my last packet of Tim Tams (it was a double pack, and no, he still hasn’t given me any even though he said he would).  It was a lovely night!  I don’t have a photo of the night, but here’s the photo of us that I gave him for Christmas.  Photography by a super wonderful photographer.

4. 6 Months with Max.  That went fast!  Celebrated by sending each other cute little text messages because we were both at work (lame, I know, but we’ll celebrate it sometime soonish!).  Here’s another photo of us because we’re just so cute.

*Just a short commentary to this photo: this was taken the night we met – he was trying to tell me he would beat me in a fight (or maybe that we should have a fight?  It was 6 months ago – I don’t remember exactly!) As you can tell, I took him very seriously!

5. Winter arrived.  This was celebrated by whinging all day how cold it is, avoiding leaving the house at all costs, and checking the calendar 5 times a day to see if Summer is any closer.  I did, however, leave the house at –14 degrees one morning, and was gone for a significant amount of time.  I had to buy Max’s birthday present.  I also left the house one or two other times, but otherwise, it’s been Indoor Rachel for the past couple of weeks! 

6. Yesterday the Maschsee was “Freigegeben” – in English that means “given the all clear”.  This means that it’s completely frozen – minimum 13cm ice in ALL parts of it and you’re allowed to go on it.  You’re allowed to go on it in Summer too, but then you have to have a boat.  Today I went on it without a boat.  That was fun.

7. Sarka and I went to the Ice Disco  tonight.  That’s like the school disco except in the Ice Skating Rink.  It was way cool.

That’s all I have, so I’ll leave you with this photo of the cutest 1 year olds alive.

Winter

Temperatutes this past week or so have dropped severely. And that's putting it mildly. Today was MINUS 5 and that's pretty warm.

On Thursday morning it was MINUS 14 (YES - FOURTEEN!!!!)and I actually left the house.

Also, we had snow.

Paris, the city of….. love?

So, contrary to what I was previously informed, I did not love Paris. 

I liked it, sure, but really, it wasn’t amazing.  Everyone talks about how it’s such a beautiful city and so amazing and everything, and quite frankly, I didn’t see that at all.

Now I have to say, Paris has never been super high on my Must See List.  Not that I doubted it’s amazingness prior to going there, just that there are other things I wanted to see first.  However, compared to every other city I’ve been to, big or small, actually, the small towns as well, there’s always a surprise.  If you look for it, if you get lost, take a wrong turn, go searching for something to eat, or just take a tip from someone else who did, you’ll find an amazing cafe, or a piece of art or the Centre of Britain (really happened.), or a park or SOMETHING.  In Berlin there’s always something new to see – someone does something crazy or the light hits something in a different way and transforms it.  In London there’s SO MUCH to see (Berlin too), in Budapest every single thing you see is stunning.  You walk a metre and then take another photo.  In Copenhagen it’s stunning and fun and interesting.  Every city or town is like that.  I’ve seriously loved everywhere I’ve been, except Paris.

Now don’t get me wrong, I had a great time there, and saw some REALLY beautiful things – the Eiffel Tower, l’Arc de Triomph, le Palais Garnier (Paris Opera House, aka my new home.  Seriously, I love it.), Notre Dame, the Louvre, the river, it was all absolutely stunning.  And Montmartre (where my hostel was) – the Moulin Rouge (did I mention I was just around the corner from it???), the Pigalle (red light district), the artists areas are all funky and cool and heaps of fun but you go to Paris with a list of things to see and do and when your list is complete there’s not much else – there’s no surprises, nothing changes, nothing’s new.  And all that in one of the most expensive cities for tourists in all of Europe!  The only thing I wanted to see and didn’t get time for was Versailles.  And one day when I’m rich I’ll go back and go to the opera there.  But otherwise, I don’t feel the need to ever return to Paris.

Anywho, enough of me ranting about Paris and it’s less-than-averageness, let’s get to the good stuff, namely, what did we get up to?

The first night we went for food and a walk – we ate at a Brasserie which had great chicken and chips, fabulous wine, and what more could you want?!  And we walked around and saw a few different things – a church, the Palais Garnier Opera, a few other things, and then headed back to hotel and hostel to sleep.  The next day we headed out for a fabulous free walking tour (I flippin LOVE New Europe Tours – without a doubt the best tours I’ve ever done.  And they’re free!  Thanks for the tip Nikki!) which covered most of the major sites, then we had lunch in a little cafe with the guide (and by golly it was a good lunch!).  Then we went to the Eiffel Tower, waited a LOOOOOOOONG time, but not too long considering what we were told it would be, caught the lift up to the 2nd floor (top floor was closed) and managed to be up there in time for sunset!  How perfect!!!  Paris, the Eiffel Tower, sunset…. how romantic!  And who did I have to share it with?  My boyfriend?  A mysterious tall, dark and handsome man?  Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant? No.  Mummy, Daddy, my brother and my sister!!!  Wow!

The next day we headed firstly to my one and only must-see – the Palais Oper Garnier, aka the Paris Opera, aka setting of the Phantom of the Opera aka AMAZING THEATRE!!!!!  It seriously was so beautiful, you cannot understand.  And you’re only allowed as a tourist on 3 levels!!!!  No fair!  There’s 5 underground levels PLUS the above ones I WANT TO SEE IT ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  You can have no idea how much! Anyway, as we were there they were checking the set functions for the Danish Royal Ballet performance and let me tell you that set was beautiful.  For my theatrically inclined friends, I have several photos, let me know if you want them! Then we went to Notre Dame, also beautiful, and, interestingly enough, the film The Hunchback of Notre Dame is remarkably accurate in its portrayal of the inside of the cathedral, especially the altar.  So there’s a fun fact for you.  We then headed to the ENORMOUS Louvre for a VERY quick trip – we saw some Michelangelo, the no-nose Sphynx sculpture, the Venus de Milo, the Mona Lisa (thanks to my crowd negotiating skillz aka my semi violent pushing and shoving of several little old ladies and their abnormally huge male relatives I managed to get right in front of her!) and my new fave sculpture, pictured here.  ISN’T IT LOVELY AND AMAZING?!! Anyways, then we went to l’Arc de Triomph which was nice because by then it was sunset and everything was pretty and then we walked down the Champs Elysees and then it was time to go get my stuff from the hotel and head for my train.

Now THAT was a hard goodbye.  Seriously.  Cried a fair bit on the train and the man sharing my compartment was kind enough to pretend not to notice.  Then I got back to Hannover at 6am (oh, how I hate overnight trains) on Saturday morning, took the tram and the bus back home, crawled into bed and slept for 3 hours, before being woken by an SMS from mum asking if I got there ok, and then 2 minutes later one from Max apologising that he didn’t pick me up from the train station (I’d said he didn’t have to but apparently he planned to anyway then slept through his alarm or something!).  How lovely.

Letting off Fireworks At Midnight!

Our Adventures continue with heroine Rachel and her family in Europe. The setting: New Years Eve...

The family arrived in the afternoon and we all had coffee and biscuits. Or cake. One or the other. The kids were VERY excited to finally meet them and as you can imagine they showed it! Daniel was dragged off to Magnus' room to play and Henny took Sarah on a grand tour of the house - she saw the play room, Henny's princess box, the girls' bedroom, Hennys bed, Hennys old bed, Johannas bed, Johannas old bed, and the twins beds. So everything important. Meanwhile the babies played cute and Johanna got all shy and pretended like she hadn't spent the last 3 days asking every half hour when Sarah would arrive.

Sometime later Max came over for New Years Eve dinner. We all ate together (all 8 adults, 3 kids - the twins went to bed!) at the giant table in the dining room. It was a SUPER delicious meal - a meat fondue with 3 different types of meat marinated and then there was sauces and stuff to go with it. YUMMY!!!

At some stage Henny and Johanna dropped off and were taken upstairs to sleep, but Magnus managed to stay awake and a bit before 12 we got all rugged up and headed out the front. There we met Hanns' parents and his aunt who came over from their house up the road to join us for the fireworks. In Germany, as well as the official New Years fireworks like we have in Sydney, for New Years, everyone is allowed to let off their own fireworks. And from the field road we can see the fireworks in Hannover, and in all the villages surrounding us so when 12 hit the whole sky was full of beautiful fireworks - and the boys all had fun letting off ours too!!!

On Sunday Max met us again at the house and Mum, Dad, Daniel, Sarah and Johanna joined Max and I at church. There weren't lots of people there because it was New Years Day but it was a lovely morning, I thought. Then we went to Burger King for lunch and let me tell you, you aint never seen anyone eat chips until you've seen Johanna eat chips. That girl is a machine. Then we went to take a look around the Town Hall which has cool scale models of Hannover pre- during- and post- war. Johanna fell asleep on the way so we all took turns carrying her and then I sat on the steps in there like a hobo and waited till the others were finished. Oh well, I've been there before, anyways. Mum has photos of Hobo Rachel and Loudly Snoring Johanna, I'm sure.

On Monday the family went with Hanns on a little tour of the farm and I stayed inside where it wasn't raining! In the afternoon we headed into Hannover and just sort of had a walk around the main pedestrian area - Sarah did a bit of shopping and we headed into a cafe for some fabulous hot chocolate on a tip from Hanns (I will DEFINITELY be going back there). We headed home and Mum and Dad made pizza for dinner and camped out in front of the TV for the night while Daniel, Sarah, Max and I headed to a cocktail bar to meet Sarka - my very first friend in Germany! It was lovely.

Tuesday we drove up to Bremen and met up with Dads cousin who lives there. It was so cool to be able to finally meet so many of Dad's family members, especially one who lives SO CLOSE to me!! We went into town and met up with his wife and they showed us a little around Bremen before we went home and I rushed upstairs to get ready for... The Christmas Present From Max!! (Yes, I went on a date while my parents were here - don't judge it was a one night only event in Hannover!). The Christmas Present was tickets to a German Production of Phantom of the Opera - yes, I think it's safe to say he's a keeper! It was a fabulous night!

Wednesday my family drove to Berlin and I stayed home. But it's ok because then they came back and took me to Belgium and France with them!

The Silly Season

So.  Here it is.  The one you’ve all been waiting for.  What DID I get up to with my family here in Europe?  What DID they think of my host family?  What did my host family think of them?  What did they think of Max?  Of Germany?  These questions, and more, answered in this post.

So on the 20th of December I got up WAY too early, said goodbye to Gritta, was driven to the airport (thanks Max!), flew to London, took the bus, and then another bus to my aunts house and met Dad and Daniel.  Then we headed to Camden to meet Sarah and Mum.  All soppy family reunions aside (no there were not [too many] tears), we spent the next few days catching up with Sharon and Alyce (my aunt and cousin, for those lame enough not to know) and checking out London.  Highlights include the Twinings Tea Shop (potentially my favourite place in London), the Eye, and the Tower. 

Also managed time for a super quick catch-up with everyones favourites Tom the Bomb and Will the Kill…..er (yeah I panicked and couldn’t think of a rhyme.  A special prize to the person who comments this blog with the best rhyming nicknames for Tom and Will).  We went to Winter Wonderland and went on the giant ferris wheel and someone (no names) was scared but thats because there was a GIANT GAP IN THE DOORS so I totally understand. 

On the 22nd we got in the car and drove up to York (wanted to visit the Grand Old Duke but he had a doctors appointment.  He’s pretty old these days, you know) where we stayed in a fabulous guest house with delicious food and a waiter who comes from Egypt, lived in Finland for 3 years (also speaks Finnish – this confirmed by eavesdropping on his conversation with the next table), also lived in Germany for about 6 months, doesn’t speak that much German, and now lives and works in Yorkshire, England.  Now there’s an accent you don’t hear every day!

Went on a fabulous tour of York Minster, the guide being my new adoptive grandmother (not that my existing two grandmothers aren’t good enough – YOU TWO ARE SUPER AMAZING – but she was just so hilarious that I had to keep her) and then drove on up to South Shields, where we stayed in a 2 bedroom flat a couple of blocks from the house where Sharon was born, and a couple more blocks from where Dad was born. 

The day after that Sharon and Alyce came and joined us in our (very cosy) flat and we went to visit Val (Dad’s cousin) and her hubby for tea.  This was exciting because I met Val in July and Dad hadn’t seen her since he was 13 so I won at that. 

After a wonderful Christmas at home with Sharon and Alyce we spent the next couple days looking around Shields where Dad and Sharon were little.  Then we had a mega family reunion at the local pub (where else?!) where it was really amazing to meet all of Dad’s family – cousins, even an uncle!  It was super fantastic and I can’t wait to go back and see them all again!

However, all too soon it was over and I had to take a 6 hour bus trip back to London, sleep at Sharons and then take a horrendously early bus to the airport and a plane home, to be met my the wonderful Max.  Went back to his first and ate some delicious food, then when I went home I was greeted by 3 excited children – they were all trying to get out the door to see “if Rachel’s finally there!”  I called out “Rachel’s here now!” and Johanna yelled back “Rachel I’ve been waiting for you!!!!” Afraid much? We’ll see.

Stay tuned for the next exciting episode of Rachel’s Adventures in Europe (Accompanied by her Family).

In which Silvester is Celebrated, church is attend, cake is eaten, games are played and a surprise is announced.

Thoughts on Paris

REALLY SORRY I PROMISE I have the blog about Christmas and my parents visit and all that drafted but it's not finished and quite frankly I'm exhausted so you'll just have to wait.

However a REALLY quick update.

My thoughts on Paris: Meh. An average city with a few beautiful things in it. Not my favourite city in the world and never will be, but it's not the worst either. Somewhere in between.

My thoughts on the Paris Opera: Somebody call the phantom and tell him to put the kettle on because I am moving in!!

More later.

Christmas, and the Coming.

First up: MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Just wanted to post that as well as giving you guys a super detailed (well, for the first half of the post until I realise how long it takes to write so much and give up)look at Christmas here in Germany, before I relate to you my feelings on what shall from here on be referred to as The Coming.

Christmas in Germany is like 17 Fairytales rolled into one. Seriously. Christmas markets are all the rage, as are CLASSY (READ: No tinsel or other 'gaudy' things) decorations. Think (white) fairy lights and Christmas Trees ALL OVER THE CITY. Every city. And every house. Look at my Dresden photos for more details, but this picture is taken in a Train Station. Yes, you read that right. A train station. And it looks like that all over Hannover, all over our house, all over Max's house, and every other place I've been to the last few weeks.

They also celebrate Advent here so every Sunday we light another candle and the kids get to open a packet from their Advents Calendars every day. It's all very lovely and exciting. And yes, of course everyone's got shopping fever here but somehow it's not as bad as in Sydney when it's ONLY about how much stuff you can buy. It's much more about family and tradition here. I like it so far.

This weekend has been my German Christmas Weekend. Friday night I was with Jenny and Sarka - the last time we'll be together all 3 till after New Years - Yestderday Sarka went to Berlin and then tomorrow (lucky lady) she goes HOME to Czech Republich to her FAMILY for Christmas. Jealous much? Yes. But soon is The Coming so it's ok. And on Tuesday I'll be in London with MY FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm a bit happy. So we went to Jenny's, watched a movie and ate Pizza, chips, biscuits and chocolate. And M&Ms. It was good.

Then yesterday was Christmas with Max. That was fun - he was allowed to plan something and then he wouldn't tell me what it was. He just said on Saturday as he was leaving home to pick me up "pack your bikini and a towel" I was like "ok.....". First we had to go to Hannover and there we met the lovely Caroline. She wasn't feeling too good so Max invited her along too. We went and got her swimming things and went to . Yes, the site's in German, but take a look at the pictures. It was amazing! We went in that pool that goes round and round and then it also has a whirlpool there. Then we went in the pool where it's super warm and you are inside and then you swim outside and that was pretty cool. Then we went in the Sauna and then back in the fun pool at the start. Then we all went and drank cocktails (Mojito with Mango = AMAZING) and then we all went home. GOOD TIMES. Not telling what my present was - you'll find that out later but I WILL say, it's super awesome.

Today. Was church. And now I'm at home and later I'm going to the GodZFellaZ (the Young Adults group) to drink Feuerzangenbowle (see for a recipe) and watch the film of the same name. Good times.

And now: The Coming.

They are, indeed in Europe, kind of MY AUNT to inform me because they couldn't even do it themselves, and I will see them on Tuesday. Party ALL the time. Frog ALL the day. Excitement plus.

Also, Johanna is way too excited to meet Sarah.

Dresden Wrap-Up

So on the weekend I was in Dresden. It was pretty rad.

Kendall and I took the train down - after a small adventure on the way to the train station, that is! We sat on the train for a long time, where I enjoyed my first ever slice of pumpkin pie (left over from Kendalls thanksgiving feast). I'm still a little weirded out by sweet pumpkin, but it wasn't bad. We had a half hour stop in Leipzig and we walked around and bought fruit and stuff and then got on the train to Dresden.



Interesting side note: On both of our trains (yes, including the one that left at 9:36am) were groups of people drinking sekt. Actually, on the first train they were also doing shots. Fun times!

Anywho, so we got to Dresden, took a roundabout way to the hostel, checked in and decided to go for a walk while we waited for Max to arrive (Max's boss is stupid and made him work Saturday so he drove down later).

We walked down the street, discovered an AMAZING TEA SHOP, walked a little further, then both decided we wanted to go in. So we walked back and looked at the menu in the window, agreed that we wanted to go in, I actually started opening the door and then my phone rang. "I'll be there in 5 minutes, we're meeting at the hostel, right?" Thanks Max. We went to the hostel and waited, then when Max was checked in we dragged him right back to England England (the tea shop) and Kendall and I had 'Tea For Two' (we got NINE cups of tea out of this pot)and drank out of Royal Albert tea cups :)

Then we went walkies and saw lots of Christmas Markets. That's the big thing here - Christmas Markets. Germans LOOOOOOOOVE Christmas! ANyway, that's about the theme of the whole weekend. We walked around the city and looked at Christmas markets. But I'll tell some other highlights too.

Kendall and I tried our first ever Glühwein - mulled wine popular at this time of year - and it was amazingly delicious!

We had cocktails at the hostel bar - not the most amazing cocktails in the world but not so bad either.

Ate breakfast at the hostel.

EXCITING/HILARIOUS EVENT:

We were at the main Christmas market in Dresden and a TV crew spotted us and started interviewing us - how do you like the market and so on, then they asked where we come from (I was the one doing most of the talking) and I said that I'm Aussie, Max is from Hannover and Kendall is from America. After they finished interviewing us (in German), they said to Kendall (in English) "You speak English, come here we'll do another one in English" and dragged her off to do an interview in English. At this point Max and I looked at each other, and started laughing. In case you were wondering, apparently we don't speak English in Australia. I still can't believe that I wasn't asked to do a TV interview in English!

Anywho, then we walked some more and then we said goodbye to Max and got on our train home. And that was Dresden.

Languages Are [Sometimes] Fun!

So for all you sorry souls out there wondering just how hard it is to learn a foreign language, here's a little update on my boss German skillz (apologies for the z but I'm still convinced it makes me look more gangsta).

As most of you will or will not be aware, in March I took my one and only intensive German course. That means I did 5 weeks of school, 4 hours a day, 4 days a week. This was what is commonly known as the A1.1 course. As in, super basic beginners course, which was a tiny bit too easy for me after about 1 month here in Germany.

Fast forward a few months, it's now November, and next weekend I'll have been a whopping 10 months in Germany. Today I went to the school to do the 'test' to see which course they should put you in.

What I learned from this test:
1. I am a problem child (tell us something we don't know)
2. The reason I am, in this particular instance, a problem child, is that I speak SUPER GOOD GERMAN, but have SUPER BAD GRAMMAR.
3. This means for my speaking skillz (see? Gangsta!) I wouldn't even bother doing another course, but for my Grammar skillz (you saw it that time) I should start from the very beginning.

PROBLEM???

YES!

The lady was nice though and told me a few things about previous students with similar problems and such and ended up saying B2, which is more than I expected, and then she said "I hope you don't find it TOO boring" (talking about the speaking skillz), which was really nice of her.

However, I'm not paying that much money to be bored, I know plenty of places I can get that for free! So, I went out and bought 2 German Grammar help books and from now on until I finish the books I'll be doing 1 hour every day of German grammar work at home. This will include not only the grammar books, but reading every day a short article in the newspaper, and reading some German novels. Gritta said she would help me choose some that were well written and fairly simple. So that's good.

If my grammar improves, I'll sign up for a special course that prepares me to take the German as a Foreign Language Test, and if not, I'll sign up for the course they wanted me to take, then prepare myself for the German as a Foreign Language Test.

This test, not if, but when I pass, will give me:
1. An internationally recognised certificate that says I can speak German
2. The ability to work and, more importantly,
3. ... Study here in Germany.

(I can also work without the certificate, but having it helps).

So thats where it's at, yo (another gangsta reference for those keeping up)

Baby, it's cold outside...

It's getting cold.

Like today in the middle of the day it was 0 degrees. Like, no degrees. That's not cool. Or rather, it is, and that's a problem.

My father was thoughtful enough to post this on my facebook the other day:
"I can remember Rachel saying she was cold when a breeze came through the window one day. It was 35 degrees. When she said she was going to Germany I did not think she would last this long."

Firstly, thanks Dad.
Secondly, this update is for you.

I'm doing ok. Really. I have gloves and a beanie and a jacket and all on, but I'm doing ok. Not avoiding leaving the house yet, although Max told me it's going to start getting cold around the start of December, in reply to which I thought firstly "Cold? What the heck are you talking about? IT'S 2 DEGREES!!!" and secondly "Oh by golly, how cold?". He than went on to say "You know, like -15." Like, MINUS 15. MINUS.

I'll keep you posted.