getting ahead of myself?

On the 14th of May I set out on another one of my adventures to Bonn. Of course to see the Wardzala-Panda and everyone else that I possibly could in Bonn. Always a fun time had and I also went to see Kick Ass which I absolutely loved very funny and very well filmed. Right now that seems like a life time ago.

On 21st of May set out for Hamburg for a weekend of fun and well the perfect excuse to be a tourist. What I did for 3 months in Hamburg really I will never know. There was so much more of it that I saw this time. On the first day we did lots of walking around and walked from the Reeperbahn to Hauptbahnhof. Nice big walk and got to see all of the sights around the docks, saw lots of boats, the weather was nice so we could sit outside. On the Saturday we went to miniature world which was awesome. ALOT of people were there though but it was well worth seeing the mini worlds that these people had created - I think my cousin David would have really liked the exhibition. Then in the evening we went to the Planetarium to watch 'the Cosmic Wall'. OH HOLY COW IT WAS AMAZING. Sitting back watching the images and the stars while lazers are going off and pyrotechnics as the music from 'the Wall' comes blasting out. The music was loud and the show was fantastic. It was just a shame we missed The Dark Side of the Moon the night before which also would have been amazing. If anyone is in Hamburg over the next few months and gets the chance to go to this then seriously go it was AMAZING.

Sunday we went to visit sister Kerstin and the girlies in Ohlsdorf. I had woken up with a stomach ache and thought oh maybe perhaps a little bit of food poisoning. I tried to ignore the pain and also asked my sister for some pain killers but the pain kept getting worse. We had a lovely afternoon in the garden playing on the swing and so did the girls playing with everything. Then we headed back to our hotel near the Reeperbahn. I was still in pain. I was in bed by 7pm and still in pain.

5am not improvement on the pain situation it was time to go to hospital. I signed in and then about 20 minutes later I had a drip in my arm. They had taken my blood samples etc everything else they needed.

I had to wait 3 hours for an ultrasound scan to inform me that I had gallstones in my gallbladder and that they would have to be removed, potentially on the same day. Up I was taken to a ward and I had to sign all of these different forms etc. Again they kept an eye on me but I had to wait until the Wednesday before they finally operated on me. They sent me to sleep and when I woke up I felt full of energy as I weirdly always do after anaesthetic but then the pain set in. I lay in bed for nearly a day and when I tried to get up oh my god the pain was unbelievable. It felt like my stomach was going to fall out or off from my body. Have been moving more everyday but everything is so strenuous even eating. Mum arrived on Wednesday evening shortly after Thomas had left to go back to Bonn. His journey was so long but I thank GOD that he stayed with me because I was terrified. mum asked the Doctors about how everything was now they had removed the gallstones but at that point I did not know they had also taken my gall bladder out. Every woman in our family (on both sides) has had the same problem so have now joined the club. If I ever have a daughter she will be stripped of her gallbladder from birth.

Drove back from Hamburg yesterday in a car and mum has to drive all the way to flippin Magdeburg to bring it back. Thankfully Stendal Kerstin has gone with her and so can help her. I just want to say a big thank you to every one; Thomas, The Heims, Dottie, Doctor Elena and Mr Bernhard for helping me on the way to recovery - hopefully now I won't be such a pain in the backside and will not be getting ill so much!

Love to you all
Steffi x

Frida Kahlo exhibition

Yesterday I took a train to Berlin to go and see the Frida Kahlo exhibition that was on at the Martin-Gropius-Bau near to Potsdamer Platz. The train ride was nice and short and then I walked from Hauptbahnhof to the gallery which took a fair while but it wasn't raining so it was ok.

As soon as I went in to the street where the gallery is half of it was filled up with people trying to get into the exhibition. So I started queing eventually when you get into the building there is alot more queing to be done. After giving in your coat and buying a ticket you then had to join another que which went up two flights of stairs and then around a large round balcony. 1 hour 45 minutes after I started queing I got into the exhibition.

It started with some photographs which her friends had taken of her and also some personal photographs from her family's collection. All very beautiful. The next room then began with her paintings and all of them were stunning. The one on this post is in the first room but there were so many people looking at it I just about managed to see it. Not only photographs, paintings and drawings were in this exhibition but also some personal items like her clothes and also a cast that she wore with I think the hammer and sickle painted onto it. It was really bizarre to see that and then see a photo next to it of Frida actually wearing the cast.

All in all I am so happy I got to see this for my little day trip it was definately worth it. My only problem was the amount of people there - I know she is a popular artist and also it was a Saturday so maybe I should have re-thought my going there. Still I have seen them now and made up for when I couldn't make it to London and now also don't have to go to Mexico (even though maybe in the future it would be really nice to go there).

After leaving my feet were completely dead but I had to walk back to Hauptbahnhof. Walked by the old section of the wall and also discovered the former Gestapo head quarters were next door to the Art Gallery. Then walked by the back of the Reichstag to see a memorial to the Russian soldiers and also to people who had died trying to escape the GDR. I went through the Tierpark as well and saw the memorial to all of the gay people who were persecuted during the 1930's - very sweet and very beautiful. Also saw the memorial to Peter Fechter who was a brick layer that tried to escape was shot and left to bleed to death. Very emotional!

Am on the last leg of my time here now and then my year abroad is finished. Am still working on the year abroad essay but it is beginning to take shape as there is not long to go now until it has to be handed in. 3rd of June is now less than 4 weeks away! The race is on.....

Last night I actually ordered some books for school and it is the first kind of matierials I have had to buy. Of course I am kind of reliving my childhood through buying them. A few Roal Dahls, a couple of Allan Ahlberg's who I didn't realise had written so many of my favourites including Funnybones and the Jolly Postman. I couldn't order Beatrix Potter which is annoying but I picked up a couple of other classic's like 'The Queen's Nose' and also Iron Man by Ted Hughes which I remember Mrs Davies starting to read with us in Year 2 but I can't remember if we finished. So I will be reading that one before the kids do.

reflections of my time - two and a half months too soon?

After watching Julie & Julia am feeling incredibly inspired by both characters. They both found something that they truly enjoyed and stuck through it even in the bad times. It is such an admirable quality and I wish I could say the same for myself.

I am such an impatient person and the quicker something is done the better. However doing something quicker isn't always the best way in fact the hare and the tortoise should have taught me that going slow can often make you a winner. Also if something is not worth doing then don't do it or in some cases I find ignore it until it completely goes away.

Today is Mai Feier Tag(May Celebration Day) in Germany and is also a good day for a bit of a political demonstration throughout the country as well as lots of fun for kids...not necessarily though political demonstrations even if the politcal parties do give out free balloons. Kerstin, Michelle and I headed off on our bikes to the Tierpark to see all of the animals. All very sweet indeed (A shame that they are in captivity) but nevertheless they all seemed happy. I saw the tiger who escaped last month and also some amazing baboons. No pandas and no penguins I am afraid.

After curry/bratwurst with pommes for lunch it was time to head to the fire station which had opened its doors. It meant that all of the engines were open to sit in and also lots of fire cadets (?) were around in their uniforms doing lots of different things. One of the things they had to do was a race to unravel the fire hose and blast a target with the water. Very entertaining but unfortunately no fires around which was not really fair considering it was a fire station.

After a long bike ride home - Michelle went back home and Kerstin went into the garden. I tried to catch the frogs but it was no use and I was not in the mood for gardening. With nothing to do - I got into bed for a snooze potentially missing out on the chance to go to the Spa. Maybe we will go tomorrow only time can really tell plus me hiding out in my room will not really help the situation either.

Today I had a very lovely phone call which cheered me up immensly - I went from feeling miserable to feeling extremely happy in the space of 10 minutes.

In two weeks time it is back to Bonn and then on to Hamburg for a few days. Since I am staying longer I will get to see more people and also unfortunately have to work really hard on my essay for University. It is so hard and laborious - I just don't understand how it is supposed to benefit me really. I don't know how I can find enough hours in the day to fit everything in.

Next week is the Cambridge test in Berlin - I am so excited and the kids are probably terrified. I have prepared them all as best as i can in the roughly 7 weeks I have had. This includes talking as much as possible about all of the topics and even in some cases about English history (see previous blogs). We have gone through all of the topics and I have given them a practise paper to do since they have only done one and if you don't feel confident on the exam layout then I think it will effect their performance. Aside from that I have my fingers cross that every one of those kids acheives something. They have truly been inspirational for me and I have loved getting to know all of them, shocking them with my German knowledge and helping them with their English & building their confidence. BRING ON THE TEST!