Maternal grandparents' 55th anniversary

It was like a small-scale family reunion. Very nice to see everybody again and spend a whole day together. We went for a nice long lunch and then had coffee at our place. Below some of the snapshots and also some photo album family shots ;-)


This is my whole family (mum's side). From left to right (back row): my cousins Reinhard and Wolfgang, my uncle JuKu, Markus my brother, my dad. Front row (left to right): Reinhard's pregnant girlfriend Anne (it's a girl and she's due in about three weeks!!!), my great-aunt Mini Godi, Wolfgang's girlfriend Tamara (Fabi's Mum), my aunt Helga, my mum and me. On the bench: Oma und Opa.


Reinhard - soon to be a dad - and Wolfgang, my bro and me. We don't hang out much, which is a shame because they're the only two cousins I have. Them having kids has brought us all together again, which I think is really great.


Familie Rheiner, all dresses up and in a good mood. Enjoy while it lasts....



And of course - last but not least - my godson FABI!!!! Isn't he adorable... with his little baby-tie *hihi*

This is my world at the moment... Books, books and still more books.
Studying for my English finals alone or with my study group. In my room or in the kitchen (sometimes even on the balcony!!) - that's about the only variation there is...
8/28: Translation
9/4: "Modernism" 5-hour written exam

This coming weekend my maternal grandparents celebrate their 55th (!) wedding anniversary so I will go home to Nürtingen, spend the night and celebrate my b-day (8/23) there, too.



These are the anniversary grandparents Oma and Opa Gottschling (with my godson Fabi the day before his christening).

And just for good measure, these are my father's parents, Oma und Opa Rheiner, some time in April when Sean and I went there for a short visit.

Graduation - Master of Arts

Me, myself and I... Unfortunately I was here in Germany when the big graduation ceremony at BU was held, back in May. Nevertheless, I thought I should have some sort of symbolic picture-taking-session and so I borrowed a gown from the English Department at Freiburg University and these are the results... (thanks to Juli, my landlady's daughter, who kindly took on the role of the star photographer :-)

*big smile*

These pics are taken in Frau Knudsen's garden in the back of the house. And you probably can't see it but it's crazy hot today. Sweating for the family photo album ...

That's what they do in the movies, right? I have no idea if people really ever throw their hats around... Anyway - it's fun!











...so... what's next?
Finish my degree here in Freiburg (English in the summer and German in spring 2010) and then get married :-D

Whatever comes along after that - I'm excited!!!

Engaged!

It happened in Antwerp, outside the main train station :-p
Sean asked me and I said yes. Best answer I ever gave...

This is the ring. We called it the Art Nouveau Ring. Because the setting looks like a tree or a flower, holding the diamond elegantly. It is very beautiful, don't you think?

Small world - tall people

Just so it's official - I feel small!! Yes, doesn't happen too often but
because my landlady is 15 cm (!) taller than me, I feel small when I'm at home ;-)

Frauenpower: Frau Knudsen, Marion and Juliane (her daughter)

On the far left is Frau Knudsen's boyfriend - he is paralyzed. This is the most tragic story: One night he woke up and had pains in his back. Minutes later they were in hospital but they couldn't help him. A little vein close to his spinal column is blocked as he consequently cannot use his feet etc (basically everything from the shoulders down). He can still move his arms and use a whellchair. Isn't that sad? Apparently he was the most healthy and athletic guy, and over night...

**SMILE**
Frau Knudsen, Marion, Juliane

Green, green Freiburg

Freiburg was the first city in Germany to have a 'green' mayor (i.e. who belongs to the Green Party). Now Tübingen also has one...them copy cats!

Then the New York Times featured a front page article on Vauban, one of the suburbs of Freiburg, calling it an 'upscale community' because they banned cars from the area. Chekc it out:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/12/science/earth/12suburb.html?scp=1&sq=in%20german%20suburbs,%20life%20goes%20on%20&st=cse

So, I wonder what's next on Freiburg's progressive agenda...? ;-)

Serbian Wedding

I went to a wedding on the first May weekend. It was my second cousin Monika who got got married to a Serbian-German guy. Our presence was more of a symbolic gesture of family support, rather than because we knew them so well. All three generations were represented: my grandpa Rheiner was there, my aunt Geli and my parents and, well, me.






This is a family shot with (from left):
Geli, one of my grandfather's nieces, the bride's mother Christa, grandpa (Opa), the bride's father Ionel, my mum and dad.











The wedding ceremony took place at an orthodox church and all the talking was done entirely in Serbian (which the bride also couldn't understand, strangely enough...).










There was lots of Sebian dancing going on and even more super-sweet wedding cake :-)

Obama in Straßburg

I almost forgot one of the highlights in recent German-American relations: Obama came to Straßburg and I got a chance to see him up close at a town hall meeting there.
Unfortunately, I did not get to shake his hand :-(















The light in the gym was pretty crappy but this is President Obama!
















The stage and some of the people (mostly students actually, that was the main goal of the meeting...). The photo is taken from where I sat, right behind him during the speech.






So much police everywhere!!!! On both sides of the border, too. And almost no civilians. The French were told to either go visit relatives anf friends or lock themselves in. If they urgently needed to leave their houses, they were accompanied by the police. Really strange....

Easter Trip along the Rhine River

When Sean was here for the christening we took a little road trip down the Rhine, mainly from Koblenz (picture to the left) down to Wiesbaden. The weather was pleasant and we stopped for the most important tourist attractions such as the famous Loreley or Rüdesheim, an old village with vineyards and a cablecar.











We also stopped to see an old friend of Eileen's, Alex, who hadn't seen Sean in years. It was great meeting her and she welcomed us with a home-made cake! We spend an afternoon with her and only took one picture unfortunately...










Our last stop before Nürnberg was another famous old German town called Rothenburg on der Tauber. The best part was that you can walk along the old city wall and see the old town from an unusual angle. We also made the mistake to walk into the center but after seeing crowds of tourists and endless shops selling 'typical German things' we escaped back to our wall...

First Entry Ever

This is it!

I finally followed Eileen's advice and joined the Blogger community. The idea is to post miscellaneous stuff, accompanied by pretty pictures - pretty much what all those bloggers are doing out there. Even though creative writing was never one of my strongest points I will try and at least be informative...

Here we go: some of the highlights since I've been back to Germany. The christening: Sean and I are godparents to little Fabian, my younger cousin Wolfgang's son. This is a picture of him just before the christening - note the stylish suit he is wearing, at the age of only 5 months.


The christening was on Easter Sunday in Nürnberg. People were very excited and very proud. Some examples:

My dad, Günther, and my aunt Helga (his sister-in-law) who is holding her grandson Fabian.

All six godparents and Fabian's parents Wolfgang and Tamara (holding him).

*lol*