*

Worldly tipp number 2: Don't lock your keys out of your apartment, with no spares for a long time. It'll cost more than a few months' hot breakfasts.

Mainz was this weekend's destination of choice. It's a town/city (depends on your perspective) perched about 45 mins' train ride west of FFM (Frankfurt am Main). Laine from WnHB RGT 7 Bat, SGT DR has been stationed at the university garrison since Feb. We spend the arvo on Saturday wandering around the town drinking Gleuwein in cool booty mugs. I've got a photo or two, so you can see what I mean.

Since we were both in the same boat of not knowing enough a critical mass of local German natives to hit the town and booze and wooze, we were up for a long Saturday night. Being a smaller German town/city, Mainz was home to a number of charming bars and clubs (and a heavy metal nightclub - I was in heaven). Typical Laine still to this date has a couple more rounds over me, but still, we finished the night early enough on Sunday morning to call it a success.

Aparently the printing press was invented in Mainz, as was the bicycle (although I think I'll put that last one down to my poor hearing, since it doesn't sound right somehow) and the Weinachtsmarkt was really pretty, so we spend Sunday wandering around the town having a nosey. The Doem is more impressive in Mainz compared to Frankfurt, and aparently since it has a presiding bishop, it can actually be called a Doem.

Work's still pottering along in Darmstadt. I have heard rumours I'll be here till the end of March, but we'll have to wait and see (should know by mid-December).

* You are here

Crickey, what a corker

Well, I was hoping for a more dramatic yarn to be able to put to blog, but this one will suffice as a le drame actuel.

Strasbourg, the Alsation student capital
First, I'll start with Strasbourg. I did the bolt over there on the ICE to spend a weekend hanging out with Jaharmes and samping some French culture. There was certainly plenty of it, and I saw just as many French flags fluttering in the wind as I saw American flags in Boston; they'll especially love to hear me say there're just like the Yankees in having a great affection for their country. I spose when they've been the meat in the sandwich for so long, between the land battle of France and Germany, they'd need to feel patriated to somewhere.

The streets were very narrow and gave a nice cosey feel to wandering around the city, while knawing on warm chesnuts like a bulemic chipmonk. I especially liked the Tarte Flambe (there's an accent there at the end of that word... just imagine it if you will), which a very delicious pizza thing. The Germans call it Flame Kuchen and insist they invented it... kinda like the European Pavlova debate except with more hand waving and more emotion.

It was cool catching up with Jaharmes. He's studying some politics stuff on a scholarship thing. It's was all very international on a Student-party-Friday night - Mexicans, Finns, French, Germans, Kiwis and Canadians (and yes, it's all true about the bears on the street). My French was really rusty, even though they speak nice and slowly in Strasbourg for retards like me.

That night when I crashed to bed in the local hostel, some dude boosted off with my wallet while I was sleeping, leaving me with nothing to my name. The French police were as helpful as a third testicle and gave me a my signed statement back to me. Even though I had the dude's name who took my wallet (he was staying in the same room as me and left before I woke up) as well as his address, age and nationality they didn't feel like progressing the matter. I guess they were all busy guarding the border so the town doesn't get taken by the Germans again. Buggared if I know. Anyway... James and I did the mission to the address that the hotel had for the five finger discounter. Aparently someone with the name (Coucourou) lives there, but wasn't there at the time. We decided to flag, then charged back for some pizza before heading to see an asian croutching tiger style movie in French. Was a crackup, especially the bamboo scene (cue laughter).

Jahames really saved my bacon and hooked me up with some cash (real mad props to you bro) to last for a few days till I got some replacement cards.

So, progress to Tuesday this week and I discover my landlord wants to boot me out of the flat, despite me informing them that I can't pay it all at once (I gots the money, but the bank won't let me take it out all at once). And since now I don't have any cash they are sorry I lost my wallet, but want a faster solution and IMMEDIATELY!! (emphasis theirs). Strewth, what's one to do?! Luckily Tim Racko was able to rattle off my new credit card number that had arrived at his place for me, and all was well. It was a bit of a stress merchant time for me till Thursday when all the arreas were sorted and I had given the real estate clowns a piece of my mind for being shit.

In the meantime, I am mega-impressed with the German bank fullas for hooking me up with a new account and 100 euro cash within half an hour. I have a shiny new Euro Card now, and since redundany is key, I'll be an old cranky lady and keep stashes of cards and cash littered around the house.

Anyhorse, I my new credit card arrived today and I'm gonna do the bolt to see Laine in Mainz. Should be cool stuff. No doubt we'll be discussing the result of Saturday's Paris All Blacks game on Sunday. I was --> <---- this close to getting free tix.

Ta ta.

Some new photos

I've uploaded some new photos to http://hellcheese.thedice.net/gallery/.

I've whacked some photos of the Apartment, which you can find under the Flats link, and I've uploaded some phots of the pretty Weinachtsmarkt. It's grause.

Absolutely riveting fact about adverb placement after modal verbs

I just thought you'd like to know, this copy and paste from a website changes where I thought adverbs go in a sentence when using modal verbs. Exciting stuff:

here are a number of adverbs that normally appear as part of the complex verb. The ones you mention, "just," "always," and "never," are some of the most common, but many adverbs of frequency (words that express how often something happens) follow the same rule. Generally, these adverbs come after the first auxiliary in the complex verb:

1) John has frequently been seen at the club.
2) Martha can often be found in her garden.
3) Peter said that he will rarely be going to concerts this year.

There are a few other adverbs that occur in this first post-AUX position that have nothing to do with frequency: "just" and "ever" are the most common. In addition, adverbs of manner can optionally occur after the first AUX (as in this sentence, after "can").

The stove is hot, don't touch it

Other such gems like the above one spring to mind, like "Don't touch the big red conspicuous red button" . I wonder how many of you out there prefer to add to your persona profile by experiencing rather than by listening to what others tell you. Even as adults would like to press the big red button out of curiousity rather than be told not to. As a child, you were pretty much an opposite machine, unceasingly taking every opportunity to do the opposite of what you were told. Either out of mild curiosity from what might happen to you, or a masochistic interest on what the reaction might be from your parents. At least that was what my strange childhood was like.

Where's he going with this, you might ask?

Well, I wonder how many of you out there still continue to learn by your mistakes, prefering getting the data and experience from the experience itself rather than being told that it's a bad idea. The most likely response from you guys would be that... you guessed it.....it depends. Do you choose not to try a toke because of adverse effect from that one-off occasion (or possibly it might become addictive)? Perhaps you'll see the world with that much more clarity and how everyone else who's not wasted could have got things so horribly wrong ;) If the answer to this question is yes, where do you draw the line of deciding to take a gamble and just do it? Do there have to be large amounts of quantifiable data to make a decision, or is there just a gut-feeling formula. It'd be really handy that if the gut feeling was a personal, universal truth and that the combination of bile and adrenalin released in to the body that could be accurately measured and thus "what you should do" would be measurable.

Photos and errata

I've updated the link for the photos and thanks to Mark Seward for putting out... his bandwidth.

This weekend, I'm gonna do the bolt and catch up with Jaharmes in Strasbourg, and unlike the previous attempt, I'm not gonna drop my nuts and pike at the last minute.

I hear lots of rave reviews about the place, and hopefully there should be a whole heap of pubs, being a studenty-type town and thus Trinkhalles. I can't help but have the feeling that one is the direct consequence of the other. Which one is dependant on the other, I'm not sure.

Movies
People seem to be pouring over the previews of Team America. It looks funny, but I can't see what the fuss is about. Maybe my sense of humour is warped since I found Shark's Tale a bit of a laugh but other people aren't so forgiving. I found it better than Finding Nemo, but the king of all the "recent" cartoons has gotta be Ice Age.

Long time no write

I know that unless I write, the wrath of fate will come to haunt me and ask where I've been over the last couple of weeks, and requests for repatriation of my possessions due to my supposed passing-on will ensure.

So, in a nutshell, it's BAU. Last weekend, Lana arrived from Wellington after a 30-something hour flight from Wellington via the states. I certainly felt the extra "benefit" of being able to carry 82Kgs if one transits via the US as opposed to transiting through asia (20Kg). It certainly was heavy. Paris was really nice, but as one of my German workmates (whom I've been sitting next to for the last five weeks but still don't know this name) hurredly pointed out that it is a bit dirty. Regardless, I still found my trip to Paris a great experience. The overnight train was interesting - it took seven hours to travel from the 'furt to Paris due to all the stops. I chatted toa fellow trainster dude who was an on an internship in Germany and commutes between Paris and Karlsruhe every week. He was well spoken and worked in the IT industry (which confused me as to his pleasantness even more ;) and looked as though he should be rapping with Grinspoon on a music video. I'm not sure about the tattoos, but he had the build and goatee for it.

I'm still living in Stay and Learn hostel in charming Bahnhofviertel. It always raises an eyebrow when I explain to people where I live. Still, it's not too bad and very convenient to a major transportation hub. It's almost like the Australian film: The Castle - living right next to the airport, although what makes is better, we have drugs from every class that can match the alphabet letter for letter.

As for my anticipations of heading to Strasbourg and Belgium a few weeks ago, they didn't happen. This will come as no surprise to those of you who have even had a passing aquaintance with me. I blame it on the lack of money at the time. Discovering Ryan Air's airfares for 25 euro one way to Latvia from Frankfurt looks like the go in the next couple of weeks. Probably not this weekend as the two of us will be moving in to the apartment this weekend (touch wood).

As for work, I have no idea how long I'll be in Frankfurt/Darmstadt for. Perhaps it'll be for another month and a half, or perhaps it'll be for a few more months on top of that - hard to say at this stage. Either way, I'll be happy to stay for that long - getting in to some semblance of a routine as helped get settled, or at least get used to the place. Even without a routine, I think that I can tolerate the moving around Europe from month to month.

I hope to be back in New Zealand for about three weeks after I've finished with this current project to finish off my whirlygig licence and hopefully make some inroads to the completion on my stiff wing license. Rock on!

Kia toa.

Bell invents the telephone. Invention still needs work in Germany.

It's amazing that a simple yet powerful communications medium, such as the telephone still doesn't work in Germany. I implore those of you thinking of travelling here not to get a T-Mobile cellphone and try and stay on roaming as much as you can - trying to make a telephone call still perplexes these folk. When dialing a number in New Zealand and occasionally in Australia, calls just seem to hang - no ringing. Other times a beep, then drops the call.

Never mind, I feel better now it's off my chest, and I have preached to my small readership - some Radiohead should now soothe the soul further.