Great way to cool beer, and final day!!

After moving Saturday, I decided to have a few drinks to celerbrate. In Germany, who needs a freezer when you have Mother Nature.

Also today is my final day in Germany. Tomorrow it is off to Amsterdam. Really really looking forward to that. I think tonight we will also have a few drinks to celebrate. Maybe everyone in Germany will celebrate me leaving! :=) We have a huge bottle of champagne that was given to britty and myself by Sabine and Terry as a going away present! We will be sharing it with the rest of Britta's family tonight. It is just too big for us to drink by ourselves.

I also want to take this opportunity to thank everyone in Germany that has helped make my stay so wonderful. The time here has been fantastic, and has let me experience the German way of life. I really really like the culture here, and I look forward to seeing you all again in the future!

Moving Sucks

Today made the move from Kiel to Brittys parents place. I have to say that after today, I think moving is the worst thing you will ever do. It completely sucks, but I guess you cant really do anything about it. If you need to move, you need to move. When Britty and myself both have jobs, I will sure as hell get someone to move for me. I think it will most certainly be worth the money.

Still continuing on the moving theme, tomorrow we have to clean. Now we have finally moved all the stuff, we will spend at least a day cleaning. What fun!!! I just cant wait until it is all over.

Anyways bye for now. Hope you all have a great Sunday.

Last Night in Kiel

Tonight is our last night in Kiel. Tomorrow we move all our stuff back to Britty's parents house, then next week its off to Amsterdam!! Then it is back to OZ to look for work.

It is a funny feeling to be packing everything up, Kiel has been such a cool place to live, and I have had some great times here. Looking back over the time, we have certainly had a lot of excitement. Summer was especially good, the weather was fantastic and there was so much to do. Going to the beach, riding the bikes, and just generally spending as much time outside as possible was really nice. Not to mention the World Cup, Kieler Week, and the fun associated with those events!

Now that winter is here we are obviously spending a lot more time inside, and without the fast Internet access I think I would have gone nuts. Sometimes though it is really nice to go outside in the really really fresh winter air, and over the last weeks we have been going out for a run at night. I have really enjoyed the change in Temperature, and the change in general. I am still however looking forward to the warm Brissy weather. I will be nice to see the sun most days.

Today finally produced some snow!!!! Yes, on the last day in Kiel, it snowed. I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to go outside in the snow and take some photos. Only a few centimetres of snow fell, but it was enough to give everything a white covering. You can check out the photos here, and the best below.

The view out the window toward the car park.

The view out the back window of our place, or should I say old place.

The kids playground over the road.

Cars completely covered in snow.

The small intersection on the other side of the car park.

A random front yard covered with snow.

I think I remember doing some blog posts about my plan to collect the beer bottles of the beers I try here in Germany. Well yesterday I placed the bottles I collected on the table, and this is the result. There were some really nice ones, but after trying all these I still don't know what my favorite is.

I actually didn't gain too much weight from trying all these beers! Bit surprising really.

Well that just about does this post. Tomorrow I am going to pack up my computer for the trip home. So this is actually my last post from my own computer in Germany!! Have a great weekend where ever you are, and if you live in Australia, see you soon.

Scott

Less than 1 week left in Germany

Time is absolutely flying by now!! Days are moving so fast, and my time in Germany is almost over. Next Wednesday Britty and myself leave for Amsterdam for our 4 night stop over, before I head back to the land of OZ, and Britty comes back to Germany for another 5 weeks!

Over the last week I have started applying for jobs. So far I have but in about 4 applications, and there are many more I will go for. The market for IT in Australia seems to be pretty good at the moment so I am hoping I can find something challenging.

This weekend we have the move out of our place here in Kiel! So far we have taken quite a few loads of stuff back to Britty's parents, but on Saturday we need to move the bigger stuff. The fact that this place is quite small probably makes the move bearable, but moving is still on my list of most hated activities!

Over the past few days the weather has been quite good here. Today I actually saw the sun!! We have had a little bit of snow, but still no major falls. I am hoping that next week the heavens will open and produce some good falls! Forecast looks pretty good!!

In the next few days I will post some photos from our party on the weekend...

Until then, keep well.

Less than 3 weeks of Grey Skies

There are now less than 3 weeks before I head back to Australia on the 4th of February, and in that time we have to finish moving out of our place here, have a going away party this Saturday night, and take a trip to Amsterdam which is our last trip in Europe for the foreseeable future.

Over the past two months the weather here has been terrible, and I have not seen the sun at all. In a way I don't mind the change, but I would really have liked to have seen a real winter. So far the temperature is only going down to about 1 or 2 degrees at night, and during the day it is hanging about 7 or 8. There still has not been any real snow, and I am starting to doubt whether I will see any before I come home. Let's hope!!

As for Britty's coming to Australia, we are hoping for sometime in March! Lets keep our fingers crossed!

New Years Eve

New Years Eve in Kiel was a very very interesting experience, and one that was completely different to anything I have experienced in Australia.

In August I remember saying to Britty that I really wanted to go to Berlin for New Years, however because it was most likely going to be Britty's last New Year in Germany for a few years, we decided to celebrate it in Kiel with many of Britty's friends. I guess Berlin can wait until next time!!!

The night started pretty early by Australian New Year standards. We kicked off the party at about 6pm with a dinner at Britty's friends Marcus, and Danni's flat. The idea for the evening was to get dressed up as pirates, or sailors, and go around to peoples houses, knock on their doors and then start singing. I guess it was like trick-or-treating on Halloween. I can't remember what the song was called, and I didn't know the words because it was a German song, but I tagged along holding a skull and crossbones flag waving it in time to the song. I also started with a hat but unfortunately it was extremely windy on the night, and it kept blowing off my head.

You might ask what is the point of this? I guess there is really no other answer than to get completely and utterly blind! What happens is after you have finished singing, you then hold out a plasitc shot glass, and the person will fill it with something! Normally the person will give you some type of alcoholic drink, and in most cases it is very very strong. I think during the night we were given, wine, vodka, bourbon, and countless other drinks, which most of them I had never tasted (or even new existed). All I know is a lot of them were lethal, and by the time we got back to the flat, most of us were very drunk. Some more than others!

When we got back we then started the count down to new year. As it got closer, completely legal fireworks were going off everywhere. All of which were bought from local supermarkets for less than 1 Euro each. When midnight hit the fireworks went nuts! People shooting them all at once, the noise was pretty incredible, and colour filled the sky in no matter which direction you looked.

After the midnight celebrations, many of the others at the party had decided to go to a night club in Kiel to continue to party. Britty and myself however decided to give it a miss (mainly because of the price, about 20 Euros each). Yeah Yeah I know this is boring, but sometimes you just need to save some money!!

I took a few photos on the night. I have posted a few below and the rest can be found here.

Britty with her best Pirate outfit on! ARH HAAA MATTIES!!

Marcus looks like he has done this before!

Man look at that sexy sailor!

The group at the first house. Danni leading the way.

This was us at the last house about an hour before midnight!

That just about does it for New Years. It was a completely different experience for me, and one that I really enjoyed.

What's going on

How lazy have I been? The answer is very. Over the past week I have not made one post! That is incredible slack and today I have decided to rectify it!

Since New Year Britty has had a week holiday which was great, and I have also started playing some online poker. I know this is no excuse for not writing, but I have been working on getting my play money account up as high as possible.

We have also been working on some of the details for Britty's trip to Australia. We are looking into the final details now and when we know more I will make a post. We are hoping that Britty can come really soon, which will make leaving Europe a little bit easier!

Other than that we are pretty much counting down until the last few weeks in Germany, and our trip to Amsterdam. In a way I am looking forward to coming home, but in another way I don't want to leave Europe already!

Next week I will also explain our new years activities! Until then. Scott

Happy New Year

Hi everyone, just want to wish everyone a Happy New Year! Tomorrow when I get some time I will post our new years celebration's photos.