Dec 2006

An optimist stays up until midnight to see the New Year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.
- Bill Vaughan

I have to say in my few short years on this planet, 2006 has been my best so far. Lots of excitement, changes, and some amazing new people met. But most importantly several dreams pursued and accomplished. So here is my year 2006 in review:

Chloe and Kj, waiting for sunset at Tokomaru Bay

January started off with a road trip around the east coast of New Zealand. We had talked about doing it right throughout high school, and finally Mel, James, Kj, Chloe, Lucy, Ana (an exchange student from Argentina) and I loaded up two cars and went camping. Being pretty unorganised and having bad weather made for some interesting times (tents caving in, tent fly’s flying off, mixed with wind and rain) proved useless conditions for sleeping in. By the third night, a little sleep deprived, we retreated to a log cabin in the Waioeka gorge, where we swam in the river like kids and watched videos which made us cry ourselves silly. When we got back, I had a 21st party to go to nearly every weekend. I went to Jason’s in the Hawkes Bay, Kj’s and Chantelle’s in Gisborne. I spent the rest of the summer working for the Coulston family out at Wainui in Gisborne. I looked after two girls and a boy, Hana, Lucy and Te Wai. We spent the summer going to the local school pool, to the beach, and going up to Rere rockslide and waterfall.

The pool and bar at the Naviti Resort

In February I went to Fiji with my Nana. My Nana absolutely loves Fiji, and as a reward for Graduating we went on a bit of a girl’s holiday. We stayed in a really relaxing laidback resort along the Coral Coast, where I either sat reading in a hammock under palm trees, went snorkelling, got massages or got taught by one of the locals how to sail a Catamaran out on the reef. We also ventured into Nadi and visited some friends of my Grandmothers in Suva. So I got to see first hand how some of the locals really lived. As soon as I got back to New Zealand, I sold my beloved Gertie, a 1984 Mitsubishi Mirage that had been brought brand new and handed down through the family and I moved back up to Hamilton, where I had been offered a job at the University tutoring on two Communication papers, even though I was planning on going travelling soon.

The Nitschkes, Nicole and Frank, with Mike and Max

March was a month of stress. I moved into a flat with some crazy new cats Mary, Hamish, Chris and Laura. Classes started up, and so I worked fulltime as a tutor, a job which I really enjoyed. I was just about talked into doing Honours, but just couldn’t face the prospect of another year of study. I’d been looking into being an Au Pair for a few months and finally settled on the Nitschke family, so within a few days of saying yes the ticket was booked and paid for, and my notice handed in.

April rolled around, and after a quick trip home for Easter, a farewell dinner with friends there, visiting some of my old stomping ground (who knows when I’ll be seeing it again) I finally graduated. All the family came up to Hamilton, and we had a big family Graduation/Farewell dinner (even some relations who I haven't seen in years, who were visiting from Australia came along) at the Sahara Tent, in Hamilton. It was great seeing all the girls again from my Communications classes at the Graduation ceremony, and hearing what everyone’s up to, now that we’re all out in the ‘real’ world.

Kj and I at Lucys 21st

May was a bit crazy and expensive, tying up all loose ends, getting new glasses, insurance, vaccinations, credit cards, getting off the electoral roll, packing up and giving away my belongings. Plus all my tutoring stuff on top of it, i.e. lessons plans and marking. Lucy had her 21st party, and Jason and PK had a ‘Month of Mo’ party, and each time, was touched with a little twang of sadness for me, knowing that my days with everyone were numbered. I escaped over to Kj’s place just around the corner as often as I could, where Ben would make me cups of tea, we’d watch ‘Lost’ and gossiped.

Myles, Ben and I at my farewell dinner

Then all too soon, it was days and not weeks in which the big move to Germany was looming. I had a fantastic leaving dinner, at Metropolis with around 30 of the H town troop. I think most people came just to make sure I was really going haha. Ana picked me up and I stayed with her in Auckland on my last night. I felt eerily calm in those last few days, knowing that what I was doing was the right thing, but on the way to the airport I felt like my stomach was going to explode, and I wouldn’t last the flight. I blamed the Chinese we’d had the night before, but I don’t think Ana brought it at all.

My new home for a year

I had a stop over in Japan for a night, and finally landed in Frankfurt, 48 hours after leaving NZ soil, and right into World Cup madness. June was spent having Opa “Germanise” me, teaching me the German way of life and how to drive on the right/wrong side of the road. Crystal the old Au Pair, introduced me to Wiesbaden and some of her friends and I got sensory overload with too many sights, smells, a new language and way of doing things. As the world cup was on, the whole country was mad with patriotism, flags everywhere, which is actually really unheard of for Germans, but added to the chaos for me. The house cleaner scared me as well, as she would just scream in German and just get louder when I didn’t understand - I’m sure she was just trying to help. I met up with one of my old flatmates Ro’s, boss’s (Rene), who was visiting his family in the city across the Rhine from me. He introduced me to some of his mates, and showed me around Mainz. I also joined up to an English speaking group, where I went to a BBQ over looking the Rheingau, and met some incredible new people.

Out and about, exploring the countryside

In July, I spent my free time just driving around the countryside exploring the area. Lisa a high school friend who was moving back to Sicily came to stay for a week. There was not a lot we could really do together, as I also had to look after the boys who were off school, and we were right in the middle of a heat wave. But it was wicked having a bit of a connection back to home.

Me on top of mountain above Heidelberg

August was just crazy for travel. I went on a weekend trip to Heidelberg which was absolutely beautiful and I went on another trip to Rothenburg ob der Tauber with Stefan, a new friend from the English speaking group. Then I took the boys down to Bavaria to stay with their Grandparents and we did a day trip to Legoland, which was actually pretty cool. Then I finally got to go to Italy, of which I had been dreaming about for years. I met some Americans in Rome, and did abit of sightseeing, but it was just too hot to stick around so I travelled from Rome, to Naples on to Sicliy where I stayed for a week in a small village on top of a mountain overlooking Taormina, and Mt Etna to the south.

Under the Hazelnut trees at Mimi's country house

Each day we would get up really late, and I’d either go down earlier and eat gelato and read in the Piazza, or we’d just go straight to Nonna’s for lunch. Then we’d come back and sleep, or go for a swim or drive out to a country house, to listen to Mimi play his guitar. At night we’d have a few drinks then go out for dinner, because we were ‘locals’ everyone knew us as we walked around, and we got treated like royalty. I didn’t want to leave. I’d lost 10 kilos by the time I got back from my holiday, which was a combination of a severally decreased appetite since arriving in Europe, a lot more exercise and sweating profusely in the summer heat (like you wanted to know), so moving to Europe is strongly recommended for those wanting to loose a few, in the summer months at least. As soon as I got back, I found my new buddy James, an expat who was moving to the area.

At Kloster Erbach

September, my Mum surprised me and came to stay. I played dutiful daughter and showed her the sights of the Rheinland, including going to a nudey spa, which was way out of my comfort zone. Feeling a little poor after all the trips and my busy August I stuck around Wiesbaden and signed up to the Gym. I got invited to a ‘Black and White’ party at Sonja’s, a friend of Crystals (the old Au Pair) and had an absolute blast, so good to hang out with people my own age.

At Cinderellas Castle in Polle

In October I went up to Berlin with Stefan. Born and raised there, he knew the place like the back of his hand. So I got to see a hell of a lot more than I would’ve done had I been by myself. On the way up we also got to see Wartburg an old castle, and visited his sister and her husband in Leipzig. On the way home we stopped off in Potsdam and saw the infamous Schloss Sansoucci and crazily enough bumped into a German girl there who had stayed at my flat at the start of 2005 and she was with her host family from New Zealand, with whom she’s live with when she’d done her exchange there years earlier. When the family went on their Autumn vacation I decided to road trip up through the heart of Germany, right up to Hamburg and back down again, following the fairytale road. I went to the settings of Little Red Ridinghood, Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel and more. I got to have my first couch surfing experience and made some new friends along the way; Julian in Marburg, Saleisa in Kassel, Jana, a Czech living in Hofgeismar and Margethe from Norway staying in Hamburg.

Hauke and his girlfriend Ines

It was also a chance to catch up with an old friend, as I finally got to met up with Hauke, an exchange student, who had lived with a family friend in NZ way back in 1999, who was now living in Hanover. Once I was back we had two big Halloween parties at the house, and I got to carve my first pumpkin. I went to a Halloween party at a club that had a very weird, but funny German version of the Rocky horror picture show.

Halloween

November was pretty social for me really. I went out to several dinners, the Irish pub, cocktail bars, and even an International Youth Circus. I made a new friend with a girl my age called Nadia, and checked out her home town, Aschaffenburg and then she came to stay with me.

Christmas Market in Wiesbaden

In December I met up with a girl called Cora, and looked around the Mainz Christmas market with her (I went to three different markets in all, and a total of eight times). I was offered a job babysitting two beautiful Russian girls, who have two incredibly interesting and very welcoming parents. Then I met Ellie and Marc, who are getting married in February, and who I dearly hope will become lifelong friends. I then of course turned 22 and I went with the family to Nicole’s brothers 50th in Wurtsburg, in Northern Bavaria. I then had a crazy week showing Ellie as much around the area as I could, doing last minute Christmas shopping. Ana came to stay. Had a pretty quiet Christmas but got spoilt rotten, and lots of nice parcels arrived from NZ as well – thank you all for thinking of me! So now the New Year is just hours away, and if my 2007 is anything like my 2006 – bring it on!!

Me with the boys, Max and Mike

I have no major plans for the New Year, apart from the fact I have to leave here in June, so any suggestions would be warmly welcomed. Oh and of course there’s going to a whole lot more travel naturally, and as I mentioned in my last blog, I am off to the Canary Islands in a week’s time. I hope you have enjoyed my year in review, of course there has been a lot left out (although you might not think it) so if you want anything more in depth check out each month individually in the archives. Take care, and I would dearly love to hear how you’re getting on.

Now that I’m not house bound looking after Max, I’ve been getting out and about and of course getting sick myself, naturally. Last weekend I went with the Family to the North of Bavaria for Nicoles brothers 50th Birthday party, so I got to meet a whole lot of the family. On Monday Mike had his Christmas play, where he was a Shepard and sang Christmas carols and even danced with girls! My crazy camera didn’t take one good photo, but the other parents were getting a little camera happy so there should be a good shot somewhere. The next day headed to Rüdesheim with Ellie, and managed to bump into a few crazy locals. That night headed back to school for Max’s end of year party. On Thursday took Ellie into Mainz, to do a few jobs for Nicole (who was at home sick, and had had to cancel the christmas party so as not to contaminate everyone) and to show Ellie around the Christmas market and town. My sister Ana, who's just moved to Belgium showed up on Saturday, so we headed back to Mainz to do a little shopping and again check out the Christmas Markets. After a bit of a rest, we walked into the centre of Wiesbaden and got some Glühwein with Ellie and Marc, before heading off to dinner at a Bavarian restaurant.

We carried on to a new English Pub that’s just opened up called the ‘James Joyce', where we were delighted to be given some Santa hats. Ana was exhausted from working all week and so after a few hours she went back to my place and I carried on back to Ellie’s. When I finally got home, I’d told Ana I would ring to get her to let me in, but my phone didn’t have enough credit, and the whole place was locked up like Fort Knox. I started ringing the buzzer for the top floor, but no body let me in. Just before I was about to accept my fate, that I was going to die of hyperthermia on the front door step, clutching a plastic Santa for company, it dawned on me I probably had enough money to text her, and finally managed to get out of the freezing cold. I'm not sure why it never occured to me to tell her just to leave the key outside!

Ana, Ellie and Me at the 'Fox and Hound'

The next morning Oma wasn’t too happy with me, something about ringing the doorbell continuously for half an hour, people stomping up and downstairs and lights flicking on and off at 2.30 am, what, who me? Also we didn’t get up till midday and she’d already made most of the Christmas meal, woops. So we got out of the house and I took Ana up to Rüdesheim (notice the theme, I should make a package deal for all those coming to the area, The Niki Special!! How much you reckon I could make?) Anyways, it was freakishly deserted. It’s a big tourist hub on the Rhine and usually crawling with old ladies on tours, but we got to walk up Dosselgasse with only a random Asian couple, who couldn’t keep their hands to themselves. Then drove up the Rhine as far as I could handle, It was absolutely freezing outside, their was a weird mist and the sun was really low but we managed to see quite a lot of castles.

Ana along the Rhine

Back at the house, we toasted each other with a glass of champagne, and the boys ripped into their presents with gusto. I was very spoilt and got some new leather gloves, Belgium chocolates and Body Shop stuff from Ana, the family gave me a very nice designer handbag from New York and Oma and Opa gave me an antique German Brass plate, that is quite rare and you are not able to buy anywhere. Oma and Nicole had made Christmas Eve dinner, which is the main big meal of the holidays. We had shrimp cocktail with avocado slices for starters, steak with a mushroom sauce, peaches and pears, spätzle which is a type of German noodle and red cabbage. Granddad back in NZ would be horrified, as there was no dessert. Certainly was a lot different to Christmas back home, where we usually have around fourteen people for lunch at Nanas, some have to stand and we have a huge buffet with all the trimmings.

Mike, (a rather red faced) Me and Max

After cleaning everything up, we rang the family back home and watched the ‘Lake on the House’. Christmas day was really low key, got up late, boys busy playing with all their new toys. I dropped Ana at the English speaking Church in Wiesbaden, then after a quick bite headed into Frankfurt and braced the bitterly cold, and walked along the river. We strolled around the old part of Frankfurt, which was not destroyed in the war. Too cold to do anything else so after a pit stop for some Apple Cake (they were out of both Hot Chocolate and Strudel – which is absolutely criminal) we headed home and tucked up in bed to watch ‘The Family Stone’ a Christmas comedy. We cracked open a bottle of wine I had brought over from New Zealand with me, my absolute favourite; Milton’s Muscat’s at Dawn 2003 but was gutted to find it must’ve been corked. Still kind of drinkable, but definitely not as good as I had been hoping for.

Ana in front of the Frankfurt Dom

Before dropping Ana off at the Airport I took her for a walk in a park which is close by, and showed her some Castle ruins. She’s back in Brussels now and tonight I am heading over to Ellie’s and Marc’s, and Marcs going to cook dinner for us. I’m thinking of spending New Years in Frankfurt, but things could change and I’ve just booked my January holiday, so while the family’s off skiing in Austria I’m heading to the Canary Islands, which are off the Western Coast of Africa close to Morroco, to catch some sun for a week. No rest for the wicked huh.

Well I’m feeling much more festive than usual this year, which is hardly surprising since I live in a house which is decorated like something out of a movie, its actually winter here, and everyone’s all wrapped up, there are the most fantastic Christmas markets in every town and you can just tell that there is much more tradition in the air, than just blatant commercialism. Oh there’s that too don’t get me wrong, but it just feels nicer here if you know what I mean. Also the whole month of December is geared towards celebrating, starting on the 5th when the boys get ready for a visit from St Nick.

St. Nicholas is the patron saint of children and his feast day is December 6th. Gradually a custom grew up where on the eve of St. Nicholas' feast day children would place their shoes or boots out for St. Nicholas to fill with candy and fruit, with the bad children getting twigs. St. Nicholas carried with him a book of sins with which he determined whether the child warranted the goodies or the twigs. After the Protestant Reformation in Germany, German authorities wanted to do away with the image of a Catholic saint distributing gifts, so the idea of Santa Claus was born. I’ve read since being here that this is when they created the idea that he had the white beard, red suit, and sleigh – didn’t someone say that Coca-cola was responsible for that, from a very effective advertising campaign of theirs? So German children therefore distinctly distinguish between the Weihnachtsmann (Santa Claus) and Nikolaus (St. Nick). The scenario is comparable to the US-American tradition of Christmas stockings over the fireplace. For other European countries like the Netherlands the 6th of December still is the biggest day of the season for receiving presents.

Well my 22 birthday came and went, I got up as per usual nice and early to take the boys to school, and Nicole had put streamers and a banner up. I hadn’t gotten around to making a cake, so there was a whole lot of these German chocolate things with candles instead. I got some new perfume, leather wallet, a handbag and body lotions. So feeling pretty spoilt already, I headed into town and got treated to a nice lunch by my new friend Ellie. After spending the rest of the afternoon together she came with me to pick the boys up from school, and that’s when we found Max practically dead on the floor of his class room. Well not really, but whenever males get sick it’s as if we should get a priest to read them their last rites. So I rushed him off to the doctors, after we’d been home 5 minutes and he’d thrown up on the expensive rug – woops. The doc said he had Scarlet Fever again, which I always thought was something only people in the 1800’s got. But it’s just what Germans call Strep A. The boys have had it several times since I’ve been here, and it’s highly contagious so Max got a week off school, even though he was bouncing off the walls by the next day as if nothing had happened. Nicole took the next day off work, so I took the chance to meet up with Ellie again, and Michael (a guy from Ellie’s fiancés work) and looked around the Christmas Markets, and as Michael was a native he could explain everything to us, and we tried different things.

So for the past week I’ve been at home with Max during the day, playing games, watching movies, making Christmas cookies and these cool window decorations thingies. But on Wednesday night I made sure Frank could be home early, and I went out to dinner with James, Ellie and Marc. There were supposed to be more of us but a lot rainchecked as its a mad time of year for everyone. We went to a really nice Indian restaurant and just talked for three hours. So nice to get out of the house and do "grown up things" for a change.

Then the next night I went out to dinner with just the Boys and Frank, as Nicole was in Paris to a Bavarian restaurant, where Max managed to finish off half a duck all by himself. A guy with a mullet sitting near us couldn’t take his eyes off this tiny 23kg 7 year old boy, demolishing what even someone my size would struggle with. I was supposed to go to an English language play last night, but had to baby-sit the boys so got some movies out and snuggled up in bed with them, since its about 1 degree outside at the mo.

Something you might find interesting is that most DVD stores are actually like vending machines/ATMs, but there are still your typical video stores around (if you know where to find them). There are a few changes to how they do things (well at the one I go to anyway), firstly you don’t pay when you get them out, you pay when you return them, so you have to go in when the stores actually open, your not able to return them on your way to work early in the morning. I guess this way there’s no such thing as late fees, as you pay for all videos on a day by day basis. All DVDs are €1 a day, even brand new releases! So if you have one overnight it is a grand total of €2!! Not bad, huh. Of course most DVDs have the English audio option, I’m in heaven. Sometimes I flick on the German subtitles to help me learn a bit more.

Which brings me to my next point; no matter how hard I try I am really not making much progress with my German! I think the biggest problem, apart from not actually taking any classes is that even if I ask for something in German, they reply in English! When I tell them it’s ok to talk in German they decide it’s a perfect opportunity to practice their English – when is it my turn huh? I’m not really complaining, I guess, but it’s just so frustrating that when you make the effort, they make it so obvious that you’re a foreigner. It’s actually pretty bad how much English is spoken around the area I live. We have a massive American Army Base here, and I think walking down the street I hear just as much English as I do German – no kidding. There is a Cinema dedicated entirely to English language movies in Frankfurt, there are at least three English theaters that I know of in the area. Every day I listen to an English speaking radio station. I can watch three channels on TV in English. At just about every restaurant we’ve been to there are English menus as well. On most advertising there is usually some catchphrase in English and random English words have filtered into everyday German vocabulary. There are also Australian and Irish pubs, where a lot of the bar staff can’t speak anything but English. Of course this all comes in exceptionally handy for me, and keeps home sickness at bay, but I can’t help the sinking feeling that by the time I leave I’m still not going to be able to string one coherent sentence together and that’s pretty sad.

Well anyway, I am off to Northern Bavaria this afternoon with the family, to celebrate Nicole’s oldest brothers 50th. Then later on this week, we’re having a Christmas party at the house for Nicole’s work colleagues. I’ve done all my Christmas shopping, except for one gift so just counting down the days now, not long to go.

This past weekend, was a goodie. For the last few days Oma and Opa have come to stay, while Nicole’s been on a business trip to South Africa. Which is great news for me, as Oma is a fantastic cook, lots of yummy warm German food, on a cold winter’s day! Still waiting for snow, but alas it’s been too warm this year, and actually the chances of snow at Christmas aren’t looking so good either (sob, sob). The chill in the air hasn’t stopped me from getting out and about though. I went out to dinner and a stroll around the Wiesbaden Christmas market on Friday night with friends. I’ve been looking forward to the Christmas markets since arriving here, and I wasn’t disappointed. The market place, was filled to bursting point with everyone wrapped up in their winter woollies, the smell of roasted Chestnuts and people sipping Gluehwein, which is a red wine, that has spices added to it and is heated up over fire and served in steaming cups.

The market was truly spectacular with all the lights, sights and smells. Long rows of little booths all lined up and decorated, and selling everything from hand-made ornaments to musical clocks. Each corner brought new smells, of either the aroma of Stollen (baked fruit bread), Bratwurst, roasted almonds or Lebkuchen (gingerbread), a spicy cookie. After dinner and before heading home, I walked around a bit by myself along Wilhelm Straße, soaking up the atmosphere where all the trees were lit with fairy lights. Already with a spring in my step, I found the ice-skating rink, filled with impossibly young, stylish teenagers on their cell phones, and then wandered down to the newly restored park in front of the Kurhaus, Wiesbaden’s Casino.

In the morning, the 4 metre high Christmas tree arrived and Frank spent the rest of the weekend pottering around the house, putting things up. The outside of the house, looks like something out of an American movie. There are still many more boxes of things to be put up inside, so I will wait till everything’s finished before I put some photos of inside up for you. Thanks to Crystal (the old Au Pair) I have been given a little work babysitting for a Russian family here. Yana and Dina, two very cute little girls are a breeze to look after and the parents are so nice I even stayed for two hours after finishing work, to hang out and have pizza with them. Crazily enough, Vadim had just got back from a business trip to Azerbaijan, a small country between Russia, Georgia, Iran and Armenia and had brought some Feijoas back with him. Now pretty much no one I know in Europe have ever heard of a Feijoa, so I was more than a little surprised to see some sitting on their table. I got to take a few home with me, and all though they were only a sixth of the size, of the ones my Grandfather grows back in New Zealand, it was better than nothing. For those NZ’s who didn’t know, Feijoas are otherwise known as Pineapple Guava and are South American, who knew!

Straight after I left the Russians I was on to the Irish Pub, to meet up again with James. After several pints, a couple that has just moved over from the UK met us at the pub and then we all headed to a Thai restaurant. I can’t speak for the others but I had a fantastic night. I thought the two new brit’s were just the bee’s knees. Mark moved here nearly six months ago, but Ellie’s just moved over and I’m hoping I have a new ally as Ellie (for the time being) is a lady of leisure like myself, and will hopefully help me explore a bit more of the area. Mark worked for eight years on 'Top of the Pops', and is now working as head of marketing for Panasonic in several countries, so he might have a few contacts which he might be able to put me in touch with, in regards to event management (fingers crossed).

The next day I met up with Cora, a girl from Couch Surfing I was supposed to meet up with months ago. Originally from Frankfurt, but now studying across the river from me in Mainz, Cora has already travelled around a lot of the world (including New Zealand) and we walked all around the Christmas markets in Mainz for a few hours. Of course I had to throw my healthy eating plans out the window and tried some Bratwurst, and mulled wine. Also got more than a little carried away in the sweet sections and brought Lebkuchen, liquorice, peppermint slice and roasted chestnuts.

I was supposed to met up with my sister, Ana at the Airport as she made her way to Belgium, but it wasn’t to be. But I will be seeing her a Christmas soon enough. So now I need to think of what to do for my birthday which is next week and where on earth should I go for my January vacation?!?! Any suggestions would be warmly received!

A few more German differences I didn’t put down last time:

They tend to use two duvets instead of one big one, on larger beds. I guess it puts an end to the whole ‘hogging the blanket’ debate.

Mayo is preferred more often than ketchup, as a topping on fries.