Update

Oh, Leen, you are so lazy!
Yes, I am. Wait - no, I'm not. Am I?
Actually, I've had so many things to do lately that I didn't really find time for blogging. Isn't that awful?
Well, at least I've got something to do. It makes it a lot easier to only focus on my own life, because I'm not gonna lie, people are making it really difficult for me.

So, what happened within the last three weeks?

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I finally finished the photos from the shooting with my dancing teacher and his friend, they're making a hypnosis show together and needed photos for their flyers so they asked me. It was fun!





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 I visited my primary school teacher and her class. It was fun and they really seemed to like me. They were making fun of me though, because of my height, but I learned that it doesn't necessarily mean they don't like me or respect me. The same thing counts for my new English student whom I'm tutoring. She's six years old and we usually just speak English and play which might bring her closer to the language. It's a great job! And she's always so sad when I have to leave, haha.


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I had the prom I was looking forward to so much. Well, it sucked. Not only because five people I invited cancelled, but also because there wasn't really enough time or space to dance, my school mates annoyed me (or some of them) and my dad left an hour early. I probably didn't even look as great as I expected, but a professional makeup and hair styling wouldn't have been worth it anyway. And I didn't smile on the photos because I was so pissed off. Well, I did, but you can tell that I didn't mean it. At least I danced with my former choir leader, which was fun.

And the next day, my mum and her boyfriend kidnapped me and took me to Mönchengladbach to talk about my future. Since that day, I've been planning to start studying in Düsseldorf, just to go to Bristol at the same time. I already wrote a cover letter and CV to apply for a job and I'll probably have to re-write it. But at least I've got some really friendly referees and Murray's dad offered to help me when I'm there! And I became bestiest besties with a soldier I met in a pub here in Paderborn and he lives in Gloucester. Lucky me!

Also, I'm hoping to finally get my driving-licence before going to England. I'm quite certain I'll pass the theory this time. So there's a lot happening right now.


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And I found shit like this on YouTube.

 

Not sure if this is even better or worse than the Biggie Smalls feature. But this sums up my relation to England quite well. Too many memories. The nostalgia.

Okay, I hope you get that I'm making a joke here. Because this is ridiculous(ly great).

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What will happen next?

• theoryyyy! wish me good luck!
• I'll have a photo shooting with my sister next week. Also, we're planning to hang out more and be silly and skate although we both can't skate. But it's okay because we're cool.
• I'll take care of a dog for two weeks. Her owner used to work with my dad so I'm really lucky here. I hope you all know how lucky I am.
• Phantasialand. Spending some days at the North Sea. Is it actually happening? Nobody knows!

And by the way, please applaud me for being so fookin' efficient and motivated. Because my day consists of working out, studying for driving school, playing guitar, going outside and studying seven languages. Every day of the week has its own language. Yes, I'm insane. Today is Swedish day, yay!

Bye Bye!

No, I'm not going!
Not yet, at least.
At the moment, my plans about going to Dortmund are starting to fade. I have the craziest ideas, so much motivation, I just want to pack my things and be gone.
How? Where? I have no idea. It could be classic: I could book a TEFL course, get an accommodation, get a job, book my flight to England and then go there.
But my ideas are even better. Or worse.
I was thinking - wouldn't it be possible to go to England by bike? Where would I sleep? I don't know! How would I carry my things? No idea! But it would be so awesome to be on my way for a week. Five countries in 8 days. Awesome.
Not like I actually wanted to do it, or could. My parents probably wouldn't let me, despite the fact that I'm 18. But I really really love the imagination!

First day: Lippstadt, Hamm, Bergkamen, night in Wesel. Second day: Geldern, night in Valkenswaard. Third day: Herentals, night in Antwerpen. Fourth day: Damme, night in Ostende. Fifth day: Dunkerque, Gravelines, Marck, night in Calais. Sixth day: Folkestone, Ashford, Rochester, night in Dartford. Seventh day: London, Slough, night in Reading. Last day: Newsbury, Devizes, Bath and finally Bristol. Or something like that. Crazy!

But I would have to do that in summer or spring, I suppose, and that's too late for me now, since it's almost summer and I wouldn't even know where to stay yet, haha.
I'm such a dreamer.

What happened to me? Well, after another breakup, I knew that I had to be happy, no matter what. That I should do whatever I want to, go wherever I want to. So I started planning. And it made me think about what my Vietnamese friend told me about Buddhism - and I think it would be really interesting to visit Buddhist temples and learn about this religion, because what they teach, is exactly what I want to believe. It's not just things they teach about a God they made up to understand the way the world works, no, it's a philosophy, the philosophy of being happy and free, no matter what.
My train of thought is a bit pathetic, I know. But the time has come to dream again, and now I'm finally at an age where I can make these dreams come true.

And I can do that, I know it.

On Holiday with Mr Guitarro

As promised, I'll tell you about the past 8 days today. My friend Muz from England came to visit me and my family in Mönchengladbach. We really had a lot of fun, starting with a trip to the music store in Cologne (where I found the perfect guitar for only 75€, but didn't buy it - the regrets!!). After Muz and my brother spent some time testing guitars, we decided to go back to the city centre to get something to eat. It can't be unseen - Cologne at night is just stunning. The restaurant was beautiful, too, and I'll definitely be back in summer when it isn't too cold to sit outside by the Rhine.

We also had some full English breakfast that Muz cooked for our family. It didn't only look great, but tasted wonderful! I become hungry just thinking about it, haha.
So last Saturday, it was the day Muz originally came to Germany for - my birthday party, home in Paderborn. It's too bad we didn't really have time to do some sightseeing in my beloved hometown, since there's a lot to see. At least I could listen to him playing my guitar Susi and the party started just some hours later. We had to wait until 3am for my best friend to join since he had to work, but we still enjoyed the party at that time, although we were only 7 people left and everyone was tired as fcuck. We danced, played Twister, ate cake and my best friend's girlfriend even played the violin for us. What a night! I love having my favourite people around.

 Of course, we also went to take some photos in the park! The weather was shitty during the whole week, but we find some hours of sun to go outside and enjoy. I'm not really satisfied with what I made out of it, but it was fun at least and Sammy had fun playing model for some ball fetching in return. I didn't really dare to take Barry off the leash, but he seemed to like Muz, although he also appeared to be scared of him at the same time. Weird dog, I have to say. We spent the rest of our time studying and eating a lot of chocolate (I forgot what real food tastes like) and earlier today, we had to say good bye at the Düsseldorf airport. I really hope my English skills (especially the pronunciation) improved and I'm sure that we'll see again this summer. I wanted to do some travelling this year anyway! So exciting!

Stroud, UK

As I already announced before, I went to England last week - and came home today. I had a wonderful trip and would like to tell me what it was like for me.

Welcome to England

Still needing to pack my bag, take a shower and change money, I had to get up quite early and get ready. Not that early, actually, but earlier than usual. So so damn exciting! Time to get onto the train, another train, the bus to the airport. And then, the plane. My first time at an airport alone, but everything went well and I got onto my plane without any problems (and damn, I love to fly!). After passing the borders to the UK, I saw Murray and his dad waiting for me. And his dad, he was awesome! Funny, open, talkative, and he bought me food. Couldn't be better. We enjoyed the trip to Stroud with some music in the car and as we had almost reached the town, we stopped on one of the hills, went outside and enjoyed the sun set behind the horizon of Wales. Stunning! Welcome to the UK!
Later, we went to the pub to celebrate one of Murray's friends' birthday. Such an exciting day with so many new people.

Pancakes

We took things slow this day. Getting up early? Not after that long day before! But we actually did get up at some point and went to the town to buy a toothbrush and some more things I couldn't bring (security and liquids, you know what I mean...). Tash gave us a lift home (after we had gone to Costa hmmm) and we made some pancakes. Lush!

Ice Cream Factory

 What a day to go for a walk! Okay, it was almost constantly raining, but we had an umbrella and my camera and look, England even looks great on such a rainy day! All those different shades of green, so so so much green, the hills, how great it was to see this instead of all that agriculture in Germany. We went up to the common and to the ice cream factory (and of course we got some ice cream, coco and butterscotch, hmm!). At some point, I just had to stop and stand there for a while, looking down at Stroud and all those hills around it.

  

Gloucester

The following day, we went to buy some food at Sainsbury's and ate it by the canal called Stroudwater Navigation. After that, we went for a coffee, walked back and waited until we had to get ready to leave the town. Murray's dad took us out for dinner in Gloucester and showed me some parts of the town, for example the cathedral. I have to say, Gloucester is a really weird place! So many goths and serial killers and so on, but it looked really nice at the same time. Especially the docks, where we went to an American restaurant. I had Mac and cheese and Shiehallion Pilsener, by the way. ;)

He Says She Waffles

And another rainy day, but we made the best out of it. We went to the farmer's market in Stroud quite early, where I got some souvenirs for my parents. I loved all those books, books are great, I should read more, hm, but I know I won't. However, after that, we went to Cirencester and I really didn't know what to expect from this town. We went to another hall market (and they even had dog stuff there!) and some tiny shops. It's remarkable how much love and effort is in those shops, I really got the impression that the British love making things, and even buying them. It was lovely and as we spotted a sign saying something with "waffles" on it, we decided to go for lunch. I think I got diabetes that day. This one perfect waffle with powdered sugar, ice cream and fookin' marshmallows. And a strawberry milkshake to make it even more perfect. People who visit Gloucestershire: GO TO HE SAYS SHE WAFFLES. JUST DO IT.
Anyway, after that we went back to Stroud and bought pizza and beer for the evening, collected Tom's tinder date from the train station and waited for everyone to join so we could start drinking and playing games. What an evening. Great day. Such wow.

The Prom-blem

Just as planned, we went to Bristol on Sunday to buy me a prom dress. It was quite stressful in the end, because we only had two hours until the shops would close, and when I finally had a prom dress (god damnit, everybody knows you don't find them in shopping centres!), that was about 5 minutes before the shop closed. But I got one! After that, we went to a pub with Murray's sister (and that was when it started raining again, but at least I got to try the Trooper beer - actually not that good, but I knew that) and later met up with his mum to go to Za Za Bazaar and have dinner. Nice! And it was so cool to go to Bristol, because they taught us about it in form 5-7 pretty much, I never thought I'd actually go there. But it's a really nice city.

Bye Bye Eataly

We actually did nothing that day. Nothing, isn't that awful? And the worst thing is - it was really sunny! So in the evening, we went to the town again to have dinner, but sadly the restaurant where we wanted to go was closed. We found another one, though. And the food was good. And I had crême brulée. Just perfect. We went home afterwards and watched a horror film, but I fell asleep. Oh well. But I really enjoyed that day.

 Drei Oliven, bitte

Another day doing nothing, but this time it wasn't my fault because I got cramps and genuinely couldn't leave the bed. It was nice though. Great weather. And we went to Murray's mum's house in the evening. It was such a nice place with a lot of green grass, dandelion and a nice sunset atmosphere. His brother Lachlan came over as well and we had dinner together. It was really delicious and the two guys kept speaking German to each other, at least as far as their knowledge let them. So fun, haha. Also, we talked a lot about future plans which made me feel really insecure and question my plans. Maybe I should just gain some work experience and travel a bit?

So here I am, back in Germany, after Murray's mum took us to the airport this evening and my journey took about 11 hours. What do I have to say about this experience?
I want to go back.
I really really want to go back.
I wasn't even ready to come home yet, and I miss this wonderful and interesting country with all those people I met. Luckily, I'll be back in summer, but now I really feel like I should travel more. This trip really reminded me of my time in Sweden, where I didn't get homesick at all. I just had a really nice time and was part of the life there, it was great.

Exciting Time

Ohh, ohh, summer is coming! Just last weekend, we had a perfect Mother's Day and before that, a wonderful walk along the Niers with the two dogs. They enjoyed the weather and the water, it's finally time to get wet and dirty again!
Oops. That sounded wrong.

Additionally to that, I finally discovered places with wonderful green-golden light, perfect for bokehs like this. Oh, what a May! I definitely need to revisit that place the next time I come to Mönchengladbach. And all those flowers, argh! Did I ever mention how much I love spring and summer? It's the best thing in the world (yes, even better than Christmas).

After that weekend, my week started with a trip to Bad Fredenburg in the Sauerland, 1,5 hours south from Paderborn. This was my last school trip ever and probably even the best. I definitely will never forget it!

The weather was perfect, once we arrived at our hostel, had a rehearsal and lunch (so little time, ugh), we went outside to lie in the sun. We also went to Lidl to buy some food, and I ended up buying a cucumber which I later had for dinner. I love cucumbers. Does that make me a weird person?

Anyway, we spent a lot of time singing and I almost fell asleep during the rehearsals, but it was definitely worth it. The concert will be at the end of June where we will sing "Just The Way You Are" by Bruno Mars (A capella version), "Viva La Vida" by Coldplay and a Swedish sommarpsalm. And it sounds so stupidly beautiful, I'm so excited.
Also, this trip made me realise how much I love our choir. We used to be about 10 members, now we're around 20 and some of them are 3-4 years younger than me. But still, we got along so well and felt like a big happy family. I'm glad that I'll still have the opportunity to spend time with them and they're probably the thing I'll miss most about school.

Happy 18 Trip

Soooo, I turned 18 last Thursday. Or how I like to say, I turned 15 for the fourth time already. I really enjoyed my big day and it still feels weird being "grown-up" (we all know I will never grow up though), but I got my greatest present on Friday when I got to my mum's: A new lens, many many filtres and the trip to the seaside I asked for! We started Saturday morning and arrived at 11am in Landal Port Greve, Brouwershaven, Zeeland, Netherlands.

The weather was great when we had just departed from Mönchengladbach, but as we dared to go for a walk for the first time, it started to rain and I learned that the 55-300mm lens is definitely not for walks and bad weather. But it's really practical to have a longer focal length! Who would like to go to the zoo with me?

After a short break and after I had switched back to my 35mm lens, we got into the car to visit the next beach with Sammy and Barry. It was really stressful for Barry, because he got sick in the car. But as we arrived, he had forgotten everything and enjoyed the beach and even played with Sammy for the first time ever!

I'm so glad my mum gave me her rubber boots because I could stand in the spray and nothing would happen. Okay, I have to admit - I wanted to get as close to the ground as possible to take nice shots and a wave actually hit my butt, but apparently it wasn't much, since I didn't even feel my wet trousers just some minutes later.