Home Again, Home Again

after a really great month of vacation including 1 day in amsterdam, 2+ great weeks visiting friends and family in canada, 4 rainy but relaxing days in binz on the baltic sea and a short yet quality time at home in berlin, i am back to work in nürnberg. my new flat here includes dsl - hurrah! it's almost embarassing how dependent i am on 'net access. almost.

highlights of my canada trip:

part 1.

• flying 1 hr before terrorism events in london were unveiled, not hearing anything about it until after i landed
• lots of time with karen
• lots of time with becky
• seeing kevin, susanna, rob, tiffany, neil, dave... everybody
• seeing kev, mom, stuart albeit at boston pizza
• lots of sleep, and when i didn't sleep well, it didn't matter!
• outdoor art exhibit in the back alleys of downtown toronto
• dim sum, noodle soup, chinese food in general, sausages and mustard at st. lawrence market, greg's ice cream
• book city, future bakery, just wandering around
• andy warhol at the ago
• all the building going on in toronto
• sailing with neil
• cooking and hanging out with tiffany
• dream in the park - comedy of errors in high park
• watching litter play ultimate
• playing ultimate
• discovering arrested development - thanks rob

part 2.

• taking the bus to sturgeon falls
• swimming in the river with my cousins
• seeing my uncles, aunts, grandmother, cousins
• great family dinner (twice!) put on by gerry and marilyn
• poutine with gramma
• mom driving up to sturgeon to meet me and driving back to ottawa together
• vegetarian dining with mom
• remembering ontario mosquitoes
• driving on the queensway
• mom and stuart taking the time to drop me off in kingston
• dad! cooking and talking with dad, enjoying a bottle of wine with dad and lorie

part 3.

• quick visit with my cousin julie, kyle and their daughter emilie
• open air films from the national film board (the log driver's waltz!) in kensington market
• improv at second city
• finding out that my uncle john and aunt trix were on my flight to amsterdam when the airline called "hofstee" to the front desk. i got bumped to club class, air transat's first class

i didn't sleep on the flight home but dozed for most of the train ride from amsterdam to berlin. when i got back i managed to drag my jet lagged body to tae kwon do hoping to trick it onto local time. the next day i headed to binz on the ostsee with michael.

although it was rainy and kind of chilly we went swimming with the jellyfish everyday. we saw the prora and the kreidefelsen and played really bad mini-golf. in binz we stood out a bit because we weren't over 60. our cottage had several crucifixes per room and bad paintings on pieces of old wood but all the amenities. i watched more tv than i usually do and was introduced to "das perfekte dinner" and "wohnung auf wunsch" and found out that i can laugh at german comedy. there was an oven in the kitchen too which i took advantage of - my apartment in berlin has a gas range but no oven.

in binz, at the nudelhaus, i had one of the worst meals i've had in a while. homemade noodles with tuna and olive sauce. doesn't sound too bad right? wrong! ok, the noodles weren't bad if a little overcooked. just add a can of tuna, olive slices from the bottle and a bechamel sauce.

to do in the upcoming months:

• visit gina in copenhagen
• visit kevin, melany, mike in london
• visit jessica in paris
• find a job in berlin