Random observations part 2

Well, there are a couple more things which puzzle this German living in beautiful Down Under to the extreme...

Shopping: there are some things that seriously puzzle me in Aussie supermarkets. There are quite a few farms around Albany and I reckon those people don't go to town every week to do their shopping, so I presume they do bulk shopping, yet it's rather difficult to do, at least it is rather difficult for me. Soda bottles or bubbly water bottles or juice containers are all single containers not boxed or packed in a six-pack or something. As we like drinking bubbly water mixed with juice, my shopping trolley often is half filled with 2l single bottles which you then have to manuver onto the cash desk belt thing where they either pack it in plastic bags or -if you're environment friendly- in reusable bags which you bought at a previous shopping trip and tend to break at the seams because the jolly bottles are too heavy for them.
Or take  beetroot tins.... we LOVE beetroot and eat it a lot so I always try to have a good supply of tins in our gigantic pantry (You never know, WW III might break out any time) yet often they aren't in a cardboard box on the shelves anymore so the other half of your trolley is filled up with corn or beetroot tins.
And then at the cash desks they don't seem to have an option of typing "12 x" and scan the item once, no they go blibb, blibb, blibb, blibb, blibb, blibb, blibb, blibb, blibb, blibb, blibb, blibb until all of my lovely tins are scanned and packed in your reusable textile bag
Why don't they sell bottles in crates???Or six packs???? And I always thought I was complicated.

Butter: okay, everyone here is so totally "salt-concious", salt is totally the "bady". I like salt, in moderation that is... yet the normal butter here is that salty , that this salt-lover here can't eat it... I just don't get it, what do you do with butter that tastes like an entire salt barrel???
And talking about butter... the expiry date of German butter is something within a month (if I remember correctly)... here it is several months... hmm, maybe all that salt preserves it so much the better.

Milk: Okay, they sell fresh milk in these lovely 2l or 3l plastic jugs with screw on lids. And I think that's a fantastic idea. You know, if your milk falls over it doesn't spill all over the car or your fridge... at least in theory. Unfortunately the reality looks slightly different: The screw on lids don't seal properly so if you're not careful driving home after shopping your reusable bag filled up with goodies falls over, the milk spills out and your car smell like vomit for the next couple months if you happen to not notice it straight away, which most likely you wouldn't because, well.. the LID IS STILL ON and connected to the little plastic ring which is suppose to seal the jolly thing.

Self-raising flour: Why do you need something stored in an extra container and taking up space which you can mix so easily yourself with baking powder and baking soda????

Mint flavoured peas... I'm just saying (why in the world would you want your peas to taste minty????)

Sockets: I love Aussie sockets... okay, I love PARTS of Australian sockets. I like that they have a little on/off switch right next to it...Unfortunately, my kid LOVE that switch too. Especially flicking it off while I'm vacuum cleaning and then run of laughing hysterically and I yell like some mad axe murderer for them to flick it back on again. Also, Aussie sockets are built differently than German once, the plug's pointy thingies are the only things that's actually inside the socket and the slightest pull or bump can pull the plug out of it's socket and even bent or break those pointy things. Whereas in a German socket parts of the plug additional to the pointy things gets embedded in the socket.

Kid's bike: You know, I'm into kid's bikes lately... it's so great that Ned can ride his own by himself now  (And he is happy to let anyone know who happened to ride past on the bike path next our house with their training wheels still on). But when I went shopping for one for him it came to my attention that all kid's bikes up to a 50cm frame (which would suit a 5-6 year old I think) are sold with training wheels but no side stand (I guess the training wheels keep the bike upride). So once you don't need the training wheels anymore or don't need it right from the beginning you basically teach your kid to throw his bike to the ground because there is no other option.

Baking paper: So, my sister in law and I had this funny incident in the kitchen the other day. She was baking a cake (an extremely delicious cake that is) and I was sitting, chatting and watching her. Well, she greased the cake pan, then she lined it with none sticky baking paper and then she greased the baking paper. My eyes grew bigger and bigger until they finally almost popped. I asked her why and she looked at me funny. Because everyone is doing it... even recipes ask for it at times... yet I just can't wrap my brain around that one: why do you "waste" all that extra fat on the pan and later on on your waist line if it works perfectly fine with just the baking paper alone....???? Search me... this puzzle keeps me awake at nights at times...

Shower curtains: Okay, I was looking for a shower curtain, for our shower obviously. The shower hasn't got a ledge or something at the bottom so I needed a curtain which would be long enough to reach from the curtain rod to the floor. I seriously looked all over Albany in any shop which might have the slightest possibility of selling shower curtains. Every single shower curtain I looked at was 180x180cm. EVERY.SINGLE.ONE. Luckily, there is an IKEA in Perth, and it's only 5h drive to IKEA and they sell curtain with a different size: 200x180cm. Well, another reason to go shopping at IKEA.

Baby measurements: So, generally we have the metric system here Down Under. Everything is in meters, litres and kilos, even though the older generation still thinks in inches and ounces (Between 1970 and 1988 Australia changed from imperial to metric... just in case you were wondering)
Yet the weight of a newborn baby is announce in pounds and ounces. When I tell someone that my boys were around 3800g they ask me how much that is in pounds.. even though everything else is measured in grams and kilos... well, by now I remember to say that it's 8lb2'... gee, I hardly know how to write 8 pounds and 2 inches properly, hmmmmm

cheese:
Aussies love their cheddar cheese. So if you find yourself in the cheese aisle 3/4 of it is filled up with cheddar cheese, in all price ranges and fat contents... in the remaining 1/4 you might find the odd  Gouda or Mozarella or Parmesan. My favourite cheese is Maasdamer... and I was over the moon to actually find it (not in the common cheese aisle but in the deli section) and even though it is a Dutch cheese the package declares it to be a Swiss-style cheese. Cheddar in general doesn't really tickle my fancy at all, the only why I generally like it is once it's melted over my food... YET one particular cheddar breed threatens to overtake the lead in favourite cheese: pickled onion vintage cheddar cheese.. that one really got me and despite the fact that it is really crumbly like all cheddars and a pain to cut in precise pieces.

Don't get me wrong... I'm not nagging or complaining or anything... it's just things I see and they make me smile... or puzzle to the extreme :o)

It happened... again!!

My husband left me... again... sigh... to leave for a 2 weeks trip to Europe. I REALLY strongly and absolutely dislike being left behind... left behind with 2 demanding little boys and holidays looming ahead of me. Yet I was left behind with awesome parents in law as well as a sister in law who lives with us at present... so the next weeks don't look as dark. I really admire those single parents and miner's wives or seaman's wives out there who do the parenting thing all by themselves.

Anyways, with Ben having to get to the airport in Perth I had the perfect excuse for a weekend trip to the big smoke... and IKEA of course. Ced stayed with the grandparents and had a wonderful time (yet I am grateful though that he seemed to be happy to have me back after the weekend as well). And Ned came with me. We did looooaaaats of fun things...

• ...like going to IKEA (which is fun for Ned as well due to the fantastic, professionally supervised playground they have there), 
• ...like catching up with good old Logos Hope friends, 
• ...like going on a train ride ("Mama, hold my hand, it wobbles")
• ...like going to a fantastic playground in king's park
• ...like eating ice cream
• ...like going to some more playgrounds
• 
• ...like watching TV for brekkie  (at least Ned enjoyed that A LOT!!)
• ...like more ice cream
• ...like going for walks... to playgrounds
• 
• ...like going to a totally unknown church (to me unknown that is) and there meeting someone I know
• ...like going to Fremantle on the way home and going to a German butcher (it smelled divine!!!) ... and playing on a playground of course
• ...like having a yuuuuummmmmy snackbox for the 4-5h road trip

So this husband-less and fatherless time has started off quite well and fun... especially considering the week leading up to Ben leaving was quite dreadful... I had a tummy bug and I think I haven't felt that sick ever before... at least I could drink coke and eat saltstick to my heart's content.

Unfortunately this being sick and then going away made me stumble and fall again otherwise... ending with a binge yesterday. Being out of my routine isn't very helpful. Yet, I'll dust myself off, get back on my feet and run the race without looking back. My goal now is to beat my 50 binge-free days starting from today.

Still alive and kickin'

Somehow it is so much easier to share when you're up on top enjoying the mountain view... rather than being down and out, face-plant in the mud. And I guess that's where I've been for quite a loooong time. I'd finally get myself off the ground again, just to stumble and fall yet once more. Australian winter doesn't help either. It makes me feel down and depressed, but to be fair, we have had some wonderful days of beautiful weather and sunshine as well.

A lot has happened in the last 2 months... and it continues to happen... but I feel like I'm finally climbing the mountain once again, leaving the "mud fight" behind... for now at least.
It is somehow hard and also embarrassing to write about my struggle because, well, lets face it, it's so much cooler and better looking to be strong... not weak. Some people even smile about my struggle because they can't understand that it can be a struggle at all. I personal monster is called: food. I'm not bulimic (I can't stand vomit luckily) and obviously and thankfully also not anorexic. I'm a binge-er. Over-eater. A"stuff-my-face-with-whatever-crosses-my-path-kind-of-eater". I panic, I  eat! I get depressed, I eat! I feel perfectly fine... I also eat! There you go. It's out. You can laugh. I don't feel like laughing.
And you know, since identifying this struggle as sin against God... I mean, HELLO, I try to turn to food for comfort instead of God which is basically sin, it has gotten so much worse. I felt so out of control, controlled by my "monster" instead of God. I'd make new starts and new plans again and again (I lost count around "new start No.#187b). Just to stumble and fall into the mud yet once again. That did not feel like a life of victory and freedom which we are supposed to have in Christ. But you know, as I lay there, covered with chocolate and gummy bears I realised that victory isn't necessary winning over this food struggle with satan but how quickly I turn back to Jesus. My struggle with food and my spiritual life are so interwoven you can not separate them. And even though I might be down and out Jesus has won the victory for me already, once and for all, all I have to do is to crawl back to him, chocolate covered and all, and the quicker I do it the better it is. And he helps me up and wipes of the dirt and sends me back into the race. He is my greatest cheerleader and coach all in one.
I have been thinking about sin a lot lately and so often you kinda associate things like "murder", "rape", "theft" or the like with sin. And yes, of course, that is sin. Yet our day to day sin is much more pleasant. Sin more often than not is actually things we LOVE to do... or we wouldn't do them, eh???  And everyone has there own personal fitted "sin" which trips them in their race again and again. For some it might be pornography or drugs or shopping or gossiping.. for me its food and unless you struggle in the same area you really can't fully understand or comprehend how much of a hold ones particular "favourite" sin can have.
It is a bit sobering to think that most properly food will have a potential to trip me for the rest of my life. Yet, I'm in my forth week of eating healthy, living healthy, spending regular time with God, exercising and not binging. It feels so great, so liberating, encouraging. It makes me so grateful to God, that he has given me the strength and discipline to do it. Yet I know, I'll fall again, because I AM human, I'm not meant to fly, BUT I know victory is crawling back to the feed of Jesus, as quickly as I can. Knowing and realizing this was somehow a real eye opener and also a turning point.

I don't know if any of this makes any sense to anyone, yet it makes sense to me... I have changed a lot in the last couple of months... even those months I was flat out, face-down in the mud. Who would have ever thought or imagined that this night owl would turn into a early bird??? Yepp, weekdays I'm up at 6am going out for a run 3 times a week and doing other exercises as well, as well as spending time with my bible and the author thereof. I'm sticking to 3 main meals and 2 snacks a day and I don't do any night time eating no more... there is a reason why breakfast is called breakfast: it is breaking a night times fast. I haven't had chocolate as plain chocolate in almost a months and no processed sweets... I try to eat as much whole meal foods as possible, which includes home made cakes and bikkies... afternoon tea is the highlight of my day lately! It feels so good to be balanced and it makes me so thankful. I haven't even had a desire to binge yet, so I didn't even have to fight against it.... thank you Lord!!! Yet there is a German saying that "pride comes before the fall" so I don't want to be proud of my achievements, but rather absolutely grateful to my Father in heaven.

Other things have happened as well...

Ned turned 4 years old... we had a dinosaur party. It was AWSOME, but boy, was I glad when it was finished.

Cedric also had his birthday, and he turned 2.

He got a little balancing bike from both sets of grandparents and he loves it. 50m still take him around 30min but  he'll get there eventually. One positive side effect of this birthday present was that Ned could borrow it and we went for 3 loooooooong walks (I mean 8km kind of walks). After that we put him back on a "real" bike, and voila, within 10min he finally learned to rid his bike!!! Not only that, we went for a looong ride with him the other day when it was beautiful and he rode for 12km. YAAAAYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!! That's my boy!!! I was SO excited, that I went and bought him a new shiny bike. He is absolutely in love with it... I guess he and I... we just love shiny, new things *SMILE*.

Well this little froggy is neither shiny nor new but he happened to be in our garden and the boys fell in love with the little fellow... luckily for froggy he survived this kind of love and after 10min I released him from the danger of death by squeezing and popped him in our veggie garden. Apparently a frog in a veggie garden is a good sign and means your garden is doing good.

Who am I????

I AM a precious child of God, 

dearly loved and paid for with the blood of Jesus Christ on the cross.

I AM a forgiven sinner

and a seeker and defender of truth.

I AM a dreamer of dreams 

and a bringer of joy.

I AM delighted by the glorious and beautiful creation

my Father in heaven has designed.

Likewise,

I AM designed 

to create beauty around me. 

IT IS my hearts desire

to worship my Lord and my God with all that I AM 

and bring glory to His name

in all that I do,

so that my life is a testimony 

for His love, His grace, His goodness, His Forgiveness and His might

and shines brightly

like the stars in the sky

in a dark and fallen world.

That is who I am... or try to be with all of my abilities.... do you know who you are??? 

 

 

Cedric

My baby finally started talking.... I mean, not talking-like-a-girl-kind-of-talking but you know... boy-talking.... It took him so long to finally start... more often than not it is still only one syllable or maybe two, and there are a lot of "uhh" sounds in everything... and he just LOVES the "B" sound....

Having a conversation with him is rather funny, like when driving along in the car:
Cedric: "Mama!!! Maaama!!! Maaaaa!!!" (he finally got my attention and I hmpf so he goes on) "Mama, babba!!" (that's his word for bagger which is German for digger) "Maaamaaaa!!! BABBA!!!"
Me: "Cedric, that isn't a Bagger but a truck!"
Cedric: "MAMA!! BABBA!!!!!"
Me: "No, it's a truck!"
Cedric: "MAMAAAA!!!! BABBAAAAA!!!!!!!"
Me: "Okay, it's a Bagger"
Silence....
Cedric: "Mama???.... Maaaaa???? Maaamaa???? uhhhww, uhhhww!!" (it sound like an owl, but that's his sound for a dog)
Me: "No, Ced, that is a sheep"
Cedric: "Mamaa, uhhw, uhhhw"
Me: "okay, love, that is a dog"
Cedric: "Uhhhwww, Uhhhw"
Ned: "Cedric, NOT all the time!!!!"
Cedric: "Maaa??? Mamma???? Maaaamaaaa??!!! Baiby??? Baiiiiby????"

... and so on.... he only stops when you tell him what he thinks he sees and doesn't care if the bagger is actually a truck or the dog a sheep... but a little person he titles "baiby" has to be just that, a little person around his own hight.

Finally he can also say "thank you" and "please" which is VERY cute...okay, it's "Taa" (or "Da-ki"  in German) for thanks and "peeeee" for "please". He LOVES saying "bye bye", I think that might have been his first word actually... that or "mama".... the funny thing is that he started saying "shoe" and the German words for "poo" and toilet before he finally said "DADDY" or "Ned". Additionally to all those he also added "hi", "nigh nigh", "baboo" (kapputt) and "boh" (more) to his vocabulary... AND of course all those car sounds or machinery sounds or any kind of noise as a matter of fact, which all have a rather u-ish sound.

Even though it sometimes can be a little bit frustrating with not having a clue what he actually wants to say or him pointing out the 50est sheep and calling it a dog it is more than precious to see him learn daily... and I thank the Maker daily for those two precious little boys he gave us to take care off!!

Random facts

I don't stick out of the crowd. Looking at me I could be just any ol' Australian. I don't look "foreign". But I often feel it, feel like I'm a fish out of the water and don't really know what I should do or say. Don't get me wrong, I love living Down Under and calling it my home, but sometimes there are just things which are normal in Germany but are considered rude in Australia or the other way round. Germans are also known to be rather.. uhm.. direct. Australians are NOT very direct... and keeping my lid shut occurs to me only AFTER I blurred out something silly/offensive/rude/ridiculous/stupid yet once again. I do wish my brain would think faster than my mouth can talk... sigh. BUT, you know, having lived Down Under for MORE than one year now, that basically makes me an Australia expert... wellll... not really BUT I have learned a couple of rather random facts/differences about living in Australia versus living somewhere else in the world. My list is in no particular order... just whatever came to my mind at random.

1. There are no white eggs... at least not in the shops. I checked, I really did, and opened package after package of different egg producers, but no white eggs to be seen, only brown ones (I was told though that apparently there ARE white eggs in Australia, people with their own chucks do find white eggs... no idea why there are no white ones in the shops though... strange).
2. Chickens are called chucks, by the way.
3. One of Australias most favourite vehicle is called a UTE!!! It's NOT to be mistaken with a pick-up truck, cause it is NOT a pick-up truck but a utility coupé. Apparently back in 1934 (or somewhere around then) a woman wrote to Ford and asked them if they could built a car which they could use to go to church on Sundays and bring the pigs to the market on Mondays. Voila, the UTE was invented (good that I really like watching TOP GEAR or I wouldn't have the slightest idea about this important historical fact).
4. You know, those signs: "KEEP OFF THE LAWN"???? Well, you will hardly ever find them here.. everyone seems to LOVE parking on the front lawn of peoples houses. My husband loves it so much that he parks on the lawn even if the driveway is all empty. If it happens that the lawn is all parked up already and he just HAS to park on the driveway he makes sure that at least one tire touches the grass.
5. Talking about parking, Aussies also LOVE to park their cars right on the beach, or at least their 4WDs. Whereas at European beaches one sunburned body is packed next to the other here one 4WD is lined up next to the other.... at least on public holidays when all of Albany goes to the beach (minus my father in law, who doesn't like the beach at all. Too much sand, and I'm totally with him, I just can't stand the sand part of the beach neither).
6. Everything is run according to school terms. There are 4 terms and a couple weeks holidays in between the terms. During the holidays as good as nothing is on. No bible studies, no swimming school, no Sunday school, no book club. It's actually really smart and practical that way. Unfortunately, even though I have one kid in kindy now, I still don't have a clue of when which term ends or starts, but I'll get there eventually.
7. If you ask someone: "How old is your daughter?" More often than not the answer is: "Ou, she's in year 2 or 5 or 10". Which doesn't help me much. I don't have a clue how old that makes them. I have to confess though, that I've started to do the same thing. "How old is your son??" "Oh, he just started kindy this year"... duuhhhhhhh 
8. It's so easy to have a conversation with a random person in the supermarket or playground or swimming pool. Aussies are so easy-going and friendly.
9. There are no cellars in houses... at least in none of the houses I have ever been to or in none of the houses I've seen built around here. At least you can't really be scared of going to the cellar. There are also no attics really, which is rather sad... I always though attics have a certain charm to them. There happens to be lots of space between my ceiling and the roof, and we actually have some paint stored up their, but you have to make sure to store it on top of the cross beams and not the ceiling itself as that would just plain break through. It's not built to store things in.
10. All Australian boys need a shed though. I think I can safely say, next to the ute and TimTams having one or two of fifty sheds in your back yard is the most Australian thing ever!! We have one too. I don't really like going there. It's spider kingdom I tell ya, and those big, fat black ones look rather poisonous.
11. 90% of stove tops are gas burners, cooking with gas still makes me a bit uncomfortable. I never had an accident though, but as Ned so very kindly informs me: "There is a fire burning in the kitchen" which makes me want to get out the fire extinguisher right away (that's what living on a ship and having safety awareness drilled into your brain does to you). 
12. Albany and Mosbach have roughly the same population (okay, what is 10000 people between friends???). We went for a bike ride a couple days ago. It was 30km round trip... and we never left Albany.... that would have never happened in Mosbach. But talking about bikerides leads me to the next point
13. bike paths are just plain AWEFUL!!!!!!!!!!! Okay, there are some nice ones along the coastline and the average Australian family would pack their bikes in their ute and go and park it on the beach (okay, they park in in the car park most of the times) and then go for a bike ride along that one really beautiful bike paths along the coast which adds up to maybe 8km one way, so it is 16km return from one end to the other. However, good Europeans that we are (and in this Ben is rather European, I guess it's his English roots, even though the English hardly qualify as Europeans) we ride our bikes from our house to the good bike path. Getting there though we rather ride on the road than on the "bike" paths next to the road. Riding your bike on those paths almost breaks your spine and shatters your teeth. Another reason why we ride on the road instead of the bike path is that on the path you have no right of way. Every time you want to cross a side street you basically have to stop and let the cars go past, whereas in Germany you still have the right of way, even if you are on the bike path
14. Most Australians have their bike saddles way too low by the way, which makes them rather slow... and funny lookin'.
15. cutting cakes... I tell you, 90% of the times I see Aussies cut cakes I almost have a heart attack. My German sense of perfection and accuracy gets cruelly offended. It hurts my eyes to watch. I think in Germany you have it drilled in as a baby HOW TO CUT A CAKE THE RIGHT WAY. I think you can't be German if you can't cut a cake correctly (I bet ya that's one of the things you have to do if you apply for German citizenship. Forget about language knowledge it's all about how to cut a cake):  take a long knife (often there is even a special cake knife) and cut the cake into two identical halves (okay, I always struggle to get the halves 100% perfect, but as I said, I'm not typical German). If there aren't many people around to eat the cake you only proceed with one of the halves and cut that again precisely in two part. Finally you cut those two parts into three identical pieces each. If the whole cake is required you do the same to the other half. You will end up with 12 almost identical pieces of cake (even though I practised this method from infancy I have to admit that I still struggle to have totally identical pieces, there's always one smaller or bigger piece... sigh, so far they haven't taken away my German citizenship). In Australia on the other hand you grab the cake and any old knife and start cutting away somewhere roughly from the middle. However big or small you want your piece which make everything else end up rather crocked and wonky. BUT there is hope, I know that a couple of people have seen the light and are able to cut a cake the right way, yay!!
16. Gardening is cool and not only for old people... I guess fruit and veggies can be quite expensive so it is a smart thing to do.
17. You can't buy booz in a normal shop but only in a bottle shop. No buying alcohol at a service station here, GOOD ON YA, MATE!!!!!And no drinking in public places either (at least drinking alcohol that is). Sometimes even restaurants are none alcohol restaurants. And with other restaurants they don't sell it but you're allowed to bring your own booz and drink it with your meal
18. Smoking is consider VERY uncool here (YAY!!). Getting ciggies is way more difficult than in Germany. There are no vending machines just outside schools or around the corner of your house. You can only get them in a special place in the supermarkets and geeee, it is SO expensive... it is SO sad to see all those very young girls in German smoking like a chimney, because it is considered cool. Here you really don't see may young people smoke... maybe at night clubs, but I don't really go clubing. The focus is on sports. And sport and smoking don't really go well together, so their strategy seems to work
19. Shoes in houses. In Asia that a BIG,  big NO, NO. No one does it, it is very rude to do so. Also in the Arab world, it's an unthinkable thing. You take your shoes OFF when you go inside. I think it is understandable, just think of all the thinks you might have stepped in during the day... no, I rather not want to think about it. Germany is divided in two groups though: the once taking their shoes off and the once who don't.... but generally there is a good understanding between the parties. You might have guessed I'm from a "taking-off-shoes" kind of family. That's what we do at our house... but I almost have to defend my reasoning to others, which makes me feel rather odd.... but I really don't like street dirt inside my house plus all the other things which might be on the bottom of shoes... plus, I hate cleaning... I have to vacuum clean almost everyday around the table already, I really don't fancy doing the entire house.... so I continue being a pain in the neck for our visitors and make them take their shoes off (except for my father in law, he's got special permission, and that's okay), please don't be mad at me that I make you do it, my dear visitors, and continue to come.
20. Roller balding isn't really known here. And I love roller blading.So that's what I do to get some exercise, I drive down to the good bike path and go back and forth along on part of it (I can't do the part with the bigger hills in it, I'm lousy in using my brakes). And it is fantastic, it is SO, SO, SOOOOO beautiful and so often it takes my breath away (not the exercising, but the beauty around me), BUT there are two challenges: snakes (poisonous snakes that is) crossing my path making me almost roll over them and slow moving pedestrians blocking the whole path and not really reacting at all even if you yell at them "excuse me" several times and them becoming rather enraged with you when you almost run into them because in the last second they decided to finally move right into the one open space you were making for.
21. Looooong summer nights are not to be had, sigh!!! Presently it's dark around something like 6pm. It feels like deepest winter to me. Even in the hight and glory of Albany summer (which was a REALLY fantastic one this year) it is dark at  8 o'clock. On the other hand it's light at  4am... who in his right senses wants to be up at that time of the day????? My solution is to change the time zone... starting to get light at lets say 6am and getting dark at 10pm is so much more sensible... at least in my humble "night owl" opinion *SMILE*
22. distances... you just drive way more than back in good old Germany, not only if you wanna go to the next big city which happens to be Perth and is 500km away, but also just around town. The other day I drove to a beach and I realized it was a 40km drive.... one way!!! That's what I used to go to work to and everyone thought it was SO FAR AWAY!!! Driving 40km from where we used to live in Germany would have taken me to at least 2 bigger cities.. and here... here I managed to go to the beach, which is extreme pretty and happened to be the beach we got engaged.
23. There seems to be a conspiracy in the local supermarket against me. They seem to think it funny to take articles out of their regular stock which I happened to get used to buying over the last year... and I can't just drive to the next town to look there because, lets face it, ther IS no next town close by.
24. mattresses... I don't know what exactly they put into mattresses here but they feel like they weigh a ton... or two. Changing your sheets involves lots of hard work pulling the jolly things up and fitting the new sheets on.... and EXPENSIVE are these lovelies... no 50$ bargain at ALDI.. o how I miss my 50$ ALDI mattress, sigh
25. speeding...  generally people don't speed... at least not here in the country.... at least not what I consider speeding. I Germany I was ALWAYS at least 10km/h too fast... it was going with the flow, out of town it was normal to be 20km/h over. If I'm driving 65 here instead of 60 I get nervous and feel strange... I don't DO speeding here anymore... it feels just wrong... and that's coming from a German speed-bug.... I have to confess though: I got flashed the other day... but due to dreaming... I didn't mean to speed, my mind was just otherwise occupied.... and it has been more than 2 months already and still the ticket hasn't arrived here.... weird.

... can't think of any more right now, even though I'm convinced there IS still plenty more.

Well, I finish off with one of my offsprings quotes yet once again:

"I'm three years old!! I'm careful!!!!"

Talking about Jesus

Talking about Jesus with Children is very challenging I believe. I mean, HOW do you explain to them that Jesus can live in your heart, if you let him. Since Easter Ned is very fascinated about Jesus and the cross, again and again we have conversations about Jesus, which turn out to be a bit.... funny actually.
A couple of nights ago I he was asking about Jesus again and I tried my best (which was pretty lousy) to explain to him that Jesus lives in my heart, and no, you can't really see him.
Well, tonight when we put the boys to bed Ned tried to look under my jumper for the baby. "Great" I thought, "I know I'm a bit bigger around the middle, but do I really look pregnant??". Well, I told him that there was no baby inside my belly. He looked at me a bit bewildered: "Baby Jesus???". I was like "Oh". I tried to tell him again, that Jesus wasn't a baby in the belly but was living in my heart. No you can't see him. And no, you can't really cuddle him either... and nor can you really kiss him. All of a sudden he wrapped his arms around me and said: "I cuddle Jesus" and kissed my chest.

Some more of Ned's classics

Ned: "Daddy, don't eat me, you had lunch already!!!"

Ben and I are joking around in the kitchen and have a mock fight.
Mum to Dad: "I bite your head off!!!"
Ned: "Don't bite daddies head off please"

Ned: "I wanna make babies"
 (AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I'm not ready to be a  grandmother just YET!!!"

Ned: "That is Jesus, he can fly!!"
(I guess we need to sort out his theology, he seems to mix up superman and the son of God)

Easter

I always wondered why it is called "good" Friday. I checked Wikipedia and they say it's from the senses pious, holy of the word "good"... why didn't they then just call it holy Friday??
You know, there are many things that aren't very biblical in the Catholic church, having grown up in a church going Catholic family I should know. BUT despite all those fault I think it is just beautiful how they celebrate our Lord's death and resurrection (and I don't mean the way like in some countries where people inflict severe pain on themselves to please God or to punish themselves for their sins). Somehow when growing up the Holy Week had something awe-inspiring, a sense of something.... holy.
It started with Palm Sunday when we had a procession around our village centre. There aren't so many palm trees in the South of Germany, so instead of palm leaves we would carry pussy willow branches, I didn't really care why but I just loved the pussies... and I thought it's much more fun to be outside instead of sitting inside the church thinking about lunch.
Somehow Maundy Thursday, the Thursday before Easter was special. In my youth group we practised several songs for weeks beforehand to sing together with other "young" people (which were in their late teens or mid/early twenties and I thought them ancient) on Maundy Thursday. It was only us young people and the priest, as the women as well as the men had separate services... that made it somehow special. The songs were all focused on the crucifixion. I can't remember most of them but I remember that often I had tears in my eyes even though I wasn't really a Christian. I thought it aweful what Jesus had to suffer but didn't really make the connection that my own sins had put him there.
I think it was on Good Friday when we had another procession. This time along a "Way of the cross". We'd stop at each station. I can't remember what we did when we stopped though. There was also a service where basically one Gospel account would be read out aloud; the priest read what Jesus said, a person on his right read the narration and another one on his left read all the other lines, like Pilate or the angry mob or the the high priest. As a child this seemed to take forever. During the entire Holy Week the Jesuses on the crosses in the Catholic church would be covered with a cloth but after they'd finished reading about the crucifixion the priest  uncovered Jesus again.
Saturday was nothing special really... except in the evening.... after sundown... we went back to church for Easter Vigil.... there would be no electric light in the entire church. Songs weren't accompanied by the organ but everyone got a unlit candle when entering the church. When the liturgy reached the point that Christ has risen a new big Easter candle would be lit in the front from which all our candles would be lit in return. All of a sudden the organ would start playing a song, usually on the line that Jesus has risen from the dead.
We'd be back to church the next morning.... just after the Easter egg hunt that is.
Even though, especially later when I was more a teenager, it was a bit of a pain in the neck to be in church 4 times in one week, it gave you just a sense that something important was being celebrated.
I have come to faith now. I call myself a Christian, a follower and disciple of Christ, the risen Lord, but the awe of Easter is gone. Without the cross my entire faith would be nothing, just another religion preaching good deeds and morals.... but Christianity is so totally not about good deeds and good morals... in fact not even about religion. It is about a relationship and Jesus having done everything for me... (good deeds and good morals are a mere "side product", so to say)... and yet... the reverence is gone, the sense of importance how we celebrate the death and resurrection of our Lord. We did go to church. We did sing some songs. Half way through the sermon I had to leave because Cedric just got way too loud. So we went to creche. How did my parents do it when we were little I often wonder... there was no creche at our good old 17th century church... neither was there a Sunday school... neither any toilets as a matter of fact... but we went to church as far back as I can remember.
Today at the beginning of the service we watched bits of "The Passion of Christ" in a short video though. It brings tears to my eyes... and hopefully also to my heart. The movie only portraits the physical pain and suffering of Christ, the overwhelming weight and power of the sins of the entire human race is impossible to portrait. Ned sat next me and watched really alert. I wanted to cover his eyes. I did not. He keeps on talking about the cross all day.
When we came back home he built this... all his own doing, I didn't touch those Legos

That building in the background is the grave apparently.

He got his facts a bit mixed up, 

he made seven crosses and I've got no idea where the motorbike comes in, but it made me all gooey inside...
May you have a meaningful, awe-inspiring and convicting Easter... Our Lord has risen, he is truly risen and is alive, AMEN.

Well, one final story which has got absolutely nothing to do with Easter but it was just way too funny.

Oke, so we were in the car on the way home from church and out of the blue Ned asks: "What is sex?" (GEEE!!! Where did he hear that in church??????) I wasn't really sure if he was talking about the German sechs (which is number six) or rather the English word... but he went on talking about numbers, so phew.... we could postpone a talk about sex for when he is a tiny bit older.

And in case you were wondering, NO it isn't a scare on his head, it was actually only a hair-cutting accident  with the clippers. I didn't realize it was set on #1 instead of #7... ou well, as my husband says so wisely "There is only two weeks between a good and a bad haircut" or the other way round in our case.

Beautiful kids

You know, I've been blessed with lots of friends with absolutely beautiful kids. I know mine are absolutely stunning as well (I'm allowed to be biased, I'm the mother), especially after just being sick all over himself and daddy, sitting in the laundry sink and having a bath.

But you know... as cute as they are (I really know I'm biased, sorry), sometimes it is just really nice to get some other... uhm... victims before my lens.
Just in the last couple days I was actually missing Logos Hope and the people on board and thought how unfortunate it was that I only really got interested in photography AFTER we left the ship... I mean, it started on the ship, but there were so many missed opportunities and I had absolutely no clue what I was doing, just fiddling around and see what would happen.
Well, I still don't have a clue what I'm doing most of the time but somehow the quality of my photos have somewhat improved, and NOT only thanks to lightroom or photoshop (thank you very much). Fiddling around and see what would happen as well as reading a lot about it has left it's mark. And so here the beautiful kids of my friends come into the picture. I always thought I'd love to be a landscape photographer but somehow my interest has shifted (not only because trying to be a landscape photographer involves getting up much earlier than I am accustomed to in order to catch that beautiful morning light) and I see myself chasing kids with my lens.
It started with my friend Heather and her twins. She asked me if I could take some pics for her for her Christmas presents, and I said "sure" and it was fun, luckily I did think of those balloons.

Then I had the chance of having these three cuties as "victims" (just look at those eyes.. hang on you can't see them, it's black and white... but believe you me, those eyes are BLUE).

Another chance was the twins birthday party. (it was an animal theme)

And just a couple of weeks back I went to one of my favourite beaches with these four girls.

Before those "photoshoots" I'm always a bit... uhm... scared. "What if the kids just don't go along?" "What if they refuse to look at me?" "What if the photos don't turn out okay?" and may more questions starting with what ifs. Many of these questions were actually answered. The girls for example had just plain fun at the beach and I happened to be there. We had a little picnic and they were basically running and climbing and chasing around, now and then I got them herded together on one rock or another and took some snaps... I was so relieved that part worked out well. The photos also looked okay, but I also learned a lot, things I should and will do different next time.
One big thing is light. I thought I'd go in the late afternoon, but often their faces still had those really harsh shadows or they were looking rather towards the light which made them squint. I did bring my reflector (which I got for my birthday) but it was so windy that it was no use... I generally forgot about the wind actually. When I edited the photos at home I realized that on many promissing shoots the girls' hair were just all over the place... oops. I also learned about open shade accidentally, which is a good thing. The photos I took in open shade at the beach just after the sun disappeared behind a hill, turned out the best I think...

anyway, I am waffling.

Now I have a new opportunity next week. One lady from church asked me if I could take some photos of her foster children and even get paid a little ( I don't know what I think about the getting paid part, I really don't feel like a "real" photographer). This is a totally new step for me, as I don't really know those kids at all. And silly me came up with a silly idea: "What about going to the fire brigade with them?". I'm not the kind of girl just to walk up to the fire station and ask but the foster mum IS that kind of girl... and the fire brigade said they'd be happy for us to take photos with the kids and the engines... geee... what did I get myself into... now I have to get smart about how to take good photos in fire engines.... I mean I could fire my flash, but working properly with a flash is one of those areas I don't have a clue about... ou well, I'll do my best and pray :o))) And to be honest, even though I am a bit scared of this "photoshoot" I'm also excited about the outcome... and just hope and pray that somehow I get a couple of decent shots.

Deep Impact

Christmas must have left a really deep impact on Ned... he talks about it a lot... and he even built his very own Christmas tree the other day

hmmmm.... :o))) Night, night

And another one

Mum: "Ned, what did you do at kindy today???"
Ned: "Walk this way (pointing left) and that way (pointing right)"

Ned: "Daddy, eat ploperly!!!" (properly)

Cedric just bit Ned really hard and and I tried to find the bite mark.
Mum: "Ned, I can't see it"
Ned: "It's gone.. it's bitten off"
(I did find the mark a bit late, and Cedric drew blood)

Or how about this one:

Aunty Jill is coming down from Perth for a visit.
Mum: "Aunty Jill will sleep in the red spare room"
Ned: "Onkel Dani's room??" (My brother stayed in this room when he was here for visit)
Mum: "No, Onkel Dani isn't here, Aunty Jill is sleeping there now."
Ned: "Aunty Jill sleeping with Onkel Dani????"

I guess I better shouldn't tell you about that incident when Ned lifted the back of his potential future pre-primary teacher's shirt and inquired what her bra was.... it was SLIGHTLY embarrassing even though he asked in all innocence and we all cracked laughing, inclusive her.

This and That

I bet everyone who has children gets confronted with incredibly funny things your kids say. We are no exception!! And unfortunately it is SO easy to forget the punchlines offspring comes up with. So I thought I'
d share a couple with you.

Dad: "Ned!! Be quiet!!!"
Ned: "But I'm talking!"

Cedric eats his afternoon snack. Ned comes up to him: "Cedric, you need to share" and little fellow even does it (bless him)

Mum: "Ned, how was kindy?? What did you do??"
Ned: "uhm... played.... slept... Mister Russell said I'm naughty"
Mum: "Uhm... MISSES Russell"
Ned: "Mister Russell"
Mum: "MISSES Russell"
Ned: "Mister Russell"
(Mum gives up in frustration)

Mum: " Who are your kindy teachers??"
Ned: "Mister Russell and Misses MarLICK"
(It is still MISSES Russell and Mrs. Marvick)

"I forgot I had to go to the toilet very quick" (luckily he made it just in time)

And while we're talkin' about talkin'.... FINALLY Cedric also decided to use some words: It's MAMA (which mean anything from me to food to whatever)  and BYEBYE (which he LOVES saying... unless I try to video it, then -of course- he doesn't)

I guess boys are boys and just don't have to say as much as girls, and rather do.. you know.... boyish things....

It looks like he's straight of a catwalk in Milan or Paris... maybe he should be the new "face" for HUGGIES????

That wasn't typical boyish I suppose... but dumping all of mum's cushions and pillow on the floor and jumping into the pile most certainly qualifies as "boyish" (even though girls like doing that just as much.... I have certain recollections of my own innocent past)








(I hope you don't mind naked boys in their undies/nappies)

Ou yeah.. and I had my birthday just lately.... I started my eighth year of being 25 and I had a really wonderful day... the day was warm and sunny (definitely not what I'd usually have for my birthday) and in the afternoon I had a bunch of friends and their offspring over (and the offspring behaved marvellous... I was amazed).
In the evening Ben took me to the movies as a surprise. We watched "This means war"... and I cried of laughter... almost wetting my pants.

Kindy

Ned truly loves kindergarten.

Yesterday I had a chance to see what kindy was like.The teachers encourage the parents to sign up as parental help once or twice each term. So yesterday was my first time in an Australian kindergarten (and it is quite different form my own kindergarten experience 25 years ago). I took my camera along of course, which was fun... some of the kids really wanted me to take a photo of them but some of the parents don't want photos of their kids on the web (understandable) so I only use photos of Ned and of his friend C. whose mum is my friend and okay with it :o)

That's Ned's friend.

You might notice that she isn't wearing uniform: It was RED day at kindy.

Everything was kind of red-related: the cloth, the stories, the crafts, even the food

Even the playdough was red... no idea why it was on his nose though.

They experienced what happens to red if you mix it with a different colour



I really enjoyed experiencing what they actually do at kindy... I even had to help with crafts, which is a little nightmare  of mine... to do crafts with kids that is, because I'm slightly pedantic when it comes to gluey fingers and children covered in paint,  but I think I survived that part just fine.

Although red is Ned's favourite colour I'm looking forward to "yellow" day at kindy. We struggle with the colour yellow.
If you ask: "What colour is  the lemon?" more likely than not the answer is "blue" with a minor percentage of "green" but as good as never "yellow"

sigh

BUT

He slowly recognizes letters which is REALLY exciting!!! Every time he sees a "N" or "e" or "d" he gets totally excited.

Look, what's growing in my garden

Isn't it a beauty?????

And another one

And that's the boys eating one...

....not the one from the garden though... it'll still take ages for them to be ripe.... sigh :o)))

And that's another thing growing in our garden:



(It's an eggplant if you can't recognize it) and eggplant plants have really pretty blossoms... I never knew.



Talking about blossoms.... our fruit trees are weird fruit trees. That or they think they are European. It is late summer here, almost autumn , BUT my former stick-lookalikes decided to blossom.



And can you find the capsicums???? Well, they rather accidentally decided to grow next to our compost bin... but who am I to complain, if you're not a weed and you wanna grow in our garden you're most welcome.



And that's a couple of our millions of cherry tomatoes. The bushes start to look a bit dead, but they still produce tomatoes... a lot of tomatoes.



And we're also flooded with cucumbers. Unfortunately Ben doesn't like cucumbers.... uhm, next year I need to think a bit better before I plant something.



And these little beauties... back in October I blogged how much I was excited of finding an elder tree in blossom so I was able to make elderflower syrup which is just soooo yummmm (in my opinion). Well, I also planted two tiny little mini elder bushes in our garden when we first moved in. They've grown like mad and whereas in Germany they blossom for only maybe a month here they blossom already for the last three months and I made tons of my magic potion.



And what should I do with these hot beauties???? I don't really cook with chillies!