The wait is over

Finally I got my act together to start blogging again. My humblest apologies for all those who had to wait sooo long between this post and the last. It's been very hectic with my parents visiting me and all the major assignments I've had to hand in. The end of my assignment hell is not yet in sight, but I'm pushing through and am confident I'll get through it and be a better person for it;-)

Below are some photos taken last week at some of the places I visited with my parents. The foges (as my parents will from now on be known as) arrived on Sat, 20 Jan. The first couple of days were spent getting to know Hamburg. On the third day we visited our first concentration camp (KZ) - Neuengamme, just outside Hamburg, which was also the largest KZ in north western Germany. For those who don't know, there is a difference between the death camps (which were mostly situated in Poland) and KZs. At the KZs the prisoners had to work and they basically starved to death. Also, although most of those imprisoned at these camps were Jews, other nationalities/races were also represented. In Neuengamme Russian, Belgian, Greek and Slovak (to name a few) non-jews died. The place doesn't have as much atmosphere as I had expected, but the numerous exhibits were quite moving. It gave one an idea of what life was like in the camps - what people had to go through during those difficult times. I'm planning to go back there before I leave Hamburg since it's impossible to take everything in after one visit. It was heartening that there were school children, who seemed to have tasks they had to perform which required them to get information from the exhibits. It shows that there are serious efforts for Germans not to forget this terrible time in their history.

The next day we visited an old haunt of mine: Lübeck. Lübeck is a lovely old city, old being relative, since the old buildings had to be restored after the bombing during the 2nd world war. It was a lovely day, sunny and cold with snow everywhere. It was a different experience to see the city wearing its "winter coat". However, I'll let the pictures convey the winter beauty of Lübeck.

It was strange that the week that my parents were in Hamburg, was the only week we really had winter. Sub-zero temperatures prevailed and the snow was a great experience for my parents. After it started snowing last Wednesday we went out in the dark and walked in the snow so that the foges could get up close and personal with the snow. It was a wonderful experience and I'm glad the foges were there to share the moment with me.

I have to return to my assignments now. However, you can look forward to a post and pictures about Copenhagen - the most nothernly city I've ever visited. It will also be the most northernly European country I'll be visiting. The world out there is too flat and monotonous (unless there's snow) for me to be curious enough to venture up there again.

Ciao

The Lübecker Dom covered in a layer of snow

Moi playing in the snow in Lübeck

Winter Wonderland: I had never seen the Holsten Tor (gate) (it was one of the gates into Lübeck and dates back to Medieval times) looking like this. Lübeck was a city I visited a lot when I was 10 years ago, but I never visited it in Winter. It was quite a different experience

One of the two memorials to the victims of Neuengamme. Many people who died from starvation at this concentration camp looked like this towards the end

Neuengamme: These mounds were erected where the wooden barracks once were. The building at the back and one from which this photo was taken were also barracks. These buildings now house the archive and an exhibition on what life was like when Neuengamme still operated as a concentration camp. The wooden barracks were torn down by the British, who after the 2nd World War had control of Northern Germany

Back from Belgium

After a blissful two weeks in Belgium, I arrived back in Hamburg yesterday afternoon loaded with chocolate and wondering how I'll survive without Tom's mom's cooking...sigh!

Any way, there was no time for idling as my fridge was totally empty and there were other administrative things that needed to be taken care of before class this afternoon. For the first time I'd been less than enchanted with my life in Hamburg. In my local (discount) supermarket I became quite annoyed with the fact that I couldn't find everything (and my needs are quite modest: bread, cheese, milk and yoghurt) I needed in one place. After I had made peace with the fact that I would have to go to the supermarket further down the road to get longlife low fat milk, I had to learn to my chargrin that they didn't have what I was looking for either. I ended up going to a total of four supermarkets to get everything I needed on my shopping list. There is a shop which stocks all the brands I want, but it's such a schlepp to get to this supermarket, that I hardly ever go there unless absolutely necessary. My altered attitude towards Hamburg could also be explained by the fact that I'm slightly more homesick after spending time with Tom:-(

Food was the main theme during my stay in Belgium, if that hasn't become clear from my previous posts. Tom and I didn't do much other than lounge around reading or watching TV or watching some of the stuff he'd downloaded. Tom would exercise regularly, but the only exercise I got was the two times (in two weeks) I ventured out on a bike. The first time I went alone, so I took it easy, the second time Tom joined me and it was a struggle for me to keep up with him...I guess it's a foretaste of what things will be like when I get back and start climbing mountains with him again.

Our New Year's Eve was spent having fondue (not the cheesy kind) with his parents and their friends - an older crowd, but we still managed to amused ourselves sufficiently. At 12am we went outside (where it was unusually warm - it normally snows at New Year) to watch the local fireworks display. The village Tom's parents live in were outdone by its neighbouring villages, where the fireworks were a lot more impressive and numerous and with all the fireworks being set off, it sounded as if Belgium was being bombed/invaded again. On Saturday I accompanied Tom's brother's girlfriend to a volleyball game, which was preceeded by (you guessed it) a four course meal. The food (and wine, which another thing I had lots of in Belgium) was lovely and more than compensated for the fact that the home team lost. I am about 2 kg heavier than I was when I arrived in Belgium, but confident that I'll shed it again since today alone I probably walked around more than I did in the whole of last week;-)

Otherwise I'm looking forward to a hectic couple of weeks since I've got quite a couple of big assignments to hand in at the end of the month and my parents are coming to visit in two weeks' time. So I'll be posting interesting photos and experiences again in the time that they are here. I'm planning for us to check out Copenhagen, capital of Denmark, renew my acquaintance with the city I'm living in and checking out some of the places just outside of Hamburg. However, I promise to post if something interesting crops up in the mean time.

I've posted the pictures below just to remind myself of the lovely time I had whilst in Belgium.

Ciao

P.S. Will those in SA please let me know when you get my Christmas cards since they were sent out more than 3 weeks ago and should really have reached you.

Tom taking a close-up photo of the starter that came with the spread

The spread we enjoyed two days before New Year. We weren't really celebrating anything, it was just another opportunity to enjoy skillfully prepared and deliciously sumptious food

A close-up of the food, just in case the first photo wasn't that clear

The fruit bowl that came with the spread

Moi on a silly little pony, which Tom's brother-in-law bought his daughter when she asked for a pony. The pony was a gas since it would neigh, when pushed the button on its forehead and it could carry 100 kg - impressive! My favourite Belgian game show, Blokken, was on while we were playing on the silly little pony.