All posts tagged travel

this world is a small but beautiful place

today i met someone who i last saw when she was 7 or 8 years old (so 14 or 15 years ago). back then i was 16 or so years old on a short term high school exchange (2 or 3 weeks) to a french family. at that point in time i had only had 2 months of french in school so obviously my vocabulary was very limited. it was very difficult to me to live in a french family and to be immersed in the language while being able to say so little myself. i was frustrated very often and on top of that i had gotten a serious sunburn on my knees and legs. i was in pain, i was homesick, i was frustrated…yet that family never seized to accomodate me, make me feel comfortable, include me in everything. they were so very patient with me.

they had 6 or 7 kids total (so another one did not matter, lol) and the smallest girl wanted me to speak french really bad. so every day when she got home from school she got her story books and made me read to her. whenever i did not understand she tried to explain to me what i had been reading. she was just very sweet and lovable – like the whole family really. my family and that family kept in touch over the years and basically, we called each other up for christmas and just updated each other on what’s going on.

yesterday i got an email from her saying she will be in town, for only a day, asking if i would like to meet up. of course i agreed. so she and 3 friends (all russians) met up with me today and i showed them around town and we just talked. the russians did not speak english too well but one spoke german so basically it was just a big mix of languages and questions and explanations.

she’s in her early twenties now studying in germany on an erasmus exchange. she’s still the cutie she was back then and we got along very well. maybe she will have time to visit me and my family before i move, that would be wonderful!

her email was a surprise but even more so i was surprised by how well we actually got along. we had 3 weeks together many many moons ago and seeing her today was like my little sister or cousin came to visit. it was wonderful and it is great to see that the world is such a small and beautiful place after all.

franzi

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by http://lifestartsnow.wordpress.com on June 22, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by http://lifestartsnow.wordpress.com on June 22, 2012

http://lifestartsnow.wordpress.com/2012/06/22/this-world-is-a-small-but-beautiful-place/

post-its make up my calendar

i’m back at work tomorrow. my sinus infection is almost gone so it’s back to business for me. am i looking forward to a 14+ hour work day? certainly not but timing has it that i am on a work trip tomorrow. the next trip is next monday/tuesday. it’s that time of year…

today, i managed to put up a very elaborate (that was sarcasm) to-do list/calendar for my last 3 months. there’s a whole lot of stuff i need to get done the most important one obviously being the sale of my household stuff. but there is also so much paperwork i need to keep track of that this list (a bunch of post-its in a certain order) is helping me. that’s the plan anyways. i should take a picture of that calendar…it’s too good not to share ;-)

franzi

 

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by http://lifestartsnow.wordpress.com on May 1, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by http://lifestartsnow.wordpress.com on May 1, 2012

http://lifestartsnow.wordpress.com/2012/05/01/post-its-make-up-my-calendar/

i discovered my unique talent today

to all you americans out there, i believe very few of you have an idea of what type of information you need to gather up if you want to apply for a visa to visit your sweet country.

never mind the many questions on criminal activities and std’s (none and none in case you are curious) i even had to provide my current salary, give brief descriptions of the jobs i held in the past five years, and provide information on driving licenses i held (wether they are expired or not).

now, don’t get me wrong, i am not complaining. i’m just trying to show that is is a lot of work to gather up all this info to then enter it in an online form that if you are not fast enough logs you out automatically.

thanks to a dear friend i was super prepared and able to enter all info without being force-logged out. the only thing that caught me a little off guard was the fact that i had to provide contact data from two people who are not related to me but who can verify the information i stated. tell me folks, do you have friends who know your driving license number? or who know when and for how long in the past five years you traveled to the said country? right, that was exactly my thought.

i even managed to upload a picture that met the requirements and did not look too hideous. hideous, still but acceptable. once again i was stunned at how green my eyes look. it depends on the color of clothing i wear but gray and green seem to trigger something that just makes my eyecolor POP and fascinate me.

my cold is still very prominent and has now decided to give me a stuffy/runny nose with occasional sneezes.

sneezing is a whole lot of fun and i discovered a new talent today: i can sneeze on my glasses WHILE I AM WEARING THEM ON MY NOSE. yes people, you read that correctly, i somehow managed to sneeze and have snot on my glasses. that was a few minutes after i had cleaned them diligently, of course.

so i sneezed, noticed a wet spot on the left glass and for a second or two wondered what that wet spot was. and then it dawned on me…you may laugh now, i did too. i really like this new talent of mine! :-) it’s so unique!

franzi

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by http://lifestartsnow.wordpress.com on April 25, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by http://lifestartsnow.wordpress.com on April 25, 2012

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