Christmas Eve Elves

Hello lovely friends and family,

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas, Jan and I had a splendid time. It was my favourite german christmas so far, but that did not stop the homesickness. There are a million and one pictures from Christmas to show you all, but it would be too much for one post, so I will spread it out over a few.

I arrived in Freiburg on the 23rd so that I could help Andrea with Christmas. We shopped, shopped some more, wrapped gifts, cooked, cooked a whole lot more, baked, cooked again, and baked again. It was the kind of satisfying exhausting that one can actually enjoy, because it is the kind of work that everyone is going to enjoy and be merry from. With a family full of boys, Andrea does the majority of the work, especially around Christmas, so I know she appreciated me being there and taking my share.

On Christmas Eve Robert, Jan´s father, put up the Christmas tree in the morning, so Andrea and I could put on old Christmas carols and delight in decorating it, taking a break from food preparation

Oh yes, I forgot to mention, it started to snow at 8.30am in the morning, whilst we were all having breakfast, and the second the boys left the house for their day of boarding and avoiding housework!

Whilst Robert was hard at work, I was hard at work baking Vanillekiperl (gluten free of course) in the Kitchen, a traditional german christmas cookie. They were lovely, the one time of the year I bake and it is so hard to stop eating them!

We drank coffe and ate some fresh kiperl for our morning tea! Complete with snow dusting and my mother´s blanket.

 I also baked edible place settings for everyone, and after our break Andrea and I powered through in the kitchen, making beetroot salad (of which I basically ate the whole thing), carrot salad, green salad, guacomole (which I accidentally added too much chili) and a million other sauces for our dinner of fondue. We then set the table and at 3.30pm it was time for us to get ready for Christmas, as Jan´s grandparents are freakishly punctual, worse than me, so we knew that even though we said 5 - 5:30pm, that actually means 4.30pm to them!

 By this time, the snow was well and truly piling up - had not stopped snowing since the morning, and it made for some amazing scenery for us to go hiking in the next day, just a couple hundred meters up the road is pure forrest. It is a post you will all probably really enjoy, but you will have to wait for!

I have had an annoying last couple of days: it started with a terrible meal out on Sunday (I will just say that Vegetarinism does not exist in Freiburg restaurants, and a tiny plate of the exact same steam vegetables everyone else is eating as a side to their meat is NOT a vegetarian meal. And Gluten-Free? I´m not an alien, but they sure made me feel like one), which just led me to incredible homesickness, as restaurants in Adelaide are at the very least respectful, the chefs are genuinely educated, and even those that don´t speak English still offer gluten free options. Apart from that, there are vegetarian meals on every menu, no matter where you are, it is expected. Australia should be increidbly proud of its food and cultural diversity, and it something I miss every time we go out to eat. 

Then my father´s Coat that he gifted me with arrived, only they sent the wrong size, and then we discovered it was too thin for winter, but the company had already dispatched a replacement, so now I have to send two coats back. One is already gone. This however, got turned around when I went in to a department store looking for a winter jacket, thank god for sales, because I got a warm one in a better style that suits me a lot better. Thank you mastercard.

Having lived out of Australia for so long, something which I am so happy to have done, it is getting to the time where I feel like I would really like to live in Australia again, share all my traditions with Jan. Unfortunately, I set myself a goal of studying in a foreign country in a foreign language, and I don´t give up on my goals so easily, especially when I have already achieved so much toward them. So Australia, Jan and I will all have to wait, and I will try and get through this Winter the best I can.

I am now organising the apartment for Greg and Bel´s visit - I am picking them up at 10am tomorrow, hopefully they arrive, because I haven´t heard from them and I have used all my possible channels. I am stoked to have family for New Year, really stoked. They couldn´t have come at a more apt time.

Talk to you all soon my loves,

Happy New Year.

G xxxxxxxx

Babies are such a nice way to start people

Too many weeks ago Jan and I travelled together to Frankfurt - the first time for me in the city that does not have Airport or Flughafen in the name! We went to visit our good friend Chrissi, who we spent some amazing times with in Botton.

Chrissi is still glowing and is such a natural, lovely mother.

Chrissi married her long time Boyfriend Sascha in July, and in October they had their first baby boy, Ben. He is an absolute darling - he was ill when we visited but he didn´t cry once, just had some little coughs and rested a lot.  

I made Chrissi, Sascha and Ben a yummy Risotto, and between the 4 of us, we ate the lot. So much Parmesan cheese, but it felt the day for eating a lot - as Jan and I had a hell of a train journey over. Someone jumped in front of a train that was on the same track as us, so we had a big stop over in the middle of nowhere, and had to travel by bus further along the train tracks. It ended up taking our Frankfurt trip from a good 6 or 7 hours to only 4, and by the time we all finished eating, we had to go again!

Ben takes after his Mumma, has an amazing shoe collection :)

It was a beautiful day for Jan and I both!

I am planning on visiting again early January, this time when Jan is away, and I will make it a little longer this time! 

In February we are having a mini Botton reunion. All of the people who live in Germany, of which there are really quite a few, are coming to stay with us and Madi and Flip in Stuttgart - another thing to look forward to in the New Year!

Also another piece of good news - I personally handed in my Uni application for Media Publishing today. Press your thumbs and cross your fingers, depending on your nationality!

G xxx

Title Quote: Don Herrold

Why do bears have fur coats?

Because they look silly in denim jackets.

- The hilarious result of Madi and I buying ourselves Christmas Crackers, which are sorely missed in the Father Land!

Our girls christmas celebration ended up being just Madi and I, which is a real shame, however, we had so much fun! We were really silly with our crackers and I got the most hilarious toy - a plastic witches fingernail. I am sure Madi will post a pic of it when she gets back from Botton. We watched a movie, ate a lot of sushi, drank tea and snacked on Mandarins - my favourite winter fruit. It was absolutely lovely and helps me a lot, that my best friend comes from England, so we share a lot of christmas traditions that are lacking here!


Jan and I are up bright and early (12.54pm is early...right?) on this beautiful winter day - blue skies and sun! Jan is in the city doing his last minute christmas shopping, whilst I am about to make a risotto and we will then head over to Madi and Philipp´s to exchange gifts and eat together, as we will not see each other before New Years. 


So I thought I would share a little bit of Christmas in our flat, it is not much, because I am a pretty lousy house wife.

Candy Canes

One must keep warm with lovely Mother-made quilts

The ´tree´- told you I was lousy.
 It is literally one of our bamboo shoots with a candy cane and a decoration on it.
These are some of the gifts we have and need to wrap.
Jan´s St. Nikolas food is on the right - plus an avocado which needs to ripen in the heat of the living room.

I like Saturdays. Jan made me breakfast today and as I am sitting on the computer, not making risotto as I should be, I am drinking a mug of Vanilla Green Tea from my Stuttgart Christmas Markets Mug, looking a mess and missing you all.

Happy weekend before christmas everyone! xxxx G

Mail your packages early so the post office can lose them in time for Christmas

Thank you Mum for sending me my beautiful Pashmina, I am finally warm again. Well, not quite, but warmer... !

There is a saying that, he who does not find christmas in his heart, will never find it under a tree. I have never had such a heart full of christmas than this year, even though I miss my family more than any other christmas yet! In fact, I found Christmas in my heart before I left Australia, when Liz and I cranked the Jingle Bells and danced around the sitting room with wooden christmas men whilst Mum politely kept her laughter to herself and threaded decorations for us to hang!

That early christmas joy sparked all the jolly excitement within me that I thought was long gone. Thanks lovely sister :)

Last year I didn´t enjoy the lead up to christmas because I had just spent a good amount of time being fantastically ill, I even surprised myself; I thought it didn´t get any more ridiculous - how long my sick list could be ;)

I still loved Christmas in Freiburg though, I became the proud owner of my possum wool jumper, which has saved my lungs this winter (if you didn´t know, we have no heater in our bedroom...add that to minus 10 degrees outside, you got yourself a cold couple). Jan and I made delicious gluten free Vanilleknipferl - a little vanilla christmas cookie.

And for anyone who doesn´t know Jan, you can tell he is an Aussie at heart:
He wears shorts in the depths of German Winters.

We also had yummy fondue for christmas evening.

I don´t know what is on the agenda for this year - but I know it will be yummy. Last year on Christmas Eve, which is the real celebration in Germany, friends of the family came for dinner and brought the main course. Jan and I had just watched a documentary about turkey factory farms...I was so sick when I saw that it was turkey for dinner, that I didn´t eat any of the meat - just plain pasta! How boring of me!

Guess what has happened this year? I am reading Eating Animals, by Jonathan Safron Foer (a fantastic read that really pointed me to evaluate my own morals and ethics and research for myself the produce market in Germany). So, it could very well be another hungry christmas eve! I don´t mind though, because I find the whole experience so enchanting.

Yesterday I spent the day with my girl Madi at the Christmas Markets doing gift shopping and drinking too much coffee! I am so giddy everytime I go in to the city - because there is always a beautiful christmas market to explore!

On my list this year - ear muffs!

And tonight again I braved the snow and made my way out for a Glühwein with all my new basketball friends. On Wednesday´s Madi and I go together to Pilates, then we have a cuppa and I go to basketball, and she to work. Basketball has been fantastic and I have met girls there who I have a lot in common with, one girl is even from Freiburg! We had a great time tonight, celebrating our last session of the year. I could kill the snow storm though for ruining my chance of getting home easily! Luckily, I was still fit and took the tram up the hill and ran down it, as to not have hypothermia!

On the agenda for the next few weeks?

• Girls night tomorrow
• Taking in University Application on Friday
• Esslingen Medieval Christmas Markets
• Going to Freiburg before Jan to get some baking done with Andrea
• A lovely Christmas in Freiburg, which will be WHITE (cross your fingers friends!)
• Cousin Greg and the gorgeous Belinda coming to stay for New Years
• A great party to be had, with huge hangovers to be shared
• Jan goes boarding with his brothers for a week in France
• I go and visit our beautiful friend Chrissi and her baby Ben, in Frankfurt
• Greg comes back for some time on the slopes!

I hope you are all healthy and happy - I certainly wish you were all here enjoying the season with us, and we are holding our breath in anticipation of a beautiful christmas in Australia next year!

Lots of Love, G

(p.s. anyone, also non google friends, can post comments below and I would love it- just type in who it is from at the end!)

Wonderful Wendy: I think you and I both know all too well what the title of this blog means - someone out there is really warm this winter wearing my quilt!

Let Them Eat Cake

The Black Forrest

This past weekend Jan and I were in Freiburg, where he comes from, to visit his family and spend a day on the slopes.
Getting to Freiburg is always incredibly exhausting, it is only 200km away, but seeing as we don´t have a car (which is unnecessary in Germany really), we have train it with 3 other people (and we only pay 5 euros, which is a big plus), but it takes a good 3 hours and 2 train changes, and by the end of the night, I want a good feed in front of the fire place. 
Last week we missed out on going boarding because the train track direction changers (as I so eloquently like to put it) were frozen over and we would have missed our connections and been stranded in the Black Forrest, had we risked it. (Instead we spent the weekend watching star wars and eating chilli - what a fun couple we are).
It was Timo´s 21st Birthday on Friday (the middle brother of the family), so Jan and all the kiddies went to the city whilst I went to bed with ´The Swan Thieves,´to conserve my energy for boarding. Saturday morning (Jan incredibly groggy) we went up to Feldberg, and it was incredibly foggy, and because of that the condensation in the wind sticks on to everything and freezes. 

For example:

Despite the fog and ice, Jan and I had a great time - I am happy to inform that I have not lost my balance on the board, and am infact better than I was last season, probably a result of my new found love, Pilates. Jan is still as talented as ever....

January 2010, Montafon, Austria. Jan upside down.

After our date on the slopes we went to a christmas concert with the whole family to watch Timo play the Sax and the something else (which I totally forgot the name of) in two orchestra´s. It was pretty good, better than last years at least, the music itself was lovely, but the acting and discussion in between a little regrettable. Everyone enjoyed it though, especially Jan´s granny - and I got to hear Silent Night and O Christmas Tree in German at the end, which is kind of funny. 

Sunday was Raclette (anyone who has had the pleasure of this meal, would understand how much I was anticipating Sunday) with the rest of the family from Karlsruhe. Raclette is a meal of potato and swiss cheese that you grill yourself in your own little pan - it is absolutely deadly delicious, and deady on the thighs too. No matter - there was cake after it too ;)

There is definately something to be said about Baking and German´s. They love it. Any excuse to eat cake, they will bake. This was just a part of the assortment on Sunday

2 Black Forrest Cherry Gateu´s, one Streusel Cake, one Sponge Cake with Fruit and Cream,
 and one Gluten Free Sponge cake with fruit and cream. Enough cake for weeks.

A fantastic aspect to being a part of this family - the food. Jan´s mother is a great organic cook, and helps me out a lot with Coeliac and my new found flexitarinism (more to come on that on another day). So, stuffed to the point of bursting (Well Jan at lesast, after his three slices of cake and 10 servings of Raclette - boys) we jumped on the train again to come back to our freezing apartment.

Today -I am off to do some christmas shopping at the Christmas Markets with my best friend Madi and do our usual routine - latte´s at our favourite cafe. It is a beautiful day, the sun is shining, blue skies and it is a balmy -5 degrees. Take that Adelaide.

Isn´t life a hundred times too short for boredom?

A lovely good day to you all!

I would like to welcome you all to the beginning of what I hope will be a way for you all to keep up with my life, wherever in the world I am!

There are, unfortunately, a lot of things in my life that I let pass my by, unrecorded and soon to be forgotten. My journal is too inaccesible, I never find the time to put pen to paper, and even then, I have to be feeling creative. So this blog is an attempt for me to chronicle my life a bit better, for my benifit as well as my family and friend´s. I am also not the best at writing regular emails, or calling home often enough (I also blame the time difference and my flair for sleeping, shopping, drinking coffee, forgetfullness etc. etc.).

I will usually write in English, but if I have time, will translate some of it in to German, though, I think most of you will be Australian or english speaking. 

Just as you might enjoy reading this, I too would love to know what is going on in your lives - so please send me a little message every now and again.

I am missing you all in Australia, Canada, England, America....wherever you might be.

Lots of love and joy,

Georgie xx

December 1st in Schloss Park with my best friend Madi.
Ffirst great snowfall of the season and a photoshoot to go with it.
Photo taken by Madi Poole and edited by me.

Einen schönen guten Tag meine Lieben,

herzlich willkommen zum Anfang meines Blogs. Ich hoffe, es wird euch die Möglichkeit geben, schritt mit meinem Leben zu halten, egal wo ich mich befinde!

Leider passieren viele  schönen Sachen im Leben, die ich mir vorbei fliegen lasse, ohne irgendwas im Schrift zu dokumentieren. Mein Tagesbuch ist viel zu unerreichbar, ich finde einfach nie Zeit, um einen Stift zu verwenden. Und selbst dann ist es nur wenn mich kreativ fühle, und ich schreibe ehr was anders. Also wird dieses Blog ein Anlauf, mein Leben besser aufzuzeichnen, was hoffentlich auch ein Vorteil für meine Familie und Freunde sein kann! Ich bin auch viel zu faul, regelmäßige Email´s zu schicken oder die Familie anzurufen (aber da muss ich sagen, es gibt ein rießiger Zeitunterschied, und ich schlafe so gerne...gehe shoppen....trink Kaffee...ach ja...ihr versteht das ;) )

Meistens werde ich auf Englisch schreiben, falls ich die Zeit habe - werde ich was auf Deutsch dazu schreiben - keine direkte Übersetzung, einfach...irgendwas änliches! Weiss auch nicht ob es jmdn gibt, den mein Blog auf Deutsch lesen wird, die meisten Leser stammen sowieso aus Australien.

Genau so wie ihr mein Blog (hoffentlich) gerne lest, würde ich auch ganz gerne mal was von euch hören - wie es euch geht, was ihr macht u.s.w. Also schreib mir mal eine kleine Nachricht ab und zu!

Ich vermisse euch alle in Australien, Kanada, England, Amerika....

Mit Liebe und Freude,

Georgie xxx

- title courtesy of Frederik Nietzsche