soul meets body

Yesterdays concert of Death Cab for Cutie in the Hamburg was awesome. They really rocked! We had a great time. I have never listened to their new album, but luckily they played mostly "old" and popular stuff. It was really great. The venue was sold out but we had a really good spot on the balcony and really close as well. They played at the venue where years before The Beatles performed for the first time as well.

I am real big fan of those small venues where you are actually pretty close to the band. Big venues like football stadiums are not really my thing. Although two years ago going to the concert of Robbie Williams really was a treat. He performed at the horse racing traacks during the summer and besides the iieek-smell of horses and the likes, this venue is made for 78.000 people. And there am I - panicking in huge crowds - hurray! My friend who went with me had the brilliant idea to be there really early to get good spots, so we waited outside eight hours (!!!) before the concert started, along with the hardcore fans! Fortunately the waether was brilliant that day and it was like sunbathing in a parking lot!!! And lucky us - we got hold of the highly popular green-wristbands which gave access to the area right in front of the stage! Yyaahh! So, eight hours later when the concert finally started we were there right in front and... 78.000 crazy people behind us! This made the whole concert even more enjoyable. Got great pictures as well! Other friends who have been there as well, but were seated on the sides or way back, just got a glimpse of a tiny man rocking the stage or enjoyed the video boards. :-)

on hold

It´s been 3 weeks now since I semi-officially announced that I want to take a leave of absence next year .... but nothing really important happened. It just stopped there. How frustuating is that. The mills of our comapny grind slowly, that´s for sure, but why does it have to take extra long. It´s said that they can´t get a hold of the manager responsible for the final approval. How long am I still to wait for? I need a definite approval or rejection to move on!

It´s not that I wouldn´t have anything to prepare for. I might have to begin putting together my sabbatical-contract, which of course my employer doesn´t have in their drawers. So am I alone to decide how I want this to be solved? uurrgghh, life is not easy. ;-)

People are asking me what I will do with all this time on my hands. Where will I go? Australia - that is for sure. But for how long? Where to start? This is what could keep me busy all day long. Seriously. What beats planning your dream trip? I haven´t figured out where I am gonna start at all. Will I return to New Zealand first and visit all the place we didn´t get the change to a three months ago, like Cape Reigna, Coromandel? Or do I fly to Sydney, a place I know a little, and go from there? What about Asia? Thailand sounds good as well, but do I want to backpack alone there as well? Maybe. I could do that in the end. I know for sure, that I want to spend the New Year´s Eve 2009 in Sydney.... no matter what. Well, that´s a tiny plan to start with, isn´t it? ;-)

Another thing that is occupies me right now is, that my last day is scheduled to be end of February. As you all know, time just flies by, so I started giving notice to my close friends, who unforuntately live not around the corner, to check their calendars for a girls weekend in Hamburg during the coming fall. The thought of that is really scary though.

Let´s wait and see what happens next.

the game is over

So we truly lost the game against Spain yesterday. What a shame! And we were all so enthusiastic about it. Obviously Spain was really too good for the DE team. Unbeatable since 22 games - so no surprises. After the game there wasn´t much happiness around, sad faces almost everywhere. We were wondering where in Hamburg do all the Spanish people live... no honking horns, no fireworks.... was almost too quite, except the occasional hurray. We found out later, that there are just about 3000 Spanish living in Hamburg and they sure did party after the game... maybe just took them a while to get there! :-)

So, the question now is... what are we going to do with our free nights now? No game to watch. No going out for viewing the game. No more drinking and no more ... Ole Ole Ole... well, not until the Wolrd Cup in two years from now.

Oh, some Spanish definitely must be living in my neighborhood... who else did the fireworks at midnight... hhmm, I wonder... :-)