The end of another year...

Well, it’s the end of another year. This one has been full of interesting, exciting, frightening and fascinating adventures for me.

In 2007 I left my family and friends and a secure job in a lovely town, packed up all my belongings and took off for the unknown. This scared me witless, but I just knew I had to do this or face a lifetime of wondering what if…? I had to challenge myself to grow or I would have stagnated. And I think I rose to that challenge.

I have found a new job and a place to live in a foreign country. I have found new friends and a different kind of family. I have visited Hong Kong, Stockholm, Krakow, Edinburgh, Amsterdam, Paris, Brussels and Berlin and explored to my hearts content. And I have found confidence that I never knew I had, rediscovered my courage and my sense of adventure and seen enough beautiful sights to fill my heart and dreams with wonder for years to come.

All up, this year has been one of the best I’ve ever known. As fate would have it, I’m going to be alone for New Year’s Eve itself, but I don’t actually mind that. It’ll be the first one I’ve ever had alone, and I’m going to use it to really think about what I want to do next year. I’m looking forward to further challenges you can be sure.

I’ll reminisce on Snowboarding in Austria later, but I had an amazing time there too.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year’s Celebrations and I’ll see you in 2008!

Austria here we come...

I am packing madly for Austria right now. Frantically. I'm panicking as usual. I don't know if I've got enought or too many clothes, some of the presents I wanted to give will not be turning up until after I leave and I just remembered I forgot a rather important thing... bit late now.

*Deep Breath*

Never mind. Upshot is I will be absent as of tomorrow for a well-deserved (I think) break from the lights of London. Which means that I shall likewise be absent from this blog until after the new year hails in.

So, I would like to take this chance to wish you all the best for the festive season.

Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year to Everyone!

Drive safely, eat copiously, drink to satiation and enjoy. I hope to see and /or hear from you all soon.

Best Wishes,

Love Kat.

An Invitation to the Ball

As a 'long term' contractor, I got an invitation to the official work 'do' which was held last night. It was at the Science Museum, and had the theme of 'Black and White'... which basically meant that all the decorations were either black or white and it was black tie so the guys had to dress in tuxes! My department head was even nice enough to spring for a limo for us all, so we got to go in style.

Whilst it was lovely, and seeing all of my work compatriots dressed in their best was really cool, and I always love getting up in costume and pretending to be something I'm not, it was a distinct disappointment.

The food was lovely, the decorations were nice, the alcohol was plentiful, and the company good... but we were housed in an empty exhibition space, so could have been anywhere in the world and you wouldn't know the difference. I was expecting to be in amidst the exhibits I suppose, so that was disappointing. And the raffle didn't hold a candle to the one's I've had with the guys in Canberra... it was pitiful really.

I guess I just didn't drink enough to enjoy it as some of the others did. I'm not really ready to make a fool of myself with these people yet - although they are all lovely - which meant that I was watching other people make fools of themselves and felt it was all a little silly.

A good time was had by all though, so no real complaints, just ... something was missing.

Gilgamesh

I was taken out to dinner last night, along with a gaggle of other people from work, by our agent. It was a lovely evening, if a very expensive one, and I got to see a side of my own backyard I didn't even know existed.

We went to Gilgamesh, which is a very exclusive restaurant in the Camden Stables Market, and it is incredible. It's not just a restaurant but it's also a lounge bar, cocktail bar and Oriental teahouse (where you can experience the full Japanese Tea Ceremoney if you have enough money!). All the walls are panneled with carved wood, the tables are all inlaid with brass designs and there are stone statues everywhere. It apparently has a floor space of 15,000sq ft and seats up to 500 diners and drinkers. I can believe it. It is HUGE!

It was an experience not likely to be forgotten quickly.

Word of the Day: Sinistral

Recently, the highlight of my lunchtime (being the reading of the blogs of my favourite authors), led me to a most distracting website. It is called FreeRice and it’s a site where you can test your vocabulary (and indeed, expand your vocabulary) whilst donating rice to poor countries, as every correct answer earns a donation of 20 grains of rice to the UN. Now I’m not really sure about the rice side of things… who on earth would count out 20 grains of rice? But the game side is very addictive if you like words. I have so far only managed to get up to level 46, which isn’t that high actually. It’s frustrating and fun, but I came across one today that really intrigued me, so I looked it up.

Sinistral: It means of, pertaining to, or on the left side. It is the opposite of Dextral (which I never actually knew means on the right side), and it is used to mean a person who is left-handed.

As you can see from it’s root though, the word has it's origin in the word Sinister, which is what got me thinking – how do you get ‘on the left side’ from ‘evil’?

So, Word of the Day two is...

Sinister: The first known use of the word is in 1411, meaning "prompted by malice or ill-will," from the Old French. sinistre "contrary, unfavourable, to the left,". In Latin it is sinister "left, on the left side" (opposite of dexter). The Latin word was used in augury in the sense of "unlucky, or unfavourable" (omens, especially bird flights, seen on the left hand were regarded as portending misfortune), and thus sinister acquired a sense of "harmful, unfavourable or adverse." This actually due to Greek influence, reflecting the early Greek practice of facing north when observing omens; in genuine Roman auspices, the left was favourable. Bend (not "bar") sinister in heraldry indicates illegitimacy and preserves the literal sense of "on the left side." This is seen as a bar across the heraldic shield starting from the left.

So there you go. If you were left handed six centauries ago the Greeks would have called you ill omened and if you were born on the wrong side of the sheets, you'd be illigitimate, but either way, you're sinister. Doesn’t that just make your day?

No time to think!

I have only five days before I leave for Austria and I have too many things to do! I have two dinners to attend - one of them a ball - and packing and washing still to do, and I haven't found Christmas presents for everyone who I'm going to be spending Christmas with yet, and I still need to buy ski-socks and thermals and ...

ARGHHH!

I want 48 extra hours please! NOW!

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

Winter has finally really hit. It’s been minus three overnight for the past couple of days and this morning I woke up to white rooftops and ice on the windows. And on the ground – walking to the bus stop this morning was positively hazardous! There was a coating of ice on all the paths and it was damn slippery. I almost wished I had crampons on my sneakers, just so I wouldn’t end up on my back side.

I am actually enduring the conditions here quite well. London has the weather of Melbourne combined with the temperatures of Canberra, both cities which I have successfully survived. Admittedly this means that London is both very wet and very cold, but at least it is nowhere near the snow-fields so the wind chill factor of minus 30 that you get in Canberra is thankfully absent.

It is still bloody cold!

Xmas Belly Do

We had our divisional Christmas dinner last night. It was held at a Moroccan restaurant called Ayoush of all places; downstairs, candle-lit and cavernous. Rather more like being in some part of Morocco than England.

It was a strange choice for a Christmas venue, being a place where we couldn’t actually converse with everyone easily. The music was too loud and we were put into hidey-hole booths of 12 people or so. We sat on bench seats where cushions were everywhere but did nothing to soften, and had our meals on tables that the word precarious does not begin to describe. The food was good however, and it was a bit of fun, especially watching the English members of our group enjoying their beverages. There were also belly dancers who pulled the diners out onto the floor to dance with them, and watching several of the more sedate guys having bra’s and skirts put on them was hilarious.

I probably wouldn’t go back there, but James Street, where it located, is a absolute hive of restaurants I never even knew existed, so could be worth a second or even a third visit at some stage.

All in all, a little too much of a good time had by some, but a reasonably good time had by everyone else.

Word for the Day: Nong

In Australian slang, the word Nong is used as a pretty mild and/or endearing insult. A bit of a twit, or idiot. Possibly derived by the shortening of an earlier Australian and British slang word, Ning-Nong.


On the Ning Nang Nong

On the Ning Nang Nong
Where the Cows go Bong!
and the monkeys all say BOO!
There's a Nong Nang Ning
Where the trees go Ping!
And the tea pots jibber jabber joo.
On the Nong Ning Nang
All the mice go Clang
And you just can't catch 'em when they do!
So its Ning Nang Nong
Cows go Bong!
Nong Nang Ning
Trees go ping
Nong Ning Nang
The mice go Clang
What a noisy place to belong
is the Ning Nang Ning Nang Nong!!

Spike Milligan

Welcome to Swamp City: Berlin

Strange but true facts: Berlin is actually built on a swamp and so occasionally smells like a sewer. All land is reclaimed land, and they have to be careful about constructing and removing buildings as adding or removing such a lot of weight has an effect on the landscape. The origin of the name Berlin actually means swamp town. Honestly people, why?

Day one was a Saturday this time. Got up bloody early, met Brads at Heathrow and flew to Berlin. Not sure if I'll do that again - catching a flight on Saturday I mean. We didn't get to our hotel until after lunch and it really shortened the day. I am convinced our Taxi driver took advantage of us being tourists and drove us via the scenic route, but that was also ok as we saw more of the city. We got there in the end and that's all that really matters.

It was very cold. Below zero temperatures overnight and quite windy at times during the day. There was a tour company running a free tour in the afternoon that we would have liked to have done, but we were too late and missed it. This was probably a good thing, as we walked to the Brandenburg Gate and only got as far as the Reichstag before I somehow got my second migraine in two weeks, so the afternoon got curtailed (sorry Andrew!). I refused to be completely governed by my head though, so we wandered through the Christmas markets slowly instead, me doing some Christmas shopping while A tasted many different brews trying to find the exact one he had enjoyed previously. He failed entirely but had fun doing it. We crashed quite early as we'd both had long weeks. Grumble...grr... bloody stupid head!

We did however manage to visit a real German restaurant for dinner. It was called Zur Letzen Instanz and has been feeding people since 1621, including Napoleon and Beethoven. The meal was quite incredible actually. We both had lamb shanks with potato dumplings and red cabbage stewed in mulled wine. It was delicious, very spicy, very large, very filling and almost impossible to carve – I mean, the chunk of meat they gave each of us was bigger than two large mugs put together and we didn’t get steak knives, so eating it was an exercise in juice avoidance. But it was heavenly. Highly recommend going there for real German food if you’re ever in Berlin (although booking in advance is a good idea).

Day two, being Sunday, we got ourselves into gear and had a strange but interesting breakfast at the hotel (Stollen..yum!) and managed to make the tour this time. New Berlin Tours run two tours daily at 11 and 1 and even thought it was freezing and we got wet and a little miserable, I'm really glad we did it.

It was fascinating. I can't honestly say I like Berlin, it's too square, too military and too hard for my liking, but it is a really interesting city. The tour started at Pariser Platz, which is where the Brandenberg Gate (Tor in German) is located, and then looked at The Reichstag, whilst our guide gave us volumes of information about everything.

Then we walked to the new Holocaust memorial. That was quite disturbing. It was built on a park in the middle of town (a place with no relation to the holocaust at all) so that it would remain an all-pervasive and unavoidable reminder of what had happened. The stone blocks reminded me of coffins but the artist left it very open to interpretation. He wanted people to think about it, and it does make you think. We walked through it, as is intended, and it is very strange. You can be with many people in there and not see them at all. And the blocks tower above you in the middle.

Next we went past the place where Hitler's Bunker was. There is only a small sign showing what was there, as the government doesn't want it to become a focus of attention. Then we visited the Luftwaffe HQ and the 17 June Memorial where 200 people shot for protesting against the East German government. There is an interesting juxtaposition on the wall of the HQ behind the memorial and the memorial itself which is on the ground. We couldn't really see it, as there is construction work happing, so I didn't get a photo, but there is a mural on the wall of people singing and dancing, being happy little Germans, which was put up a year before the protest and the deaths. So they put a memorial to the protest in front of the mural. Very neat.

Then it was onto The Berlin Wall, the Former SS Headquarters and Checkpoint Charlie. It's almost impossible to conceive that a government would do such a thing to its citizens. No one wanted to remain in East Germany, so they built the wall and stopped them, separating families and stopping workers from going to their jobs.... Very eerie. If you were a soldier on the wall, you got paid more if you shot people. How...? I mean honestly... what? I just don't have the words to describe what I felt, what I am feeling now...

Anyway, after such a course in the most recent history of Berlin, we went back several hundred years. Gendarmenmarkt is a plaza that has two churches (a German and a French one - the German one being slightly larger than the French) and the Konzerthaus in it. Built by the Kaiser (king) of Prussia Frederick William I. After the plague went through Berlin twice, the population was decimated and reached a low of 20,000 people. The French King was ejecting all Protestants (the Huguenots) from his realm, so the Kaiser said they could come and live in his city and boost the economy. He built the French Cathedral so the new emigrants could worship, and then the native Germans complained, so they built a slightly larger German church (aka Dom). The plaza was sporting a posh Christmas market as well - pay 1 Euro to get in!

Then it was onto Bebelplatz and this place disturbed me the most. On May 10, 1933 a massive book burning took place there. 20,000 books were burnt. Only, it wasn't the Nazi's who did it - or rather, not only the Nazi's. It was the professors and students of Humboldt University, which overlooks the square, who voluntarily raided their own library, and extracted all the books that didn't 'conform' to Nazi thinking. They lit the bonfire. They burned the books.

There is a memorial to the book burning in the middle of the square. It's quite simple and hardly noticeable - you probably wouldn't see it if someone didn't point it out to you. There is a glass panel (which you can walk across) which looks down into a deep cavity filled with empty white book-shelves, symbolizing the destruction of knowledge. There's enough space on the shelves to house all 20,000 books that were burnt. There is also a plaque on all four edges of the memorial with a quote from one of the writers whose books were burnt. Written in 1820 by Heinrich Heine, it is an eerily prescient quotation. It reads: 'Das war ein Vorspiel nur, dort wo Man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt Man am Ende auch Menschen' ('That was merely a prelude. Wherever they burn books, eventually they will burn people too'). The memorial was just so eloquent and such a stark commentary on the war it almost made me cry.

Now a-days, there is a second hand book market in front of Humboldt University every day of the week that the weather isn't too horrible. A lovely reparation I think.

We moved on to Neue Wache - Which is a memorial to the Victims of War and Tyranny. It has a sculpture by a famous local artist, Käthe Kollwitz, who lost her son in the first world war, and then her husband and grandson during WWII. It's a very simple, but also very eloquent statue, of a mother holding her dying child. Buried underneath are the remains of an unknown German soldier and a victim of a concentration camp along with soil from the different battlefields and camps of WWII. The ceiling is open, so that whatever rain or snow affects the city reaches the statue. It suffers along-side the people.

We finished off the tour at Museum Island. Museum Island is literally that; an island where they've put all their museums. Then we went Christmas Market hopping again, and this time, I got to taste some of the brews... very interesting I must admit. I had Apple Punch and Strudel in the Posh Christmas Market, and then JagerTea and some eggy concoction elsewhere... it was all a little strange to my pallet. We also visited the most Amazing Chocolate shop I’ve ever seen. Check it out!

Day three was Monday morning and the last place we visited was the Pergamon. It's one of the most infamous museums in Berlin. They have the entire front half of The Pergamon Alter, one of Turkey's most famous temples, reconstructed inside the museum, and the giant Market Gate of Miletus, a 2nd Centuary AD gate also taken from Turnkey. The Turks want them back, obviously, but they remain in Berlin. It was very interesting, but I think A was a little bored... I tend to go a little ga-ga over ancient things.

Then it was time to go home.

Visiting Berlin really made me think. Unlike every other city I've been to, Berlin is heavy with history. It is so close to the surface, and so all-pervasive that it was almost unsettling to be there. I found it fascinating, but I'm not sure I enjoyed it all that much.

I had just become a teenager when the wall came down. I remember it falling. I remember the cold war and Mikhail Gorbachov and Perestroika and Glasnost. It didn't have much of an impact on me as I had no concept of the implications of such events, but I do remember it happening.

I can remember when East Germany was not a place you could visit, and then when there were two Lonely Planet Guides; one for each half. And then when reunification occurred. But once it was whole again the fact that Germany had ever been two countries sort of slipped from my consciousness. I had no understanding of the ramifications, so it didn't have an impact on me, and I sort of forgot.

Now, it means something to me. And I find that very disturbing. It's good to remember, and to know, and to feel. But it's not comfortable.

Word of the Day: Conniption

Often, conniptions. A fit of hysterical excitement or violent emotion such as anger or panic. Also called a conniption fit.

Ie, the thing you experience when you discover you have to find a Chrismas present for a person who you didn't know was invited to a party you are attending that very evening.

A Motherly Rant

I am really flattered that so many of you want to read my efforts at writing. I thank you dearly for your belief and support and I would be truly honoured to have some of you read a version of it if, somewhere down the track, I come out with something that can be considered a complete draft.

But not yet.

I initially agreed to allow some people to read it, as is, but I have since changed my mind. Sorry. I’m just not ready to allow the flowerings of my brain to be subjected to the eyes of others yet!

I think the best analogy would be if you consider my book to be like a newborn baby. It is very precious to me and very fragile at the moment, and susceptible to all sorts of diseases, like disbelief and embarrassment. Should it be subjected to even mild criticism or disparagement, no matter how well intentioned, I would be so depressed and so utterly mortified that a product of my mind is less than perfect, that I would cease to continue caring for it, and it would very probably die. Mortification does have its roots in death after all.

But fear not. I will allow it to be subjected to proper correction and the guidance of others in time. One day it will be old enough to attend playgroup, then kindergarten and eventually it will go into the school system thence to be grilled by all manner of different people.

I won’t hold on to it nor protect it for ever, but while is it is still a very young book, I am going to be the best mother I can be; I am going to nurture it, encourage and feed it, protect it from the dangerous world and guard it with my life.

And at the moment, that means guarding it from the pitfalls of my own imagination and my minds capability for extra-sensory perception of the opinions of others and especially in the twisting thereof. By this, I mean that no matter how you tell me you like, or don’t like it, I am likely to read ‘FAILURE’ into every word. That’s just artistic temperament I think.

When it is a little older, can walk on it’s own, can face a reprimand without falling to pieces, and I am not so immensely attached to it, then I shall gladly seek out your assistance in guiding it further along the path to becoming a real individual, able to stand on its own and independent of my mothering tendencies.

So there you go.

I thank you for your interest, and am honoured by your requests, but if you would kindly hold off until the little darling is a little older, I would be very grateful.


A little after word: There is a great article on the WritersWrite site titled How to Parent Your Book: Six Rules for Writers by Tarn Wilson. I think it’s one of the most apt articles I’ve read and full of good advice on this subject. Advice I guess I now have to put into practice. Should be fun.

Misery on top of agony with a dash of despair thrown in..

Today I am miserable. Yesterday I was more than miserable, I was at death’s door… well, I wanted to die anyway. And the weekend started off so well too.

I’m actually not sure I really want to whinge about the pain here, except that if I write it down, I am less likely to repeat the performance, so it could server as a good reminder of how not to do things in the future…

*Sigh* Please feel free to ignore this entry… it is for self castigation purposes only.

Anyway, the good bits included going to the TGIO (Thank God It’s Over) wrap up party for the NaNoWriMo’s of London on Saturday afternoon. This was held at a pub called The Round Table down in Covent Garden, where I had a great time chatting about the writing woes of NaNo with a group of people I have never met, never talked to or indeed even heard of before. It was really fun and another tick in the box of ‘Things to do that scare you’ – walking into a room full of strangers and introducing yourself as another NaNo nut.

The good bits continued at the Motion bar down at Embankment on Saturday night, where my flat mate was holding her birthday bash. She was the only person I knew there, so I had a lot of fun getting to know another host of new people, most of who were ridiculously good looking, being of Russian decent.

Unfortunately, I forgot to have dinner, and so was nibbling on the platters of food provided, and on said platters there must have been something I was allergic to. Usually I’m very careful of not eating anything suspicious, but between the wine and the new experiences, I’d sort of thrown caution to the winds. Bad idea.

At about 1am I got the first full-blown 36 hour migraine I’ve had in about 7 years. Normally, if I am silly and eat something I shouldn’t, I catch the migraine’s warning signs in time, take the required medication and then it only lasts about 6 hours. This one I missed, and it had me crying in agony well into the wee hours of this morning… being Monday morning, not Sunday morning. I spent all of Sunday throwing up from the pain.

Now… well now I have a hang over from the Migraine.

There is such a thing as taking too many risks Kat.