I decided to buy some baked goods and sweets. 100% of the proceeds donated to Equal Justice Initiative and KOP-Berlin.
I ordered some homemade salted caramel sauce, brownies, and these Portuguese sweet muffin typical of the Azores Islands called Bolo Levedo. They ran out of Zucchini cake which was vegan and replaced it with some Oreos.
I have been with Lingoda for a while now, and originally I was planning to finish the B1 level by the end of last year but I have had to take a some weeks off here and there, depending on other circumstances. At the moment, I am still making some good progress with B1.3! The important thing is that I am still making some progress, and still learning German at my own pace that suits me..
I decided to actually take some time off one evening and do all my notes in advance. This means, going through the PDF, copying and pasting the materials there so that when it is time to go through the assignments, in-class notes and more, it is all ready for me. Below is how busy I was doing some of the B1.3 classes!
On another note, I was surprised to find out that this month it looks like a couple of people have used the promotional code which means they get 50 euros off and I get 5 free group classes. This has been really great, as I thought about pausing June completely for a small break. Thank you for using the promo code!
While the online classes is not for everyone, we all have to be online. I still have to adjust my learning style to practice free speaking German because I find that my reading and perhaps writing skills are a bit better. But for me personally, I really need the classes in order to be accountable, quiet a few times where I feel a bit discouraged and don’t want to learn anymore. But, just keep on pushing!
There were some restrictions easing in Berlin. We went to a biergarten which had some mask restrictions at the toilets and closed by 10pm
Definitely a city that I’d like to come back to, I only manage to spend just half a day here after a long trip/stopover in Abu Dhabi when I came back to Germany from Australia.
I’d love to come back to the designer and creative industries districts here, as well as sights and museums.
In this open air museum, you can walk around and inside what could have been buildings from the past, dated back to a certain period. I don’t have all the details with me but I highly recommend this. It was also a short walk from the Viking Ship Museum.
Late last year, I went around Oslo. It was my first time in the small but beautiful city. Unfortunately, I was only there for about 24 hours as it was a stop on the way to Lillehammer but I did manage to capture a few photos.
I would definitely come back to take a trip around the fjords, the sauna and more.
In this open air museum, you can walk around and inside what could have been buildings from the past, dated back to a certain period. I don’t have all the details with me but I highly recommend this. It was also a short walk from the Viking Ship Museum.
This post was part of a trip that took me around Lillehammer:
Walk around Friedrichshain, Berlin. There was also a market set up for the weekend, where I bought a spinach/feta type of wrap and some sort of sweet cake with apple and meringue.
I recently moved apartments to Mitte and decided to spend an hour or two walking around Boxhagener Platz. I don’t usually come here, and I might have only been through Boxhagener Platz properly once during the day, a couple of times at night. Boxhagener Platz etched into my mind as to what Berlin is like for my first time moving here early 2017 and I am a bit disappointed that it took a few years and a move to do the stroll around.
You can see from the photos some remnants – limitations of a few people only inside the store and one must wear mouth/nose coverings inside. I grabbed a macaron and an ice cream, the ice cream place like the other places during the restrictions had a small table outside for you to order.
The business owners look relaxed and relieved, not stressed, people cautiously outside. Not completely normal but getting close to it.
The restaurants are also open now, at least a majority of it, some seating arrangements being made to make sure that there are less crowds. I am not sure how things are going to be like when the travel borders open between the EU countries. Right now, we’re at a wait and see moment but I have a lot of trust that the right things will be done by everyone.
Here are some photos sent from my sister living in Paris, before all the lockdowns. A beautiful city, especially in the spring time.
Met up with a few friends at a pub late February 2020
I was in Brisbane twice, both in January 2020, mainly to catch up with a couple of friends.
Much of the city has been largely the same, but with some new developments. It has been since early 2012 that I last lived there, but I would say it was more like 2011 since I was largely out of Brisbane by that year.
I was not sure as to when I would be back again though.
A few days before leaving, decided to go to the Darling Downs Zoo. The highlight were the zebras
We then went to a pub in Nobby. Probably the most far out west I’ve been to in the Darling Downs.
There were some signs of better climate days:
For me, I like challenges. It was not enough to travel (solo, most of the time) at different countries. Travel is now just a few clicks away. The ‘Instagrammification’ of experiences has made anyone a travel ‘enthusiast’ so long as they have a good enough mobile or camera to catch the experience.
But, it’s a whole new challenge to live in a country. To talk to the people there, learn the language, learn the systems (from tax to health care), the culture (of work, pleasure, community).
2019 marked what was probably a year of moving and being a digital nomad type after several years spent (since 2011) – first working a bit remotely in my first solo trip which was Canada. Then followed by the UK, the first time I lived overseas fully. Then, back to Canada again, Ireland, Germany, France and finally back to Germany.
I treated the whole thing as this large, long term personal project. Pushing my own personal and professional limits, making sacrifices along the way to chase opportunities. A lot of advance planning took place, while helpful, made my place in the world a bit more fleeting. As it should be. I wanted to build a life that is just purely uncommon, a life that is clearly “21st century expat”. I’m sure and perhaps there will be more opportunities to come.
The journey continues.
Zersetzung is a psychological warfare technique used by the Ministry for State Security to repress political opponents in East Germany during the 1970s and 1980s. Zersetzung served to combat alleged and actual dissidents through covert means, using secret methods of abusive control and psychological manipulation to prevent anti-government activities.
The museum is divided into three levels and several portions dedicated to a portion of the Stasi history.
The use of Zersetzung is well documented due to Stasi files published after East Germany’s Wende, with several thousands or up to 10,000 individuals estimated to have become victims,[3]:217 and 5,000 of whom sustained irreversible damage.[4] Special pensions for restitution have been created for Zersetzung victims.
Other links:
https://www.bstu.de/en/archives/about-the-archives/
It’s actually my first time in the area. I arrived about 30 minutes earlier so I took a walk around Simon-Dach-Strasse around the shops including Bad Robot.
I was busy during the four days – taking a day trip to Beaufort and Echternacht and didn’t really spend that much time around the shops, museums or galleries.
Luxembourg is definitely a place that I would like to come back again, largely because of all the various villages that are very close nearby that you can explore.
Echternacht is only a one hour bus ride from Luxembourg. Bus tickets were only 4 euros for the whole day and this covered the small city-country, which was great.
The town itself reminded me a lot of regional France, although I overheard German more spoken by the locals.
The town grew around the Abbey of Echternach, which was founded in 698 by St Willibrord, an English monk.
One of the things that you can do here is to relax in the small town centre with a local beer, or take a walk around the river which I did.
Once you arrive in Echternacht, you can take a very short bus trip to Beaufort which features a castle that was originally built in the 12th century.
Here’s a cat greeting me:
I took the longer way, making my way around the town for a short while..
Before finding a winding path down to the chateau. The good thing about taking the long way is that you come across this walkway along a grassy area..
Which then leads to a very picturesque view of the chateau from the ground.
There is an option to see only the chateau itself, as well as the ‘Renaissance’ part. I opted to see the chateau, a ticket was about 5 euros.
You up inside the castle which overlooks a part of the town.
Went on a quick trek following along the Mesna river and small waterfalls, then stopped near the Winter Olympics ski jump before making our way back to the city centre.
The Maihaugen open air museum is definitely worth a trip while in Lillehammer. According to their website, more than 200 houses are recreated from a number of periods, as early as 12th century.
Part of the trip involved reenactments from period actors in the ‘open houses’. For example, if you go inside a house there would be a person from the period talking about baking cinnamon rolls but she would provide a recipe for the time. There was also another actor from the 80s, including wearing 80s make-up, talking about their life to the visitors. If you ask them questions, they would answer as suitable to the time. For example, ask a 1950s ‘resident’ of the open house a question about fiber optics and they would not know how to answer.
The overall tour took about 2 to 2.5 hours.
The Norsk Folkemuseum is most definitely well worth a visit while in Oslo and Norway in general. It is a bit offsite from the main city centre but it is worth the trek either via as part of a tour, via public transport, car, bike, and so on. This area even has some grazing fields where I spotted sheep and horses.
One of the exhibitions, and mentioned in some of the houses, is of the Sámi people. The Sámi people are a Finno-Ugric people inhabiting Sápmi, which today encompasses large parts of Norway and Sweden, northern parts of Finland, and the Murmansk Oblast of Russia. There are still groups today, also speaking the language, but their existence were challenged due to Norwegianization attempts by the government some time ago.
In the summer, visitors can see some activity going on around a 1800s farm.
For your amusement, a video I took this afternoon of a group of Smålens Geese aka Norwegian Spotted Geese waddling along with their caretakers at Bjørnstad, a large farm from Vågå, #Norway from the 1700’s.
According to their website, the Norsk Folkemuseum is located at Bygdøy in Oslo and has an Open-Air Museum with 160 historic buildings. The museum focuses on the time period from 1500 until present time, and in-door exhibits feature Norwegian folk costumes, folk art, church art and Sami culture. Temporary exhibits, audience programs and activities for children all year.
Unfortunately there was too much detail involved with the buildings and the history so I only have photos to offer. I would recommend looking their website to read more on the details.
Finnmark 1950s building
About a few minutes walk from from Maihaugen is the Viking Ship Museum which is composed of a few actual Viking ships which were discovered as burial ships as well as accompanying relics.
Luckily on offer were full-sized ships that have been restored. So much so that you can really smell the wood and finishings. Unfortunately, other items were already plundered at the time of discovery but they managed to get some bits and pieces – a piece of cloth here, in one case only the nails left.
