"Kenya" feel the excitement?!?

Har har har...okay, I have to admit that I didn't come up with the pun myself, but that doesn't mean that I'm not going to use it!
Anyway, in 47 minutes, we're heading to the train station to go to Geneva where we're going to stay for the night, and then tomorrow morning we're boarding a plane to Nairobi (via Amsterdam).
OH MY GOSH!!!
So today was the day that it actually hit me that I'm going to Kenya.
I will also have no internet access for two weeks. And very minimal electricity as well.

This also means that I didn't make my goal of being updates for my blog before I leave. I'm still missing posts about:
- Dublin
- Nice and Monaco
- Paris
- Berlin
- Lyon
...and other randoms.
Sorry...

To quote a MUCH younger me: "I'm outie!"

Beginning to falter

So at the rink tonight, I got off to a shaky start, but was determined to land some darn jumps. I felt powerful, but after 8+ 2Lp attempts, I figured it wasn't meant to be. I just couldn't punch out of the landing. I was falling on all of them exactly the same way, but I had no idea how to fix it. I decided to turn my attention to combinations and landed two 2Tf2Ts with ease. Soon to follow...three 2T2Ts!!! I was a machine! I couldn't believe how easy they were and how patient I was on the landings! I decided that I wouldn't worry about the 2Lps, but it still bothers me.
I wonder if I'm becoming more emotionally stable?

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Last night I went to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. This was the first of the Harry Potter series that I'd read the book prior to seeing the movie version, and I think that it really made a difference.
I was disappointed for once.
I knew what happened and was going to be happening in the storyline of the book version, but only about a third of such events actually were carried out in the movie. Some of the parts in the book that I was most looking forward to seeing in the movie didn't happen at all, which really really sucked, but I guess I understand that there was a lot in the book that had to be cut out in terms of a time constraint on the movie. Still...I was disappointed.
It was, on the other hand, the first movie that I've seen in a long time (other than Joyeux Noel) that I sat through without looking at my watch to check the time or how much time had elasped.
Anyway, I felt like this movie was very different from the earlier ones in the series. The whole movie seemed very dark in nature and I felt like the actual sets were really different from previous ones. Hogwarts itself looked like a new campus, even the Hogwarts Express looked slightly darker, or more mature. The students were dressed differently, from their uniforms to their casual clothes...ugh, it was so weird.
The young actors and actresses in the movie have definitely hit puberty and are truly looking a little too old for 14 years of age. Even the older student in the school look too old, and there seems to be no lower year students (unless they made everyone in the movie older to convince the audience that all the students are around the same age). Before seeing the movie and hearing about how they weren't sure if the same actors would be in the next movie because they looked too old, I didn't really believe it would have any affect on my as an audience member, because I believe the actors and actresses to be the characters they play in the movie and thought that I would just believe that they are the ages of who they are supposed to play rather than the age that they look...well I guess I was wrong. It really threw me off, but if they have the next movie come out really soon, I'd like them to keep the same people (it threw me off enough when the actor who played Dumbledore changed).
I won't go into detail about the plot of the movie, because I sort of sum up the main ideas of the plot line in my post about the book.
Again, I was really bothered by the fact that the movie left out what I felt (when reading the book) were important parts of the storyline, or things that I thought would look really exciting on the screen. Certain things that happened made sense to me because I read about them in the book, but I felt like they weren't explained very well in the movie and that a person who hadn't read the book may be confused as to how something happened.
I did like the awkwardness of teenagers when interacting with the opposite sex, which brought on a couple laughs, but I felt like the movie was being rushed through (partly, I think, because I felt like it was missing a lot of important elements - again, from the book).
If and when I do go back to Canada, I'm excited to see a movie in English that won't have subtitles in multiple languages at the bottom of the screen. They're really really distracting, cause I find that even though I perfectly understand what's being spoken in English, my eye doesn't want to watch what's happening in the movie, but rather read and follow along with the French subtitles.
It was quite dark and could be extremely scary for kids watching the movie. There was just a really dark tone to the movie. I think it might have had to do with the colouring, because even some of the happier moments felt dark. It really didn't feel like a kid's movie, whereas the first couple definitely did.
I also thought that this movie would be hard to watch if you didn't know about the first three books. The storylines didn't really overlap or anything, but I felt like this one didn't give you enough background about the characters and settings, and instead launched straight into the plotline (again, felt like I wasn't being eased into the movie, like they were really rushing through things). Maybe someone who hasn't followed Harry Potter would think that it was fine, but it really didn't feel fine to me.
Harry and Ron felt like different people to me, whereas Hermione did well. I still don't quite like this version Dumbledore...he's too loud and forceful. Hagrid and Snape are still great as are the Weasley twins. Mad Eye Moody wasn't bad and for some reason, I was expecting more out of Rita Skeeter (I think I read a review somewhere that talked about how she was one of the best parts of the movie). Voldemort was quite good.
All in all, I'm glad I went to watch the movie, but it just didn't seem to flow from the previous ones of the series. I felt like it was a completely different style of movie, catered towards a different kind of audience and took a lot of shortcuts with the storyline. That last part disappointed me the most, and I wouldn't have minded sitting in the theatre for an extra hour so that more could have been included.
But that's just my take on it.

Even though I really want to read the next book(s), I'm seriously considering holding off until the movies come out. It made this movie experience not as enjoyable as the first three...so...anyway, I'm not really sure what to think. Pros and cons either way, but so far I'm leaning towards not reading the book. Problem being, I was planning on taking the next one to Kenya.

-picture courtesy of www.harrypotter.warnerbros.com

There's nothing quite like it

Just got back from the rink and it was fantastic. I have found out that now I can skate for about 45 minutes and then after that, my body can't take it anymore (my endurance is non-existant).
I did all the jumps possible, including two 2Lps and since I felt pretty good, I decided to try some 2T2Ts, which I haven't bothered trying in a long time.
I landed two great 2Tf2T and then finally, just as the session was ending, I landed a (small) 2T2T (after falling on two really good attempts). I haven't landed one of those in over a year at least.
I'm telling ya, there's something about being emotional which gets you skating well. There's got to be some kind of hormonal link or something. Or maybe it's that I've brought my abs back from the dead. Or even that 4 months of being back and walking on European terrain is finally taking effect.
Whatever it is, it feels great and really helps me be me.

Taking it all in

When I visit a new city, I get this strange sensation that my body increases its surface area, my pores open up and my pupils dialate or something.
I just feel like all of a sudden I'm able to experience and take in more things than usual. Almost like things around me are going in slow motion and I can observe and absorb more information that is being bombarded at me.

I think I might be an alien.

____ no more

I may have decided on a name for ____. Annie. I'm not sure if it really fits or not, but when I was chatting with him/her (part of the problem I suppose) last night, I thought it might work out. I can't quite tell though if Annie doesn't like French though...cause that would be a problem.

(I'm so clever)

There's definitely a correlation

Strange how when you're really emotional you tend to skate really really well.
Tonight I landed 6 double loops. I don't think I've landed that many in the last 6 years combined!

It just feels so good to skate...

Movenpick Cinnamon & Plum Ice Cream

It's been a long time since I did a review of a chocolate bar, but that's with good reason. I haven't eaten a chocolate bar since then!
I recently tried the Limited Edition Movenpick Cinnamon & Plum ice cream, so I thought I'd share my thought about it.
Movenpick ice cream is good, there's no question about it, but this is definetely a strange combination. I'm not even sure how they came up with this one. I like each of the components, but as a whole, I'm undecided.
It's sort of like the plum part of the ice cream is a "ripple" or a "swirl". You don't really taste it throughout the ice cream. If you get a spoonful of the plum part, it's really tasty, but if not, I feel like the rest of the ice cream is a little too cinnamon-esque. But it wasn't a good kind of cinnamon. It wasn't like a cinnamon heart or Hot Lips kind of cinnamon...just something different. You could tell there was a lot of spice in the ice cream (and I don't mean "hot") but it was like a weird mixture of flavours. Holiday-esque perhaps...it reminded me of that 5-spice stuff my mom puts on turkeys. A melange of spices.
The ice cream (although this is quite often the case with ice creams) leaves a bad aftertaste in your mouth.

I would not order a large bowl of this ice cream, but I would enjoy a scoop of it (if it included a lot of plum "swirl").

-picture courtesy of www.moevenpick-icecream.com

St. Nicolas

As the holiday season is approaching, I wanted to tell you about some traditions over here.
So December 6th (tomorrow!) is a special day. The night of the 5th, children leave shoes/boots outside the doors of their houses in hopes that St. Nicolas will leave presents/goodies by them that night. Santa Claus is also supposed to show up Christmas Eve, so I guess they get double the presents over here.
This past weekend, I went to the town of Fribourg to watch the arrival and address of St. Nicolas to anyone who would listen (which was a LOT of people, apparently). This is an annual tradition that they have on the Saturday closest to the 6th, and it's a pretty big thing for Fribourg.
I hadn't visited Fribourg before, so I decided to make a day of it. I wandered the town, did a little Kenya shopping (I have to train my mind to search out brown, green and khaki coloured clothing - not a natural thing for me!), wandered the markets, saw the cathedral, walked the pedestrian walkway, saw the chateau, crossed the river. You know, the usual!
Is got pretty chilly waiting for the guy to arrive, but it was worth it. The streets were packed with people of all ages, and obviously lots of families with young children.
He arrived with a fanfare. Following a marching band, children holding candles, other holding a rope so that the crowd would not stampede St. Nicolas, some people with their faces painted and dressed up in black and finally, St. Nicolas riding on a donkey. He threw candy to the children and climber the stairs to the balcony of the cathedral.
From there his microphoned voice boomed across the square (sorry, the microphones covered up his face - could get the right angle to take a snap of his face) and he told us (in French and German) about how we should be individuals, not conform and feel pressured to wear t-shirts that say "Brice" on them (ha ha ha...he made reference to Brice de Nice!!!) or to step into the age of not "William Tell", but na-tel (French for cell phone) among other things.
I definitely didn't understand the whole speech (and not just the German parts). I'd like to blame St. Nicolas himself, because he was speaking so slowly and yelling the words, that I had trouble piecing the words together into phrases. So my French isn't where I'd like it to be yet. Darn.
He ended his speech and created this scary moment (which confused me...I thought he was supposed to be non-scary and stuff). He waved at the crowd, descended the stairs and the crowd dispersed and a moment of ooh-ing and ahh-ing and flash photography ensued after a projection of a stain glass window styled image of St. Nicolas appeared on the cathedral facade. It was beautiful.


So St. Nicolas is here to spread the love and there's lots of lights and sparkly things all around, making me a pretty happy girl.

Introducing Mocky and ____

I just wanted to introduce you to my two new German friends that I met in Stuttgart. Surprisingly there isn't a language barrier.





This is Mocky.











This is a super soft donkey without a name.






-pictures courtesy of www.steiff.de

Pi party

Sure, it wasn't March the 14th, but this past Thursday night I had a little pi party which involved eating pie and watching Pi with a bunch of fellow math lovers.
What an interesting movie. In high school I remember watching the first little bit of it and being intrigued and knowing that I wanted to watch the whole thing in the future, but it wasn't until the pi party that I followed through with this.
The movie is about a number theorist who wants to find the patterning in life among other things. It's a very very artsy movie, so I definitely don't understand all of the meaning behind the different things that happened in the movie. It was a little too bizarro for me. Yet, I still liked it. I think that has to do with the fact that there were so many math references in it. It was noticed though that the special number was different every time it came up on the screen. I wonder why the producers didn't make sure that was consistent. Strange.
Anyway, a horrible attempt at a movie review...all you need to know if that if you like bizarro movies with lots of symbolism, watch this one for sure.
And also: Pi Parties are FAB.

-picture courtesy of www.pithemovie.com

Stuttgart

I love Europe. One short train ride away and not too many CHFs gets you to another country. I wanted something a little different. Somewhere that I could feel anonymous. I figured that Germany would be a good place to go, because I know no German, and therefore wouldn’t understand anyone, not be able to talk to anyone, could remain in my bubble and just enjoy my surroundings.

I decided to pick Stuttgart for November 4th-6th because I’d heard of the place (thanks to ballet), and it was pretty close to the Swiss border (making a weekend trip feasible). I did a little bit of research about the city before I went, but didn’t really know much at all...and I didn’t really mind. After all of my travels, I’ve figured out what type of tourist I am. I’m not really interested in museums and such, but enjoy seeing people, building from the outside, and like bus tours. I don’t like walking tours very much. I like taking subways and walking around on my own time. I like walking in parks and pedestrian areas. I like to have a map at my disposal, but hardly ever use it. I collect pamphlets from hotels to read about the area just after I arrive to the city, and plan out where I want to walk the next day. I may circle a couple things on the map, but after I get to a general area that I think I should visit, I start to wander without following a map or plan of attack. I often skip meals, because I’m too busy wandering. I like to go into grocery stores and buy food that I can just eat in the hotel room where I can sit in front of the TV and veg and relax my feet after a long day of walking and I’ll always try to buy some "different" kind of drink or dessert to try.
The German equivalent of the TGV was really really nice. The seats were bigger, more comfortable, you had more leg room and the car itself was so much cozier. Little things like the lighting and wood paneling compared to the dank and dingy red/purple décor of the TGV made all the difference.

The next morning, I decided to go wander. I didn’t have anywhere in particular that I wanted to see, but with my map, I’d circled a couple things that might be of interest. I quickly found the pedestrian shopping street, and some landmarks (including the opera house of course) that I snapped some pictures of. In one of the main squares they were setting up a winter bazaar complete with a skating rink. They had mulled wine and different foods and sweets that are so typical of such a set up. Sausages, candied nuts…I got white chocolate covered strawberries. Pretty yummy.
I found the "expensive shopping area", the "trendy shopping area", the "boho shopping area", you know how they always have places like that in every city. The Germans really like their shoe stores. There’s tons!
I really liked the park with the man-made pond that you could see almost all of the major buildings from, and after picking up a map and getting some information from the tourist office, wandered into the music conservatory and up to the terrace on the top level to get a panoramic view of the whole city (okay, so Stuttgart isn’t THAT exciting to look at from 11 floors up). The TV Tower was closed for renovations or else I probably would have visited that too. I followed a little self-guided tour that the tourist office provided and found that I had visited most of the recommended places on my own that morning before I had gone to the tourist office. Boy, am I good! I didn’t take the subway (you know that I would have liked to, but I just couldn’t justify it for one stop), but I sure did a LOT of walking. It was nice. I really felt like I was airing out my head and feeling good about being me.
I found the Holt Renfrew of the city, and really wanted to make a purchase there (I was drooling over some bags – especially the big Luella tote...I need an oversized tote) and I was close to buying a really German, cool, thick felted passport holder (well, an organizer that I would modify), but it didn’t have the right pocket that I wanted. I hope I find one soon. I just know that I’m going to get one soon.
I really like markets, and even more so if it’s the holiday season. The farmers market in Stuttgart was very multicultural. Well, mainly Greek, but still, I wasn’t expecting that at all. Above the market were shops which were fabulous. There was a home decorating store (very Christmas driven at this time), tea and coffee shop, l’Occitane, hair salon, clothing and jewelery designers. I was so happy in that building.
I wanted to find something to do at night. I was thinking about going to see Mamma Mia, but figured I probably wouldn’t enjoy it if the inbetweens were in German. Then I had my heart set on going to see La Traviata at the opera house, but unfortunately it was sold out. I was disappointed beyond belief and frustrated the sales ladies weren’t slightly more helpful about last minute tickets or no-shows. Sure, I didn’t speak any German, but I didn’t think there was any reason for them to be rude and hasty. That left me in a pretty bad mood. So I didn’t end up doing anything exciting that night. I just went back to the hotel (after about 10 hours of walking) and relaxed for the rest of the evening and went to bed quite early.

I try to purchase something special from each major trip or country that I visit. This time, I didn’t find something that would be an "investment", but something (well, somethings, actually) that made me happy. The only reason I knew anything about it, was by watching all of those antique/auction TV shows that the British seem to love so much. And I happened to see it in Stuttgart by randomly walking by a store. I purchased two Steiff stuffed animals. I looked into getting the popular bear, but they looked really not so nice, so I decided for something that would make me smile. I am now the proud mother of Mocky the hippo and _____ the donkey. The donkey didn’t come with a name, and I can’t think of a good one. They are both very lovely and have a stylish gold stud earring in their left ear.
I also used my beautiful pink m0851 duffle on this trip. I love that bag so much. Definitely no regrets there. I’m already thinking about my next purchase.

The next morning, I figured out when I needed to get to train station and planned out the rest of my day accordingly. I was so glad to have taken this trip, it really helped me with...well, just...stuff. I slept in a bit, and then went down to have a leisurely breakfast. The spread at this hotel was pretty intense. From pickled fish to rhum balls to springrolls. It was pretty funny. I definitely took some stuff for the train ride home (including a big pretzel – what’s a trip to Germany without eating a big pretzel?). I had seen everything that I really wanted to the day before, I so I wasn’t planning on doing anything too exciting this day. Just another walk around town to breathe in more air and see the surroundings. Stuttgart wasn’t too exciting in terms of things to see, and there wasn’t anything monumental from a historical perspective (at least that interested me), it was just hearing the German being spoken, seeing the market, the structures and the people that interested me. It was a good weekend trip. I felt like I saw everything I wanted to see in the city, and would go somewhere else the next time, however I really enjoyed my time there. I saw some nice things, and was happy to be there.

I love being in Europe and too clear my mind and spend some time on my own, I can just take a train to another country and experience a new city and take in new expereinces!