preparing for the new apartment

Preparations are hot. We'll move to our new apartment on January, 2nd. So I spent the last two days retrieving my old stuff from the attic, where it spent the last 1,5 years. Took it down to one of the guest-rooms. And that what it looks like:
I am so happy there are two big guys around (my fiancé and my brother) to help carrying around these things. My back hurts already thinking about it...

X-mas, second party

And now imagine you have a brother who happens to be born on December, 25th. And then imagine that your mother ALSO was born on December 25th. And now imagine that at about midnight the bell does not stop ringing. So: my brother and mother only had the time to exchange some presents... and zack, the apartment was full... my parents friends were sitting on the other side of the room ;-)

X-mas, first party

Well, first we went to church at about 16h, then we changed our presents and than we had this gorgeous dinner. Somehow we only made pictures while exchanging the presents, so: I got this fashionable Ipod in bright red, combining with my rose and fingernails. And I am REALLY sorry, but you just HAVE to know this, hehe.
He, who gave me that little toy, got a fork. And a knife. And a spoon. And all in one. And he was AMAZED!
Then it got later and i tried to bewitch the cat. It worked somehow. At least as long as I still had some food in my fingers. Then she somehow lost interest.
So, we thought we would end the night with some nice little candles and the fire burning. Burning. Burning. At present we have 25°C in our apartment. That's 77°F (see http://www.heise.de/ix/browser/javascript/fahrenheit.html with the usual disclaimer of course)

decorating the Christmas-tree

So, in Germany we have that Christmas tree. A real one, nothing plastic ;-). So, in order to make it more Christmessy, we had to put some things on it. Like little angels, stars, apples and stuff. So, here you see me and my little babybrother Danny (10 years) decorating the tree:

Daniel, my second brother (22 years until the 25th) also helped us, especially explaining Danny how he could put the decoration on the tree without hurting his fingers.

Well, then the tree was almost ready and we started to decorate ourselves. Here you see me and my brother displaying some nice little appels.

OK, and that's the result. A nice little (well, big) Christmas tree with candles, angels, appels, nuts and other things.

you can't always study

So, this is the proove: European Studies Master student ALSO go out to drink something from time to time. Please note the Caipirinha in Sophies hand ;-)

2. Advent

So, this is a German (?) tradition: we have this Adventskranz (literally advent wreath), just that in my case it's more a rod. But well, the important thing are the four candles, one for every sunday before Christmas. So, now you know: only two weeks left until the "Christkind" is coming to drop off some presents. Hopefully. If you behaved, at least, I guess.

So: enjoy the pre-christmas time.

Visiting Delitsch

After my seminar in Chemnitz this weekend I make a quick visit at my friend Marlen's house to meet her (after about 4 years of having had contact only via email and letters) and her children: Two almost-two-year-old-twins, Abbas and Zeynab (I hope I spelled them correctly though).
It was great to catch up personally.
Zeynab is trying to convince her mom that she has to sleep now, while Abbas is all fascinated by someone pointing a camera at us ;-)

Mommy, Daddy, me and my Cat ;-)

My mum, me and my Dad. Having fun while my brother is trying to get along with the digital camera ;-) Fortunately he somehow managed to take at least one photo.

Me and my cat.

think green

That's me and the effect november is having on me: getting whiter and whiter (I want my Brazilian sun tan back!) and getting used to really thick wool pullovers. But at least they keep me warm, in nice teamwork with my tea. Green tea of course.

And as green is supposed to be the colour of hope, I'm already looking forward to April/May when the green out there is hopefully coming back again. Anyone complaining? It's only 5 months to go ;-)

november

Rain or no rain, that's the question. And you never know! That near to the sea, weather changes quickly. The negative side: the rain will get you. No matter when you leave the house and where you are going to. The positive side: it probably won't last very long and even in november we get hours (well, sometimes only minutes) of clear blue sky. And there are few better things than a clear, cold november day without rain.
And the second advantages... the sky never looks the same with so many weather changes and you can get see some great spectacles just by looking skywards. Better than some of the movies actually playing in the movies. And cheaper anyway ;-)

Flensburg

Ok girls and guys. In my posh Euro-centric way I simply assume that you know where Germany is. But with a little bit of good will I'll be able to forgive you in case had never heart about Flensburg before knowing me, and thus don't know yet where to locate that little town (of 80.000 habitants.
And YES, I have heard the rumours about Ricardo moving to the north-pole when coming over here, but please remember: between Germany and the north pole, there are still Denmark and Norway/Sweden. But, within Germany Flensburg is actually as near as you can get to the north pole... right here: And here you see a nice little street in Flensbug. It is saturday evening, so there is not much going on. Probably most of the people are at home, drinking tea and eating cake, or their are taking advantage of the great weather to explore the beach.

Yes, Flensburg actually HAS a beach. But of course it is not within the city-center. Although the sea does come into the city center forming a little bay. This is a look from one side of the bay to the other one, where the city center is. Nice, isn't it?

This is right in the city. The house in the middle belongs to the famous brewery of Flensburger Pils ("plopp", for the experts). That's why it says Flensburg Bier. I guess the fountain in the middle also has its nice little legend, but honestly I haven't discovered yet...

I got a postcard

And a BIG one!!!!!
Guess from whom ;-)
Novidades, Ricardo. Alguem tá te adorando (aliás, nao só por causa do cartaozinho, hehe).
48 days to go until you arrive.

PD: Also note the Guaraná-poster right behind my head.

fall - it's getting colder

First thing to do to avoid freezing your feet off: buy warm cozy slippers!

Second: switch on the radiator and never ever (!) open the winter more than two minutes (to get fresh air in and keep the walls from cooling down completly).

Thanks from my side to whoever invented central heating systems!

Surprise, surprise!

Coming back from university on a grey, rainy autumn-day I run into the post man coming out of the building. "Oh! You must be the new one! I just left a package for you with the neighbours on the 2nd floor. Someone REALLY likes you!"

Well, I thought he was kidding, because I DID order about 50 books during the last days for my university studies. But books do not really indicate any emotional bond between the buyer and amazon. Instead, my neighbour hands over a really huge, but not even slightly book-heavy, package.

And that's what I found:

Thand you, Ricardo! I LOVE YOU TOO ;-)

student food

After juggling the whole day with game theory and related problems, I was in urgent need of some real healthy, but quick food. Thank's God for German bread quality ;-)
And Ikea for this nice table-cloth.

my new room

This is my new room until end of December. From January on I'll have my own place, together with Ricardo ;-)
Until then, I'll enjoy this spaceous lovely room, thanks to Gesa who is currently studying in London.

Thank you

Thanks to all of you who shared that party with us. Engagement and for me a farewell-party as well. I hope to see you all again in the not so far future. We'll be coming back. Promise or threat? That's for you to choose ;-)

uups: engagement II

Our second engagement party took place at the marvelous Gill Bistrôt in Sao Paulo. A lot of friends came along to celebrate the moment with us. Yet again ;-)

I LIVE on the sugar loaf

farewell on the Sugar Loaf - good-bye Rio

Ricardo came to Rio to visit me on my last (and in Brazil a long one, due to the "Nossa Senhora Aparecida"-holiday) weekend. On Thursday: rain, on Friday: more rain, on Saturday: cloudy, on Sunday: SUN SUN SUN and 33°C. So we took advantage.

To get to the Sugar Loaf you need to take the cable car. Here you see the version from 1919 (or something near that date). Find the yellow man in the yellow car.

And THAT's how the cable car looks today on his way from Urca-Station to Sugar-Loaf-Station.

And that's how Sugar Loaf looks from Urca-Hill (the frist cable-car station). Well, and my man in front of the Sugar Loaf.

Me and the center of Rio from the Urca-Hill, before going on to the Sugar Loaf.

The "post-card"-view from Sugar Loaf. Copacabana. The (very tiny) red arrow shows where my apartment is. More or less at least.

engagement

Engagement rings.

1st step.

2nd step.

Mission completed.

Note: in Brazil the engagement ring goes on the right hand to be moved to your left hand on marriages day.
In Germany it's the other way. So on every flight between our countries we'll have to move our rings. Forever ;)

for Ric

Keep an eye on that guy! He's the one I intend to marry.
Love you, amor!

Para você:
"Desde una montaña alta, alta como las estrellas (aqui, o Corcovado)
voy a gritar que te quiero, para que el mundo so sepa (hehe, aunque sea via internet)
Que somos uno del otro y jamás nos separemos
y aunque nadie nos entienda, por nuestro amor viviremos."

doing gender 7 in Florianopolis

Well, I could give you some photos of a congress room with about 2500 congress participants, but I guess you prefer this one, where you actually see me. We shared the dormitory at the youth hostel and had a lot of fun discussing questions about hetero, homo, bi and bi-curious.

The congress in itself was a great experience. About 2000 people presenting a paper about any possible link to gender studies. The only problem: with so many interesting things happening often in the same time-slot, it was quite difficult to decide.
And my paper actually was received really positive.

For more information about the bi-annual congress, visit http://www.fazendogenero7.ufsc.br/ (only in portuguese I fear).