Guten Rutsch!!!

today a year ago, i was celebrating with auntie Helena and uncle Albert in their lovely abode at Aldinga Beach, Australia?escaping the fanfare of my big brother and his wife Lynette?s wedding preparations?and supposedly trying to write up one of my lab reports! Uncle Albert had prepared his special version of a wan tan (meat dumplings) soup noodles and we sat in front of the telly drinking the mulled wine i attempted to make as we watched the fireworks display broadcasted live from Sydney Harbour. it marked the start of the new year which i had made a resolution to try to enjoy my time in Germany?

the year started beautifully, with the wedding of my brother, John and Lynette, which was also graced by uncle Albert and his friend Percy?s presence. it was lovely to see my other brother Wee again too and he is just as cheeky as ever. it was also on this occasion that i wore a proper evening gown for the first time?the dark turquoise flower embroidered gown was a present from mummy?because i had to look decently proper?.but i felt like a princess! i still remember having to do up my hair within 15mins in the car, as we drove towards the reception venue? i am amazed that it actually stayed up! i still have the picture that the photographer took of Joan and me at the reception desk?.it?s a happy photograph.

i remember returning to a Germany covered in snow. my classmates and i went sledging one late wintry night down the ?sterberg hill which i passed by every day on the bicycle i called mine. it was wicked fun? i sledged down the hill again that February with Sabine during Chinese New Year and we broke the sledge which belonged to big Frank (Frank S. who is also a classmate of mine?.oh oh?) who was too nice to forgive us so easily?..it was certainly ein guter Rutsch (literally translated as a really good slide, commonly used in Germany to wish someone a good slide into the new year?but here i use it to describe our incredible fall!)?i celebrated Chinese New Year after all?with Sabine, Ute, Claire, Denis and Frank, and they gobbled up the grilled salmon and spinach stir fried with garlic, served with rice?and the mandarins that each of us received?and bid farewell to the year of the horse?

i continued climbing up the castle hill when i missed the bus?carrying my borrowed cello on my back?i keep trying to bow the correct tones and play music instead of strange sounds? i got real high playing duets with Katrin?and i dream of the day i might be able to play better?.

i managed to grow cells in Petri-dishes, on bio-degradable materials and within thin tubes, dyed them with fluorescence and look at them under the microscope?and i also learnt how one could count cells?

i somehow managed to write a PhD proposal within a week and got some important people to write me nice references?.all in the hope of returning to Edinburgh, where i once called home?and because i haven?t found anything i'd really would like to pursue further in T?bingen?and there were also no guaranteed stipend. i sent lots of envelops with something called a CV in which one tries to tell others how interesting and wonderful one is?even when it doesn?t seem that way?.and then hoped for the best?

i sleepily travelled into Switzerland without my passport?.i forgot to take it with me even though i had reminded myself to, the German customs officers were surprisingly nice, and i encountered no Swiss officers, but i worried myself over the prospect of not being able to return?a ?prince in shining armour? came to rescue me, the damsel in distress. but before that, Susanti and Michael took me to dine at a lovely Indonesian restaurant in Zurich as a form of cognitive distraction?and i gobbled up the cuisine as though i have not eaten for years!

sometime later, i welcomed Nicole and Frauke to the ?neighbourhood??and we had fun cooking/tea-time/breakfast sessions together? it was nice to have them around?even if a little late.

my description of Nicole's obsession with Asperagus in Spring sparked the beginning of overacuppa....the real initiation was made possible by Van, to whom i am truly grateful.

i did more labs?i learnt and got better in programming? ?even though i hate it, programming??

we had the hottest summer ever in Europe?i wore lots of summery things for a change?

i visited Singapore over July and attended another beautiful wedding, that of Vanny and Lin Kiat?.played paparazzi or pretended to be?and had lots of fun with friends from the acre wood, and spent not enough time with my family?.

i returned to Germany and played with magnetic fields, challenging my subjects to some tactile discrimination while trying to record and decipher their brain activities?i wrote a draft of my thesis in a week. and i spent another packing my life in boxes?.and then bid goodbye to the place i slowly learnt to like?the friends i made?and flew myself and my life in boxes back to Edinburgh?to start the PhD, for which i managed to find funding?with tears streaming down?.a replay of two Septembers back..

i found help from friends of friends, kind-hearted strangers, to bring my boxes to my little new abode.

i get a little white mailbox to call my own and i find pleasant surprises now and then...

i found myself in familiar and unfamiliar surroundings?.and circumstances. i re-encounter familiar faces, smiles, and handwritings?

i miss the old dish-washer i had the luxury of using at Ute?s flat?

i soon discover that doing a PhD involves more than what one describes or comprehends as research?it is like carrying the burden of the ring in ?The Lord of the Rings??.and one might not feel quite the same after the arduous journey?hmmm

i took up a tutorial class and discover it is fun to impart some of what i know?

i befriended an ugly duckling...

i received visitors, and parcels from loved ones.

i stressed over looking for X?mas pressies ?.but found joy in card-making instead?

i find myself back in another snow-covered Germany?.and with familiar faces?spending Christmas and Silvester?

what a year it has been?.and a new year it will be?. have a good slide into the New Year everyone!

Guten Rutsch!!!

posted by ~overacuppa~ on Wednesday, 31 December, 2003 at 16:15 hrs