expatlife Archives - Everything's Famtastic

August 18, 2019June 26, 2021

What’s So Great About Photos?

Halli Hallo! Here we go again, another round of Everything’s Famtastic to enthral and delight you. Last week’s post about dealing with grief was kinda heavy and not my usual thing. But then again, the passing away of so many friends and family in such a short time is also not “my usual thing”. But nobody is ever alone in their grief. I just hope that my post reached the right person at precisely the time when they needed some reassurance, comfort and strength after losing someone special.

One of my “usual things” however, is photographs. I take a LOT of photos. Just ask my Hubby. Or my kids. Or pretty much anyone who has known me for a while 😉. I take photos with my mobile phone. I take photos with my big fancy-pants SLR camera.

I not only take a lot of photos, oh no. I collect photos from my Hubby’s mobile too. And when we get together for special occasions with friends or family, I like to check out what photos anyone else took too. Which means that I have a fairly large collection of photographs.

Ahem. *clears throat* I don’t think that I have been quite clear enough. I have a REALLY LARGE collection of photos. I haven’t done a hard-core sorting and cleaning out of photos from my laptop in years. Since approximately 2014 to be precise *buries face in hands in shame*.

Ok confession time. I take a LOT of photos. I have more than 40,000 photos stored on my laptop dated from 2014 to present. I am a photography addict.

There is just so much to do with all those photos… *wails*

March 3, 2019June 26, 2021

What You Need to Know About Karneval in Germany

Hi there! How are things in your part of the world lately? This past week in our corner of Germany we have started seeing a change in the weather. Sure, this winter hasn’t been too extreme. But it’s still been, you know, cold.

This week though? Amazing colours at sunrise of golds, pinks, purples and blues. More sun and blue sky throughout the day. We even had unseasonably warm temperatures hovering around the mid-teens (that’s Celsius, for you North American types!). The plants are covered in leaf buds. The early bloomers like snowdrops and crocuses are on display. Some of the other bulbs are heavy with flower buds waiting for the weather to warm up just that little bit more. Spring is definitely on it’s way. Hallelujah!

However, the main excitement around these parts at the moment is Karneval. And by “around these parts” I mean in many regions of Germany and specifically the kids in our house 😉. The other week I even posted about how to sew a Hulk costume in time for Karneval this year. Karneval fever is well and truly alive!

But what? You haven’t heard of Karneval?

I didn’t really elaborate too much in the last post, it’s true. Well, let me try to explain a little. Depending on how hardcore you are about it and whether you are in a Karneval club or not, Karneval may be seen as either:

a) only the big loud street parade that occurs in February or March and blocks off the city streets, or

February 3, 2019June 26, 2021

Reality Bites Back

Here we are at the start of February! How’s the year going for you already? My January went pretty much as I had imagined it, with a few unavoidable hiccups not of my doing. But all in all, a pretty good start to the new year.

As you may have read in my last couple of posts here and here about what it’s like for an expat to return home to visit, I actually spent almost all of January in summery Australia, my birthplace. The boundless blue skies, the hot sunny days, drinking wine with friends and family, regular visits to the beach… *swoon*

Departures

I say “almost” all of January, because my trip Down Under came to it’s inevitable end last week. So, after a blessed 5 weeks in Australia catching up with family and friends and mood-enhancing, Vitamin D-filled sunshine, the plane- and my accompanying tears- departed Sydney airport last Friday. The trip between Germany and Australia is one of the longest you can actually experience anywhere in the world (Germany to New Zealand would probably be the winner).