I was so glad that October finally came and with that my vacation. It was overdue for me. The decision for my road trip was made in very short terms and actually I only wanted to go to Stuttgart to meet up with J. But then I thought, well when I am already on the way why not go a bit further and spend some more time with my dear ladies at Spangdahlem. Landstuhl was added just a couple of days before I was planning to leave for Spang. I just made the quick decision to leave another day earlier. It cost me quite a bit of money but I had a great time, so damn the money. It outweighed boredom at home. However many would say it wasn’t really vacation because all the days I spent with work related people, but those people are not just work, they are also friends, plus I am very pro establishing good customer relation. I also don’t plan to visit every store I work with.
This will be a longer entry, so I put everything behind the Read More link. I hope I won’t bore you too much.
It was Take That time again. About 6 weeks after the Manchester Trip, 3 girls left Leipzig again to see Take That in Hamburg and spend the weekend there.
We left on Friday, also the day of the concert. This time we enjoyed a train ride with Deutsche Bahn. We had to change trains a couple of times and in that one train, we are sure the staff was on drugs. They went through the train rhyming when checking tickets and offering snacks – and not just once, all the time. All the 3 of us tried to read our books but the ladies were pretty disturbing.
Surprisingly we had no trouble with the trains. All were more or less in time so we reached Hamburg safely and from the train station we searched for the Hostel – consulting a smart phone and locals – we just had to go down the street and left, but well… girls.
In this post please click pictures to enlarge.
Arriving at the hostel some girl, probably having her first day there, dealt with our check in. We were looking forward to get rid of our stuff and full of joy we went upstairs to the room they gave us. We even allowed ourselves in, just to be shouted at by some middle aged women – identifying themselves as Mrs. Williams and Mrs. Barlow according to their shirts – that we should get the hell out of there, it would be their room. We were not amused, took our stuff and went downstairs again and told the girl, that we obviously got a wrong room, confusion all over the place. Another staff member came to our rescue, stating that Mrs. Williams and Mrs. Barlow plus another friend occupy that 6 bed room for themselves and gave us another one. They probably forgot that the husbands need a place to sleep as well. We booked a 6 bed room and now got a 3 bed room just for us, without additional payment. Great update.
When we finally settled down, I contacted Ricarda, who came with a Finnish friend, but she didn’t go to the concert. She was exploring Hamburg and was on her way back to hostel. Rita, Suzie and I wanted to eat something, so we decided to meet up where ever we would have food – we ended up in some Chinese place, don’t want to call it restaurant.
It’s been 4 years that I last saw Ricarda – in Donzdorf – for a Nightwish event, back in my fan club days.
Eventually we got ready for the train ride to the stadium. The crowd of people led us to the entrances. We ended up at the one opposite to where we were actually seated, but that is the good thing with seats – you have time. Once more I was pretty proud about the seats I managed to book. Also I was glad to be back at a concert in Germany. I could smoke inside – the person next to me didn’t quite like it, but hell screw it, it is Open Air. Deal with it.
I suffered through the Pet Shop Boys again before finally Take That came back on stage. It could have been the last time ever for us – because as we learned, Robbie left the band again – lol; not at all surprising and I am looking forward to a Robbie solo tour.
I cannot really say which concert was better, it was equal. Since it all is so choreographed and scheduled there was not much variance to the concert in Manchester. The 90s song part was more improvised and we actually got to hear quite a bit of Could it be magic :D Oh and the boys made the stadium sing the German National Anthem which to me felt really awkward.
And Robbie made me cry during Angels. I mean I always have goosebumps, but with how he introduced the song, that was just mean. I thought about my family and how quickly they could be gone and how much I abandoned them lately. It was a bit too much. So Saturday evening I wrote postcards to everyone in my family, I wouldn’t have done that, if Robbie didn’t make that introduction.
As you can see in the video, it was raining, I mean really really really raining. It felt like fall by the end of July.
After the concert we went back to the hostel and exchanged pictures and videos, checked youtube.
The next day was planned to explore Hamburg. Rita and Suzie did just that, while I spent the day in my bed because of course I got a migraine episode. I felt awfully sick and slept through almost the entire day. However one thing I wanted to see and that was Hesburger. That is pretty stupid because it is nothing more than a burger chain, but from FINLAND. I wanted to feel a little Finland. So with lots of pain killers I made it to the Reeperbahn. An elderly man from Hamburg was serving, which felt absolutely not Finnish. I liked the fries though. The burger was not really my kind of thing.
We spent a while in the area. Hesburger was located right at the Beatlesplatz, so everything was Beatles and porn.
On Sunday I woke up with a sore throat and saw bad things coming when I felt worse and worse during our trip home… I ended up being sick with a sinus infection for the following two weeks.
This entry probably won’t be too long, because it’s been almost 4 months since that trip and I have to admit my memory is not too fresh anymore. But before everything is gone, I want to write about the little that is still in my mind.
During my vacation in June I decided for a road trip. Main reason was to go to Saarbrücken to join Gerdi for her 30th birthday party. We’ve been in contact since 96 or 97. Everything started off as pen pals. (For the younger generation – that was before email, Facebook and other social networks existed and people actually sat down with pen and paper and wrote letters and sent them through what we call snail mail nowadays). We visited each other when we were teenagers and once Gerdi also visited me shortly after I started university. We’ve been in contact on and off but always found back together. Today we mostly communicate via LiveJournal. Already last year the idea came up that I could go to Saarbrücken for her 30th birthday because she would have a big party with two of her friends. And this time I did not back out.
Since Saarbrücken is pretty close to Spangdahlem, I took the chance and went there, too. Why Spangdahlem? In Spangdahlem is a US Airbase with a Commissary. Actually you shouldn’t do it, but the Spangdahlem staff became really dear to me and I told them I would visit them some time. And so there I was. I met all the Cash Cage ladies and P. from the Back Office. I was there for just one night, but I could stay with Inge. and the day after we went to a Chinese restaurant on the base. As I said I didn’t stay for long but still it was a real pleasure to meet the people you only talked to the phone before. I was welcomed so warmly, I felt really comfortable. Those are events that show you, you do something right in your job.
From Spangdahlem I went to Saarbrücken. Gerdi picked me up from the train station. Somehow it was strange to meet as adults, at least it was to me. But we had lots of fun, also with Gerdi’s husband. The day I arrived, I tried their Wii Fit Board and damn that thing is a bitch – told me I was overweight.
On Saturday was the birthday party (I arrived Friday) and helped with preparing the party, setting up tables and chairs plus reminding the girls of several things – started management behaviour, hehe, but it seemed to be appreciated because everybody was so excited and I didn’t know anyone, and I feel shy around people I don’t know how to take and I am always glad when I can do something and make myself useful.
I also got a present from Gerdi. Actually we share the same birthday in April, just her being a year older. I got “PS Ich töte Dich” a collection of short stories, initiated by Sebastian Fitzek – since it was not a pure Fitzek book, I didn’t buy it yet, so I was really happy.
We also stayed pretty long and if it was for Gerdi, we could have stayed longer, but honestly I was at a point where I was already about to fall asleep, also I had to catch a train in the morning.
Gerdi took me to the train station again and I was still incredibly sleepy and didn’t anticipate the long train ride home.
All together I was glad I did the trip. I realised it is way more fulfilling doing something during vacation than just staying at home, especially when meeting old and new friends.
It was about time that Sebastian Fitzek released a new book and did reading sessions. My hometown was added to the tour rather late, the happier I was about it. Today was the day I was looking forward to the most during the last couple of weeks and I was not disappointed. Suzie went with me, like we did last June. I made her read Sebastian Fitzek. Sebastian’s current book is called “Der Augenjäger” (The Eye Hunter/Chaser) and is a sequel to “Der Augensammler” (The Eye Collector). All of his books are psycho thrillers.
Both books are not my favourites, even though it is hard to rate his books. Actually all of his books get 5 out of 5 points from me, still there are differences. Both books have their weak parts that feel pretty slow (some of his other books literally take my breath away) but still exciting. Even though you know there will be a twist at the end, I am either too stupid or just read the signs wrong, but I am always like “WTF?” at the end but it still makes sense and you think “I should have known that”. Unfortunately you can hardly tell what the books are about without giving away too much, that is why I won’t do it here either.
Sebastian’s books are translated into English as well. Here on his website you can get information about them in English.
First of all I want to say that when you go to the Sebastian Fitzek reading, don’t expect too many parts of the book read to you and that’s it. I share Sebastian’s opinion here: I can read. Plus when Sebastian comes I’ve already read the book. So that Sebastian talks about himself, his ideas and his life so much is what I like most about his events. What we learned this time:
- son David was born 5 weeks too early
- playing drums to daughter Charlotte makes her smile and stop crying
- they kept the placenta after Charlotte’s birth in the fridge for a month
- again a couple of stories about his ex-girlfriend
- this time stories about his ex-girlfriend’s family have been added
- he is not allowed to tell us anything about the next book, but spoke about the one after the next
- “Der Seelenbrecher” might eventually be turned into a movie
- the movie for “Das Kind” (The Child) is in post production
A little bummer was that “Das Kind” was entirely shot in English, including German actors speaking English – horrible English. I have my doubts that this will attract a native English speaking audience at all. However we got to see some scenes from the movie. “Das Kind” is my least favourite book, however I am looking forward to seeing it in cinema – in German.
Sebastian’s dry humour makes those evenings so much fun. He doesn’t mind making fun of himself either, which makes him the more likeable and real. He even sets up the equipment for his reading himself.
After every reading he signs books and is available for photos – and what patience that man has with that. Of course I got my book signed as well and got my very personal fan moment, when I told him my name and he looked at me saying “Wir kennen uns wa?” (“We know each other, right?”) – it wasn’t my first reading and I was also sending a few emails (on which I always got a reply!!!). Suzie was so kind to take a picture – of him signing my book and with me. His shirt says “Irrenmagnet” which means a person that attracks crazy/freaky people, because that is something he always states. I made him open his shirt so that you can see it on the pic, because as you all know I am a bit freaky and I just found that incredidbly amusing. He was saying: “I hope that doesn’t make you look bad now. ” – If he knew.
So here are the pictures. I also added the ones from last year. The picture on top of the post is from me while we were waiting for the reading to begin.
I will be on a little road trip again. I hope to come up with some posts afterwards. Have so much I’d like to write about, but so little time. Will have my laptop with me, just don’t know if I find time to actually do something on it. Watch my tweets though (@toivoton)
On March 12, 2011 little Katrin, that is me, went on the big journey to little dullsville Fritzlar somewhere near Kassel in Hesse. I don’t own a driver’s license therefore I had the pleasure to travel with Deutsche Bahn. Fritzlar is about 300kms away from my hometown Leipzig. Fritzlar can be reached within a few hours by car, however without the car it took me no less than 13 hours for going there and coming back.
Why did I do this? And stole about 200 Euro of my student load depot? And missed several races of the Biathlon World Championships? I have to go backwards…
It was on an evening in December 2003 in beautiful Vienna. After I managed to lead two male local residents (!!!!) through the one way street tangle of Vienna, we attended the Theater an der Wien and watched the musical “Elisabeth”. I am not really a fan of musicals but I am fascinated by the person Elisabeth (you may want to read the article about myself to understand why I feel related) and therefore I was pretty hyper.
Alright that was the prequel to the actual story, because now we are here 7 years later, the beginning of 2011 and I am hanging in a very quiet shift at work and I long for music. So what does the ambitious employee do – right, checking in on YouTube. And while I was wondering what I could listen to, the musical Elisabeth crossed my mind for still unknown reasons. And so I typed it in and since I am picky I wanted to have the version I saw back in 2003. I created my playlist, put the ear phones in and kept on working. I had the late shift so management left the building, which means not only listening but also watching the videos (it was really quiet in DeCA world, honestly). While I was watching the videos with the funny japanese subtitles, I was wondering what the hell does The Death do nowadays? Google and Wikipedia answered my question and there I was on the Kamarás vs. Loeber YouTube Channel. The rest is history…
So on March 12 I went to the main train station to start my big journey. Of course it is the weekend when the station is closed down because there was something really important they had to do for the even more important 4 stations long CityTunnel. For me that meant cursing politics, grieving about my taxes and heading to the rail replacement bus that took me to Halle, Saale. There I had to change trains and boarded the IC to Braunschweig which was awesomely quiet and empty. In Braunschweig I had to change trains again and found myself in the InterCity Express to Kassel. I should have informed myself from where to where that train goes, so I would have considered booking a seat. The train went from Berlin to Munich and that made it a high frequented full train. Totally alternative like a punkt or student I found myself a nice little space on the floor, right next to the door in the middle of the passageway. Once again I asked myself why the hell I was doing this… thought about the Death Máté, put on Marcus’ piano music – everything fine again.
I was traveling with Deutsche Bahn so of course there must be a problem. This time it was a broken cable and the train was redirected and I was just hoping to be in time in Kassel to catch the bus to Fritzlar, because there was no way I wanted to stay in Kassel for additional two hours.
The train made it to Kassel in time and I took the bus that needed one hour to go to Fritzlar. Luckily that dullsville was neat so I found my hotel pretty easily just to find the doors closed. Awesome. But I was prepared and took my cheat sheet with the important telephone numbers and called the owners. I was told someone would come down right away. And oh surprise it happened, the door opened and I got access to my little cubbyhole, it even had a TV and Digital Receiver, but no remote control so I was doomed to watch Reality TV on RTL. Once again I knew why I don’t own a TV at home anymore. But I had to get some background noise because the silence there was unbearable for me (I am a big chity child and need noise!). So I changed clothes, packed my Shower Capü and sunglasses, memorized the directions to the location and left the hotel. Still I am a girl and had to use my smart phone (with the slowest internet connection there is) to find the Scala Varieté, I know it is sad. After 5 minutes I arrived there which confused me a lot because the distance on the map would have taken me 20mins in my hometown. Anyhow I was way too early and walked around the place to see if there maybe is something interesting (there wasn’t), but even the shops were already closed. They closed when I arrived there at 4pm o.O Therefore I padded back to the hotel and was totally exhausted because of all the hills (Leipzig is flat, so everything above 1% ascent is a hill if not even a mountain).
Quarter to 7 I was back at the location and finally also others arrived, there were real people, OMG. I recognised several people from Facebook and could finally to talk to someone again. At 7pm we were let in and I was the first, muhahaha. We were lead to the tables by the owner. I was seated together with some others from Facebook at a table left to the stage.
We recognised more people from Facebook and ordered food and drinks. Of course in the middle of nowhere you cannot expect that the people know how to mix a good Tequila Sunrise and that it can be served in a larger glass. I even had to ask for the straw and had trouble holding back the question where the alcohol is in my drink. :P
Due to the situation in Japan and the close relationship Máté and Marcus have to the country attendees of the show discussed if and how the show would actually take place. But despite the horrible news throughout the day, both of them did a perfect show that excited the fans.
I studied YouTube videos and was worried to hear Máté perform Robbie Williams. Even though Máté managed that quite well in the videos (alright really good, but so far I put a curse on anybody who dares to sing Robbie songs und was also cursing under my breath when watching Máté, still he luckily is no stupid idiot from a Pop Idol show and I stopped cursing), I am always close to a break down, because Robbie is Robbie (my man sinc ’93) and not anybody can come up and sing Robbie songs, because that just can’t be and most of those who do are unable to perform it well enough to stand up to Robbie. It is not even inidividual most of times but incredibly horrible. There was no Robbie song and I felt relief. Still an advice: Performing Come Undone in German speaking areas requires a change in lyrics to “So self-aware, so full of Scheisse”
There was also a break and suddenly kids turned up to work. Youth protection – what’s that? An outstanding job did the young man who was made holding posters. As it turned out, the kids were relatives and kids of acquaintances. A girl named Gloria suddenly stood at our table stating that if we want autographs we need to tell her and she will tell her daddy o.O
We then found out Gloria is Marcus’ daughter who – drugged with Coke at the age of 3 – sang “Anton aus Tirol” in Mallorca. Marcus informed us about that in the show. I was wondering what kind of music do the kids in the Loeber household get to hear? Why does the child know that song and why could she sing it at the age of 3? To tell a little story from my youth – around the same age I was rocking Opus’ “Life is life” – without any caffeine.
However Gloria came back to our table and let us know that we should go “there” after the show. There meant the little stall where they sold the merchandise. I was wondering again: What opinion does a child have of adults that are crazy about her father’s and uncle Máté’s signature? Is she a fan too – of Justin Bieber maybe?
From the second part of the show I want to point out El Burito or better his shirt. “I escaped Windows” and below that an Escape Key – how awesome is that??? I want to have that shirt, right then. Gladly I am not too insane and stayed on my chair instead of running on the stage to steal the shirt off Máté El Burito. Still, I want that shirt – it doesn’t even have to be washed.
And once again I was wondering: Is it true what the shirt says? And if so, what uses Máté El Burito instead? I tend to say a MacBook (*iiiiiiiiks Apple*), but would be incredibly hyper if it was a Linux distribution.
Also the old lady’s table behind us warmed up… they had lots of alcohol – lucky ladies.
Unfortunately everything comes to end and so did the show. We trusted Gloria and went to the booth. We also met the winner of the ShowerCapü competition (Petra) and signed a dinosaur egg for Marcus and Máté. And of course a dino will hatch, probably an grass eating, lovely and adorable T-Rex.
March and Máté came out a little later with a lot of time despite the worries about Japan. Surely instead of being the loud, brave, self-assured Katrin only shy and quiet Katrin was present that moment. Therefore there is no nice pic of me and the guys only a pretty silly one. I just stood beside Máté and had Gaby take a picture with my mobile, advising her to just shoot and that’s what it looks like – me grinning slightly retarded with horrible coloured hair.
The group around Petra, Gaby and I wanted to go for a drink afterwards, but of course in Fritzlar everything was already closed so we went to Petra’s hotel and enjoyed some Ramazotti with coke – and finally even I tasted alcohol.
We talked quite a bit and I learned more about the Florian Silbereisen Prince Valiant story, Máté mentioned. At home I searched YouTube for it and felt like vomitting when seeing that guy as The Death. Another runaway video is him performing “Total Eclipse of my heart” with Bonny Tyler. I felt like crying, but all grannies probably find it adorable.
Eventually I ended up in my bed in the hotel and was looking forward to going home again the next day. For that I had to take a bus at 9 to be in Kassel in time for my train. That meant getting up early, having breakfast all by myself (I envy the breakfast the other group had *pouts*).
Of course the train to Braunschweig was late which made me slightly panic, because I was afraid to not get the next train that would take me all the way to Leipzig without changing trains again. Pleasantly that train was late as well and again I found a little space for me on the floor in the InterCity Express – right next to the trash cans and the lavatory. It was just for 3 hours.
Finally at home I was please to have my facebook back but fell asleep almost immediately and decided to sleep the rest of the afternoon. I also made new facebook contacts and had some chats.
Of course I also fell into a post-event depression, but came over it rather quickly – therapy paid out.
As shitty as the train rides were, I don’t regret the trip. Unfortunately I couldn’t get any of the merchandise or CDs, because I just had no money anymore, at all, only the the few Euro to pay the bus back to Kassel (so I am glad no bars were open anymore, I wouldn’t have been able to pay o.O). I was so much in dept no ATM would have given me any money anymore :(
But I saw Marcus and Máté and that outweighed everything.
Marcus und Máté – picture by Gaby
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After years of being away from the World Wide Web with a personal website, one of my plans for 2011 was to get one up again. Why? I don't know - I am an attention whore?
Seriously, I am not of that much interest but I would like to give my friends and online friends around the world the chance to get to know me and my life over here and see what I am doing.
I was so glad that October finally came and with that my vacation. It was overdue for me. The decision for my road trip was made in very short terms and actually I only wanted to go to Stuttgart to meet up with J. But then I thought, well when I am already on the way why not go a bit further and spend some more time with my dear ladies at Spangdahlem. Landstuhl was added just a couple of days before I was planning to leave for Spang. I just made the quick decision to leave another day earlier. It cost me quite a bit of money but I had a great time, so damn the money. It outweighed boredom at home. However many would say it wasn’t really vacation because all the days I spent with work related people, but those people are not just work, they are also friends, plus I am very pro establishing good customer relation. I also don’t plan to visit every store I work with.
