Sunday, December 17, 2006

holidays

Ok, I am sorry! Yes I was a bit lazy with my blog, but I haven't forgotten it. And finally I got some pics again to show you and I can tell you what happened the last weeks and months.

In September I submitted my first paper and "surprise, surpise" it got accepted. I am quite happy about it. When I understood right, it should be published tomorrow, but I have to check this first.

After this I was thinking about my next project, but things just didn't work. So I decided spontaneously to take three weeks off and I vanished to Europe! But why Europe? Actually a good question, as I said before, I was happy to got escaped from there. But mum had her 50th and I wasn't there, so we had to catch up everything. And another reason was some adventure in holland. Some kind of internet contact from skype. I really like him, so we decided to meet in Rotterdam where he lives. If not now then never. Spending two weeks at a place with a guy I have never met before. Sounds strange, but I can tell you, it was worth it. We had a lot of fun, but one after the other.

My flight to Europe this time was BNE - Taipei - Bangkok - Amsterdam with China Airlines. It was ok, but I had better flights with Qantas and BA already. So, with a heavy Jetlag I arrived on the 15th of November in Amsterdam. Rain, wind and cold: autumn in holland. But I was lost in space and time, so I didn't care. Ehab picked me on time, like a good old friend. Both of us were down, as 9am is actually not really his time. ;) Arrived at his actually really nice flat, I immediately felt home. Nothing was really strange for me, I don't know why. He made me feel home as well, so just perfect.

I was not in Rotterdam to do a lot things neither to see a lot of things. I just came to relax, to get to know eachother. Therefore we took it really easy as talking, drinking wine, relaxing, watching movies ... just having fun. I could switch off my brain, which was important for me. And Ehab was really good in it to relax me! ;) But one day I went through Rotterdam on my own and took some pics, mainly for my australian friends. Just some nice impressions:

The area where Ehab is living.

Dutch architecture.

Rotterdam and Christmas

Erasmusbrug - biggest bridge in Europe

Harbour - third biggest harbour in the world

Weird architecture, but somehow nice.

Ehab and me, we created our own little family. Now you can guess what is part of our life: of course COMPUTERS !!!!

Tuxs

I spent one week in Spremberg at my parents place. It was a nice time, but parents will always be parents. I was happy to see Katja in Berlin again. We had a good time with gossips and good indian food. The last couple of days I spent in Rotterdam again.

Unfortunately every holidays end sometime. So I flew back on the 6th of December. I had a 10hours stop in Taipei. This time I used for a nice guided sightseeing tour. Taipei is the city of the island Taiwan. The city has 2.7 millions inhabitants with around 1 mio. scooters. You can imagine the traffic in this city. Here the main attractions:

Longshan Temple, the oldest and most famous one!

Chiang Kai-Shek memorial hall : an impressive monument built in commemoration of the late President Chiang. The majestic hall towers over 25 hectars of landscaped gardens, graceful pavilions, and ponds. A statue of the late President Chiang looks out over the city from the main building.

101 Building: stands 508 meters high with 101 stories on a site area of 30,278 square meters. The development comprises an office tower, a shopping mall and an observatory. It has been certified to be the world's tallest building and was opened to the public on December 31, 2004.

Martyr's shrine, this is an excellent example of classical Ming dynasty architecture, dedicated to the fallen heroes of China's wars. There is an hourly changing of the guard ceremony at the entrance.


So, back in Brisbane, I am trying to adapt to this highly humid climate with more or less success. I had a little accident and partially fractured my shoulder. No sport and cycling for at least 2 weeks.

I miss Ehab a lot and I just hope the distance doesn't destroy our little family ;) !