Ever tried travelling on crutches? I did. It requires some logistics and is exhausting, but it works. And I was glad to get moving again. The first Saturday in September, I travelled to Bonn to see my friends Katrin, Simone, and Anke. I went by train, and as I needed my hands for my crutches, I took two backpacks for my luggage and carried one in my front and one in my back. My friends picked me up at the Bonn train station, and we had a great day together. The next day, which was a Sunday, I participated in a [View Full Entry]

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On Thursday, my mum, my aunt Lore, and I left for Bayreuth, which is about 300 km from here, to attend the Bayreuth Festival. It is a very famous festival, where operas by the German composer Richard Wagner are played. We spent the night in a very nice hotel, and the next day, we were picked up at the hotel by a shuttle bus at three p.m. Wagner's operas are very long, that's why they usually start in the afternoon. We were to watch "Tristan und Isolde", which would take around four and [View Full Entry]

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I don't have much to tell you at the moment. Just wanted to let you know that I'm getting better and better. I'm still on crutches and will be for another week. Then, I'll have an appointment in my hospital again and see how well the leg healed. I was discharged from hospital four weeks ago. The leg was really sore and kept me awake for many nights during my first two weeks at home. Painkillers didn't help. But the last two weeks were okay. It is still sore, but a lot better now. I go to physiotherapy three times a [View Full Entry]

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Last Friday, I picked up my friend Rebi in Ulm, and then we drove to Regina's place which is not far from Munich in a most beautiful area. We were looking forward to a true girls' weekend. Regina had cooked lunch for us, and after lunch, she showed us around the - as I said before - beautiful area. We hiked up the Blomberg, a mountain that she flies from quite often. The mountain is about 500 metres high, and we walked all the way up without making a break. I did pretty well, did not even have sore muscles after [View Full Entry]

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Sorry for not giving an update for such a long time. I was just so busy that I didn't have the time. We had two more tasks from Aspres. On Wednesday, a 104 km task was set at first, but they changed it again to a shorter one of 89 km due to the cloud development. The pilots didn't even get to fly that task - the overdevelopment was so severe that the task was stopped before the first start gate opened. The next day, pilots were sent from Aspres to Sigoyer (to the southeast), Malaup, Longue Dent, back to Sigoyer, [View Full Entry]

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English Rehabilitation is hard work, believe me! And learning to walk again is not easy. After being discharged from hospital, I started ambulant rehabilitation. Three times a week, I go to a rehab place not far from where I live. When I'm there, I do physiotherapy, gym, and exercises in the pool. Physiotherapy takes half an hour. I'm alone with the physiotherapist, and she gives me workouts especially for the muscles in my pelvis, bum, and legs, and for coordination. It is really hard work. After that, I go to the gym for more than one hour and work on machines [View Full Entry]

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English My week here in hospital was completely different from how I had expected it to be. On Thursday morning, the doctors turned up in my room. They told me that they had been pretty surprised that the Australian doctors didn't want me to weightbear for another ten weeks. They said the bones had healed pretty well, and the reason for operating patients was to mobilize them as soon as possible. They even explained to me that the bones needed weightbearing for mending. They wanted to start mobilizing me the very same day. So a few hours later, the physiotherapist came [View Full Entry]

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Noch knapp zwei Wochen bis Australien - am 26. Dezember geht es los Einige von Euch haben vielleicht am 23. November den kleinen Beitrag über mich auf SWR3 Weltweit gehört. Für alle, die ihn verpasst haben: Ein kleiner Bericht mit Fotos ist auch im Internet auf der Homepage von SWR3 Weltweit. Länger habt Ihr nichts von mir gelesen. Australien rückt näher, und es gab einfach viel zu tun. Ein bisschen was habe ich trotzdem zu berichten. Ende November war ich auf der Jahreshauptversammlung des Deutschen Hängegleiterv [View Full Entry]

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Deutsch Am kommenden Sonntag heißt es Radio einschalten. Im Rahmen der Sendung SWR3 Weltweit kommt ein kleiner Beitrag über das Drachenfliegen, mich und meine diesjährigen Australien-Pläne. Also: Sonntag, 23. November 2008, zwischen 16 und 19 Uhr auf SWR3. Meine Reisedaten für Australien: 26. Dezember 2008: Flug von Frankfurt nach Sydney 4. bis 10. Januar 2009: Corryong Cup in Corryong, Victoria - den Wettbewerb fliege ich selbst mit. 14. bis 22. Januar 2009: Bogong Cup in Mount Beauty, Victoria - bei diesem Wettbewerb arbeite ich als Starthelf [View Full Entry]

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English On Friday, I started a five day trip to the north of Germany. First, I met some of my former colleagues in Bonn. Some of them still work for the consultancy, some don't. It was pretty interesting to see what everyone is up to. I stayed at my friend Katrin's place for the night, then I went to see my friend Christiane who lives not far from Bonn. She took me for a little adventure trip, not intentionally, though. We wanted to hike to the Landskrone, a hill that is about 8 km from her place and that provides a [View Full Entry]

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