Blogs from Bremen, Germany, Europe

Keine Angst vor Voodoo! "Voodoo" - den Begriff habt ihr vielleicht schonmal gehört. Meist wird er in Verbindung gebracht mit allerlei Gruselkram und Übersinnlichem. Aber Voodoo ist eine Religion und hat nichts zwingend Unheimliches an sich. Die Schauergeschichten über den Voodoo-Kult kennt man hauptsächlich aus amerikanischen Kinofilmen. Dazu muss man wissen, dass diese Religion unter anderem auch in Haiti heimisch ist und Haiti vor etwa 100 Jahren von den Amerikanern besetzt war. Die Menschen des kleinen Landes Haiti hätten sich mit Voodoo gegen ihre Besatzer zu wehren versucht, erklärte Wiebke Ahrndt dieses Phänomen. Die Amerikaner fürchteten sich sehr davor und berichteten zu Hause von unheimlichen Zombie-Geschichten und nadelgespickten Puppen. Daraus entstanden dann die Filme, die wenig mit der eigentlichen Religion zu tun haben.... read more

January 1st 2012, a new year, hopefully a much better one than the last! I was off for a week in Bremen. Phillip and Nadine dropped me of in the Schnoor (I wrote about this in the first blog). I was staying for 3 nights in one of the original houses in the Schnoor. It is one room wide and 4 floors up and my room was in the attic. I was the only guest of Birgitte, a lovely lady who opens her house to one or two guests at a time. The stairs were something! They were tiny, Phillip worried I would break my neck going to the bathroom - well I am still here to tell the tale!! I wasn’t quite sure if I was a character out of Virginia Andrew’s ‘Flowers in the ... read more

It was interesting to go to a movie in English, in a German town, we saw Mission Impossible as it was the only movie showing ‘in original tone’ (in english) and to see so many of the places I have been to in the world and of course the movie finishes in Seattle! The next few days were family oriented - shopping, preparing food, playing cards (universal language), eating, more shopping, more eating. I took to riding the bike and walking a lot as it was a necessity to burn off some energy! Pierre and I went out tree hunting - a little different to those we have in Australia, of course it is colder, so it makes you decide a lot quicker. You also have to trudge around in muddy fields as it is so ... read more

Hi Everyone! Well, I made it safely to Germany! By safely I mean my trip was fine, but I also didn’t have a nervous-breakdown during my finals and rip all my hair out or jump off the docks at the harbor or anything. You may be wondering, “So, what is a final like in Spain?” Well, the anticipation is just as excruciating and unless you are taking Roman Mythology and Religion the actual exam does not live up to the terrible hype. My Mythology exam was the only painful one. “Do we need to know how to say the words in Latin?” “No, no I won’t make you memorize every term in Latin.” Oh, hey, thanks for putting Latin terms on our final Antonio, ‘preciate it. However, I was able to overcome the Latin and I ... read more

This was a free day for us so we jumped onto the local bus and went into Bremen. We had been the day before for a match against Werder Bremen but we hadn't explored the city centre.google it!!) Our mission was to get a St Pauli soccer strip for our son. This is the football team associated with Hamburghaven and they sell black tops decorated with a skull and cross bones to remind them of pirate beginnings no doubt. Some may have also heard of the reeperbahn (google it) It was cold and raining so after getting drenched a few times I had to opt for not discovering the River Rhine area and being content with only a small section of the Altstadt area. (photos attached) If you were following earlier you will have read that ... read more