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Born Auf Dem Darss. A tiny very sleepy town on a peninsula that is practically a lake because the opening to the ostsee is very s mall. you can walk right into the middle and be only 2 feet deep in water. This is what makes it ideal to learn to kitesurf.
Sunday 1st July. Interesting train journey. I slept better on this one. Met Anna in Berlin and we caught the train we needed to only to find that the DB was on strike or someone had removed the safety cables on the track we needed so we got stranded in some small place that was nowhere and had nothing but a greasy kebab shop. Managed to catch the next train in the right direction and finally arrived at our destination.
Next dilemma. Yes that’s right folks I came to Born without any idea where I am staying. This presents three problems really:
1. No place to stay
2. I don’t speak Deutsch
3. It is 6 pm because of our delayed train and the tourist office is closed or closing.
I am with germans so problem two is really that bad and problem three was overcome because the lady for the tourist office came back. She wasn’t really very helpful And said there was no places to stay for under 40 euro a night.
Zimmer Frei (room free) is my favourite saying. Walking through town these little signs were up about the place so we stopped at a few until we finally had some luck.
I am now staying at this fantastic little german house with a lovely elderley german lady. She was not too keen upon letting me stay here but after Wolfgang explaind I was a young Australian and after I asked if I should leave my shoes at the door she was insistent that I check out the room. It is a room that in my opinion would be better than whatever the tourist office lady could have offered. Double bed, satellite tv (cnn is the only English channel), my own sink etc and heaps of space. 12 Euro!!! Bargain.
Monday 2nd July
No wind hence no kitesurfing…bummer. We drove to Prerow a little further along the coast today and went to the beach. We proceeded to get rained on so we had lunch and came home to just chill out and play some board games etc.
Went for a run this afternoon with wolfgang. It was great to be wearing decent joggers again and to run with someone else was fantastic as it takes a bit of the boredom away.
Tuesday 3rd July
A little bit of wind!!!! Fantastic. We kitted up and Anna and I met our intructor Pauline. She is a very bubbly person who is teaching us extremely well considering English is not her first language! We learnt how to set up the kites properly etc etc and then got into the boat or shoul di call it an onlyjustafloat. Out in the middle I was pretty cold and today we were just learning to fly the kite and relaunch it (something I already kind of had the grasp of because of our kites at home) it is a little different though because you have the weight of the water and its ‘stickyness’ to contend with. I am itching to get up onto this board!!
Wednesday 4th July
No wind again so we kayaked around the lake. We couldn’t find a gap in the reeds so we paddled right into the middled and ate our packed lunch floating about. Simply divine!
Thursday 5th July
Let there be wind!! With wind comes cold.
Spent the morning doing body drags (letting the kite drag us on our bellies around the lake). 2 hours of that and then we were allowed to don the helmet and give the board a go!! Needless to say I have never shivered so much or for so long in my entire life but I suppose that is part of the experience isn’t it. I got to have a go at the board first! YAY! You have to fly the kite with one hand to be able to get on the board. This is kind of interesting but not too difficult. Feet in and away we go. 3 seconds on the board, back down. It took a while but I managed to stand for 5 seconds. Anna had a go and did really well! My turn again. (the wind had started to pick up) one two three…four feet in the air straight over the board and feet first into the water. Not to worry. Try again. Not so bad I managed to stand for a bit. Round three!! One two …four metres head first over the board into the water tangled in the lines with the kite doing loops. Managed to untangle myself before getting hurled again and then…..the kite deflated. The air tube valve had come loose and disappeared. No more kiting. Not such a bad thing as I was shivering uncontrollably and couldn’t pronounce b or m very well. Hopefully we can get some more board time tomorrow if the wind isn’t too strong.
Friday July 6th
got out again today and i got to go on the board again. i am starting to figure it out slowly.
i asked the lady i am living with (in german) if i could stay another night!!!!! she let me stay for free!!!
dinner tonight was fantastic. we tried out the little italian pizzeria and i had a four meats type pizza. it was devine. i also tried the light spritzer which is fantastic!
Saturday July 7th
not enough kites for everyone so i got to go out with randoms in the morning. got my own board all to myself and today was the best day i have had!!!!! awesome rides and even some up wind!!!
Wolfgang and Felix dropped me at the train station this afternoon. catching this train is the only way i am going to get to Halmstad tomorrow. i should have put a little more thought into it and realised it was a saturday and i wouldnt arrive in Berlin until 2130hrs. to simplify: the train i need to get from Berlin has a compulsory reservation and i could not do this online. there is a good chance the ticket office will be closed.
i am in Berlin and the ticket office is open!!! thankfully the train isn't booked out and i will get a bed!!!
Best day ever!!!!!!
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ratu
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winging it
I see we are starting to wing it a little bit. getting very adventurous I see. Dont forget that word Forward Planning. and thats not just before lunch forward planning either. Enjoy . Hope there is lots of pictures when you get back home. Moce