Christmas bazar first weekend in December

The first weekend in December, it's been a tradition for me and some friends to take part in a Christmas bazar in a small town in the Rheingau (Kiedrich). For the past three years, we've been organizing a waffle stand and also sell homemade Christmas cookies and pralines.

This year we had a special guest - my friend Maya who joined us with her crafts from Indonesia. Unfortunately, the weather was simply nasty (we had rain and the temperature was quite December-like). She's been brave and stayed the whole day from 8 am till 6 pm! We were all freezing at the end though...

Faster Internet Connection - Yeah!

We finally got a faster internet connection which hopefully enables me to upload photos quicker than in the past. The only downside was, that I was without internet connection for 3 days (!!!) since we switched the service but had to get a new modem as well (a mess with call-centers and service hotlines).

You know, I love a certain german telecommunications company (or at least prefer it over the other ones) :) - but they should definitely work on their customer service!!!

Something wrong with my mailbox?

Do you know these days when nothing happens in your mailbox although you're waiting for several responses and have sent out several emails yourself? Today seems to be one of these days. It's completely quiet... strange! Maybe I should check my mailserver...

Finally Sunshine!

Dear clients, collegues, and whoever wants to know - I've decided to take off the rest of the day today to enjoy the long awaited and "suffered for" sunshine. - Just kidding. :) But lunch on the balcony might be a good alternative... I'm on my way...

Grief

I'm still having a hard time to believe and understand it (although I'm afraid I'll never understand it... that's life). Trying to get back to "everyday life"...

Thanks to those of you who emailed me for your thoughtful, encouraging, caring, and loving support! One of my friends sent me these links I'd like to share with you (make sure you have your speakers on):

Panhala: One Day
Panhala: Infinite Eyes

Added Nov 17:
Here is another one:
Panhala: What's in the temple?

Check out the Panhala archives - it's worth it!

Deep Sorrow

Frohe Ostern! Happy Easter!

~ Happy Easter! ~ Frohe Ostern! ~
 

Being self-employed

Well, I'm not breaking any news to you when I say that being self-employed in general is not easy and I'm sure anyone having gone through this experience will agree here. And I'm not gonna talk about all the things you have to find out and solve here to be legally on the save side, or projects, or anything like that. No, this post is about the status and acceptance of someone being self-employed in Germany.

A while ago I came across a blog of an American ESL teacher living in Germany and talking about her experiences. Unfortunately, I only copied a quote in my notes and forgot to bookmark her blog so I wasn't able to find it again for this post... Too bad. Anyways, here is what she said:

Germany is a "company town". It is not entrepreneurial. Working for yourself is even looked down upon as having a job with a big business and a desk that you go to for the next 30 years is considered what is appropriate and correct. It is secure and that is what is important (never mind the fact that all over Germany companies are going out of business or downsizing large percentages of their workforce.) [...] Being an entrepreneur here is the opposite of what it is in America, with America being something you aspire to have and here something only desperate people do.

I copied this because at first I was a bit surprised of her view but the more I think about it the more I must agree with her. Not necessarily from a business perspective since especially in my field a lot of companies work with freelancers and I have not had any bad experiences with any kind of attitudes yet.

It's more on a personal side... Especially the so called older generations still hold on to this view she described. The younger generations are a bit more open although some of them grew up with this point of view and see no reason why they should change their mind about it. Others start to see the simple necessity to be more flexible for the job market these days. I'd say it's more and more changing...

How about you? Have you made any experiences like this? How is the acceptance in your region/country?

Thanks to Fraser who found the blog I have quoted in this post!! You can find it here, towards the end of the page under "Doing Business and the Economy".

New camera

After taking a while to make up my mind - thanks again for your helpful tips and suggestions!! - I finally decided on a Canon Ixus 750. Got a good deal on it (especially since I had a gift certificate as well) and am very happy with it so far. Just need to get used to it - it has a lot more options than my "old" camera. I guess, that's how I'm gonna spend my weekend... :-)

A nice surprise...

I walked out of the door this morning and someone has left this surprise in front of our door - branches with purple butterflies on them.

We haven't found out yet whose creation they are - my guess is that they are intended for my parents from a friend of my mum - I'm sure my mum already has an idea...

Thanks a lot to the unknown person! :-)

First lunch outside

I had my first lunch outside for this year today. It's been so nice and comfortable in the sun that I was sitting there in a T-Shirt. Oh, how I love Spring! Of course I had to extent my lunch break a bit because of that ;-).

Wind Wheel

My parent's last name (and my maiden name) is Pfau which means peacock in english. A while ago, my sister and I gave this wind wheel to my parents as a nice addition to their little peacock collection. It's now out there in the garden trying to keep up with the winter storms and all kinds of weathers.

Mysteriously, two of the "feathers" have dissapeared lately. I've already bought a substitute for the first one but now it's gone again. We already searched the whole garden (thought it got blown away) but still no sign. Right now we suspect the neighbor's cat... or maybe a bird (if you see a bird flying by with a feather like these, tell it to bring it back at once ;-D) ...

Time flies by...

Just wanted to give you a quick update of what 's going on since I haven't posted anything here since Wednesday.

I went to a Color Pre Press Workshop on Thursday which was very interesting - since I studied and started working in the US, it's been quite a change for me coming back to Germany. Getting used to different measurements, colors and color schemes (e.g. Pantone colors aren't really used that often over here), styles, etc. I already participated in a more detailed workshop last year but refreshments are good from time to time...

Besides that I'm mostly busy with projects; I've also started to work on my portfolio again, and am taking photos for my two Daily Photo Blogs (Rheingau and Wiesbaden).

What are you up to lately?? Love to hear from you!

Prepare for my 12000th birthday!

Looks like I've just missed my 11000th birthday... Oh dear... Well, mark you calendar for August 30, 2008- at least I won't miss my 12000th birthday, now that I know.

Curious what I'm talking about? Check this out:

1000 Day Birthday Calculator
We don't get enough birthdays, and the ones that we do get are always inconveniently at the same time of year. This little toy tells you when your next 1000 day birthday falls. Any excuse for a party …

Song stuck in your head?

Do you have a song stuck in your head, and you don't know the name of it? No worries, there's help in sight:

The Song Tapper

You just try tapping the rhythm of the song on your space bar while humming the tune and it gives you several results then. I tried it with "Obladi" from the Beatles and it worked.
(Got this pointer from the radio station I'm listening to this morning and had to try it out...)


P.S. In case you're wondering, I've added the picture later since I just found it in one of my photo folders (it's taken from a shop window). Thought it'll fit quite well here... ;-D.

New camera - any suggestions?

Since I'm taking a lot of photos lately, I'm determined to get myself a new camera that is smaller, faster, and handier than the camera I have now. So far, I've been looking into Canon Ixus or a Canon PowerShot, but I haven't really gone into it yet, so I don't know much about the advantages and disadvantages. Any ideas, tips, recommendations?

Btw, you can post comments without subscribing, so "fire away"! :-)

Morning Tea

I'm a tea drinker, especially at home and especially during my morning routine. I drink coffee as well, but never at home; mostly when I meet with friends. My favorite tea at the moment is this Roibos-Vanille. They gave it an extra name, "Ovambo" (no idea why) and it has the label "lieblich mild" (lovely mild). There is also another one by the same brand - Roibos Caramel - my second favorite :-).

Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog where I'd like to keep you updated what's going on in my life and share my thoughts.

I have been thinking about this for a while. And even if some of you might think that I do have too much free time ;-), I still want to dedicate some of my time to writing and posting for this blog. I used to write a lot more than I do nowadays - I worked as content developer, online journalist and instructional designer before I came into the web and graphic design world. I do enjoy working creatively a lot but I miss the writing part of it. When my friend Maya started her blog about opening here store SAYA in South of France, I got inspired, and so here I am.

I hope, you'll enjoy browsing through these pages as they grow and develop. Please feel free to comment and let me know what you think. And come back from time to time to see what's new!

Besides this blog, I've also started a Rheingau & Wiesbaden Daily Photo Blog (inspired by my friend Karine in Buenos Aires). Come and visit me there, too.

Yours,

Nicola