Dundee Christmas Fair

Ho ho ho guys,

today on the first advent and reading of friends in Germany who are joining Christmas fairs, I got the first Christmas feelings of the year. So I went to the city today. There was this week a kind of Christmas fair. There were a lot of food booths with international fare and booths where you got all kinds of jumble.




























I took this as a chance to have some lunch. I started with a German bratwurst. Awesome!! I mean some of the stuff which I had here was really good. But they can't make good sausages! And this one tasted really like a German one. After that I also tried a Kangaroo Burger and a portion of Paella, which was made by a Frenchman!

A bit freezing I was looking for a stand, where I could buy a warm drink. I just walked along the fair. I mean, I was sure I wouldn't find one which sold mulled wine. But I couldn't find anything. Therefore I turned back I started walking home. When I passed the last booths I couldn't contain myself. One of the stands sold mulled wine. Perfect ending! OK, it wasn't the best I ever had, but it was mulled wine. And that's what count.

At last I had a Christmas Pudding for tea time. Actually it tastes very good!

Sören

Glasgow

Hey guys,

this week I said to myself "You need to see more from Scotland!" So I booked a ticket for one of the earliest busses to Glasgow on Saturday morning. This ride took about two hours.

When I arrived in Glasgow I just walked straight to the George Square, the main place of Glasgow. Mirjam and Karla told me that there will be busses for city tours. And they were there, but they weren't driving so soon. I had to wait for an hour. But that was fine, because I was hungry and started looking for a Café. In the rest of the time I was just walking through the city centre, making a lot of photos.











































At half ten, I took one of the busses and started with the tour. It's a really cool thing, because you buy a ticket and can leave the bus on several points, visit what ever you want and just get into another bus.











































I took this chance to leave the bus after an hour of the tour to visit Charles Rennie Mackintosh's School of Art, which is of such an importance for architects. The representative of the Arts and Crafts movement built the school from 1897 - 1909 which is still in use. The guide told us, that there will be a big celebration in this December, on the occasion of 100 years completion. It is a so beautiful building and it was a shame that we weren't allowed to make photos. For that reason I sometimes fell back to make at least a few photos.

























































After the visit it was already lunch time. Therefore I went to another building designed by Mackintosh. The Willow Tearooms, which are less then five minutes away from the School of Art. There is a nice ambience there and it was interesting to sit o a replica of Mackintosh's famous chairs. The Scottish Chilli and the Earl Grey tea I had were really good.




































After that I continued my ride with the tourist bus and it was funny to see that it was the same one I had left a few hours before. Than back at George Square I went to the Gallery of Modern Art.















By the fact that it's getting dark around 4 pm all the lights on the street were switched on, especially the Christmas decoration. A bit pathetic was to my opinion the Christmas fair. I mean each German village has a bigger one.




































When I left the museum I decided to go shopping and this one of the big points for Glasgow. You can spend a lot of money in these untold thousands of shops. I was first looking for Dichloromethane, which I use to glue my architecture models. But I couldn't get it anywhere in Dundee. So I went into a big art store, with the hope to get it there. But they also didn't have it. So I just bought something I thought this may also work. On my further way I passed a model railway store. With my last hope I went in there, and they had it! God save the model-makers!!

All these Christmas lights remind me, that I also have to get some Christmas presents. And I got some.

Oh and I saw these guys, which we also have in Mainz, but I can't remember where they are?! That's Crazy!
















After a dinner in a nice and really good Sushi Bar I took the bus back to Dundee!

More photos are here: http://www.directupload.net/galerie/150580/ahf28PRzTt/

Sören

Scottish Breakfast

Hey guys,

thanks to the low-pressure area over Scotland, we have a nice day, today. The fact, that I have a closing door and opening window since yesterday, and got a good response to my design this week, made this to a perfect Sunday.

But when I woke up I had real tummy rumbles. So I said: "Let's have a Scottish Breakfast to start through the day!"

Here are the ingredients I bought for this breakfast:

White beans in tomato sauce, cherry tomatoes, an egg, mushrooms, bacon, sausages, Scottish butter, toast and haggis!















And here is the result. After that I was full up.















I am sorry for you in Germany, my friends. While we have nice weather through the low-pressure area, you have a cloudy weather. Hope you still have a nice day.

Sören

5th Season in Scotland

Hey guys,

or I shall better say HELAU GUYS! Yes, the 5th season is finally back! And where am I? In Scotland! A land without any form of carnival! Boring! But you can also celebrate on your own.

What do you need for a small party? Music! So I checked the internet for some carnival songs. On Musicload I found this CD
















Unfortunately I couldn't download any songs from Musicload, because I don't live in Germany. Damn it! And now it's going to be funny. I checked just for fun the Amazon.co.uk MP3-Store and they had it in store. I just downloaded it and was so happy. In fact Amazon was even cheaper.

What else do you need for a party? Oh yeah, a party pipe. So, on my way to university I made a small side trip to Tesco to get some of them. I really regret that I couldn't get a clown's nose.

The only annoying in my plan was that I totally forgot the alcohol. I had no beer or wine. Last one wasn't that bad, because the Britons make bad Weck (rolls) and Woscht (sausages). But it wasn't that bad, because I had a workshop starting at 11 UK time. Means I just had 49 minutes to celebrate. But it was a lot of fun and some of my fellow students sat there and just grinned seeing a silly German!

Sören

Sports Union Dinner

Hey guys,

a few weeks ago, I got an e-Mail from Stuart, the leader of the University Golf Club. There'll be a dinner in November, which was always a lot of fun. I just thought "Sounds great!" And it was a chance to Suit Up!

The dinner was in a hotel, which is just 500 meters away from my flat. Awesome! But once again, there was a big building site. Damn it! So I had to walk all around the site, to get to the hotel!

In the lobby, to my surprise, I met two fellow students Hannah and Tom. It was nice to talk to some known faces before my club mates arrived. From there we saw the firework to mark the Gunpowder Plot.

























































We've been served a three course meal. And everyone got a half bottle of wine. It wasn't the best meal I ever ate. In fact the soup from the university's cantina was compared to the "Roast Parsnip & Five Spiced Pear Soup" even better. And the dessert, a"Fudge Parfait with Confit Orange" tasted like it was from the nearest Tesco. But at least the pork from the main course "Grilled Ayrshire Port Loin, Roast New Potatoes, Glazed French Beans, Marmalade Carrot & Apple Jus" was fine, even though the beans have been a bit to crispy for my taste.

Anyway, after the last course the organiser opened the dance floor. Apart from the dance on a standing point by moving your arms they were also dancing Cèilidh, which is a traditional Gaelic social dance. At the first time I just stand there and watched them to get an idea how this dance works. I'm still not sure how this works. By the second time someone pushed me to the dance floor. And after some minutes I started to understand the rhythm and the procedure. I really enjoyed it, even though dancing isn't my world. But I realised that you have to be in a good condition if you want to dance Cèilidh. I nearly ran out of breath.















We had a lot of fun, and I learnt some interesting new drinking games and I got in touch with the Cèilidh.

Sören

Dundee United vs. Glasgow Rangers

Hey guys,

what's the best thing you could do after a party all night long? Yes, football. And there was a really promising match today in Dundee. Dundee United against the Glasgow Rangers. Awesome!! The only problem, I had no ticket. But when I watched through the window, I saw rain. So I said "There should be some free stands.

Therefore I left my flat to go to the stadium. When I left my flat I saw that in the meantime construction workers had ruptured the street.

















When I arrived at the station I asked one of the stewards if there are still tickets. He wasn't sure and told me where the ticket store is. But I hadn't found it immediately, because it was just a small hole in the wall of the stadium. Anyway, before I found it I found an old man who wanted to sell one of his tickets. I was lucky. I just paid 20 Pounds for a ticket which usually costs 25. And the seats were really good. Close to one of the goals, in the Rangers block. An we were well sheltered from the rain.

































In the first half-time we saw an exciting match. Dundee was really trigger and two times only the crossbar saved the Rangers from a leeway. But in the 29th minute the Rangers gained in lead by a goal of Steven Davis.

































But the rain was really heavy, the ball stuck on the lawn and very often players just slipped on the lawn. For that reason referee Mike Tumilty abandoned the match at half-time due to the waterlogged pitch.

So, actually I still haven't seen a whole British football match, only the half. Damn it! Anyway, it was still really cool to see the game and feel the atmosphere. Maybe I'll go to another one when it's nice weather. The next home game is against Celtic.

Sören

Halloween

Hey guys,

tonight was the night, Halloween, the night of the living dead. Usually Halloween isn't my thing, because we have Fastnacht and the hype of Halloween in Germany of the last years is gone. But I said, well it's one of the most important days here, so join it.

Then I started thinking how to masquerade. I thought Halloween must be scary, so what's scary? Maybe something living dead?! First I got the idea of a mummy, but then Charlotte, a fellow student, meant I could also go as a zombie. And I said: "Well, I have this awful flannel shirt, which is already a Halloween costume!"

So, I went to the joke store, which is just two houses away and got some stuff. Make up, false teeth and faked wounds. I think the store had yesterday the highest volume of sales, because there were so many people that some of them had to wait outside of the store. Okay, it's a really small store.

In the evening I started to adorn myself. I always put a lot of details in my costumes, so I hope you like it.






















In the later evening I went to the house of Jill and Andrea. They made a small Halloween party, before we all went to the other big parties. Last week I got fortunatelya one of the last tickets for the Halloweenparty in the Union. And it was good that I got one, because if I hadn't I wouldn't got in. And I still had to stand in a lane over a quarter of an hour, to get in. It was so busy there. Amazing!

It was a cool night. I had a lot of fun, but still prefer Fastnacht. Now I need to find a green suit.

Sören