To business. This time round, I essentially have the stories of four weekends to impart, as I have once again not updated this page for a disgustingly long time. Let us start, sensibly, with the first weekend: The One Where Georgie Drank A Leetle Too Many Milk-Based Cocktails And Ended Up With A Rotten Hangover. It occurred, as all great weekends seem to, in Münster. Cerys' friends from uni had travelled from Rheinland-Pfalz to visit her and of course a night-out had to be had. We pre-lashed in typical fashion by playing "Most Likely To..." (for those of you who don't know, this is a variant on "I've Never..." but instead of drinking if you've done something, everyone in the circle has to point at the person they consider to be the person most likely to do the named thing, and the person with the most fingers pointed their way has to drink) in which I learnt that, out of all my friends, I am the one considered most likely to be eaten by a penguin. I cannot imagine when this situation would arise, but apparently if a carnivorous penguin with a taste for human flesh is ever bred, I'm the one it's going to go for. But anyway, I digress. After prinks, we went off to Piano Bar for karaoke and cocktails and it was here that I discovered the Milchbar 45. Now, after the White Russian Experience of last summer (a story for another time) I should have known to stay away from milk cocktails, but oh no. The taste of liquid Milky Bar was too tempting for me and I guzzled at least three before we moved onto Go Go Lounge for some dancin' and, from what I remember, a really fun evening which climaxed with me eating an entire pizza on my own. Don't worry, I disgust myself as well. The next morning I was not a pretty sight. Unable to eat for queasiness, I lay around feeling sorry for myself and generally giving a terrible impression of myself to strangers whilst Cerys fretted and Kelsey laughed at me. I'll say this for the whole experience though, it did result in the discovery of the world's best hangover cure: Toy Story.
On to weekend two: The One Where We Watched A Lot Of Films And Ate A Lot Of Biscuits (And Also Went To The Zoo). Don't faint, right, but I actually didn't touch alcohol this weekend at all. Instead, me and Kelsey went to stay with Cerys for some baking and a Disney fest, the plan for which was hatched during the watching of Toy Story/ The Emperor's New Groove the weekend before. We arrived fairly late on Friday armed with Cathedral City cheese, with which Cerys later made scrummy cheese and potato pie (potatoes which I totally peeled despite the presence of potato eyes, which, as several of my friends know - and delight in laughing about - I have a slight irrational fear of. I only made a mild fuss. Yeah, I'd be the first to call me a freak, too). Before this, though, we took a wee trip to the Aasee (the park near the lake in Münster) where some of the others were finishing up a picnic. I lay in the grass as it got darker, listening to the acoustic guitar which another group of people had had the presence of mind to bring with them and occasionally joining in the American English vs British English debate which is ever present among my friends. It was one of those moments when you realise just how good you've got it. Then we went back to Cerys' for pie and Toy Story 2. Bliss. The next day we made use of some of the good weather in Germany recently and went to the zoo. I've been to Münster Zoo three times, but never before have I had chance to feed the penguins. Rest assured, none of them tried to eat me. The penguins are still on our side. That evening was all about baking and shameless Glee binge-watching. My cookies were slightly disappointing, but the crispy cakes went well and I am now fully up to date with the hormonal song-and-dance ridden New Directions. Oh, and then we watched Toy Story 3. We had to complete the set, no?
In total contrast to this relaxing detox weekend, I bring you speedily on to weekend number three: The One Where We All Went To Amsterdam For The Birthdays Of Lyndsay And Kelsey (Alternatively Known As "Der Kater" And "The Funniest Weekend Of All Time"). Oh, man, where do I begin? What can I divulge? After all, what happened in Amsterdam is supposed to stay in Amsterdam. Well, first of all I should say that it was amazing to see Lyndsay and Matt again after so long. I'd really missed them both and had forgotten how much they both make me laugh. Secondly, I feel I should describe the "hotel" where we stayed, except that I don't think anything I say will quite be able to do it justice. So I say this instead: watch the following video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKA0EqVZu_o&feature=channel_video_title. It sums it up perfectly. Then there was everything we did. I realise that Amsterdam is one of the most cultural and beautiful cities in Europe, a fact which I have truly experienced on my last two visits. However, this time, we set out to have a weekend like "The Hangover", so I'm afraid I treated it like many the British tourist and just got pissed and ogled at hookers. There was Waldgeist, there was Nuwang, there was Vodka Ahoi. There were things done and things said that will never be known except by those who already know about them. There were two collapsed beds. There was a creepy man called Rick who followed our group to a bar and whom I rightly (and tipsily) told off for being a weird stalker. There was a trip to the Vondelpark with a picnic and talking to real-life Dutch people. There was a points-based kissing game. There was "Truth Or Dare" in pyjamas. There was ice cream in the sun and a great appreciation of the variety of Dutch fast-food. There were mice. There was frankly more fun and more giggles than you could shake a stick at, and once again I was struck by how lucky I have been this year to meet so many lovely, hilarious, downright wonderfully mental people.
Last one now, let's keep the ball rolling! Weekend four: The One Of Barbecues In The Park And Mini-Laptop Parties. Now, you mustn't think I'm a piss-head (I am) but this is yet another recount of drunken escapades. I promise I do other things and have many non-alcoholic strings to my bow, it's just been a heavy couple of months, yeah? Friday started off in somewhat classy style; Carol, Kelsey and I went to enjoy some of the new-found German sunshine by getting obscenely large ice creams in the centre of town. We then went home, got changed, reconvened for a couple of glasses of wine and headed up to Düsseldorf to meet Kate and her two friends from Wales. We continued to keep it light with just three Vodka Ahois (I'm being sarcastic - a Vodka Ahoi is a shot of vodka drank through sherbet and is a sure fire way of killing several of your most precious brain cells) before going to Stone on Rattingerstrasse, an indie club which I loved though I'm not sure everyone else was as impressed as I was. We got back to Duisburg about 3.30am, early by German standards, but not before I broke my lent in spectacular fashion by inhaling a McDonalds. We slept in late on Saturday and me and Kelsey headed back to mine for a bit of Russell Howard's Good News (it's my only connection to the world of current affairs) and some better-than-sex cheese on toast. We met up with Carol later, hit up Kaufland for sausages, buns and a disposable BBQ and headed off to the Innenhafen for the very first barbecue of 2011. Unfortunately, we forgot to pick up and knives or forks, so our sole cooking utensil was my keys (FYI: my staff-room key makes an excellent bread knife). That aside, our little outdoor feast was a grand success and the charcoal-smoked bratwursts were nothing short of heavenly. We then headed on back to Carol's for a little pre-lashing (into which we somehow managed to incorporate Vodka Ahoi AGAIN) complete with the flashing fairy lights and cheesy dance music that must accompany any of out laptop parties. What followed was a standard night in Duisburg: Golden Grün and Hundertmeister. Who says there are no good clubs in Duisburg?
So far, I've limited myself to recounting the only the partying. To avoid making this post too much longer (I know you're all busy people), I shall cover everything else in the briefest possible fashion and bullet point it.
- My Kl. 6 cover-class last week went extremely well. They're a really nice group and got on with the work well, and one girl looked really sad when I said I wasn't covering their English classes for the whole week that Herr Wüsthoff was in London.
- I also had surprise Vertretung with Kl. 5 on Tuesday (the actual Vertretung didn't turn up) which also went really well, even if I did only have to give them the exercises as written down in the Klassenbuch. It made me realise I really miss teaching Jahrgangstufe 5, and I've made the executive decision to try and get another group for my last four weeks after the Easter holidays.
- At the beginning of April I got myself elected as Forge Radio Secretary/ Inclusions Officer for the coming academic year. I'm immensely excited about this and can't wait to get back to the society that was such an enjoyable part of my second year in Sheffield.
- The first pictures from the English-Abend and Grundschultheatertag are now on the school website: http://www.hhg-ob.de/ (the link to the album is on the home page). There is unfortunately only one of the Robin Hood play, but there are lots of the others, and you can get a good idea of what good events they both were.
- I've hooked this blog up to my twitter feed (see? -->). If you have twitter and fancy boosting my follower quota, I'd be most grateful. I'll endeavour to be amusing.
- It's currently Motto-Woche at HHG. It's the last week for Kl. 13 and they're using their time, most wisely in my opinion, for dressing up, drinking beer in class and not playing the blindest bit of attention to school rules. I think this is brilliant and deeply regret not having had something similar when I left school. I am also having to fight my deeply-inbuilt student nature so as I don't ask to join in.
And that's it for now, I think. I am heading home for the Easter holidays this coming Thursday (though not before taking in Stornoway in Cologne on Wednesday night) and I am ludicrously excited about it. It feels like such a long time since I have seen my lovely family and friends back in England and I cannot wait to throw my arms around you all. Expect a blog in a couple of weeks detailing what is sure to be a fantastic couple of weeks, complete with a trip to Edinburgh, crashing in Sheffield and many, many catch-up cups of tea. Till then, ma homies. Happy blogging.
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