Half-time?

Right, I might be one of the weirdest people on this planet, but I have recently come to realise that I am actually really looking forward to my birthday this year. The reason this seems weird is that I am entering the 4th decade of my lifetime. Yes, it's the big 4-0 and I am not afraid to say it.

40 and fabulous!

Hey, I might not be beautiful or rich, but I believe I've had a pretty good life so far. Not always easy and happy but some great adventures and a lot of laughter on this journey. I have made some wonderful friends along the way and can always rely on my family. Especially my lovely mom totally rocks!

I have great things planned for the big day itself:

I'll be flying to Frankfurt the weekend before to meet with my wonderful friends there. Then Sunday and my actual birthday Monday will be spent at Europapark Rust (apparently Europe's largest theme park) with Manu and Kathrin, the bestest friends a girl could wish for. Monday evening we'll meet with my parents, who will come down to Freiburg especially for this occasion, for a birthday celebration dinner and I will then stay on in Freiburg and explore the Black Forest together with my parents. How cool is that, eh? I can't wait!

And even coming back to London the jubilations will continue stupendously with a Royal Ballet performance of La Fille Mal Gardée with the amazing Marianela Nuñez and Carlos Acosta. What a great week that shall be. Whoopee!

Sounds like a week-long party to me. Splendid!

URGENT - Miyako Yoshida's Japan Tsunami Appeal Concert

JAPAN TSUNAMI APPEAL CONCERT
Sunday 20 March 4pm
LINBURY STUDIO THEATRE (at Royal Opera House)

Concert performance in aid of the Japan Tsunami Appeal, with former Principal Guest Artist of The Royal Ballet Miyako Yoshida and friends, including: Yuhui Choe, Valeri Hristov, Hikaru Kobayashi, Ryoichi Hirano, Kenta Kura*, Akane Takada*, and students from the Royal Academy of Music.
Tickets: Ł20
Running time: about one hour.
*tbc

HOW TO BOOK:
Advance tickets available from the Royal Opera House Box Office in person and by telephone until 4pm tomorrow (Saturday 19 March)
Day tickets available at the door (cash only, donations welcomed!)
Box Office telephone number: 020 7304 4000

photo by Johan Persson

long time no blog

Sorry it's been a while. Well, here I am again.

Good news, since my last entry I have moved to wonderful Greenwich, am now sharing a really nice 2 bed-room flat with lovely Vicky. The house is located seconds from Greenwich station, which is served by Southeastern Rail and DLR, which gives me two options to get to work and into town. This was particularly handy during the little bit of snow we had this winter, yet still an unmanageable amount for public transport here in England. Anyway...

Also, connection to/from Covent Garden (Charing Cross) is equally important to me as work (Cannon Street/Bank) and unless you live within walking distance of either I can't really complain about the service.

Another great feature of living in Greenwich is the close proximity to Greenwich Park and the Thames, awesome running grounds!

Yep, at the moment I am quite content regarding my relationship with London, even without therapy ;-)

However, exciting news might be just around the corner..........

¿Que habría en un día perfecto?

Dormiría hasta las nueve y media cuando me despierto con el sol luciendo y mis canciones favoritas darían en la radio. Desayunaría unos pancillos con Nutella y tomaría un café con leche.
Después iría al gimnasio para hacer ejercicios de circuit training y Fight Club, después me daría un masaje.
Para entonces mis amigos de Francfort y Hamburgo han llegado a Londres y nos reuniríamos en Fortnum & Mason dónde tomaríamos Afternoon Tea, charlaríamos y reiríamos mucho.
Luego iríamos de compras a Bond Street y también a Kings Road, allí encontraríamos a Kylie Minogue. Al cabo de un rato Kylie nos invitaría a su casa porque los fotógrafos (paparazzi) son bastante molestos/pesados. Nos daría entradas para el espectáculo de su gira “Aphrodite” el año próximo.
Un poco más tarde mis amigos saldrían hacia por el aeropuerto para volver a Alemania. Yo me pondría en camino a Covent Garden para una representación de Romeo & Julieta del Royal Ballet con la pareja Alina Cojocaru y Johan Kobborg.
Después quedaría en un bar con Johannes Stepanek que es un bailarín del Royal Ballet que me gusta mucho. Hablaríamos mucho y decidiríamos que Johannes va a hacer un tour conmigo por Viena el mes que viene.
Volvería a mi casa muy alegre y soñaría bien.

Can pigs fly? Not sure, but I hope bunnymen can!

I must clearly have caught some kind of mad-cow-disease as I have agreed to take part in a charity skydive, organised through my firm.

On Thursday 9th September I'll get strapped onto a stranger, board a flimsy propeller plane with a plastic foil instead of a door and at 15,000 feet jump out, praying that the parachute - attached to the stranger on my back - will open without any problems and bring us safely back down to earth.
Well, I'm not simply doing this to prove my apparent insanity but actually for a good cause or rather two in this case. We are collecting money for London's Great Ormond Street Hospital and for the UNICEF Pakistan Flood Children's Appeal, please find some more information on both below.

I would be very grateful if you decided to sponsor me on this endeavour and donate some money by either using one of the below provided links to our fundraising pages or give me the cash stating which charity you'd like to support and we will forward it accordingly. No amount is too small, every Pound/Euro/Dollar will be appreciated!

I will share my photos and videos with you afterwards. Yes, a cameraman will join us on our fall as well, this might actually double my chance of survival, having another professional skydiver up there with me. These two guys will surely be my two best friends in the whole wide world for those 20/25 minutes of flight and fall! I suppose a Red Bull beforehand wouldn't go amiss either, apparently it gives you wings...

Please be as generous as possible. Thanks so much in advance!


http://www.justgiving.com/jordansjumpers

http://www.unicef.org.uk/myfundraising/ViewFundraiser.aspx?web=Jordans_Jumpers


Cleary Gottlieb Children's Charities Parachute Jump

A sequence of events, not least the tragedy unfolding in Pakistan, led us to decide to do a charity parachute jump.
The inspiration for the first jump in 2002 was Jordan and our colleague Terrie. Many of you will know that Jordan suffers from Muscular Dystrophy. The connection between this and our first charity, The Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children (GOSH), might not at first be entirely clear. His fantastic Mum explains:
"As you know Jordan has Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and he has been going to and from GOSH for the last 11 years now (he is almost 16). He recently had an operation on both Achilles tendons to have them released in order to get his feet back into a right angle position. Where the muscles had started to waste they put both feet out of alignment and they were so twisted he couldn't even keep his feet on his footplates of his wheelchair. If he hadn't had the operation his legs would have also twisted and then eventually his spine.
GOSH have supported us all as a family for almost 11 years now and nothing is ever too much trouble. If I ever have any concerns they are always there at the end of the phone."
Need I say more?
Information on GOSH can be found at: http://www.ich.ucl.ac.uk/about_gosh/
Information on DMD can be found at:http://www.muscular-dystrophy.org/about_muscular_dystrophy/conditions/97_duchenne_muscular_dystrophy

You only have to open a newspaper or turn on the television to understand that the situation in Pakistan is serious and rapidly becoming worse. The number of people reported as being affected by floods is rising by hundreds of thousands each day, many of these are children. Current estimates are that one and a half million children are currently being directly affected. Without being there it's impossible to understand their suffering and misery. We are all so very, very lucky. UNICEF work to protect the interests of children throughout the world. Because of the magnitude of the disaster in Pakistan they have mounted an emergency appeal to fund their operations on the ground. They receive no money from the Disaster Emergencies Committee (DEC) or the United Nations budget and rely solely on voluntary donations to fund its emergency work.
Information on the UNICEF Pakistan Flood Children's Appeal can be found at: http://www.unicef.org.uk/emergency/emergency_detail.asp?emergency=66&nodeid=e66

The Honeymoon Is Over

I know relationships aren't always easy. But what do you do when the rose-tinted glasses have come off and your love doesn't appear to be reciprocated and your love interest's bad habits are getting harder to ignore and tolerate?




Well, this appears to have happened with me and "The Big Smoke". I still love London but it seems I am currently not in love with it. However, in true style of a functioning relationship I guess we'll have to work on it and make this thing work, I am not a quitter (and I mean this not only in regards to not quitting chocolate or ice-cream).

First of all I guess I should try and remember the reasons why I fell head over heels in love with London in the first place: first and foremost the Royal Ballet Covent Garden, also it is such a cosmopolitan melting pot, all the cultural offerings (concerts, shows, museums, festivals etc.), the architecture, the history, the English language and last but by no means least the fantastic shopping opportunities. I am sure if I thought a little more I'd think of a lot more.


Well, all these factors are valid and haven't changed, so what is my problem???

It's the negative bits that are now more than niggling and are actually becoming very annoying.


London Transport: *Why is half the Tube network out of service every weekend and how much engineering work can you perform yet still incur severe delays and suspensions every single day of the week? *Is it really necessary to heat the carriages in winter with millions of people travelling on it, generating heat and actually sitting/standing there in their coats but in summer only managing feeble attempts to cool the trains and stations? *Is there actually any engineer assigned to the ongoing escalator works or are TFL just trying to cut electrical power cost by running less of them?

Tourists: I think visitors should pass a test before being allowed into this city. *Stand right walk left does mean exactly that and not filling up the whole escalator by standing next to each other and/or placing your bags all around you and at the same time ignoring polite "Excuse Me's" from people trying to pass. *Why do visitors get on or off the Tube and immediately come to a halt causing the person behind them to crash into them or also suddenly stopping in the middle of the street to look at something or take a photo; it's not too much to ask them to take note of your surrounding and step aside before stopping. Would they suddenly come to a standstill on a busy motorway? I don't think so. *Standing in line in a queue might seem old-fashioned but is in my humble opinion only showing respect for others, barging past everyone having arrived there before you is actually very impolite and ill-mannered.


Dirt and Noise: *Am I turning into an ablutomaniac? I don't think so, and yet I always carry a pack of wet-wipes with me and first thing I do when coming into the office in the morning is washing my hands (getting rid of newspaper ink and any germy Tube-grime) before I even get to my desk. *I believe washing yourself or your clothes isn't a hardship at all (washing machines have been a wonderfully practical and helpful invention) though apparently not everyone shares this standard of personal hygiene. Smelly people, let me tell you, the use of deodorant and brushing teeth goes a long way, not even mentioning wearing clean clobber. * I don't smoke and never have but my lungs must have suffered immensely in the past year, they are probably jet-black by now.

Housing: Way too expensive for the quality and space offered!!! 'nuff said!!!

Would therapy help? Possibly...
Anyway, for now I will kick myself in the butt and focus on the positive aspects of this relationship and start changing the stuff that isn't completely beyond my power.

I'll keep you posted.

Geee(rman) Whizz

Who wants to stay at home when there are so many great adventures to be had, just a short flight away.

End of September I honoured my birthday presents of 5 years ago and this year and got treated by Manu and Kathrin to a trip to the Europapark Rust.

We left Frankfurt on Sunday morning at 6:30, these early mornings seem to become a habit, but certainly not one I particularly enjoy. Thankfully the Autobahn was nice and empty and the stretch down towards Baden Baden and Freiburg doesn't have too many speed restrictions, so Manu could put her foot down and her little BMW cruised (sped) nicely at 200 km/h.

whoopee, Rust, here we come...






Upon arrival in Rust we checked into the "Colosseo" Hotel, a huge Italian style complex, and left the bags there. The hotel has a great courtyard, shaped like an amphitheatre and lit beautifully at night. The room was a family room with a double bed and two bunk beds with Leonardo da Vinci style murals and a bright, clean bathroom.

Well, the park itself had just opened (after ll, it was only 9:00) and the first thing we did was looking for a place to have a coffee and breakfast, which we did at the "Kaffi Hus" in the Iceland section, facing the Blue Fire Megacoaster. This wet our appetite for the thrill of fast and crazy rides and we worked out way through the park all day long, possibly managing 60-70% of all rides, including slow kiddy's ones.

Most memorable are:

- Silver Star: a roller coaster with a high speed of 130 km/h (that's usually the speed limit on German motorways), length of 1.6 km, height of 73 m and enormous centrifugal forces of up to 4 G, this ride surely makes your palms sweat and stomach twist

- Blue Fire Megacoaster: a roller coaster that catapults you from 1 to 100 km/h in 2.5 seconds and then sports a 32 m high loop, three 360 rolls and a few more twists and turns on a 1056 m long track
- Eurosat: a roller coaster in the dark, not knowing what to expect makes it all the more exciting
Also great fun are the water-rides and the Swiss bob-run.


The whole park is built with great attention to detail and every country section lets you imagine you're actually travelling Europe without having to show you passport and lengthy train or plane rides. The food is good, diversified and surprisingly not overpriced and staff is really friendly and helpful, yet not over the top cheesy as American theme park personnel can appear.
At the moment there are hundreds of thousands of pumpkins decoreated all over, even the Eurosat globe is covered in orange sheeting, making it Europe's largest pumpkin.


When the rides closed at around 18:30 we went back to the hotel to freshen up and change for dinner, which we decided to have at the hotel next door, directly adjacent to the park, the Spanish themed "El Andaluz". There as well the food was delicious and reasonably priced and we felt like we could not move afterwards, just about managing the 5 minute walk back to our hotel's penthouse bar for a nightcap.


Monday morning at breakfast (a huge varied buffet) we met the Euromaus, the park's mascot. Does anybody know why a mouse seems to be the leading character for fun-/theme-parks? After packing our bags we went into the park again, hotel guests have early access from 8:30 already. This gave us another opportunity to go on the Silver Star and Blue Fire once more and sample some more rides. All in all I suppose we managed to try 90% of all rides/attractions.

We left about 13:30, heading back to Frankfurt, in order for me to catch the 18:00 flight back to London City airport.



It was such a fun-tastic weekend, a wonderful birthday present and well worth the 5 year wait, otherwise we would have missed out on the Blue Fire coaster, which only opened this year.

Thank you, Manu and Kathrin, so much for this present, and your time and continuous great ideas. I appreciate and value our friendship very much. Vielen lieben Dank!