King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia waved at me...

I am not a stranger to brushing shoulders with celebrities. Why, off the top of my head I can recall the time Lulu personally wished me a happy 22nd birthday; sitting in a cafe in Bristol and watching Jeremy Paxman, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh walk across the road in front of me and enter the university building opposite; Sven from Berlin Berlin standing just a few yards away from me in the Sony Centre; and, one of my highlights, the time Hunter from Gladiators leaned over me in Tescos. Foreign Heads of State have, admittedly, been a little thin on the ground, until now that is.

On Thursday 8th November, Ragil and myself were enjoying a celebratory day off (2 years to the day). We had wandered through Berlin's humungous Tiergarten park and were heading to Friedrichstrasse via Berlin's main tourist street, Unter den Linden. As we approached the street we saw swarms of police, standing, sitting on motorbikes, sitting in cars; crowds of people gathering; and, in front of the Hotel Adlon (of Michael Jackson dangling baby fame) lots of black Mercedes and, interestingly, one black Audi. After some good detective work, we deduced that King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia was the cause of the kafuffle. We joined the waiting crowds and soon saw action: lots of Arabs sporting tasteful pink headwear and then, the King himself, wearing a gold tunic and a white headscarf. He got into his car and then the convoy set off. We were less than 2 metres from his car as he drove past and were pleased to see him acknowledge our presence with a "Queen-style" wave.

An hour or so later, after we had discovered what is possibly my new favourite shop in the whole of Germany (cds, dvds and ENGLISH books galore!) we happened to walk past the town hall on our way to our tram stop. What should we find, but King Abdullah and his gang leaving the building. I had been a little disappointed by the lack of protest at our first meeting with the Saudi and I was equally disappointed this time, although some people had made an effort: 20 or so protesters stood 100 metres from the building with banners and a megaphone chanting "Wahabiism is terrorism" and "Saudi Arabia is the source of terrorism". Old Abdullah and his crew were however separated from the protesters by a great expanse of space, a crowd of people wanting to see royalty, a road lined with cars and then lots of steps, so I doubt it got through. He seemed quite happy as he acknowledged the crowds and didn't look like he was at all bothered by the fact that he is a man greatly criticised for the human rights in his country (a place where women are not allowed passports or to leave their house without male accompaniment) and charged, by the 20 or so protestors, of being head of a state that is the source of terrorism. But, I suppose, in his world none of that matters. He has over 30 wives, over 35 children and, when he dies, he will die safe in the knowledge that 40 virgins will be waiting to greet him in his heaven. Really, it isn't surprising that he had a smile on his face...

It's not that my mind has become closed, this blog's neglect is more due to the fact that I now spend most of my weekdays sitting in front of a computer and it is called work, so doing the same thing when I come home on an evening has lost its appeal somewhat.

Lots of things have changed since the last post. Myself and Ragil now live in Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin. Prenzlauer Berg is one of the 'hip' districts with lots of nice restaurants, cafes and places to go out. It is also full of young families with prams and toddlers galore. Our flat is larger than our last one and we are slowly buying furniture and decorating it to our taste. Its location is truly excellent. Very quiet, in a safe area, loads of tasty looking restaurants just round the corner and the very large Volkspark Friedrichshain at the end of the street. It is very different to living in Fulda but we haven't looked back since our arrival in Berlin. The capital is bigger and more graffitied but it has everything Fulda had and then some.
We are taking the time to get to know our new home and visiting different areas and different sights each week. Although I had spent over 2 weeks in this city before just doing tourist stuff there is still a heck of a lot to discover and we are loving exploring the nooks and crannies of the place. We have also recently found out that the state museums are free after 6pm on Thursdays so we are planning to get a bit cultured over the weeks and months to come.

Other news: I am now a yoga practiser - or at least I try to be. Tuesday nights are yoga nights for me and Vicki, one of my British colleagues. I am not at all bendy so it is taking a bit of getting in to but as a sport that concludes its sessions with 10 minutes of lying in a dark room, under a blanket, it has a definite appeal to me.

And that is about it for now.
I don't feel like this has been a very inspiring post but at least you know that I haven't dropped off the face of the earth.
Hopefully the next post will be better and not such a long wait.

Love and hugs to all xx

Yes yes, I have been rubbish, but I have spent the last three weeks hopping from place to place in Britain for weddings, comedy festivals, family holidays and birthday-filled bank holidays. It is just about time for a breather, good job all we have planned for tomorrow is packing. We head back to Germany on Wednesday and then it's flat finding and moving to Berlin where I will start my non-student and working life. Not sure how I will cope with the transition, I think my six years of studentdom will be hard to say goodbye to. But alas, life goes on and we must all grow up at some point (or at least pretend by working and stuff).

Along with the general excitement prompted by all those fun things we have done during our return to GB, I have started to become addicted to a new website community that I would like to share with all Bloggery's readers. The site is here or there and is a place where people who like travelling and writing about their experiences can swap stories and inspire each other with their words and photos. I am a member (lu) and have written five experiences up to now. If anyone reading this likes travelling or writing and is interested then have a look and make sure you check out my experiences and, if you do become a member, rate them too!

Righty ho, one last thing to say before I go:
Happy Birthday Mama!

Love to all, Lu

Flat Infiltrated: Update

'The little [insert swearword of choice here]' as it had come to be known had upset me enough by our little cupboard tete-a-tete but it really took the biscuit when it once again jumped out on me later that day: I was in the kitchen, minding my own business, when the blighter charged across the room from one corner to the other, once again, making me jump and scream like a lunatic. As if that wasn't enough, the beast went on to keep me awake for most of the night as it banged about in OUR cupboards. I was lying in bed, too scared to go to sleep in case it decided to top our two previous rendezvous and pay a visit to the bedroom...

Understandably, I got up the next morning, wishing I hadn't been kept awake for most of the night by a pesky rodent, determined to put an end to the whole saga. Jumping out on me is bad enough, but robbing me of my sleep is a serious crime. That afternoon I headed to the supermarket to look for a humane mousetrap. Unfortunately all they had were 'traditional' mouse traps. So I bought two and headed back to the flat, feeling almost cold and calculating. Firdavs popped around at just the right moment to give me courage to open the cupboard doors and lay the traps. Gruyere cheese, bought in Geneva, was the bait of choice and it worked a treat. Just 10 minutes after we left the traps to do their stuff we heard a slightly gross bang and opened the door to find our prey caught in the trap. Impressively it had managed to eat both pieces of cheese so I guess it must have had a satisfying end. Ragil returned from work that afternoon to find the pleasant task of disposing of the body awaiting. I was left feeling like a cold-blooded murderer but despite the new, somewhat negative feelings this entailed, I felt an inner calm that had been missing since the beast first showed up...
Ah, but how cruel life is.
That should be the end of the story, but I fear someone, somewhere has been watching the whole episode and laughing, wanting nothing more than to let the drama continue. Or maybe I am just unlucky. Either way, with one mouse down our peace was only briefly restored. Yesterday we were greeted with that pleasant sound of 'mouse in flat'. No sign of the intruder, perhaps it is just the spirit of the deceased returning to haunt us, but this morning, after another sleepless night thanks to our new flatmate, we found a box in the middle of the kitchen floor and some chewed paper. No sightings of the culprit yet and no mouse traps left so we are currently at an empasse.
Let us see how the situation develops.

MAMAHons

On Friday 13th July 2007 I graduated from the Hochschule Fulda with a MA in Intercultural Communication and European Studies (ICEUS). Amusingly, the letters following my name now spell Mama Hons :-) Below some photos to mark the event.

Lucy Robinson MA MA(Hons)