still not feeling that much better, but at least I didn't have the same nasty stomach cramps all night, so I did actually sleep quite well for a change. Normally when I am ill because I sleep all day I can't really sleep in the night, but last night was OK. So what can I write... since yesterday not much has happened, I spent most of the day in bed, not eating, and then by evening my stomach was complaining because it was upset and because I was hungry at the same time. Very strange feeling, but eating didn't help that much, and having breakfast just now, wasn't the best idea either I am starting to think with the way I am feeling now. Still hot one minute and then cold, but maybe I need a shower and then a walk. See if Boots have some medicine that will help get rid of this sooner.
I am very annoyed about being ill now anyway. I was supposed to take a friend to dinner last night as a late birthday present, and today Neil's sister is visiting so we are invited to dinner at his parents'. I was really looking forward to that, but the way I am feeling at the moment, I am not sure I will be going. But we'll see how I feel after a shower and a little walk... since the weather is so nice (but a little freezing) out at the moment.

I'm rubbish

I've been rubbish at updating this blog for the past month or so, but today I am feeling rubbish so I thought I should at least be less rubbish about the blog and update this. Neil has been doing a really good job and keeping his blog up to date, so whatever we've been up to should be there. I really should be in uni today helping out with an open day thing, but I just can't get myself out of bed. I hate feeling like this, even the headache keeps persisting, and then I feel hot and then cold again...
I just took this quiz about what time of day I am, and i think it got it completely wrong.



I can never be 6:49 in the morning, I am way too grumpy that early in the morning...

anyway, Neil has been ill the last few days, and I am not sure if I caught it off him, or just somewhere at uni... who knows. these things seem to be flying around at the moment.

long overdue

I know this post is long long overdue, but I just didn't feel like I had much to say that was interesting enough to put on the blog... well I guess I could have put down that I have joined the gym, and have been very good at going every other day in the week. So far only swimming but it feels good to be doing something, and I really enjoy swimming anyway. I always think I should go swimming more, but then don't get around to it. So this time when my office mate said she had been thinking about joining the gym, we looked around for one that has a pool and then I said we can join together. The joint membership was a good deal too.

this past weekend we went to Wales for a party. One of Neil's friend's had booked a singer - what a great idea. I hadn't heard of Brian Houston before this weekend, but it was really good. He was really funny and the music was great as well. And he signed the CD we bought as well, which makes it even better. It was also great to meet some more of Neil's friends from Greenbelt whom he talks about a lot.

Besides that we had Brotzeit one evening with friends, have been to the pub lots to eat or just to meet friends, and have watched lots of the Eddie Izzard DVDs Neil gave me for Christmas. It is really great, he is so funny!

I completely forgot to put up the pictures of my mom's christmas decorations at home...

update...

I got back last night after a pretty stressful day of traveling. At least it was all delayed by enough time that I still managed to catch the train from Reading I was booked on so I didn't have to buy a top up to my ticket so I could travel during peak time. It was nice to get back though, Neil collected me from the station and then cooked dinner pretty much instantly after we got home. Then we watched some things on video that he had taped while I was away, Have I got news for you was funny as always, and Omid Djalilli still makes us laugh.

this morning Neil got up early for work, and once i got up and unpacked I did a few loads of washing to get it done and then I met Neil in town during his lunch break. Lousy day out there, but I still wandered around town for a while. I can't believe how busy it is now, almost worse than it has been before Christmas!

My time at home was very nice. I went to my 10 year high school reunion which was a very bizarre night. Very surreal to see people again after over 10 years, and to see that some people hadn't changed at all. Still same haircut and fashion sense... And it was fun to see people's faces when I they heard my answer to the obligatory "and what are you doing now?" question. Seemed like hardly anyone thought I would be the one to go on and get my PhD... but who cares really. At first I didn't even want to go to the reunion, but my mom and also a friend of mine kept saying I should go even just for a little bit, because I would regret not having gone later. And it was nice to see some friendly faces, but it becomes more and more difficult to talk to people. Our lives are just so completely different that we just don't have that much to say to each other.

I also met with a few school friends for dinner one evening and with them it is very much the same. The three of them are very much settled where they are and they don't really understand much about what I do, and vice versa. so it is hard to have good flowing conversation, but I have learned that it is always a safe bet to ask one of them about their new babies and they can talk about that forever.

Christmas was nice and quite really, with one very few annoyances caused by my dad, as usual. He doesn't particularly like Christmas, or maybe it is just the fact that we get together with the whole family, but my mom and I really enjoy that part of Christmas. So anyway, Christmas eve we spent at home. I watched The Muppet's Christmas Carol and my mom cooked a delicious duck roast dinner. Then we exchanged presents and watched more christmassy stuff on the telly. Christmas day we went for a meal at lunch time with my mom's side of the family at a really nice restaurant. Very nice food again and then went to my aunt and uncle's house for coffee and cake in the afternoon. Then out of the blue my dad decided that he wanted to go to his parent's house which my mom wasn't quite as happy about as she pretended to be. We had hardly finished cake at my aunt and uncle's and then left. At my grandparent's house it is always busy, nearly all 9 of my dad's brothers and sisters were there with children, and now even some of my cousins have started having babies, so loads of people, and some of the small ones can be very very moody, which is not always fun to watch and listen to. Boxing Day one of my dad's brothers came over in the afternoon, otherwise the day was pretty nice and quiet and I had to get packed for my trip back.

pre christmas cheers

since I got to Germany it has been pretty much just eating different christmassy things. I arrived Thursday night about an hour later than I was supposed to as the plane left late, but all else was ok. Friday my mom and I went to Hamburg for the day to just window shop and also to have steak. We always go to the same restaurant, and they can cook steak like no where else. It is so nice... After the day of shopping we dropped by my grandma's in the evening for an hour and then we came home to be lazy. Saturday we went to my grandma's house again for advent tea, coffee and cake in the afternoon. My mom's oldest sister and her youngest brother with family were there as well, so there was lots of cake... one of which was this one



it is my favourite christmas time cake, mostly because my grandma always makes it at this time of year, which is odd because it is even better with fresh strawberries, these ones are frozen ones... anyway... after we finished coffee and cake we got dressed up warm and went to a christmas market a few towns away. It was so nice to see a proper German Christmas market instead of the tiny one in Exeter... but it is still nice enough in Exeter. But the evening was spent there wandering around drinking Glühwein and Heißen Apfelpunsch.

oh yes one thing I do miss from Germany at Christmas time is what we call "Naschteller" something like munchie plate in English would be the closest... when I was younger my mom would make one for each of us here, now it is usually just one for all three of us. But this was the one at my grandma's house...



Yesterday my mom and I stayed in for most of the day, watched The Holiday on DVD and then later went out to have pizza at our favourite pizza place (I think you can see a theme there...)

Today we want to go to another Christmas Market, the one in Bremen as it is very big and very nice. I will try and take some photos... but can't promise anything. We went last year as well and really enjoyed it. Not sure how long that will take. But speaking of it, I better get in the shower and dressed now so we can head off.

More soon...

Teignmouth Beach

CIMG1346, originally uploaded by ivo_loves_london.

I took this photo earlier this week on Teignmouth beach. Neil had the day off and we thought we should drive to the beach, and so we did. The drive was through very pretty countryside. We wandered through the town for a bit and along the beach and then we hit the archade on the pier and played on the 2p machines for a while. Somehow they are quite addictive. We didn't win much, and what we did win we put straight back into the machines. Very much fun though.

typical sunday really

I slept in quite nicely today after being woken up at 5:30 am with a blinding headache, and then went to meet some friends at Starbucks for a cuppa. It is always nice to get out of the house for a little bit, and I think the fresh air did me good as well. After coffee I went by the Apple store for a bit and it was much nicer today than yesterday. It wasn't as packed as yesterday when they just opened, and I had a play with the new iPod touch and the iPod classic as well as with Leopard. I am now thinking about upgrading, it seems worthwhile just for Time machine alone... but anyway. After the visit there I walked home, and was greeted by a very strange sight; Neil sitting on the sofa with my DS! It is the scrabble game that had him convinced. But then again he is really good at it, and can actually beat most of the opponents in one try, when I still need a few more gos. But it is still fun, I prefer the mini games - they really help with building vocabulary. Not much else going on today really, we are having roast later and then then just vegging on the couch I assume... maybe pub quizzing later, but no word yet.

finally

I am free... I finished all the marking I have to do this year... I still can't quite believe that I am done. It was quite a nightmare, but I am just thinking about it in terms of how much I will get paid at the end of December because I have all this marking done now. All the things I can do with that money, but I really should be careful and just be good and pay off my credit card rather than going crazy and spending it all on nice things.

Anyway, I was in town this afternoon and saw that the Ice Rink near the Castle is opening up and it is combined with a little Germany style christmas market - all it is really there are a few stalls with things to buy and then the obligatory Bratwurst stand. I only walked by briefly, and it looked authentic, but I need to find out if they are real and good Thüringer Bratwürste. Might see over the weekend if I fancy one!

Also apparently the Apple Retail Store in Exeter is opening up tomorrow morning, but at the moment it doesn't look like it is anywhere near ready. Still all boarded up on the outside and no shiny windows to display any cool things yet. But who knows, they are probably making everyone work like crazy so it is all perfect for tomorrow morning. I will go but not first thing in the morning, having a lie in is more important to me...

Monday morning...

gosh how in the world do weekends just disappear so quickly and we are back on another week... well this week isn't just another week, it is also another week of marking :( It's just not fun at all, I guess it would help if the module convenor would set a different assignment, but they are just the same every year... and for this particular one it has been the same for the last 4 or 5 years... very sad, but oh well. This year apparently the students are supposed to be better quality (A-level wise) but must have got stuck with the bad batch (the other markers have a higher average than me and I am not being too harsh we checked!) so I am hoping things will pick up with the ones I mark today. It isn't that it is the most difficult thing they have to do, I had to write more difficult papers in my first year and I did it all in a different language and there aren't that many students whose first language isn't English... anyway, enough ranting (sorry it is Monday morning) and better get to my lovely cup of tea that's waiting for me (Mmmmmhhhhh Roiboos Strawberry and Cream flavour yum!)

Once

went to see "Once" at the Picturehouse yesterday and it was brilliant. Well not very much happens in th film really, but it just really made you feel happy inside. The story is very simple. A busker on the streets of Dublin (?) meets a Big Issue seller and they record a few of his songs together and both are happy in the end with choices they made. Doesn't sound like much, but trust me the music more than makes up for lack of anything happening. Plus the girl dragging a vacuum cleaner through the streets as if it were a dog is just really funny!!!

this afternoon I got a pile of first year practical reports to mark by the 27th of this month, which will be nice for the money I am getting in December, but not so good for my sanity. First years are just a bit inaccurate in the way the report findings. should be interesting. and then of course I have all my own work as well, a paper that needs to be written, and a load of data to be analysed from two studies now. Still typing in data for one of them, but the other one can soon be written up... so I really should get to that, so that I can actually properly enjoy my christmas holiday.

oh speaking of collecting data... if you know of any men who have 3 minutes to spare and don't object to contributing to science, here is a link to my current study.

I have more than enough women, but it would help if I could get a few more men to fill it in, as the numbers are too unequal at the moment. so thanks to anyone who can help.

another weekend has come and gone way too quickly for my liking, but there you go. Not much that can really be done about it. It was a nice weekend though. Friday night we went for a drink with a uni friend who had finally submitted the final version of his PhD after a long time of trying to please the external examiner. then we came home and just vegged out on the couches and watched some tv.

Saturday I wasn't feeling too great, so I stayed in most of the day and in the evening again we met another friend for a drink at Mill on the Exe and then I came home and watched Ocean's 11 from the very nice big couch in our living room, while Neil went to play some snooker.

And then yesterday morning annoyingly started with my parents ringing with computer problems, so they kept me on the phone for a while and Neil was thinking we were having an argument. the main problem was them putting me on loud speaker on their end and then walking away from the phone so i couldn't hear a word of what they were saying and my dad just changing random settings on the computer and then not telling me about what he had done. That made me all flustered, but thankfully friends had invited us over for Sunday lunch and to see their new house. It was really nice to finally see the house, they moved in August, and now it is November... way too long. Anyway, we had a nice afternoon with them eating a lovely lunch, and then playing on their Wii for a while, then I saw I had a text from a friend who was desperately looking for a dinner buddy to use up a 2 for 1 Wagamama voucher. So I ended up going with her which was really nice, I had one of the ramen soups, and it was just the right thing. Not overly filling, but just really nice and tasty. I have been craving soups with this colder weather... not much else to report, we watched Top Gear and then A Long Way Down and played on the computers for a while, and then went to bed....

And now it is Monday morning already and I can't get myself out of bed... well I will be staying at uni late to though, so I can warrant going in a bit later. Hope the film tonight will be good. We are going to see "Once".

I'm really not feeling very good at the moment. It seems that my body can't quite decide whether it wants to be ill or not, so I am constantly in this weird stage of where I think I can get a good day's work done and then end up sitting in the office feeling all sluggish and lazy and can't get anything done. I wish it would just develop into something properly so I can just stay in bed for a few days and get better... but this way I just can't justify staying in bed. So I am just waiting now for the washing machine to finish the cycle and then I am off to uni to have yet another unsuccessful day. At least one thing to look forward too, Neil is back tonight :) YAY!

Elizabeth: The Golden Age

went to see the above film last night, and it was quite good... just a bit in the middle was a bit annoying and seemed to be superfluous to the rest of the plot (what a big word so early in the morning), but the fact that Clive Owen was in it made it all worth wile to watch. Cate Blanchett was brilliant again as Queen Elizabeth, but I thought the first film was better than this. But then again it was a long time since I have seen it. I seem to remember to have gone to see it to get some extra credit for a class in my very first year in college (1998 or 1999), don't know anymore though how that film related to the class I took.

weekend catch up...

First I should say that the Ann Summer's Party wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. We played a few slightly embarrassing games, but the lady who ran it was nice to the few of us who hadn't been to one of those parties before. I did feel slightly bad about not having any money to buy anything, but I also didn't quite see the point in spending so much money when I don't have the money... so maybe next time I just won't go...

The rest of the weekend has been nice. Yesterday afternoon I met some friends for starbucks coffee and then met Neil at the Continental Market to have an overpriced German Thüringer Bratwurst (something I much rather spend my money on twice a year) and then wandered home to watch Fireworks from the flat... some were really really nice, and there are more today!

Neil cooked a roast dinner/lunch today and we had friends over which was lovely and very relaxed.

I am off to an Ann Summers Party tonight - not quite sure what to expect... Hope it won't be too embarrassing :-/

working from home this morning as I had to write a reference for one of my students. It still makes me feel a bit strange to suddenly be on the other side with all these things. It never really occurred to me when I was just teaching seminars, but now that I am marking and especially with having to write references it has dawned on me that I am actually getting to the other side. it is a very slow and unnoticeable transition, and it just hits you at some point and you wonder how it happened.

also just printed out the info I need to apply for permanent residency in the UK, from a first look at it it seems that I have to have been living in the UK for 5 years minimum anyway to be able to apply, so it will be a few more years until it will even be relevant. But these things are good to know. And it also means that I have a while until I will need to retake my driving test to get a ful UK license. For the moment I apparently can drive on my German one, so I think when i get paid a good amount I will put some money aside so I can take some driving lessons over here. sitting on the other side in the car, and more importantly relearning to drive a stick. That terrifies me a bit, not as much as roundabouts do though. they seem easy to get on, but very difficult to get off at the right exit, so I just see myself being stuck on a roundabout having to go round and round until no cars are left but me. A bit sad, but true... I have never really enjoyed driving anyway, but that's mostly because of other drivers' impatience more than anything else.

ok I think I should really get to uni now. I need to prepare the materials for the study I am running tomorrow. I really hope it will go well and the students will be a bit more responsive this time. I taught some of the same group in a seminar on Monday and most of them just didn't say a thing. Even when I picked on them they wouldn't... very strange. You'd think that the best of the best would be a bit more engaged in the material since they are here to learn, and they even want to be here... or maybe that is just my naive thinking. For me it is hard to believe that someone doesn't want to be at university. I had a few students last year who came to me asking for advice about dropping out, and it really was hard for me to imagine why anyone would want to leave once they got into such a good programme. but then again it's not for everyone, and I am sure they made the right decisions.

ok enough rambling now really... I need to get stuff done today!

Digital Fortress

started reading this book and so far it is really good. Just as well written as the other ones i have read (Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons) and just as addictive. I started Digital Fortress the other night and ended up reading for about two hours even though I meant to go to bed early.

Lovefilm sent me Disc 1 of Scrubs Series 5 so I am looking forward to watching some new episodes, well not really new ones, but ones I haven't seen. Anyway, so much tv stuff to catch up on. I am still behind on NUMB3RS, but slowly getting caught up. House I am waiting for Series 3 to be released on DVD, and I really need to get my hands on CSI series 6 and 7. I am getting paid a nice amount at the end of next month, so that should be enough for a few treats.

Also been looking at these shoes. they might also be a treat sometime soon! although it would be nice if they existed in a different colour not just black. But oh well...

we watched Oz and James' big Wine Adventure earlier, funny as always!

having a fairly lazy weekend so far, not much to report on in the last few days really. I cooked my all time ever favourite meal tonight, my mom's maccaroni casserole and it turned out quite good. I had seen one of the vital ingredients - Fleischwurst - in Sainburys a while ago so I got it and asked my mom to send another one of the vital ingredients that I have not been able to find over here, and when that finally arrived this morning I just had to cook the casserole for dinner tonight. We both enjoyed it, and then decided to have some pudding at the pub. It is great living so close to such a nice pub...

Last weekend we went to see Russell Howard the comedian. He was brilliant, very quick with improvising on things the audience was shouting - not that we were shouting that much. But he was great, made me laugh so much my stomach actually hurt. Would definitely recommend him to anyone who is in the mood for a good evening of comedy.

Tomorrow will be another lazy weekend day, I love those days. Neil can beat me a few more times at scrabulous on facebook - I am so rubbish at it it isn't even funny... and I might read a bit of Freud, or maybe a bit of the Dan Brown book I bought at the Oxfam shop the other day. My mom said it is one of the best ones, Digital Fortress I think it is called. Will report later. There are so many books on my bookshelf I should read really... but then I go to the library and take out random books I come across. A few weeks ago I borrowed "Die Stadt der Träumenden Bücher" by Walter Moers. He is this comic writer from Germany who got into writing novels, and they are just completely bizzare and strange, but at the same time so funny. If you come across it get out "the 13 and 1/2 lives of Captain Bluebear", it is a great read! So much interesting stuff to read, when I really should re-read that article for the seminar I am teaching on Monday afternoon, but then I am thinking I can just read the article Monday morning and read something fun while I am at home... when actually the article for the seminar is not completely uninteresting... about face perception in infants, and about the fact that babies under 6 months old can distinguish between two different monkey faces, while children older than 6 month and adults have completely lost that ability. I am still not quite sure why researchers really care about this, but science is fascinating that way... so many questions to be answered and even more to be asked yet...

Hmmm, on that thought I think it is time to get ready for bed!

it can be done after all

yes I finally did it! I solved the rubik's cube :)

am I really that much of a geek?

every since Neil put the games out on the bookshelf in the living room i have become somewhat obsessed with the rubix cube of his. And then Neil mentioned seeing something about someone solving one in about 30 seconds I was even more determined. So I went onto YouTube and found a little video about how to do it, but for some reason I am only getting there about 2/3 of the way. Something keeps going wrong in the last few steps, and I can't figure out what it is I am doing wrong. I do realise this makes me sound like a complete geek, but I have always been a bit of a geek anyway so I don't really care... I just want to solve that rubix cube now... at the moment I am once again 2/3 done and only need to solve the last layer

edited a bit later:
I think this one can't be done... I am following the steps exactly and it just messes the whole thing up. This is impossible, I have no idea what I am doing wrong and I am determined to get this done... it has to be done!!!!!

maybe it is time for bed...

I'm enjoying a lazy sunday today. Neil left early in the morning to go to Thruxton for the Touring Car championships and now I am considering what to do for the day. I was going to meet up with a friend in the afternoon but she has been struck down by freshers flu, so she needs some rest. I might still wander up to town and have some starbucks tea or something anyway... will decide in a bit. I need to get something to eat anyway and need to buy something for Neil to have when he comes home later.

Fishing boats or sailing boats

DSC02126, originally uploaded by ivo_loves_london.

ok one more Cornwall photo. Neil's dad took this very nice photo while we were down there recently, I think it was in Mevagissy (or as Neil and I liked calling it Megavissy)

finally back online

Talktalk have finally finally managed to send us the broadband modem we've been waiting for for the past couple of weeks. It has been strange not having internet. Neil kept saying how much he enjoyed not having the internet for a while and then got a bit annoyed about not having it for little things. I have been been feeling a bit like I was cup off from the world without it at home. Not being able to update my facebook was the most annoying, even though I was on it almost everyday at uni anyway. It is just different having internet at home and at the office... anyway, now we are back online and I should be updating this more frequently. Sorry for all the abandonment over the past few months... but then again not that much happened besides the moving in with Neil.

Neil and I in front of giant rhubarb

Neil and I in front of giant rhubarb, originally uploaded by ivo_loves_london.

well it isn't really rhubarb, but it looked a lot like it