30
June
2003
…updated the travel log with pics from the two Germany trips and some from Märrie’s visit this April.
Feeling domestic today - made lunch for my brother and dad, and just returned from grocery shopping. But for the record I’d like to say that it was Michi’s turn to cook on Friday, Papi’s yesterday, and he’s doing the laundry today. So it’s not as if we follow old-fashioned gender roles — even if it is usually Mami who does the cooking and cleaning, that’s a matter of choice not chauvinism. 
Will head out and face the heat once more shortly — will meet up with my friend Sandra, who’ll start her vacation already this week, the lucky girl! Semester break here in Basel starts very late this year: My friend Regina will also already leave at the end of this week, because that’s when the break starts in Zurich — and Cindy’s break (in Berne) has already started, so she’ll come visit me tomorrow, and stay until Friday. Which is a Very Good Thing, as she’s one of my oldest friends in the world (15 years this August) and I haven’t seen her in ages.
Enough rambling for today — hope everyone is having a good start of the week!
Posted: Life
29
June
2003
At least I’ll be trying not to.
The last few days have been either very busy or very lazy — maybe I’ll get the mix right one of these days…
I could finally talk about my paper and got my ideas pretty much shot down. So it’s going to be literature work — comparing Wilde’s Salomé and another text (Johannes by Hermann Sudermann). That text was published 1898 and it’s impossible to buy it anywhere (believe me - I’ve looked), so I spent some time at the German institute’s library, photocopying the whole book. Presence libraries (where you’re not allowed to take books home) suck!
Much less frustrating (on the contrary!) is that I got my travel documentation, the bill for flight and Australia visa, and bought guide books for NZ and Australia. Can’t wait - only six weeks to go!
This weekend has been busy — and very heavy on movie watching. On Friday several friends came over and we had one of our semi-traditional movie nights. We watched A la folie… toujours (with the actress from Amélie, Sleepy Hollow, and Nightmare Before Christmas, so it was almost a Tim Burton night, and a lot of fun! And last night, after work, we went to see The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers at an open-air cinema, which makes it five times that I’ve seen that movie on the big screen — still can’t get enough of it. And sitting in the grass, under the stars, surrounded by trees and with a swimming pool right behind me, gave the whole thing a special appeal — I adore open-air cinemas (we have two every year - one at the pool and one next to the cathedral), I spent way too much money on them every summer…
These days I enjoy that kind of evening spent with friends more than going out clubbing — I’m getting lazy in my old age, I fear! *g*
Posted: Life
25
June
2003
We have record temperatures, obviously the highest for June for 250 years! Well, at least that means I’m not imagining things…
The high point of today was when I was walking back to uni between classes, eating a yummy Sundae ice cream with chocolate sauce (from McDonald’s - my secret vice this year). I was walking up the hill from the market square, savoring the deliciously cold and tasty ice cream, when something spoken in English drifted to my ear. It made me smile — for two reasons: For one I enjoyed the feeling of being somewhere else, on vacation, where people don’t speak Swiss German. And at the same time I liked the thought that people from elsewhere come to Basel and get to know my beautiful city.
It was just one of these moments… Later, I sat sweating in my Salome class, the whole concept of my paper just having been overthrown by the teacher, but for some reason, it wasn’t so bad.
Posted: Life, Moments
24
June
2003
t’s too hot here. This June has officially been one of the hottest ever, and it just seems to be getting worse… If I didn’t have to go to uni and read stuff for my next German Lit paper or my fieldtrip to NZ, I’d be fine - but who can think in this heat?
I’m horribly, horribly lethargic and want nothing more than to laze around, drink cold tea (Karkadé that I brought from Sharm el Sheik) and - most importantly - not think!
I’m just glad I don’t have dance class tonight — I don’t think I could drag myself there, it’s hard enough to leave the house for web programming class, afterwards I’ll be so done for the day!
We had the last dance class of the semester yesterday instead — a small party together with the advanced class. I had to work until 9pm, but went afterwards and had the opportunity to dance several dances, although my regular partner didn’t show up. And now there won’t be any opportunity to dance until next semester, which means the end of October - not fair! You can dance Salsa everywhere, but what about the other stuff, huh?
Anyway, have resolved to try and read a bit Salome literature — hope I can concentrate enough. Have I mentioned that it’s too hot here? *g*
Posted: Life
21
June
2003
Today is the longest day of the year - I can hardly believe it. To me it feels as if summer has hardly begun, and it’s already supposed to be half over? At least today feels right — it’s hot and sunny, with no cloud in the sky. I had to work the early shift at the retirement home, from 8am to 2.30pm, and when I came outside I was almost overwhelmed by the heat.
There were a lot of people outside, mostly young because of a big youth anti-discrimination festival happening this weekend. Also there’s an open-air ecumenical service in a park tonight, where hopefully a lot of people will go to, too. But truth be told I’m not going to either of these events — at first it was too hot to move, and now I feel pretty tired, and I have to work again tomorrow morning. Simply don’t want to leave the house. Bad Eva, very bad!
Looking forward to tomorrow afternoon — for the first time this year I’ll go to the open-air pool, which is normally my second home in summer but so far it just never worked out. I love going there, not to swim (I’m not a keen swimmer at all) but to sit in the grass, in the shade of some big tree, feel the warm air and (most importantly) people watch and talk with my friends. There’s always something to be seen — people are simply funny, or weird, or plain interesting, and from time to time gorgeous… 
I wish everyone a good Midsummer’s Night!
Posted: Life
20
June
2003
The site has been down the last few hours. I don’t know what caused the downtime, since my webhost’s site (including the helpdesk) was down, too. They should maybe think of creating an off-server status page, which concerned webmasters can check to see what’s up.
I hope I was the only person trying to access chocolate dream during this time…
Posted: Site
19
June
2003
I added pics of my family to the woman page as well as a couple more sentences about my parents. All four photos were taken today, thanks to the wonders of digital photography — not the best picture ever of myself, but it’ll do I guess. (Marriage proposals please directed here. *g*)
And now I’ve sat in front of this thing for so long, I just want to get outside and enjoy the sunshine. Chasing after the Salome prof will have to wait, as well as some more emails that I should answer — I’m getting cramps in my shoulders, a sure sign to stop.
Posted: Site
19
June
2003
So I returned from Dresden yesterday and jumped right back into online life… Didn’t even notice how much I missed it while I was gone - but now I don’t want to leave my laptop anymore. Luckily today I don’t have to go to uni yet!
The last two weeks were great. I loved staying with Märrie, the family reunion was interesting (surprised at how well we all got along), and the days spent in Dresden with Mami, Papi, and Michi were filled with good things. Will write a travel log entry when I get my hands on some photos (I forgot to bring my digital camera — I’m such an idiot sometimes!).
While I was gone, nothing much seems to have happened - I didn’t even hear from the ‘Salome’ prof about my paper, which annoys me somewhat. Can I write it, or not? Now I need to try and track her down to get an answer… Oh well, Real Life has me again.
Posted: Life
11
June
2003
I’m back in Basel, even if it doesn’t feel like it — it’s only two days before we have to leave for the family reunion, and I have hardly time to relax.
Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing - tonight is the BonJovi concert in Zurich, so Sibylle and I will spend the night there and will have a lot of fun! And I wouldn’t want to miss the days spent with Märrie. I felt so at home with her lovely family and we drove all over the place, seeing countless interesting things (Aachen, replics of the Chinese clay army, a Gothic club, an intact fortress above the Rhine) — and visited my grandparents’ grave to plant a rose tree.
I’d kill for a day at home, but since that’s not to be, I’ll stop complaining and try to do everything that needs doing (for example set up my new digital camera so I can share the few pics I took in Germany, go to the library, answer some emails, go to work, meet up with a friend, and of course pack for Dresden). I’m also trying not to melt in the incredibly heat (32°C).
I’m avoiding the internet at the moment, I simply don’t have the time — and knowing me, once I got started, I wouldn’t be able to stop… But this just had to be.
Posted: Life
4
June
2003
I will be gone the next week, visiting Märrie, one of my best friends, who I met online. She lives near Bonn in Germany, about five hours away by train, and we try to see each other every three months or so. Can’t wait to see her again! We always get along so great, it’s fantastic!
I’m leaving tomorrow morning, have been packing and preparing yesterday and today, and very glad to say that I managed to get everything done. Feel incredibly accomplished that I even cleaned my room and did my hand laundry… *g*
I’ll be staying with Märrie and her incredibly nice family until Tuesday - not quite as long as I’d have liked it, but we’ll spend loads and loads of quality time (aka giggling, talking, sightseeing and museums) together. I also would like to visit my grandmother’s grave, which is only about an hour from where Märrie lives. My mom has given me money to buy a rose tree and plant it there.
On Tuesday I’ll meet up with Sibylle (who’s visiting friends of hers near Cologne) and we’ll come back together, because on Wednesday we have to be in Zurich for the BonJovi concert. On Thursday I’ll have to work, and on Friday I’m leaving for Dresden with my family, for a family reunion. And sometime in between I have to unpack and repack and hopefully do some stuff for uni… Whee, busy life, that!
Not exactly my style, truth be told — I need time for myself, at home, and these two weeks are not exactly fun to me. Specially since I could do better things with my time than spend them with relatives I don’t really know. But I’m sure we’ll have fun anyway…
Wish everyone who might read this a good time! *hugs*
Posted: Life
