A love story

My parents are celebrating their 25th engagement anniversary today. They’ve gone out, to a museum and later to dinner, all dressed up and happy. I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned my parents’ love story here – yet it’s definitely something that has shaped the way I see the world. They’re living proof for all my romantic notions of love at first sight and forever, much more than any movie or TV show…

You must know, they met when they were both over fourty, on 14 July 1979. And if you are quick, you already have put two and two together and realized that that means that they got engaged less than a month later – and if you know how old I am, you know that they were married and had a child on 5 January 1981, not even 1 1/2 years later… Quite impressive for a confirmed bachelor (everyone was convinced he’d stay single) and a nurse who’d come to terms with her spinsterhood when she met the man who changed it all.

They met at the wedding of the brother of a friend of my mother’s, where my father officiated (is that the word?) – in other words, he was the minister. But after the service they got talking, and both say that they knew right away that this was meant to be. Less than a month later, after exchanging letters almost daily, on 10 August 1979, my father drove down to where my mom worked in a rehab facility, and they spent the day together, going for long walks and talking. The very next day, they got engaged.

Their love today is still as strong as it was then, right from the start, despite all their differences in personality and all the ups and downs of everyday life. They have given me so much, but their greatest gift has been their love, for each other and for us children. It’s an inspiration to me, and living proof that there is such a thing as the One True Love God has destined us to find.


Back home

I arrived back in Basel yesterday, after spending ten absolutely fantastic days in Scotland with Märrie (plus celebrating her birthday with her family in Germany). Such an amazing country – simply stunning landscapes, fascinating history and friendly people. I’ve posted to the travel log a couple of times and will post some photos one of these days (when the madness of settling back in has calmed down). Also, Märrie posted a bit about why I’m the best navigator in the world and other things of interest in her LiveJournal. *g*

Now I’m trying to sort out what needs to be done after my absence. I need to finish my fieldwork paper (which needs some serious revisions, as I’m sure my editors have noticed) and there’s still the open question of my internship. The European Parliament sent a refusal (apparently they don’t need anthropologists this year, which doesn’t really surprise me) – but I haven’t heard anything from UNESCO. Now, that’s really annoying, seeing that I’ve applied for September. But searching their website for information, I found this:

If your application is of interest to the Secretariat, you will receive a proposal for an internship within four months.

I never really read this carefully before – and now I can’t help thinking that this sounds as if they only contact you if you’re accepted. So that’d mean I can forget about it, because the four months are up – or am I reading too much into it? Opinions?


It’s half past twelve and I’m still not quite ready, mainly because I managed to more or less finish my paper and had to set some stuff up. And I still have to fit a pair of sneakers into my backpack before I can allow myself to go to bed.

Gone to Scotland

Märrie made this – isn’t it cute? Anyway, wishing everyone who reads this a good two weeks – you can catch up with me via email or by reading the travel log


Bye bye bye for a while!

I’ve been preparing for my vacation and am almost ready now. I’m pretty excited, because I’ve never been on a road trip like this before – Märrie and I will rent a car and tour Scotland for ten days! Exciting, exciting…

I’ve always wanted to see more of Scotland – and renting a car is cheaper and more flexible than taking the train or bus. My only problem is that I don’t have much driving experience, since we don’t own a car – but luckily Märrie is a good driver, so I’m sure we’ll manage.

We’ll also take a tent, but I’ve made it pretty clear that I won’t camp if it’s cold or wet. I’ve been to Edinburgh in July before, again with a tent, and the weather was simply awful. Wet and miserable, and me with a flu. Not doing that again, believe me… 🙂

Am going to post a farewell post when I get back from work (where I will hopefully manage to finish the rough draft of my paper) and meeting Sibylle tonight. My parents will be back then, too – they’ve been on vacation for a week. I’m glad they’re back in time to say goodbye to me!

Unrelated – this week’s Unconscious Mutterings:

  1. Sleep:: deprived
  2. Stats:: website
  3. Portfolio:: presenting what one has done?
  4. Lipton:: ice tea
  5. Telly:: British
  6. Immigrate:: here
  7. Viable:: solution
  8. Serene:: state of mind
  9. Mountain:: climbing
  10. Natalie:: Portman


Melissa Etheridge live!

Yesterday I went to the Stimmen festival in nearby Lörrach, right across the German border, to see Melissa Etheridge with Sibylle. It was absolutely lovely – the festival is right in the middle of town and had the most wonderfully relaxed summer atmosphere, despite threatening rain clouds.

It definitely was my most laid-back concert experience so far. We sat in a café that was part of the concert area beforehand and then went out when the opening act was playing. There was nothing like a ‘bad seat’ (or better – standing room), and there was no pushing, no pressing, no angry faces. Instead lots of happy people enjoying a kick-ass show. Wow, does that woman have power!

And she seemed to enjoy herself enormously, which affected the whole audience. I was actually a bit surprised at the diversity of people there – a lot of lesbians, of course, but really, people from all walks of life, of all ages and lifestyles. So even when I wasn’t busy watching Melissa rock the stage, I had a lot of fun people-watching. 🙂


Overnight trip

Just came home from a night in Eglisau, which is a very pretty village, in which Sibylle’s aunt and uncle are currently renovating a house. Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera, because we took an lovely walk along the Rhine, passing beautiful old farm houses and enjoying the evening sun.

We slept on a mattrass on the floor in what will be Sibylle’s room and study, which turned out not to agree with my back, but had a really nice time nonetheless. Felt like a mini-vacation and made me believe that maybe summer is finally coming…


This isn’t summer

I think I’ve finally gotten more or less over the flu. Instead I’m not doing too great mentally today – I’m somewhat beside myself, sad yet just a bit dead. At least that means I’ve got something to tell my shrink later today… Not that I’m in the mood to talk about it.

Anyway, mainly I just wanted to moan about the horrible horrible weather we’re having. I’m certain it’s payback from last year, when everyone (myself included) was complaining about the heat.

This year, July seriously feels like April – I’m wearing my curderoy pants and a turtleneck, for heaven’s sake! And tonight I’m meeting a friend for the open-air cinema. Let’s hope that it doesn’t rain and that we won’t freeze to death… 🙂


Site suspension aftermath

Apparently I wasn’t the only one who had their site suspended because of hostees. Netrillium just sent out an email to all their clients regarding security issues and banned scripts, specifically stressing that hosts have to make sure their hostees know about it… Coincidence? I doubt it.

Naturally I’ve already informed my hostees and added some security notes to the site, so hopefully everything will be fine.


A good cause

I’m feeling somewhat better today, after having quite a bad day yesterday. I guess my brother’s birthday was a bit too much for me – we spent the day as a family and went to beautiful Lausanne, to the Olympic Museum, and then had dinner in Berne. After that I was just wiped.

This is the last week of uni, so I’ll have to pull myself together and attend classes, despite still feeling a bit under the weather. I just wish I could work on my paper – I’m so behind schedule it isn’t funny…

Anyway, on a more cheerful note: This year there won’t be a Blogathon raising money for charities, but the people from Project Blog are filling in. I’d have loved to take part, but I’ve got to work on the 24th. Instead I’ll probably sponsor – not huge amounts of money, but just something. Check out the website and consider signing up if you’d like to support charities from all over the world!

Unconscious Mutterings:

  1. Resignation:: familiar feeling
  2. Coupling:: TV show
  3. Grounded:: important to be
  4. Habit:: creature of
  5. Chainsaw:: massacre
  6. Rental:: car
  7. Deleted:: journal
  8. Online personals:: not for me
  9. Penguin:: classics
  10. Offend:: no one