Forty Winks Friday - Improvised pillow!

Handy to be able to use your backpack as a pillow when required 

for a more comfortable nap.

Life in February. Germany V Australia

The silver windscreen protectors are being used in both countries.

In Frankfurt, Germany - to stop the ice forming on your windscreen...

In Perth, Australia - to keep the sun off the steering wheel to keep it cool

and save you from having to use your oven mitts to drive!

In Frankfurt, we are turning on the seat warmers as soon as we jump in the car...

it IS -4C outside...a warm bum is a happy bum in these temperatures!

In Perth, mums are putting bottles of frozen water in babies car seats...

so children don't roast in their seats and to prevent burns from seat buckles!
Air conditioners are ON!

In Frankfurt, we go the the supermarket, we get hit by a wave of hot air
as we walk in and breathe a sigh of relief. We buy ice cream and other frozen food.
After shopping, we can stop for a nice lunch in a quaint little half timbered pub,
linger a while before arriving home with everything still frozen an hour later.
If the beer isn't cold enough we can further chill by leaving outside, taking care not to let it freeze.
In Perth, an esky will be in the car and filled with ice bricks.
As you walk into the supermarket you are hit with a blast of cold air, you breathe a sigh of relief.
 The car is loaded from the trolley at record speed, cold stuff going into the esky
 and the car is driven the shortest, fastest possible route home.
Cold stuff will be unloaded first as another two minutes in the car will have the ice cream turned to milk. Of course the beer is shoved immediately into the beer fridge!

In Frankfurt, we put our rubbish into the wheelie bin when the lids are not frozen shut.
We separate paper, bio waste and general rubbish. We take glass to recycling areas.
We would NEVER consider putting excess rubbish in a neighbour's bin.
In Perth, any items that could possibly stink to high heaven an hour after being placed
in the wheelie bin, such as prawn shells, will be wrapped and put in the freezer until 'bin day'.
They will be forgotten until the rubbish truck is heard at 6am
and a mad dash from the freezer to the bin will happen.
If you have more rubbish than your bin will hold, you will, under the cover of darkness...
put your excess in a neighbours half empty bin!

In Frankfurt, you have to wear your Wellington Boots to walk over the lawn which
has turned to mush from all the rain and melted snow.
It  has so much water it will survive Summer without the hose ever being turned on.
In Perth you can only water on your rostered two days and your lawn,
if you still have one, will be a shade of brown.
Your neighbours will 'dob you in' if you water on the wrong day,
water is sacred and will not be wasted.

In Frankfurt it takes fifteen minutes to get dressed ready to walk out the door,
the layers, scarves, boots, hats and puffy jackets. You then have to remove it all
when you arrive at your destination and repeat when you leave.
Approximately two hours is taken up with dressing and undressing over the day.
In Perth you wear as little as possible, two minutes of the day is spent dressing and undressing.

In Frankfurt, you get home, kick off your shoes, sit in front of the fire
and crack open an ice cold beer.
In Perth, you get home, kick off your shoes, sit under the Air Con
...and crack open an ice cold beer!

My Photo a Day, February, Week Eight

My Photo a Day Challenge, February Week Seven.

You can see I am missing China with Chinese New Year this week, 

lots of shots of my Chinese 'stuff' featuring!

The prompt of the day is in red, the photo and description is my take on the prompt!

16 February

 From where I stand
A pretty good view of the Fasching Parade, with all the colour and costumes.

17 February

Routine
Get the girls to school, husband to work...then the routine is for Ralph to pick a ball and we
go into the forest and play until he is exhausted!

18 February

Bedside
My birdcage converted into a lamp, phone, jade ball and inspirational book.

19 February

Fresh
Some fresh tea eggs just out of the pot to celebrate Chinese New Year tonight.
Happy year of the Sheep/Goat everyone. Xin Nian Kuai Le!

20 February

 This is so me
Embracing the culture and traditions of places I have been lucky enough to live in.
England, my home of Fremantle, Western Australia, China, Germany ...and a nice St Clair wine
from New Zealand...never lived there but I married a kiwi and Clair is my middle name.
My husband thouhgt that this gave the wrong impression of me...sadly alcohol was the only
thing I had that could represent each place!

 My husband's choice of 'This is so me'...cheerful and with a camera around my neck!
That is not my husband ;)

21 February

Matching
I love my matching Chinese Ginger Jars. Love Blue and White together.

22 February

 Macro
The clasp on my dragon bracelet.

Macro flower...spring is springing...yay!!!

Happy Year of the Sheep/Goat, Xin Nian Kuai Le

 May your year of the Sheep/Goat be full of life, laughter

adventure and abundance!

Characters of Fasching, Wiesbaden Germany 2015

So many characters and costumes at Fasching!

Here are some of my favourites from 2015

This group knew how to have fun and enjoy the moment!

Smiling, happy people.

She likes her wine!

Three heads are better than one, right!

Two cows and a clown arriving for the day!

Who doesn't love a Jester?

Parade was stopped for a moment to let the Medics through....

Slightly ironic that the guy with the patient was covered in fake blood!

Not feeling blue at all!

These guys know how to party!

Despite the spikes...this guy was so sweet!

I am looking at....you!

Argument with the head chef over the ratatouille perhaps?

These 'ladies' asked me to take their photo!

Hackers not so anonymous.

Does my butt look big in this???

Who you gonna call?

It was a monster day!

Jolly clowns.

Feel like I am being watched.

A feather in her cap.

Let's party!

Two cows and a clown at the after party...

there would have been sore heads in Wiesbaden in the morning!

Until next year...

Fasching Fun, Wiesbaden, Germany 2015

One of the joys in this expat life is embracing the new cultures and traditions

of the places we are lucky enough to call home for a while.

If we were in China this week we would be stocking up on fireworks, putting out the lanterns

and gearing up for Chinese New Year on Thursday.

In England or Australia we would be making pancakes for breakfast/lunch/dinner for
Shrove/Pancake Tuesday.

Today we are in Germany and it is Fasching, 

time to live it up and let off steam before the fasting of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday.

Fasching loosely translates as "last alcoholic drink before fasting".

We went to the Fasching Parade in Wiesbaden on Sunday.

The parade started with colour and fun.

Music filled the air.

Excited children lined the streets.

Calls of "Helau' came from the passing floats.

Lollies toys and books were thrown into the waiting hands of the children.

It is like Halloween on Steroids, costumes, music, treats being stuffed in bags.

Marching bands galore.

Dancing to the beat of the drum.

Minions taking selfies!

Greetings from those in the parade.

Happy faces of children on the floats, brightening the day even more.

I remember this girl from last year's parade!

Was a bit much for some!

This lady was in last years parade too, our second year and I recognise the people!

A fun filled day with music, entertainment and laughter.....

....and lollies...lots of lollies!

Stay tuned for the 'Character's of Fasching 2015' tomorrow!

Disclaimer

•  We may have already decorated and bought fireworks for Chinese New Year and planned a Chinese feast....though we have discovered that we cannot legally use the fireworks in Germany except on 31 December. Oh well...we are all set for 31 December 2015!
• We may partake in some pancakes for "Pancake Tuesday"!