Mussumer-Muhle Bocholt

... way.

Annabel isn't coming to Belgium anymore and the tour ended up being booked out. So now I am sitting in an internet cafe in Essen trying to work out what to do for the day. I have been looking on a website to see if I can find a castle to visit. I may have found one too! It's not too far away which is good cos it means I can get back reasonably easily.

So this week has ...

... looking things, violin-ish sounding ones and weird keyboard/piano sounding things. And really cute little twangy guitars. The percussion section was amazing! And then there were solo artists. One solo artist brought a flute onto the stage that was probably 3 metres long. 3 people held it and played the notes with their fingers and the one guy blew into it! Incredible, low, hollow sounds! Wow!
I really loved the imagery that accompanied the music. There were always ...

... next Thursday and hopefully the Phantom of the Opera on Friday, plus on Valentines day I am going to see Don Giovanni. It should be good. And it's so incredibly cheap here. I have never known an opera to be only $15 for students in Australia. (Mind you, I have never been to the Opera in Australia...)

So I will leave u to think of me in a winter wonderland (I am not sick, so this is an accurate description).

Speak with u soon,
Sarah

... everyone about what had happened to us last night, so Rafael wore a suit, Martin wore a suit jacket and we tried to dress up as best we could to make ourselves presentable. Ironically, there were hundreds of kids, families, school excursions and the like at the Opera, and only a few oldies.

They tried to 'modernise' it a bit, so that it was more like a dream than a reality. The Prince wasn't in a wood, he was in bed and ...

... being down due to the hurricane. We just hoped that everything would be Ok and left the station. We walked along the shopping promenade and Lauren bought a Karneval hat for her friend who collects hats. It was shaped like a toaster with 2 pieces of bread. Then we ate dinner before going to the Opera.

Once we stepped inside, we felt really excited and also really unnerved. We were the only people there who were not beautifully dressed. Mostly ...

... the north coast along the sea quite fiercly, winds of up to 150km are blowing across the country. Planes cannot land, train stations have been closed, trees have falled on cars and houses...

Silence fell over the crowd... " Was soll wir tuen?" We were so bored...

It was decided that a party should be had in the cellar, to celebrate the fact that we were all safe. So we went downstairs, played South American music, danced, drank wine ...

Hi guys,
Don"t know if u have heard or not, but Germany is in the middle of a hurricane. 150km winds and severe warnings from the government to stay indoors. It was supposed to hit Essen really hard and we were all sent home from uni early and told to stay indoors. I really wanted to go online today to talk to u all like I said I would. Sorry guys!! I"ve just borrowed Tara"s laptop now. Mum, if u read this, send me a text message when u wake up so I can ...

... before I go to class. I can do it Thursday, but Friday I have a politics class starting earlier than usual, so my next time online will be Monday. I hope to chat with some of u...
So u want to know what I've been up to the last couple of days?
Nothing too crazy...
Monday I went to the movies to see 'Mein Fuhrer', a comedy about Hitler, made by Germans. I'm sure that u are all interested about how it was. Well ...

... I'll post a photo when I get the chance to. Have u all been looking at my slideshow? I add more every now and then...
So I went back on the bus to Essen, where I got my English speaking friends to test me on my Backbeat lines (Drew and Jess smile approvingly) where Trevor and I made an awesome meal and then I had an early night, tidied up a bit and went to bed.
Sunday we went to Bonn, the capital of West Germany from 1948 to 1991. It is a beautiful town. The uni looks like a ...

... to see the market square. It was a nice but obviously had suffer from the war (like most of that region) but still had a great structure and buildings left. Then Martin drove me along the way but then it revealed that he got hell of stress by pulling along the side of the road to let me out. I was looking at the map and then he said you have to hurry as I can not stand here its not legal. I told him to simply move a little bit ...