- sacre coeur -

The final countdown

Here we go, it's my last week in Wellington. This time next week I will be sitting in Melbourne, getting ready for my big Aussie adventure.
How do I feel about this? Well, I'm in a weird head space, that's for sure. I managed to keep myself busy the entire weekend, so for most of it I was feeling fine. After dinner and movie with Aiko on Friday; packing, painting, dinner and movie with Martin on Saturday, Yum Cha with Aiko, Rich and the SAGE crew on Sunday, Martin, Markus and I finally managed to do our long planned sauna trip. Although it definitely wasn't European standard and we had to get used to the slightly more prude Kiwi approach to sauna, it came as close to a Finnish Sauna experience as you can get in Kiwiland. Walking out of it and heading up the hill to Andrew's for dinner I should have been relaxed and at peace - but instead I started to have this weird, diffuse bad feeling. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. Usually when that happens I try to find out where it comes from, and within minutes I can go back to being happy. But not this time. What finally made me feel way better was finding a huge spider while walking to Andrew's. Seriously, a huge spider made me feel better? As I got confirmed by Andrew soon, definitely not a sign of sanity... But then again, life would be pretty boring if everyone was sane, so who cares.
The next few days will be pretty intense. Heaps of catching up, lunch, coffee, dinner dates lined up. Also my last chance to satisfy my addiction - I will have to be without my beloved gym exercise until I start at a new gym in September! Sad times indeed.
On the other hand I'm getting more excited about Oz, now that the trip is slowly turning from an abstract idea into a real plan. I hope to get some good fun, sun and warmth, awesome scenery and cool cities, time for myself to think back about my life in Kiwiland and my upcoming, new chapter in Canada.
That's me for now, will have another update before I leave.

Appeal

Seriously, guys. Stop being cowards! This sounds harsh, but it's actually true. Many people these days are simply gutless, and I am sick of it. You might be wondering, what is this all about? Let me tell you. We're not talking about jumping off cliffs or out of airplanes (although I can highly recommend particularly the latter). No, we're talking about everyday things, things that you and I have to do; things that have to be said, dealt with, problems that have to be solved. I find it surprising and sad, how many people simply avoid these tasks. I'm not a saint myself, that's for sure, but I want to believe that at least I am trying. Avoiding doesn't make things better - never! On different occasions in the recent past I've had to realise how hard - basically impossible - it is for most people to simply face what has to be done (Yet: I do want to mention that I've witnessed the opposite end of the spectrum too - just not that often...). Instead everyone just runs away. So please, listen to me, think about it and maybe reconsider your actions - or the lack of action! It may be inconvenient, it may hurt someone in that very moment, it may be painful for yourself, but on the long run it's for the better. I believe that so much could be improved if communication between people was improved. Not just communication in general, but between the very people affected. It's nice telling your friends about what's going on, but even the best friend might get sick of constant whining without actual action. More important, the people concerned by whatever it is need to know if things are supposed to change. If a problem needs solving: do it, things don't usually fix themselves! If some serious conversation has to be done: don't postpone it, do it now! If you feel in a certain way, good or bad: tell whoever it is! Procrastination at work/uni might be successful - procrastination in life won't be.
Apologies for the rant, but I urgently needed to spit this one out.
Accompanied by: Thirteen Senses - Call someone -

Party and more

My last day in NZ is approaching fast, so this weekend it was time for my combined birthday/farewell party. The theme "red socks/stockings" was a huge success, and (hopefully) everyone had a great time celebrating. (Even though Karsten, Aiko and I showed up slightly late - for our own party, yep, doesn't get any better...)
Sunday was mainly for recovery purposes, including ice cream, some great movies and going out for pizza. Now I'm putting all my efforts into making the most of those last days here, now in two weeks I will be hanging out in Melbourne, getting ready for my 1-month Aussie adventure. I still have 17 days from mid June to early July unplanned in Oz - any suggestions for things to do, see, enjoy are much appreciated!
Below something I put together really quickly last week in one of the very few quiet moments I have these days.

- Heatstroke -

Lazy Saturday 2

- smoke on my lips -

- Studie: move -

Lazy Saturday

playing with light effects, digital and with acrylic.

- move -

- friend and enemy-

PS: I had a great week with my 3rd and for now last Kiwi-birthday! Thanks to everyone for good times!

A beautiful morning in Wellington

Wellington surprised us this morning with a fantastic "after-the-storm"-atmosphere. With some fog still hanging between the hills and the trees dripping wet from last night's rain the sun made its way through the steaming streets, creating amazing light patterns and a beautiful rainbow. This must be the day to put up a piece from last week, "Winter in Kabul - After the Storm". Of course accompanied by: Mumford and Sons - After the storm.

A great weekend playing and having fun

Here I am again, enjoying the last hours of an awesome Easter weekend. Good Friday after my post turned into a day full of fun: Aiko and I spend a few hours baking easter buns and playing with the photo booth on the Mac. Went to town, had burgers for dinner and beers on the roof with the extended Team Awesome (aka fellow SAGE people from last year) later. Saturday was an early morning, but I still managed to make crêpes for breakfast for Martin, Ben and Aiko. Met up with Karsten and Markus and drove out to Cape Palliser. Cute lighthouse, great little walk to the Pinnacles and beers in the sun. Had dinner at Markus' and Karsten's place, watched two movies (although there was really no way I could have not fallen asleep during the second one) and felt like back in primary school having a sleep over with a bunch of friends ;)
Today we started a bit later, had awesome breakfast again and drove over to Days Bay. The weather was amazing in my eyes, although some people might dislike the wind, the clouds and the occasional drizzle. Walked yet to another lighthouse, this time at Pencarrow Head and hung out there for a bit. Back in Welly now, and after my long awaited shower I'm warm and dry again. Expecting Martin, Karsten and Aiko for dinner, and then heading to town, hopefully catching up with a bunch of people for a Ska gig at San Francisco Bathhouse.
Just being able to play outside for a bit and hang out with some of the most important people for me here in NZ make this weekend truly amazing! Thanks guys :)
Pics on https://picasaweb.google.com/kathiunglert/EasterWeekend#

Only 5 weeks left.

Here we go, I'm slowly starting to realise that my time in Welly is gonna be over soon. Getting into the "I'm-leaving-the-country-I-don't-give-a-f***-anymore - mood". Including all the consequences... If any of you have ever relocated to another country (or if you knew me last time I moved) I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.
It's tough. Not only am I moving to a new country, but yet another new continent. But this time (I think) I'm better prepared. Some things I've learned:

1. I have too much stuff.
2. I have to get rid of things.
3. Getting rid of things slowly instead of all at once makes it less painful.
4. I still have too much stuff.

At least I can make Aiko happy with some of my clothes, and feel good about giving the rest to charity. So much for saving the world.
Saving myself seems to be more difficult. I've been tidying and cleaning my room, but somehow the outside and the inside don't wanna match up. Seems like some of the lessons learned from a materialistic perspective also apply to another level: I have too much stuff. My mental procrastination works pretty well though, and has drastically increased my creative output (as you can see in previous posts). Good.
Off to play outside for the Easter weekend. Will be good and may help to tidy up the inside. If not, there's always the silver lining of a great weekend with friends, beers, and outdoors. What else does anyone really need.
Listen to: Calexico - Bisbee Blue.

Stuff from last year

some stuff from last year, more specifically from the time during the OBS cruise on the RV Roger Revelle in January/February 2010. Night shifts are awesome :)

Listen to: Linkin Park - New Divide.

"places"

untitled

"reach"

More...

...work from a cold, wintery evening in Wellington. "second thoughts"

One of my latest favs: Thirteen Senses - Into the fire.

return

After last week's design update and a not-quite-serious easter egg painting session I have decided it's time to increase productiviy again. My artistic output of the last half year or so is sadly confined to a single painting for my thesis - more an act of procrastination than anything else. As a start to get back to more serious work I think I can use this as a platform - be curious, enjoy if you want, or don't bother if you don't give a damn. I will have to play around a little with formatting etc, so for today just a quick start: "Fight Do". Music: Snow Patrol - Run.

Little update on really nothing

Time to have another update, even though nothing actually happened. I've been hanging out in Welly and enjoying "The return of life - or what happens after you hand your thesis". Naturally there is a lot of relaxing, socialising and drinking involved, so I can't complain! Even though we had a few cold, rainy days in anticipation of winter during the last few weeks, overall it has been quite summery. Thanks to that I can still hang out at the waterfront, having more or less occasional "Russn" in varying company, or spend some time in the sun on my balcony with good books. Speaking of which, it only took me two years to discover that the Wellington City Library has a nice little collection of German books. While my focus was more on old school stuff such as "Ein Doppelgaenger" bei Theodor Storm or "Die Taube" bei Patrick Sueskind, I also found the first two books of the Kluftinger-Series. Gosh, I miss Kaesspatzn!
This past weekend turned out pretty awesome: Martin, my favourite Nutella-loving Sunday breakfast companion, made his way back to Welly from Austria, so now our little group is complete again. We arranged a dinner at my place to surprise everyone, and even though Sherlock Holmes and Watson (aka Markus and Noelle) figured out what was happening a few hours before the dinner we still managed to completely surprise Andrew and Anne. Happy reunion!
Also a bunch people from the SAGE field programme (see post about US trip last June/July) arrived in Welly to do some fieldwork with GNS. We went out for dinner (thanks NSF/US taxpayers!) and pool, and I'm particularly happy to announce the reunion of 2/3 of Team Awesome: Jason is going to stay until the end of May, and then we're gonna head over to Oz for a ten day trip from Melbourne to Alice Springs. We're looking forward to the Great Ocean Road and Uluru among other awesomeness. I will have another two weeks or so by myself after Jason has to go back home, during which I'll hopefully make it as far north as the Great Barrier Reef. IUGG (huge and long meeting where too many geeks discuss their potentially crazy thoughts about fire, water, earth, air and life in general - hopefully at least there will be a lot of beer involved) marks the end of my Oz trip, and after another 2 days in Welly I will be back on way to the homeland. I expect to have a great time in July and August, including obligatory Biergarten time, a lot of BBQing, a bit more than a week in Sweden with my girls, a couple of days in Alsace with the family and hopefully also a visit to Leeds :)
After that I will be horribly broke and exhausted by an amazing summer, perfect conditions to throw myself into four years of PhD research! Can't wait to catch up with everyone at home first (people, make time in July!) and to explore Canada and hopefully some other cool places in the world afterwards! Cheerio.

USA, Germany, NZ and Canada

Kurze Zusammenfassung der letzten paar Monate:
Dez 2010. AGU in San Francisco
Dez 2010-Jan 2011. Weihnachten und Silvester in der Heimat.
Jan-Feb 2011. Masterarbeit fertig schreiben.
Feb 2011. Unibesuche in Vancouver (BC), Seattle (WA) und Eugene (OR).
Ab Maerz 2011. Paper schreiben in Wellington bis Mai, Australien bis Anfang Juli, Heimat und Schweden Juli-August, und dann geht's auf nach Vancouver, PhD fuer die naechsten 4+ Jahre :)
noch Fragen? Pics as always auf Picasa