zondag 27 juli 2008

Holiday on the Mosel!

We've just come back from a fantastic holiday, this photo sums up what we did, which was see as much german wildlife as possible whilst staying in a great holiday villa at Mont Royal on the hills above Krov.
This was the view from our villa

And this was the view from our villa early in the morning at the beginning of a hot day

There is lots to do in the area, we took a day to visit Idar-Oberstein and see how the local semi precious stones were worked and polished using water mills. We wanted to go to the mine itself, and followed a path up a steep, wooded, mountainside for too long - feeling a bit like the dwarfs in Snow White. But we seemed to be moving closer to a hunting area, and as the rifle shots got louder and closer together, and the forest got denser, we turned round and went back. We'll do the mine another day!

But the main thing we did was visit the wild animal park at Daun and the wolf and eagle park at Kasselburg. There are lots more photos to see here.

We spent a day in an adventure forest, too, but I forgot the camera, and took photos on my mobile phone - If I can download them I'll post again later in the week. There were some good shots of Jolanda and John on high wires 40 meters up - I had to stay on the ground to take the photos of course!

We went to some great restaurants, Marikas Stuebchen served 400gram steaks and 300 gram schitzels!


And wine from their own vineyards!

After eating there we felt a bit like this!

woensdag 9 juli 2008

getting paid to write!


I should not be blogging today, I have an assignment deadline!
I've been looking for freelance work for a few months now, and its been a steep learning curve. I'm registered on several internet sites as a freelance writer: They all work in a similar fashion; there are project providers, and service providers. A project is posted, and service providers are allowed to bid for the project. If your bid is accepted and you are awarded the work, you pay the site from the fee you receive at the end of the project.
There are masses of jobs, and loads of bidders; Its a global market and it is not easy pitching your bid at a level that beats writers in other parts of the world who are happy work for a few USD per article.
I was amazed that I got my latest bid accepted, but I'm now in the middle of writing a mini guide on getting out of debt! Its aimed at the UK market so maybe I have an advantage.
That is exciting enough, but today I finally heard from Expatica that my article has been published on their site - with a link to my (other) blog so that's really great too. Heres the link -
I sometimes cannot believe that I actually write and get paid for it. Although I'm still in the "starving in a garret" category of writers!


maandag 7 juli 2008

Welcome to Aleksandra


We've waited for so long for this moment, our newest family member, Aleksandra (Saschie - I think thats spelled correctly).
Penny and Detmar brought her home this weekend from Russia and this is our first photo of her since she was adopted officially.
We wish you lots of love and happiness in Berlin, Saschie!