Christmas Greetings

A very merry Christmas and a very happy New Year to one and all!

I'm still alive, but with the changes in my job, I have very little free time, and therefore haven't blogged. Lots has happened - I gained a stomach ulcer, which is now healed.  The Juniorette is doing really well at school, and still doing lots of swimming, football and guitar playing. Currently she is quite into ice skating.

The garden continues to develop, but due to time constraints Mrs H has now taken over the lawn mowing duties which I am very thankful about. I haven't made any resolutions for the New Year, but perhaps I'll blog a bit than I have done lately.

Captain of the team

Earlier this week the Juniorette had the plaster removed from her broken arm. The X-ray was good but the doctors decided she has to wear a splint for the next 10 days. Once this is removed she can start some light swimming, but no vigorous swim training for should be attempted for a while. The doctors also said she should not play football for a couple of months. Hopefully she can start some light training with the girl's team in a few weeks, but competitive games with the boy's team that she plays for will have to wait until her arm is 100% again.

She is naturally disappointed about this, especially as she has missed the start of the football season. Her team is now in the E-Jugend, and now plays in a league rather then playing tournaments. But her spirits improved immensely when her team trainer told her that she is the captain of the team, even if she is out of the side injured for the foreseeable future. Personally I think it's a good decision for the team as she is a good defender, with a good overview of the game, and likes telling people what to do! :)

Unlucky break

Last week the Juniorette broke her lower right arm. She fell off a rope swing at the local summer day camp. As they were in the woods at the time one of the helpers had to carry her through the woods and fields to the ambulance, which couldn't get any closer because of the terrain. She was very brave about it despite the shock. The break was quite bad which resulted in a lot of swelling. This meant that the Juniorette had to stay in the hospital for 3 days. Fortunately she was then allowed home and didn't have to have an operation to put a plate in her arm as was originally feared.

She is doing well, and is reading a lot of Harry Potter (she is now on the 4th book), although she is missing swimming and playing football. She has adapted quite well to using her left hand; probably a lot better than me, if I broke my right arm. School starts again in a weeks time, so she has tried a few times to write with her left hand. Hopefully in 4-5 weeks time the plaster can be removed and life for her will get back to normal.

My pride and joy

The Juniorette of late has been a very busy bee. She is still swimming 3 times a week, and is now football training 3 times a week. Twice with her normal team, and now once a week with an all girls team. She is really enjoying it all. Last weekend was her last football tournament as an F1 player, in a couple of weeks she becomes an E-Jugend player. She really is becoming a very good defensive player, and has a pretty hard tackle which surprises a lot of the boys.

Last weekend the Juniorette also competed in the Berirksmeisterschaften Bezirk West 2008 (West Hessen) Swim meet in Dillenburg. She improved her times in all the events she competed in, and in her age group she came 4^th in 50m backstroke and 5^th in the 200m breaststroke.

To top the week off she has just found out her results for her school report. All 1’s with two 2’s. She’s rather pleased with herself and, we are very proud of her. Next week we are off on holiday for 2 weeks to Mallorca. This holiday is really needed, and I believe relaxation will be top of the agenda along with lots of snorkelling and swimming. Only a few more years to go and then the Juniorette will be old enough to learn to Scuba dive – I just wonder if I’ll be able to squeeze back into my wetsuit then :)

Still alive & kicking

Since I have become a normal day worker, my time management has gone to pot. How people manage their lives with only 2 days off a week, I will never know, but as Mrs H says, I need to adapt. One of the consequences of so little free time has been my lack of blogging – both reading and writing. The Juniorette has had a lot of football tournaments in May which has eaten up a lot of my weekend time, and all my garden projects have been rather time consuming. Somehow I still have to find time to relax. This upcoming weekend is taken up with a football tournament on Saturday and a swimming competition on Sunday. I need more hours in day. Too much to do, and too little time to do it in.

I’ve just got to learn to manage my time a bit better, which I will do, and I will have to set aside some time for blogging, and if I don’t finish my garden projects this summer, it doesn’t really matter – there is always next year. The upside to all of this, is that I now get to see the Juniorette at all her sporting events, which really does make me quite happy.

Above is a photo of the the Juniorette & I when we were both a bit younger!

Sick as a parrot

The last couple weeks the Haddock house has been struck down with flu. I am fortunately back on the road to full health, but Mrs H is still quite affected by the illness. The Juniorette was lucky, she had an intense 48 hour version which was over quite quickly and didn’t interfere with her week at football school in Frankfurt. Once again she really enjoyed her time there and is looking forward to attending again later in the year.

As many of you know, I am a shift worker and have been so for the last 24 years, but starting next month my own personal nightmare is coming true – I have to work normal days, 9 to 5. I work for an American company (I have worked for a few), and management have decided to outsource the shift element of our job to an eastern European country. For many reasons, which I will not go into here, it is a bad decision. But the decision is made. All I can do now is watch the wheels fall off.

But on a brighter note, I have planted my Tomato seeds for this year and they have already sprouted in the seed tray. Later this week I will plant the Bell pepper seeds.

Step into the seasons

Last weekend the Juniorette was on stage at the Marburg Stadthalle with her dance school performing in a show called Step into the seasons. The Juniorette's group performed in the Autumn section and were dancing as foxes. She loves being on stage and had a lot of fun. Mrs H and I attended both shows, with family and friends also attending for the Saturday performance.

I wouldn't consider myself as a lover of theater or dancing - It's just not my thing, but I really did like this show. I was impressed with the quality of the singing, dancing and general professionalism of the whole arrangement.

The Juniorette was considering that she may stop dance school after the show, as she has so many appointments in the week, but I suspect she may have changed her mind. Personally I think the dancing nicely compliments her other sports of football and swimming.

Below is the Juniorette still wearing her fox makeup a few hours after the show

Saving Leon

In addition to the Juniorettes swimming training, she still attends Swimming club on a Friday evening. She sees it as a fun time, but lately a couple of older boys have been giving her and Leon (a school friend) a hard time. It came to a head last week when one of the older boys grabbed Leon’s hair and ducked him under water. After 10 seconds or so the Juniorette kicked the older boy as hard as she could in the bollocks. He immediately let go of Leon, who could then thankfully breathe, and then chased the Juniorette, who easily out swam him.

She reported the incident to her swimming instructors who concluded that the boy deserved the kick for his actions. It seems that these older kids have been causing a bit trouble for some time. I was really proud of my daughter. I have always taught her to stand up for herself and for her friends, and that sometimes violence needs to be used to resolve a situation. Don’t start trouble, but be prepared to finish it.

The busy guitar girl

The Juniorettes already busy schedule has become even busier of late. She started having guitar lessons a couple of months ago and she is really enjoying it. She is currently learning to play Perfekte Welle which was a hit for her favourite band Juli, and requires daily practice. Most of her weekends are currently taken up with rehearsals for the show that her dance school will be performing at the Marburg Stadthalle next month. And to top it off her swimming trainer recently enquired if the Juniorette would like to do another training session per week. We had to politely refuse, as with all her other commitments, it hard for her to find time just to chill out and relax. Hopefully after the dance show life won’t be quite so hectic for her.

The Italian Alps

One of the disadvantages of shift work is that I quite often have to work on public holidays. Last year I worked Christmas day and Boxing Day, which really isn’t a problem as Christmas is celebrated on the 24^th here in Germany and I was off work on that day. For the New Year we spent a couple of days in Munich followed by a week in Süd Tirol in the Italian Alps. I found Munich really quite interesting and was rather pleased to find a Bayern Munich fan shop in the centre of town. By pure coincidence I happened to be wearing a Werder Bremen scarf. A photo was a natural formality.

On New years day we headed south through Austria and via the Brenner Pass into Italy. Our destination was the Sarntal Valley where with had rented a house on a farm along with family members Deepblue, Mr Blue and Boyblue. We had a wonderful relaxing week, with really good company and excellent food. The weather varied from lots of snow to clear blue skies. We visited Bozen to see the Otzi exhibition which we all enjoyed. It’s weird to see a 5000 year old corpse. The Juniorette and her cousin were learning to ski most days and after 5 lessons the Juniorette skied down from the top of the mountain with her ski instructor. This included a black run. Mrs H and her sister were on skis for the first time in 20 years and both did very well indeed. Rather then risk broken bones Mr Blue and I decided on filming events instead, although I have promised the Juniorette that I will learn to ski next year.

The week was over far too quickly. The Juniorette loved sledging every day and feeding the chickens & ducks on the farm. The farm house was built totally from wood and great to stay in. I think it’s safe to say we will be going back again next year.

The Winter Break

Last Saturday the Haddock family ventured north to Bremen to watch Werder play Bayer Leverkusen in the last Bundesliga game before the winter break. It was a cold day and we wrapped up warm but we still got pretty cold by the end of the day. But it didn’t matter as we saw a great game of football. It didn’t start so well, as Leverkusen took the lead, but the Weser Stadium erupted when Ivan Klasnic equalised. Bremen then made two early substitutions and then their standard of play really picked up.

The second half saw Werder Bremen step it up a gear. Some exciting football was played and the hosts came out on top winning 5-2. The hero of the day was Klasnic who is back in the team after having a kidney transplant earlier this year and he got on the score sheet twice. This result means Werder are in 2^nd place in the Bundesliga on equal points with Bayern Munchen going into the winter break.

After the game we walked into town to visit the Christmas market. It was without doubt the best one I have visited so far in Germany. We had a nice time having a look around and the Juniorette bought herself a couple of little items. Eventually, when we were too cold we headed back to the car and then south back to Marburg. It was a great day out.

Girls wanted

On Saturday the Juniorette attended a football event in Offenbach, which is near Frankfurt. It was the Girls Wanted Nikolaus Cup for girls aged between 8 & 14 years old. The event was arranged by Louise Hanson (who also runs the 1.FFC Frankfurt football school) and was attended by 160 soccer mad girls. It was held in an indoor hall and was split into two sessions, divided by lunch. In the morning session the girls were divided up into groups which then rotated through the 14 training stations. Then in the afternoon the tournament session began, with each child player 4 games.

The whole event was very well organised and the kids had a lot of fun. Renate Lingor (member of this years Women’s world Cup winning team) was on microphone to commentate on events and provide instructions. Several other 1.FFC Frankfurt players were in attendance too as trainers and Conny Pohlers made an appearance dressed as Nikolaus.

The mix between training and tournament was about spot on, and the Juniorette was very happy that her group attained first place for her age group in the training stations. What made me happy was the quality of football. If this event was anything to go by then Germany has an up and coming talent pool that other countries would have a problem rivalling.

A day of football

Wednesday was a day of total football. We picked the Juniorette up straight from school and then headed down to Frankfurt to catch the second half of 1.FFC Frankfurt v WFC Rossiyanka in the quarter final of the women’s UEFA cup. Frankfurt won the tie 2-1 against their Russian counterparts and now advance to the semi final. After the game the Juniorette went autograph hunting and I managed to get a couple of photos of her and some of the players.

In the top photo she is with Steffi Jones who has recently been made President of the organising committee for the next women’s world cup which will be held in Germany in 2011. The middle photo shows the Juniorette with 1.FFC and German national team player Kerstin Garefrekes.

Later we went to an Italian restaurant to eat and warm up, and then drove out to the Commerzbank Arena to watch Germany play out a rather dull goalless draw with Wales in a Euro 2008 qualifying game. The stadium was sold out, and reality of the situation was that Germany had already qualified for the finals next summer. They didn’t play bad, but they didn’t play good either. This resulted in a lot whistling in the second half to signal the crowd’s dissatisfaction. The Welsh fought hard and fully deserved the point. But as I explained to the Juniorette later, to truly appreciate a very good game you have to occasionally experience mediocre ones.

The Welsh fans cheered when they heard the result of the England game. England lost against Croatia and therefore have failed to qualify for next summers European Championship. I think with hindsight this will prove to be a good thing. England have good players but consistently crap management. It’s not just the coaching staff, but the Football Association committee as well. It’s time for some sweeping changes. I just hope someone has got the balls to make them.

Happy Faces

On Saturday the Juniorette had another swim meet. This time it was held in Darmstadt and she was swimming with her partially sighted training team mates in the Hessische & Thüringische Schwimm- Meisterschaften 2007 for disabled swimmers. The Juniorette was the only non disabled swimmer at the meet. She loved travelling there on the team bus and had a really great day. She improved her times over 25m & 50m breaststroke and competed for the first time in the 100m event.

The competitors consisted of physically and mentally disabled swimmers and everyone was overcoming some sort of challenge to swim in the heats. For me the highlight of the day was the medal ceremony. I don’t believe I have ever seen so many truly happy and joyous faces in my life. This was the first swim meet I have ever attended and it was a very relaxed event. The Juniorettes swim team felt like an extended family, but Mrs H did point out that the non disabled swim meet she attended a few weeks ago was a lot more manic.

The Juniorette really enjoyed herself and the organisers even arranged a certificate and a medal for her, so she wouldn’t feel left out.

The first Swim meet

Yesterday the Juniorette attended her first Swim meet. She has wanted to do this for a very long time. Her trainer had arranged that her first competitive swim would be in Marburg, so that she didn’t have the added stress of a big journey to contend with. She was quite apprehensive before meet and was quite anxious that she may be disqualified if she didn’t perform the dives and turns correctly.

She swam 25m & 50m Breaststroke and 25m & 50m Freestyle and wasn’t disqualified (which she was very happy about!). She attained first place in the 25m & 50m Breaststroke, 2nd in 50m Freestyle, and 3rd in 25m Freestyle. As it was her first meet she was in the first timers group, but in subsequent meets she will be allocated to races where her fellow swimmers have comparable times.

I wasn’t able to attend the swim meet as I had to work, but I did see a very happy and proud girl when I returned home. There is a further meet at the end of the month and hopefully I will be able to attend then.

Technorati Tags: Marburg, Swimming, Juniorette

Return of the Trick Cyclist

I finally got round to filming the Juniorette on her unicycle. The result is shown above. She now needs to start to learn how to juggle and a career in the circus is on the cards.

It was a sad week for the Juniorette as she learnt that her school teacher and head mistress will be leaving her school next February. There were a lot of tears as the Juniorette really likes her. It’s such a shame as she really is a great teacher and has great control of the kids. She also loves to speak English, which is very handy for me.

Later today the Juniorette will be playing football for her team in a tournament, and next weekend she will be taking part in her first swimming competition. For both events I will be working. Such is life

Technorati Tags: Marburg, Unicycle, Juniorette

The Birthday Girl

Last week the Juniorette turned 9 years old. A few days earlier we celebrated with our family and the Juniorette’s Godparents in a local restaurant. The weather was kind to us and everyone had a nice time. On the actual date of her birthday we took the Juniorette and a group of her friends to Giessen by train to visit Mathematikum. This is a science museum for kids. The staff prepared a birthday table for the Juniorette and then showed the kids round. They participated in a rally and had to track down the answers to the questions in the museum. After being fed and watered we headed back to Marburg by train.

The kids had a great time and all really enjoyed the train trip. Not sure if the other passengers enjoyed it as they were very loud. But birthdays are meant to be loud when you are 9 years old.

The Juniorette’s favourite present was her new Werder Bremen (away kit) football shirt (see photos) embossed with the name of her favourite player . She has worn it to football training already and I am slowly realising that she is amassing a little stockpile of footy shirts (8 at the last count!).

She had a great birthday and really enjoys celebrating it twice; once with her family and once with her friends, but I wonder how many years that will last?

Technorati Tags: Mathematikum, Football, Giessen, Juniorette

Womens World Cup

The Women’s football World Cup 2007 has been underway in China for the last 5 days. All of the favourite teams have done well so far, and Germany (see team photo) broke a few records by destroying Argentina 11-0 in the opening game. Earlier today Germany fought out a goal less draw with England which was a fair result. This means if both teams win their respective last matches then they will both be through to the knockout stages of the competition.

It appears that the Chinese had been spying on the Danish team prior to the match between the two countries in which China won 3-2. One incident included Chinese men with cameras hiding behind a one way mirror in a room where the Danish team were holding a discussion about tactics for the upcoming game. The Danes reported the incident to police and FIFA and it has been consequently decided that no more action will be taken - Intriguing stuff.

The Haddock family were disappointed that Louise Hanson did not play for Denmark against China as we have met her several times when the Juniorette has attended football school in Frankfurt. Hopefully she will play in the game tomorrow against New Zealand.

Technorati Tags: Louise Hanson, Football, Germany, Juniorette

Kinderkirchentag zum Elisabethjahr

This year marks the 700^th anniversary of the birth of Elisabeth von Thüringen and Marburg has been running lots of events this year to celebrate the event. One of these events is the Kinderkirchentag which is being held in the Elisabethkirche (St Elisabeth’s church) next Saturday 15^th September. The local newspaper ran a competition several months ago for children to draw a picture of Elisabeth. The winning picture would then be used for the flyers and posters to publicise the event. The Juniorette won and shown below is the resultant flyer.

St Elisabeth was famous for helping the poor and needy and was canonized in 1235. The Elisabethkirche was consecrated in 1238 and was the property of the Order of Teutonic Knights. It once housed the remains of St Elisabeth, and is reputed to be the oldest Gothic church in Germany.

Mrs H and the Juniorette will be attending the Kinderkirchentag on Saturday but unfortunately I have to work.

Technorati Tags: Marburg, Elisabethkirche, Juniorette

Luxembourg of the south

We spent the last weekend in Switzerland visiting friends in Bern. They have recently moved to Bern from Marburg and seemed to have settled in very well. We had a wonderful time with them and we were very impressed with the city of Bern. You could definitely see that the Swiss were not involved in the world wars as there was an impressive amount of old buildings. I particularly like the river Aar that flows through as the city. It flows quite fast and is green in colour. I was surprised to see people swimming in it – or rather getting carried along by the current. Drownings are not unknown. Due to its geography, Bern reminded both Mrs H and I of Luxembourg.

We also visited the little zoo, which the Juniorette rather liked, the Bärengruben, which housed a couple of sorry looking bears, and the Rosengarten which over looks the city. Here we managed to find 2 types of rose that we have in our garden at home. The dialect of the Bernese I found interesting and very hard to understand. It was a bit like what the Wurzels would sound like if they tried to speak German.

The weather was very good for our stay and that meant we were able to see the Alps from Bern which really impressed the Juniorette. She has a thing about mountains. I think perhaps she may have watched too many episodes of Heidi on kids TV.

Technorati Tags: Switzerland, Bern, Juniorette