Euro 2008

Germany played like poo. That’s all I have to say.

Michelle

Cleaning again…

I thought my place was bad… Matt’s place is worse. It has prompted me to draw up a list of must haves in Tokyo.

1. Dishwasher

2. Decent vacuum cleaner, preferably an automatic one which roams about the place on its own.

3. Less of everything…clothes, crockery, pots, etc….etc…

4. Monstrous plasma TV. This will help the cleaning process by attracting all the dust in the apartment for one-stop cleaning.

5. Central heating. These bar heaters are a bugger to clean!

6. Sink hole in the bathroom floor. Make this area easy to clean. Flood and finish.

7. Sink hole in the kitchen? Do these exist? Same reason as above.

8. Sink hole in the fridge. No comment needed.

9.  Shorter shelving. I just can’t reach without balancing precariously on a wobbly chair. It’s either shorter shelving or glasses for Matt to see what he has missed!

Some of these requirements may be unnecessary if we got a cleaner at least once a week. But really…the apartment will be so small and we are 2 capable adults.

The other solution would be to plastic wrap everything. My dad is a professional at this. Matt was shocked when recently he saw that all of our remote controls at home in Melbourne were shrink-wrapped in plastic. Maybe plastic wrapped furniture is the way to go for 2 grots like us…

The epic “Auf Wiedersehen Duesseldorf” tour.

It all began with my apartment inspection. I am warning all my friends still in Duesseldorf….get a cleaner! Having spent most of the weekend on my hands and knees scrubbing my apartment to get it ready for inspection, my body now aches and I have bruises, cuts and strange skin conditions all over me. Next time I am going to be smarter and just forgo half my bond and give money to someone who will do it. Thanks goes to Chris, Tanja, Isa and Fleur who did their bit to help me get my apartment ready. Did I pass the inspection? Flying colours mate! It was “Sehr schoens” all around. Incredibly surprisingly really considering there is a dodgy burn mark on one of my kitchen walls. Apparently bamboo steamers and electric hot plates don’t go together…

After my award-winning inspection, Tanja and Chris drove me to the hauptbahnhof to catch the train to Lausanne. Thank goodness they were there to help because if you know me well, you know I don’t pack light. Not only did I have my life in one crummy trolley bag with a broken handle (Matt wouldn’t let me buy

the super Samsonite or ravishing Rimowa luggage), I had a mountain bike packed into some tarpaulin, a small but bulging backpack and my handbag. I estimate that the whole lot weighed over 60kg (see photo). This was ok when I had friends, but once I got on the train it was on my own. Amazingly enough, I managed the trip which included a stopover in Basel, in which I had to rebuild my bike and to park it in the train station.

Rebuilding a bike is hard work for someone who has only learned the mechanics of a bike the night before when they had to take it all apart. It makes it even more nerve racking when you have an audience of beer drinkers watching your every move. Here I was in Basel train station, losing bolts and washers as I try desperately to put my bike back together. In the end, I was covered with grease and dirt but I managed to make it look right. So when the bike parking manager helped me wheel it into the parking lot (why was he sitting behind the desk when I had to put the bike together???) and the back wheel didn’t spin, did I laugh or what! Lucky for me, the beer drinkers were all too drunk to notice. That, or they were being polite as they were Swiss.

So as I’m finally rolling into Lausanne, all I was hoping for was to get into Matt’s car and drive home. Ha! Matt “I don’t want to lose my carpark” Plummer decided that it was best to leave the car where it was and walk down to pick me up. His punishment? To manage the crummy 40+kg trolley bag on public transport. Now he has red raw hands too.

Preparations, preparations

So its getting closer now. Michelle has officially finished work and will be leaving Germany this week! She is going to visit me here in Lausanne for a day or 2 then she is off to Lisbon to visit Dave & Annie. Me?

I have another bloody week of work left…126 reports to write….a small mountain of paperwork to prepare for the incoming staff and a set to finish building for a school play…then I’m off to Basel to run a 5 day workshop for MYP Teachers….not that I’m complaining (much) tho. Just counting the days. We have both got inspections on our apartments, bureaucratic hoops to jump through to leave Europe and Japanese hoops to negotiate to get in. Wish us luck with our red tape tangle!

I cant wait for our little cycle tour. “Black Forest to the Black Sea” (not that we will get even close to doing it all, but it sounds better) Taking my bike into the ‘best bike mechanic in Switzerland’ to get it serviced tomorrow morning. Kinda nervous. I’m told he is a complete “tool” and a jerk by my friend that recommended him. He should be a good judge….(Former Australian Olympic cyclist) and is seriously into his cycling. The mechanic is supposed to be completely anal about cycles…just the guy you want to work on your bike before a long tour. Can not speak a word of English…and my bike has been a bit neglected (not out of the cave for 18 months)…should be fun. Then its a relaxing ride down the Danube. Won’t even need to peddle…just roll…its all down hill. Right? I need this holiday…

ps: Amazing win by Turkey tonight…WOW!

Ohayoo!

Welcome to Tokyo Trouble! We hope that you enjoy our stories about the adventures we have in our new home of Japan. Please post comments if you have any requests, suggestions or anecdotes to add.

We don’t arrive in Tokyo on August 1st, 2008 so you will have to be a little patient for the Tokyo stories. However, this summer we will be riding our bikes along the Danube from Donuaeschingen to Vienna so you can keep up to date with those adventures here as well.

Michelle and Matt