Stef's Photobucket: July 2006

2006-06-11 Take Me to the Beach

Over the rooftops of Hannover, a new bar has opened. Though it hasn't access to any water, it is a beach-bar.

Showing off my white belly. Not to mention the winter-flab.

Nicky's playing in the sand. We tried to build a little castle, but the sand wasn't sticky enough and we didn't want to waste our beer to wet it.

My right foot © Sven (who really takes beautiful pictures, as can be seen here).

2006-06-07 Business Trip to Holland

Our last year's business trip took us to Sweden, where we were entertained by Svensson. This time we "only" went to Holland, where we visited different horticultural companies. The only company that would really have interested me due to my work with plant cultures, Anthura didn't allow us into their labs. So, we were shown their greenhouses with all those ugly Anthurium plants.

First stop in Holland: Drinking "Koffie" at the gas station.

A CHP.

We didn't trust the local specialities, some croquettes with undefined filling, and prefered eating at a Chinese restaurant.

Our trip to Anthura didn't take as much time as we'd expected, so we enjoyed the sun at the local beach-bar.

Another greenhouse. Now I know where our tomatoes are grown. And cucumbers. I HATE cucumbers.

2006-05-13 My Couch

This year, my tax refund sufficed for a new couch. After having searched all close-by furniture stores for something beautiful and inexpensive, I found a couch in ebay. It took a while for it to arrive... the truck broke on the first delivery date. I "hired" some folks to carry the couch. Sebastian and I carried the first two pieces on our own, but the third and biggest piece took five persons and 30 minutes to reach my living-room.

Finally, we can chill on the couch. Get on board, fellows!

After all this drudgery, my co-workers are invited to feast on home-made pan-pizza and cocktails.

2006-05-10 Biergarten

Enjoying one of the first beautiful days of this year, we met at the "Biergarten".

A part of my "clique": Sebastian, Nicky, Sven, an unknown Bavarian, Basti, Moni.

Ain't she sweet?

Another Sebastian in a typical German pose: Drinking B-E-E-R.

2006-05-06 A Geeky Birthday

A friend of Sebastian's, Michael, celebrated his birthday in his tiny student's room. This is also the room where they normally have their RPG-meetings. Too cramped for me! Nevertheless, we had a good time at 32°C (90°F) room temperature.

Geeks playing "Chez Geek". "Hey, this game is exactly like my life..."

Happy geeky me.

2006-05-02 In Pinneberg

Alex and I visited my sister in Pinneberg. As we had not seen the twins since hospital, we were surprised they had grown so fast.

Me and tiny Jessica.

Alex, our "bigger" nephews and me.

2006-04-09 Stef's Birthday Party

This year, my birthday was on a Sunday, favorable for a Saturday-Night-Party at my appartment.

Marleen and Hendrik waiting for the other guests to come.

Sebastian, Moritz and Jan, all looking not too happy (there was enough booze, I swear).

I asked everyone to contribute to my birthday-board, writing a short message. A symbol for life's transience: I wiped out the messages a few days later.

2006-04-01 Dresden

My mom invited me and my brother to travel with her to one of Germany's most beautiful cities, Dresden. We spent 3 days there, fearing the flood that reached the city about the same time as we did.

The flood wasn't quite as frightening as propagated on the TV.

Alex in front of the renovated "Frauenkirche".

Enjoying the view after an exhausting climb to top of one of the many churches in Dresden.

2006-03-14 Birth of Jessica an Pascal

Our newest family members were born 1.5 months in advance, quite an excitement for all of us.

The first girl for my sister, Jessica. Wonder how she'll cope with 3 brothers!

Her twin-brother Pascal.

2005-12-31 New Year's Eve

Traditionally, my friends always come over that evening to celebrate it at my house. Normally we eat Raclette, a dinner that is too time-consuming for a day-to-day dinner, but totally OK for New Year's Eve, as waiting for midnight can be quite... boring.

I'm quite famous for blowing food supply at my parties out of all proportions. The left-overs sufficed till the middle of January!

The raclette rotisseries. Basti and Jan waiting for them to heat up.

Another tradition: Melting lead over a flame, pouring the hot metal into water, and interpreting the resulting figures which are suppose to symbolize the coming year.

2005-12-24 Christmas Eve

Skipping some months... Christmas! In Germany, we don't celebrate Christmas Day, but Christmas Eve. So we get our presents earlier, on the 24th. My family always tries to come together on that date, we celebrated at my mom's.

Christmas dinner.

Christmas-tree and presents.

From left to right: My nephew Patrick, my sister Carla (then pregnant), my mom, my nephew Yannick, my brother Alex and me in front of the tree.

Basically the same as above, only my mom missing, substituted by my boyfriend Sebastian

2005-10-16 Maren's Birthday

Not the first time we celebrated my friend Maren's birthday in our favourite disco, the Rockhouse.

My buddy Bastian and me (not the first pic like this).

Maren and some of her "other" friends I don't know that well.

2005-09-12 My boss' birthday

We celebrated the birthday of my boss at the institute. Since I was the newest staff member, I had to plan the party and organize some games.

Showing off my baking and decorating skills. A picture of our institute on a chocolate cake.

2005-09-10 House-Warming Party

Many of my friends helped me to move my stuff into my new appartment (just thinking of disassembling my wardrobe and putting it together again makes me sweat). So, after arranging everything and getting settled, I had them all over to a house-warming party.