Do you remember...

... the amazing, breath taking nature?

Return of the Salmon at the Salmon River in Salmon Arms

with my hostdad John Smith on a hike up the Blue Mountain Home Road

(view of the Snow Lake)

... the cold winter?
... high school graduation?
... prom?

... the German girls?

... Revelstoke?
and Kelowna?Of course, you do.
And I bet you've got even better pictures than me. Get them out of your closets and scan, upload and share them with us... here on our blog.

bike ride from Cologne to Düsseldorf

while I write this post, I'm still exhausted from the 6-hour-lasting bike ride along the Rhine River and enthusiastic about having met Jan again. Jan is right now on his bike trip from Munic to his hometown Dorsten and I'm on vacation in Germany since August 11th. Weeks ago we planned riding together from Cologne to Düsseldorf. And this morning we met at the famous Kölner Dom. Jan in a professional biker outfit made me appear like a bum. Being a true gentleman he never took off and left me behind but adapted to my pace. We chatted all the way and had a great time.


Keep up the rotary spirit!
We tried and keep trying... nobody knows where there will be our next performance.
Cheers to all of you. Enjoy it:

Hey guys,

as Petra said, it was really increadible to see each other again after 13 years twice within a month. Here I post a few pics of us invading Munich.
Luckily it was Munichs 850th anniversary and during the day we had nice weather so the city presented itself in its best light!!
Here we are downtown on the "Marienpatz". (Juliane, Jan, Petra)


But a visit in Bavaria is no real visit if you do not go in a beergarden. After having breakfast we went straight there and had our first beer of the day. (Jan, Nenad, Petra, Juliane)

On the way to the beergarden we went thru the "English Garden", a park right in the center of Munich. (Jan, Juliane, Petra)

Well, you know, Petra behaved kind of strange so she got arrested. But the flirted with the policeman so bad, that she could escape pretty soon! (unknown cute policeofficer, Petra)

If you now think, that you could visit me in Munich as well, please hurry up cause as life goes on and as Gloria says "Change, when you have the change", Juliane (my girlfriend) and I decided to leave Munich. From October on, Dresden will be our new home. She and me already quit our jobs in Munich and on the 01 October we will already start our new jobs. Dresden is about 500km north-east of Munich about 160km south of Berlin. I already live and work in Munich for 5 years and I decided I need a change. "There is magic in new steps". We will see if it was the right decicion!

Luckily the "Oktoberfest" already starts in September, so we can enjoy this festival for the last time while actually living in Munich.
If you do not get to Munich in time you are very wellcome to visit us in Dresden. Petra and Nenad drive to Croatia on a reagular basis and Dresden is right on their way (even beter than Munich). So hopefully we can wellcome them in our new home next year again!

Hang on guys and keep in touch,

Jan

Coming up!

More good stuff are coming up!

From next friday I will have 3 weeks off from work and then we (me and my boyfriend) will go by car down through Denmark, Germany, Austria, Slovenia with the final destination of Croatia. On the way we will stop by Jan's place and so -from not seeing each other in 13 years we will now meet again in his Country only a couple of week since we got together here in Sweden!

It's gonna be, like Nathan would express it; fucking awesome! =)

I am getting more and more inspired to get out and visit more of you guys! I agree with the words of Santiago -a lot of people has passed through my life, but you guys are truly special! Really, really truly.

Well, so long -keep up contributing to the world with all your great personalities out there!
You'll sure hear more from me, right here on this blogspot!
/ /PETRA

WTF??? I've missed some good stuff...

Holy moly... I've missed a lot of fun lately... I will be printing all your life reviews to read them quietly in bed... and promise to write mine...

Believe me... I've met so many people in the last 14 years... life has taken me, just like all of you, to many different places... but with all honesty, the feeling for you guys is unique, and difficult to explain...

I congratulate Jan who has been so far the most "active" at visiting everybody (except me, of course, :-))....

Love you all and let this story be continued...

Santiago

Some pics from Göteborg

Here Jan & Juliane had just arrived in Göteborg, after I've picked them up from airport and also done some "bonus-driving"...eh...must be due to the chock of seeing each other after such a long time! Here trying out the local communications..taking boat from our apartment to go "downtown".

Then we went on to do something typical swedish, "Fika" in an old part of town, that is having a break just sitting down with coffee and for example "kladdkaka" Me, Jan & Johan (another friend of mine).We also made some sightseeing...mostly spontaneous, like this little take off.. Checking out "systembolaget", that is the only place where you can buy alcoholic beverages in Sweden. Never thought that was a place to show tourists! =) But was actually quite fun!And we went on to some sightseeing on the waters in and around Göteborg...

...I don't know why they're all sitting on the floor though! :-p
Afterwards my boyfriend Nenad met up with us (after a day at work) and we went for some dinner at an Italian Restaurant with swedish-style-pasta. Nenad, Johan, Jan, Juliane.















In the evening we continued to a pub to watch the European Soccer Cup semi final, where Germany was playing Turkey. Of course Germany won (and we were like the only ones cheering for Germany in the whole pub). Unfortunately the interest for the games chilled of quite a bit since Sweden is not in it any more..
Nevertheless, I thought it was really nice just sitting down, cheering for Germany and just talking. We asked a guy at the table next to ours to take our picture...yes indeed, I kinda stole this one from you J&J =)



So here we are: Jan, Juliane, Dennis (childhood friend of mine), me and Nenad






On our way back home after an incredible day of revival! Me and Nenad.



We did have some nice hours the next day as well, before Jan & Juliane went on to Stockholm.

This was such inspiring days (even if they went by so fast) and also just listening to the stories from the trip to Brasil. I really could imagine how much fun it would be to gather up all of us again (or just 4-5 of us at least)! I'd love that! So when will this be arranged..well, you never know.. :)

I'll wait for Jan to write some more and upload some more pics now!

So long, take care all of you guys out there! And keep the old spirit up! //Petra

it's a small, small world!

I just have to write a few lines.. I'm totally filled with happy feelings. I can't really describe in words have awesome it was to meet Jan after all these years! I felt a bit nervous and shaky when I was waiting for him and Juliane to arrive. ..but (for me at least) it turned out really great!

I said it before and I'll say it now again -I am so very fortunate and happy to have met Jan (and all of you guys) in this dream-year of 94-95! You are persons that always, no matter how far apart we are, will be very close to my heart!

Well, I'll write more and also upload some pictures later on. Tomorrow I will go to work as usual again and Jan and Juliane did already continue their swedish journey to and in Stockholm. I hope they enjoyed the stay (both here and in our capital) and - of course the swedish "fika"! =)

So long,
Petra