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

Hey boys and girls,
in less than 19 hours, Petra will pick me up at the airport in Göteborg! Just incredible!
Again, like in Brasil, my girlfriend Juliane will accompany me.
I just added one of my favourit pics from Brasil. It just showed the easyness, we feld, when Gloria, Saskia (a friend of Gloria and now as well ours), Juliane, Douglas and I met again after 13 years.

Now, that I am already downloading pics, here is another really nice one. Well, it was put up at the top. No problem!!

When I come back from Sweden I hope, that I can put in some nice onces of Petra and me as well! And then I hope I find some time for writing down my biography of the last 13 years!

Hope you are all doing fine!!

Jan

LONG TIME

It's actually been 13 years since that last summer of our exchange-year. I remember that year and that last summer as, in a way, a distant dream. Somehow parallell to the rest of my life! And in another way as one of the most important years of my life. Somehow the one year I started to grow up. So did these last 13 years make me grow up?

In a way yes, I now experienced a bit more of life as a grown up. I finished high school back home. Those two last years of high school at home was actually also quite intense for me. I came back to my hometown. To my home. And I felt so much at home. In a way. It felt like nothing, really nothing happened, although me myself felt so changed and filled with energy. It was hard and I missed my exchange life. I loved seeing my old friends. I loved seeing my family and specially my grandmother who is a very special person in my life. I loved getting home to my dog! I loved getting back to school, just because I was so motivated to get on with my life. I also experienced so much pain. Because I was coming back to a family break up. My parents were getting divorced. My brother was doing his military service and was away both physically and mentally...in a way. In a way my world was falling a part. I felt like nobody really had the energy to listen and help me back to some sort of normal life. My loved grandmom was having problem with health. My life at home was in small parts wonderful and in big ways a life of yelling, conflicts and lots of tears. I started dividing my life into two parts. One wonderful last two years of high school, were I wanted to live life fully and enjoy it out loud. I did. One other part were I was trying to survive (emotionally) and not hurt and get hurt to much. I tried to write down my feelings just not to get crazy. Worked a bit!

After these two years I moved along to study 1300 km away from my hometown in the southern part of the country. Along with me I took a boyfriend, which I realized afterwards, was just because I didn't want to be lonely. Not a good base for a relationship, and I will not repeat that! We went different ways after a nasty break up from my side. Anyway. I struggled with the questions of the meaning with life and what I wanted to do of it. Somehow I've been through math studies, automation engineering, different boyfriends, different organisations and sports (actually even played soccer for a while.....that's just NOT me!) and ended up with knowing this was not what I really wanted. Quit University. Took a bunch of different only-in-it-for-the-money-jobs. Lived as a single and shared an old apartment with another girl in the central parts of our city. Went back to my passion from the exchange year -running. Started feeling happy and harmonic. Started working with IT-support. Met a boy I liked, but really didn't want to get involved. Got involved. Realized I wanted to work with system development. Moved in with that boy! Went back to University. Worked and studied. Studied and worked. Practiced long distance running. Started practice climbing. Quit my support job. Started looking for jobs I really, really wanted. Got one! Moved along to a totally new apartment with that same boy. And this is pretty much were you can find me now! Feeling really happy with life again! At least most of the days!

I've also been through a lot with my family. I now have a pretty good relationship with all of them. Wasn't always like that these last 13 years. I went through the death of my grandfathers. And my special grandmother passed away the days before my 30th birhtday. But I've also went through amzing years with these people and my grandmom that always been supporting me and my brother and learned me so much about a lot, specially love. I've got amazing friends that actually stuck with me through my confused years were I've partly been, I guess, strange. I've started to relax and accept myself more and more. I've started learning croatian, since my boyfriend comes from Croatia and I want to be able to speak the language when we're there visiting! I also just love learning stuff in general and about new cultures and people specially. Never lost that curiosity! I actually asked my boyfriend if we could go and live in Croatia for a couple of years...he's not as excited about it, but anyway! Guess if the economy of the country were a bit better...

To finish this. Did I grow up? In a way yes, because I've been through some more of life and know a bit more of who I am. But in another way no, because I've never quit dreaming and playing and learning. And I guess I will never ever be really finished with who I really am! And in that way never really grow up totally...

Getting back to here and now. It's evening. It's swedish summer. It's raining and really windy outside. I gotta go to work tomorrow. AND: most exciting right now -in not even two days JAN and his girlfriend will arrive here! And I haven't seen him in all those years. (Only ones from our year I've met afterwards is Virginie and Valerie. Virginie -come over to the west coast and visit!)

I'll be back here writing again. Hope you guys would write something as well!
So long...to steal the words of Jan:
Hang on,
Petra

Test

come on!

What's up with you guys?
I'm waiting for interesting articles about your life after Rotary...

...so I'm going to start - maybe that gets you going.
Here's a summary of my 13 years after Rotary:

After returning to Germany I finished German Highschool (another two years). It sucked. I found it very difficult to reintegrate into my old class and into family life. I wanted everyone to realize and acknowledge that I had changed, that I had grown up. I must have behaved pretty arrogant - isolating myself from my old friends and desperately longing for my own life - somewhere far away. So, I worked besides school at the cashdesk of a supermarket and saved money for another year abroad.
After finishing highschool I joined a danish NGO called UFF (danish) or Humana (german) or DAPP (english) or ADPP (portuguese). I went on a six month preparation course in Fakse, Sydsjaelland, Denmark. We were 17 students from all over Europe and Japan. It felt like an extended Rotary weekend and I loved it... besides those strange rules of the organization. They made us collect money in the streets what they called fundraising. So I spent a few winter nights on the streets of Copenhagen selling roses and feeling like a street child. I guess that was the appropriate preparation for my later job in Mozambique. And I learned to hate the danish language (sorry, Thomas and Luisa!). The six month in Denmark were very hard and most of my teammembers/classmates gave up; in the end of the course we were only three.
The three of us went to Maputo, Mozambique. I worked in a street childrens town in a suburb of fishermen, Bairro dos Pescadores, in the north of Maputo. Much more than how I had disliked Denmark I loved Mozambique. I loved the children in the Childrens Town, their smiles and laughter. I loved the strange sounds of the local languages, Maxangane e Maronga, I loved the spicy food, the red soil, the small huts, the fisher boats with those huge sails. I loved the colorful capulanas which women wear around their waste over their skirts, on their head and around their shoulders, in which they carry their babies or goods that they bring to the market or take home from the fields. I loved the way of life, an open air life: everything happens outside, cooking, eating, taking a bath, washing clothes, taking a nap, ... everything but sleeping at night. I loved the overloaded "chapas" - pick-up trucks or vans used for the transportation of people, animals and all kinds of commodities. I loved the chaos, the dirt, the noise, the simplicity. I wanted this life. But I didn't want it enough to stay.
I also wanted to study. I returned to Germany and started to study economics, political economy and political science at the University of Cologne (Köln). And I started to work as a callcenter agent in order to finance my rent, food, books, parties, ... and my husband. I had been crazy and in love enough to marry. I got to know Raúl in Mozambique. He came to Germany about a year later and we stayed married for exactly three difficult years. Just before messing up both of our lifes, we split up. That was in summer 2003, Europes hottest summer of the past five centuries, and the summer of my 25th birthday.
The 26th year of my life I spent partying and travelling. I spent the turn of the year in the States visiting my former hostfamilies in Leavenworth and experiencing a huge déjà vu. And right after my 26th birthday I commited myself to a new relationship. I met Robson in Lisbon. He is Brazilian and had been working already for five years as a grafic designer in Portugal. We started a very-very-long-distance-relationship between Cologne and Lisbon and got to meet every two month for about two weeks. All other days of the year, we met on the phone and in the www. We dreamt of our life together: a house, a dog and family, simple life without material luxury. Robson found a place in Brazil called Vila da Glória: Affordable real estate at the coast of southern Brazil, a fishers village, beautiful nature, simple life, ... all we wanted - it seemed. So we booked our flights, cancelled our contracts (work, rent, telephone, etc...), packed our suitcases and left Europe on the 16th of Octobre, 2006.
I remember how happy I was sitting next to the man I loved on our flight into the future. I adored listening to him talking about his country that he hadn't seen since five years. He explained every little thing and was fascinated about changes and thrilled with everything that hadn't changed. Accompanying him was as if I would return as well. And everything which was completely new to me got painted in the colors of his memory. We married in his hometown Londrina where we had spent the first two month. And then we travelled south. We found our house in the Vila da Glória, adopted one dog after the other and opened a Cyber Cafe in this village of fishermen (aka: digital inclusion). I taught English, Robson taught basic computer skills. I started to write articles about the Brazilian economy for the german office for foreign trade, Robson started to work as a Shiatsu-massagist. He had switched his profession during the two years of our long-distance-relationship. Everything worked out well, besides our feeling for each other. I can't explain it because I still don't understand and wonder if I ever will. He lost his passion for me, that's what he said... So what do you do in such cases? Question without standard answers are tricky, or maybe not? Our solution was separation - after one year of marriage and two days before christmas 2007.
So here I am: Almost thirty and for the second time divorced, owner of a house and a cyber cafe and holder of three dogs in a fishers village in southern Brazil, an aunt that never saw her niece who's walking already in the streets and playgrounds of Berlin, a stranger that had found great new friends that make her feel at home... So what do you do in such cases? Do you change direction when you lose your orientation? Maybe, but which direction do you chose?
I'm enjoying my life as it is. It's a present, a pleasure, a miracle.

Ahhh... here are some pictures of me and how I live... www.rose-oliveira.blogspot.com
I gotta update my Blog more often, I know, but lately I've been so busy living that there was no time for documenting it.

just accept the invitation (after creating a google account for your emailaddress) and start writing as an author

wanna become a blog author?

... just send an email to exchange94-95@hotmail.com and ask for an invitation.

Post pictures of your life today and from back then, write about yourself, about your thoughts and feelings towards this one year abroad or just about anything you want to share.

revival in Brazil

March 2008

Jan (of course, you do remember Jan Pape from Germany)
and his girlfriend Juliane came to Brazil.
(In the background you can see the feet of Cristo Redentor)

They met Douglas (Douglas Oliveira from Brazil)

and his girlfriend and family in Barra Mansa/Rio de Janeiro.

And together they visited Gloria (formerly Gloria Rose from Germany)
who lives in São Francisco do Sul, Southern Brazil,

in order to pose with strange figures like in good old Disneyland times

and for other important things in life.

13 years ago

.. we were between 16 and 20 years old.
A group of students on their exchange year in Washington and British Columbia - ambassadors of countries from all over the world on an important mission: achieving better communication and understanding between cultures by building bridges, friendships across borders, oceans and political or religious conflicts. That was the idea, and back then we even might have matched this ideal - in a subtle way... Anyways, we definitely had a lot of fun and unforgettable moments together.
It's a small world. And today, 13 years later, it still is.

This blog is about us - who we once were and who we are now - and the undestroiable bonds between us.