Some of you may be wondering why I’ve disappeared for the last few weeks. Answer: I have been doing lots of running around (and some travelling). At the end of September, I visited family in Munich, managing at the same time to fit in some sightseeing (and of course Oktoberfest). We didn’t get inside the tents at the big O, since it appears they fill rather early in the day, and once you leave they won’t let you back in (if it’s full). We also spent quite some time wandering around trying to find a seat in the beer gardens outside the tents, since the Rules say that they’re not allowed to serve you a beer unless you have a seat. But eventually we found a seat and a beer (and a couple of Aussie soldiers on leave from Iraq). Was also rather impressed by the Olympic Park in Munich, possibly partly because my comparison is Homebush (100km out of town, and therefore deserted). Lots of greenery, nice lakes, stadiums (stadia?) etc that were in constant use, and lots and lots of people wandering around and making use of the public areas. Mind you, this is 15 minutes out of town on the U-bahn, instead of (see Sydney) over an hour, give or take a few train changes. (High-density living. Heh.)

Upon returning to Saarbrücken, I had a day to unpack, do laundry, clean up, etc, and then the following Monday I took receipt of R at the station, who has arrived after the usual 20+ hours on a plane plus train plus whatever to write a PhD at uni. Since then, we have: opened a bank account, signed a lease, registered at the town hall, enrolled at uni (a process taking several days and uncountably many secretaries, until we asked the International Office who told us what to write in which box and then took the form and enrolled us), bought kitchen appliances and a washing machine, and spent half a fortune at Ikea (the apartment is pretty large, but somewhat empty. Sans kitchen. Or ceiling lights.) Nice big strong men will come tomorrow and carry everything up the stairs. (We hope that’s what they mean by “delivery”. I don’t like the idea of us carrying it all upstairs ourselves.)

This last weekend, because R had been noticing the distinct lack of a holiday between submitting her masters thesis (the previous Friday) and starting her PhD thesis (last Monday), we spent two nights in a little town called Bacharach in the middle Rhine valley, which has as its main attractive features that it is surrounded by vineyards and small wineries, and that the youth hostel is housed in the (somewhat rebuilt) ruins of the castle. Saturday and Sunday were then spent variously tasting wines, eating lots of very good food, visiting the Federweisser festival, and walking up and down and up and down the track to the youth hostel. On Sunday we took one of the cruise ships along the Rhine to St. Goar, where we then looked at the ruins of Burg Rheinfels, the largest castle on the Middle Rhine, as well as the Teddy Bear And Doll Museum. We then bought some bottles (of various things we had tasted or drunk with a meal throughout the weekend), and caught the train home.

This coming Monday, lectures start at uni. I have also in between all this been chasing up some seminars (after learning my lesson last semester by missing out on one), and juggling a timetable together so I can pick my subjects next week. Once that is over, life might take on a slightly more normal pace again, and people who try to catch me might actually have a chance again…