Europe on a Budget tip 5: Flea Markets!!!!

Posted on 18 June 2011 by amandalindsey

While they don’t really do op-shops here (charity/ 2nd hand shops if you’re reading from the UK) they certainly do flea markets!

This morning I headed down to the Flohmarkt with a friend and in search of a bike. I know that this is a sensitive topic, the word on the street is that most of the bikes there are stolen. I had a bit of an internal struggle about this but my fears were set aside with the fact that there’s little you can do about it and when your bike is stolen you go back to the flea market to by another one anyway. Someone else suggested I ‘consider it a rental’ which is right really, the bikes are very cheap and if I get a few good rides out if before it dies or is stolen I will still have got my moneys worth.

Anyway, enough moralising over the markets.

I love my new bike! It was at the first bike stall we went to and it’s perfect, in all it’s imperfection! For a bike like this in Australia you’d pay at least $100, maybe more, because vintage is ‘in’ and in Australia we ride less and have fewer vintage bikes to go around. In Europe, however, they are everywhere and considered completely average. YAY!

Here she is my 34euro pride and joy with the clearly stolen basket thrown in as a ‘gift’ from the seller.

Clearly stolen - see how someone elses lock is still on it. I have decided to leave it as it is, then someone can steal it from me and I'll go and buy a new one and feel better.

As well as bikes the market has fantastic old clothes, leather bags, furniture, jewellery, clocks, anything you can think of! I am in love with the Frankfurt Flohmarkt! Lucky I have to be able to carry all my belongings with me and am not setting up house here!

For more info on the Flohmarkt, days, dates and locations see this website:
 http://hfm-frankfurt.de/flohmarkt.html

Help me name my bike!

Now it needs a name! I’m thinking it’s a girl, that’s as far as I’ve got though at the moment, and of course you may think otherwise. Looking forward to your suggestions!

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Europe on a budget tip 4: Free french lessons

Posted on 5 June 2011 by amandalindsey

There are lots of networks out there and ways to meet people in language exchange situations. Here there are lots of English and German conversation groups where German natives come to practice their English and of course English speakers go to practice their German.

Living in Germany, having German friends and speaking German at home mean that I don’t need to attend one of these groups. Instead I’ve been trying to learn Spanish and French.

I’ve been lucky enough to find a lady, originally from France, who is learning English and would like to teach someone French in return for the opportunity to practice her English in conversation.

Fantastic! French lessons for English conversation.

I would highly recommend seeking out this sort of situation when you plan to stay anywhere overseas for a period of time. Advertise on message boards and visit local language schools. It’s a fantastic way to exchange skills and both get some benefit!

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Fractured Fairytale

Posted on 29 May 2011 by amandalindsey

Today I was serenaded by a stranger.

Sounds terribly romantic doesn’t it. It would have been perfect had it not been a stranger, rather the love of my life, unfortunately though he is all the way back in Australia though, so alas, a stranger it was.

I don’t think I’ve ever been serenaded before. It was, as you can well imagine, rather perplexing and embarrassing.

The owner of the cafe where I worked had a had arranged a small BBQ of friends and colleagues out the back of the cafe. There came a group of people, with different backgrounds and stories, some from the US, some Germans.

At sometime during the party one of them pulled out a guitar and started to play and to sing. Of course I thought this was fantastic! Living in the fairy tale world that I do spontaneous singing and music are perfect.

A little while after he began I popped my head out of the cafe and started throwing requests into the mix. I started with James Taylors ‘Fire and Rain’ guessing that he was probably older than my father and that this would be about the right time in musical history. Well, he had a go, he got it all a bit mixed up, missed half the song and the notes. But he tried. Then I went back in. Then every time I stuck my head out, someone would ask me what my next request was, so I pulled some other things out of my head that I thought were around the ‘dad’s music’ time that this man might know and was sadly disappointed. I think they managed a beatles song, but the rest of it was some US country ballads I’ve never heard of.  One of my requests had been Deep Purple, to which I was told ‘he’s no hard rocker’ and then from the guitarist came something to the effect of ‘for the beautiful girl I’ll try anything’ or some such rubbish.

Anywho, I kept going about the general cafe business, sometimes listening out if there was any decent music coming from the back, there mostly wasn’t. Then at some stage when I’d quite forgotten them out there, the other owner of the cafe came in and said ‘I think he’s singing for you now’ so I stuck my head out the back door of the cafe and sure enough the whole 10 or so people gathered were all staring at me and the man was standing with his guitar and singing with great feeling:
 
‘I love you so and that is why
whenever I want you
all I have to do is dream
dream dream dream
Dream dream dream dream
dream dream dream dream ‘
 
By the Everly brothers. Thank goodness I only got that bit of the text! I’ve since looked at the lyrics and, if he had this time known them all, that would have been so entirely inappropriate! Goodness it was embarrassing! But there he went and serenaded me with such dedication so that all I could do was try desperately not to go too red! Laugh and sing along where I could, and then at the end applaude. With all of them staring at me the whole time. 

At the end of the day I discovered that as well as BBQ’ing (or grilling as it’s called here) they’d all been into the booze, which I hope explains it. Before leaving the man with the guitar came and thanked me for letting him sing to me. Clearly he enjoyed himself.

So that is that, my little fractured fairytale.

I wonder what will happen tomorrow.

Much love to all

Amanda

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