A horrible flight back home

At the Airport we had slight problems at first with my 2nd suitcase because they didn't know how much Lufthansa wants paid for the transport, so I only pay 115$.
I got so nervous !!!
The Moolenaars, Ciara and I sat and talked, but I wasn't able to be very communicative, I felt sick because I hadn't eaten the whole day and also had a slight headache. Once out of sight of my very best friends and my great family I cried. A lot.

Our Orc-face

 

the last photo

They had moved me to a seat right in the front row. The Lady at the check-in asked me if I wanted another one because I would have the responisibility to help the other passengers out first in case of an emergency. I cried so much I couldn't really understand her so she asked if I could speak English. Anyway I took the seat and it was a short flight to Auckland anyway.
A Stewardess gave me a whole box of tissues and all the Hobbit cups they had there, a magazine and a whole bag of lollies !!!

The tunnel  from the plane to the Airport featured Bag End and I was Kind of happy again ! I found the free shuttle to the Auckland International Airport, but once there I was very confused so had to ask where to go and felt quite miserable.
A huge statue of Thorin greeted me in the hall and I also saw the Hobbit plane !!! If only I would fly over America...
The Moolenaars texted me as long as I still was in NZ and I wrote with Mum on Facebook so I felt a Little bit better, but still very sad and scared.
If I would be able to fly around the world on my own ???
Maybe I should just fly back to Christchurch that very moment ?
I so wished I could but...

A giant dwarf - Thorin?

My dream!!! If I would have had my flight back over L.A. instead of Hong Kong... but I would have seated myself on the wing so I could keep staring at Kili, Thorin and Co.

My plane only took of at half past 1 AM instead of 11.14pm and I was very bored. I bought myself a crunchie, I probably won't eat one again in the near future. 

The flight was horribly long, but I watched all Lord of the Rings movies and also the Hunger Games and the Avengers. I had watched all These before, but I didn't really care.
I got really sick when we landed in Hong Kong and I still don't know why. Probably the stress, fear, no Food the whole day, tiredness, sadness... probably all of that together.

We had 1 hour in Hong Kong, but still I almost missed my check-in time because I sat in front of the wrong gate. Fortunately some guy told me I had to go upstairs so I was still in time.

On the flight from Hong Kong to London I finally opened the bag Ciara had given me at the airport. It contained 2 Kiwi and Sheep Rubbers, the necklace I had worn as Tiara for the Hobbit premiere and a self-written book with funny photos, a LotR quiz and facts... reaaaally cute !!!
I almost started to cry again.

During the 3 hours in London Heathrow I was almost starving (didn't have any English Money with me), but I still felt sick. The changing time zones confused me and I just wanted to be home, eat, maybe take a bath and sleep.

I actually arrived at 8.25pm in Düsseldorf, got my bags (I had to carry all of them alone !) and moved to the Exit. There I was greeted by my dad (of course with his camera), Opa and Oma with flowers, my sister Janine with her gitarre and mum and my best friend Anke with a cute poster of "Welcome Home" singing a self-written song (with the melody of my favourite band, The BossHoss).
On the drive home I only talked English. I don't know, even when the Stewardess wished me a "Schönen Abend." I could only say "Bye".
Looking out of the window everything seemed so grey and ugly !
The sun isn't shining half as brightly as it did in NZ (maybe also because it's winter here).
At home my room seemed huge to me, all the cupboards and so on have swapped places and there are new Hobbit posters on the walls. In the whole flat there are New Zealand flags and other little reminders of my one year stay on the other side of the world.
Finally I ate a Laugenstange again and really enjoyed drinking sparkling water ! I was surprised with a short skype with Ciara (I miss her already sooooo much !!!). Although I was so tired I somehow found the strength to show my parents, Janine and Anke a few of my 16thousand photos so we only went to sleep at midnight. And missed more than half of the next day while sleeping.

And this is the first picture of my arrival at Düsseldorf airport.

 

My mum, best friend and sister

The decorated house

New Hobbit sheets

Photos of everyone

 

Taking in all the details

 

New books about New Zealand... are they preparing to send me away again ?

 

Surprise-skype with my best friend Ciara

 

 

Starting to unpack on the next day

The final signature-flag

Oh, and this was my planner for New Zealand with all the things I had to do. 

Could have been more, don't you think ? 

I am home now, but where is home really ?
I will always have to leave one country, one home and family behind to find the other one.
That makes me sad and happy at the same time.

And like Bilbo Baggins I will always go
There and back again.

My final move

The following day I woke up at 7.30am and got a ride to the Airport. I even arrived there before the Mitchells !
No, it wasn't my time to fly back home yet, but my lovely host family went to visit their family in south africa over the holidays and I was there for a final goodbye. We talked about everything (not the farewell), before they had to finally check in at 10am. It was such a sad goodbye and there were many tears, hugs and kisses.
It's times like these that I thought that it would have been so much easier to just stay at home in Germany, but on the other hand I would have missed millions of of experiences. No, it was perfectly right to come out here for a year. It shouldn't have been any shorter !
When the Mitchells had disappeared from my sight I met Katarina by chance and together we waited for her parents to arrive for a visitfrom Germany. How I'd love to greet my own parents here and show them my life.
Anyway I was back at Ciara's at noon and we had the pancakes she had made earlier that morning.
We also went swimming afterwards in Jellie Park before, back at home, I gave my best friend her presents: a painting, a photo-calendar, CDs from Celtic Woman and baking stuff from Germany.
The Moolenaars picked me up at 5pm. I will stay with them the last days before I have to take my flight back.
First we took their dog Libbie to swim at Pegasus Lake and we walk-raced round ourselves. Dinner was only at 10pm and I was soooooooooo tired !!!

The following day, after a little sleep in, we all went to watch Theo's church concert though he only sang 1 song.

We took the doggie around Avonhead Park and the rest of the day I spent reading, playing piano, rehearsing Songs for my competition in January (trying to learn 14 of them off by heart) and watching "Love Actually".

On sunday the 16th of December we took Libbie to Sumner Beach. I was remembering being there with Emma for the first time and then my Surfing lesson... I will miss this beautiful scenery !

A little after I went to meet Anna Ahn and Ciara at Riccarton. We went to a chocolate bar and had a nice chat. :)
Theo and I sang "All I ask of you" for my mum on Skype that evening and we ate the wild cherries from the gate.

Slowly it got too hot.
I couldn't even sleep well anymore and just spend most of the day reading in hammock in the garden with Marcella, Theo and Libbie for company.

Today was also my final Meeting with my school-friend Jacinta at the Mall. Afterwards the whole Family and me decorated our christmas tree together. It was warmer than 35°C !!!
In the evening I was so melted that I called Ciara and we went out for another swim.

On monday I went out for Lunch with Mrs Brodie, Head of the International Department at Burnside, and we talked about School here or in Germany and my Musical career later on. In the end she dropped me home again with the words:
Go before I have to cry ! :)

with Rhonda Brodie

The Moolenaars went to watch the Hobbit at 5.30pm, this time in 3D. It's so awesome !!! I don't know why they make us wait for the 2nd part a whole year.
I gave the Moolenaars presents in the evening (a cooking book, a CD of a German tenor, fairy lights and a book about Germany) and in return got hugs from everybody and kisses from Libbie. :D
This was my last full day in Chch ! :'(

I packed again, one final time.

Theo walked me 3o minutes to Avonhead Mall to get my Hobbit-stamps and afterwards we went to play sqash with Marcella because I didn't want to spend my last day inside. It was real fun and I was also pretty good at it.
The others have more practice though...
After a cold shower it was time to leave for Christchurch airport at 5.45pm.

 Location for our lovely Music evenings

Our a bit lopsided but REAL Christmas tree!

 Christmas lights

 The Squash hall

The Hobbit

Now, what was left to do ?
Finally I could get myself to start packing. I had avoided and dreaded this Moment for a Long time, I just didn't want to start thinking about leaving. Especially after I had had this nightmare about suddenly waking up in Germany without having said goodbye to anyone in New Zealand.
But tomorrow, on the 12th of December 2013, I would leave my dearest host Family.
So I started with my 2nd suitcase with only shoes, clothes and books and weighed 22,7kg ! Perfect ! But so hard to carry...
I went to my last piano lesson and I was very sad to say goodbye to my lovely teacher Joanna. I also finished my painting on the Fort so the Mitchells can always remember me !

My other suitcase with everything else in it had exactly 23kg. But I had to leave a lot behind like some books, School stuff and so on. Also I sent a little parcel home with presents of chocolate and honey and soap that I wasn't allowed to take with me on the plane.

2 suitcases, hand luggage, my violin, scales, jacket, laptop, 2 bags with presents... simply a lot !

my painting of the whole family

the Hobbit-game

After dinner I opened my presents: a Hobbit board game from Lisa, a self-painted Cup by Beth, a cute fat stuffed hamster from Julia, a painted pillowcase from all of them, nail Stickers and a shoe keyring from Katy and a photo in a golden frame by Tim.

A Little later I came to kiss the Girls goodnight for the last time and Tim brought me and all my stuff at 8.30pm to Ciara, where we both dressed up. Ciara glued elf ears out of tape on me and tried out Eowyn's hairstyle with a necklace on my brow. At midnight we went to Hoyts Cinema for the official movie premiere of "The Hobbit - An Unexpected Journey". It was great !!! Though it isn't as dark and exciting as the Lord of the Rings it is really funny at times and the fact, that they make 3 movies out of one book, allows them to be very detailed and add scenes to the book.
Still the new Picture Speed made it a bit blurry at times...
And of course we were the only ones dressed up so much and were stared at, but I didn't really care.
I mean, isn't New Zealand Middle-Earth ?

Evenstar and Legolas-brooch

at the cinema

Eowyn's hairstyle slightly changed...

... and pointy ears out of tape.

Elrond's hairstyle, looks beautiful and takes a very long time.

I stayed at Ciara's that night. The next day we woke up early (why ?) and had a great banana berry smoothie for breakfast.
She tried Elrond's hairstyle today, but the ears hurt too much when I put them off.
Later thet day we went to Riccarton to renew Ciara's drivers licence and walked her dog Amber. In the evening we both went to Katy's ballett concert which was really sweet.

A little Family Christmas

In the following days I had my piano lesson, invited Rebecca (from CYO) for dinner and made rice pudding myself, played with the new ironing beads with the girls and won Hühnerkacke 6 times !
I also bought a great Hobbit bag (with the movies so soon there are so many awesome things) !
We accompanied Tim to the Christmas picnic with his workmates at some park which was kind of boring and went on a pedal boat with Katy whilst the others were canoeing (I learned to appreciate the times I was in a boat with my father and he did most of the work...). A duck bit my toe !!!

I also started to paint the roof of the new Fort, read Black Beauty, supervised the children, helped in the household and many other things.

On sunday the 9th we drove to the city and finally I got to see the poor cathedral for first time. I can imagine it being beautiful once and in my opinion they HAVE to restore it !
 

 

Afterwards we visited the christmas grotto, a children's museum where we saw lots of toys, the angel-christmas-present-wrapping-machine etc.
In the evening we had our little Pre-Christmas family party.
I skyped mum and everyone in the NZ family had to play/sing something (Wishing you were somehow here again). I gave them some presents (a self-made calendar/candle-holders, scented candles, a CD, a baking book, a mousepad with a family picture, a memory from us and an angel from Willow Tree) Tim and Lisa cried over the photo book.
I also got 2 little presents, but I didn't open them yet.

That was such a joyful-sad evening !

the photo book cover

christmas decoration

the whole family is together

memory of me

3 angels for 3 girls

our fake christmas tree

On monday Tim turned 40 ! 

We all jumped onto his bed at 7am and gave hime our presents as is their tradition.

birthday breakfast on the Fort

At 1pm I went to watch Aladdin (the musical performance of the Burnside Juniors) with Lisa and Julia. It was really great !
Afterwards I went to Hattie who played Jasmine and is in SMP as well and bid her farewell.
Of course we both cried. She is so amazing and nice !
It was also the day of my last singing lesson and I gave Rachel all her music back with flowers and a self-designed music-keyring.
 

one side of the keyring

The family went out for dinner to the Lone Star (of course I had my cowboy hat). They only had 1 vegetarian option, yeeeeeeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaaaaw !