Sustainable living

Inspired by Greta Thurnberg and also wanting to reduce my carbon footprint, this is what we have been doing. 

Reducing flights
We plan to only fly to Ireland at most twice a year instead of three or even four times. Ideally we would aim to stay there longer each time to make the most of our visit. Flying is one of the worst things you can do for your carbon footprint but as an Irish person living in Germany, of course this one is difficult for me! I make the most of Skype and Whatsapp for keeping in touch but spending time in person is always the ideal. 

We plan to also cut back on holidays abroad in general. Honestly I love travelling so this sounds hard initially. However living in Europe is a great base for visiting other places and we should still be able to plan some fun trips by train/car.

Cutting back on the amount of new clothes we buy
Ok, to be honest ever since having my daughter I've mainly been too busy to find time to shop like I used to. But the fact is I realised I already own plenty of clothes. I saw a video about how many fabrics and shoes can end up in landfill and it made an impact on me. I'm planing on organizing a clothes swap party with a bunch of people here which seems like a great idea!  I rarely buy new clothes for Mini either, instead getting lots of second hands things from other people who don't need them anymore. It was often only a matter of asking around. There are also many flea markets in Germany worth checking out.

We have been making an effort to reduce plastic waste
We don't use plastic straws. When we go shopping we always bring our own reusable bags. Some supermarkets here are also including a section where you can bring your own jar for dry foods like nuts and pasta. We also don't own a car, mainly using public transport or cycling (and occasionally doing car sharing).

I'm aware there's probably a lot more we could be doing as a family but it's a start! I am continually on the lookout for other ideas for little changes we could do that would make a difference. 

Ireland in August

We recently got back from a two week trip to Ireland. Apart from the usual time spent with family and friends which was wonderful as always, we also managed to do a bit of site seeing! Anyway, just thought I would share a few photos from the holiday.

Tinakilly House and grounds, County Wicklow

Mount Usher gardens, County Wicklow

Dun Laoghaire, County Dublin

Marfield House Hotel and grounds, Wexford

The fairy trail walk on the way to Ballymoney beach, Wexford

Ballymoney beach, County Wexford

week 19 - a scare and a family visit #pregnancyDiary

The pain which I thought was round ligament pain came back and I had it for several days. I asked some friends again about what they had felt and looked at my facebook group and most seemed to describe something pretty similar to what I was feeling. It was particularly bad one day though so I decided to text my Hebamme and ask her about it. She said that the pain from the round ligaments is normally in the lower pelvis area not near the hip as I'd mentioned. At that stage I started getting worried. I didn't want to waste the doctor's time, however I also didn't want to wait another two weeks till the next scan and be worrying about it so the next day I got to his practice at 8am when it opened and mentioned the pains. I ended up having to wait about an hour since I didn't have an appointment.

What I thought would happen.
I expected to describe the pain and for the doctor to reassure me that it was normal pregnancy pain and then to go about my merry way.

What actually happened.
The doctor was concerned as the area I was having the pain is near my appendix. He also saw some fluid on the screen that he couldn't explain near my intestines. He said he would try to get me an appointment at a specialist immediately to get it checked out. The other doctor was nearby and I was able to get seen to quickly luckily. I was starting to feel very nervous about what was going on at that stage. Hubby was still away so I was just phoning him to tell him what was going on. The other doctor didn't think it was appendicitis but he couldn't rule it out. He advised me that if the pain got worse I should go to the hospital immediately! He saw the mass of fluid on my right hand side and he didn't know what it was. He told me to come back the next day for another appointment. In the meantime he took my blood to be sent to the lab to check for any signs of infection.

The rest of the day I couldn't help but worry. Like I mentioned earlier, hubby was away so I was dealing with all this on my own. I was whatsapping family and close friends from home to let them know what was going on and my mother in law was also calling me. She was getting really anxious and I felt like I had to be strong and try to reassure her! She said she would come immediately if I ended up having to go to hospital (she lives in a different town). Luckily the pain didn't get any worse. Trying to google what the fluid mass could be was a bad idea as I started seeing results about tumours and freaking out about cancer! I'd read a story recently about a pregnant woman who got cancer and had to choose between getting chemo to save herself or not and saving the baby. I don't know how people handle decisions like that! I was also thinking that I don't want to have to go to the hospital to get scary tests done, especially on my own. A normal boring day in the office had never sounded so appealing to me!

That night I managed to sleep for several hours but I woke up then feeling really worried about it all. I packed an overnight bag on the advice of a doctor friend just in case I'd be sent to the hospital after my appointment. There was a long wait at the practice. Finally I got in and he asked how I was feeling. Nervous I said! The pain was the same. My blood test results had come back only showing a slight infection elevation which could just be from a cold. That was good news as if I had appendicitis the results would have looked worse. The doctor did a scan and after several agonizing minutes said that I had an intestinal partial blockage. That's what's been causing the pain. I should massage my tummy clockwise to help digestion and eat simple meals over the next few days. Pregnancy pushes the intestine up into a smaller space often leading to digestion issues. My previous adhesions from surgeries are probably not helping things either.

I was told to come back after several days for another appointment but for the time being all was fine. I didn't have to go to hospital that day which was a relief! Of course he mentioned again that if my pain gets worse I should go straight in and he gave me a printout of my blood test but for now I was able to go back to work. I'm relieved it's not a tumour or something serious! That said if I do end up getting a full intestine blockage that would be a dangerous situation requiring surgery. So I am a little worried about that possibility at some point especially as the pregnancy progresses. For now I'll keep up with the tummy massages to help digestion and watch what I eat.

Update:

So at the end of the week I had my third appointment at the doctor for a checkup. He could still see the strange fluid on the screen. I tried to ask more questions this time. The fluid is in my small intestine he says. I also have a lot of air in my intestine which will cause cramps. He said I can eat normally now though still try to avoid food with a lot of "air" such as beans and cauliflower. And then come back in two weeks for another check up and at that stage he'll test my blood for signs of infection again. The pains I was getting have improved significantly recently thankfully. So it looks like for the moment everything is fine and I can breath a sigh of relief!

While I was going through the scare it was also harder as I was on my own. Hubby was away with work. Now he's back and it's been really nice. Also my Dad and sister came over to visit me! They stayed for four days and it was just perfect. They even got quite nice sunny autumn weather while they were here. We went to a pumpkin festival in Ludwigsburg and there was even a wedding fair on that day which we checked out for my sis in case it gave her any ideas.

Another day the weather was warm so we went to the pool for a spa day. I avoided the sauna but enjoyed swimming! We also took my family to some of our favourite restaurants and they had some good meals. It was sad saying goodbye though as I won't be flying to ireland again until the baby is here and a few months old, so it'll be my longest stretch not going back "home". It's great these days with skype, whatsapp and google hangout though, you don't feel as far away as you did in the past.

So the week started off scary with the pains and doctor visits but ended really lovely enjoying some family time. Here are some pictures from our day at Ludwigsburg exploring the castle grounds and pumpkin festival. If you are ever in the area it's worth checking out. The festival takes place every year around September and October.

Perth and Bali

In my mid twenties, several years into my first job straight after university I decided to pack it all in and go backpacking with a friend. I love traveling and I figured it would be something I would regret if I didn't go. There's a one year work and travel visa you can get for Australia if you are aged between eighteen and thirty one and we both applied for that. The visa restricts you though, you aren't allowed to work for longer than six months in any one job, which pushes you to keep moving around and traveling. We ended up doing a mixture of jobs from waitressing to flipping burgers when we needed money, but we also stayed in a lot of hostels and lived on the cheap, proper backpacking style!

Before the trip I remember having cold feet and wondering if the whole plan was such a good idea after all! Luckily it ended up being a fantastic year. We spent the first six weeks travelling around south east asia (Thailand, Lao, Cambodia, Malaysia), then lived in Sydney for several months followed by more months in Cairns Queensland. Lastly we spent a few more weeks travelling around New Zealand before heading home to Ireland. It was a great experience and I learnt a lot and I think it helped me become more more independent, adaptable and adventurous. I even did a sky dive in New Zealand!

I loved Australia and if it weren't for the fact that it's just so awfully far away I would have considered staying there (despite the fact it's home to the world's most dangerous animals and sometimes I felt brave just for being there!). My recent trip to Perth with my family was my first visit back in the country and it brought back a lot of old memories. We also went to Bali during the holiday and that reminded me of the time we had spent Thailand. Mostly it was so great catching up with my best friend and travel buddy again who lives in Sydney now.

Perth is a cool city and it was great seeing where my brother lives and spending time with him and his girlfriend. The fringe festival was on while we were there which was fun to experience. Perth is also a good base to discover more of western Australia. We took a day trip to Fremantle, a pretty town about an hour's drive, and did a tour of the old prison there which has a very interesting history and we spent three days exploring Margaret river, a fantastic wine region.

Bali was a little disappointing at first. to be honest. It wasn't quite paradise like I had been imagining before going there. The beaches had been nicer in Perth! However from talking to some other people it sounds like we went to the wrong region (Seminyak) and if we had travelled even a few hours further from the airport we might have found the more scenic areas. We had a villa though with our own private pool which was lovely. The people were really friendly and the spa prices are ridiculously cheap so I got some relaxing treatments done while I was there - aromatherapy massage, reflexology, mani-pedi. It rained a lot but it was the rainy season so I guess what do you expect!

All in all it was a fantastic holiday and I hope to make it back to Australia again one day, hopefully next time with the hubby.

leaving on a jet plane

As you might have noticed I've been rather absent from the blogging world the past few months. So what's been going on in my world recently. We spent Christmas in Germany with hubby's family this year which was different but really nice. As I've mentioned other years, Germans have their big celebration on the 24th. They also eat different food depending on which part of Germany they are from. It's not like in Ireland where pretty much everyone eats turkey! We ate the fish, carp, this year on the 24th and then had turkey on the 25th. Basically there was a lot of food and eating but that's probably the same wherever you are!

At the end of December we flew to Dublin and spent around ten days there which was also really great. It ended up being a jam-packed visit which often happens when I try to fit in meeting relations, various friend groups and of course as much family time as I can. My sister and I have birthdays quite close so we had a joint party at a local tapas bar which worked out well and was fun!

January and February are generally my least favourite months and the weather here has been pretty miserable lately; rainy, dark and cold. But the good news is that I've got a lot of traveling come up.

Last weekend I went to Amsterdam (and I found it very cool that I only needed to pop on a train) to meet a good Canadian friend who I hadn't seen in two years. It was so great catching up!

And next week I am off to Australia with my family to visit my brother for over two weeks! It will be my second time in Oz but first time in Perth. And we'll also be going to Bali which should be amazing. Years ago I spent nearly a full year living and traveling around Thailand, Australia and New Zealand with a really good friend. She ended up meeting her future husband on that trip and she now lives in Sydney. We skype and whatsapp but don't get to see each other often due to the crazy distance but she is going to come to Bali to while I'm there, so I'm really excited about that too!

And at Easter the hubby and I are going to Ireland for a family wedding which will also be fun. So a lot of traveling and trips!

It's been really good actually keeping busy to take my mind off the stress of the previous months of fertility treatments. We plan on doing another round of IVF but probably not until April after all the trips. I still dread the thought of going through it all again to be honest but I hope that by that time I will be physically and mentally strong enough to face it again! In the meantime I'm just going to try to enjoy my travels.

I'm just not so keen on the long haul flight! We'll be traveling for 23 hours. I've bought one of those travel pillows and loads of new books so hopefully the time won't pass by too slowly!

Any tips on how to survive long distance flights?

The perfect Easter break

We're just back from our latest trip to Ireland. This time we went for just over a week and it was perfect as it meant I had time to properly catch up with everyone but it also allowed for plenty of family and chill out time! The weather also played along and we only had one rainy day!

Easter is a great time to visit Dublin I find and because of the public holidays I didn't need to take that much from my annual leave. The weather is also nice this time of year and tourist attractions aren't as crazy busy as they might be during the Summer months.

I was chatting to a Spanish girl recently who lives in Dublin and she was saying that people working abroad should be allocated extra days off to cover trips back to their home countries. It can be tricky when you live abroad as you don't want to spend all your annual leave visiting your home country as you might also like to go for a proper holiday. So I liked her suggestion!

Though in fairness the amount of annual leave is really great in Germany; you get nearly six weeks off in the year and there are lots of public holidays! The only problem is that the public holidays aren't very spread out and if they happen to fall on a weekend then you just lose them.

The GerMann had been complaining recently that we never get to do that much sightseeing during our trips to Ireland, so this time we left Dublin and spent three days in a hotel in Wicklow, south of Dublin, commonly known as the garden of Ireland. We stayed in a place called Brooklodge and it was fantastic, with a lovely spa where we spent two mornings and I got a very relaxing full body massage.

The breakfast there was delicious (organic porridge with honey, full Irish breakfast, scrambled eggs and salmon) and the restaurant food, though pricey, was also great. They primarily serve healthy organic food and even have their chickens freely walking around the place!

We visited Parnell house and gardens, where one of the leading Irish political leaders lived, one one afternoon and enjoyed some lovely walks there and later on went to a 7-foot high maze which was also fun.

We went for lunch in Dun Laoghaire and then walked along the coast, which was just beautiful. And of course we found the time to indulge in afternoon tea! And apart from that we dined in lots of good restaurants and ate yummy chocolate eggs (including a huge Guiness flavoured chocolate easter egg!). On Easter Sunday itself we went to mass and chatted to the priest who married us and jokingly asked if we are "still married?" which gave us all a chuckle.

We are hoping to plan another trip back to Ireland in August so looking forward to that!

An Irish Summer in Lanzarote

We spent last week on holidays in Lanzarote, one of the Canary islands. When we were in Mallorca before, we couldn't help noticing how many Germans there were. Well Lanzarote seems to be a top destination for fellow Irish people as we heard familiar accents everywhere we went!

We also lost count of the amount of Irish pubs there are in Puerto del Carmen, the region where we stayed, but we managed to have a drink in several of them - I always try to support other Irish people living abroad! We enjoyed some great live music in one and even took part in the karaoke evening at another.

The Canary islands belong to Spain but because of their location close to Africa it is normally much warmer compared to the rest of Europe. We were rather unlucky with the weather while we were there though, which was reminiscent of an Irish summer - very changeable - one minute sunny and pleasant and the next overcast and rainy. so yeah, I felt quite at home, haha!

Puerto del Carmen has a seven kilometer long promenade beside lovely beaches and there are plenty of great restaurants, pubs, and cafes. The island is also covered with volcanoes and an excursion to the Timanfaya National Park is worth a visit. We opted for a half day trip which included some wine tasting. It probably sounds bad if I admit I was more looking forward to the latter, which ended up being a little disappointing with only one half glass to taste! There was also an option to ride camels up the volcanic mountains, which neither of us particularly wanted to do so we wandered around taking photos at that stage and then went back to the bus when it got too cold.

Visiting Lanzarote in February is still a little risky if you are counting on great weather and a beach holiday. The lowest temperature there during Winter would only be about 14 degrees so it's really quite pleasant all year around. That said the evenings were chilly and there was a very cold wind!

Still though, we had a fun relaxing time. Our next trip planned will be Dublin over the Easter break.

And our karaoke songs of choice in case you are wondering? I attempted "Help" by the Beatles and the GerMann had a go at the Garth Brooks classic "Friends in Low Places". Neither of us can sing particularly well but didn't matter since nobody knows us in Lanzarote!

Wishes for 2015 - wondering what the year might bring

You know it's strange, no one here has asked me about my New Year's resolutions. Maybe it's just not as much of a thing in Germany or maybe everyone has gotten less motivated to make New Year's resolutions that they ultimately end up breaking!

This year instead of making resolutions I decided to think instead of my hopes for the coming year.

Buy a house

We've been on the lookout for the right place for us for probably about a year at this stage. We've been to several viewings and even made an offer on a house we liked and got very close to actually buying but the negotiations fell through in the end. It's difficult. Since Baden-Württemberg is highly populated and has a strong economy with plenty of jobs, the price of land is expensive.

And of course location is very important. I don't want to end up buying a place that's really far from town and everything else and ending up with a long commute to work and it would affect our quality of life. Maybe we need to adjust our expectations or just keep waiting until we find the house or apartment of our dreams! Anyway the search continues.

Travel

I love to travel and see new places so I hope in 2015 we can go on some adventurous holidays, and not just back to Ireland, even though I love those trips too of course! I read once that experiences are what you remember such as a great weekend away with friends, and so it's better to spend your money on things like that as opposed to buying material items like new clothes or gadgets.

Have a baby

Well it's out there. Are you listening, universe/God? My not-so-secret-anymore hope is to get pregnant this year. That was also my wish for last year. It's getting to the stage where we may have to go to the doctor for help (though IVF scares me and I'm hoping it won't come to that!) but planning to give it another six months first. And in the meantime I'm trying to relax more, get healthy, try the alternative options and just be patient and enjoy the time when it's just the two of us!

Blog more

Blogging is a fun and creative outlet and I would like to keep it up and blog often this year. The main 'theme' of my blog is living abroad as an Irish person in Germany, but I also plan to write about my life generally and thoughts on all sorts of topics, just whatever I feel like writing about that day.

Improve my German

It's been awhile since I took a German course and I'm sure I'm regularly making all sorts of grammatical errors when speaking! I would like to try to take another refresher course, maybe even an online one which I could do from home. And I know I should push myself more to read in German.

And finally, make healthier choices.

Haha! Well I had to put it in there. I've been getting quite lazy about going to the gym the last while what with the weather so miserable and days so cold and dark but I hope to start going regularly again. And maybe start jogging again too. And food wise, just cooking more healthy meals from scratch, more vegetables, less red meat. Not always saying yes to cake.

And my resolution?

What about you? What are your hopes for what 2015 might bring? And yes I do realise that it's February already!

Black Forest for the weekend

The great thing about having visitors when you live abroad is that it forces you to go on trips. Not that I need forcing as I love to travel and see new places but you know how it is, unless you actually make plans to go do stuff time passes quickly while you're busy with day to day life and you suddendly realise you've been living somewhere for ages and still haven't gotten around to go see the local tourist attractions or nearby cities.

So when my family came over last weekend we took the opportunity to explore some of what the Black Forest has to offer. We choose Triberg which is home to one of the highest waterfalls in Germany.

It was beautiful! Just to warn you though, the walk up to see it is very very steep! Wear comfortable walking shoes and be prepared. Then afterwards we had a nice lunch in a beer garden followed by some Black Forest cake, the local speciality.

My sister was hoping to do some shopping while she was over but I don't think these were the sort of stores she had in mind! The black forest shops were mainly full of traditional clothes and trinkets. If you are looking for wooden ornaments, Christmas decorations or cuckoo clocks though, this is the place to go!

When you are staying in the Black Forest region you get a guest card from your hotel which also gives you discounts at tourist sites and enables you to travel for free on buses and trains in the area. We bought a so called 'Baden Würtemberg ticket' for travelling there which covers you for all journeys in the region, just not on the really fast trains and it only cost 39€ for 5 people. The views from the train were also fantastic.

Apart from the hiking and walking around, eating cake and relaxing, there isn't actually loads to do in the black forest so for us two days was the ideal amount of time.