Hami, Ratingen, Germany

Lenchen154


Posted Dec 20, 2011, 7:24 pm
Hey there! I am Hami and at the beginning of a great journey. I can´t wait to start and to escape the rainy and stormy Hamburg winter weather.
Lenchen154


Posted Dec 27, 2011, 8:37 am
I am at the Post office now and on my way to Ratingen. :-) I am soo excited...
RedSwan


Posted Dec 28, 2011, 5:09 pm
Hey mummy,

I finally arrived in Ratingen. As you already know, I'm not the only ToyVoyager over here. So I was welcomed by Candyfloss (from Kansas) and Leif E (from Texas).

http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0001.jpg http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0002.jpg http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0003.jpg http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0004.jpg http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0005.jpg

Unfortunately I just missed the trip to Bochum yesterday, but there will be some other adventures we're about to do, like celebrating New Years Eve (and my hosts birthday), going to university, going to Bochum again, maybe I'm also here, when my hosts is going to watch Swan Lake...

So, let's see what the time brings,

Love and already miss you,
Hami
RedSwan


Posted Dec 29, 2011, 4:54 pm
Hello mummy,

today my host wanted to show me the main city of Ratingen. Okay, we didn't really get the opportunity, but nevertheless, I want to tell you something about Ratingen now, so that you finally know, where exactley I am.

So: Ratingen is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, about 12 km northeast of Düsseldorf. It's history begins in the Middle Ages and so it was settled the change of the century. But it was not until the 13th century as it received city rights. At the beginning of the Industrial Age, the first manufacturing plants opened in 1783. In Cromford the first mechanical spinnery of Europe opened, which is now part of  the "Rhine Industy Museum." In the Napoleonic times, it became part of the city of Berg and in 1815, into the Kingdom of Prussia. Nevertheless it got independed again in 1929 and in the meantime several important international enterprises, such as as Vodafone and Esprit maintain their main centers in Ratingen.
http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0007.jpg

Here you see me in front of the church "Sanct Peter and Paul", which was build as a Romanic church in the middle of the 12th century and the first part of the 13th century. In the end of the 13th century it was finished with some elements of the gothic art. At the end of the 19th century the church was changed as architect Henry Wiethase told them to do. During World War II the church was partially destroyed but the damage has been eliminated after the war. In the 1970s, the facade was restored and the interior space renovated and redesigned according to the liturgical requirements of Vatican II. 1996 to 1998 was followed by further renovations after the east towers threatened to collapse.
http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0006.jpg

That's all I can show you of the main city of Ratingen as it started to rain then. Maybe next time :)

Love and miss you,
Hami
RedSwan


Posted Jan 2, 2012, 11:08 am
Hello mummy,

today has been a quite busy day, as it was new years eve and my hosts birthday as well.

So it all started with a breakfast in the morning, where her mother, brother and sister came around and where she got the first presents. Do you see me in this stuff?

http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0008.jpg http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0009.jpg

In the afternoon, we went to my hosts grandmother /-father, where we ate cake. It was something like a redwine cake and a Russian cake. Don't know what it is called in English.

http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0010.jpg http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0011.jpg

In the evening we went to my hosts mother, brother, sister where we had some amazing Fondue. It was quite yummy.

http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0012.jpg http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0013.jpg

Okay, it sounds like we were eating all the time and yeah, somehow we did. Next to talking and laughing a lot.

I hope you had an amazing start into the New Year.

Cheers,
Hami
RedSwan


Posted Jan 8, 2012, 4:44 pm
Hello mummy,

I've to apologize my just made one single update this week. But due to the rain and Ulli and Andrea (the storms) we weren't able to do anything.

Nevertheless, we've been at Starlight Express today. Okay, just at the stage door but even this was amazing. Do you know what Starlight Express is? If not, my host also writes the story of it now:

Starlight Express (short StEx) is a musical by Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber in which a boy dreams of the world championship of the trains. There’s a young steam train, called Rusty, whose girlfriend Pearl, the observationcar is. But there’s also a Dieselengine, whose girlfriend Dinah the dinning car is. The Diesel engine is called Greaseball. He is said to be the favourite as he is the “fastest thing you’ve ever seen.” Suddenly there’s a new engine – Electra, an electrician engine and right before the first race Pearl decides to leave Rusty for Electra. So Rusty doesn’t want to race anymore. The first race starts (together with Greaseball, Electra and two international engines) and Greaseball and Electra win. Greaseball uncouples Dinah. In the meantime Poppa, an old steam train, finds Rusty and sees that he is not that confident anymore and that he does not want to race without Pearl. So Poppa takes his place and wins the second race. But due to the fact that he is old, he doesn’t have the power to take part in the final race: So he begs Rusty to take his place and after a small argue he does. So he asks for the Starlight Express, a God-like train. Back to Dinah: After Greaseball uncoupled her, she talks to her friends (Ashley the smoking car and Buffy the buffetcar) and in the end she decides herself to race with Electra because Pearl is racing with Greaseball now. The third race takes place and Rusty is cheated. So he lost his tracks and the race has to be repeated. The audiences sees and know that it wasn’t his fault, because Greaseball and Caboose did it. That’s what even Pearl gets to know but she can’t leave Greaseball as she also took place in this race and is guilty as well. During the fourth race, Pearl gets injured and Greaseball uncouples her. But before this race takes place Rusty finally meets the Starlight Express and now he has the power to win the race. The race takes place and surprise: Rusty really wins! Pearl just recognizes that she has been in love with Rusty all the time and returns to him.

That’s it and to be honest: I really shorted the story as I think, you have to watch it all by your own. I also didn’t mentioned all characters that occur in the musical.

Anyway, we arrived at the theatre. Maybe I should tell you something about the theatre first? Well, I do: The theatre was built for around 24,000,000 Deutsche Mark (= 12,000,000 Euro) in the time from December 1986 to January 1988. The entire stage equipment was installed in just four months. For that the first Guinnes Book records were for the fastest construction of a theatre (13 months) and for the first theatre built for a show. In May 2002 the stage was remodeled. The technical highlight is the 9-ton bridge, which hovers above the stage. So here I was. Standing in front of the theatre, unable to go inside to have a look onto the stage (but in May, I will and I will show you the stage then). But I didn't know that there's also a steam train standing with a carriage (having all the characters painted on it) in front of the theatre. That really fits to that musical. So I took pictures with it as well.
http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0015.jpg http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0019.jpg http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0018.jpg http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0017.jpg
http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0016.jpg http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0014.jpg

So we went to the stage door, where we wanted to wait for some actors. The actors are coming from all around the world. We have some from New Zealand, USA, UK, Austria (and also had some from Australia, Japan, Philippines, ....). Okay acutally there are two or three German as well. But that is not that common to that theatre and I wondered if they understand what they are singing as Starlight Express is in German. But I guess I will never know.

First of all we met Marcel Brauneis, who plays Rusty the young steamtrain. He's from Vienna, Austria, but also trained in Los Angeles. He's also one of the finalists of the German castingshow "Musical Showstar 2008." In 2009 he was on stage as Flat Top, the brick truck. A year later as Caboose and since June 2011 as Rusty.
http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0020.jpg

We also met Jos Hoetjes and Edd Hall. Both are Swings here. This means, they cover lots of parts here, if someone is injured or sick or on holiday. Most male Swings cover around 10 - 15 parts.
Jos is by the way from Christ Church, New Zealand. He already played Ruhrgold, the German Intercontinental Express (ICE) in the Tour-production of Starlight Express in New Zealand. One year later he moved to German, for being Ruhrgold for a year. Since June 2011 he's a swing.
Edd is from Essex, England. He also toured through Canada, Mexico, India and the Netherlands with another musical. After doing some musicals he decided to go to Starlight Express. Since 2009 he's over here as a Swing.
http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0021.jpg

That's it for today.
Love and miss you, mummy.
Hami
RedSwan


Posted Jan 16, 2012, 4:32 pm
Hello mummy,

today we visited the South part of the part of Ratingen where I currently live. It's called Ratingen-Homberg. Ratingen-Homberg is a village with around 5000 inhabitants, where 4000 live in the new, south side we visited. By the way, did you knew that Homberg's first document goes back to the year 1067. Okay, you don't see it in the south as it was extended in the 1970's. And still, there are tons of fields we walked through. Just have a look at the pictures.

We started our trip at the street. But from the street you already have this amazing view.
http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0022.jpg

We started to go through the fields and found this little farm, which can also be seen from the street as it is right at the beginning.
http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0023.jpg

Furthermore we found different signs for cafes. They are far away and unfortunately we didn't go there.
http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0024.jpg

An avenue
http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0025.jpg

In the back, there are the houses of Ratingen-Homberg-South. Hard to see, I agree, but they are there!
http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0026.jpg

We four ToyVoyager hanging around in some cut downs of the trees
http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0027.jpg

An old house at a lake, which is going to be demolished this year. Sad because I think it would be so romantically living there.
http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0028.jpg

We sitting on a tree trunk and resting after a walk of two hours
http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0029.jpg

This is a small lake, where the children come to feed the ducks
http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0030.jpg

The way to the lake (and of course the way back)
http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0031.jpg

Behind the lake there is a forest. We even went through this.
http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0032.jpg

We finished at the firehouse, which is the last building at the south side, before going back to the north. We are going to discover the north side as well.
http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0033.jpg

It was a quite fun and long day.
Miss and love you,
Hami
RedSwan


Posted Jan 23, 2012, 5:52 pm
Hello mummy,

we really have to apologize again. But due to the test my host has to take in the next 1.5 weeks we didn't spend a lot of time next to studying (and due to the weather as well). We didn't forget you and I should say that we're going to see a lot after her tests, if you don't wanna send me to my next host.

Nevertheless, here's a picture of us, studying for American Literature :)
http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0034.jpg

Love and miss you,
Hami
RedSwan


Posted Feb 1, 2012, 5:47 pm
Hello mummy,

today we've been to a city called Heiligenhaus. Heiligenhaus is next to Ratingen and connected through the fields.

My host showed us the trail / bicycle path from Heiligenhaus to Essen. It opend around a year ago and that's why colored shoes are hanging at the beginning of this trail / path. It used to be bicycle until the change of the year.
http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0035.jpg
http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0036.jpg

Around the trail we found this amazing painting. It shows all important buildings of Heiligenhaus. Acutally there isn't much.
http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0037.jpg

While walking on the path we had to cross this bridge. It used to be a part of a train.
http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0038.jpg

We just had a short walk as my host had to study again.

Love and miss you,
Hami
RedSwan


Posted Feb 16, 2012, 5:19 pm
Hello mummy,

today we had a break of 3 hours, as a lesson didn't took place. So we went to the Rhein in Düsseldorf. It's one of the most important rivers in Germany. But unfortunately it was soooo cold that we couldn't stay longer than 15 minutes. It was around -10 °C. Cold, isn't it? But amazing weather. Anyway.

Here we are at the first point, after crossing the "Altstadt", one of those long drinking miles.
http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0039.jpg http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0040.jpg

Here you see the Rhein.
http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0041.jpg

An old watch at the riverside.
http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0042.jpg

This ship is there for ages. It doesn't move anymore and if you're at the Rhein in Düsseldorf, you just have to know it and take a picture of it.
http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0043.jpg

And the tower for TV at the Rhein. Acutally it was planned to go there but it was definately too cold!
http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0044.jpg

Buildings at the other side of the Rhein riverside.
http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0045.jpg

This is a ship museum, which is also at the Rhein.
http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0046.jpg

That's it for today.
Love and miss you,
Hami
RedSwan


Posted Feb 16, 2012, 5:28 pm
Hello mummy,

today my host and her friends booked a trip to London. Here you see me sitting in front of the PC, checking the Screenshots one of her friends made for checking what they might book. Later on they met in the city and booked it.

http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0049.jpg
http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0050.jpg

Love and miss you,
Hami
RedSwan


Posted Feb 16, 2012, 5:34 pm
Hey,

due to the fact that it is still too cold to go out, my host and I decided to learn how to compose songs. She had a book from the Berklee Press (I guess you know it?!) and we tried to compose some stuff.

http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0047.jpg
http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0048.jpg

Cheers,
Hami
RedSwan


Posted Feb 16, 2012, 5:42 pm
Hey mummy,

it's still sooooo cold. We had some friends coming over for playing some games. We were allowed to play with them. Here you see us, playing a game called "Australia" and in the background you see some koalas. My host is such an Australia fan. It's not funny anymore. Everywhere koala, kangaroos, the Australian flag and so on. Crazy.

http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0051.jpg
http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0052.jpg

Mummy, I miss you
Hami
RedSwan


Posted Feb 17, 2012, 12:14 pm
Hey mummy,

today was such a sad day, as I had to say goodbye to my new friends LeifE and Candyfloss. I'd love to say goodbye to Marawarpina as well, but she's in Bochum until Saturday so I couldn't.

Goodbye my new friends, it was such a pleasure to meet you! Maybe we'll meet again
http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0053.jpg
http://home.arcor.de/uhhuhherpics01/hami_0054.jpg

Write you as soon as I'm with my new host,
Hami

Back