All posts tagged: special

Wedding Day | Hochzeitstag

Published by Sula H.

When the nephew gets married, you know that time has somehow flown by. Well, this was his special day, and given the special circumstances we’re living in (during the times of a “pandemic”), plans had to be adjusted a lot. Only the closest of relatives were allowed to join (to keep the numbers down), and I was only lucky to be among the select because I was chosen to be one of the wedding photographers (mainly for the ceremony). It was a perfect day for an outdoors wedding, and in spite of the necessary adjustments, everyone who got to be part said it was a wonderful wedding. Congratulations to the happy couple! Wenn der Neffe heiratet, weißt du, dass die Zeit irgendwie verflogen ist. Jetzt war sein besonderer Tag, und unter den besonderen Umständen, mit denen wir uns herumschlagen müssen (in Zeiten von “Pandemie”), mussten viele Pläne über den Haufen geworfen werden. Am Ende durften nur die engsten Verwandten und Freunde teilnehmen (um die Zahlen klein zu halten), und ich hatte Glück zu den Auserwählten …

Of the Representation (and Misrepresentation) of the World

Published by Sula H.

Ok, though I’ve shared about culture week in previous years, this one’s something new in all the events: Instead of the foreign faculty (who’ve been involved with Asia day in the previous years), this year the foreign students are mainly involved with hosting today’s activities and events. So, if anything, it’s nice to see native people represent their own countries, and not a bunch of foreigners trying to show-off what they think is interesting but what might not at all be representative of the place. Like my age old battle with my colleagues trying to get them to understand that we don’t have Vikings running around in Europe any more, nor Roman soldiers wielding javelins and conquering archaic queens (the way my non-European, or should I say, American, colleagues love to portray Europe, and each year I’m thinking: you show off all of America’s modern, fashionable ways, so why can’t you do that with Europe, too? But I have to concede that one of the arguments one of my friends is giving me is right: …

October Holiday

Published by Sula H.

The beginning of October always is a favorite time for me. 1. We celebrate the national day of this country. 2. Two days later, we celebrate my own country’s national day. Much celebrating, for sure, and what matters most is the fact that our entire school is on holiday … no work! But it also means that many other people don’t work, which then means super crowded streets, and almost nothing goes in the stores because of all the crowds of people.

Kissing the Fish & Other Wedding Stories

Published by Sula H.

Here goes another wedding. Like every year someone among my colleagues gets married and then everyone is invited (I shared the invitation with you a couple weeks ago). This wedding was a little special because we got to have Hershey’s Hugs and Kisses – a special treat from the U.S.. And boy did we make sure to treat us well with those (maybe to the annoyance of some of our colleagues around, but who cares when there’s so much chocolate to be had). Of course, this being a wedding and all, there was a lot more than chocolate. There were the bride and groom, and cupcakes, and lots and lots of food. Like the fish my friend attempted to get acquainted with a little more closely …   But see for yourself:

April Fool’s Day

Published by Sula H.

It’s Easter still, where I come from, but that doesn’t mean it’s a holiday where I live now. As a matter of fact, these days it’s business as usual (as I told you last week), since people here know nothing of Easter, really. But they do know about April Fool’s Day. Lucky for me, I didn’t get tricked, and being busy trying to keep today a holiday for myself as well, I didn’t really get a chance to trick anyone else, either. But then I figured: there are worse things in life than missing out on April Fool’s Day!   And I did get myself a little Easter greeting from my family, too. Look:

A Happy New Year

Published by Sula H.

Yes, yes, it’s coming a day late, but with the move of MistyHilltops.com and all, there wasn’t really much I could do. But now, I can actually take the time to wish everyone another happy new year! At least in my part of the world, we get to celebrate new year’s twice each year, and who doesn’t mind having an extra reason to celebrate? Anyhow, to all those who mind about Spring Festival, I wish a great and wonderful holiday season!   PS. And don’t forget to eat your dumplings. PPS. Oh wait a minute. That was yesterday.

Welcome …

Published by Sula H.

We finally made the big move, and are proud to share with you the result of two months’ of preparation at last. But before I go on sharing with you some of the exciting new features at MistyHilltops.com, I want to express my heartfelt thanks to my sister who made all of this possible! Hugs, sister!   What’s New You’ll find the new MistyHilltops.com is quite different from the old. Not only did we try to give this site a fresh and simplified look, but we also worked hard to make the navigation through this site a lot easier. Now, instead of lots of different parts to this site, you will see that this site has four main sections: My personal blog (where I’ll continue to share stories from life) The photo gallery (related to my personal blog) The Digiscrap Corner (where you’ll find tons of inspiration just like you’ve gotten used to) And an all new scrapbooking portfolio (where you can see samples of my latest scrapbooking designs). And what’s best of all: if …

With This I Thee Wed … or Something of the Likes

Published by Sula H.

I told you that I was going a friend’s wedding this weekend, and here’s the proof! And since we’re talking of weddings, it reminds me: have I ever told you about weddings in this corner of the world? Well, one thing I can assure you – they’re very different from a German wedding, or any other Western type wedding for that matter. For one, they’re usually over by around 2, 2:30 pm in the afternoon. But of course, they start earlier. The real ceremonial part takes place early in the morning (about 6 am) in private, in the bride’s home (without the family of the bridegroom), and the official part is just all about giving exchanging presents (yes, the couple is required to give presents to the parents, but then they also receive the present of an apartment and a whole lot of cash by the parents of both parties). Anyhow, the main part is the big lunch meal, and then everyone disperses, bride and bridegroom change, go home and spend the rest of the …

October 1st – A Holiday

Published by Sula H.

There’s a rule of thumb I usually try to abide by, and that rule is: Stay away from the public whenever there’s a public holiday around. Usually, it’s not a big deal for me to keep this in mind. So, I don’t know what has gotten into me that of all the days of the year I decided to go into town for some shopping today. I must have been out of the country for too long to remember this, but as soon as I got near the supermarket, I realized my mistake. The first thing I was able to observe was the sheer number of people, cars, three wheelers, bicycles (and other modes of transportation) which flocked around the shopping center. The next thing that struck me was the noise. I’ve known that people around here like to crank up some music in front of the stores (probably thinking: the louder the noise, the more customers they will draw or something). At this store, however, it wasn’t just one type of music yelling for …