Oww.  Waking up this morning hurt so much.  Kim and I were so tired, we just couldn't stop yawning!  We had to get up early at 10 this morning because we were going out for lunch with her parents and then we were going to see the Kerwe speech and the procession.

We went for lunch and I think I had schnitzel (steak covered in some sort of sauce) and chips.  We yawned all of the way through! 

The streets of Hemsbach look so empty during the daytime when the Kerwe madness isn't going on.

After lunch, went to the Sparkasse to watch the first Kerwe procession.  Hemsbacher Kerwe has been running for 36 years now and this was the first procession they had ever had in all of those years.  It was very good, considering it was their first attempt.

After the procession, we moved to go and watch the Kerwe speech, which is always good fun.  Sometimes I just laugh when everyone else does because I don't understand what they're talking about in the speech and I don't want to look like the silly English girl!

We had a really good evening that night.  I had my emergency vodka with me!  We ended up spending the last bit of the evening with Dennis, Gliewe, Eric etc.  They were all smashed! 

It was time to go home and go to bed.  We needed all of the energy we could get for Kerwe Monday!

Today was Saturday, which meant I would be seeing more of Kim.  She came in her car and picked me up around midday for a BBQ at her grandparent's house.  I know her grandparents well from last year when I stayed with them because that's where Kim lives now.  While waiting for lunch, we sat in Kim's room chilling out, laughing and listening to music.

We had a lovely BBQ and Kim's Opa (grandad) cooked it all.  The weather was just right, sunny with a light breeze.  After the BBQ, Kim got her rabbit, Niki, out in the garden.  Cute, huh!  This is the same rabbit that bit my nipple last year!

After lunch, we went inside because the weather started to change to make ourselves pretty for Kerwe!  We painted our nails, did our hair and makeup and listened to music.  And to liven it up a bit, me and Kim had a play fight/play sex!  Of course, I won.

When it was time, we went to Kerwe for another crazy night of beer and drunk Germans.  When it started to rain again, we found Kim's parents in a sheltered area with seats so we sat and had a few drinks with them before going home.

We didn't go home until 4am because we found some friends that we stood talking to for hours!  Kim stayed at home with me.  We knew we were going to be tired because we were going to have to get up at 10am.  My head hurts already.

I woke up and had a lovely German breakfast with Ralf and Tina (Kim's sister).  Kim was at work and so was her mother.  Once I had got ready, we went to Weinheim to get me a phonecard for my German mobile phone and to do some shopping.  I didn't see anything that I wanted but Ralf bought some trousers.  He wanted a shirt to go with them so we then went to Viernheim.  I bought two tops there.  Clothes are so nice and cheap in Germany!  In fact, most things are cheap out in Germany.  Just the cost of living can be quite expensive.

So we went back home and Ralf made a really nice dinner.  I'm not sure what it was and Ralf said that he made it up.  But it was delicious! 

Kim and her friend, Melissa came and picked me up from the house around 2030 to go to the first evening of the Hemsbacher Kerwe!  We had a good night.  Kim and Melissa went on one of the funfair rides that were there but I stayed with their handbags because I was wearing a skirt that I thought might blow up on this particular ride!

Plus I'd just spent ages on my hair and didn't want it to get ruined.  But it pissed it down with rain anyway and my hair ended up looking shit!

I saw lots of faces and people in Hemsbach that night.  You know, it's such an amazing feeling when you haven't seen these people for one year and suddenly after being at the Kerwe for just 5 minutes, you have already seen 6 people that you know.  We saw Sebastian amongst many others.  Here's Seb trying to eat his noodles with a napkin because he had lost his fork!  Silly boy!

I met up with Jochen this evening too, which was nice.  We had an argument a few years back and that set our friendship back in quite a big way.  But everything is okay now!  We went to the Bianco and drank and talked for ages before it was time to go home.

What a great night!

I was up until late last night packing my bags because I went to see the film "Cars" with Chris, which by the way was awesome!  Really well worth seeing!

So this morning, I set off around 1030 with my mum and my sister for the 2 - 3 hour drive to London Heathrow airport.  I love airports.  I like to just sit there and watch everyone! 

I landed at Frankfurt Main Flughafen about 1815 and Kim and Ralf (her step dad) were there to greet me.  I gave Kim the biggest hug ever!  After all, it had been  a while since I last saw her.  We sat down at a cafe on the airport.  I went to reach for my travel folder which held my money, my passport and tickets and I couldn't find it.  Typical Zöe, I'd left it in the baggage department.  Something had already started to go wrong just after 5 minutes of me arriving in Germany!  Luckily, I was given a pass to collect it and everything was still in the trolley where I had left it.  Just lucky, I guess!

When I arrived in Hemsbach, it was all flowing back to me.  Everything was exactly like it was last year.  Perfect!  I arrived at Kim's house with her mother and her sister there to greet me.  We had a typical German snack of breads, cheeses and cold meats after I dished out the gifts to each member of the family.  Afterwards, Kim went home to her grandparents so I stayed with Kim's family and chilled out after a day of travelling and had an early night!

So I've decided to shift a couple of pounds and begin a new healthy eating plan.  There's this cereal diet plan type of thing going on at the moment with Special K cereal.  The basic idea is that you eat two bowls of the stuff each day.  So one for breakfast and then one for either lunch or dinner.  I have mine for lunch.  And for snacks, you eat good stuff like fruit, nuts and seeds.  But I can't help but want a cornish pasty instead.  I can't help wanting a nice creamy bar of chocolate.  But it's cereal and seeds for me.  I've altered this diet to my lifestyle because there's no way it would work at the weekends for me.  I mean, just look at what I had over the weekend!  On Saturday, I had three slices of toast  and a chinese takeaway in the evening (which by the way, was the mutt's nuts).  On Sunday I had a cheese sandwhich and a tub of ice cream.  No cereal!  I'm just trying to shift the tummy, arse and leg fat I have. 

Thing is, I go to Germany again on Thursday and there's no way I'm taking my Special K with me when I could be eating Jagerschnitzel, Bratwurst and Fleischkäse. 

The weekend was great, but as usual it went too fast.  Chris, me and a few of Chris's friends were supposed to be going camping for the weekend.  A good chance to catch some rays and drink some beers.  Chris even bought a paddling pool for us to splash in!  But on Friday evening when Chris arrived at mine to pick me up, I was all excited to go.  But our campsite was fully booked and we spent about an hour trying to call up other campsites but they were all full too.  So we just went back to Chris's and watched a film. 

On Saturday evening, we went to Big Andy's to eat chinese takeaway and watch films.  We watched Anchorman, which Big Andy assured us that this film was brilliant.  It was alright, but it wasn't great.  Certainly a quoteable film though...!

"I love lamp!"

After that, we watched Lanf Of The Dead, which isn't really my choice of film.  I'm not into horror films really.  But the gore was pretty in your face and actually quite cool!

On Sunday, we just chilled out until Chris and his brother had to go out and do some more gardening.  So I went to the cinema with Josh and his friends.  Problem was that they all wanted to see the new Pirates Of The Caribbean film.  I'd already seen it when it first came out!  But I went to see it again and scoffed my face with a tub of Haagan Daz.  Mmm...yummy...! 

And I can't wait!  I'm going to Germany one week tomorrow!  I can't wait to go to the Kerwe again, drink and relax with my friends.  I can't wait to see my Kimmy again.  We have such a special friendship and I know it will last.

Well, Chris's tummy anyway!  Yesterday after work I drove to Chris's local to watch him stuff his face in a Yorkshire Pudding Competition.  While Chris and Gray (Lol's husband) were making themselves full, me, Lol and her sister sat in the pub garden drinking wine and being silly, which was fun.  The boys kept coming outside for a breath of fresh air as the yorkshire puds were getting the better of their appetites...!  Chris gave up at 21!  Wimp.

I was really looking forward to getting my hair done today, like all ladies do.  I was getting the red stripes in my hair bleached blonde.  Much to my horror...the bleach didn't take out all of the red and turned it pink instead.  So now my hair was dark brown, bleach blonde and baby pink.  I was really angry, especially when they said you'll have to come back for a second sitting to get all of the pink taken out.  At £35 each time?  I don't think so, I'm not made of money!

But actually now I quite like having crazy coloured hair!

I've done my duty today and taken my little sister to the cinema to see Over The Hedge.  Chris came too!  What I was even happier about was that I managed to keep it a secret for the entire day.  Mum and dad were going out for the evening so me and Yasmin got in the car drove to Poole.  She asked why we were going there and I said because Chris's car had broken down and he needed picking up.  When we arrived she said,

"We're going to see Over The Hedge!"  She was so excited that it made me pleased that I had kept it a secret.

It was a very good film.  Another typical kid's film that has bits in it for the adults too!  If you're going to see it, watch out for the squirrel!  He's awesome!