THE BEAUTY OF A MOMENT

I just sat outside for ten minutes.
There's a row of houses behind our back garden, and exactly behind ours, there's an empty property with nothing but grass and a stack of firewood on it. Behind that, there's fields, an old oak tree and the forest in the distance.
The sun sets exactly there.
My brother and I ordered pizza tonight and I ate in front of the TV rewatching an old episode of Doctor Who. While I brought my dirty dishes into the kitchen, I noticed the sunshine outside. I tidied up the living room and decided to go outside.
The sun stood pretty low already, just so reaching the patio. It had been cloudy all day so the sunlight looked incredibly bright and golden on the lawn and the flowers. The wind was rustling the leaves and the countless birds living in our garden were singing their evening songs. It was comfortably warm with a hint of chill.
I sat on the sunbed and closed my eyes. There was autumn in the air, easy to feel. The way the light hit the leaves made them look golden.
When I look outside my window now, I can see the tree moving in the wind, the leaves still coloured by the setting sun. It's not late enough for the sky to be pink yet but it's definitely changing colour.
Those ten minutes I sat out there in the garden were perfect. It was one of those moments you can't describe. I wanted to photograph it but how could you capture the sound of the wind and the late summer air kissing your skin on a photograph?
While sitting outside I thought about how moments can be perfect and then the telephone rings or you remember you didn't turn off the TV yet and reality comes rushing back in. It's sort of depressing but perfect moments are too, well, perfect to ignore them. In a perfect moment, you feel at ease. Comfortable. Safe.
I've experienced a few of those moments before.
Sitting under a sunshade by the pool in a hotel on Gran Canaria with my family reading The Lord of the Rings.
On top of a ferris wheel with my two best friends in the whole world taking pictures.
Those are the moments that make you want to be the best person you can possibly be, do the best you possibly can, make the most out of your life. Those are the moments that feel slightly unreal but at the same time you feel so incredibly alive.
Those are the moments that make you recognise how beautiful life can be.

VIENNA

Hello!

I'm on school holiday at the moment (and have been for three weeks) and because my family can't go on a big holiday together like we usually do my mum and I have been on two short trips with my grandparents, first on my mum's side last week to Vienna, then with my father's mother this week to Hamburg. I'll do posts on both trips but the Hamburg pictures aren't on the computer yet so that'll have to wait a bit...

In short: Vienna is a beautiful city. We stayed in a very small hotel downtown so we could reach basically everything by foot, which was kind of nice. Even the main shopping street with all the more or less expensive boutiques and tourist shops is beautiful because all the houses have matching, historic facades. The guide in the synagogue we visited actually told us that all new-built houses had to be made to match the rest of the city!

Anyway, picture time!

The ferris wheel in the Prater. This thing is about a hundred years old and it still works!

One of the famous, beautiful Lippizzaner horses!

This is the Holocaust memorial. It depicts a library, each book symbolising the life of one of the Austrian victims.

See you soon!

Love, Jojo

BOOK REVIEW! NO.2: ME BEFORE YOU BY JOJO MOYES

My mum gave me this book. She said: "You might like this." So I read it.
Usually when people recommend books to me - especially my mum - I'm very careful. I know that I have a rather specific taste in books and very high expectiations. I've had a lot of books recommended or given to me that I didn't enjoy at all. Jojo Moyes's me before you was definitely different!
In the prologue, we meet Will Traynor, successful businessman, getting up early on a rainy London morning, kissing his beautiful girlfriend goodbye, running down the street to catch a bus. The last thing we know, he is hit by a motorcycle.
Two years later, Lousia Clark, living with her parents, grandfather, sister and nephew in a tiny house and being the almost sole support of all of these, loses her job in the café she has worked in for the last six years. When she starts jobhunting, at first nothing goes right. Then she is offered the job as a carer for a quadriplegic. Incredibly well paid, limited to six months. Mostly because she needs the money, she accepts.
Will Traynor suffered a severe spinal cord injury in that accident. He cannot use his legs at all and has very limited use of his arms. Before the accident he was successful in his job and an action man in his free time, skiing, bungee jumping, anything. Now he is just that poor disabled man. He's miserable. And he's incredibly rude to Louisa.
Now, we all kind of know that plot. The concept is very The Intouchables, that beautiful French film from a couple of years ago. Only different.
Louisa thinks her life is all right. She has a boyfriend, she has a job, she has a family.
Will thinks her life is boring. As soon as the two of them start properly talking, he tries to tempt her into doing new things, trying new activities. And Lou manages to get him out of his shell.
What I love about me before you is mostly the characters. There are a lot of people to meet, from the two main protagonists to Lou's sister Treena who Lou thinks is always better at everything, her parents, Will's parents, Will's Australian medical carer Nathan who pretends to be cheerful all the time and Lou's boyfriend Patrick who at some point turned into Running Man and only ever talks about body fat ratios and his running times. You kind of get to know all of them, and every single one of them is interesting. They all have good and bad sides and even when you're not reading you catch yourself thinking about them.
The storyline is also very well set out, logical and fluent and it sucks you right in. And, yes, I cried a bit.
The topic of this book is rather sensitive and I actually can't talk very much about it without majorly spoiling it but still. Will's situation makes you think - what would you do? How would you deal with this? It's rather depressing, actually, but that really doesn't stop you from enjoying the reading experience.
Also, me before you is terribly English. So that's nice, too.

Let me know what you think, and also if there's anything specific you would like me to do over the course of the next six-ish weeks while I'm on school break. Poems? Short story? More book reviews? Field trips?

Love,
Jojo

(And no, I did not write that book although I share the author's name. Whish that I had, though!)

UPDATE-ISH

'ello, my lovely friends.

There's quite a lot I'd like to talk about that couldn't really fill seperate posts but I want to tell you anyway. This is mostly rambling and might not have any kind of structure but off we go!

Let's start with my writing process. I've set myself a very clear goal concerning the novel I've been working on for the better part of a year, and I've written that goal in my calendar so at least I won't forget it. I've decided to have at least Draft Two finished by the Sunday before my eighteenth birthday next February. I deliberately chose the Sunday because it is about a week from my actual birthday, giving me some extra time in case I have any difficulties thrown in my face. It's a fairly big project and I still have an awful lot of planning to do.

(Just in case you're wondering what Draft Two is: Draft Zero is the one you don't let anybody read, Draft One is what you show your best friend and Draft Two is where things get serious.)

Last Monday I went to see a Poetry Slam with my German course. While it was definitely not as good as a lot of Spoken Word poetry that I've seen online, there were one or two texts I honestly enjoyed. The evening was generally fun, although much too long for a Monday night. But apart from extreme tiredness I've taken with me a new motivation to try writing some myself. I've tried a couple of times in the past to produce something worth performing but usually failed, and now I gathered some new inspiration and encouragement. I promise that if I ever manage a worthwhile piece I'll either post it here or even record it and show you.

There's only one and a half week of school left for this year and to be honest, there's not much going on. Next week alone I'm going to be on one excursion, participate in the oh-so-wonderful running for charity, help at the sports fest for the younger students and enjoy a wonderful day off while our teachers try out new teaching methods and, I don't know, play some team-building games. So no homework anymore!

Since we're graduating next year, the students from my grade are voting for a motto tomorrow. I am painfully aware that this has the potential to become an absolute desaster but I'm hoping for the best (meaning a motto I can live with without having to change schools). Fingers crossed, everybody!

So this was a rather short post about rather uninteresting things. But if you would like to read this type of post more often, I'll definitely think about it and try to improve them!

Lots of love,
Jojo

BOOK REVIEW! NO.1: TEMERAIRE BY NAOMI NOVIK

Good morning, everybody!

As I mentioned in my last post, I am currently rereading Naomi Novik's Temeraire series ( the first book is called His Majesty's Dragons). I have read these books countless times. Well, maybe not countless, but certainly very often. Last summer I inhaled books 6 and 7 in, like, three days when I was in Alaska, and only last week I started again. Because of school and birthday parties and that sort of thing I'm much slower than I was on vacation but I'm not enjoying myself any less!

Let's start at the beginning.

Temeraire is a fantasy series. It is also surprisingly historically accurate. How does that work? Easy. The story is set around the time that Napoleon was conquering like, all of Europe (I know that's not entirely true, but I'm no historian and I have better things to do while reading than drawing a timeline). We follow British Royal Navy Captain William Laurence as he captures a French frigate carrying... a dragon egg. This is where the fantasy element comes in.

Dragons are nothing extraordinary in this alternative universe. They have served humanity for centuries. Together with their companions and captains, they form the Aerial Corps, which is the only aspect in Temeraire that does not follow history. The reader is witness of aerial battles and military manoeuvres that take place during, for example, the historic battle of Trafalgar. If you simply take away the dragons, all events in this series happened almost exactly in both the books and history, which serves as a nice bonus while reading.

The dragons in Temeraire are perfectly sentient beings, some of them more intelligent than their companions, with very different personalites. They are treated with fear, distrust and sometimes disrespect from the ignorant, but Corps members treat them as equals who happen to be thirty tonnes and capable of eating an elephant in one bite (depending on the dragon breed). Dragons serve in wars, accompanied by their Captain and crews, which can mean a lot of people depending on how big the dragon is.

Let's talk about contents.

Our main protagonist is Captain William Laurence, who, through a series of seemingly unfortunate events, is the one harnessing (and thereby sort of taming) and naming the hatchling from the egg on the French ship. This means that from now on, he is no longer a captain of the Royal Navy, but an aviator who works for the Aerial Corps. At first, he is extremely unhappy about it, as the aviators' lifestyle completely contradicts his own plans and ambitions. Soon, however, he develops a tight bond with the young dragon he named Temeraire (after a warship that actually existed - there's a painting of it in my English textbook).

Now, this bond is nothing unusual to those of us who are experienced in the genre of dragon fantasy. But that does not mean that it is any bit less heartwarming and beautiful to observe.

As Aerial Corps members, Laurence and Temeraire are rushed through their training so they can join the active troups as quickly as possible. At first, Laurence is met with resistence and rejection because he does not come from their own ranks, but as time passes he and Temeraire both slowly earn their comrades' respect.

So far, there are seven books in the series, and I really don't want to spoil anything for potentially interested readers, so I'll stop by saying that Laurence and Temeraire have a lot of adventures coming for them. Seriously. A lot.

Now, why do I like these books so much?

First of all, the concept is unusual and strange and exciting. Sometimes I come across pieces of military strategy that I don't entirely understand, but so far it hasn't stopped me from enjoying this rather unique reading experience. The story is wonderful and exciting and challenging enough that you don't feel as if you're just sort of swimming through the plot.

The characters the reader is introduced to are one and all very well planned out and incredibly interesting to watch. Although this is about military in the early nineteenth century, we are not confronted with an entirely male "cast", so to say. That is because the Longwings, a poison-spraying dragon breed forming the heart of Aerial Corps military strength, exclusively accepts women as their companions - so we are introduced to several almost badass women in high positions who plunge into battles just as enthusiastically as their male colleagues. This causes quite a bit of confusion and ideological crises along the course of the series which is really enjoyable to read!

Character composition and interaction offers a lot of wonderful friendships (and love affairs!) which warm my heart every single time whithout being cheesy.

Also, writing style. Even before I decided to be a writer myself, style was incredible important to me. No matter how interesting the story is, if the style annoys me I can't bring myself to finish a book. Temeraire is written in a very brief, precise kind of military-style due to the main protagonist's background but that in no way influences the emotional aspects. I admire Naomi Novik's writing skills even though I only read the books in the German translation!

Just read the books. Seriously. You probably won't regret it.

Love and kisses,

Jojo

(Sorry this is so long, I got a little carried away as I do when talking about books I love!)

SCHOOL'S OUT! WAIT WHAT?!

Greetings, my friends.

It's only three weeks to go until the summer holidays over here and all the exams are written. In fact, I had a little mini-party after my last test on Monday. It involved mostly sweatpants, chocolate buiscuits and lots of zoo documentaries on TV. You know, party hard.

I don't have to prepare for exams any more and also there's not that much stuff going on in school anymore so I'm basically already in relaxation mode. As a real treat, I started rereading one of my favourite book series - Naomi Novik's Temeraire - which is seven volumes up to now and I usually don't take the time to read that long a series all in a row (although I made an exception for A Song of Ice and Fire).

But that's not really what I wanted to talk about today. I want to talk about the problem, which is this:

Although there are no more tests or exams this schoolyear, we're still doing important stuff. We even start new topics. And everything we do now we will need right after the holidays. Because I am finishing school next spring, my next schoolyear is much shorter than a regular one, the first half being over right before Christmas when it's usually around early February.

Because the summer holidays are very late this year, we will have to write our first exams as early as three weeks after coming back to school. So all of us, not only our teachers, feel the pressure to get stuff done now so we don't have to rush through in September.

Now the problem is that we also want a break. We've all been working hard. The weather is crazy at the moment (floodings last week - students had to help dry out the school cellar and gym), most exams are graded and there's only two weeks of proper lessons left as the last week before the holidays usually contains all the extra stuff like running for charity and a kind of awards ceremony for students who did something special.

Seriously? I'm done. I just want a couple of weeks to relax, sleep in, and do all the stuff I don't have time for during school, like reading or learning Elvish like I've been planning to do for almost two years. Also I'm currently starting to really plan my novel-project, and I could really use some time off to work on that. Then there's university applications I'll have to think about, and possible gap year planning,

Even though I am generally a very relaxed person who isn't bothered by stress too much I appreciate and need breaks as much as the next person. So... could summer please come sooner?

Love and kisses,

Jojo

FIELD TRIP TIME! THE COLOGNE ZOO

Hello, my friends.

Last Saturday, I had the chance to visit the Cologne Zoo, something I had wanted to do for a long time now. I am a great fan of zoos in general (my mum took us to the closest zoo all the time when my brother and I were little) and there are a few that are kind of on my bucket list of zoological gardens.

Cologne Zoo was awesome. Their enclosures are very open and well-proportioned, with lots of hiding spots for the animals in case they don't want to be stared at all day. The park is layed out in a very visitor-friendly way, offering a roundcourse that brings you to all the animals in about one hour depending on how long you linger and signposts showing you the way everywhere you might want to go.

Zoos are visited especially by families, mothers with little kids being the great majority, probably because zoos are great to distract the little ones for a couple of hours. I remember that when I was a kid myself, I especially loved spending hours on the playground. The ones I saw in Cologne looked so great that I was seriously tempted to try them although I am a seventeen-year-old teenager and probably would have been hopelessly stuck on the constructions. I can also account for a great many beaming childrens' faces while I was there!

I took an awful lot of pictures, of course (about two hundred that is) but a lot of them were out of focus and some I will delete as soon as my friend saw them because I have WAY too many elephant photos. I'll put the nicest of them below, including comment!

One of three extremely smug-looking camels. They're currently shedding their winter-fur, so I decided to capture only this one's face.

Here you see the raccoon, engaging in his natural activity of looking both very cute and very sleepy.

I love cheetahs. I took about a dozen pictures of this one alone, but most of them were either out of focus or weirdly composed.

I don't know why I think tapirs are this interesting, but they certainly look cool!

I was so excited when I saw these two okapis! I'd only ever read about them or seen pictures in books, but I'd never seen a real one before!

These are honeybadgers. The most badass animals on earth. Even hyenas don't dare attack them. And they're just lying around cuddling.

Seriously! This is both adorable and disappointing.

I have no idea what this bird is called, but it's beautiful. Also, it was moving so fast it took me about a thousand attempts to get this shot.

Gotta love giraffes. My favourite animals. Period.

Here we have the extremely cute baby elephant Bindi right next to Europe's tallest male with a shoulder height of 3.18 metres.

This sea lion was kind of modelling for the visitors while also acting like a true comedian. 

I really wish I could have gotten more photos of big cats because they always fascinate the hell out of me and I find them incredibly inspiring. Unfortunately, every single one of them was either hiding in the last corner of their enclosure or lying behind very milky glass so I couldn't.

I spent an awful lot of time in the elephant house, which is very big and light and airy. I was a little surprised that they keep the bulls with the females, I'd never seen that before, especially because they currently have two little ones. They do have a seperated area, but the info signs say that the bulls get along so well with all the others and even the babies that they decided to keep the herd together.

I'm hoping to visit the Münster Zoo in about a month, they have a baby rhino at the moment! That is extremely special, because in the past one of the females killed two or three of her little ones by accident. It's a different mother this time, and the baby seems to have good survival chances!

That's it from me for now. I hope you have a good week!

Love,

Jojo