... of my brother, who performed yesterday night at the city festival. He played the drums in a band that had formed out of a bet between him plus some friends and the boss of the music store he frequently goes to. My brother did a great job; I heard several people in the crowd say that "the drummer is awesome". But the others were great, too, seeing that they started rehearsing 4 months ago! Maybe there'll be some more gigs in the future. We'll see!

What else?
Oh yes, I've been working as a volunteer for the past weeks, that's why I've neglected my gallery. I supervised kids in the annual summer vacation program of my home town, meaning that I (and other [mostly] students who need to complete a training beforehand) take a group of kids to a theme park, a farm, a zoo etc. and take care of them during that time. I took part in 7 events: I went to the "Heide Park" in Soltau (the biggest theme park in Northern Germany [link] ), to a farm, to a zoo (twice) and to an adventure barn, I went on a mudflat hiking tour and I attended the closing feast.
Everything went very well this year, the kids were affable and well-behaved and the weather was fine most of the time. It was a little too hot on the day we went to the Heide Park, though: over 90 °F! But then, on the other hand, the mudflat hiking tour had to be cancelled after the first third of the route, because it started raining and a thunderstorm came up. We were trapped, all 50 kids sobbed and cried, because they thought they'd die either because of a lightning stroke or of the flood tide (the water had risen quickly due to the downpour). When the thunderstorm had passed by, we went back to our bus. Of course we couldn't take the ferry to the island we had intended to hike to, since we were all drenched with rain and not all of us (me included) had taken along clothes to change. I jittered the whole ride back.
But apart from that it was very cool. The closing feast was neat, too, with the hundreds of red baloons the kids traditionally let fly at the end of the feast.
I'm already looking forward to next year!

Another thing!
I went to a "crayfish party" at the restaurant of the resident IKEA. It was so Swedish! Every guest got a napkin, bib and party hat with a big crayfish on it and a thin booklet with mostly drinking songs. Then, every table had a huge glass bowl for the crayfish and another one for the leftovers.
When we arrived, an entertainer had grouped the guests in two teams: Gotland and Öland. On his command, the team in question would either have to shout "Hej!" or "Hej hej!". Gotland (our team) was louder. Then we had to sing some Swedish songs, for example the opening theme of "Pippi Longstocking".
The menu comprised crayfish (who would have thought) with lemons and several kinds of breads, cheese platters with fruits and the kids menu - but also adults helped themselves to some köttbullars (meat balls), fries and noodles. Oh, and there was jello for desert! The drinks were typical Swedish ones as well.
In between, songs were sung on and off, and later on you also had the opportunity to dance. It was a great evening altogether and I'm sure that this wasn't my last crayfish party.



____________________
The clubs I'm in: