Metz Family

The FIFA World Cup in South Africa will take place from June 11 - July 11, 2010. Ireland, Germany and Kenya need to qualify for the major soccer event in their groups (Europe and Africa). According to the drawing which took place on November 25, 2007 in Durban the groups are: Die FIFA Fussball Weltmeisterschaft in Süd Afrika findet vom 11. Juni bis 11. Juli 2010 statt. Irland, Deutschland und Kenia müssen sich für dieses Fussballhauptevent in den jeweiligen Gruppen (Europa und Afrika) qualifizieren. Die Auslosung der Gruppen fand am 25. November 2007 in Durban statt. Die Gruppen sehen wie folgt aus: Europe Group 4 * Germany (FIFA World Ranking: 5) * Russia (FIFA World Ranking: 23) * Finland (FIFA World Ranking: 36) * Wales (FIFA World Ranking: 57) * Azerbaijan (FIFA World Ranking: 115) * Liechtenstein (FIFA World Ranking: 122) Group 8 * Republic Of Ireland (...

Are you still looking for a Christmas gift? We can recommend something. A couple of days ago we got the chance to get a very nice copy of the "Christmas Oratorio BWV 248" in its entirely played by the Dresden Philharmonic together with the Dresden Cross Choir through Amazon. The package comes in a 3CD-Digipak covered with red velvet and a total playing time of almost 3 hours. This epic piece of music, composed by the great Johann Sebastian Bach, is one of the most popular classical composition in history. Sucht Ihr noch nach einem Weihnachtsgeschenk? Wir können etwas empfehlen. Vor ein paar Tagen haben wir die Chance bekommen ein sehr schönes Exemplar des "Weihnachtsoratorium BWV 248", gespielt von der Dresdner Philharmonie zusammen mit dem Dresdner Kreuzchor, in der Gesamtaufnahme durch Amazon zu bekommen. Das Paket kommt in einem 3CD-Digipak umhüllt mit rotem Samt und einer Gesamtspielzeit von fast 3 Stunden. Diese epische Stück Musik, komponiert vom grossartigen ...

*** Caroline and Sebastian wish all visitors a Merry Christmas! *** Unfortunately without any snow here but at least with Christmas decoration in the streets. Our picture shows a Christmas tree located in front of the GPO - General Post Office at O'Connell Street in Dublin. *** Caroline und Sebastian wünschen allen Besuchern ein schönes Weihnachtsfest! *** Leider ohne Schnee hier aber zumindest mit Weihnachtsdekoration in den Strassen. Unser Bild zeigt einen Weihnachtsbaum vor dem Hauptpostamt auf der O'Connell Street in Dublin.

During our time in India, we have discovered a very good music project. The BOMBAY DUB ORCHESTRA combines ambient music, orchestra tunes (played by the Bollywood Movie Orchestra) with traditional Indian vocal and instrument appearances like sitar and wooden flute. The result is an interesting orchestral chill out mixture. You can watch a visual element of the track 'Compassion' from Bombay Dub Orchestra's BBC Electric Proms performance below this entry. Während unserer Zeit in Indien haben wir ein sehr gutes Musikprojekt entdeckt. Das BOMBAY DUB ORCHESTRA verbindet Ambientmusik, orchestrale Stücke (gespielt vom Bollywood Film Orchester) mit traditionellen indischem Gesang und Instrumenten wie Sitar und Holzflöte. Das Ergebnis ist eine interessante Verschmelzung aus orchestralem Chill Out. Unter dem Eintrag gibt es ein visuelles Element des Stückes "Compassion", gespielt vom Bombay Dub Orchestra während der BBC Electric Proms.

Our website comes now in a fresh and modern design. We hope you will enjoy it. Unsere Website kommt jetzt in einem frischen und modernen Design. Wir hoffen es gefällt euch.

Our photoalbum with pictures from Goa is now online. You can find the link in the photosection appearing in the right navigation bar. Enjoy! Unser Fotoalbum mit Bildern aus Goa ist nun online. Ihr könnt den Link in der Fotosektion im rechten Navigationsmenü finden. Viel Spass!

Monday, December 3 In the morning we spent most of our time walking around in Palolem village and to buy some traditional gifts for our families. In the afternoon we booked a boat cruise with Farawaycruises which was really exciting and relaxing. Departed from Palolem beach and cruised past Agonda and Kola beach. Stopped for a swim and kayaking near a remote beach and enjoyed a range of delicious snacks before heading back to Palolem. We saw a wonderful sunset but unfortunately no dolphins. A wonderful trip. Tuesday, December 4 This day we hired another scooter and discovered a lot of nice things in the area around Palolem. We cruised alongside the coast, across the Talpona River until we found an isolated beach called Galgibaga. This beach is very beautiful and protected by the Forest Department of the Goan government. There are no beach resorts (the villagers in the vicinity prevented the building of beach resorts in the past), there is just nature and a paradise for turtles. We wen...

Friday, November 30 On this Friday afternoon we traveled with Air Deccan from Hyderabad towards Goa. After a 1.5 hour flight we arrived well in the Indian sunshine state. The first impression was the fact that the heat is completely different there, more humid perhaps because of the Arabian Sea. From Goa Airport we were picked up by a taxi, which was organized by our hotel owner Ciaran's. After another journey of 1.5 hours through the landscape of Central- and South Goa, alongside palm trees and lots of cows we finally approached our place to stay, located at Palolem Beach. We were a bit disappointed about the accommodation in the first place but after reviewing the other resorts, Ciaran's was the best place to stay. They have a restaurant and a bar, with a wide range of seafood and - surprise - beef steak(!!) as well as local beers. The bar and restaurant are actually very good. After a brief overview we decided just to stay on the beach and walk around for the rest of the day...

After six amazing and relaxing days in the heat of 36 degrees and sunshine all day long in Goa we arrived well back in rainy Dublin yesterday afternoon. We spent wonderful moments relaxing on Palolem Beach including discovering the southern villages around Goa on a scooter as well as boat and Kayak cruises at sunset. Photos and a detailed report will be posted soon. Nach sechs aufregenden und entspannenden Tage in 36 Grad Hitze und Sonnenschein sind wir gestern im wieder im verregneten Dublin angekommen. Wir haben wundervolle Momente verbracht, sei es beim Relaxen am Palolem Beach, auf einer Boots- und Kayaktour oder beim Erkunden der Dörfer im Süden Goas mit einem Moped. Fotos und detailierte Berichte gibt es bald.

Carol's work in Hyderabad is finally done and now we are preparing our trip towards paradise. Tomorrow afternoon at 1pm we will head with Deccan Airways to the sunny beaches of the Indian state Goa. Six days relaxing in the sun. We will stay a stone-throw away from Palolem Beach, one of the most quiet beaches in the state. The accommodation is Ciaran's Camp . For sure, we will need the tranquility. Because we are relaxing and we are offline the next few days there will be no new posts until we get back to Dublin. Carol's Arbeit is nun in Hyderabad endlich geschafft und augenblicklich bereiten wir unseren Trip in Richtung Paradies vor. Morgen um 13 Uhr fliegen wir mit Deccan Airways an die sonnigen Straende des Indischen Bundesstaates Goa. Sechs Tage in der Sonne entspannen. Unsere Unterkunft ist nur einen Steinwurf von Palolem Beach entfernt, einem der ruhigsten Straende des ganzen Landes. Uebernachten werden wir in Ciaran's Camp . Die Ruhe koennen wir nun wirklich gebr...

This update covers the last couple of days. It is now Carol's last working week and Sebastian's first week in Hyderabad. On Saturday we started straight with visiting local sights in Hyderabad, including Hussain Lake with the popular Buddha stute and Biria Mandir (Temple). Indian architecture and culture is very rich and impressive. On Sunday we were heading to the world's largest film studios, Ramoji Film City. The film industry in India is the world highest productive one, more than the US or any other county. There are two different locations, the equivalent to Hollywood, Bollywood, which is located in Mumbai (Bombay) and Ramoji Film City close to Hyderabad. India is not co-producing movies with other countries therefore everything is copied for a film set, even an airport. We moved through the entire area with a visitor bus. By the way, the film "Om Shanti Om" is currently India's number 1 movie. You can watch the trailer below this post. On Monday we vis...

I arrived with a delay of 30 minutes on Friday night/Saturday morning. I was a bit disappointed about the flight as i was expecting a bit more comfort from a "traditional German Airline" called Lufthansa. The economy class is really a "woodclass". The 12 hours flight felt like a journey in a Dublin Dart Train with hard seats and noise. Anyway, i arrived well and that's the main concern. I got my first impressions of Hyderabad yesterday and i must say it is a very special culture here in India and very exciting. We have visited the Buddha statue, located within the Hussain Lake and a temple. Now, the adventure really begins... Mit einer Verspaetung von 30 Minuten bin ich Freitagnacht/Samstagmorgen angekommen. Ich war einwenig enttaeuscht ueber den Flug, denn ich hatte einwenig mehr Komfort von einer "traditionellen Deutschen Fluggesellschaft" namens Lufthansa erwartet. Die Economy Class ist hier wirklich die Holzklasse. Die 12 Stunden Flug haben sich wi...

A post from Dublin. I have finished the final preparation for my trip last night. I cannot wait to leave the cold and windy weather here in Ireland and to approach nice and warm weather in south east Asia. Ein Eintrag aus Dublin. Ich habe gestern abend die letzten Vorbereitungen für meinen Trip beendet. Nun kann ich es nicht mehr erwarten das kalte und windige Wetter in Irland zu verlassen um das schöne und warme Wetter in Südost Asien zu erreichen.

I've spent the most part of this weekend with my team colleagues as there were quite a number of team activities going on. For one, one of our colleagues got married and invited us to his wedding reception on saturday evening at the Secundarabad Club. Since all the ladies were going to wear saris, I decided to also get an Indian outfit so as not to be the odd one out;-) I later on learnt that a sari is not available ready made as it has to tailored to fit perfectly. As an alternative, I settled for a Salwar and Kameez (trouser with long top and matching scarf). At the reception, we were recieved well. The club itself is really huge and has different halls and gardens that can be hired separately, so there are always different events going on at the same time. Our colleague had appr. 100 guests, all family and friends. I was told that this was just a fraction of the crowd that shows up for the actual wedding!! There was vegetarian food served and after some great photo sessions, w...

I've had yet another short week due to Diwali, which is a festival of fireworks starting Thursday. The whole group of expats here tried organizing a collective trip out of Hyderabad but it turned out difficult to agree on one destination. So in the end I decided to take the chance of visiting Mumbai alone on friday. I therefore spent most of thursday just in bed and organizing the logistics. In order to get the most of the day in Mumbai, I booked the first flight from Hyderabad, which meant waking up at 3am. Anyway, everything went smoothly and when I got to Mumbai at 6am, the town was still asleep-;) The airport is obviously international compared to Hyderabad. From the airport, I got a cab towards the Gateway of India down south, from where I grabbed the first ferry to Elephantia Island. This is a 1hr ferry transfer to the caves with sculptures of the different Hindi Gods. This was a good escape from the busy crowded Mumbai. I came back to the mainland at 1pm when I got really hu...

On sunday (4th Nov), the three of us decided to visit the Golconda Fort slightly on the outskirts of Hyderabad. On our way there, the cab driver recommended us to see the tombs of Qutub Shahi, which lie 1km from Golconda Fort. There are appr. 20 different tombs, all made of carved stonework. The Golconda Fort is massive in size. We turned down all the offers for a guide and decided to just wander on ourselves. We took the steps all the way up 120m, luckily the sun was about to set and therefore not scorching anymore. At the top, it was almost just like at the temple, so peaceful, with the whole city at your feet. So once again, we were able to view the sunset and watched the day transition to night slowly but surely. At around 7pm, it was the muslim prayer time and all of a sudden, all the mosques began the call to prayer, which ascended to the top of the Fort from all 360 degrees...just i ncredible. Jason had a tough time trying to keep the men away from Jenny and I. Somehow, In...

Last saturday (3rd Nov), my colleagues Jenny and Jason asked to me to accompany them to some local sights in Hyderabad. Jenny is here only for 2 weeks and Jason is here for the long haul just like me. So we decided to start with the famous Charminar area located right in the middle of the city center. Well, the Charminar with it's pillars is amazing, but later on, we wished we had gone with a local colleague cos it became difficult to get through the crowd of street kids and street hawkers that surrounded and followed us all through. It was overwhelming to get so much persistent attention which we weren't prepared for, so after a short tour, we decided to go for a break in a quiet restaurant. We had lunch in a fabulous Chinese restaura nt facing the Hussein's Lake. After recovering from the Charminar experience,we went to the Birla Mandir Temple, which is located on a rocky hill and is built out of marble. The quietness up in the temple is a full contrast to the busy, ...

The Whelan's, a very small pub/venue located at Wexford Street, Dublin. The location where Fiddler's Green performed their Irish debut on last Thursday. I was a bit surprised that there were no promotions for the gig at all (except a small notice on the venue website), but after the concert i got the explanation from Ralf, singer of Fiddler's Green. Tickets were priced at 11.50€. But first of all, let's start with the actual review. The Whelan's normally provides space for approximately 300 people. This evening, about 150 people took the chance to see the "masters of Irish Independent Speedfolk". However, from those 150 people 130 were Germans (people who traveled from Germany especially for Fiddler's, Tourists and we - people who are living in Ireland). Singer Ralf started the gig with the words "thank you for coming out to see Fiddler's Green and their very first gig ever in Ireland"). Then he asked who's actually from Ireland and ...

This has been a short week (thank God-:) . Well, on wednesday evening, we had the compulsory Halloween party. Our team decided to go for a retro-look, so i borrowed some Elton-John specs from a friend. Apparently, there were other teams that were more creative and who really looked spooky! The good thing is that thursday is a holiday (state formation day), so we had enough time to compete for the best Halloween look till dawn and sleep late the following day. For the weekend, I actually wanted to get out of Hyderabad for a change, but the group that I planned to travel with somehow couldn't agree on a destination, so I guess I'll remain in Hyderabad and try out a few places here that I haven't yet visited. The weather seems to be changing, in fact, it even rained on Tuesday, so I'm crossing my fingers that this is a one-off occurrence. I hope the Dublin weather isn't following me all the way ;-( Btw, I already had my first visit to the Dr. Just like in Kenya, my ski...

FIDDLER'S GREEN live at Whelans, Dublin, Thursday, November 1, 2007 Germany's top representatives of Irish Independent Speedfolk FIDDLER'S GREEN arrive with a new line-up and a brand new album, "Drive Me Mad!" in Dublin. For 16 years they have have performed over 1200 live shows all over the world, recorded two live DVDs and 10 full-length albums. Sebastian is waiting over four years for their arrival in Ireland. Website Location FIDDLER'S GREEN live im Whelans, Dublin, Donnerstag, 1. November 2007 Deutschlands Top Aushängeschilder in Sachen Irish Independent Speedfolk FIDDLER'S GREEN kommen in neuer Besetzung und einem brandneuen Album "Drive Me Mad!" nach Dublin. Innerhalb von 16 Jahren haben sie über 1200 Konzerte auf der ganzen Welt gespielt, sowie 2 Live DVDs und 10 Studioalben eingespielt. Sebastian wartet seit über vier Jahren das sie nach Irland kommen. Website Location

My update actually covers a few of the past days: Last thursday, I finally made it the the gym with a few colleagues. They have a personal trainer, who was not particularly merciful to me, he made sure that I actually used some of the equipment!! In the end, I was glad that I had been there, cos I felt so much fitter and motivated, the only problem is that the muscle pain isn't going away yet, which makes me walk like an old woman around the office;-) After the gym, we headed to a fun-fair pretty much close to the office. I could hardly resist all the the cute Indian stuff being sold in the stalls. So in the end, I ended up buying myself a pair of sandals for 100R. While my colleagues got obsessed with the roller coasters, I treated myself to a henna-tattoo instead. With the weekend around the corner, friday started off pretty much peaceful. At around 5pm, I was invited to watch an Indian band called "Bassless", which really turned out to be true about their singing, no ...

I think I've now recovered from the jet lag as I was able to get some hours of sound sleep for the first time since I arrived on Saturday. Its good to wake up to a bright, sunny morning each day, so I don't mind the honking of the tuk-tuks of the morning traffic (or perhaps I'm getting used to them). I'm also surprised at how much curry my stomach can handle (which is like 3x a day!!). All in all, I'm starting to relax after meeting all these nice and polite people, who are spoiling me heavily (today I came back to my room to find my dirty clothes had been washed, ironed and placed neatly on my bed, something that was last done by my mom ages ago when I was a kid-:). With a dedicated cook, house-keeper and driver at my disposal for 6 weeks, I'm worried that when I get back to Dublin, I won't be able to do anything for myself anymore, lol!! I'm told that this is actually the best time to visit India, cos the temperatures are moderate, which is absolutely ...

As Sebastian already mentioned, I arrived in Hyderabad last night (23.30 local time) via LH. Having left Dublin at 6am, I was more than tired by the time I got to the hotel. Despite the tiredness, I had a short night cos I'm the kind of person who takes time to get used to a new bed;-) But otherwise I like my room, it's spacious, clean and most importantly en-suite. I've already met my neighbor who is a lady from the US. She invited me out for brunch in some nice hotel. I got the chance to meet her colleagues, who are all here since June, which was quite encouraging to me cos at first I thought my 7 weeks are gonna be damn long. Our taxi driver informed us that today is a festival, I didn't quite understand it when he explained that it's a day of honoring your weapons??? Anyway, for this reason, there were lots of people out in the streets, and of course a lot of hooting;-). In a way, this reminded so much of our Kenyan vacation last year... After brunching with a f...

You will notice a new section appearing in the side bar. This section will provide you with links to our photo albums. Enjoy! Ihr werdet an der Seite einen neuen Bereich entdecken. Dieser Bereich beinhaltet Links zu unseren Fotoalben. Viel Spass!

Carol arrived safe in Hyderabad. Carol ist soeben sicher in Hyderabad angekommen.

Carol just left Dublin Airport with Lufthansa in direction Hyderabad, India. The expected travel duration will be approximately 12 hours. Arrival is estimated for 23.25 Indian Time (18.55 GMT/19.55 CET) Carol hat gerade den Flughafen Dublin mit Lufthansa in Richtung Hyderabad, Indien verlassen. Die erwartete Reisezeit wird ca. 12 Stunden sein. Ankunft ist für 23.25 Uhr indische Zeit (18.55 GMT, 19.55 MEZ) erwartet.

Don't be shy and sign our guestbook which is online since a couple of minutes. Just leave a short comment about us, our website, points to improve, simply a couple of personal words. Go to our Guestbook which appears in the side bar, click on the link below and when the site has opened up just select your prefered language in the right corner. Looking forward to hearing from you. Nur nicht zu schüchtern sein um einen Eintrag in unserem Gästebuch zu hinterlassen, welches seit wenigen Minuten online ist. Einfach ein paar Worte über uns, unsere Webseite, Dinge die verbessert werden können, ein paar persönliche Worte. Das Gästebuch taucht auf der rechten Seite auf. Dann einfach auf den Link darunter klicken. Wenn sich die Seite aufgebaut hat, in der rechten Ecke die bevorzugte Sprache auswählen. Wir freuen uns von Euch zu hören.

Thursday, 01.11.'07, Fiddler's Green / Whelan's - Folkrock Friday, 07.12.'07, VNV Nation / Village - Electro Friday, 14.12.'07, Händel's Messiah / NCH - Classical Friday, 14.12.'07, Laurant Garnier / Tripod - Trance Saturday, 15.12.'07, Apocalyptica / Ambassador - Cello Rock Friday, 28.12.'07, Mauro Picotto / Tripod - Dance Thursday, 03.04.'08, Nightwish / Vicar Street - Metal Monday, 19.05.'08, Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits) / RDS - Rock

Sebastian has just created a new blog. He'd like to take this opportunity to provide the world with his personal interest - Hard n' Heavy music. If you are interested to get informed about "the heavy side of the green island" then check out this link . Only in English and only for fans. :-) Sebastian hat gerade einen neuen Blog kreiert. Er möchte die Möglichkeit nutzen um die Welt mit Informationen zu versorgen, die ihn persönlich interessieren - Heavy Metal Musik. Falls Ihr interessiert seid und informiert werden wollt über die "schwermetallische Seite der grünen Insel" dann schaut doch mal hier vorbei. Allerdings nur in Englisch und nur für Fans. :-)

Carol is currently preparing her long trip to India. This experience will start next Saturday and will run over 6 weeks finishing up in an extra week with a beach holiday in Goa. Sebastian will join her in Hyderabad in a couple of weeks time. Carol bereitet sich im Augenblick für ihre grosse Reise nach Indien vor. Diese Erfahrung startet nächsten Samstag, geht über 6 Wochen und endet in einer zusätzlichen Woche mit einem Strandurlaub in Goa. Sebastian wird in ein paar Wochen hinterher fliegen und sie in Hyderabad treffen.

After a poor match Ireland and Germany have seperated with a 0-0 draw. The German team is now already qualified for the EURO 2008. Nach einem ereignislosen Spiel trennen sich Irland und Deutschland unentschieden mit 0-0. Das deutsche Team ist nun vorzeitig für die EM qualifiziert.

Your feedback means a lot to us. Please use the opportunity to write a few words or to drop us an email to caroline.sebastian@yahoo.ie . Looking forward to hearing from you. Euer Feedback bedeutet eine Menge für uns. Bitte nutzt die Möglichkeit ein paar Worte loszuwerden. Auch könnt Ihr uns eine eMail an caroline.sebastian@yahoo.ie schreiben. Wir freuen uns auf Eure Nachrichten.

UEFA EURO 2008 Qualification Group D: Germany vs. Ireland When they met in the first round of the qualification, Germany beat Ireland 1-0 back in Stuttgart last year. Tonight at Croke Park, Dublin Ireland needs to win the 2nd match to get a slight chance to remain in the tournament. Germany only needs a draw as one point is enough to qualify before the group phase finishes. Croke Park Stadium is sold out and both teams are hot as superstars like Robbie Keane, Kevin Doyle will play versus Kevin Kuranyi and Bastian Schweinsteiger. Live Broadcast on RTE TWO. Kick off 7.45pm GMT. UEFA EURO 2008 Qualifikation Gruppe D: Deutschland gegen Irland Als sie sich das erste Mal in der Qualifikation gegenübestanden schlug Deutschland im vergangenen Jahr Irland mit 1-0 in Stuttgart. Heute abend im Croke Park, Dublin muss Irland dieses Spiel gewinnen um noch den Hauch einer Chance zuhaben sich für die EM zu qualifizieren. Das Croke Park Stadion ist ausverkauft und beide Teams brennen darauf wenn Super...

Dia duit (gaelic: Hello). You are warmly welcomed to our blog. In the next few weeks and months, you will notice regular updates on our exciting life in Ireland, all about our vacation trips and much more. This blog will be available in English and German. Check out this space from time to time... Dia duit (gälisch: Hallo). Ein herzliches Willkommen auf unserem Blog. In den nächsten Wochen und Monaten werden hier in regelmässigen Abständen aufregende Neuigkeiten über unser Leben in Irland und über unsere Urlaubstrips zu finden sein. Den Blog wird es in Englisch und Deutsch geben. Ab und an mal vorbeischauen lohnt sich...