Journal

July 2008

The second month

Eight weeks have already passed since our arrival, and we haven't even gotten bored since then. Daniel is very busy with his studies, and as an au pair, Carolina has a fair bit to do as well. We really settled into everyday life, but there is still enough time left to experience Canada. Whether it's just lying on the beach or exploring North Vancouver, there's always a lot to do in a big city. This weekend we were at the beach and thus swimming for the first time. Next weekend, we'd like to either see the ocean by kayak, or we'll climb Grouse Mountain. There's just incredibly much to do and to see here.

But of course we aren't here just for fun. Every morning, we stand on the ice punctually at 7 a.m. and start to practice. Additionally, since last week this has also meant icy cold because our practice group moved into an ice hockey rink; to be precise, we now practice on the ice of the "Vancouver Canucks," the local hockey team. Practice still goes on in the same way, i.e. practicing the compulsory dances (this season: Paso Doble and Viennese Waltz), and of course working out our new free program and the original dance. The themes for the original dance for all ice dance teams of this season are the 1920s (i.e. Charleston, Quickstep, etc.) and/or swing music of the 1930s and 1940s.

As many certainly know from television, we're training here with Victor Kraatz and his wife Maikki. Victor is the 2003 World Champion in ice dancing, but Maikki also has a lot of experience in this field. In addition, she is also very well-trained in other types of dance without skates. Both work very intensely with us in order to enable a good start into the season at the Nebelhorn-Trophy in Oberstdorf. After the sessions on the ice, we proceed with athletics, ballet or dance training.

In the past two weeks, we could regularly be seen on the VOX documentary series "Auf und davon" ("Up and Away"). A camera team had accompanied us back in Dortmund and then for 10 days here in Vancouver. Overall, the shootings were a lot of fun, and we hope that you could get an impression of our life here. We would also like to thank you for the many e-mails, Facebook and StudiVZ messages. Even though we couldn't answer all of them so far, we were very happy to receive such a positive feedback.

Thanks a lot,
Carolina & Daniel

June 2008

Canada: the first month

Almost exactly a month ago today, Carolina landed in Vancouver, and so far the time literally just flew by. We already see it coming how we'll pack our bags and fly back to Germany...

Until then, we still want to experience a lot and continue to prepare for the next season, though. On the weekend, the two of us and Bryan (a friend from university) went to Lynn Valley in order to take a look at the area around Vancouver. It really is gorgeous here in Vancouver. The combination of mountains and islands, of ocean and mountains reaching the horizon, of city and typical North American suburban developments, of beach and small mountain rivers... Maybe these comparisons sound absurd, but this is exactly what Vancouver currently represents for us.

Daniel's host mother Helen explained to us that Vancouver is still a very young city which has since been settled by a great number of immigrants. This is exactly what we see every day, and you realize again and again: there's not one Vancouver. Vancouver is polycultural in the truest sense of the word.

Oftentimes it's the small experiences which fascinate us, which catch your eye again and again, and which show us that we're not in Germany. You begin to see things in a different light and start to question certain things. Why is this like this in Germany? Is there a reason for it? "At home" you simply take a lot for granted; after all, you've grown up with that. When you get to know something new here, you realize that there is no such thing as "normal." Something quite simple is paper, for example. An ordinary sheet of paper in Germany is DIN A4 and punched with two holes in order to fit in a folder. In Canada, there is no DIN A4 (the sheets are shorter and wider) and they are punched with three holes. I don't know why, there's no right or wrong either, but this illustrates how set in your way of thinking you already are at our age.

We largely spent the first month just settling in. We came to Vancouver, and apart from Victor's promise, the plane tickets and a place to sleep, we hadn't organized much else. Today we're both staying with very nice families, are having a good practice schedule, and there hasn't been any problem which we couldn't solve. So far, we've had a lot of luck, and the decision to come here was good. Maikki and Victor, Rosemarie and Reg (Caro's host parents), Helen and Rodney (Daniel's host parents) are probably the best people we could meet here in Vancouver...

We think we've become more open-minded, we're trying to really experience Canada, and trying to make good use of the time here. Be it training, college, or also for ourselves. It's incredibly great fun for us to discover another new "different" every day. Helen told Daniel last week that more often than not the time of guest students passes way too fast, and that many forget to use it well...

Our normal daily routine hasn't changed much compared to the past few weeks. At college, the midterm exams are due, and Carolina has started to learn playing the piano. On the weekend we'd possibly like to take a bike trip through Stanley Park, or we'll go to Chinatown with Bryan, but possibly we'll also meet some friends at Daniel's to play billards...

It's fun to be in Vancouver. Best regards to Germany,

Carolina and Daniel

May 2008

We've now been in Vancouver for nearly 15 days, and things have settled down. Even though we're still frantically busy, we have by now arranged what's most important, and our daily routine is set.

When Daniel arrived in Vancouver on Wednesday night after an overall travel time of nearly 30 hours, he first had to discover that one of his suitcases was still in Washington and the other one in Toronto. With Carolina, who arrived a day later, the flight went according to plan.

At college, everything goes well so far. The amount of work is substantially larger than in Germany, though. For every course, Daniel has to write an assignment and has at least two exams. Moreover, there are grades for class participation and attendance. Almost all of the courses are bound to certain textbooks, out of which approx 50 pages have to be read per course each week. At the weekend, Daniel could finally register for his courses. This is very complicated at Simon Fraser University because international students can only register after the term has already started. Consequently, he couldn't buy the books for the particular courses until Monday. We now own bikes which are very important here because we go to our training every morning with these.

While Carolina has to get up at 5 a.m. in order to be at the rink on time, Daniel is allowed to sleep until 5:30. Carolina first has to take the bike to the SkyTrain, a computer operated rapid transport system, and afterwards the bus to the rink. It's a bit easier from Burnaby for Daniel. He takes approx 10 minutes to the rink because it's a downhill route, whereas on the way back he takes approx 35 minutes by bike. After the warm up our practise starts at 7.20. The rink has Canadian dimensions, which was very irritating at first. Victor and his wife Maikki go out of their way and help us a lot. This week we have also started with the athletics training.

Canada, and Vancouver in particular, appeal to us a lot. We had imagined it differently, but it's totally beautiful. At the weekend we went whale watching and had time to see some of the city. How we are doing here and what else we've done can be seen on VOX starting at the beginning of June. A camera team has accompanied us here for the first 10 days.....

Best wishes from Vancouver,

Carolina and Daniel

Febuary-March 2008

A few days after the German Nationals, Katarina Witt offered us to skate in her farewell tour, and of course we accepted instantly.

This was a great experience. We had tremendous fun on the tour and have also learned a lot. Before the opening night we spent a week in Bad Sachsa and rehearsed the choreography. Within seven days, we had to learn about ten choreographies. At this time we were on the ice for 6 hours on average, during which it was particularly exciting to see how pros work (especially Brian Boitano and Naomi Lang and Peter Tchernyshev).

Right before the opening night, it was Daniel in particular who was nervous. Not all steps were perfect yet, and from time to time errors crept in. Already after the first number, though, the nervousness was gone. The audience was great, and we certainly won't forget the first show.

Another highlight besides the opening night was the taping of the show in Hanover. Not only were some costumes quickly modified a little, the entire atmosphere was just very emotional. We all became a real team, and it was too bad that we would soon go separate ways again.

During the broadcast of the show such emotions naturally welled up again, but we were very happy that our solo performance (Time of My Life - Dirty Dancing) was shown.

At this point we would once again like to thank Katarina cordially for this opportunity. It was a great time. Thanks also to the With Witt team, the ice crew, the choreographers, and of course to Caryn, Naomi, Nelly, Julia, Brian, Ryan, Steven, Alexander, Peter, and Sergei.

January2008

German Nationals: Pleased with a third place and a total score of 151.30 points, we return from Dresden. It is indeed a different experience to compete at the senior level. Last year, we admittedly got an incredible impression of the German Nationals with qualifying for the World Junior Championships, but this time we could gain some new experiences as well. Overall, we received some good reviews and hope to improve our results next year. Unfortunately we've hardly had any time to celebrate after all this stress because the exam period at Daniel's college already started a week ago, so we even had to return to Dortmund before the exhibition.