Adventures of Furry Bee and Marshmallow Bee Part 1

border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5142855341668238674" />

Them Yerman Traditions

On December 1, the Flotrinkian Team reunited again! And even though Flobee forgot my Nutella from Bonn, he did bring with him an even better surprise. And on this very very special day, I got my very first Advent's Calendar! I really think it's a good idea to wait for Christmas day with Chocolate! In the Philippines, we only have the Advent's Wreath. This Advent's Calendar is something I should start back home. hehehe.

Me and my Weinachtsman!

Advent's Heaven!

These Germans have other strange Christmas traditions like having real Christmas trees most of the time (not like the plastic ones we have at home ha!), or baking Christmas cookies when back home we just give away last year's Fruitcake stored too long in the freezer hahaha). I also experienced Niklaus day. Imagine giving away food gifts and stuffing them in stinky shoes! Ayyy Caramba!

But I really like this Weinachtsmarkt tradition where you drink heated wine with spices which you need to gulp down before it gets cold; pet strange furry animals; eat Gebrante Mande; see funny Mushroom Chefs and discover new ways to heat up during the cold dreary winter. It was really cool to join families braving the cold and having a ball. Looking forward to catching the next ones. :) Yay!

There's Glüh in mein wein!

My first donkey!!!

yum yum

Mushroom Men

The Team Warm Up

Weather Weather

I've noticed that people greet you "I wish you good sun" or "Have a great sunny day." And I think it's quite a sweet greeting here during the winter. Back home, it would be like a curse "Go get skin cancer or go get wrinkles from the sun" Hahahaha. One of my friends in Berlin was asking me what the hell I was doing far away from perfect beach weather 365 days a year and come to the worst time in Germany. But I think winter is great for the very reason of having excuses to stay home, have hot chocolate and keep each other warm.

I really like waking up to sunny days in Germany. Flo usually says, "Pfft, well, they don't last very long". But it's a nice incentive to move around if you see a hint of sun and despite the windchill, it's nice having UV rays come say hello. Deutsche Sonne perks me up. Maybe I'm learning to layer more but I enjoy the Cold air now and enjoy walking the twenty minutes from teh S-bahn station to Treptow even in the blistering cold. And hey, it's even more fun when the white stuff comes down.


...

I'm missing the Furrybee over here in Berlin and wish he was here to help curate the food opportunities I've had the last week. I had Tot Oma and had the pleasure of tasting Bloodwurst in soup (LECKER!!!) and some Rabbit liver in a nice cheesy soup (MEHR LECKER!!!!) I'm quite excited to have tasted Spätzle mit Fleish c/o Flo's mom awesome awesome cooking! I've graduated beyond the German stereotype food of Sauerkraut and Bratwurst and Döner so it's really nice eating some new stuff aside from old favorites like Daumpfnudlen and Curryworst mit Pommes and YUMMM Weiß Beir and of course, NUTELLA YUMMMMMMMMM. But now, without Flo over here, I have to stick to basic Trinka cheap diet of Toast, coldcuts and Cheese. HAHAHAHAHA. This is the meantime while I wait for my Nutella to arrive from Bonn. :)

Wir sind heiß!

Haupt wieder!

It's nice to have those annoying 20,000 kilometers problem apart solved for the meantime. The cold is the only problem and the lack of cheap train tickets that can go anywhere around the world. But the Flotrinkian Team finds solutions and now we have the next months to start building our empire. Yay!

Flotrinkian preparations

Alright,

the filipino team member just boarded, so it is about time to prepare her arrival. Means of course: Cleaning up the appartment, which has been dominated by manly, chaotic, untidy wildness so far. Vaccuuming the carpets. Making space for my teammembers clothes. Ähhh. Whatelse?! HAHAHA. I don't know.
But there should be a way, to keep our very, very male wildness life style. (Am I right, Thorsten?!)

Well. Other preparations include: Heating my room, (Because we tend to NOT heat to save money), cleaning the dishes of its 20days-old dirt, cleaning the bathroom, preparing some long-distance-flight-value-meal, therefore: buying some groceries... So, all in all: Make our appartment appear clean and tidy, even though we still want to feature our wild life style.

I guess this is a nice start to celebrate reunification. The next days (of course), we will plan several Flotrinkian events and projects, which might include YOU (Mr. Reader of this article)!!! HAHAHAHA. Or let's say it this way: The Flotrinkian time in Germany, might be short to make come true all of our ideas. That's why we have to travel some more together...

But. MAN. Now that I look around my room, I really need some time, to get my room nice and clean. HAHAHA. Or I just hire a cleaning-crew. But due to the lack of money in my purse, there is no other choice than doing it on my own.

Okay! Let's get started! Less than 24 hours to go!


Flotrinkian rules! ;-)

The Afternoon sound of 44 Mt. Fuji

My Street

Mt. Fuji vs Eiflestr?

Essig lives on Eiflestr. and I live on Mt. Fuji. Well, unfortunately, not on the snow capped slope of Japan's legendary famous cone. I live on a hilly hill where childhood days were spent speeding down its slope on a bike or chasing aftar a runaway ball.

Essig is thankful for the quiet in Bonn. What I consider quiet here, is the atmosphere in what I consider a middle-of-nowhere subdivision, and its soundscape of crickets, talkative birds of all shapes and sizes and roosters crowing from 3 in the morning to 7 in the evening.

Now that the rainy season has officially started, the air is getting noisier. With wind and thunder clapping in the distance competing with the chattering birds that are yet to be silenced by a heavy downpour or an unfortunate rifle rage of a hunter which is never known to happen.

Nowadays, even the crickets are getting louder. Maybe I'm more annoyed now because it's still too quiet around here despite the "noise", while I work at home and miss the sound of Furrybee.

Well, I have tinnitus so maybe it's never really quiet enough for me. So a little commotion is fine. And even in the dead of the night, it's always comforting to hear someone snoring (besides me hahahhaahahaha) beside me.

Well. Maybe I just have to snore more for the meantime.

Neulich auf unserer Bananenplantage

pfft

pfft pfft

Flotrinkian activities

Knowing that all the fans out there are waiting for new stories about the Flotrinkian team, I think it's my turn to continue this gorgeous blog.
Unfortunately, there's this 10.000 miles problem again, so that soon I will open an account for Re-Unification-donations. So, feel free to support the lässig-lifestyle and be lässig on your own.

So, what's new? What's hot? What's going on?
That Florian and Trinka are hot should be clear by now. If not: Please read all last entries.
Of course we weren't lazy the last days in Manila. We shot 2 movies. One sooper pooper harcore good movie of Trinka. And one sooper pooper hardcore good movie of Florian. While Trinka concentrated on having a narrative story, I chose to shoot a music video. Why??? Because thus we don't get each other in the way with Oscar Nominations and so on.

April Fools Set

I just realize, that we have missed to write about such a lot stuff, so that I don't know where to begin. The question is rather: Who is interested in that anyways? HAHAHAHAHA. I think it's enough to mention, that we shot Trinkas movie first. A movie on a cemetary with good looking actors (OF COURSE), an awesome crew, fantastic food and best equipment. And: This is only the beginning! Because Trinka is going to shoot 2 more parts of her sleepover trilogy! YAY. Good job! Actually, I'm jealous, that Trinka always has so awesome story-ideas, because I don't have good ideas for stories.
That's why my movie is more simple and more based on action. Keywords: senseless violence, gambling, and pimping around in a Mustang.

Bleib Locker Crew

Hey. At this point I should thank all the people who helped me FOR FREE over there. THANK YOU!!! Without you guys, I would have never shot a nice music video like that. Thank you for all the support and food and help and equipment and absolutely EVERYTHING! I really think we made a good job, and I hope the video will be done by july. And of course I send copies to everyone then!

Pokergame

Well. Next videos should be shot here in Germany then, because, now that I directed my first movie ever, I really liked being the asshole, who commands everyone else. HAHAHAHA. Too bad for Trinka, because usually she's the commander type, while I receive her commands (and not following her - hahaha)....
But to be honest: I think I'm too chaotic to be a director, and I think it's too stressy for me. It's better to sit with an hot chocolate in the studio and do some procrastination without feeling bad that I missed doing something.

Anyways. Now back in Germany, there's much I sooper miss. Most of all that crazy girl of course. But also the sun, the sea, the nice people I met over there, and much much more.
On the other hand being in Germany has advantages: Most of all fresh air!!! YAY. Hahahaha. Being so long in Manila, I really got sick of all this polution, traffic and noise. It's really astounding how silent it is over here comparing it with Quezon City. Even no crickets at night (which are surprisingly loud, when you want to sleep)

The initial experience I realized I'm back home:
At the airport 1(!) cab driver asks me very nicely: "Do you need a taxi?"... I say "No, thanks"... And he says: "Ok - have a nice day"... HAHAHAHAHA... No negotiation, no honking, no broken meter, no "no change", no hundreds of people running after me, selling me cashews, mangos or whatever... HAHAHAHAHA...

BUT: It followed the experience to pay Euro-prices again... And I just realized how broad the Euro bills are. Almost like fake money... Hmmmmm...

So, the last days I was so busy with sound designing, that there was no time to think about what I have witnessed over there. How much I like the Filipinos. How much I like all the people I met. How nice it would be, if all my friends could meet Trinkas friends. And how cool it would be to show all those people how I live here.

I think the best part of having been away for 3 months is the plans I did over there. All the things I want to do, when I'm back home, the planning of more crazy journeys, and all the projects I want to do the next months. And my father will be happy that I even started planning my diploma (right?)...YAY!

Now it's time to sleep, but I'm going to write some more the next days. Maybe in german, so that Trinka can start practicing.

So much for now.

Better Late Than Retarded (Haha)

Team Lässig's Reunion in this side of the world was a catalyst for many things: It prompted Flo and I to backpack and choose among the Phillies' 7107 islands. Second leg of the Journey was serious island hopping, going from one major island city to the next. First stop, Siquijor Island.

Nice

You hear strange things about Siquijor. And most of them are true.

1. Voodoo Practitioners (Witch Doctors we call "Mangkukulam" compose a small population of the island. It is said that they mix their potions every Good Friday when the Lord is dead. They gather in hordes and sing thier chants and compose their spells. (Well, we didnt experience this but it's true!)

2. Siquijor is a small island that you can explore in a day. And best to take a Motorcycle. (Well the guidebooks didn't tell us you need around 16 day light hours to make a complete round with some lengthy stopovers at choice stops).

Flori Speeding at 0Km/Hour!


3. They sell dried sea snakes! I never knew you could eat sea snakes, much less make a business out of them! They sell them at 20 pesos a bundle. I tried a piece though and it tastes wierd. Or you could say, they taste EVIL!!!!!

Sea Snakes!

4. They have strange creatures on the island as well--furry Monsters that are the result of the Witches' Brew Sessions. It's best to stay away from them...

Flori Invasion


...

Next Stop: Bohol, which is known for it's Tarsier Monkeys and the boooby, Chocolate Hills.A truly gifted land!

Posing with naked hills!

Well we mostly starved on this leg of the Journey. Hahaha, starting out really late in the day, we skipped all meals (surviving on bread and sprite) we decided to tour the touristy sites all in one afternoon. We saw Loboc River, Chocolate Hills and illegally viewed Tarsier Monkeys in a non-reserve environment organized by illegal poachers. (How evil is that?!)

See the little thing?

At the end of the day, we were tired, we missed our boat going to Cebu and decided to share 3 bottles of San Miguel Grande. We stayed in an 80s Kooky type Chinese "Hotel" with no running hotwater (and for the first when it really mattered to have some!)

80s Room Decor


Next Stop: Cebu--to Malapascua Island.

Yay!

First Lesson to remember: Wherever you are in the Philippines (hmm, i should check on extremely remote areas though) YOU CAN GET YOURSELVES A NICE, COLD BEEER.


This trip was quite long and hectic and we had two days for this leg We took the Fast Cat to Cebu and as soon as we hit land, We walked a long way going to the Bus Station. On the way there, and bought ourselves a nice kite (at smart haggled rates!) It was a bummer for me to discover that it was going to be a 4 hour bus ride. Well it later turned out to be 3 and half because the driver must've been practicing for his race against the Siquijor speeding Flori. But still, we managed to pass the dusty bus time by playing Speed, skillfully holding on to our seats and to our playing cards.

It was a long journey but quite worth it. Because for the first time in days, we ate decent seafood (barracuda or sword fish yummm) AND Flori got his Mango Breakfast and we had a nice quiet cottage.

Flori's Mango Breakfast

Laundry Man Flori in Nice, quiet Cottage


I heeded no warning that it was strictly divers' paradise. And it's true what they say, if you're swimming or snorkling, you won't see much(even after that 4-5 hour bus ride and stuppid haggling with the stupid boatmen) One day here is enough because it gets boring after a while. We did see a wreck though. And though Coron's Skeleton Wreck was creepier, I saw about a dozen fat starfish. The water quality here is quite murky at 10 feet. (I guess you can't compare Palawan with the rest of the island. But it was a nice and relaxing stay because Flori and I got to fly our kite and take some nice pictures.


Trinka's Nice Picture

Flori's Nice Picture

Kiteflyer

Yay!

Fun fun fun!

thousands of miles plus Flori

Well, today Florian left the Phillies, despite owing this blog updates on the Visayan Leg, Puerto Galera leg of the adventures, Zambales, Flo's thesis shoot and a big list on the people who helped out as well as the plans of Team Lässig for the future. (Updates to follow!)

Right now, Florian is on his way to his first stopover- Singapore, carrying with him a suitcase armed with goodies enough to last 2 wars, his box of magic tricks, blackmail footage of me sleeping and tons and tons of souveneirs and landscapes and seascapes of good memories, and thousands of squarefeet of good humor and inspiration to fuel him for the next leg of his own adventures. Then he lands in home sweet home Bonn.

I on the other hand will be cleaning up the mess we made over here, bringing up the rear in favors and "to do's". I'm armed with my own army of new ideas and new perspectives. And now quite excited to carry on and find out what the next adventures have in store for both of us.

Cheers Flori! It was an AWESOME AWESOME adventure.

Now, on to the Next One!

Visayas

Well, I think we really have to catch up on our posts, so that the world is informed about Team Lässig.
Latest trip to the Visayas was a success... Of course... Like always... HAHAHAHA. So - once again - the Team Lässig enlarges its popularity.

The flight to Dumaguete offered again a nice top-view of the country. This time in a much safer plane, Airbus 319, and with nice games on board. Unfortunately, the Flotrinkian exhaustion was quite an obstacle in winning those merchandising products of Cebu Pacific which I was interested in. Not that I could use them, but winning is always nice, no matter what. HAHAHAHA. But at least we got a pineapple juice for free, which I finished in a few seconds.

Waterfalls

Instead, team member two is quite talented in falling asleep in every kind of transportation vehicle. No matter what vehicle, no matter how much shaking and trembling and no matter of pollution, noise or anything else. She would even fall asleep while doing water ski, so I just hope she never gets her driving license. HAHAHAHA. I still have to take a video of those interesting head movements, while having nothing to lean on, and having the mouth wide open as if being retarded.

Anyways. We took the slow ferry to Siquijor right away, and in this case "slow" really menas "SLOW". If we had gone slower, the wind would have taken us back to Dumaguete. HAHAHA. Sometimes I was afraid a rowing boat might pass us, but... okay... it was nice. HAHAHAHA.

Fishermen

Well, I think so far Siquijor was the nicest island we've seen. On the one hand very modern, good streets, nice housings, food boothes and shops; and on the other hand small enough, so that you can find nice beaches, non touristy areas and explore the island on your own by motorcycle. Maybe I shouldn't write that online, otherwise this changes soon. HAHAHAHA. So... forget about what I said.
Oh. But of course we have to mention that nice japanese guy. First I thought he rips us off, but it turns out, that he really offered quality for the price we paid for the lodge and so on. We got a motorcycle, he drove us to the pier, he gave us a welcome drink, and he was even fun, when he explained us things about japan and Siquijor.
Anyways. Next ferry took us to Bohol, where we accomplished the touristy program. Chocolate mountains, Lubok River, Tarsier Monkeys, and travelling with a spiderman bus. Actually, I was too slow to get a nice picture of the bus, but it's webs in the inside and the painting was awesome.

From Bohol we went with another ferry to Cebu and then by landtrip to Malapasqua. And landtrip means hardcore 4hours bus drive, with a bus driver who would even pass Michael Schumachers Ferrari if he'd be there. Braking is always is second choice, and I was really surprised, that even a 90 year old guy climbed into the bus, even though the guy didn't stop the bus.

Beach

Well Malapasqua must be something like the boom-island number one. The boat mafia is dominating the harbour town Maya, and its a hastle to negotiate with them how to get over to the island. Malapasqua is very dominated by tourists, because every diver wants to see 7m Sharks you can find nearby. Of course, we didn't see them with our snorkels, but we've seen another wreck, which was just 3-5 meters deep.

Well. This was quite a backpacking tour, and being back in Manila we left for Puerto Galera right on the other day.

So, have we been successful in conquering the Visayas??? Of course we were!!! I am local already!

Transportation Special

Death on the philippines is very versatile, and is dependent on the vehicle you choose. There are different ways to commute on the islands:

1. Taking a tricycle. Feels actually the safest, but getting your lungs filled by the fresh monooxide-ehaust of all other vehicles makes it quite breath-taking. HAHAHA.

2. Taking a cab. Thus you can avoid the heat and the pollution, but its a never-ending story to negotiate about the price. In general cab-drivers have no change, so its better to have a lot of coins with you, unless they cheat on you very obvious, by using a manipulated meter.

3. Taking a ferry. You might drown, because they overload the ferries to a maximum of space availlable. But there are pros: No pollution, no money-negotiation once you paid, and there are at least emergency boats. And like Tanya said very nicely: There's at least the chance to survive, while you die on a plane crash right away. HAHAHAHA.

4. Taking a plane. Considering the fact, that I'm most afraid of the planes, it's actually the safest way. They even play funny games, and riddles on board, so that you forget easily the bad crash-statistics.

5. Taking the jeepney. I wonder how they get that much horse-power in that little busses, but they accelerate better than any mercedes benz or porsche. BTW: Better look to the front, because looking out the rear window you realize, how close big trucks almost crash into the jeepney.

Some general traffic rules for Manila:

=> You want to pass a car, even though you are not allowed, and there are several cars coming towards you? => NO PROBLEM: honk twice and pass anyways!

=> You want to cross a street, even though the traffic light shows red? => NO PROBLEM: honk twice and just go for it!

=> You are afraid, that you might kill a pedestrian with your vehicle, because you are much too fast? => NO PROBLEM: honk twice and don't stop!

=> You want to ask a pedestrian if he wants to ride with your cab? => NO PROBLEM: honk twice!

=> The police wants to stop your bus? => NO PROBLEM: honk twice and don't stop to avoid the control!

=> And sometimes just honk twice, because of no reason.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

In Between Adventures...

Flori goes to work with me....


Cueshe Shoot: Making a Fake Swamp-Flori as Setman

April Fools Shoot: Flori AS Set Sound OR as Stillman


and then gets to star in a music video. Yay!

Flo badass Movie Producer with Cuehs Vocalist-Jay

Flo in his first Music Video Acting Role

Hahahahaha

Cheers to your new career!

Team Lassig Adventures: Coron Leg Part 2

Flo Birthday Drink

Well, Team Lassig just got back from a five day awesome Visayan adventure and team member number two is sleeping downstairs, (and we leave for the Puerto Galera leg in 2 hours) so I guess it's my turn to update the blog.

Coron is a really nice sleepy town. Not sleepy enough for Karaoke and not sleepy enough for the seaside hustle and bustle with buses/jeeps loaded with the night's catch from all over Busuanga island coming in at 5am. It's not sleepy enough for a beach front (when there is none) or the influx of sex tourists waiting to buy Philippine property by marrying into the "species" and the nature isn't sleepy enough to be wanting of more and more divers, snorklers and nature lovers.

The Flotrinkian plan was to spend the least amount of money and get the most out of the whole experience, which meant, collecting our daily water ration from the resort's restaurant, having bread for breakfast, lunch and sometimes dinner-- spending of course ONLY on beer, 5peso barbecue and splurging on fresh seafood from the market and having someone in a karaoke joint grill it for us, and planning out the routes carefully choosing between sleeping, chilling or long dusty rides, and deciding on doing everything.

And that we did, achieving the following:

1. Going snorkling and seeing the best coral reefs
Coron: Day 1

2. Going island hopping and seeing the best shallow WW II wreck and schools of awesome awesome fish
Twin Lagoon, Coron

3. Getting a nice even sunburn.
Cute

4. Seeing a nice waterfall where the fish would attack you
On the way to Concepcion Falls

Concepcion Falls--Hahaha

5. Going to an isolated beach, getting bitten by nikniks and dancing around a beach bonfire --and me getting a kick out of watching Flo figure out how to eat crab, fish and shrimp.
Salvacion, Busuanga

Chillin' at the Beach

6. Riding Topload, and squished inside rickety chicken buses/jeeps and talking to all kinds of fun folks--local fishermen and sex tourists and divers galore.
Topload

7. Adventure!
Yay!