PHOTO-A-DAY CHALLENGE
April Weather Chaos and Our First Week in the Trailer Park
Week 88 of the photographic documentary of my daily life
In our life of exploring the world as nomads while getting paid for jumping out of planes, another episode has started. We’re at a new airfield working for a company we’ve never seen before. In a corner of Germany, I’ve never been to before.
Plus, we moved into a trailer. In a trailer park. At the airport. It’s not our own, we’re renting the place with the trailer.
None of us have lived in one longer than for a two-week vacation. But we were up for a new adventure plus it will save us lots of money (we’ll be paying even less than for our flat in Thailand where we just came from).
Day one of the adventure was driving across Germany. From Stuttgart to Berlin. Just under 700 kilometers, we had to cover. All on German highways, so actually a relaxed trip.
If there wouldn’t have been hurricane warnings for the regions we had to cross.
Never was I happier driving an overloaded vehicle than today. The wind was intense and grabbed my steering wheel more than once during the drive. We didn’t struggle with traffic but had all our eyes on the road. Because of the wind gusts that would catch us by surprise.
The below picture was taken about halfway through the trip. As you can see we still had about 300 kilometers ahead of us and my husband was behind the steering wheel so I could snap a picture.
We arrived safely but as we were trying to unload the car a storm blew over the trailer park and we did our best to tie a tarp from the trailer over our car to somehow finish the move.
It was pouring down rain.
While we had greeted most of the staff the day we arrived already, I did not remember more than one name. It seems like a big operation, with lots of rules and schedules to learn for us.
Due to the stormy weather, of course, no jumping was happening yet and we had more time to make our new home look and feel like home as well.
Space is surely an issue when you’re moving into a trailer but we moved a few weeks ago with two pieces of checked luggage across the globe, so we’ll get all our belongings into this place as well.
And if you follow me for longer, you do know I love nature. Of course, I had to bring some plants into the new home as well. I got two tomato seedlings and a pepper plant from my dad. Let’s see how they survive this stormy weather. For now, they sleep indoors and only get to breathe in fresh air during the daytime.
The other thing I always take with me is a pile of Polaroid images that get to decorate my homes around the world. Wherever I go, I take this piece of home with me. And then it’s the first thing I set up at my new place.
While not everything has its place yet, you can see a bit of our new home already.
Today our skydiving operation had a big recurrency course for all students and licensed jumpers who hadn’t jumped over winter and needed to refresh their knowledge.
It was our first option to get an insight into how this company works and how student training is done here. While the basics of teaching remain the same, every company has its own way of doing things.
We had pushed the plane out of the hanger to have more space indoors. I was chatting to one of the instructors when I looked outside and saw the white crashing down from the sky. Quickly we all jumped in and pushed the plane back inside.
That was when the hail stopped again.
Yes, this was truly April’s weather. In Germany, we say “April, April, macht was er will” which means you can get snow, rain, hail, and sunshine all in one day. And it is normal.
It hailed today three times. Each time the hail didn’t last for more than 5 minutes. We had sunshine as well. And rain somewhere in between. In the morning I woke up and everything was frozen outside.
Crazy weather, for sure.
The weather wasn’t any different from the day before. The plane remained again on the ground and we did some more work indoors.
The clouds were moving quickly which means the upper winds were quite strong. The sky changed colors and appearance every minute. We had some hail and or snow in between sunshine and lots of rain.
Today we worked on our trailer a bit and created that awning you can see in the title image. There is still a lot of stuff lying on the ground but slowly everything gets its place.
When I woke up this morning the sun greeted me from behind the hangar but I could still see the frost on the grass. It had been a cold night.
My husband was busy with a new project. Setting up the small barbeque we bought. And sometime in the afternoon when I was at the other end of the trailer park I could just smell the fire.
Someone decided what we were gonna have for dinner. Of course, we had to test our new braai (Afrikaans for barbeque) immediately.
Just before dinner, I heard a chorus of birds singing. They were chirping all around the trailer and I decided to head out and capture at least one of them. Every bird photographer knows that it is easier said than done.
I saw two European robins which I tried to capture already a week back in my parents' garden but failed miserably. They just don’t sit down anywhere for long enough.
I could see and hear a blackbird singing next to us. But then there were two more interesting birds. At first, they appeared to me like blue tits. The birds I had photographed so much at my parents' garden plot. But then I spotted the feathers on the head. Standing up from the body.
Now I knew it was a bird worth capturing but struggled due to the low light conditions.
I did not know what these two creatures were.
Other people use bird apps to find out what they saw and captured. I quickly download the image from my camera and send the bird photograph two my mom. I just have to add a question mark and she’ll know I’m looking for the name.
This time I had doubts she would be able to tell me what it was. I simply thought the important characteristics weren’t visible enough.
I was wrong.
She replied.
European crested tit.
She also asked if there are many pine trees where we live. She said she knows this bird from the needle leaf forest in the mountains.
Our trailer is exactly 20 meters away from tall standing pine trees. A small pine forest is bordering the trailer park we’re living on.
And all of this information I received in less than a minute. I like my bird identification app.
Very authentic.
Here we go again. Or should I say “here we fly again”? That fits better. Yesterday was our first day back in the air again. On the dot 4 weeks after we did our last jump in Thailand. We surely try to make the transitions as smooth as possible.
And today I got the first picture for you again. From the air. Selfie style. With a big smile on my face and a happy customer steering the canopy in front of me.
If you look closer at the image I can tell you a bit more about my new home. Below me, you can see the runway. The place where I’ll be taking off several times a day. That big patch of grass or meadow is the landing strip for us skydivers. It’s one of the biggest landing areas I ever had. I shouldn’t worry about missing my destination. At the top end of it, you can see the dropzone buildings such as the hangar where we operate from and where the airplane is stored. And on the left of it, you can see the trailer park with a small stretch of forest bordering it.
That is our new home.
And yes, the fields and farmlands in northern Germany are remarkably larger than in the south.
This has been my week in photographs. 7 days. 7 photographs. Anyone can join. Once. Or weekly. It doesn’t matter. We welcome everyone! Dennett was the one starting this photography challenge in summer 2020 and many have participated ever since.
Erika / Eileen / K. Barrett / Juan / David / Mia / Susan / LensAfield / Kim / Barbara / Diana / Barb / Sandra / Shruthi / Ellie / Pene / Olive / Gustavo / Jane / Penny / Jillian
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