Happy Birthday! (Part Two)

Well, I don't generally post on consecutive days (mainly because it keeps comment numbers down... No scrap that, that makes me sound like a comment-hunter. I don't usually post on consecutive days because... well, I wouldn't have enough to say), but this is, of course, the Mitchenstein birthday week and I will be posting every day this week - and will do my best to keep them interesting!

For today's post, I thought it would be a good idea to introduce the 'Friends who blog' (on the right hand side of the page) - some of them you'll know and some of them you won't. I will endeavour to give an interesting fact about each of them (for some it may be hard...):

Andy is a testament to the power of blog. In 'real life' I don't think I've said more than two sentences to him, yet in the blogosphere, he has become a mate and is both a very good commenter (it's a word) and a fellow language freak (it seems). He's a new blogger and although his blogging has slightly slowed due to a house move, he's sticking at it pretty well (says experienced me).
FACT: When my first girlfriend wanted to break up with me (I was 13 - obviously I'd had other girlfriends before that... at playschool like, and even got married a couple of times I believe), it was Andy's sister-in-law that she got to do the deed. The pain is still real.

Me and Glyn go way back. We became mates on the same weekend as above-mentioned sister-in-law dumped me, over ten years ago. And we've been mates on and off ever since. By 'on-and-off'' I don't mean that there were times when we weren't mates (at least, not to my knowledge anyway), but we didn't always see each other particularly regularly. But we were nearly in a pop-group together (oh yes) and we co-created Glynjohnball, and them bonds can't be breaked. Glyn's blog is hilarious (when he gets round to writing it).
FACT: Glyn can't understand Scottish people. Like at ALL. Never go to a Scottish person's house with him unless you want to spend the entire time translating.

Tim is the oldest blogger I know. Not in age, but he's just been doing it for a million years (well, three, but that's pretty old in the blogging world) and he was the main inspiration behind me starting up Mitchenstein. Me and Tim know each other from a gospel choir we used to sing in, but now he spends his time fighting crime. And making me traipse around London buying freakin' Twinkies.
FACT: Tim makes me traipse around London buying Twinkies. I'm not bitter.

Matt is in charge of The Salvation Army's youth work in Essex (and some other less important areas), so he's kinda important. His blog's always interesting because he seems to be up to something new and exciting every week. There's something he doesn't like because we were discussing it on the coach the other day, but I can't remember what it was.
FACT: Matt is from Northern Ireland, but we're gradually beginning to understand him. Fortunately, nods and smiles got us through those difficult first few months.

I grew up with Stacey and she's my oldest friend (again, not in age). She's kinda like my little sis (although I'm scared of her) and whenever we catch up we always end up in tears (of laughter, generally). She's fairly new to the blogging world and - dare I say - not particularly consistent, but maybe that'll improve...
FACT: She wants to call her children 'Alice in Wonderland' and 'Green'... and she knows a man with 21 hobbies.

Anna is from Switzerland, but she's really nice. She generally writes her blog in German (well, she calls it German, but take it from me - even if you have a degree in German, you still won't get what on earth she's on about). She goes to my Salvation Army church and has settled in really well - and it's so nice to be able to talk to her in German if we don't want others to understand (I guess that's kinda mean actually, but as an English speaker, it's not often you can speak and not be understood by everyone). She likes cheese and cuckoo-clocks, she says.
FACT: Anna is the only person who has ever given me a mug that moos.

Stephen hasn't been blogging very much recently, but that's understandable as him and his family are going through a very hectic/busy/exciting time (I should think). Stephen and his wife, Lynley, are about to be made Salvation Army officers and will soon be moving up north to 'Tsalvation Armeh as they say up there. These are exciting times!
FACT: Lynley's an Australian who has lived here for a long while, but curiously still has a very Australian accent... I reckon she just puts it on. :)

This post is becoming very long, so I'll take the final three together. Andreas is a Swede I met when I was living in Sweden, Philipp is a German I met when I was living in Sweden, and Daniel is a German I met when I was living in Germany! Got that?

Andreas and his lovely wife Helena live in Stockholm, but were very kind to me when we all lived in Northern Sweden. Apparently I reminded them of Harry Potter (with my English accent) and I learned from them that Essex Girls aren't just famous in the UK. Andreas is running the risk of being removed from the column though, unfortunately - he hasn't posted since September!
FACT: Andreas and I have been planning for nearly two years to meet up and watch all three Lord of the Rings films back-to-back, but we haven't got round to it yet...

Daniel and I met at a Salvation Army music school in Germany. We haven't seen each other for two years, but that'll all be changing soon! He's hilarious and has such a way with both English and German that it's always really funny to talk to him. Could blog a bit more though!
FACT: Together Daniel and I are planning to write a brass band piece incorporating excepts from the Carmen opera and mixing them with the trance song, Hardcore Vibes. Wish us luck with that.

Philipp was a real mate in Sweden - when I hit my head and lost my memory, it was Philipp who spent a VERY uncomfortable night on my bedroom floor so that I wasn't on my own. Unfortunately, I had also forgotten that in the wardrobe I had a whole heap of pillows that would have made his night more bearable... but oh well. Philipp is a bit of a fan of Bob Dylan... Imagine my love of Mars Bars and multiply it by a squillion. He is not the most conscientious blogger in the word, but he is getting better.
FACT: Philipp is a Swabian German, speaking a very interesting Swabian dialect. To speak Swabian. you just need to add 'le' to the endle of all the wordsle, it seemsle.

Katie also has a blog.

This was, without a doubt, the longest post I've ever written, but I've actually really enjoyed doing it. Hopefully it wasn't too much of a chore to read! Maybe you think I should have your name on my 'Friends who blog' list - if so, let me know! (In return, I'll be checking for my name on yours...) ;-)

Take care and see you tomorrow!