I've been here for 4 months today. What?!
1. Sparkling water is normal and I drink it like a fish. What was all the fuss about?
2. Crossing on the red man is for the reckless and they are to be judged.
3. I sometimes capitalise English nouns without thinking.
4. It's no longer weird to me that people stagger around with huge bags of plastic/glass bottles, and rummage in bins for said bottles.
5. On more than one occasion I have thought to myself 'Where the hell is my Handy?'
6. At the beginning I struggled to accept the z y inversion on German keyboards, but now I can't type properly on the English ones. Oh dear. Fun Fact: Kirstz Dwzer was my name for the first week or so here.
7. The way I write has changed slightly ... 7, T, Z have undergone makeovers.
8. I've had a few strange dreams in German - a fox and a wolf arguing about the cleanliness of a house, me shouting at a man writing something in a notepad and other such nonsense.
9. I'm actually starting to enjoy techno and house music, and heard myself say 'oh I like this one' the other day, despite a friend's protest that it all sounds the same.
10. I'm no longer that bothered about smoking in clubs/bars - before I found it gross, and smoked outside, but now I do it too. Oh dear.
11. Doner Kebab is a perfectly acceptable lunch, snack or evening meal option.
12. A man in a shop didn't seem to be entirely sure where I was from and asked 'So, you come from round here?' Good enough.
13. I always carry at least one shopping bag (and a cloth one, I'm well eco) in my handbag, just in case I pop to a supermarket, because all the supermarkets charge for bags. Lidl/Aldi will never catch me out in England again!
14. I am no longer horrified by the thought of sharing a table with strangers at a restaurant.
15. Someone walked in front of me in a queue yesterday, and I just let it happen. I repeat. I LET IT HAPPEN. Because I seem to have finally accepted that that happens here.
Friday, 23 May 2014
Sunday, 11 May 2014
And suddenly, a social life
Hallo hallo
The last couple of weeks have been very much fun-filled, thanks to being friends with people my age again. I have come to the conclusion that everyone I have met from Edinburgh Uni (read, Joe's mates) are all total babes. Last Wednesday we found ourselves in a fetish club, which was a very eye-opening experience. It was good fun though, and we danced away to techno until the small hours. The following day was the 1st May bank holiday which naturally meant a massive street party in Kreuzberg. The streets were rammed with people, food, alcohol and loud music. We left in the early evening before it descended into madness (we'd already seen about a thousand riot police) and the festival is quite well known for it's rioting and car burning. We went for a nice drink in Neukolln, Hilary, Sophie, Blythe (who was visiting from Austria) and I and had some wonderful tapas. A busker came in and was particularly rude when Blythe gave him some money and said 'Is that all?'. Bloody ingrate.
I've also recently become obsessed with Game of Thrones (very late on the bandwagon, I know) so Saturday consisted mainly of that before we went for dinner at a little French place in Kreuzberg called Chez Michel. The food was good, but the bloke was as tetchy as anything. I asked him where the bottle opener was and I was half expecting him to hit me with it.
Sunday was my first visit to Mauerpark and, despite the famous Karaoke not being on, it was still pretty good. No pictures from me, because I forgot my camera, but Hilary took a couple. Fairly sure I'll go again at some point!
We went for a Vietnamese not far from me and oh my, it was divine. It was then time to say goodbye to Blythe, but hopefully I will see her while I am in Vienna (only a few weeks away!). I'm also still meeting with Lionel every week and I think we've made Italo our spot. It's such good food and it's not too expensive. I'm still frustrated with French though, as there are points where I just cannot remember how to say it in French and accidentally speak German. Lionel is nice about it, but it's just so embarrassing. I'm reading Heidi in French at the moment in a bid to absorb some of it, and I've also been listening to a lot of Zaho. (If you don't know her, you should). I'm trying!
Thursday night was quite exciting, as Sophie and I went to see a 'mystery movie', or as we were firmly corrected by the woman ' a sneakpeek', at Potsdamer Platz. It was an, erm, interesting movie with Jake Gyllenhaal. Just watch the trailer below and you may understand our state of 'okay, that was pretty odd'. (There was a lot of spiders and ALSO, I'm fairly sure it was bodysnatchers kinda thing but yeah)
And last night was, of course, Eurovision. We went to a bar round the corner from me to watch it. Sat in a basement in front of a big projecter screen with people fidgeting, stealing coats (Sophie found hers in the end), treading on beer bottles, not clapping and generally just not understanding was a little frustrating but we still enjoyed it. Although the UK didn't win (obviously), I still think we did fairly well - 40 points! Progress is progress!
Aside from socialising (I know right, look at me go), work has been good too. I feel like my German has improved a lot, and I no longer have to strain to understand. I'm also glad that I chose to do an internship, as it's teaching me so much. Not just the translation industry, and what makes a good/bad translator, but just general things about being a project manager. I'm still enjoying it, even though there are days when I just want to hide under my desk, so that's the main thing!
The last couple of weeks have been very much fun-filled, thanks to being friends with people my age again. I have come to the conclusion that everyone I have met from Edinburgh Uni (read, Joe's mates) are all total babes. Last Wednesday we found ourselves in a fetish club, which was a very eye-opening experience. It was good fun though, and we danced away to techno until the small hours. The following day was the 1st May bank holiday which naturally meant a massive street party in Kreuzberg. The streets were rammed with people, food, alcohol and loud music. We left in the early evening before it descended into madness (we'd already seen about a thousand riot police) and the festival is quite well known for it's rioting and car burning. We went for a nice drink in Neukolln, Hilary, Sophie, Blythe (who was visiting from Austria) and I and had some wonderful tapas. A busker came in and was particularly rude when Blythe gave him some money and said 'Is that all?'. Bloody ingrate.
 |
| Goerly Park got a bit packed too |
 |
| Oranienstrasse (Sorry to this dude) |
I've also recently become obsessed with Game of Thrones (very late on the bandwagon, I know) so Saturday consisted mainly of that before we went for dinner at a little French place in Kreuzberg called Chez Michel. The food was good, but the bloke was as tetchy as anything. I asked him where the bottle opener was and I was half expecting him to hit me with it.
Sunday was my first visit to Mauerpark and, despite the famous Karaoke not being on, it was still pretty good. No pictures from me, because I forgot my camera, but Hilary took a couple. Fairly sure I'll go again at some point!
 |
| Choosing a shirt, oh the dilemma |
Thursday night was quite exciting, as Sophie and I went to see a 'mystery movie', or as we were firmly corrected by the woman ' a sneakpeek', at Potsdamer Platz. It was an, erm, interesting movie with Jake Gyllenhaal. Just watch the trailer below and you may understand our state of 'okay, that was pretty odd'. (There was a lot of spiders and ALSO, I'm fairly sure it was bodysnatchers kinda thing but yeah)
And last night was, of course, Eurovision. We went to a bar round the corner from me to watch it. Sat in a basement in front of a big projecter screen with people fidgeting, stealing coats (Sophie found hers in the end), treading on beer bottles, not clapping and generally just not understanding was a little frustrating but we still enjoyed it. Although the UK didn't win (obviously), I still think we did fairly well - 40 points! Progress is progress!
 |
| the glorious beginning and the heads of the two morons that irritated me all night |
 |
| When Conchita won! |
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| My prize for betting that Austria would win, righty ho. The others got one too! |
Aside from socialising (I know right, look at me go), work has been good too. I feel like my German has improved a lot, and I no longer have to strain to understand. I'm also glad that I chose to do an internship, as it's teaching me so much. Not just the translation industry, and what makes a good/bad translator, but just general things about being a project manager. I'm still enjoying it, even though there are days when I just want to hide under my desk, so that's the main thing!
I'm also proud to announce that I have now had 4 dreams/semi-dreams auf Deutsch. They're all nonsense but, still!
Unfortunately, I haven't heard from Jean in a couple of weeks... so I'm not really sure what that's about. I am disappointed because we were getting on really well! Ah, might have to find another German tandem partner if I don't hear from her this week...
Anyway, that's all for now.
Tschussi
xxx
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