A month in: friends, falafel and finally online

Hello!

Since I have now been here a month today, and since I now have functioning internet at my flat, I thought it was time for another update.

Where to begin?

So Carina has now been here since last week and is indeed as lovely as I thought. We drunk a bottle of wine together last Friday night and got to know each other better, which was nice. She also asked if we could speak English at home so she can practice, which is actually quite nice because obviously I only speak German at the office and to my work colleagues so it's definitely relaxing to come home and speak English, especially after a particularly stressful day! She also brought a hoover with her (a fantastic Dyson nonetheless) so that is also a bonus!

The weekend before last (so the Saturday after I missed the internet bloke), I took myself off to the Neues Museum to see an Ancient Egyptian exhibit and promptly spent the entire day crooning around the rest of the Egyptian exhibits. It turned out to be the Lange Nacht der Museen which made me suddenly miss Sophie as we did that together last year!  I spent a good hour in the shop umming and ahhing over books. Needless to say, I eventually bought one and have considerably intensified my already swotty knowledge about the Pharaohs.

Creepiest comb ever?

"Exhibit being prepared". The pig was a fantastic touch.
Disproving the 'Germans aren't funny' theory one day a time.

This isn't Ancient Egyptian, but is still awesome, because it is a hat. A giant golden hat.

Moving on. Work has been hovering between so stressful I have almost cried and so slow that I've wanted to sleep on the desk. That said, it's going well and my confidence in German is increasing. Best part is, I have finally overcome my fear of speaking to clients on the phone! Though I have also had my fair share of client nightmares in the last week. I'll say this and this only: Google Translate.

The girls and I have been out for tea after work a couple of times which is nice and I am currently nursing a horrendous falafel food baby.

"Chicken Food" Are you sure that's what you mean?

S (one of the girls) and I went to a salsa night on Saturday, which was really surreal but fun. I also hit it off with one of her (German) friends. We went out Tuesday night and hopefully again on Saturday night, so we'll see.

Also, fairly sure that the German guy who lives downstairs is not a murderer. Haven't met up for a tandem talk with him yet, but he did message me yesterday so I should probably answer before he does indeed turn into a murderer. OKAY SO SECONDS AFTER I WROTE THAT he rang the bell. Now I feel bad. Going for coffee Saturday lunchtime. Also I am still alive, so I am going with 'not a murderer'.

And a final piece of news about my apparently flourishing social life: Lionel the French tandem partner! He answered my email about meeting up again so hopefully I will see him soon and go back to Italo and eat lots of cake like we used to.

For now I think I am going to catch up on Popstars! because there is nothing like German trash tv after a long day.

Laters xxxx

Internet Cafe Life

Hello!

I can't believe that my first week at work has gone so quickly! Although incredibly surreal, it's really great to be back. I really do feel privileged that not only do I live in the city I love, but that I also love my job.

This is the actual life! Apart from the horsefly bite, of course.

Pettenkofer Straße

Anyway. I am still waiting on the internet to be set up (next Friday!) and I am sat in an internet cafe writing this! Apparently that's how much of a loser I am.

But you'll be pleased to hear that the two other girls at the office are lovely, and last night we went out for dinner after work together. They are funny and helpful, and seem to find my English habits highly amusing. S already knows there is no point asking what tea I want, because the answer is always black, mit Milch. There's already been hilarity r.e. jobs, but I think it wouldn't be funny for anyone else and it would take too long to explain so I won't bore you.

Weirdly, the conversation at dinner turned to, well, mental health. Which I was a bit unnverved by, but it wasn't awkward at all. J saw my tattoo on my wrist, and S asked me if it was to do with self-harm. It was actually so refreshing to be able to say yes and not feel in any way judged by my past!

As for the flat, I am still on my jack there but only until next Sunday! On Monday, I got in from work, went to unlock my bedroom and got the absolute fright of my life when the other bedroom opened next to me. Her name is Carina, she's from Lower  Bavaria and seems very sweet. Also, she brought tonnes of stuff with her so my need to buy stuff for the kitchen has drastically lowered. She doesn't start work until September so only came to unpack.

ALSO, a bloke knocked on the door on Tuesday night looking for Carina (already? bit creepy). She obviously wasn't here and he started talking to me. Somehow, I agreed to be tandem partners with him and he went away. Then he came back five minutes later with his phone number. Okay. So he is either just very friendly and desperate to practice English, or he is a murderer. It remains to be seen.

Looking forward to actually hanging out with these people! 

Bis später

xoxo

Allet jute aus Berlin

Four days in and everything is looking good so far. Apart from the fact that the apartment was like, bare. Sure it's furnished, but I've had to spend the last couple of days kitting it out. A kettle was obviously the first priority. It really is lovely though, and I love my balcony. Note to self: buy a plant of some sort!

View from my balcony

I registered on Tuesday and my goodness what a kerfuffle. I ended up going to the Ordnungsamt instead of the Bürgeramt. So instead of trying to register myself I was in fact attempting to register a trade. Make your jokes now.

I managed to order my internet but now it's a case of waiting for the installation, which sod's law guarantees will be when I start work.

In other news, I have been watching a lot of TV (to practice, I tell myself but really it's because it's too hot and I'm lazy). Current favourites are: a programme about family problems. The last one I watched was about a man whose family were worrying about his health because he took part in schnitzel-eating competitions. The other fave is Adam sucht Eva. Basically it's a bit like our Love Island except everyone is butt naked. It's strangely fascinating.

My new favourite thing in the entire world

I'm sitting in Köllnischer Park feeling rather disappointed, as I came here to see the Berlin Bears but they aren't out. There's only one left and last I heard it was possible that it might be put down. Poor dear. 

Bears?

I'm enjoying time to wander around and soak up some sun before work on Monday!

Bis später x

I have arrived... well only at the airport

Hallo Leute,

So in true Kirsty fashion I got my arrival time in Berlin wrong and so am running over an hour early for my key pickup. I spoke to the caretaker and we agreed I would wait at the airport until he calls me back... So here I am, all excited to see my new flat and I am perched on a bench outside Schoenefeld clutching at my hideously large bags. I'm blogging from email and attached a picture from this morning but god knows if it worked...

Aside from all that, the flight was fine. I did end up sitting in seat A when I should have been in seat C and consequently was on edge for most of the time. Maybe when the German teacher in Mean Girls yelled "Stay in your assigned seat" I took it too personally...

Here's hoping I leave the airport soon!

Ciao xo

On Granddad's trail

I don't actually think that I mentioned where I was going the weekend before last, so you're all probably on the edge of your seats with suspense. If you're expecting some terrific adventure, stop here, because I stayed with an old lady in Büdelsdorf/Rendsburg in Schleswig-Holstein. No, this isn't one last desperate attempt to have a German tandem partner-she met my grandad when he was part of the occupying troops there after the war.

She and her sister were only young (10 and 4), but they remember him coming to their house with sweets and even reading them bedtime stories. I've known about them for a long time, as my Grandad wrote to them frequently. After he died, I wrote to tell them and they have always kept in contact with us, so I thought it would be lovely to meet them finally!

I took the train on Saturday afternoon and had an hour to have a little walk around Hamburg. I didn't see much, and it was so bloody hot that I'm surprised I didn't just melt. I saw the Alster which was gorgeous in the sun, with the sailing boats bobbing along.

A teensy weensy bit of Hamburg

I didn't get fantastic impressions about Hamburg, but come on, I was there for no time at all and didn't see a lot!

When the train pulled into Rendsburg station, there was a woman with a red rose on the platform and I knew it was Helga, because she'd told me on the phone she'd be carrying one. So cute.

So my weekend of solid German speaking began! Helga showed me around her house and garden and introduced me to her cat. Then we went for dinner at a little place on the high street.

The following day, we went to her sister Erika's house and we all went down to the canal to see the big ships. They have liveed in Büdelsdorf their entire lives, and their grandfather worked on the canals, so the water is in their blood. We spent Sunday in Erika's garden, drinking tea, eating ice-cream and having a very German cold supper. Helga and I went home and watched a Helene Fischer concert, and I learnt the verb 'naschen'. I nasched a lot of chocolates that evening. It was honestly great, as it brought back so many happy memories of spending time with grandparents.

I'm sorry, but this is awesome

On Monday, Helga took me on a proper little tour of everywhere. The house where they lived when my Grandad used to visit is still standing. It's now office space, and has a MacDonalds next door, but STILL. That was pretty eerie.

Their old house

The whole town of Rendsburg was lovely, and again, was just strange to think that my Granddad had been here all that time ago! We lit candles in the church for my grandparents, bought some postcards, saw the old site of the barracks where Granddad would have lived, and had a currywurst for dinner.

Paradeplatz (Granddad lived just off this square)

It all went very quickly though, and it wasn't long before they were seeing me off at the train station, and loading me up with peaches, sweets and cartons of orange juice. Bless them! I did take a picture with them, but I don't know how'd they feel about being thrown around the internet on my blog, so I'll be keeping that one to myself, also, it's a disgusting photo of me. So everyone's happy.

It was a lovely break from the city as well. I'm glad I went to see them! I also think that my German has actually improved since then? Maybe I'm imagining it, but three days solid of speaking German has definitely improved my confidence, if nothing else. It was also quite strange to hear a different dialect: the first time someone said 'moin' to me, I just stared at them in wonder. Plaadeutsch was quite fun though, it sounds like a mix of Dutch and English really, but I couldn't really understand what Helga was saying when she spoke so fast on the phone to Erika.

Anyway, it was lovely! I feel like it was definitely worth doing.

One Musketeer down

I meant to update this before I went away for the weekend but unfortunately my latpop is back at the repair shop, because apparently it just does not like me or anything I try and do with it. Ugh.

Let's get some boring updates out of the way first: I still don't have a bridge! I have to wear this plastic one until Thursday 24th (I've had it now for a week). As long as it's sorted by August, I guess it's ok. Secondly, I managed to get the pill here, even though it cost 36 €!

So the Saturday before last was nice, I met up with Sophie and Hilary in Charlottenburg, where we wandered around the gardens and took in some scenery. Then we went back to Hilary's for tea (and pistachios) before heading onto Bergmanstraße for dinner. There was a very peculiar parade going on, as in people in extremely bizarre outfits shouting to what sounded a bit like the Sex Pistols. We met up with Hilary's Belgian friend at a Vietnamese and sat nattering away for hours.

Hilary's mad photo skills

On Sunday, I was actually quite productive. I woke up at 9 (I know, maybe I'm not well), did some yoga and updated my CV. Then I spent the afternoon watching Endeavour with my flatmates and having to explain some very British phrases. It was time for the World Cup final that night! We met up and went to the Kulturbrauerei, after having our faces painted with the German flag by Kate. It was such a good atmosphere and when Götze scored in extra time, the place just went mental. There were showers of beers and fireworks, flags in people's faces, shouting and chanting. Basically, it was superb. After we watched Angie hug her boys, we started home. People were gathered in the streets, everyone on the U-Bahn was shouting and when I got into bed I could still hear fireworks.

So sieht Sieger aus! (Sophie's picture)

Looking like a right chubster, but rather happy to be alive

Merkel hugging her boys

On Tuesday evening, I met the girls at the Tränenpalast after work. I'd been planning to go for some time, since Sia recommended it to me. I will now recommend it too! Tränenpalast literally means 'Palace of tears', and it's what the locals came to call this building as it was a check point, and obviously many miserable memories happened here. I think one of the most interesting things there was some newsreel footage about the 1953 uprising. They had footage from both the West and the East and it was incredible how differently they spun the stories. I also read some documents chronicling the movements of an author as he regularly went East and it was horrible. There were photos of him, just labelled with 'Objekt' and a number. If you ever find yourself with an hour to spare on Friedrichstraße, you should go.

We had dinner together and sat talking for hours, my favourite type of evening!

On Wednesday evening, I met up with Lionel, for the first time since May! It was really nice to see him again. Obviously we went to Italo for coffee and cake, and he told me all about his holiday and his new job. I told him about my series of unfortunate events. I also think my French was okay, considering I hadn't spoken it in so long, but for whatever reason, my language was co-operating with me!

I did however tell a woman that she was on her way to Neukölln, when she was in fact, not. I was too busy reading to notice I was on the wrong side of the platform. I hope she made it wherever she was going. Oops.

Thursday night was Hilary's leaving meal :( We had dinner at White Trash near Schlessi, and it was a really good night, you know, aside from the fact I won't see Hilary for a while! I'm planning to go to Edinburgh in their freshers week and harrass them all, so it won't be long really. We've had some exellent times in Berlin together though, some good friendships have been made! (These are yet more of Hilary's photos!)

On Friday, Sophie, Guy and some other people went to the Freiluftkino in Friedrichshain Volkspark and it was great fun! The film boasted a rather tasty main character and we all understood enough to laugh along with everybody else, which was obviously great.

The open air cinema, excuse the stupid speaker in the way



And then I went away for the weekend, but I'll write about that when I get my laptop back, otherwise there will be no pictures at all! 

Tonight is Sophie's last night, boo! We're all going to chill in Volkspark Friedrichshain with pizza and beers. It should be good.

Something about the weather to finish? BERLIN IS A SAUNA.

Tschau! 

xxx

p.s yes I posted this at work, but I wrote it on my phone last night and did the pictures on my break, don't tell on me

How's life?

The last couple of weeks have been a bit mixed really. I've felt a bit down since Joy left, and have been really stressed about the whole tooth thing but things are coming together! On Monday, I had my teeth prepared for the bridge, which was sore for a while afterwards and I'm feeling quite hideous with the temporary plastic bridge in, but on Monday I will finally have a full ceramic bridge! If you want an idea of how hideous my teeth have become for this bridge, just google 'teeth prepared for crowns' (or something) and you'll get the idea...

Last week, Sophie, Hilary, Gayle and I went for a spa evening which was lovely. I spent most of it outside reading, but we all had prosecco in the bubbly pool thing and felt very posh. Germans have no issue with nakedness, so we saw some sights but didn't join in. I love Germany, but I'm not sure I'm ready to embrace their complete nonchalance about nudity.

My brother is in Berlin at the moment, for the launch of their new store in Berlin and for the Bread and Butter fashion exhibition at Tempelhof. I've seen him a couple of times briefly, and was meant to see him at a party last night but just could not get hold of him. So I ended up staying at home and watching the Germany-Brazil game, which was insane! You could hear shouts everywhere and fireworks went off right outside our window. I am 100% watching the final at a public viewing. Even if they don't win (but they are machines), the atmosphere will be amazing and I can't believe Germany has got to the final while I'm here!

In other news, I've not seen Lionel for a couple of weeks as he was on holiday, then Joy was here and then we couldn't sort out a time last week. Now my language classes are over (I know, it went so quickly), we should be able to meet on Tuesdays again. If not, we'll add him to the missing tandem partners list.

I wish I could sign up for another 4 weeks of classes, but I don't have the time left now. I'm still going to work through the textbook though because a) I'm keen and b) it cost me 14 euros.

Work has been going well and I've been doing a lot of SEO translation and copy-editing, which has been interesting and something different! I'm quite sick of the word 'keyword' for the moment though. I've done some more translations and it's been a consistently positive response from my boss. He read one last week and said the quality was brilliant. I was incredibly smug with myself for the rest of the day.

I'm also sorting out my travels for August, which has been a bit stressful but mostly plain sailing. I think I mentioned it in a previous blog post but didn't explain so here are the details! I'm heading to Alicante to stay with my aunt for a week, before I get a bus to Avignon and spend 2 nights there. Then it's on to Grenoble for 3 nights and I may take a daytrip to Lyon. From there, I'm taking a train to Geneva for the night, and I'll try and squeeze as much in as I can before I fly to Split in Croatia to meet Sia! We're staying in Split for the night, then we're going to Zagreb to spend time in the beautiful national parks. We'll get a bus back to Vienna and two days later, I'll be back in Berlin for one final night before my flight to England the next morning.

It's going to be quite a month! I had to ring Eurolines about my ticket (they didn't send me one) and forced myself to speak French. Now I have all my tickets and reservations booked. I just need to print them...

I ordered a rucksack from Amazon but it doesn't seem big enough which is a shame, but the rest of the holiday buying is going okay so I'm getting quite excited. Obviously, I am sad about leaving Berlin, but I just wanted to see more and I'm sure I won't regret it!

Berlin has been muggy and stormy the last couple of days. So much so, that it was almost pitch dark in my room at the office yesterday, save for my lamp. The rain was incredible and I thought the windows were going to smash at any given moment. The whole place smells like a rainforest.

Apparently I have run out of things to say, because I'm now talking about the weather....

Bis bald! xxx

p.s. I'm sorry for the zero pictures!!

On being a tourist (guide)

Hi! It feels like ages since I last properly blogged. Since then, I've spent hours in muesums, given up on Jean, signed up for German evening classes, danced all night to Madonna, toured my mum and her partner around most things of historical relevance, had an accident and have pretty much finished planning my August adventure. 

So a couple of weekends ago, it was der Lange Nacht der Museen, where museums are open until the early hours. My mum's initial reaction when I told her about it was "What's so special about that?" Oh mother! You are right about 99% of things, but not this. What could be better than sitting on the steps of a museum filled with ancient Greek treasures, cup of tea in hand, at 12.45 am? Who needs alcohol when you've got a two day museum pass? Not me mate.

'Telephos goes to Argos' This amused me greatly.





the stuff of nightmares

who put the glad in gladiator? HERC-U-LEEES

Biggest dinosaur skeleton in the world, or sumfink

There was a room filled with sealife in jars.

Dunno what my legs are doing, but CURRYWURST

There was even an interactive takeaway van thing. This is Sophie serving you chips.

It was genuinely great, and Sophie and I clocked up 7 museums in what, 12 hours? The Pergamon (architecture), Neues (where Nefertiti's famous bust is), Altes (Ancient Greeks), Bodes (not entirely sure of the central theme, but a fair amount of Jesus), Naturkunde (nature, and the obligatory dinosaur skeletons), the Currywurst Museum (!!!!) and the Museum at Checkpoint Charlie, which was really moving. We got quite into it, and each bought a postcard of our favourite exhibit from each one.

Next item on the list - the German Tandem Partner Situation. I genuinely do not understand what happened there. I am not gonna make you read reems of my hypotheses. Lionel is still around though, and to combat the lack of Jean, I signed up for an 4 week evening class course. I just figured I needed something. It was also born out of a moment of mild panic when I realised that I have 2 months left and my German is not as good as I want it to be! Yesterday I tried out a class, and I loved it. Due to time issues, I can't go to B2 classes because of work, so have to make do with B1-B2. It's fine so far and is quite nice to feel like a freaking boss but I might go to a C1 class just to see if that is challenging enough not to be painful, if not, I don't mind too much staying in this class I'm just worried I will get too comfortable and complacent ...



Saturday  before last was Madonna night. Hilary, Guy, Hilary's flatmate Daniel and I headed out to a Club in Neukölln (yes!) at like 1am and sweatily danced the night away to Madonna, Kylie, Britney ,etc. It was awesome. Mainly because of the fact there was music with lyrics, shock horror. And a lot of oiled, but sadly homosexual, torsos jumping around.


The next day my mother arrived! I was so excited to see her, and it was so cute to see her little face bobbing in the crowd. We went out for dinner that night at Italo, which was lovely because my mum loves Italian food and was in her element. The following day, my historical tour began. Starting with *deep breath* Potsdamer Platz, Brandenburger Tor, tour of the Reichstag, Soviet War Memorial in the Tiergarten, the memorial for the 1953 uprising at the Federal Ministry of Finance, Topography of Terror and a brief glance at the former Gestapo HQ, Checkpoint Charlie, Bebelsplatz (where the Nazis famously burnt the books), St. Hedwig's Cathedral, Berliner Cathedral, coffee in the Nikolai quarter, East Side Gallery and the Oberbaumbrücke and then finally DINNER.

Gross of me, but mum looks cute

It was just a prelude, because when you burn books, in the end you burn people too.

The Nikolai Quarter is so pretty

Mum bought me a new friend. Meet Sigmund.

'I remember'

East Side Gallery

Bit minging, but one of my favourite places in Berlin

Tuesday started off badly, that's for sure, as I somehow managed to slip and get my left leg stuck in the gap between the train and the platform. It felt like I was there forever but Mum has since assured me it was not even a minute before she pulled me up. After crying hysterically from the shock of it, we located a pharmacy and I patched up before I gallantly hobbled onwards to continue their tour. The leg is still bruised and still hurts. Sigh.


First off, I took them to J.F Kennedy Platz, then onto Ku'damm and the church, followed by the Siegesäule. We all paid to go in and the information was interesting but there was no way I could climb 285 spiral steps with my poor limb, so Mum and I didn't climb it in the end. Next stop was Bernauerstraße and the Wall Memorial. I visited this with Lewis in 2012, but I had no idea just how extensive the memorial was; the whole street was demolished to make way for the wall and so has been preserved almost in it's entirety. You can see the foundations of a church that once stood in between. You can see foundations of houses that were ripped down because people were using the windows that looked out onto the west side to escape. There was even video footage of a man shimmying down a sheet rope from a window. Lastly, they preserved part of the Death Strip. You climb a big viewing platform to see it properly and it's just, awful. Awful to think that it was only 24 years ago that it came down. The East Side Gallery is interesting, but I think Bernauerstraße really makes you realise just what this wall was, even though I will never get my head around it. It's a really tasteful memorial too, and I was pleased to see people were being respectful.

Do I really need to caption this?

After that, we rushed over to the Stasi Museum. By now it was absolutely chucking it down, so the weather was quite conducive to the tone of the day! We only had an hour there, so I showed them the most important bits. My mum has always been interested in spy stuff, so she was simultaneously fascinated and horrified.


We then went for dinner, opting for a place at Alexanderplatz. It was initially really good, until after we had eaten no one asked us if we wanted more drinks and we waited half an hour for the bill ...
After we all had a bit of a strop, we bought some biscuits and wine and hung out at their hotel until gone midnight.

hab' dich Lieb, mama

After dropping their stuff off at mine the next morning, I gave mum her birthday card and little present and there were some little tears too. Then, as an extra special birthday present, we went to see the site of Hitler's Bunker. It was chilling, and not just because it was pissing down. Saying goodbye at the Airport was not too bad, as Spencer drove me home so I had to dump them and run really. It was lovely seeing mum, and I think I can make the next couple of months now!

I spent the holiday weekend in Vienna visiting Sia, so there'll be a post soon about that! And last night, I went for drinks with Joe and the gang, as Joe will be knocking around el Berlino for a couple of weeks. Yay!


Bis bald
xxx

How I know I've been in Berlin a while

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.

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.

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

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!

the glorious beginning and the heads of the two morons that irritated me all night

When Conchita won!

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