I’m still alive…

Once again, I fail miserably in the art of updating my blog.  Things are a little hectic in Germany, as usual. I’ve been quite ill for the past week with some strain of flu (not swine flu though, haha), and it’s been a mad rush of doctors and sick notes and medical supplies, and lots and lots of sleep.

But basically, things are going pretty well. My bank card FINALLY arrived a month after I opened my account, so now I have access to my earnings. I transferred half of it into my English account though, because I still want to save up and go to Tokyo to visit Douglas next July. That would just be the best thing I have ever bought myself, and it would be my first holiday in Asia. As far as I know, Doogles wants me to visit, so I am putting all my efforts in to saving!

I went to Hamburg last weekend to visit Chris because it was his birthday, Eleanor travelled up from Marburg for the weekend as well, AND I saw Emma too at the gathering we had in Chris’s flat, so four of us Southamptoners met up. It was pretty awesome to see everyone again, and you can hear the vast improvements we’ve all undergone in our German. Emma and I pretty much spoke in fluent German for the entire evening, because her new boyfriend (?) is German and he was chatting to us constantly. But then I met some Irish guys (who were hilarious), and I ended up getting an Irish accent to my German XD It was awesome meeting loads of Erasmus students though, like lots of Spanish and Polish people. Really really multicultural fun

It’s a bit blurry, but otherwise a nice photo of Emma, Me and Eleanor.

My drawing has been coming along nicely too. I am now experimenting with drawing different textures and materials. I started with drawing a beanie hat, and I just finished a picture of Zack Fair wearing a woollen jumper, cotton hoody and denim jacket (but my attempt at denim SUCKS). My fanfictions are also progressing well and are proving to be quite popular. I update my Bleach one on Tuesdays and my Kingdom Hearts one on Thursdays. The Bleach one gets something ridiculous like 30 reviews per chapter (the average for a popular fic tends to be between 10 and 20 per chapter) and the Kingdom Hearts one gets roughly 15 per chapter, so they’re pretty popular.

Thinking I may need to pay a visit to the hairdressers when I go back to England (23rd Dec – 5th Jan), so I can tell them EXACTLY what I want (I didn’t know the word for ‘diagonal’ when I went to the German hairdressers, so my hair is the same length all the way round… it looks nice but its not what I wanted ).  So Mum, if you’re reading this, could you book an appointment where Rhi gets her hair done? Haha…

Wisdom teeth are playing up too Not fun.

Hmm, any other interesting GERMAN stuff to tell you? Well, I have found whilst browsing deviant Art (my new favourite website, I think I live on there lol), that there are a lot of anime conventions in Germany, and that most of the popular cosplayers on the website are German! Pretty interesting trivia, I thought… Also, I found out that they use the English phrase ‘Shit happens’ a lot here (they don’t translate it, they just say it in English lol!).

Thats it for now I think. Happy Saturday!

Update of my life :O

Well, so much for regularly updating this… but I have been so busy for the past few weeks… I know, lame excuse, I’m sorry

Well, what HAVE I been up to then? Work as usual dominates my life, I am starting to get used to the early starts but hating them more and more at the same time.  It’s sad times when you find yourself getting up at 5 am.  On the plus side, the mornings have been slightly improved by my discovery of how to work my radiator.  This is quite the achievement for me, as I have never actually figured out how to turn a radiator on before… I know, all that intelligence, gone to waste… But yes, my room is not artic in the mornings and I now have the added pleasure of the sacred luxury of RADIATOR PANTS… and jeans and t-shirt, etc.  Someone has been turning on the one in the bathroom in the morning too, which is lovely.

General day goes like this… wake up, get up, shower, dress, sometimes have a quick snack or check my emails before I leave for work. Pick up breakfast and lunch from the local Backhus (usually a croissant and some form of sandwich). Arrive at work at 8, work until 9.30 when me, Marco and Vadim have breakfast, then lunch is at 12.  Work until 5, walk home (sometimes stopping off in the Fleischmarkt which isn’t actually a Fleischmarkt but a Supermarkt XD), then chill out on the couch or in my room.  Weekends are spent drinking copious amounts of German beer and then sleeping for the entire of the following day.

My parents sent me a package a couple of weeks back, and they thoughtfully included all my sketching and drawing gear, so some nights are spent having ‘art sessions’ with Ingo and Vanessa, who are also artistically inclined. Ingo is working on a mural in the living room, Vanessa paints canvas paintings to go around the house.  They want me to paint Nana Osaki from NANA (cool anime rock chick who actually would look pretty wicked and artistic in any house) on one of the walls, but I am terrified of ruining the flat for life!!

Other nights me and Ingo cwtch up on the couch under blankets and go over vocabulary together.  We both have spreadsheets on our computers where we keep lists of new vocab we are learning.  He is the manager of sales in Airbus, so he has to keep on top of his English.  Its nice and cosy, especially now the weather is getting worse.  Sometimes we all light candles around the main living area and just chat and have a few drinks or play cards, we all get along quite well.

I had my hair cut short a few weeks ago, I am still getting used to it. It is pretty much the same as when I last had it short, but I think its too long in the back and there are too many short layers on top for my liking. It looks nice, like Katie Holmes, but I wanted something more… I don’t know… emo, I guess!

Work load is steadily increasing, I am getting more and more responsibility. I have my own telephone, which rings CONSTANTLY, and I am soon being assigned to the terrifying task of ‘fixing the website’. It needs it. Check it out for yourself at www.implantcast.de

My German is a lot better now too!  I can more or less hold a regular, decent conversation with most people (especially after a few beers!), sometimes I find it harder in the mornings or when I am really tired but generally my German is actually improving, which is good!  My passive vocabulary is larger than I expected.  Marco and Vadim are very naughty though and keep teaching me swear words! The ‘thing’ we have going in the office is that whenever we can fit them in we say ‘übertreib es nicht’ (Don’t over do it), or ‘Du spielst mit meine Gefühlen’ (you are playing with my feelings). Its very funny and bewilders the other employees quite a lot!

Claire Spackman who is the Managing Director of Crystal Clear, our English distribution agent, is coming on Monday with a doctor from Morriston in Swansea, I am looking forward to seeing her as she is the one who got me this position. It will also be nice to speak to someone English for once!

I am eagerly awaiting my next package from home, which will include running shoes. I really want to explore properly and jogging is the best way to do that! I am also just craving more exercise than an hours walking everyday. Plus, it may help to ease the pain in my hip and knee.  The hip pain I think can be attributed to the fact that I have dropped three dress sizes in just over a month, but the knee pain seems to be muscle tension. So I want to go for a run lol!!

Ryuichi-kun (as I like to call Ximon, the hot Chinese/Japanese guy I mentioned a while back) is only living in Buxbau until January, before he moves back to his hometown somewhere in Bavaria. Sad times. He is still one of my best friends (and drinking buddies), but no romance I am afraid, firstly because he’s leaving in January so there is no point, and secondly because Mum will tell me off if I do

Taking lots more photos (which I cannot upload im Moment as I am at work) of my surroundings, there are some cool ones on my deviant art profile, http://fifi-mcfu.deviantart.com/

Also, there is a stork with a nest somewhere nearby to Buxbau. I have seen him attempting to sit in trees and failing miserably, and occasionally I open my blinds to see him bogging at me from a tree… the other day I got a fright because he was on my window sill… haha!

Right, I’m going to shut up now! Hope this was a long enough update for y’all!

Peace out,

McF00zle.

Generic Update

Well, it is currently 16.35 here in Buxtehude, and I have finished all my work for the day. So now I am kicking back and writing a blog post I finished a mammoth task today – I was given a whole brochure on Thursday to translate!  It has forty pages of solid writing about Corporate Identity… that is, how you should go about using all the company images and slogans, what fonts you should use, specific colours, etc.  It was all very technical and topic specific, but I finished it quicker than they expected! In fact, it only took me three working days! (but when you think about it, that is 27 hours of constant translation… ouch.)

Overall enjoying myself here in Buxtehude. Weather is pretty rubbish (we’ve had highs of like, 7°C which is pathetic), but there is the occasional bout of sunshine, and it only rains about once a week.  I’m pretty much settled into my halls, the flatmates are as follows: Ingo, Vanessa, Ortrun, Florian and Wibke.  The first two are incredible and we’re already firm friends.  Ortrun is very quiet and hides in her room a lot so I don’t know what she’s like, but she seems nice. Florian is a bit of a weirdo… he looks like a classic German scientist, with mad curly hair, a beard, big thick glasses and he wears dungarees all day long… And Wibke, well, I thought she was a bit of a bitch at first because she kept treating me like I was stupid when I couldn’t understand her, but she seems to be getting less patronizing.  But that might be because I am understanding her more.

Yeah, we all cooked together last night (sans Ortrun, who was with her family), and sat down and had a nice meal then watched Dirty Dancing together.  Of course then we had to discuss things like cleaning rotas and such, but overall it was a lovely evening

Buxbau (my halls) are holding a Halloween party in the cellar at the end of the month (we actually have a full blown disco room in the cellar… which has been dubbed the Party Keller!), and apparently I have to dress up… I don’t know what to go as though, I haven’t dressed up for Halloween since I was about eight years old. I’m contemplating good old fashioned vampire, but finding the props could be tricky…

Also, I have been making friends outside of my flat. The first (and most amazing) is a Chinese guy called Xi-Mon (he pronounces it Simon) Ryuichi Wei.  He is, quite frankly, the most gorgeous human I have ever met.  Pictures MAY follow But he is really nice and we’re really good friends already. Another person is Dennis, he is the warden at Buxbau. He’s really nice and always checks in on me, and has helped me with things like booking appointments and stuff like that.  Another good friend.

I got a package from Mum and Archie today, it arrived at work because CCMS (the company that is implantcast and my mothers works’ go between) sent it for Mum with one of their deliveries.  But now I have to get it back home.  Luckily Marco has kindly volunteered to drive me, as it is a half hour walk from work to home (not that I mind normally) and I don’t really want to lug an enormous box filled with clothes and valuables all that way.

Oh yeah, work friends! Marco and Valim are the guys who I share an office with, they’re really cool. Valim is Russian and is teaching me and Marco some funny words. Other cool people are Daria, Melanie and Janine, as well as Mirco (one of my bosses). Although Mirco is also very scary.  I get the feeling that if I ever did something wrong, he would go holocaust on me (oh pardon the terrible pun, I know its inappropriate!)… he’s one of those kind of people.  But so far he has been SO nice to me, mostly because I am a hard worker I think

And now, I shall end this drabble, as I am sure you are bored!

Toodle pip,

Fifi xxx

Photos of the last few weeks

I thought I would put up some of the photos I have taken on my phone, there are some really nice ones

This was the view from the room at the youth hostel.

My room at the halls of residence.

My room from the window.

What I can see from my bedroom window! OMG CARS

The lake I pass everyday on my way home from work.  It looks fab in the afternoon. This was taken at about 5.30 pm.

This is the road I walk on everyday… not very thrilling sorry, however the lake I just showed you is just past those hedges on the left.

And thats it for now, I shall try and take more photos at some point lol.  For now though thats all you’re getting!!  Tata.

Ill :(

Well, I’ve been observing the oh so popular book of faces the past few days, and it seems like every foreign languages student who is on their year abroad has suddenly been struck down by some variation on a cold or the flu.  And funnily enough, all at the same time.  I mean, we all went to our designated countries at completely different times, but suddenly, in this last week, we’ve all fallen drastically ill.  I’m blaming it on stress personally.  While we’re all having whale of a time, we’re also settling into a new country.  We have to make completely new friends, speak another language 24/7, and adjust to many cultural differences.  It feels like a holiday, but our bodies are telling us, ‘It’s really NOT a holiday, calm down and let me sleep!’

Which is what I did for the entire weekend, really.  I mean, I went into town early Saturday morning to check out bank accounts (which was a failed mission entirely, apparently banks are only open on Saturdays so we can take money out… there are ATM’s for that?) and also to pick up some meds because my tonsils were strangling me.  And then I retired to bed for the rest of the weekend, only arising to make up an aspirin solution and go to the bathroom.  Twas not a fun few days, and my back is killing me now as thanks for staying in bed for such a long period of time.

Ah well. Such is life.  I guess it must be a foreign strain of freshers flu or something…

Also, its getting very very cold in Hamburg.  It was 3°C on my way to work this morning.  My feet are still blue

Only a short post for today, I may update later on in the week though.  Lots of love to you all

Cultural Differences

Thought I would make a post about all the cultural and social differences I have noticed so far.  Some from the previous post and some new ones… It will be updated as I discover new ones:

1. Complete and utter strangers will bid you greeting, just because you live in the same halls of residence / work in the same place / walk on the same path every morning.

2. At lunch time, everyone says Mahlzeit, which is like Bon Appetit.  But they use it like a greeting, so they’ll walk into your office just as the lunch hour has started and say ‘Mahlzeit!’ And then start a conversation.

3. Socks and sandals are a common sight among all ages.

4. Pedestrians have right of way most of the time.  So people are ALWAYS stopping to let you cross the street.  Very very strange feeling.

5. They have a word that is specifically used at the end of the day, to mean ‘Good after work time’.

6. Fizzy water is the most common beverage of choice.

7. Ice cream cafes (or Eiscafes) are not a beautiful fairy tale invented to get you to learn German.  They genuinely exist.

8. Children start school at 8 in the morning… which means that I get stuck in child traffic every morning during the walk to work.

9. Young adults find staying in bed all day a strange concept.

10. Trains are clean, modern and on time.

11. The system works.

12. The concept of a fried egg for breakfast makes most German’s feel ill.

13. Treated meats are in abundance.

14. There are more programmes than adverts on the telly.

15. Every public bin is accompanied by various recycling receptacles.

16.  There is no rubbish on the streets. Ever.

17.  There are cigarette vending machines on the streets, free for all people to use (for under 18’s only when a policeman isn’t around).

18. There is at least one police cruiser on every street.

19. Military service is obligatory for at least one year.

20. Nobody makes fun of you if you ride a push scooter to work.

21. I think this is a general European thing, but they don’t write on lined paper, they use that gridded paper you use in Math class…

22. If you want bread, you got to a Backerei.  If you want meat, you go to the Butchers.  If you want cakes, go to the Patisserie.  Supermarkets stock hardly anything, so you have to shop the old fashioned way.

23. The pavement is paved with two different coloured types of brick, to show a cycling lane and a pedestrian lane.  I still haven’t figured out which is which however.

24.  Their computer keyboards are so confusing.  Z is where Y should be and then there all these characters like ßüöä and you have to press CNTL and ALT and Q to get an @ sign (I figured out how to do it at last!!)

25. Shops are open until 8 o’clock in the evening every week day.

26. People are happy.

27. There a no plastic bags at the shops.  You either bring your own, or a buy a reuseable/recyclable bag.

28. The radio plays just music. No commercials. No chatting. Just music.

29. Hardly any of the shops accept card payments.

30. Everyone speaks in twenty four hour clock.  There is no such thing as a.m. and p.m.

Herzblut

It’s the only professional picture taken of me and my friend Christian, but you get the idea… Herzblut macht Spass!

First Week…

Right.  Seeing as Douglas’ blog is so enthralling, I thought I would try something in the same vain.  It probably won’t be as frequently updated, because work takes up so much of my time, but if you feel like knowing what is going on in the world of Ffion, do check it out

Right now, I am sat at my desk (well, technically it’s Melanies… I will be moving to my desk as of tomorrow, when I will have my computer account set up), and it is lunch time.  German Radio Hamburg is playing awesome English tunes in the background.  It feels so odd, being a student, saying things like ‘I’m at my desk’ or ‘I have to go to work’.  But it makes me feel all emancipated and grown up, lol.

As I’m sure all the foreign language students have noticed in the time they have been in their designated country, it’s slowly but surely becoming easier to understand general conversation.  When I first arrived, I could only pick out words here and there, and certainly could not asertain as to the nature of the conversation.  Now, I at least know what people are talking about! My grammar is shot to pieces at the moment though… especially because I have to talk in the past and conditional so much, and it will be all planned out in my head, and then I’ll say it and the correct form will just go zooming off for a coffee leaving an incorrect conjugation in it’s place!  Frustrating.

But now I am speaking in German a lot more.  The first few days I kept forcing my mitwohner (flatmates) to translate whatever they were saying.  They didn’t mind because they want to improve their English, but it was annoying for me.  They have all noticed though that I hardly ever speak in English now, and I always carry a little dictionary with me just in case I cant remember a word.  Because it’s a little yellow book, they call it my gelbes Bibel (yellow bible), which is incidentally what everyone called their grammar books at uni, lol!  But my flatmates and I have a Vertrag (contract) that while I must speak German to them, they must try and speak English sometimes, as they are seeing my being here as an opportunity to improve their English.  So, now, everytime I try to speak English to them, they pretend they can’t hear me until I speak in German!!

It’s my third day working at implantcast, and I’m already getting into the swing of things.  I work in marketing and export, but nost of the first few days have been spent trawling through Surgical Technique booklets proofreading the broken English and marking down mistakes, then changing them on the system.  Its tedious, but its the first thing they wanted me, as the English Intern, to do, because they get a lot of complaints about the English in the booklets and brochures from their customers.

Some cultural adjustments to be expected of course; not so great as for Douglas, but still a lot.  I still forget that cars come from the right when I am crossing the road.  The computer keyboards make no sense.  In terms of letter placement its ok, its a QWERTZ keyboard rather than a QWERTY so the only letters that have switched are Y and Z, but that in itself is still annoying! The most annoying thing with it though is that all the punctuation has moved around, and I cannot for the life of me figue out how the hell to press the ‘at sign’ button, as demonstrated!  Its on the same button as Q, but I have to press something other than SHIFT to get to it… I just dont know which button it is that I have to press! And I feel stupid asking my colleagues, so I suffer in silence and usually just copy and paste one from an email hehe. 

Also, nobody drinks tap water here.  Its perfectly safe, but it didn’t use to be, so the whole country is in the habit of drinking from bottles… but they ALL drink sparkling, which I HATE. Going to have to get used to it though, as coming across still water is going to be like finding the gold at the end of the rainbow… yeah, in your dreams!

I went out in Hamburg on the weekend, of course, to the Reeperbahn, which is where ALL the best clubs and discoteques (yes its a hip word to use in Germany) are.  Got severely drunk and didn’t get back to Buxtehude until midday on Sunday, partly because the first train wasnt until 9 am, and also because we went to the fish market for Bismarckbrötchen (bismarck sandwiches), as is apparently customary to do after a night of dancing. Lol.

Oh yeah, another thing. Socks and sandals are not considered a fashion faux pas over here.  Its quite scary to be talking to a hot, well dressed man, and then looking down and seeing… socks and sandals.  Eek.

Anyway, lunch break is almost over, so I’ll post another update at some point during the week.

Miss you all