Well, the biggest news I suppose is that Annie and I booked our flights on the weekend, so officially from the 3rd to the 18th of July, we are going to Tokyo to visit Douglas!  This means I will be celebrating my 21st birthday in Tokyo, probably the most incredible way I could ever think to spend my birthday!

Doogs and I have chatted on msn quite frequently and he is very kindly putting together an itinerary for us, because there is just so much to fit in!

Next thing to organise is accommodation but I think that is pretty much sorted – we found a lovely cheap hostel on hostelworld.com which offers the Japanese experience, that is, futons and tatami mats, and traditional breakfasts, at only 3000 JPY or so per night.

Right, enough about the holiday, I should be talking about Germany.  On the weekend I went to the Altstadt and did some exploring, and found the most amazing supermarket that far surpasses all the crap ALDIs and stuff in the Neustadt.  Then I came home and cleaned the bathroom that Ingo, Flo and I share, for THREE HOURS with a toothbrush.  Not kidding.  The room is huge and completely tiled and nobody had cleaned it properly for what was probably months – I think at most we threw bleach down the loo and drains every week.  But yeah, I went through a very long playlist on my iPod.  And my arm was KILLING me afterwards! But now I look forward to using the bathroom, everything sparkles and it smells very fresh and nice   Also, I was much happier doing the bathroom than Ingo was doing the kitchen (we had a bit of a Frühlingsputz, a spring clean)!

Flo is really starting to piss me off though.  Literally, Ingo cleaned the kitchen from top to bottom on Saturday – everything was washed up, all the surfaces were tidy and clean, the floor was swept, the oven was cleaned – not three hours later, we know Flo has cooked something because there is stupid lentil shit bubbling in a pan where he forgot to turn off the hob, there is a dirty chopping board on every surface and the room stinks of what ever crap he’s cooked up this time.  Ingo went BERSERK. And I don’t blame him.  I also went fairly furious the next day when Flo shaved and then didn’t wash out the sink, AND used my comb.  I can never use that comb again… ew….

Um, the snow has pretty much been here since December and is only just starting to clear.  Its been really bad though because when it melts, it then refreezes over night into very slippery ice, and the authorities seem to constantly forget to grit the pavements so walking to work can be a dangerous obstacle course.  However, last night we had a heavy fall of rain, and the weather has been much warmer (well, we aren’t in the minuses all the time any more anyway), so a lot of the snow and ice was gone today thank god.

Bought some denim hot pants on eBay last week and they arrived on the weekend.  Upon discovering they were slightly too small for me (they’re a size 10), I have decided I WILL fit into them by the time Tokyo rolls around.  So as soon as all the paths are safe, I will resume going for jogs in the evening.  Also, I have stopped getting takeaways at lunch, even though they are usually quite healthy, because I always eat too much.  Its back to my one brötchen or bagel.  And lots of juice and water, and green tea.

Work has been fine, we had a little hiccup last week when we discovered that I was given the wrong pictures with which to update the surgical techniques, but thats all sorted now and MUTARS is FINALLY finished.  So now I am moving onto other stuff which is seriously refreshing.  Possibly going to see a MUTARS op next week though -shudders-  I’m fine with blood and bones and gore and stuff, but if it’s a knee op I WILL be sick.  Knees just make me squeamish.

Harriet came and visited at the end of January which was amazing, we had such a blast! Sophie and Nick are coming at the end of March and Mum and Archie are coming at the beginning of April.  Can’t wait!

I’ve given up alcohol for lent, not so fun.  The Germans don’t have Pancake Day!! I was appalled when I found this out, so I took it upon myself to force pancakes down everyones throats on Shrove Tuesday.  I think they liked them, not sure though!

Right, I’ve rambled enough, hope this makes up for the neglect of this blog!

Fifi xxx

I have lost almost all the weight I put on over Christmas already, I can feel my hipbones again!!  And see my collarbone too lol

Have been chatting with the family a lot over Skype, it is much better than the telephone as it is free and I can see their faces lol!  Its nice to be able to chat with my sister about stuff as if we’re in the same room.

Harriet is visiting at the end of the month, so I have booked off the Friday and Monday she is arriving and leaving.  We’re planning on some major German excursions, hehe.

I totally rearranged my room on the weekend (and finally did all my washing lol), so now it seems a lot more homely.  Originally, when you walked in the closet was to the left of the door and the washing pile was behind the door.  The bed stretched out across the middle of the room, and the desk was by the window along with the rubbish bin and a shelving unit.  Now, the bed is under the window with the head board by the radiator (which is how I have it at home), the desk runs along the left wall, the shelves are on the left as you walk in and the closet is behind the door.  And I am going to make sure there is no significant laundry pile from now on Organised room means organised life, right?

The snow has been pretty much constant since I got back (although magically stops everytime I need to go somewhere… very considerate of you, mother nature!).  We were predicted to have a ‘snow catastrophe’ on the weekend with major traffic jams and what not but it never really happened… the Germans cope too well with snow to let a heavy fall of it cause disruption!

Work is fine, nothing new really.  A few new employees (all young, good looking men!), but other than that, same as always.  I am translating the design overview and surgical technique for a new femoral stem called ‘Load Shift’ (sounds SO dodgy), which transfers the load on the bone to avoid the implant loosening, which is a big problem in hip replacements.  Mum, maybe you should ask Claire to take a look into it, it might be helpful!

Started drawing again with all the new stuff Mum and Archie got me for Christmas, I am trying to break into semirealism as I am much better at it than I am at manga.  I suppose with manga you need to be good at digital art really, in which I have no experience.

My Dad’s boxer dog Buster died this morning, he was eight years old

Mmm, I think that is all.  Well, till next time! Happy Monday!

Christmas was awesome – best presents were a load of art things from my Mum and Stepdad (graphite pencils, 160 gsm paper, manga pro-markers, art fineliner pens) and a brand new laptop from my Dad!  I was very spoiled during my two week stay at my Mum’s house and stuffed myself with her amazing cooking! Seriously, the past fortnight has been a bit of a food orgy, I definitely put on a couple of pounds!

I weighed myself when I arrived in Wales though, and I have lost a stone and a half in three months, which is between two and three dress sizes for me! At the beginning of my break I was an 8-10 but after all the food I would say its closer to a 10-12 now, but its still miles better than the 14 I was in September, and it is easy enough to lose the weight now I am back in Germany and walking for an hour every day and having to live off my ghastly cooking!

I have to seriously start looking at flights soon and book mine, and liase with Annie about Japan in July, because she really wants to come too and her trust fund has enough money for a kick ass fortnight visiting Douglas! I cannot wait! Douglas, I will need your help with accommodation research! Also, which airport in Tokyo do you advise, because from the looks of things there are about five!!

Didn’t do much over New Year, went to an awesome house party at Annie’s and got VERY drunk, and then me, H, Sam, Matt and Roberta all made a rekkie to MacDonalds in Pontypool and had burgers for our first meals of 2010!! So healthy!

I brought my running shoes back with me as well, so I can FINALLY do some serious jogging and hopefully lose even more weight and tone up! Yay!

Thats it for now people, love to all!

Well, the past three days have been absolutely magical for me! I woke up on Friday morning to find that overnight a huge fall of snow had happened, and the entire town was a winter wonderland! It wasnt so much fun walking to work in it but it was still amazing for me! I really love snow and have only seen it at Christmas once or twice in my lifetime, so to see so much of it in December was like a fairytale for me! Not to mention that all of the houses in Buxtehude are really cute little Gingerbread type houses to begin with, so with a layer of snow on the roof and candles in the windows they look even cuter!

Yesterday, there was a serious blizzard, so I had to stay indoors, but today I donned my walking boots and went to visit the Christmas Markets for the last time before I go back to England.  Everything looked so cute, and there was Christmas music playing, and after about an hour there more snow started to fall. It was truly like being in a movie.  I caught the end of a Nativity performance in St. Petri’s church as well, which was wonderful!

Just a little picture of the Weihnachtsmarkt! You can’t tell here but its snowing.

I am flying home on the 23rd of December for two weeks, and I am REALLY looking forward to it! I have a hair appointment on the 24th (I am going really really short this time), and then it’s CHRISTMAS! I freaking LOVE Christmas, it is probably my favourite time of year. And a German Christmas is even more magical!

Work is slowly winding down, thank goodness, as the past few weeks have been pretty hectic.

Well, thats all I have to say really.  Happy Christmas everybody!!

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!

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.

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

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.

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

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.