Will this day ever end?

It’s currently ten o’clock at night. I’ve been up since 6 am, it’s been a long, stressful day at work, in which I didn’t even have time for a proper lunch break and all I want to do is go to bed and sleep… possibly until the end of the week. Unfortunately this is not possible. Tea is still in the oven refusing to do what it’s meant to do (stop being liquid mainly). On top of that, the kitchen is full of unwashed dishes from last night’s tea, which I am going to fail to wash once again, and I still haven’t taken out the food waste, despite the fact that I’ve been meaning to for about three days. My Grandma has just informed me that one of the stereotypes that Germans have about the British is that we’re messy… and she knows for a fact Jan thinks that about me. Thanks Grandma – at least now I know what you two talk about behind my back! And the worst of it is I can’t even deny it. After all, we all know I’m the world’s worst housewife (I’ve mentioned it often enough!). The best defense I could come up with was “he can talk”. Very original! I also managed to get on the wrong tram this morning, my train was delayed this evening and Jan is not home yet. This certainly hasn’t been what I would call one of the better days in my life. Here’s hoping tomorrow will be better… once I’ve had some sleep!

That was the weekend that was…

Thank you all for the lovely comments on my last blog post. We celebrated six years of being together by going for a meal at an Italian restaurant close to my flat. It’s fairly new and we hadn’t been there before, but every time I’ve walked past it was packed. As it was again on Friday night. We arrived at just before 8 o’clock and were told they did have a table for 2 free, but only until 9pm! We had a lovely meal, complete with wine and actually were finished by 9… not bad! Will definitely be going there again, but perhaps with a reservation next time? After the meal we came home and watched the Goonies on DVD. I bought it for myself the other day as a treat, because it was cheap, and Jan had never seen it! Slowly, slowly I am filling in the gaps in his education… I’ve already introduced him to Edward Scissorhands and The Breakfast Club… and now The Goonies. I wonder what other classics he’s missed out on?

Yesterday we drove over towards the Pfälzerwald (Palatinate Forest) and went for a bit of a walk through the trees. There’s still deeo snow up there! Afterwards we drove into Landau, had a bit of a walk around then went to a wine tavern for something to eat. I had pike-perch fillet in a really nice sauce. And a glass of wine of course… what else should one drink in a wine tavern?
We had a lovely day, culminating in a talk about the possibility of actually getting a flat together… but more on that tomorrow, it’s such a mile stone that I think it deserves a whole blog post of it’s very own

Today I have mostly been working on my dissertation.. or at least attempting to. I have a grand total of 536 words so far, which I may or may not be able to use in the actual dissertation. *sigh* Can someone please remind me why I wanted to do a master’s?

Oh, and I’ve just heard (courtesy of my sister) that a friend of mine back in England has become a father today. He’s actually the son of a family friend and I’ve known hi since I was about 10 years old… rather strange thinking of him having a new born daughter! We are all growing up, alas…

So, that was my weekend. How was yours?

Six years

The boyfriend and I have been together for six years today.

We met in 2003, when I was in Germany for the year abroad that I had to do as part of my degree. At the time I was with someone else, but that ended in January of 2006. 10 days later, Jan and I got together. After six months, when we were just starting to get beyond that honeymoon stage and settle down into a “proper” relationship, I had to go back to England to finish my degree while Jan went off to America for a year. Neither of us was sure about the whole long distance thing, but neither of us wanted to end things either, so we agreed to try. I visited him once, for a week over new Year. Other than that we didn’t see each other for a whole year. And phone calls to America were expensive. Somehow we kept our relationship alive via texts, MSn messenger and the (very) occasional phone call. Then Jan came back to Germany to finish his degree and I moved to Vorarlberg in Austria to be a British Council language assistant. Closer, but still long distance. For 10 months, we survived on weekly phone calls and an average of one visit a month. Then, in November 2005, I received a letter from British Council telling me I could stay on as alanguage assistant for a second year. I decided to do it, but instead of sticking with the schools I was in I applied for a transfer to Germany. I put down Baden-Württemberg as my first choice, with a specific request for Karlsruhe in the comments section. In March 2006 I got the news that I had been assigned to Baden-Württemberg. In mid-June I had leftAustria and was  staying with Jan for a while when I was given the exact location of my school… a small village in Pfinztal. We looked it up on Google maps and found that it wasonly a 45 minute tram journey from Karlsruhe! the next step was to go and see the head of the student residence Jan was still living in at the time and ask whether I could have a room. Mr. Z asked me how much I would be earning, then told me he would arrange something. I was in! A few weeks later, I returned to England for a few months to see the family then, on 1st September 2006, I officially moved to Germany. No more long-distance relationship.
3 and a bit years later, here we are, still together. And we’ve finally reached the point where I can say we’ve been in the same country for longer than we spent apart. I know I wouldn’t have been able to put up with me for six years, even if two of them were long distance, so I’ve no idea how Jan does it. But I’m very glad he does.

Happy six years sweetheart! ♥

In which I go slightly overboard on the brackets…

Work was pretty good today, but busy. Very, very busy. It’s only Tuesday and already I’m exhausted! So instead of doing some washing (which was my plan for tonight) I’ve spent the last 20 minutes ordering books from Amazon as a “treat” to myself (for what I’m not sure). This Internet shopping malarkey is really bad for my bank balance! But on the plus side it means I’m actually getting somewhere with one of my goals… I’m up to 9 books read from the never-ending list (5 of them in January… no wonder the past month seems to have flown by without me even noticing – I’ve apparantly spent most of it with my nose in a book!) plus one German children’s book, whcih I am counting towards the 101 things list even though I technically read it for my dissertation and not because I desperately wanted to read a book by Eric Kästner. I really need to start reading some non-fiction books though… I’ve been saying for ages that I want to. Instead I find myself going through my Amazon recommendations, adding even more books to the list (can you believe the boyfriend actually has the never to tell me he finds it difficult to choose birthday and Christmas presents for me? There’s a ready-made list full of the perfect gifts just sitting, waiting for him to pay attention to it!). I failed on the monthly photo theme again (maybe 50 photos was a little too ambitious?) so it’s good to know I’ve managed to get somewhere with something…

I’ve also started to get back into cross stitch lately. A few weeks ago I picked up a project that I stopped working on months ago and I’ve come surprisingly far since then. It was supposed to be a birthday present for Jan’s mum in 2008! Hopefully I’ll actually manage to get it to her this year. I have until November, which should be do-able as long as I don’t stop again…

Ooh, and I’ve just realised, the package that arrived for me today is probably another cross stitch kit that I ordered… a wedding sampler for one of the couples I know who are taking the plunge (Yes, you read that right. I said one of the couples. There are a few…) I hope it is – I’m really looking forward to getting started on that one.

T minus 27 days and counting…

It is now February, and we all know what February means, don’t we? It means I have reached the final month of my probation period at work. One day down, 27 to go and then… the moment of truth. Will I be allowed to continue working there, or or will everything that’s gone wrong with the latest big job tip the scales in the other direction? Only time will tell… in the meantime I’m working like a demon and trying not to think about it too much. Which shouldn’t actually be too difficult this week… if today is any indication of what’s to come I won’t have time to think until at least Friday afternoon. Don’t bother coming here for any wit and wisdom this week, my brain has already turned to mush and it’s only Monday! (Not that it’s worth coming here for wit and wisdom any week, but that’s besides the point…).

Anyway, that’s enough rambling for today. The boyfriend is on his way home and I haven’t even started making tea yet. I’d better getting cracking or I’ll never get to bed tonight!
Oh, and in case anyone was wondering I didn’t go and buy a washing machine at the weekend. The trip to IKEA didn’t come off either. I did manage to buy a new quilt cover from REAL though. That’s good too, right? Baby steps…

Miscellany

The shopping is put away, tea is just about ready… all I need now is for the boyfriend to arrive so we can eat. In the meantime, I shall blog.

Things have been much better since the last time I blogged, thank goodness. Another day like Monday may just have driven me insane! I am very much looking forward to the weekend though, when I shall hopefully be buying my washing machine. (Yes, I did just say I was looking forward to buying a washing machine. My life is really is that exciting). If I can find one that’s cheap enough I may even see if I can pursuade Jan to take me to IKEA. I’ve been looking at their website and several things have caught my eye. Like this, and this. Can you tell I got paid yesterday?

Things had started to warm up a bit here last week, but now it’s gone cold again. It was -8°C here this morning! I had to wait 5 minutes for my tram to turn up and even in that short time I could feel my cheeks turning to ice. I’m just glad I don’t live in the north of Germany… up there -9 has been the highest temperature, with lows in the minus twenties. Brrr, just thinking about it makes me shiver!

Hmm, what else can I tell you? It’s my Grandma’s birthday today. The last of the (many!) January birthdays in my family. I hope her card got there on time… I’m not holding my breath though. Royal Mail have been annoying me lately… two things I sent my sister have not yet arrived (one of them was a Christmas card so you can imagine how long it’s been since I posted that) and my friend’s wedding present has only just arrived, 3 weeks after I sent it for the second time! The first time it came back to me over a month after I took it to the post office.  Not at all impressed! Oh, and I’ve also been invited to four hen parties today… all for the same person, and to a second one for someone who had already invited me to one of theirs. Is this he new thing now, having millions of hen nights? Any excuse for a party I suppose…

Right, I’m off to grate some cheese now. Hopefully Jan won’t take too much longer… lunch time was hours ago and my poor stomach is rumbling like mad!

If I could turn back time…

Today was utterly, utterly pants. It’s not even like anything specific went wrong. Just every single thing I started to do seemed to take much longer than it should have (including a job that was actually fairly easy, but ended up taking half an hour longer than the planned time. Not good this close to the end of my probation period). Every single time I got started on something I had to stop and do something else… answer the phone, reply to an e-mail, install a random piece of software. Grr. If only I had a time machine so I could rewind to 7 o’clock this morning and start over…

Listen to the choir sing

Jan’s choir performed at a little cafe/bar place in town yesterday, so naturally I went along. It’s the first time I’ve seen them perform (last time I was ill) and I’d only ever heard two out of the 8 of them sing before, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I really enjoyed myself though, and I thought they were all very good. (I’m not entirely sure whether my opinion counts though seeing as I don’t have a musical bone in my body and can’t sing a note. It must be nice to have a talent…).

Other than that I didn’t do much this weekend. Most of Saturday afternoon was spent planning a trip around the UK in August with Jan and a friend. We’ll be starting in London then heading to the North East of England (via Wales) and finally to London, before coming back down to take the ferry back. Phew. It’s all very vague at the moment (the only part we have definite dates for is London) but I’m hoping to plan in a few meetings with friends along the way. And if anyone knows of any good, reasonably priced B&Bs in Salisbury, Cardiff or Edinburgh then please send the details my way. All recommendations gratefully received!

I was going to bake today, but I couldn’t decide whether to make cookies or cake, then Jan went home and told me he won’t be coming over again til Tuesday(!) so I ended up not bothering. No point in making an entire cake just for me! Instead I’m sitting here eating cheese flavoured tortilla chips while waiting for my salmon with spinach and tomatoes to finish cooking. Hurry up fish, I’m hungry!

All I want is to get my clothes clean…

Thanks to my Christmas bonus and the fact that people gave me money for Christmas, I’ve actually still got a fair amount of my wages left despite my spending spree at the weekend and the fact that the month is more than half over. So I’ve decided the time has come to buy a washing machine. I just can’t take much more handwashing, and since Jan so rarely gets round to taking stuff to his to be washed (mainly because he spends most of his time here) I do end up handwashing pretty much everything. Unfortunately I have to wait until Jan has time before I can actually go and buy one – him being the one that drives and all that – but not being able to purchase does not affect my ability to look, so after work today off I went to Media Markt, only to leave 20 minutes later feeling utterly dazed. The cheapest washing machine I saw was €499. That’s nearly five hundred Euros! Or, to put it antoher way, almost half of my wages (once the German government have taken most of it away from me for various taxes and insurances). Is it just me or is that a lot? I mean, I only want it to wash my clothes, not do tricks, cook tea or clean the toilet. I think tomorrow I’ll go to Saturn. Maybe they’ll have something more in my price range…

Recent reads

I’ve been reading a lot lately. I got books for Christmas then I went and ordered some for myself from Amazon. There were three in particular that I found myself eagerly reaching for every time I had a spare minute (and it just so happened that all three of them were on The List. January has been a good month for crossing off books – and it’s not even over yet!). Since I enjoyed these so much and I’m sure none of you want to read about how I unblocked the shower all by myself I thought I’d make today book review day instead. Enjoy!

Emma and Me by Elizabeth Flock
Told from the point of view of Caroline, known a Cariie, an 8-year old girl living wih her family in Toast, North Carolina. For Carrie, life is divided into the time before her father was killed, when everything was good, and the present, where she has to put up with a drunken, abusive stepfather and a mother who doesn’t seem to care. The “Emma” of the title is Carrie’s little sister, who seems to be the only person who really cares about Carrie. When Richard announces that the family is moving across the state for his new job the two girls try to run away, but Richard finds them and after that they are treated worse than ever. In the new town Carrie befriends a neighbour, Mr. Wilson, who teaches her to shoot. From then on the book rapidly moves towards the crash that has been coming since the story started, and a surprising truth is revealed. I can’t say any more without ruining the ending, but the twist certainly came as a shock to me!

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
I’ve been meaning to read this one since it came out, but somehow never got round to buying it so I was very pleased when I received it as part of my Christmas present from Jan.
Nine-year old Oskar Schell, ameteur inventor, jewellery maker, tambourine player and pacifist, finds a mysterious key left by his father who was killed in the September 11th attacks. The key is in a container labelled with the word “Black”. Realising this must be a name, Oskar decides to go and talk to everyone in New York City with the surname Black, hoping to find out more about his father in the process. As Oskar searches New York, the story of his Grandfather, who survived the Dresden bombings, is woven into the book. Eventually the two stories come together and the story ends on a hopeful note. It’s a sad book, which is only natural considering the subject matter, but it’s also humorous in places with a lot of touching moments. Recommended.

Girlfriend in a Coma by Douglas Coupland
17-year old Karen makes love to her boyfriend, Richard, for the first time at the top of a mountain. A few hours later she goes into a coma, which she stays in for 17 years. 9 months after falling uncious, she gives birth to a baby girl, Megan. Richard chooses to stay close to Karen, visiting her regularly in the nursing home and taking care of their daughter, with the help of Megan’s mother. Karen and Richarrd’s group of friends from high school drift in and out of the story, but eventually all end up back in the town where they were all born. Then, one night, when he entire group have ended up at the hospital for various reasons, Karen wakes up. To Karen, the world seems to have changed for the worse, while her friends have barely changed at all. Nobody seems to have time to relax any more and people are getting shallower and shallower. A short time later, a plague sweeps across the world until the group of friends (plus Megan) are the only ones left. They adapt, as humans tend to do, ending up sitting around watching TV and eating tinned food. Then they are told that there is a way for them to go back to before the world ended and stop it from happening…
I wasn’t too keen on the end of the book… the solution is a little too simple and the tone of the last few paragraphs doesn’t seem to fit in with the rest, but overall I thought this book was excellent and it certainly makes you think! (Karen definitely has a point with her remarks on technology and lack of leisure time!).