Two more days!

Just two more working days to get through before we go to Ireland… we fly Friday night, so I’ll be heading to the airport straight from work. And let me tell you I cannot wait. I am sooo in need of a holiday!

So, last night was quiz night. We didn’t win anything… the questions were hard this time. At least we thought so. The winning team managed to get 82 points, out of a possible 100! We weren’t the only ones to do badly… none of the usual suspects got a prize, which was quite cool actually. It’s nice to hear some new names being announced. And I now know that Karlsruhe is the 21st largest city in Germany.

Despite not winning a prize, it took us ages to leave! At one point I told my boyfriend “It’s quarter to one”, whereupon he promptly downed his whiskey (not quite was I was asking for…) but still continued chatting! It’s bad enough getting up at 6 a.m. on normal days, but after 4 hours sleep it’s just that bit more difficult. And at work today we had two hours of Excel training… I’m still not sure how I managed to stay awake!

No early night for me tonight either. Jan’s choir is practicing at our place tomorrow, which means I need to get pretty much all the packing done today. I will also be cleaning the kitchen and finishing translating his sister’s CV. Oh, and I also have some birthday cards to write. And we need to eat as well, of course, so add cooking to the agenda. Busy!!

That’s all from me today. Kind of a boring post today, but I did get to use the word “whereupon”, so it’s practically literature!

Fridaaaay! (letters)

It’s Friday again (hurray!!), and we all know what that means…

Dear rain. Apart from last Saturday, I can’t remember the last time you stayed away for more than a few hours. Enough is enough, ok? Go to the Sahara or something… they could probably use you there!

Dear sore throat. And you can go away as well! I have better things to do than be ill.

Dear Ireland. See you in two weeks!

Dear work. This weeks translations have been challenging to say the least! Some slightly nicer texts next week would be a good way to finish off the month!

Dear tea. I am British, therefore I always love you, but this week you have truly been my saviour. Keep on being awesome!

Dear readers. I’m nearly finished with the cross stitch that’s been keeping me from you, so hopefully I’ll be able to return to more regular blogging next week. In the meantime, have a fabulous weekend!

Oh, it’s Friday (Friday letters)

Thanks to yesterday’s public holiday, I’ve spent most of today completely confused. Back to work means Monday, right? Except today was actually Friday. Brain. Can’t. Cope. Anyway… it is indeed Friday, and that means I need to write some letters.

Photo credit: Bods

Dear Friday. Back again so soon? Not that I’m complaining… you just kind of snuck up on me, that’s all. Time is flying again!

Dear boyfriend. Conferences suck! I’m looking forward to actually getting to see you for longer than 20 minutes tonight!

Dear work. It’s flattering that you trust me enough to let me be the guinea pig for new software, but please could it be someobody else’s turn next time?

Dear Newcastle United. Whatever you do, please do not lose against QPR this weekend! You are too close to relegation to be doing anything stupid.

Dear unhealthy foods. Why must you be so tasty? (Yes, Cheddar Cheese, I am looking at you. And you Sour Cream & Jalapeno Tortilla Chips!)

Dear self-raising flour. You need to be used, so I’m thinking baking sesh this weekend. Healthy baked goods only, of course – I mean, Blueberry Muffins must be healthy, they contain fruit

Happy Friday! Have a great weekend, everyone!

-Filler post-

Today’s post was supposed to be about a baking fail, but the photos I need for it are still on Jan’s phone (which is currently at work with him and will be until at least 8:30 pm!). Plus a planning mix-up at work has resulted in me being given 18 and a half hours of translation to do despite the fact that I have Thursday and Friday off this week. 18.5 hours of work in a 16-hour working week = overtime, which doesn’t leave much time for blogging!

Luckily, I still have hundreds of photos on my computer that you – my readers – have never seen, so I thought I’d pick a random one to upload for you.
I went into my “Photos” folder and chose the 13th sub-folder from within it (because 13 is my favourite number). Within that sub-folder, I then selected photo number 13. And that photo is…

The botanic garden in Karlsruhe! This was taken in August 2008, when my mum and brother had come to visit for a few days. They were actually staying with my uncle in Munich, but decided to make the journey down to Karlsruhe to see where I lived. For the two days they were here, we had perfect weather and I was able to show them everything there is to see in Karlsruhe (which admittedly isn’t much – if they’d been here any longer we’d have had to start taking day trips!).

Let there be light

The last few days, it’s actually been light outside when I left work. I’m not used to such luxuries. On Monday, I had to check the time to make sure I hadn’t inadvertently left an hour early. I hadn’t – it really was still light at 5 o’clock in the evening!

For the moment, it’s still dark when I wake up. Once the mornings start getting lighter, I will awaken in a panic the first few times, thinking I must have set my alarm to the wrong time or snoozed it once too often. I’ll soon get used to it though… at least until the clocks go forward, confuzzling me once again.

The lack of darkness was such a refreshing change that I haven’t been waiting for the bus in the evenings nights, choosing instead to walk from work to the train station. There’s something about actual sunlight that makes the idea of getting some exercise so much more appealing! (I doubt this will last…) Right now, it’s still cold outside but there’s something about actually being able to see my surroundings once in a while that makes me feel like spring might actually show its face this year after all.

It’s amazing what a bit of light can do!

Positive feedback and the Deutsche Post

Today, I received feedback for a translation I did back in January. When I saw the e-mail, I immediately suspected the worst – this customer has never once had anything nice to say about any of my translations…. until today! The feedback was positive!

Photo credit: Leo Reynolds

In other news, nearly two weeks ago I sent a package to my friend in Luxembourg for her birthday… or so I thought. It turns out the box I was reusing still had Jan’s work address on the bottom. Today, it turned up there, despite the fact that a) the date on the sticker was obviously ages ago and b) surely someobody at Deutsche Post should have noticed that the barcode was expired and the package had already been stamped with a postmark in January. Apparantly not. So now Jan has my friend’s birthday present. And what I would also like to know is why it took nearly two weeks for a package to make its way from Karlsruhe city centre to where Jan works, also in Karlsruhe? I could walk the distance in half an hour! It brings a whole new meaning to the term  snail mail…

More Friday letters

Yep, it’s that time again! I haven’t really had much to post about this week (as you may have noticed…). January is such a blah month, don’t you think? Nothing really seems to happen – at least not in my life. Nevertheless, here are my Friday letters for the week…

19th century letterbox in Wormgate (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Dear snow. You are very pretty, but must you also be so slippy? I’m sure I’m going to break my neck before long!

Dear self. I know Amazon is really tempting with its e-mails full of recommendations and ridiculously cheap second-hand books, but  you really need to stop spending money… at least until pay day!

Spending Money (Photo: 401(K) 2013)

Dear weekend. I’m so glad you’re here! I know we’re going to have lots of fun together.

Dear exercise DVD. I have done a circuit from you three times this week (I skipped Wednesday for no other reason than laziness, and tonight I seriously don’t have time! Been home long enough to type this and as soon as I’m done I’m off to put some washing on and start cooking tea). When do I get to start seeing results?

Dear self (again). The answer to the above question is when you stop allowing yourself a treat every. single. day.

Dear new gloves. You are soft and fluffy and, most importantly, warm. I think I’m in love!

Dear brain. One day you are going to produce a translation in which my colleague doesn’t have to suggest stylistic changes in every other sentence. Please work with me on this because seeing so many corrections every single day is starting to make my wonder whether I’m actually in the right profession.

Dear lips. I know it’s cold outside and central heating sucks the moisture out of everything, but please could you stop being dry and chapped and sore? I can only put lip balm on so many times a day, you know!

Dear tea. You (and chocolate) have kept me sane this week. Thank you!

For more Friday letters, see:
http://www.thesweetseasonblog.com/2013/01/fridays-letters_18.html

Happy weekend, everybody!

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…

The decorations are up in the shopping centre, the stands for the Christmas market have started appearing, ready for opening day (29 November) and all my Facebook friends in England seem to be able to talk about is the Coca Cola advert (you know, the “Holidays are coming” one). My flat is being slowly taken over by Christmas too. My grandparents gave us our gifts from them in September when we were over ad one very organised penpal has already sent me a box of things, which I’ve put to one side unopened like a good girl.And to make matters worse, I received my first Christmas card today… from England, sent by a friend with a 3 month old baby. How does she manage to be that organised when I, who has no children, can barely even manage to keep my flat clean?! Add to all the above the fact that I’ve nearly finished putting Jan’s advent calendar together (ok, I’m a little bit organised, but 1 December is lot sooner than Christmas!) and suddenly the festive season is beginning to look very close indeed.

Christmas table decorations

But I’m not ready for Christmas yet! I may have resigned myself to the cold and got out my winter coat, gloves and scarf (no hat yet though), but inwardly I’m still wondering where July went. Surely it hasn’t been a whole four months since my sister came to stay? I wish I could just ignore the approach of December for a while, but unfortunately there are presents to be bought and if I don’t do it now there’s no way they’ll arrive in time to be sent on to England! Then there are all the plans that need making – when shall we visit the Karlsruhe christmas market? Which date would be good for my annual Christmas dinner? What biscuits should we bake together with Jan’s choir? I’m exhausted just thinking about it! For Christmas this year, all I want is a little time so I can actually enjoy 2013!

And now I have to do some work, otherwise I’ll never have this translation ready by 10 o’clock tomorrow morning. Overtime! No wonder I’m having trouble getting in the Christmas spirit…

Let the choir sing

The boyriend’s choir is practising here tonight because theperson whose place they usually practice at can’t make it, so I’ve been banished to the spare bedroom. Actually, that’s not strictly true. I could have stayed in the living room and watched them, but honestly where’s the point in that? In reality I took myself off to the spare room, becuse at least the computer is in here. And my cross stitch. And other things to do, like moving all the stuff off the spare bed so that someone can actually sleep in it on Saturday. But saying I had been banished sounded so much more dramatic – although I’ve kind of spoiled that now with this explanation.
Anyhow…

People coming round meant I had to rush home from work this evening (as much as one can rush when relying on Deutsche Bahn – for once my train was not delayed!) and attempt to sort out the chaos that was our flat. The living room was most important, because that’s where the practising takes place, but the kitchen was in a state that can only be described as absolute chaos. Definitely not suitable for the eyes of visitors! Which is why, after yet another long day at work, I found myself folding clothes, washing dishes and taking down rubbish. I would love to say that this was only necessary due to my having being ill, but regular readers would know that was a lie. Really, I’m just a terrible housewife… and Jan is no better! Having got the flat into a semi-decent state (it would not pass my grandma’s inspection, but luckily she’s in England) I had to quickly cook the two of us something for tea before the choir turned up. We had baked beans on toast. Not strictly cooking, I know but at least it was hot! And I grated Cheddar cheese on top – that’s practically a gourmet meal, that is. The alternative would have been muesli (which I hate so actually that wouldn’t have been an alternative at all).

And where was Jan in all this, you may ask. After all, it’s his choir! Well, he didn’t make it home til around 20 past 7 (choir practice is supposed to start at 8, although it’s now 10 past and only 2 people have arrived!), but when he did get here he cleaned the bathroom a little and finished cleaning the living room. He’s not all bad

And why am I blogging about housework? Well, it may have something to do with the fact that I have nothing else to say and I’m trying to avoid the pile of work that I brought home with me to do this evening (deadline tomorrow at 10! Won’t get it all finished if I don’t do some tonight!). Pracrastination is responsible for a lot you know! Check out this YouTube video. Says it all, really…

Friday letters

Yes, it’s that time of the week again…
When I wrote my first Friday Letters post, I honestly thought it was going to be a one off. But I actually find it a good way to get at least one post in a week without having to put too much thought into it (I may only write my blog for me, but I still hate to neglect it!). And it means I have a sort of record of what I’ve been up to each week. Here are my Friday letters for this week.

Dear cough. I appreciate you allowing my to sleep for a whole five hours in a row last night, but it would be great if, tonight, you could let me fall asleep faster. A whole hour of having to cough every time I was close to drifting off was not fun!

Dear quiz team (who will not actually read this, because they have no idea this blog even exists). I almost didn’t attend on Tuesday thanks to my cold, but I’m glad I did in the end. First place! We rock

Dear whoever invented remote access and stuff like that. It’s thanks to you that I was able to stay at home today and not annoy all my colleagues by constantly coughing at them, yet was still able to do work (a bonus seeing as a) I didn’t feel ill enough to stay in bed and b) lying down actually made the coughing worse! Being able to work saved me from being bored rigid after the first few hours of being home alone). I am also very grateful to my employer for allowing us to actually use such technology. I know plenty of people who couldn’t work from home simply because they would have no way of accessing their company’s system from there!

Dear Germany. Why do you not sell Lemsip? I only have three sachets left and my next trip home won’t be til March! If anyone in Germany has managed to find a Lemsip/Beecham’s powder equivalent please tell me what it’s called! And all those hot lemon etc. powders from DM and the like don’t count! While they do temporarily sooth my throat, they contain nothing even vaguely medicinal. Is a hot drink containing paracetamol and decongestant really too much to ask, Germany?

Dear trees. You looked so pretty today with the sun shining on. Do you think you could stay like that for another week or two, at least until the Christmas markets arrive to bring some colour into the winter. And while I’m at it, perhaps you could also show your face a little more often, Mr Sun? All the rain this week really hasn’t done anything for my mood (or my cold for that matter!).

OK, that’s it. Sorry most of these are about illness, but coughing, sneezing and copious amounts of tea/hot drinks is pretty much what my entire week has been about…

For more Friday letters (hopefully slightly more cheerful ones than mine!) check out: