This post was inspired by Charlotte at Sherbet and Sparkles. Recently, she wrote a blog post based around the question “Who am I?” and asked all her readers to get involved too. I’ve actually had quite a few new followers on the blog recently, so I thought this was an appropriate time to finally respond to her request.
So, hello! I’m Beverley, a 30-year-old English girl who is currently living in south-west Germany. Karlsruhe, to be exact. Most Germans should have heard of it because it’s home to both the German constitutional court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) and the Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof). The latter is the highest court for all matters relating to criminal and private law, so Karlsruhe is mentioned on the news a lot. I share a flat with my boyfriend, who I will have been in a relationship with for 10 years in February 2014!

As an army brat, the question “where are you from?” is not an easy one to answer. Do I say the place I was born, even though I always hated it and never felt like I belonged, even while living there? Should I say the town my parents are from, despite the fact that I’ve never lived there? Or is “home” the place my dad moved to once he got out of the army, and where I also moved to when I was 13? Usually, I tell people I’m from Northumberland without specifying a town – I tend to get away with it because most people couldn’t even locate the county on a map, never mind name any individual towns! My parents are both from Morpeth, where my remaining grandparents still live, and that’s been the most constant place in my life. We went there for at least one holiday every year. Both my parents now live back in Northumberland, although neither of them actually moved back to their home town simply because it’s too expensive!

As you probably know by now, after graduating from university I moved to Austria for 10 months. I still have a slight obsession with all things Austrian! In 2006, I moved back to Karlsruhe and as of September 2012, Karlsruhe is officially the place I’ve lived in longest in one stretch ever! Technically I lived in my birth town for more years in total because we were posted there twice, but Karlsruhe is catching up… if you count my year abroad, I’ve actually spent 8 years in Karlsruhe now.

I have one sister, with whom I share two parents, and two half brothers who are not related to each other. My younger half brother, my dad’s son, was born a few days before I moved back to Karlsruhe. He’s 23 years younger than me!
I used to be a natural red head, but based on the photos above, you’re probably thinking I’m a brunette. Here’s a photo of me from the days before I was allowed to dye my hair. See… red! Well, reddish anyway…

What else can I say? I work at a translation company, which is usually interesting but can get stressful. You won’t read too much about my job on the blog because I’m not sure how much I can say without getting into trouble. I certainly know better than to name any of our customers 😉
My biggest love is reading and I dream of having my own library some day, like the ones you see in old houses and castles. My other big passion is travel – I get restless if I have to stay in one place for too long. So far, regular day trips and holidays have been enough to keep me from getting entirely sick of Karlsruhe but I’m not sure whether I’ll live here for the rest of my life…
So that’s me! I hope I haven’t repeated too much of my blog’s about me page. If there’s anything else you want to know, just ask and I’ll see about answering 😉 Now it’s your turn… tell me about yourself!
OK, now I want to hear about your work, lol.
Haha… it’s really not that interesting! I translate stuff.
For Lockheed Martin???
LOL… nothing that exciting I’m afraid 😉 Mostly telecommunications stuff.
Wanzen????
Now I’m REALLY intrigued
You have on overactive imagination! 😉 Seriously, the work itself is ordinary. I just don’t want to mention the company name or say too much just in case. Like if I were to complain about something it might not look too good… the same reason I don’t complain about work on Facebook.
Best policy. I don’t complain about my work either, coz I’ve got nowt to complain about. They treat me like a princess. Which is only fair 😉
Nice idea for a post! You’re probably right not to write much about your job. I’m still waiting to get fired every time I write one about my students 😉 But both directors of the two schools I freelance at read it all the time and love it so I guess I’m OK for now 😉 And hey, like you say, there are always other places!
Thanks. Wasn’t my idea though… I just stole it 😉
I really like my job, but there are inevitably days where things go wrong and customers that I’m not particularly fond of. It would be just my luck for my boss to stumble across one of those posts, so I prefer to keep work out of things as much as possible.
Definitely safer that way!
You’re certainly a lot better at keeping workplace secrets than I am!!!
Haha, maybe we just don’t have many secrets? 😉
I avoid that whole “confidentiality” thing by just referring to my job as Mr. Company.
Nice duck, Bev!
I didn’t know you worked for a translation company. My mom is a translator… she gets totally stressed out sometimes.
Yay, you learned something new! Objective achieved 😉
I’ve only written a whole post about this job once, on the first day: https://confuzzledom.wordpress.com/2009/09/01/the-first-day/
Loved the post, so cool to learn something about you!
Such a scattered (geographically) life!
Haha, scattered as a good way of putting it!
Very interesting to get some background on you! (Also, props to another ginger, even if you try to deny it!)
Haha, I’m not trying to deny it! I claim to be a redhead but nobody ever believes me. My mum used to say I had hair the colour of autumn leaves… a few years ago she said it had “turned mousy brown”. Thanks mother!
Even though I knew most all of this, it’s still fun to read over again!
You probably know more about where I work than most readers anyway 😉
This was a great post to learn more about you. I’ve actually lived here in the states longer now than I did in Germany. And I lived in this house and town longer than I did in any other my whole life. Never thought that would be the case. 🙂
I never even imagined I would live in Germany, let alone for so long!
Love this post! Such a great way to learn more about you! My dream is to own a library too someday!
Glad you liked it. All the best people want libraries 😉
I would love to have a library!! Great post and nice to learn more about you Beverley!
Nice to know more about you! (I’ve just been reading a whole load of archive blog posts). Ah..you’re from Morpeth (sort of). My uni friend Lynne (Sharpe) is from Morpeth and my husband used to go to Youth orchestra each week in Morpeth.x
Lol, yes very sort of – my parents are and I spent all my summers there as a kid. My grandpa was on the town council for years!