The holiday season is officially over

The last of the Quality Street have been eaten, making way for healthy eating to resume, I’ve just taken down my Christmas decorations and tomorrow I’m back at work. Now it’s time for my New Year’s resolutions to begin in earnest. My days of sleeping late, lounging around watching DVDs and not seeming to do much of anything while still surprisingly getting a few things done are over for another year. Sure, there will be weekends, but from now on they will be used to try and cram in everything that I didn’t have time for during the week.

 

In theory, if I work for 8 hours and sleep for 8 hours, I still have a whole 8 hours of me time every single day. Once you take away the time spent getting ready for work, travelling there and back and the half an hour for my lunch break, the reality is a grand total of four hours. That’s four hours into which I have to cram shopping, doing my exercise DVD, cooking tea, eating tea, housework, blogging and reading other people’s blogs (admittedly I do some of that on my lunch break because I can at least get all the blogs I read to load on the work computer!) and anything else I want to do with my evenings.

 

All work and no play… (Photo credit: tomten)

 

Work-life balance? Does not exist, in my opinion!

 

 

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The wanderer returns…

I’m BAAAACK!

We only went on holiday for three weeks, but it seems like way longer than that. Looking at the photos from London, the first stop on our trip, I couldn’t believe they were taken less than a month ago. It could equally well have been a liftetime. But at the same time, the three weeks seem to have flown by. And yes, we enjoyed ourselves. It was great to spend so much time with Jan, with no worries, no responsibilities. No work! We got back late Saturday evening and spent yesterday doing nothing much, just unpacking and washing clothes. And Jan returned the car. Today was back to work, and immediately in at the deep end with three translations due tomorrow and another two for the next day. But everything seemed so much easier today than before my holiday. Getting up wasn’t difficult at all, despite the fact that it was still dark (waaah! When did it start being dark in the mornings? It’s not Autumn  yet…). I guess I really needed this break. I’m going to need a couple of days to get myself sorted out, but after that I shall (hopefully) be bac to blogging in full force. Watch this space…

The first day

Yesterday afternoon and evening was spent getting ready for the new job.
I went into town and bought stuff to make sandwiches for today’s lunch. I found everything I needed to take with me to ensure I actually get paid at the end of the month. I made sure my train ticket was in my purse. I sorted out the clothes I wanted to wear. And I went to bed at a reasonable time in preparation for my early morning. It all worked out beautifully… apart from the last one.

Log in to sleep (Photo credit: HikingArtist.com)

I was in bed by 9:40 pm. I’d been tired since about 6 so I thought falling asleep should be easy. Wrong! I tossed, I turned. I was too hot, then too cold. I was thirsty. When the clock somewhere outside chimed 10 I was trying to get comfortable. At 10:15 I was wondering why I didn’t actually feel tired any more. I heard the clock strike 11 as I was on my way to the toilet – the after effect of drinking an entire bottle of water. At 11:30 I was still awake. I didn’t hear the clock strike 12 though, so I must have fallen asleep some time before 12. It’s just a shame I was awake again in time to hear it strike 1… and 2. I think I got about 4 hours sleep total. So much for being alert and refreshed for my first day! Surprisingly the tiredness is only beginning to make itself felt now. I guess a combination of first-day nerves, excitement and adrenaline have kept me awake for most of the day.

I arrived at just before 9 am and the very first thing I learned was how to use the coffee machine. Very necessary after a night of tossing and turning! Then a co-worker showed me around the office. I’d seen most if it on my trial day but this time I got a proper tour. The I went into the office I’m sharing with a second English person, H – at least for the next few weeks. A room downstairs is currently being renevated and once it’s finished everyone’s going to be moving around again. The rest of the morning was spent getting acquainted with the file system, learning where to find stuff and reading the information that employees need to know – an entire ring binder full of stuff! At 12:30 we all ate lunch together then in the afternoon I started my very first translation (for this company I mean… obviously not my very first translation ever). it was so nice to have something to translate again. And to have someone to talk to (remember, I was alone this weekend). All in all it went pretty well… although all the information was a lot to take in and my poor brain is feeling a bit fragile now. I’m sure I’ll figure everything out soon though.

And now I have to go. The boyfriend is supposed to be coming home tomorrow (whether he actually does depends on what’s happening with his family stuff) and I need to something about the state of my living room just in case he decides to come here…

No more staying up late and living on cake

I am terrible at being on my own. Absolutley terrible.
For a start there’s the whole making meals just for me thing. I walk into the kitchen, examine the food on the shelves, open the fridge, close it again and think about how long it takes to peel potatoes/slice carrots/chop an onions. Then my mind drifts to all the dishes that will have to be used to make a proper meal. Dishes that will then have to be washed up afterwards. By me. And I decide there’s no point in going to all that effort when nobody else is around to eat the food I prepare. And so, in the 5 days since Jan went away, I have been living on potato croquettes (just shove them in the oven and wait!), chocolate raisins, cake (not even home made cake I’m ashamed to say) and those Knorr instant thingies that claim to turn into pasta in cheese sauce or spaghetti bolognese as soon as you add boiling water.

Then there’s the sleeping thing. I’m used to sharing a bed with Jan. He’s here almost every night. When he’s not at mine I sometimes join him at his. On the nights that he’s at his place and I’m at mine I have trouble sleeping. The bed seems to magically grow… surely it hasn’t always been that big? The room feels colder, the flat emptier (actually that last one kind of makes sense. The flat is emptier…I’m the only person in it). But it’s okay, because usually it’s only for one night. When he goes away though, it’s not just for one night, but for a couple of days, a weekend, an entire week…
Which is why, since Wednesday, I haven’t made it to bed before midnight once. And even after getting into bed I’ve chosen reading until 1 or 2 am over going to sleep.

All that has to chnge now though. I start my new job tomorrow. That means getting up early enough to be showered, dressed, breakfasted and on the train that leaves Karlsruhe at 7:30 am. It also means eating a proper breakfast so I’m not starving by 9 o’clock. And it means preparing something proper to eat for my lunch.

I’m so excited. I can’t wait to be a real, employed member of society again!