The interview

Yes, I realise I have actually neglected my poor blog for an entire weekend… something which almost never happens. I couldn’t help it though… this pesky little thing called real life went and got in the way. This is good though, for it means I have much to tell you. Unfortunately I also have a flat that desperately needs tidying, and for once I can’t just ignore it because this week eyes other than my own and the boyfriend’s will get to see it. So I shall have to keep this one short.

And so, on to the interview. You did remember it was today, right? And you all had your fingers firmly crossed for me, didn’t you? If not I may have to blame you if I don’t get the job 😉
Anyway… I think it went ok. Maybe. I didn’t get lost trying to find the place, which is a definite plus seeing as I had never been to that town before. And the people seemed nice. First I had an interview with the founder/director of the company, then with someone else and finally I had a practice translation to do. Now they are going to check my translation and get back to me, so don’t go uncrossing those fingers yet will you…

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You can’t have everything…

I have this theory. It goes a bit like this:

My life can be divided up into various parts… work, home, friends/social life, relationship… maybe a few more that I can’t think of right now (possibly family, although they’re too far away to have an effect right now). My theory is that if things are going well in a few of these areas something has to go wrong in another area. The universe just can’t let everything in my life be good at once.  So if work is going great and I have friends calling me every night something is bound to go wrong in the relationship area of my life. Or I’ll find out that I have to move out of my flat for some reason.

Right now the boyfriend and I are doing really well. We’re spending time together, talking about Things, barely arguing and we had a lovely week’s holiday in Rome. The relationship area of my life is good. I am also in love with my flat… still. It’s beautiful, I have space to move and, most importantly, it’s mine. That’s the home section covered then. That’s two whole areas of goodness! Clearly something had to go wrong somewhere otherwise the cosmic balance of the universe would have been upset… or something.
And so I find myself having to deal with 24/7 job hunting and the complications of the German unemployment system. Oh, and I also have no social life whatsoever. That one though I’m not really bothered about. Which begs the question… which is worse, not having a social life or not caring about not having a social life? Answers on a postcard please…

When will I return to the blogosphere?

I’m at the French centre again. Can you believe it’s been almost a month since I’ve had internet access at home? I’m going mad here people. Mad I tell you!

The flat is starting to look good though. I bought a table and chairs yesterday. Now I can actually have people round and not have to force them to sit on the floor! Admittedly I still have a stack of boxes in one corner of the living room, but at least they’re stacked neatly so I don’t have to be ashamed of the mess. Also bought a cheap shelving unit thing from IKEA for the kitchen, so my food no longer has to live in the bedroom and my cups and glasses have their very own place to live. No more storing them in a cardboard box. Woo hoo! Once I actually have my own internet again I’ll see about putting a few pictures on here.

And in other news, in 2 weeks time I’m going to Paris! My Grandma turned 80 last month so my mum and aunt are bringing her to Paris as part of her birthday treat. What my Grandma doesn’t know is that a whole bunch of other family members are meeting them there, including another of my aunts who is flying all the way from New Zealand! When my mum mentioned it to me I decided I would like to come too, seeing as there’s now a train that gets you from Karlsruhe to Paris in 3 hours. So Jan booked train tickets last week and today we’re going to look at hotels. I can’t wait! Paris is excellent and it will be nice to see my Grandma again. I missed her surprise birthday party so I at least have to be there to surprise her in Paris.

I’m sure there is much more that I need to say, having been away for so long. But I didn’t come on here to try and beat the record for world’s longest blog post so I’ll leave it here. Hopefully I’ll be back with you properly soon. Not this month though – I can’t afford furniture, Paris and the internet on my wages. I paid my rent the other day and almost cried when I saw what my bank balance was reduced to…

The flat!

I promised my mum (who I usually call mam) that I would take some photos of the new flat for her. So while I was over there this afternoon I did so.
Here are a few of them for those who were wondering what it looks like…

We begin our tour in the living room, which will eventually also have to serve as a dining room and study, it being only a two room flat. I couldn’t figure out how to get two images next to each other on this thing so I’ve pasted both photos into one document and just uploaded that. As you can see, the ceiling slopes down at one side. That’s because I’m on the top floor, right under the roof. This means I get lots of light in and, from the back windows especially, a brilliant view. The only downside is that I have to carry everything all the way up to the top of the building – no lift you see. Oh well, it’ll keep me fit I suppose…
Let’s move on shall we.

Here’s the bedroom. Again with the slopy ceiling at one side. This photo was taken from the doorway, as you can probably tell by the fact that said door appears on the right of the picture. I’m thinking of placing the bed underneath the window, to the right of the radiator, then getting some kind of bedside table to go next to the wall. There’s a plug socket down there so I’ll be able to put a lamp on the bedside table, meaning no getting up to turn out the light when I want to go to sleep.

And here’s the rest of the bedroom, the bit that’s round the corner from the previous picture. I don’t have a proper bathroom, just this sink at one side of the bedroom plus a shower (we’ll come to that in a bit). There’s a rail in the ceiling just in front of the sink where I shall be hanging a curtain at some point, so the “bathroom” bit will at least be kept separate from the part I’m actually sleeping in. Anyway, I don’t mind the sink being in my room – I’ve managed to live with it for the past 2 and a half years in the student residence.

And here’s the shower I was talking about. It’s just to the left of the sink. Now I won’t even have to leave the bedroom when I go for a shower in the morning!

Our final stop is in the kitchen area. This photo was taken from the bedroom, which is to the left. The door you can just about see on the right leads into the living room. I’m really pleased that the kitchen cupboards are red – it’s my favourite colour!

If you were to stand in my little kitchen area then turn around to face the other way you would see three doors on your right. Number one leads into the bedroom (yes, it’s on the left here. So if you turned around it would end up on your right. See what I mean). Door number two leads to the toilet. I did take a photo of it for my mummy dearest but shan’t post it on here. It’s a toilet – what more do you need to know? The third door is the entrance to the flat, or I suppose in this case it would be the exit since it would be pretty difficult to do any entering if you were already standing in my kitchen.

And that is it. My very own flat. It’s small, but not if you compare it to my room here, and – most importantly – it’s all mine! At 25 and a half years of age I’ve finally got a place of my own. About bloody time too, don’t ya think?