Friday letters (need more time!)

It’s Friday again! I can’t believe how time is flying. Only one more week of work after today, then I move that weekend, have a week off to sort myself out and as of may I’m officially a telecommuter (and resident of Switzerland). Phew. I feel like a week is far too little time to get myself sorted out, though – especially while working. I think I need Bernard’s watch (anyone remember that?)!

Dear Rossmann employee. There’s really no use asking me for my postcard at 8 am… I can barely remember my own name then!

Dear bookshop. I spent way too long in you yesterday looking for a book with an alliterative title and didn’t find a single one. Not even Angela’s Ashes – which most people seem to be using for the challenge – or Rob Roy, which is supposedly a classic. I didn’t even spot Gone Girl (which would have been useless to me anyway since I’ve already read it, but given its popularity you’d think you’d at least stock it!). Now I’m going to have to order it, and as Switzerland has no Amazon of its own, it will come from another country and go through customs. If I fail to complete the challenge in time due to books arriving late I’m blaming you!

Dear Switzerland. Why you no has Amazon?

Dear to-do list. Why aren’t you getting any shorter? I have so much to do and so little time before the big move!

Dear Basel. See you again soon!

Happy Friday everyone! I hope the sun shines for you this weekend (and for us – we’re going to a wedding!).

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Another linky post

Just as I was about to go to bed last night, I received a phone call with some not very nice news from home. As I’m sure you can guess, I’m very tired today. On top of that, I’m incredibly busy at work again, so I probably won’t find the time or the energy for a proper blog post any time soon. Instead you’ll have to make do with some links to interesting/amusing things I’ve discovered on the Internet recently. Meanwhile, I shall eat my lunch as quickly as possible and get back to entering corrections in a translation. Woe, woe, woe, etc.

• I genuinely laughed out loud at these emotionally repressed Valentine’s cards for British people. My favourite is number 6: You Make Tea Properly!
• This explanation of why the Bible doesn’t actually condemn homosexuality is pretty interesting.
• These Period Panties by Hairbrained Inc. are absolutely hilarious! I especially like the Bloody Hell and Evil Beaver ones. Hahaha.
• According to The Local, German rugby is currently receiving a helping hand from the English. Will we be seeing the Germans at a Rugby World Cup in the near future?
• One for all the travel lovers who have to work full time – On the Luce has written a great part-time traveller’s guide to maximising your travel time.
• If you enjoyed the post I wrote about names a few weeks ago, why not have a read of Daina’s post on Latvian first names?

That’s all for today. Enjoy!

 

Friday’s letters

A post box in Durham, England

What? You didn’t think because I wrote last night’s post this morning there would be no Friday letters this week, did you? Don’t be silly – that would never do! Here are my letters for the week:

Dear self. You are aware that it’s 7 December and you haven’t sent a single package of Christmas gifts to England yet, aren’t you? Get on it!! I am serious.

Dear giant turkey in my fridge. Please defrost in time. But not too quickly. I don’t want to poison anyone…

Dear housework. Why is there so much of you? And why do you take so long to complete? I think I need a robot.

Dear snow. You are pretty. Please could you stay this time and not turn into rain? I’m sick of rain!

Dear computer. I know you are old, but if you go any slower you’ll start running backwards! Sort it out. (Actually, dear boyfriend, it is your computer, so you should sort it out!).

Dear December. Having crept up on me while I wasn’t looking, you are now charging forward at an alarming pace. Please slow down!! I have too much to do, and you’re not leaving me any time to do it!

Dear person who came to read the metres for the heating. I would have liked to tidy up a bit more, but seeing as I was working from home (solely because you were coming!) I felt that I should actually do some work as well. I do apologise for the mess, though. There just aren’t enough hours in the day! By the way, if my boyfriend had been the one to stay home waiting for you, the place would probably have looked even worse. (Actually, the visit went so fast, I doubt the guy even noticed what the place looked like. I had to keep turning lights on for him cos he just didn’t bother!)

OK, now I’m off to send a parcel to America and buy the remianing ingredients for Sunday’s Christmas dinner. I have a list as long as your arm!

Remind me why I’m doing this

So far I’ve written just over 2,000 words which I may or may not actually end up being able to use in my dissertation. I need 15,000 words, or 13,500 at the very least if I make use of the “you can be 10% over or under” rule. Then there’s the literature review which I haven’t even started, or indeed thought about, yet.  And the deadline is 11th May – which means I have to get it finished before that because it needs to be printed, bound and sent to England. To say that I’m panicking would be an understatement. Unfortunately panicking doesn’t give me any more of a clue what I need to write, or give me any extra time to do any writing. What I really need is a clone. Preferably a clone whose brain works better than mine (I wonder… does an improved version of myself still count as a clone?). The clone can write the dissertation and I’ll go to work, do the housework and continue to look for flats for the boyfriend and I. Sounds like a plan, no?

Can someone please remind me why I wanted to do a Master’s?

… and it still isn’t Christmas

Does anyone else feel like “the season” has been going on forever? The last few weeks have been a whirlwind of buying and wrapping presents, trips to the post office (the last of my parcels to England finally went out last week), parties and Christmas markets. And in between all that I’ve had to do the assessment for my science course (a last minute job which I’m dreading getting the result for), work and keep on top the mundane every day things like cleaning the flat and making sure we have actual food to eat. The upside is that I now have lots to tell my blog. Unfortunately I still don’t have any time, so it’s going to have to be another boring bullet point list. Sorry about that…

• I want to Mainz last Saturday with my ex-colleagues. I had never been to Mainz before. We went to the Christmas market, where the Glühwein was much cheaper than everywhere else I’ve been. Mainz is a bit of a strange town. It’s really pretty around the market square then you walk into the shopping street and it’s all horrible grey concrete buildings and huge glass monstrosities. The Christmas market was nice though.
• It’s been snowing here on and off for the past few days. This is worth mentioning because it’s so unusual. Not that Karlsruhe never gets snow, but the little bit that does come is not usually this early. It’s also freezing. Yesterday it was -12°C! I had to go out in it to buy stuff for a Christmas party I hosted last night. It was so bad that I actually got on the tram to go one stop, which I usually think is a waste of time.
• I had a progress meeting at work last week. There are a few things I’ve been asked to work on, but the verdict was generally positive (and no mention was made of my social skills… or lack thereof. There is something to be learned from this I’m sure…)
• Last week we went to both my work Christmas meal (at an Italian restaurant) and Jan’s work Christmas party. Mine was more fun, although we missed the last train home and ended up having to wait until 1:06am for a train that would take us to Bruchsal, where we had to change onto an S-Bahn. I also had to work the next day. Tired is not the word…
• I received a parcel last week, from the lovely Katyboo. It contained a Christmas card and a book – The Children of Green Knowe. Unexpected and very nice – I’ve been wanting to read that book for ages! 🙂
• On Friday I went to the Christmas market in Mannheim with my colleagues. It was nice but so cold that we only stayed long enough to have something to eat and drink one Glühwein. I was back in Karlsruhe by 9pm!
• Two more days at work then I’m off for Christmas. We’re staying in Germany this year (at Jan’s dad’s place) then going to Italy to visit his sister for New Year. Exciting stuff.

And now I have to go and do something about my flat, which is still suffering from the after effects of a Christmas party. It may take some time…

Vee are very sorry for ze late

I am just not finding the time to do anything lately, despite now having a ticket for the fast train. There are dishes from 2 days ago still waiting to be washed, I really need to clean the fridge out before I go away on Friday (it still stinks of mouldy raspberries even though I threw them out like a week ago) and I wanted to have a shower tonight to save me going out with wet hair in the morning, but it’s 8:05 pm already and I’m still waiting for tea to cook (stupid ridiculously slow oven!) so I shouldn’t imagine too many of those things are going to get done tonight. OK, I could probably be cleaning out the fridge right now instead of typing this, but do you honestly think I’ll still want to eat anything if I do that? See… point made!
So instead let me tell you a few things I learned over the weekend…

1. Never, ever go food shopping at 8 o’clock on a Friday night when the Saturday is a holiday.
2. Teenage wannabe goths dress exactly the same way now as they did when I was 15
3. No amount of chocolate covered marshmallows can make up for a lack of sex. They will, however, make you feel sick and cause your teeth to hate you. (Before anybody makes any comments I would just like to add that this is no longer relevant. And now we change the subject, ok)
4. Getting dressed on a Sunday is totally overrated
5. So is exercise
6. Amazon is incredibly hazardous to my bank account

Oh, and in case anyone was wondering about the title… my train to work was delayed this morning and that was what the English announcement sounded like. German rail workers’ accents are so much fun 😀

… and we’re off

No time for a proper post. We have to be on the tram in an hour and before that there’s a fridge to be emptied of all spoilable contents and a trip to the post office to be made. Other than that everything’s packed, wrapped and ready to go though. Can you believe I actually did it? (OK so I was up til nearly 1 o’clock this morning and practically went insane in the process, but it’s done. That’s the main thing).

Not sure whether I’ll find the time for a blog while I’m in England, so I’ll take this opportunity to wish all my readers a very Merry Christmas and all the best for 2009.
Hope you all get what you wish for.

Love Bevchen xxx