Friday letters (the train strike edition)

Good morning! I am currently working from home for the second day in a row thanks to the German train drivers’ strike. Surely you must have heard about it? It even made BBC news! For those that haven’t, a brief summary: goods train drivers have been on strike since Wednesday, those on passenger services since 2 a.m. yesterday. The strike will continue until 4 a.m. Monday, which has meant those who commute had to find alternative ways to get to work… or been forced to use holiday days (not exactly a fun prospect this close to Christmas!). Luckily I have an employer who set up a remote server and allows us to work from home for a few days when such things happen.
Other than that, this week has been fairly uneventful. We got back from Paris on Sunday to find bright sunshine and temperatures of 22°C… which then promptly changed to around 13°C and rain the next morning. I cannot keep up with these constant about faces! I’ve been working hard again and managed to add some more overtime to my tally – soon I’ll have enough to take a day off! And when I haven’t been working I’ve managed to complete another few Christmas-themed cross stitch pictures for cards and read the first two books for the winter reading challenge. I’d be halfway through the third by now if I hadn’t been denied my commute yesterday and this morning! Also, it was pub quiz on Tuesday and my team managed to come second with a mere 53 points! The questions were really difficult this month!
And now, letters.

Dear GDL/Deutsche Bahn. I really hope you agree on something soon, because after a four-day strike I’m a little worried about what the next step might be. Striking for an entire week? No trains right when people want to head home for Christmas? The possibilities are endless (and scary!).

Dear Christmas markets. I can’t believe you will be starting in a mere two weeks! It’s only just started to feel like autumn… I can’t possibly get my head around the idea of winter! I am looking forward to the Glühwein though.

Dear Welcome to Night Vale. I’m glad your live show was just as amazing as I had been anticipating! Please come back to Europe soon.

Dear self. Stop spending money on things you don’t need!! Christmas is really not far away and many, many gifts need to be purchased!

Dear stomach. After weekes of seeming just fine, you hurt again yesterday after I ate some sheep’s cheese. Please don’t let your problem be with sheep’s/goat’s cheese. I love that stuff!

And now here are some links:

Lucy went to see the poppy exhibition at the Tower of London and took some great pictures. I’m disappointed that I couldn’t go so I’m having to live through all the bloggers who did make it.

This recipe for Chorizo, Parmesan and Sun-dried Tomato Stuffed Chicken Thighs with Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Mediterranean Vegetables and mozzarella looks amazing! Just the thought of it is making me feel hungry.

This article about learning to speak German and having to send verbs to the end of a sentence amused me greatly. So many times I’ve joked that by the time you get to the verb you’ve already forgotten what it was you were trying to say!

I love my job, but sometimes the unexpected overtime and requests from customers to “just quickly translate this tiny file (which isn’t really tiny at all) by the end of today” can get tiring. This post on 5 things translators do better is the perfect antidote to a long and frustrating work day!

I thought I had more links for you but I can’t actually remember any more/find where I’ve saved them so that’s just going to have to do. Have a great weekend everyone!

*I’m linking up with Kate for Daily Diaries.*

Daily Diaries/Friday letters

There were no Friday letters last week because I was ill all week and had nothing to say. In fact, the only reason there were any posts at all on Confuzzledom last week is because I had written and scheduled a few while Jan’s choir was practising at our place. This is how last week looked for me: Monday I left work early with a stomach ache, Tuesday morning I went to the doctors, was told I “probably” had gastritis and given a prescription and a sick note. I spent the rest of the day in bed reading and cross stitching. Wednsday and Thursday I worked from home with a hot water bottle. Friday I went to work in the morning (I had to do something that would have been difficult from home), then left at midday and worked from home. Saturday I was feeling quite a lot better so Jan and I went to Weinheim, which means I have now completed the take 12 trips challenge! In the evening we went to see a performance of Mozart pieces at a local church. A member of his choir’s wife was singing in the church choir. Soo cultural 😉 Sunday I had a pyjama day and managed to get a few items cross stitched ready to be made into Christmas cards. I showed you some in Wednesday’s post.

This week started with me booking another doctor’s appointment on Monday morning then sitting in the waiting room for 2.5 hours because they were so behind! Not my idea of fun. My stomach is basically okay now (it’s nice being able to eat again, although I’m still sticking to plain-ish foods) but as I was still having pain in the gallbladder area over the weekend, I went back to the docs. She reckoned could still be gastritis/referred pain from the stomach but she at least agreed to let me have a blood test! I worked from home for the rest of the day as there was no point in going in after my long wait. Tuesday I was at work. Our current intern is leaving soon, so we got a takeaway for lunch for her leaving meal. I didn’t want to risk pizza so I ordered Pizzabrötchen – little bread rolls made with the pizza dough. I chose the spinach and sheep’s cheese variety. Wednesday morning I had my blood test appointment, so I was at the doctors bright and early, then worked from home again because, again, there was no point in going in. And by the way, my arm then ached all the way until last night! Nobody told me that about blood tests! Yesterday was a normal day in the office. I phoned the doctor’s in the afternoon and was told my blood tests results had come back clear, which is nice.  Then Jan’s choir were practicing at our place again in the evening (and will be next Thursday also as the person who’s place they normal practice at is away for work), which meant I had to clean my flat like a mad woman. Between me being ill and Jan having a paper to write, it wasn’t exactly in a fit state to let people see it! I also had to go shopping so we can actually eat today it’s a holiday here in Germany, for Tag der Deutschen Einheit (German Reunification Day), and over here “public holiday” means all shops remain closed all day. So far today I’ve washed the dishes and done some cross stitch… all while still in my pyjamas 😉 Later,  we’re off to Baden-Baden for an evening of A Capella music, including a Taiwanese group we saw in Sweden a few years back. I spotted it in a local magazine and immediately pointed it out to Jan. Some other people from his choir are going too. And that’s us up to date. My life is fascinating 😉

And now for a few Friday letters:

Dear stomach/abdomen. Please stop being annoying and let me eat normally again. I’m tired of  plain foods!

Dear work. Thank you for being so understanding and allowing me to constantly work from home over the past few weeks.

Dear blood test. I’m glad you cam eout negative (although I feel like I’ve confirmed the nasty doctor’s opinion that I’m some kind of hypochondriac!)

Dear colleague. Thanks for the “get well” chocolate. I’m looking forward to being able to eat it 🙂

Dear fellow bloggers. I’ve been trying to catch up with everything I missed while I was ill, but if I haven’t been to your blog yet I promise to try and make it over soon!

This post is part of the Daily Diaries link up with Kate from The Lotus Collective. Click on over there to see what the rest of the blogosphere have been up to this week. Have a great weekend everyone!

Interview time…

I’m currently trying to force myself to eat breakfast while my stomach goes “nooo, don’t want food. I’m too busy twisting myself into nervous knots to eat!” I have to eat though. I know what will happen if I don’t  – I’ll get to my interview and my stomach will suddenly decide that it is hungry after all, then I’ll have to sit through the whole thing with it rumbling. Loudly. Not really the first impression that I want to make! So I’m trying to force myself to eat some toast with jam on. Once that’s gone I’m going to try and force myself to eat a yoghurt. I won’t have time for lunch – I need to leave the house at 12:00, buy credit for my phone, buy a ticket for the journey to Gernsbach, take a tram to the train station. The train to Gernsbach leaves at 12:43 and I arrive at 1:29pm. By the time I’ve got my bearings and walked down to the place it will pretty much be time for the interview, so no time for eating. I suppose I could take some food on the train. Hmm, actually that’s a possibility. I shall think about that. But in the meantime… must… eat… breakfast.

Fortunately the weather has decided to be kind to me today. The current temperature is a quite pleasant 21.7°C. This is good. I just hope it stays that way – I’m paranoid about making sweat marks on my nice blue blouse!