Birthday, Beverages, Bathing, and Bouldering
Hello again! It's back to business as usual this week, as I return to my style of blogging all about ME and what's been happening in my distinguished daily life. The last diary-type post was the one about skiing two and a half weeks ago, so it feels as though a lot has happened since then.
The most important events in this period of time occurred last weekend. I had my birthday on Friday, and Jack left Germany on Sunday. I was a bit concerned that my birthday would be a bit rubbish, as we had tried to plan a kind of get-together which unfortunately didn't quite work out, as nearly everyone we invited was busy on Friday. Serves me right for having a birthday on 6th March, eh? This slight failure and the knowledge that it would be a very quiet day meant I was slightly dreading the pressure of having to have an amazing birthday.
As it turned out, there was no pressure at all, and it was a really lovely day. On Thursday evening Jack and I stayed up late playing Scrabble, practising making cocktails and decorating the kitchen by tying bits of curly ribbon around the spice rack, as a tribute to the time we decorated the kitchen using that exact ribbon (the stuff you use to wrap around presents if you're feeling fancy - does it have a name?) in Bamberg, three and a half years ago. The ribbon is still there, as it feels quite festive, although I might have to remove it before Melanie comes back from her semester holidays.
On Friday morning, after a breakfast of Bucks Fizz, tea and birthday cake, we met Katrin, my tandem partner, and her husband, Karsten, for brunch at Cafe Cortina, an establishment famous for its ice cream. Here I tried my first ever Spaghettieis (literally translated as 'spaghetti ice cream') which is exactly what it sounds like if you have a vivid imagination: ice cream that looks just like spaghetti.
Katrin's birthday was on Friday as well, so we'd got each other small presents. I've never been friends with anyone who shares my birthday before, but it's lovely! Not only does it really takes the pressure off you, YOU being the birthday person and therefore it being all about YOU, but it also feels like a special bond; we commented on Friday that we'll now always think of each other on our birthdays, which of course provides the perfect reminder to keep in touch as well.
David turned up at about half five and we whiled away the time until 7 by doing a few quizzes on my new favourite website, Sporcle. Not only is this word endlessly hilarious but there are a myriad quizzes on Sporcle, some with a semblance of usefulness in terms of general knowledge, like the geographical ones, and some that don't even pretend, like the Harry Potter logic puzzles. Such fun. At 7, we went to Brazil, a restaurant in Chemnitz that has an astonishingly un-Brazilian menu, considering its name. After the biggest burger I have ever eaten, we shuffled back to my flat to meet Katrin, who had invited us to her house to finish the day with cocktails and party games. Playing Consequences in German is surprisingly easy when you've been plied with incredibly strong piña coladas mixed by Karsten and you don't care about grammar or indeed making yourself understood AT ALL anymore.
Saturday was Jack's last full day in Germany, so we spent it lazing about again, eating yet more birthday cake, being exceptionally emotional and watching Parks and Recreation (another thing to be emotional about - the final season!!). When we got to Leipzig we indulged Jack's heart's desire which was to play with the model railway in the station. They seem to be in most stations here, curiously, but that was the first time we'd ever had a go on one. I took a joyful video of Jack playing with the controls in transports of delight.
Sunday involved packing final things, more emotions, and a lovely breakfast in the warm sun, of coffee and another Nussschnecke. Then after a brisk farewell in the station we hopped on our respective trains and I proceeded to be VERY CHEERFUL and positive all day.
In other news, I've met up with a few more tandem partners recently. While there have been two who have slipped through the net, i.e. I didn't reply to their opening messages because it was all just too much, since my last post I have met Daniel, Claudi and Zheng. Daniel is a doctor who stays up to do 24-hour shifts several times a month, and also does sport regularly and has a girlfriend whom he lives with. All these things clearly mark him out as being far too mature and scary for me to be friends with without feeling like a child. He was very nice though! Claudi is lovely and friendly, and seemed absolutely thrilled that we could meet up because she really wants to improve her English. She is a minuscule person roughly four inches tall who is also a bodybuilder apparently. So that was a surprise.
Like Claudi, Zheng is a student here but unlike Claudi, who lives in Dresden, he lives in Chemnitz, and one of his hobbies is bouldering. This of course meant that I had to try bouldering, so yesterday I ventured to Chemnitz's famous Boulderlounge. If you can suspend your disbelief until you get inside the incredibly rundown, dilapidated building, the climbing hall itself is really cool, with lots of different 'climbs' of varying difficulties. Bouldering itself is tiring and painful but allows a wonderful sense of achievement if you make it to the top of the wall. It's also funny to watch the other people scrambling around, and occasionally falling several metres to the (soft, padded) floor. Apart from a slight instance at the end, on my final ascent, where my arms gave out entirely and I fell helplessly down the wall, losing only the top layer of skin off an elbow and all my dignity, it went quite well! I will probably go back there at some point, but might need to wait until my blistered hands and aching arms have recovered.
In final tandem news, I broke up with Beatrice, the student I met several weeks ago and about whom I ranted unkindly on here, as I found her very difficult to get along with. Breakups are never easy but I had to do it, so I wrote as kind an email as possible to tell her it was over, and it wasn't me it was her. Apart from a text which seemed to have been sent to the wrong person as it was entirely irrelevant to me, I've heard nothing more from her. (I'm a heartbreaker.)
Finally, in job news, I'm going to the Greek restaurant tomorrow for a kind of tryout, and to see if I can cope with being screamed at in Greek and mumbled at in German. It's not looking particularly positive, but at least I'm trying, eh?!!?! And if they don't want to give me a job it will be a relief. So only good things can come out of this, right?
The most important events in this period of time occurred last weekend. I had my birthday on Friday, and Jack left Germany on Sunday. I was a bit concerned that my birthday would be a bit rubbish, as we had tried to plan a kind of get-together which unfortunately didn't quite work out, as nearly everyone we invited was busy on Friday. Serves me right for having a birthday on 6th March, eh? This slight failure and the knowledge that it would be a very quiet day meant I was slightly dreading the pressure of having to have an amazing birthday.
As it turned out, there was no pressure at all, and it was a really lovely day. On Thursday evening Jack and I stayed up late playing Scrabble, practising making cocktails and decorating the kitchen by tying bits of curly ribbon around the spice rack, as a tribute to the time we decorated the kitchen using that exact ribbon (the stuff you use to wrap around presents if you're feeling fancy - does it have a name?) in Bamberg, three and a half years ago. The ribbon is still there, as it feels quite festive, although I might have to remove it before Melanie comes back from her semester holidays.
On Friday morning, after a breakfast of Bucks Fizz, tea and birthday cake, we met Katrin, my tandem partner, and her husband, Karsten, for brunch at Cafe Cortina, an establishment famous for its ice cream. Here I tried my first ever Spaghettieis (literally translated as 'spaghetti ice cream') which is exactly what it sounds like if you have a vivid imagination: ice cream that looks just like spaghetti.
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| A very bad picture of our respective sundaes - I had a forest fruits one, and Katrin had 'spaghetti carbonara' |
After a long brunch, Jack and I went back to my flat where we opened birthday cards, watched Green Wing, tried a few more cocktails, had leisurely baths and generally lazed about. I Skyped my mother so I could open her present with her (a beautiful necklace and earrings which I am terrified of losing/breaking). It was lovely to have some real contact with family on my birthday, but hard to believe that this has been the third one spent away from home. I don't think I like this general trend.
David turned up at about half five and we whiled away the time until 7 by doing a few quizzes on my new favourite website, Sporcle. Not only is this word endlessly hilarious but there are a myriad quizzes on Sporcle, some with a semblance of usefulness in terms of general knowledge, like the geographical ones, and some that don't even pretend, like the Harry Potter logic puzzles. Such fun. At 7, we went to Brazil, a restaurant in Chemnitz that has an astonishingly un-Brazilian menu, considering its name. After the biggest burger I have ever eaten, we shuffled back to my flat to meet Katrin, who had invited us to her house to finish the day with cocktails and party games. Playing Consequences in German is surprisingly easy when you've been plied with incredibly strong piña coladas mixed by Karsten and you don't care about grammar or indeed making yourself understood AT ALL anymore.
All in all it was a really lovely evening; birthdays are not complete without party games, and it was great to finally meet Katrin's two older children, and that Katrin could meet Jack before he left.
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| "This is the most fun I have ever had!!!" |
In other news, I've met up with a few more tandem partners recently. While there have been two who have slipped through the net, i.e. I didn't reply to their opening messages because it was all just too much, since my last post I have met Daniel, Claudi and Zheng. Daniel is a doctor who stays up to do 24-hour shifts several times a month, and also does sport regularly and has a girlfriend whom he lives with. All these things clearly mark him out as being far too mature and scary for me to be friends with without feeling like a child. He was very nice though! Claudi is lovely and friendly, and seemed absolutely thrilled that we could meet up because she really wants to improve her English. She is a minuscule person roughly four inches tall who is also a bodybuilder apparently. So that was a surprise.
Like Claudi, Zheng is a student here but unlike Claudi, who lives in Dresden, he lives in Chemnitz, and one of his hobbies is bouldering. This of course meant that I had to try bouldering, so yesterday I ventured to Chemnitz's famous Boulderlounge. If you can suspend your disbelief until you get inside the incredibly rundown, dilapidated building, the climbing hall itself is really cool, with lots of different 'climbs' of varying difficulties. Bouldering itself is tiring and painful but allows a wonderful sense of achievement if you make it to the top of the wall. It's also funny to watch the other people scrambling around, and occasionally falling several metres to the (soft, padded) floor. Apart from a slight instance at the end, on my final ascent, where my arms gave out entirely and I fell helplessly down the wall, losing only the top layer of skin off an elbow and all my dignity, it went quite well! I will probably go back there at some point, but might need to wait until my blistered hands and aching arms have recovered.
In final tandem news, I broke up with Beatrice, the student I met several weeks ago and about whom I ranted unkindly on here, as I found her very difficult to get along with. Breakups are never easy but I had to do it, so I wrote as kind an email as possible to tell her it was over, and it wasn't me it was her. Apart from a text which seemed to have been sent to the wrong person as it was entirely irrelevant to me, I've heard nothing more from her. (I'm a heartbreaker.)
Finally, in job news, I'm going to the Greek restaurant tomorrow for a kind of tryout, and to see if I can cope with being screamed at in Greek and mumbled at in German. It's not looking particularly positive, but at least I'm trying, eh?!!?! And if they don't want to give me a job it will be a relief. So only good things can come out of this, right?
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