I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose
Good day to you all! I'm writing this at 8 in the morning after I got up, dressed and breakfasted, and literally left the house before suddenly deciding to check the school intranet for today's list of absent teachers while standing outside my front door. There was good and bad news: the bad news is that the headteacher is not in school today, which means he must be ill. The good news is the headteacher is not in school today which means I didn't have to go to his lesson! My least favourite one of the week! And I didn't have to go last week either! Truly I am blessed. I'm not even the slightest bit annoyed that I needlessly got up at 7, either, which perhaps shows more than anything my joy at not having to go.
This last week since Jack went home has, on reflection, been fairly good in terms of Doing Things. On the Monday I had tea with Katrin; Tuesday I went bouldering with Zheng; Wednesday I met Claudia; Thursday I had the restaurant trial; Friday I went swimming; Saturday I went to the natural history museum; and Sunday I went to Flashdance The Musical. In my opinion, that has no doubt been passed down to me by my busy parents, it's important to do something every day that you can give as the answer to 'what did you do today?' about which you will not feel embarrassed, thereby ruling out answers such as 'I watched seven episodes of Arrested Development in a row' and 'I went on Facebook and Twitter and Tumblr and Instagram on a loop until I'd seen everything and then waited for people to post new things so I could repeat the cycle'. And it's especially important if you're feeling a bit weird and not entirely content.
So as I said, I went swimming on Friday! This was the first time going proper swimming (not including a bit of splashing about on holiday) for probably about three or four years. I've pretty much avoided it since my eyesight got so bad I started needing to wear glasses all the time; at first I didn't have contact lenses, and then when I got them I never had any goggles that didn't instantly fill with water, thus rendering them useless and my eyeballs full of chlorine and displaced contact lens. However, I love swimming and it's a great form of exercise so I just WENT FOR IT, facing my fears of Germans and embarrassment in one fell swoop.
The Chemnitz public baths are the most beautiful ones I have ever seen. There are clean, warm, comfortable, modern changing rooms, lockers for which you do not need to shell out extra or dig around for spare change, and spacious communal showers. These showers, and indeed the whole women's changing area, is full of totally un-self-conscious old women wandering around completely naked. Entirely unembarrassed. In fact, you look like the weird one if a) you're being awkward, because no one else is at all or b) you're at all clothed in the showers. Because, well, who wears clothes in the shower? No one, unless you're a never-nude, so why would you do it in the swimming pool showers? Well, of course as a Brit it might be your crippling self-consciousness and anxious nature. But as a German, there is no reason.
The pool itself is 50m, making it pleasingly easy to count how many metres you've swum, and the perfect temperature - not so warm that you overheat, but not so cold that it's hard to get in. The only downside I encountered were the aforementioned old women (and men too, but those doing lengths were mostly women) who are reminiscent of tectonic plates in the speed of their swimming. There were only two lanes, and neither seemed to be the fast one, so I ended up literally ducking and diving between the two to avoid them. My favourite was a pair of old women who would swim a length, taking ten minutes and sticking very close together, then have a little rest and a chat for another ten minutes or so at the other end of the pool before venturing back on the long journey. Meanwhile, ten or twelve old men floated about a bit at one end, having a gossip. It was quite adorable.
And this delightful experience was all for the low price of two euros for a student! I've resolved to go at least once a week from now on, and I've even bought a swimming top thing so I don't have to wear a sports bra again due to my lack of swimming costume or bikini that won't fall off.
The rest of the weekend was less exciting, although as I've mentioned, stuff did Get Done. I was not very impressed with Chemnitz's Natural History Museum, although I suppose nothing could live up to the splendour of the swimming pool. The museum is in the same building as the library and the Volkshochschule, which is lovely and modern. Unfortunately the museum exhibits themselves comprise pieces of rock and fossilised wood, stuffed animals, and an insectarium. While I admire those who do, I mostly find it difficult to get very excited about rocks and fossilised wood. Stuffed animals are generally morbid and disturbing, although the ones in the museum were slightly less so than if they had been shot and killed for the purpose; although there was a lion, a tiger and indeed more than one bear (oh my), they had all died from natural causes in the Chemnitz or Leipzig zoo. The insectarium was also tricky to get excited about, especially after I suddenly came upon the three bird-eating spiders in their row of small tanks. Enormous spiders are no fun at the best of times but when they are metaphorically (thank god) sprung upon you like that, it's somewhat heart-stopping.
There were a couple of memorable things in the museum; the first was a big screen with a video of a live volcano and a countdown to the next eruption. Although I didn't actually get to witness an eruption, as I couldn't face another full thirty minutes with the rock exhibits, I have no doubt it would have been impressive. The second was one of the stuffed bears I mentioned before; however, this was no ordinary bear. It is the first thing that greets you as you walk in to the exhibition and is astoundingly massive - 3.34m tall rearing up on its hind legs. I spent at least five minutes just staring at its truly unbelievably enormous size. I managed to find a picture of it after some very specific Googling, which doesn't really show its true scale but hopefully gives an impression:
Despite my aversion to taxidermy, I have to hypocritically admit I was blown away by the bear; had it not been alive once, I just would not have believed that it was to scale. Bears, eh!!
On Sunday evening I returned to the Opera House for the first time since going to La Cenerentola a few months ago. Needless to say, my resolution to go once a month has not been kept, although if I go once more in March that will add up to three times since Christmas, so maybe it can still be done... Beth bought the ticket with a couple of others way back in October, then made other plans for last weekend, so she very kindly gave the it to me, meaning once again I have Beth to thank for my trip to the theatre!
The show itself was fun. I wouldn't say it was particularly good, but it was definitely fun. The plot is truly pointless - Alex is a woman working as a mechanic who has a dream of being a dancer, and she wants to audition at a dance school. Meanwhile she falls in love with her rich boss who bribes the school to give her an audition without her knowing. Alex then finds out, they have a row, she does the audition anyway and gets in, and they make up again. There's also a sub-plot about her friend becoming a stripper before realising she hates it and going back to being a waitress - not really worth mentioning.
The singing was brilliant, especially Alex and a couple of her friends, but I was less convinced by the dancing, which made it quite funny whenever anyone raved about Alex's talent - 'Why do you believe in me?' 'Because I've seen you dance.' 'You were born to do this.' 'I've never seen anyone dance like that before.' Hmm. However, aside from one dodgy scene involving a woman in a skimpy bikini and enormous, unnecessary and culturally appropriative Native American headdress it was very enjoyable and I'm really glad I went. It would be interesting seeing it in English - I might have got it a bit more, as the show itself felt very un-German and therefore it somehow didn't quite work.
I do need to get it together and go to more things here though; my other resolution to go to the cinema more has completely failed, and I haven't even been once since coming back to Germany. Although that is in part because there have been no films that I've wanted to see in German - I hate dubbed films, so that rules out all the blockbusters and films I've heard of.
As I said, this first week without Jack living an hour away has been a bit weird but I'm getting used to it. The first few days were a bit 'life is meaningless what is the point of anything', but I seem to be mostly past that stage now, and it hasn't been as unproductive a week as I feared. This manic need to Do Things may calm down a bit soon, but meanwhile it has been quite enjoyable really!
Also this week I reread The Railway Children, which was just lovely. Such an adorable book, and I definitely recommend it (it's free to download on Kindle) if you want something to make you laugh and happy cry, and also cringe at all the dated language - just beastly.
This last week since Jack went home has, on reflection, been fairly good in terms of Doing Things. On the Monday I had tea with Katrin; Tuesday I went bouldering with Zheng; Wednesday I met Claudia; Thursday I had the restaurant trial; Friday I went swimming; Saturday I went to the natural history museum; and Sunday I went to Flashdance The Musical. In my opinion, that has no doubt been passed down to me by my busy parents, it's important to do something every day that you can give as the answer to 'what did you do today?' about which you will not feel embarrassed, thereby ruling out answers such as 'I watched seven episodes of Arrested Development in a row' and 'I went on Facebook and Twitter and Tumblr and Instagram on a loop until I'd seen everything and then waited for people to post new things so I could repeat the cycle'. And it's especially important if you're feeling a bit weird and not entirely content.
So as I said, I went swimming on Friday! This was the first time going proper swimming (not including a bit of splashing about on holiday) for probably about three or four years. I've pretty much avoided it since my eyesight got so bad I started needing to wear glasses all the time; at first I didn't have contact lenses, and then when I got them I never had any goggles that didn't instantly fill with water, thus rendering them useless and my eyeballs full of chlorine and displaced contact lens. However, I love swimming and it's a great form of exercise so I just WENT FOR IT, facing my fears of Germans and embarrassment in one fell swoop.
The Chemnitz public baths are the most beautiful ones I have ever seen. There are clean, warm, comfortable, modern changing rooms, lockers for which you do not need to shell out extra or dig around for spare change, and spacious communal showers. These showers, and indeed the whole women's changing area, is full of totally un-self-conscious old women wandering around completely naked. Entirely unembarrassed. In fact, you look like the weird one if a) you're being awkward, because no one else is at all or b) you're at all clothed in the showers. Because, well, who wears clothes in the shower? No one, unless you're a never-nude, so why would you do it in the swimming pool showers? Well, of course as a Brit it might be your crippling self-consciousness and anxious nature. But as a German, there is no reason.
And this delightful experience was all for the low price of two euros for a student! I've resolved to go at least once a week from now on, and I've even bought a swimming top thing so I don't have to wear a sports bra again due to my lack of swimming costume or bikini that won't fall off.
The rest of the weekend was less exciting, although as I've mentioned, stuff did Get Done. I was not very impressed with Chemnitz's Natural History Museum, although I suppose nothing could live up to the splendour of the swimming pool. The museum is in the same building as the library and the Volkshochschule, which is lovely and modern. Unfortunately the museum exhibits themselves comprise pieces of rock and fossilised wood, stuffed animals, and an insectarium. While I admire those who do, I mostly find it difficult to get very excited about rocks and fossilised wood. Stuffed animals are generally morbid and disturbing, although the ones in the museum were slightly less so than if they had been shot and killed for the purpose; although there was a lion, a tiger and indeed more than one bear (oh my), they had all died from natural causes in the Chemnitz or Leipzig zoo. The insectarium was also tricky to get excited about, especially after I suddenly came upon the three bird-eating spiders in their row of small tanks. Enormous spiders are no fun at the best of times but when they are metaphorically (thank god) sprung upon you like that, it's somewhat heart-stopping.
There were a couple of memorable things in the museum; the first was a big screen with a video of a live volcano and a countdown to the next eruption. Although I didn't actually get to witness an eruption, as I couldn't face another full thirty minutes with the rock exhibits, I have no doubt it would have been impressive. The second was one of the stuffed bears I mentioned before; however, this was no ordinary bear. It is the first thing that greets you as you walk in to the exhibition and is astoundingly massive - 3.34m tall rearing up on its hind legs. I spent at least five minutes just staring at its truly unbelievably enormous size. I managed to find a picture of it after some very specific Googling, which doesn't really show its true scale but hopefully gives an impression:
On Sunday evening I returned to the Opera House for the first time since going to La Cenerentola a few months ago. Needless to say, my resolution to go once a month has not been kept, although if I go once more in March that will add up to three times since Christmas, so maybe it can still be done... Beth bought the ticket with a couple of others way back in October, then made other plans for last weekend, so she very kindly gave the it to me, meaning once again I have Beth to thank for my trip to the theatre!
The show itself was fun. I wouldn't say it was particularly good, but it was definitely fun. The plot is truly pointless - Alex is a woman working as a mechanic who has a dream of being a dancer, and she wants to audition at a dance school. Meanwhile she falls in love with her rich boss who bribes the school to give her an audition without her knowing. Alex then finds out, they have a row, she does the audition anyway and gets in, and they make up again. There's also a sub-plot about her friend becoming a stripper before realising she hates it and going back to being a waitress - not really worth mentioning.
The singing was brilliant, especially Alex and a couple of her friends, but I was less convinced by the dancing, which made it quite funny whenever anyone raved about Alex's talent - 'Why do you believe in me?' 'Because I've seen you dance.' 'You were born to do this.' 'I've never seen anyone dance like that before.' Hmm. However, aside from one dodgy scene involving a woman in a skimpy bikini and enormous, unnecessary and culturally appropriative Native American headdress it was very enjoyable and I'm really glad I went. It would be interesting seeing it in English - I might have got it a bit more, as the show itself felt very un-German and therefore it somehow didn't quite work.
I do need to get it together and go to more things here though; my other resolution to go to the cinema more has completely failed, and I haven't even been once since coming back to Germany. Although that is in part because there have been no films that I've wanted to see in German - I hate dubbed films, so that rules out all the blockbusters and films I've heard of.
As I said, this first week without Jack living an hour away has been a bit weird but I'm getting used to it. The first few days were a bit 'life is meaningless what is the point of anything', but I seem to be mostly past that stage now, and it hasn't been as unproductive a week as I feared. This manic need to Do Things may calm down a bit soon, but meanwhile it has been quite enjoyable really!
Also this week I reread The Railway Children, which was just lovely. Such an adorable book, and I definitely recommend it (it's free to download on Kindle) if you want something to make you laugh and happy cry, and also cringe at all the dated language - just beastly.
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