Friday, September 24, 2010
Pandoraah gets her end away
So... Stench of oil/fuel. Erm, not good. Ignore it. But there's a snail trail and... Hmm. What's this? A puddle? Ohhhhh shit. Long story short - gleich am 8 Uhr, we find ourselves at the Reparatuer or however it's spelled. "Wait half an hour" he tells me. Erm, ok. Nervous. Ruby sniffs her way around the back of the neighbouring supermarket. Ok. Back to the waiting room. "Damen Magazine" distracts me for a few minutes. "Fertig!" calls a lady from behind the desk. Oh God, primed for painful revelations. But what's this? It's fixed? "Es ist nicht so schlimm" she says. 35 Euros. Half an hour. German efficiency. Impossible in England, incredible to experience. Thank God.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
definition
Keren, n.
One who says what everyone else is thinking but is too polite to say. One who must exercise great awareness of the junk coming out of her own mouth lest she say something incredibly offensive. Sometimes funny, sometimes appaling, never boring.
:/
One who says what everyone else is thinking but is too polite to say. One who must exercise great awareness of the junk coming out of her own mouth lest she say something incredibly offensive. Sometimes funny, sometimes appaling, never boring.
:/
Saturday, September 4, 2010
other weird things about Germany, these more disturbing than the last
1. EVERYTHING IS CLOSED AT THE WEEKEND. That's right, in Germany it's Sunday evening all day Saturday and all day Sunday. I mean even the clothes shops are closed on Saturday afternoon. So are the coffee shops. The only thing open is the odd chain store and the supermarkets. But even then it's a half-hearted affair. Town is empty. Even big cities - EMPTY!! I have so many questions about this, I don't know where to start. Firstly, WHAT DO PEOPLE DO ON SATURDAY????? Correction - what do 24 year olds do on Saturday? Cos there don't seem to be many around to ask. And how does one go clothes shopping? Do you have to take a day off work for Chrissakes????
2. No-one dresses up - or down. It's the same clothes every day: weekend, daytime, evening, workwear... A generic unflattering T-shirt with a waterproof jacket on top, badly-fitting jeans, and the ugliest shoes I've ever seen! It's bizarre. Needless to say the girls don't wear make-up - it's very rare to see even some mascara. And the hair is either tied back in a generic ponytail or hanging loose. That's it. It's so freakin' weird, I can't actually get over it. No-one is wearing a skirt, even! I mean don't they get bored of the same clothes all the time? I love dressing up and picking new outfits! Don't they do that here? I guess clothes are ridiculously expensive compared to the UK but still... It doesn't mean you have to buy boring identical ones does it? Or... does it? :S
3. Work starts super-early. 8.30 is medium, 8 is ok, 7 is good, and 9 is just lazy/late. Unbelievable. I mean, starting at 8 and finishing at 4 - now that would be good. But no! Start at 8, finish at 5 or 6 - sometimes even later! What the hell!!! Combined with point #1 above - when do these people go shopping? When do they drink coffee with their friends? When do they do anything at all?!???
I'm gonna find some Germans ASAP and demand ANSWERS. (I can't go on like this for another 8 weeks.I will seriously crack. They'll be picking bits of my brain off the ceiling for WEEKS, man! It's Saturday! AND THERE IS NOTHING GOING ON! NOTHING IS OPEN! NO-ONE IS IN TOWN!! Not even any cars about! Even in Penrith, there'd be a traffic jam about now!! ARGH!!!!!)
2. No-one dresses up - or down. It's the same clothes every day: weekend, daytime, evening, workwear... A generic unflattering T-shirt with a waterproof jacket on top, badly-fitting jeans, and the ugliest shoes I've ever seen! It's bizarre. Needless to say the girls don't wear make-up - it's very rare to see even some mascara. And the hair is either tied back in a generic ponytail or hanging loose. That's it. It's so freakin' weird, I can't actually get over it. No-one is wearing a skirt, even! I mean don't they get bored of the same clothes all the time? I love dressing up and picking new outfits! Don't they do that here? I guess clothes are ridiculously expensive compared to the UK but still... It doesn't mean you have to buy boring identical ones does it? Or... does it? :S
3. Work starts super-early. 8.30 is medium, 8 is ok, 7 is good, and 9 is just lazy/late. Unbelievable. I mean, starting at 8 and finishing at 4 - now that would be good. But no! Start at 8, finish at 5 or 6 - sometimes even later! What the hell!!! Combined with point #1 above - when do these people go shopping? When do they drink coffee with their friends? When do they do anything at all?!???
I'm gonna find some Germans ASAP and demand ANSWERS. (I can't go on like this for another 8 weeks.I will seriously crack. They'll be picking bits of my brain off the ceiling for WEEKS, man! It's Saturday! AND THERE IS NOTHING GOING ON! NOTHING IS OPEN! NO-ONE IS IN TOWN!! Not even any cars about! Even in Penrith, there'd be a traffic jam about now!! ARGH!!!!!)
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
a few pics of the travels =]
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| mileage (kilometreage?) at start of journey |
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| waiting to be let into the ferry terminal at Dover |
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| not my VIP lounge... |
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| my personal VIP lounge |
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| posing next to my personal porthole in my personal VIP lounge |
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| a nice pic of an idyllic-looking German road... |
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| service station... looks similar from the outside but inside bears no relation to a British one... |
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| "Yeah, I quite fancy a pack of Mentos, but then again, I could really do with a shot of Jaegermeister".... ... Er, yeah. We're definitely not in England anymore. |
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| We've arrived, but poor Rubychen still has NO idea what the heck is going on! |
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| A gap in the rain!!!!!!! |
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| a slightly romantic picture of the shower block =] |
things that are different/weird in Germany.
1. Trees EVERYWHAARR. The town doesn't even look like a town, it looks like a village in a forest that just takes a bit longer to drive through than you'd expect of a village.
2. NO SIGNPOSTS ON CAMPUS. Yes that's right. No sign to Reception, no sign to the Library... Hell, not even a sign on the OUTSIDE of the buildings. THAT'S RIGHT. I'm in some sort of snackbar that puports to be near the Library. But I have no way of telling what this place actually is. NO. FRICKIN'. SIGNS. I'm working at the Institute for Polymerkwerkstoffe etc. but all it says outside is a big "6". WTF. The only way I found the International Office was by the large crowd of foreign student-y looking chaps and chapesses outside. Seriously. No signs AT ALL. 0_o
3. Driving on the wrong side of the road. :P
4. People are either VERY helpful or VERY rude. Like, going out of their way to be extra nice and ensuring you have everything you need. Usually in semi-perfect English. That or crossing the street to avoid you, while scowling like a scalded cat.
5. Aldi has pretty much all the food it has in England... only at 2/3 the price and 3x the amount of sausage you'd expect. Also, they lack decent cheese. It's all Gouda or Emmental. Yeuuuuccchhhhh. And the chocolate is inexplicably mostly dark chocolate. I had to root around for the milk choc, behind all the "bitter" stuff. But then I spied Kaffee Creme, which is om-nom-nom white chocolate on a layer of om-nom-nom milk coffee-flavoured chocolate. Om nom NOM.
6. They have furry Ugg-style boots here too =] although I seem to be the only person wearing them.
7. They have dog parking places - No, seriously. Pic to follow!!
8. It's so clean, even the builders put down dustsheets to protect the pavements. Yes, there are dustsheets under the scaffolding to protect the PAVEMENT. Crikey!!
2. NO SIGNPOSTS ON CAMPUS. Yes that's right. No sign to Reception, no sign to the Library... Hell, not even a sign on the OUTSIDE of the buildings. THAT'S RIGHT. I'm in some sort of snackbar that puports to be near the Library. But I have no way of telling what this place actually is. NO. FRICKIN'. SIGNS. I'm working at the Institute for Polymerkwerkstoffe etc. but all it says outside is a big "6". WTF. The only way I found the International Office was by the large crowd of foreign student-y looking chaps and chapesses outside. Seriously. No signs AT ALL. 0_o
3. Driving on the wrong side of the road. :P
4. People are either VERY helpful or VERY rude. Like, going out of their way to be extra nice and ensuring you have everything you need. Usually in semi-perfect English. That or crossing the street to avoid you, while scowling like a scalded cat.
5. Aldi has pretty much all the food it has in England... only at 2/3 the price and 3x the amount of sausage you'd expect. Also, they lack decent cheese. It's all Gouda or Emmental. Yeuuuuccchhhhh. And the chocolate is inexplicably mostly dark chocolate. I had to root around for the milk choc, behind all the "bitter" stuff. But then I spied Kaffee Creme, which is om-nom-nom white chocolate on a layer of om-nom-nom milk coffee-flavoured chocolate. Om nom NOM.
6. They have furry Ugg-style boots here too =] although I seem to be the only person wearing them.
7. They have dog parking places - No, seriously. Pic to follow!!
8. It's so clean, even the builders put down dustsheets to protect the pavements. Yes, there are dustsheets under the scaffolding to protect the PAVEMENT. Crikey!!
Friday, August 27, 2010
I'm on a boat!!
Being talked to by a German businessman in the VIP lounge... Thought it would be a good idea to "get away from the riff-raff" in 1st class but... The ferry's so posh inside, this lounge is positively intimidating. I even have my very own "Bond Villian" leather swivel chair, complete with footstool and power point. And the free coffee is actual coffee, served in an actual coffee cup with saucer. OMG. I'm officially in shock.
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