Frozen

I can't believe our 5-night stay in Mainz [sounds like Mines and not too far from Frankfurt] has come and gone. And although we didn't do all that much due to the crappy weather, i think we made the most of it. Most importantly J and i got to visit my sister and her boyfriend in Wiesbaden [sounds like Vees-bah-den]. And of course we met my baby niece, whom at the time was only 10 days old and is as cute as a button.

I even got to change her diaper - my very first one! An achievement i can be proud of since it didn't fall off right after and something that i can say i did before i turned 30.

So anyway on our way home, we decided to see some friends and whilst waiting to see them do some grocery shopping. And if you don't include our extended pit stop in Düsseldorf, which is roughly the half way mark, i reckon it would have taken us about 4+ hours to get to where we live.

We had heard earlier on the news that there was so much snow that they even had to temporarily close a couple of the highways because it was so icy and there were so many accidents. Traffic was horrendous, trains were delayed and airports where temporarily shut down. But lucky for us by the time we left the snow had cleared off the highway and there was barely any traffic.

By the time we got home it was just before 2 in the morning.

The temperature outside was somewhere just below 0 degrees Celsius. Mild in comparison to Sunday's temperature, when a cold front swept across Germany dumping snow and forcing the temperature down to a ridiculous -15˙C [the coldest i've been in so far]. One particular area in Germany measured -33˙Celsius, yes MINUS THIRTY-THREE!

Damn climate change, it's absolutely insane!

I think in the last week about 15 cm of snow has fallen here, more in other regions. The weatherman says there's only a 50% chance there'll be more snow in this area. But as J likes to remind me, it's only a prediction.


They predicted snow only on Sunday but nobody imagined there would be as much snow as there was on Friday - 2 days earlier. Cars with Summer wheels had barely any grip and were sliding all over the place. Cyclists battled with icy pathways and dancing snow flakes.

But they also said the temperature would rise this week and by Christmas there wouldn't be any snow left.

I don't think so.

Christmas is in nearly 12 hours and looking at our landlord's garden below us and our balcony, it doesn't look like the snow is going anywhere.


Even the side streets beside the house are still iced over. It's moments like these that i'm grateful that i don't have a dog to walk. Seriously, it's super nippy outside!


So anyway, even though we had all the doors and shutters closed whilst we were gone, the frosty air had managed to find itself into our apartment. I, of course left on Friday and switched off all the heaters, in order to conserve energy. Which maybe wasn't such a good idea because it takes forever for the heaters to warm up and for the place to heat up.

We've cranked up the heaters onto full blast but it's like watching paint dry, it's so bloody slow. In the mean time, J and i are practically suffering from hyperthermia here.

The hot bath which made me turn slightly pink was good while it lasted but i'm still cold wearing a t-shirt + 3 hoodies [2 of which are made out of fleece] + a thick fleece scarf.

So before i lose complete feeling in my feet, i'm going to make some hot tea and hover in front of the preheated oven, just so my skin can thaw out just a little. I'll be back with some photos from our short getaway once i've defrosted...

Merry Christmas!

Change of Plan: Family reunion prosponed.

J's been away since Monday to do Part 2 of the training workshop for his work. And it so happens that today is my last day of German class before i have to go on a 5-week holiday. I was surprised how long the Christmas break is but then again i'm not going to complain. Then the course continues at the end of January and runs into February.

Originally this Christmas was going to be somewhat of a reunion. Planned months before. My parents were going to fly up to Germany. In fact they were due to fly out this Saturday. My sister was going to deliver her baby on the 18th December and J would have his training workshop and i would take the train to where the service apartment we booked and spend 10 days there.

But then things changed.

My parents are not flying to Germany but rather coming some other time. Maybe during Summer they said. My sister delivered her baby last Saturday by C-section and is slowly recovering. The baby is not even a week old and my sister and her boyfriend are slowly adjusting to being "parents". Whether or not they're just overwhelmed by the new addition, i don't know.

She's been very private about the whole pregnancy - i haven't even seen one photo of her in the last 9 months. So to be on the safe side, i'd rather not upload any photos of my niece just yet, well not until she puts up photos on her facebook and she gives me the OK. I mean, yesterday on the phone she said, the most stressful thing is not the baby, but rather the family members. I guess the excitement of a newborn is exciting for everyone and well, from how i see it she doesn't share our enthusiasm.

But i think my sister would rather be left alone and not have any visitors. So all we can do is respect that.

So then i called J yesterday to tell him the news and after some discussion we decided to still go on our holiday but cut the holiday to just a few days. It's not like we've gone on a proper holiday in ages. Maybe we can do a bit of sight seeing and perhaps visit a few museums. Maybe do some wine tasting and visit some Christmas markets.

So instead of the "family" being the focus this Christmas, J said maybe we'll just make this "our romantic getaway".

I'll be back before Christmas but if i'm not here to regurgitate my thoughts before then, i'd like to take this chance to wish all my silent readers and friends a very Merry Christmas! I hope you have something wonderful planned this year.

Winter is just around the corner.

Since last week the temperature has dropped dramatically. Cold doesn't even come close to what it feels like. It's the kind of icy cold that eats its way into your marrow if you stay out too long without gloves.

I've been waiting for snow the last few days but there hasn't been any in our area. Last year brought quite a lot of snow in Düsseldorf and when i asked J the other day, what we did last year, his response was "nothing". Basically we hybernated the whole time in our over-heated apartment and only when it was necessary to go outside we did.

Winter time there isn't really all that much to do unless of course you head to the mountains and you're into skiing and all that. According to the calendar "Winter" officially starts on Monday, 21 December.

But i checked the weather forecast for the next 5 days and it seems that Sunday will bring snow!

Somehow with snow the feeling of Christmas is more prominent. Which reminds me i still haven't completed my Christmas shopping. Every day our neighbors attaches some kind of new decoration or light to their house, a reminder that Christmas is drawing up closer.

And then there's our window, with our one very lonely hanging mobile. We're going for the "less is more" angle.

Friday's temperature doesn't look too good though. A high of -3 degrees and a low of -6! And if you were too measure how cold it "feels like" meaning with the wind factor [see in grey, gefühlt wie]. Crazy shit, it'll be a whopping -10!

OMG can anyone say, frozen nipples! Time to pack on more layers.

To mingle. I remember how to do that!

Last Friday two of my classmates held a small party at their home. They invited a few of us to their place for some food, drinks and a chance to mingle. Even our teacher came along, which i thought was really nice. There are all sorts of Nationalities in my class. If i'm not mistaken there's two from Tehran, Tunisia, Venezuela, Poland, Russia, Kazakhstan, Iraq, France and Bosnia.

Not wanting to get lost, i decided to meet up with 2 of my other classmates so we could take the train to our friends place together. By bus it would take 15 minutes but by train it took only 3 minutes.


In the middle is Welga [pronounced Vel-ga], she's a nurse and with a bit of alcohol she's a slightly hyperactive. Great fun to be around. And then there is Sona on the right, i think she's a house wife. Both are from Russia and very caring.

We arrived at 3:30pm and my gawd it was cold. I'm guessing it was just before the weekends' temperature drop, it was about 3 degrees Celcius.


I'm not too sure whether my German was completely correct but somehow i managed. Most of the time we were laughing about something or about what someone had said earlier in class. Of course not laughing "at" them but more like "with" others. Some of them already knew one another when the course began 3 months back. So as the outsider coming in and "joining" them, i felt very welcomed.


The blond woman wearing all black is my teacher.

Although there was a bit of bitching and moaning about certain individuals, overall everyone seemed to have gotten along and bonded.

In fact, i actually had a really good time.

Of course the couple of glasses of strawberry flavored sparkling wine, Rosé wine and a Martini rosso to wash it all down helped in gathering my nerves. I admit a great way to fool myself into thinking my German was flawless.


Anaiz is from Venezuela and plays the "Quatro" - a guitar-like instrument which only has 4 strings. She's a funny gal. Loud and full of life. She has a thick accent that shows through when she tries to speak German.


And this is Layla and myself.

I think she was the first person who spoke to me when i came to class. Her and i are usually the first ones out of class to have a cigarette when we have a break. Even when it's 0 degrees and our hands are practically frozen, we'll be outside chit-chatting about something. She speaks a bit of English but 99% of the time we speak German together. The other 1% is in English because we don't know what that word is in German.

I've still got a long way more to learn...


J came and picked me up after he went for drinks with some of his colleagues. His chance to get to know a few of his colleagues and vice-versa. He's been having issues at work with his co-workers. Apparently nobody likes him and they've been talking all sorts of shit behind his back. He knows this because they tell him. Even his boss told him it's true! Isn't that crazy!?

People have been making up all sorts of rumors and claiming that he doesn't do any work. When clearly he's one of the first to arrive at 7am and is usually one of the last to leave the office. Why? Because he's helping some other person do their work. And if other departments needed help at an event, he was more than happy to help out and stay back late. In fact, i haven't even spent that much time with him because he's been working so much.

It doesn't help that he's quite young for the position he's in and he looks young. It seems like people don't like to take instructions/directions from someone who looks like they've just finished high school. By the way J turns 30 in 3 weeks.

I can only hope the new year brings better luck for him and life at work gets better. Otherwise who knows, we may just end up moving somewhere else.

Anyway, we stuck around Layla's and Bardia's place a little longer before we drove back to the Irish pub. J had promised he'd come back to the pub since they said they might need help serving the 3-course dinner. But by the time we got there, dessert had been served.


So instead we stuck around for a few more beers and chatted [in English] with one of the Chefs that works with J. An American ex-Marine. Friendly guy who plays rugby and speaks direct. The kind of person who i can assume will say it how it is and not sugar coat things.

As they say, The key to good mingling and meeting new people is to show interest in them. Smile, be enthusiastic and maintain a positive attitude. No one wants to be around a negative person that complains about others or life in general... [source]

Back In Time.

Last Friday i took a train to Hannover since J left in the early morning with his boss for a meeting in Hamburg. I, of course had to go to German class earlier on that day, so we decided to meet up at the train station at 8pm.

There was a small Christmas market just outside but we didn't end up hanging around cause it was already getting late. But we did see quite a number of police officers checking the IDs of those loitering Neo-Nazi skin heads and random punks. And as much as i wanted to capture the moment, i didn't think it was appropriate seeing that they didn't look too friendly.

We eventually drove to the parents house in Walsrode to say hi to J's dad who is in Germany for a holiday and whom i haven't seen in 2 years. We stayed at the grandmother's place though because she has a spare room and to be honest, it's much more orderly.


And this is probably my favorite photo i have of J and i with his sweet little Oma [Grandmother in German]. She only speaks German so my conversations with her are somewhat limited. Every time we stay at her place, she makes sure the table is set for breakfast and has a couple of bread rolls heated. She's 86 and believe it or not, she still drives.

The next day Oma dropped us off at the parents house, where we spent the day clearing out the garage and side room. Well i didn't clear them out, J and his eldest brother did. The garage had transformed itself into a store room/dumping ground and became impossible to squeeze through. Even the parents house is full to the brim with all sorts of odds and ends. A result of many years of collecting random things that were soon forgotten.

So J's dad rented a 2 tonne container, where you can pretty much throw away whatever household items you don't want. Electronic goods, however has to be separated and was handled by some other company.


I didn't go into the garage because there were all sorts of spiders and mice in there. But i did see the mother of all mice run out of the garage. I reckon it was the size of a cat.

Seriously, it was huge!


So while the men were doing some serious Spring cleaning, i kept myself busy by throwing whatever was in my way and clearing the dead leaves and pine cones off the ground. 6 hours later the garage and side room were practically empty and the whole driveway and entrance was just about free of leaves. As we stood beside the 2 tonne container we were amazed at how much crap was in there, it was already 3/4 full.

...

Once we were done with everything hunger hit and so J, J's little brother and i ventured out to find food. It was already 10pm and most kitchens are closed at that time. Pizza was an option but we thought we'd look for an alternative. We happened to stumble upon a unique restaurant called Zauberkessels.


A strictly vegetarian restaurant where the interior and atmosphere was meant to resemble the 1800s. It was made to look like you were in some kind of basement or dungeon. Waiters and waitresses wore the appropriate outfits and they even had some random dog strolling the halls. One woman even sang in old German and whilst the others played the harp and bagpipes.

A truly great experience and entertaining evening. A place i wouldn't mind returning to.


It was so surreal.


The brothers trying to decide what to eat in front of a hand-painted mural.


The beer came from barrels, i could only assume was similar to what it was like back in the days.


Although i'm sure back then, the prices were not as high.


We started off with what they called a Julefest Gerstensaft which contained 9% alcohol and had a very bitter aftertaste. Probably not something i'd order again though, it tasted kinda funky but i did finish it.


I can't remember what i ordered but the burger-patty looking things on my plate had a soft consistency. I think it was made out of grains and some kind of vegetable. J ordered this pretend Schnitzel but obviously not made of meat - and that actually tasted really good. His brother ordered some kind of vegetable goulash with rice.


We ended up sharing a long table with a German couple and who ended up being very chatty. I think by the end of it the woman was a little tipsy because she couldn't stop talking. It was their one night out without their 3 kids so i think they were taking full advantage of their chance to socialize even if it meant it was with complete strangers. By the time we were ready to leave and the staff were blowing out the last of the candles, she was scribbling down her e-mail address. I think she just wanted copies of the photos, so i could send them to her.

Some say after a few alcoholic drinks, ones confidence level rises and some will even swear that they can speak German better.

WRONG!

I, unfortunately do not fall into that category. Maybe i'm just being paranoid but i could swear i heard me speak and knew the second i said something it sounded off. Sentences that i ordinarily could say when i'm sober, somehow refused to roll off my tongue.

Don't you hate it when that happens!?

But i did understand parts of what was being discussed and was able to laugh at most of the appropriate times.

Even now my brain is working extra hard trying to type this out. My English is seriously getting worse. So please excuse any grammar or spelling mistakes.


So anyway J and i went to go have a smoke at the back since restaurants in Germany are non-smoking. And noticed even the exterior was done up. I can only imagine during Summer this place will be packed.


It was freezing that night, so don't be fooled by my lack of layers. I forgot my jacket inside but i think my alcohol kept me from having instant hyperthermia.

...

They also had a gift store where they sold a range of gorgeous Medieval, Gothic Fantasy and Fairy figurines. There were spells, Wiccan books and crystals all at very reasonable prices.

J couldn't resist and ended up buying one of the Veronese collectible pieces. And it also functions as a candle stick holder.


It is the 708th out of 3,544 made, apparently and if i'm not mistaken it's sculptured out of poly-resin. The intricate details and colour makes the piece even more amazing up close.

Not quite there but on the right track.

So i made it through the second week of classes. And although i'm still rather rusty when it comes to speaking, i find that i can comprehend majority of what is being discussed. My conversations with classmates during the breaks and in class are usually in broken German but i guess that gets better over time. But sometimes when i get home and i'm speaking with J, i find myself sometimes having issues talking in English!

I spend half my day trying to get my sentences grammatically correct in one language and when i switch to English, it's throws me off balance. Or like when i know what something is in German, my mind needs time to fish out what the word is in English.

But you'll be happy to know, that i've started to include a few German phrases and words in the conversations i have with J. Well it's more like a combination of German and English words strung together to make sentences. Because sometimes using the German word is much faster than trying to figure out what it is in English.

Maybe i'm a little bit more confident, so it makes it a little easier.

The other morning i even had a brief conversation with one of the bus drivers. There's this one bus driver that charges me only the short trip fare when in really he should charge me the full-trip price because it's more than 'X' amount of stops to my destination. It's only 60 cents cheaper but when you're counting your pennies, every cent counts. Technically he shouldn't but i guess he's just a really nice guy.

So anyway, the questions were pretty basic; Where are you from? What do you do? Are you married? etc and i was happy to say i was able to answer him back... in German - hopefully grammatically correct.

He didn't look confused or thought i was speaking some other language, so that's a good sign.


As for the weather, it's absolutely freezing. Literally.

The other morning was so cold, i could barely feel my fingers. I think it was -2˙C. Our neighbors hedge looked like it was dusted with icing sugar. So i left the house more than happy to wear my feather-down puffy jacket. Not the most flattering cut since i look like a bloated marshmallow but it sure shields me from the icy wind. The weatherman hasn't mentioned anything about snow in this area but i'm guessing it'll come later.

Christmas + snow = a nice combination.

But in a few hours i'll be getting on a train to Hannover. It's only an hour away, so it's not that far. J had a meeting in Hamburg this morning, which is further north and takes 3 hours to drive, so we're meeting at the half way point. Then we're driving to his parents' house which is about 40 minutes away. J's dad, who so happens to work in Malaysia, is in Germany for a visit, so we figured we'd drop by and spend the weekend there.

Anyway, i better sort out what i need to bring since i have a habit of looking like a bag-lady with way too many things.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend and i'll be back soon...