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]
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