GERMANY
This post is predominantly for the benefit of Rachel Lane-Dixon, who it seems has been reduced to scouring the finer details of my life as they appear in real-time on the internet. I know the title says "day 2" but in all honesty, its only quarter to 1 in the aftenoon, which leaves a shitload of time for something REALLY interesting to happen. And, if it does, you're gonna have to wait at least another 12 hours before you know what it was because the internet is temperamental in Neuerburg. Shot yourself in the foot really, haven't you Rachel, what with your impatience?
I'm only mean because I miss you all.
So yeah, what can I tell you? I've mainly been pootling around with Frau Biehl looking at the classrooms and meeting the staff. I'm struggling to remember the names, even though I remember all the faces.
We ran into a bloke I met yesterday and he asked me jokingly if I could remember his name. Completely nonplussed, and with the names of staff I'd met today still roaming round my head, I fired about 4 names at him before he cottoned on and just told me it again. The worst part was that the guys I met earlier all had classic German names, whereas his was something quite elaborate, so to him I just looked a bit like a twat shouting out all the stereotypical names I could think of.
There's also a very swish swimming pool, which I might try and start using, and a weights room, which will probably never, ever see me. There's also a room full of exercise bikes which I might have been tempted to try out, but not until I know the students who use them a little better. Making small talk on a static vehicle is somehow more awkward than when you're actually bound for a destination, because you can't pretend you've arrived or that you've taken a wrong turn.
I also opened a Girokonto at my local bank, with a woman called Claudia who was just so brilliant I wanted to give her a hug. We did the whole thing in German but she explained it all so well and spoke like such a normal person that the whole thing went really smoothly and I now have a German bank account. Karma will probably rear its ugly head in time and have the account accidentally cancelled, or Claudia will be run over by a cement mixer when I need to speak to her, but for now, all is good.
Oh yeah, and I guess its worth elaborating on a couple of things that have already qualified for facebook material: Nummer Eins - I have found a shop that sells Chocomel! And not those gay little ribena size ones, proper ones, big cardboard rectangle .. thing .. yeah!
Chocomel is the better of the two, seeing as Nummer Zwei is, rather worryingly, a big green UH-1 helicopter with 'Search and rescue" printed in orange on the side. It's been making passes for about an hour, as it did a couple of times yesterday and once earlier this morning. It's the type of helicopter that you always see in photos of the Vietnam war, a big American thing, and the noise is ridiculous as its only flying at about 100 feet. I dunno who they're searching for and rescuing, but I wish they'd bloody find them.
Does this satisfy your cravings, at least for the afternoon?
This post is predominantly for the benefit of Rachel Lane-Dixon, who it seems has been reduced to scouring the finer details of my life as they appear in real-time on the internet. I know the title says "day 2" but in all honesty, its only quarter to 1 in the aftenoon, which leaves a shitload of time for something REALLY interesting to happen. And, if it does, you're gonna have to wait at least another 12 hours before you know what it was because the internet is temperamental in Neuerburg. Shot yourself in the foot really, haven't you Rachel, what with your impatience?
I'm only mean because I miss you all.
So yeah, what can I tell you? I've mainly been pootling around with Frau Biehl looking at the classrooms and meeting the staff. I'm struggling to remember the names, even though I remember all the faces.
We ran into a bloke I met yesterday and he asked me jokingly if I could remember his name. Completely nonplussed, and with the names of staff I'd met today still roaming round my head, I fired about 4 names at him before he cottoned on and just told me it again. The worst part was that the guys I met earlier all had classic German names, whereas his was something quite elaborate, so to him I just looked a bit like a twat shouting out all the stereotypical names I could think of.
There's also a very swish swimming pool, which I might try and start using, and a weights room, which will probably never, ever see me. There's also a room full of exercise bikes which I might have been tempted to try out, but not until I know the students who use them a little better. Making small talk on a static vehicle is somehow more awkward than when you're actually bound for a destination, because you can't pretend you've arrived or that you've taken a wrong turn.
I also opened a Girokonto at my local bank, with a woman called Claudia who was just so brilliant I wanted to give her a hug. We did the whole thing in German but she explained it all so well and spoke like such a normal person that the whole thing went really smoothly and I now have a German bank account. Karma will probably rear its ugly head in time and have the account accidentally cancelled, or Claudia will be run over by a cement mixer when I need to speak to her, but for now, all is good.
Oh yeah, and I guess its worth elaborating on a couple of things that have already qualified for facebook material: Nummer Eins - I have found a shop that sells Chocomel! And not those gay little ribena size ones, proper ones, big cardboard rectangle .. thing .. yeah!
Chocomel is the better of the two, seeing as Nummer Zwei is, rather worryingly, a big green UH-1 helicopter with 'Search and rescue" printed in orange on the side. It's been making passes for about an hour, as it did a couple of times yesterday and once earlier this morning. It's the type of helicopter that you always see in photos of the Vietnam war, a big American thing, and the noise is ridiculous as its only flying at about 100 feet. I dunno who they're searching for and rescuing, but I wish they'd bloody find them.
Does this satisfy your cravings, at least for the afternoon?
