Well.. I'm not entirely sure where I left you all.. and since my internet is so rubbish I can't be bothered checking.. so I'll just start from where makes most sense to start from! :)
So.. My sister and her boyfriend came to visit me! That was fun! We went out and ate lots of nice food and stuff and also had a few drinks! We wandered around Potsdam and Berlin and we also got to watch some really awfully cheesy American programme - New York gets a job or something like that. It was so bad but none of us could take our eyes off it!! Well anyway, nothing particularly eventful happened whilst they were here.. it was just a generally good few days :)
Then, I had a day all to myself where I managed to go and join a gym! I went in and did it all in German! It was good! I felt really proud of myself!! Going to be going for the first time tomorrow now that everyone has gone!
Which leads me onto the next part of my week! Jess and Nick came to visit me on Thursday! I went to pick them up from the airport and luckily they arrived early so I didn't have to do any waiting around for them!! We went to Potsdam and bought some food to make a lasagne.. although we did spend forever trying to find a cheese sauce or a sachet to make a cheese sauce from! Found one eventually! Woohoo!
So we ate that, watched films and went to sleep cause we were all knackered! The next day I had to be up at 6.15am! But it wasn't too bad, I got to work with class 1/2 who were all really cute so I didn't mind that :) Then we just wandered around potsdam for ages until we decided we wanted to be really cool and make a poster with Laurence's name on it. (or Lord Percival Lolly Kerans III as he is apparently known). We all probably got a little too excited at this prospect.. myself probably more than the other two since I am such a child! We managed to make each of the letters look really cool and hopefully Jess will get a pic of it up on facebook!! :D
Laurence was already there when we got to the airport so we couldn't be all cheesy waiting for him with it so instead we just held it up for him as he walked towards us! But it was worth it all the same!
Then we went back to mine and watched The Germans have eyes 2 (the hills have eyes 2) and then fell asleep!
Saturday we got up and went to Berlin! We were gonna go up this TV tower thingy but the queuing and wait for it was far too long so we didn't bother in the end. Oh we also got asked to give some foreign woman money and Laurence had a bit of a funny argument with her which resulted in her saying 'Fuck You' though she can't speak english... apparently..! ha
So anyway, instead of going up this tower thing.. I somehow got talked into being pulled along on a trailer type seat thing on the back of a bike to take us to checkpoint charlie! We wandered around a bit and then decided we wanted to go drink! We found a nice pub/restaurant type place and drank lots of nice stuff! Especially the mulled wine! YUM! Then ate nice food too! After that we went on the hunt for a supermarket to buy more alcohol and found one in the end! We probably bought more than we should have done but it was fun all the same! Got back to mine, shoved a film on which we hardly watched and just got lovely and drunk! :D Didn't end up getting to sleep til about 4am but it was a fun night! Made a change actually being able to do something on a night such as drinking! :D
The next day, we went into berlin again with the hope of hiring 2 tandems to do a bike ride but we got there too late and they said we couldnt :( So instead, we went on a boat right where everything they said was in German so Nick and Jess didn't understand a word of it! Then we managed to find a nice looking place to eat and got really nice food. Well, except Jess.. she didn't like hers! And then Laurence flicked candle wax on me cause he is mean! But Nick managed to make Rodriguez out of some wax (a little wax cube basically) It was funny anywhoo! :D
Then we got a train to the main train station and wandered around there for a bit. Then we all went our separate ways. Laurence almost missed his train cause he was in the land of nod stood on his platform but we managed to make sure he got it. Then we got ours and got home nice and quickly ! :D
We watched UP when we got in! It is such an amazing film! I loved it and would watch it again several times given the chance! :D After that we fell asleep.
Monday I had to work so was out until 2.00 but I was very proud of Jess and Nick. They made it all the way into Potsdam without me! So I went and met them there! The xmas markets opened that day so we had a quick look around but it was raining so we went and bought some food to make tea then went home!
We got in and my landlady was just coming out of her room as we got in. Thanks to her, I no longer want to live in this house! She basically got cross with me about having friends staying over, claiming that I never told her there would be three people and I never told her how long they would be staying for. I know 100% that I did so I stood my ground as much as I can in a language I don't fully understand. How dare she call me a liar to my face when she is already making me pay extra money just to have my friends stay anyway and making me pay extra money when I want to use the bloody washing machine! I think she is just taking advantage because I'm English! But anyway.. it resulted in her telling me I'm not allowed more than one friend to stay in the future! I'm paying my rent, I'll have who I want to stay over!! We weren't exactly disruptive and nothing got broken! If she doesn't want me to have people over then she is renting to the wrong person! 1. I'm a student, so I'm going to have friends round. 2. I'm from England so the fact all my friends are so far away is difficult for me to deal with. If they want to come visit of course I'm going to let them!
Apparently it's unfair on the other flatmates?! Well Anne was at home for the majority and the other one downstairs is 2 floors below so not even remotely affected! It's very hypocritical that the old cow landlady is allowed to have anyone she wants over whenever she wants and can make plenty noise, but I just have 3 friends visiting, which i told her about and she agreed to, and I'm in the wrong!?
If I could move out of this flat now, I would! I don't like her! Perhaps things are a little different in Germany, but the way she has behaved is just downright rude! It wouldn't be tolerated in England!
I'm paying the rent plus extra on top to basically be only allowed the right to eat and sleep here and nothing more! Where is the sense in that?!
ARGH!! Rant over! ha
So anyway, today Jess and Nick have gone home too and I also feel like shit. I hardly slept at all last night and woke up with a horrible sore throat and headache and feel quite sick so I haven't been able to go into work today :(
I hope I'm better by thursday cause I'm going to see A Christmas Carol with the two English teachers which will be really good!!
Thats all for now from me anyway!
Lots of love
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Tuesday 24 November 2009
Sunday 8 November 2009
It's been a while...
So where have I been all this time I hear you ask? No.. I haven't just been sat hiding in a hole avoiding the world of blogging! I just haven't got round to updating cause I've had stuff to do! So.. this is probably going to be full of fuzzy memories and whatnot and also will probably be very very long.. but an update is an update.. so here goes!!
Well.. when I last left you all, I was complaining about having to pay 163€ to go to Cologne for my induction course.. so we will take it from there!
So on the Monday.. I got all my trains etc and everything went according to plan which was very good as that was my first train journey anywhere other than Potsdam! My only complaint.. the guy sat opposite me on the train was really creepy and singing.. or should I say grunting.. along to his music! :| but other than that, everything ran smoothly and I got to where I should have been when I should have been there! :D
So after making us wait around for aaaages in the train station and on the coaches and everything - the police even told us we had to move!! - we finally set off from Cologne to Altenberg which was about 45 mins away or something like that. We got there and it was raining and no one really knew what they were supposed to be doing or where they were supposed to be going or anything because we weren't told a thing! Finally.. they told us we had to go inside (which they could have bloody done sooner so we didn't get all wet!!) We went into this big hall thing and all sat down. I looked around and so many people already seemed to know each other but I didn't have a clue who anyone that was there was!! They did a short introduction type thing saying who all these different teachers from the different areas of Germany were and thanked us for coming and explained a few other things. Then they announced who would be in what room and who with etc. It's at this point I realised just what a bloody small world it is. I ended up sharing a room with a girl who I went to Brownies AND High School with and she still lives in Meltham now. I mean.. I didn't really know her, but was just bizarre to be over 800 miles from home and still meet someone I sort of know and end up in the same room as them!
So anyway I won't bother going into all the ins and outs of what happened there cause a lot of it won't interest most of you. We did however have to do mock lessons, so I had to teach a group of 20 - 22 year olds and pretend they were German primary school kids. Was quite funny really. Oh and on the last night we did a quiz, which was extremely difficult! Though I did know one of the answers..! And even the people that did the quiz didn't know why. The question was 'What nationality is Super Ted?' Oh yeah! I knew! WELSH!! lol
Well.. when I last left you all, I was complaining about having to pay 163€ to go to Cologne for my induction course.. so we will take it from there!
So on the Monday.. I got all my trains etc and everything went according to plan which was very good as that was my first train journey anywhere other than Potsdam! My only complaint.. the guy sat opposite me on the train was really creepy and singing.. or should I say grunting.. along to his music! :| but other than that, everything ran smoothly and I got to where I should have been when I should have been there! :D
So after making us wait around for aaaages in the train station and on the coaches and everything - the police even told us we had to move!! - we finally set off from Cologne to Altenberg which was about 45 mins away or something like that. We got there and it was raining and no one really knew what they were supposed to be doing or where they were supposed to be going or anything because we weren't told a thing! Finally.. they told us we had to go inside (which they could have bloody done sooner so we didn't get all wet!!) We went into this big hall thing and all sat down. I looked around and so many people already seemed to know each other but I didn't have a clue who anyone that was there was!! They did a short introduction type thing saying who all these different teachers from the different areas of Germany were and thanked us for coming and explained a few other things. Then they announced who would be in what room and who with etc. It's at this point I realised just what a bloody small world it is. I ended up sharing a room with a girl who I went to Brownies AND High School with and she still lives in Meltham now. I mean.. I didn't really know her, but was just bizarre to be over 800 miles from home and still meet someone I sort of know and end up in the same room as them!
So anyway I won't bother going into all the ins and outs of what happened there cause a lot of it won't interest most of you. We did however have to do mock lessons, so I had to teach a group of 20 - 22 year olds and pretend they were German primary school kids. Was quite funny really. Oh and on the last night we did a quiz, which was extremely difficult! Though I did know one of the answers..! And even the people that did the quiz didn't know why. The question was 'What nationality is Super Ted?' Oh yeah! I knew! WELSH!! lol
Oh and also.. the money I complained I had to pay to travel there... they reimbursed us with 100€ so it wasn't as bad as I expected really. So anyway, I came away from there with a few friends and all in all it wasn't a bad 3/4 days. Oh and on the train coming back.. I had a Subway for my dinner! So can't complain :D yum!!
When I got back it was the umm.. 8th October so at that point I began counting down the days til I went home! :P I didn't really do much between then and going home. Anne's sister had come to visit. But I didn't do that much. Oh I had to help out at this thing at school where we did a 'traditional' English teatime with cakes etc. Especially with the oh so traditional English 'Orange Cake'.... no ? I hadn't heard of it either! But they made me help out cause it was something to do with an English project they are doing with schools from all over the world so they wanted me to show my face basically to say look at us, we have an actual English person helping! :D I didn't mind, beats doing nothing at home!
So anyway, after a few days of not really doing much.. it was time to go home!! Woot! I couldn't wait! Can't believe I wasn't going to bother going home at all until xmas!! Now this was my first time getting to the airport alone! Luckily there is a train that goes directly there and the station is actually attached to the airport so I had no problems. But.. I didn't want to arrive too late because I had images of huge queues and missing check in and missing my flight etc.. so I got a train that I knew would get me there on time... Or in this case, early! Whilst I was sat around waiting, I was greeted with the sight of a German policeman, gun in hand! Scary stuff! ha. Though luckily, I didn't have to sit around for too long once I arrived. I managed to check-in relatively queue free. I was also very impressed with myself going through the metal detector machine things. Every single person in front of me.. for about 5 people, set the machine off and had to be scanned with the hand held thing. I just walked through.. no noise at all and off I went.. laughing in my head at those that were scanned!
Had to get something to eat now.. so went to Burger King.. and the tables didn't even have chairs.. so I had to stand at a table all on my own eating a burger! What a loser! haha. After that I had a bit of time to kill so I went and looked around all the duty free shops and stuff. There was quite a lot of stuff I wanted to buy but in the end I settled on buying a shot belt! A belt.. with about 24 mini bottles of alcohol all around it! I loved it! Though it didn't last long. It was gone almost as soon as I got back! :P
So anyway, I finally got on my plane with no worries, got a window seat as I had wanted and all was well :D When I landed my bag came out relatively quickly again! Lucky me! James was picking me up from the airport so I walked out to the arrivals bit and looked around. Couldn't see him. Waited a bit, looked around a bit more and still saw nothing. (I knew he was already here at this point cause I had texted him) so in the end I called him. Asked where he was, said I couldn't see him... turns out he was stood behind a pillar and hadn't seen me come out! The idiot :P But we went to his car and drove off back to his! :D
It was then at his that my shot belt soon got drunk! Along with a bottle of wine! :D Good times! Met his parents for the first time then too, which wasn't all that scary really! :D
So on the Friday I took my stuff home, said hi to my parents then stopped at James's again cause we were going to the Trafford Centre the next day. Great I thought! I had a lot of money to spend and a lot of things I wanted to buy! So we drive all the way there, get inside and start walking around. I'd say no more than 10 minutes in.. what do I realise... ? I don't have my bloody card with me! So can't buy a thing!! Luckily James lent me a bit of money so I managed to buy some stuff and just paid him back! I'm a complete tit at times!
Didn't really do much on Sunday. Oh actually, had Sunday Lunch at James's and met his sister for the first time then too! :D
Then on Monday, we went to Whitby for the day! The weather behaved itself, though it was bloody freezing! We walked around all the nice shops, the whales bone thingy, the abbey and all sorts. I even bought a lucky duck! Lets hope some of the luck rubs off on me :D
We then went out Monday night and James got very very very drunk! Was funny though! :D Just about managed to get him home in one piece! :P
I don't think we did too much on Tuesday or Wednesday, but I can't remember! But Wednesday night, we went out! I got very drunk, don't remember a lot of it but at least I made up for James being so drunk on Monday since he had to practically carry me home! :D Good times! Nice way to meet his friends for the first time too! :D haha
I want to say that we did something else whilst I was home too.. but I can't for the life in me think what it would be.... ! On Saturday I went shopping and must have spent about £200 on all sorts of different things! Then that night we had a very nice curry at mine :D YUM! Then on Sunday I had to fly back to Germany :( Boohoo! haha. Wasn't too bad though since my parents were coming back with me for a few days :D
Everything worked out fine with the flight coming back, no delays or anything which was good :D Took my parents to their hotel and then got a taxi home. Didn't end up getting home until about midnight! Next day, went into Berlin with my parents. We looked around some shops and also went on a boat tour thing (photos on facebook) which showed us all these different governmental buildings and stuff do do with East and West Germany, cause the river we were on had split the too. There were also things commemorating people who had died trying to cross the river to get to West Germany. That was all very interesting and stuff :D
Then, the next day we had a walk around Potsdam, just looked at the shops etc cause my parents were flying home that day so didn't have too much time to do much else. It was all very good though :D
They left 27th October and since then I haven't done too much. I have had to plan a few lessons for school. One of the lessons I had to plan was on Guy Fawkes. Something we don't even learn about here! Can anyone tell me anything about him other than the fact he tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament? Nope, didn't think so! So that involved a lot of research etc, then a lot of dumbing down cause it was aimed at Primary School kids learning English as a second language! That went down quite well though and I think they found it fairly interesting!
I also went to a Filmpark in Babelsberg with Anne last Saturday! It was bloody freezing but it was a really fun day. There was all sorts of different things to look around, mostly German tv shows so I didn't really know who any of the characters were but it was still fun. We also went into a 4D cinema (same as 3D but the seats move etc..) and went into a TV studio where they were showing us how all the different filming things worked etc. Anne and I had to pretend to be on a soap for that.. in front of about 100 - 150 Germans! :| but it was cool. I didn't have to say anything - I was just a background character! :D
Then, we ended the day there watching a stunt show. It was really cool. They were abseiling from really tall buildings and free-falling from high towers and doing jumps on motorbikes and running around whilst set on fire! It was really good :D haha.
Since then, I've just been back at school so haven't done too much really. The weather is cold so I bought scarf, gloves and this nice headband thingy instead of a hat! :D they keep me nice and warm :D
Oh and yesterday, I met up with a couple of friends who live nearby that I met in Altenberg - David and Erdem. We went to Erdem's flat here and met his girlfriend, Tara. We went to a park near their flat called Mauerpark and set off some fireworks which were cool :D then went back there and had some nice food and stuff! It was a fun day :D I even managed to make my way there ok! Though on the way back, my very first connection got to where I was meant to be 2 mins late which made me miss my next connection. Not a problem too much cause there was another not long after, but cause I had missed the 2nd connection, it meant I had missed my bus home from Potsdam! The next bus was going to be in 27 mins so I thought no way! Got a taxi home instead!
Now today is Sunday.. I haven't done too much so far apart from a bit of exercise and showering! But all in all life is good and I'm in a very happy mood right now! :D
You are now all officially updated on my life here in Deutschland! I'll try not to leave it so long the next time I update!! :D
Lots of Love
AMY!! :D
When I got back it was the umm.. 8th October so at that point I began counting down the days til I went home! :P I didn't really do much between then and going home. Anne's sister had come to visit. But I didn't do that much. Oh I had to help out at this thing at school where we did a 'traditional' English teatime with cakes etc. Especially with the oh so traditional English 'Orange Cake'.... no ? I hadn't heard of it either! But they made me help out cause it was something to do with an English project they are doing with schools from all over the world so they wanted me to show my face basically to say look at us, we have an actual English person helping! :D I didn't mind, beats doing nothing at home!
So anyway, after a few days of not really doing much.. it was time to go home!! Woot! I couldn't wait! Can't believe I wasn't going to bother going home at all until xmas!! Now this was my first time getting to the airport alone! Luckily there is a train that goes directly there and the station is actually attached to the airport so I had no problems. But.. I didn't want to arrive too late because I had images of huge queues and missing check in and missing my flight etc.. so I got a train that I knew would get me there on time... Or in this case, early! Whilst I was sat around waiting, I was greeted with the sight of a German policeman, gun in hand! Scary stuff! ha. Though luckily, I didn't have to sit around for too long once I arrived. I managed to check-in relatively queue free. I was also very impressed with myself going through the metal detector machine things. Every single person in front of me.. for about 5 people, set the machine off and had to be scanned with the hand held thing. I just walked through.. no noise at all and off I went.. laughing in my head at those that were scanned!
Had to get something to eat now.. so went to Burger King.. and the tables didn't even have chairs.. so I had to stand at a table all on my own eating a burger! What a loser! haha. After that I had a bit of time to kill so I went and looked around all the duty free shops and stuff. There was quite a lot of stuff I wanted to buy but in the end I settled on buying a shot belt! A belt.. with about 24 mini bottles of alcohol all around it! I loved it! Though it didn't last long. It was gone almost as soon as I got back! :P
So anyway, I finally got on my plane with no worries, got a window seat as I had wanted and all was well :D When I landed my bag came out relatively quickly again! Lucky me! James was picking me up from the airport so I walked out to the arrivals bit and looked around. Couldn't see him. Waited a bit, looked around a bit more and still saw nothing. (I knew he was already here at this point cause I had texted him) so in the end I called him. Asked where he was, said I couldn't see him... turns out he was stood behind a pillar and hadn't seen me come out! The idiot :P But we went to his car and drove off back to his! :D
It was then at his that my shot belt soon got drunk! Along with a bottle of wine! :D Good times! Met his parents for the first time then too, which wasn't all that scary really! :D
So on the Friday I took my stuff home, said hi to my parents then stopped at James's again cause we were going to the Trafford Centre the next day. Great I thought! I had a lot of money to spend and a lot of things I wanted to buy! So we drive all the way there, get inside and start walking around. I'd say no more than 10 minutes in.. what do I realise... ? I don't have my bloody card with me! So can't buy a thing!! Luckily James lent me a bit of money so I managed to buy some stuff and just paid him back! I'm a complete tit at times!
Didn't really do much on Sunday. Oh actually, had Sunday Lunch at James's and met his sister for the first time then too! :D
Then on Monday, we went to Whitby for the day! The weather behaved itself, though it was bloody freezing! We walked around all the nice shops, the whales bone thingy, the abbey and all sorts. I even bought a lucky duck! Lets hope some of the luck rubs off on me :D
We then went out Monday night and James got very very very drunk! Was funny though! :D Just about managed to get him home in one piece! :P
I don't think we did too much on Tuesday or Wednesday, but I can't remember! But Wednesday night, we went out! I got very drunk, don't remember a lot of it but at least I made up for James being so drunk on Monday since he had to practically carry me home! :D Good times! Nice way to meet his friends for the first time too! :D haha
I want to say that we did something else whilst I was home too.. but I can't for the life in me think what it would be.... ! On Saturday I went shopping and must have spent about £200 on all sorts of different things! Then that night we had a very nice curry at mine :D YUM! Then on Sunday I had to fly back to Germany :( Boohoo! haha. Wasn't too bad though since my parents were coming back with me for a few days :D
Everything worked out fine with the flight coming back, no delays or anything which was good :D Took my parents to their hotel and then got a taxi home. Didn't end up getting home until about midnight! Next day, went into Berlin with my parents. We looked around some shops and also went on a boat tour thing (photos on facebook) which showed us all these different governmental buildings and stuff do do with East and West Germany, cause the river we were on had split the too. There were also things commemorating people who had died trying to cross the river to get to West Germany. That was all very interesting and stuff :D
Then, the next day we had a walk around Potsdam, just looked at the shops etc cause my parents were flying home that day so didn't have too much time to do much else. It was all very good though :D
They left 27th October and since then I haven't done too much. I have had to plan a few lessons for school. One of the lessons I had to plan was on Guy Fawkes. Something we don't even learn about here! Can anyone tell me anything about him other than the fact he tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament? Nope, didn't think so! So that involved a lot of research etc, then a lot of dumbing down cause it was aimed at Primary School kids learning English as a second language! That went down quite well though and I think they found it fairly interesting!
I also went to a Filmpark in Babelsberg with Anne last Saturday! It was bloody freezing but it was a really fun day. There was all sorts of different things to look around, mostly German tv shows so I didn't really know who any of the characters were but it was still fun. We also went into a 4D cinema (same as 3D but the seats move etc..) and went into a TV studio where they were showing us how all the different filming things worked etc. Anne and I had to pretend to be on a soap for that.. in front of about 100 - 150 Germans! :| but it was cool. I didn't have to say anything - I was just a background character! :D
Then, we ended the day there watching a stunt show. It was really cool. They were abseiling from really tall buildings and free-falling from high towers and doing jumps on motorbikes and running around whilst set on fire! It was really good :D haha.
Since then, I've just been back at school so haven't done too much really. The weather is cold so I bought scarf, gloves and this nice headband thingy instead of a hat! :D they keep me nice and warm :D
Oh and yesterday, I met up with a couple of friends who live nearby that I met in Altenberg - David and Erdem. We went to Erdem's flat here and met his girlfriend, Tara. We went to a park near their flat called Mauerpark and set off some fireworks which were cool :D then went back there and had some nice food and stuff! It was a fun day :D I even managed to make my way there ok! Though on the way back, my very first connection got to where I was meant to be 2 mins late which made me miss my next connection. Not a problem too much cause there was another not long after, but cause I had missed the 2nd connection, it meant I had missed my bus home from Potsdam! The next bus was going to be in 27 mins so I thought no way! Got a taxi home instead!
Now today is Sunday.. I haven't done too much so far apart from a bit of exercise and showering! But all in all life is good and I'm in a very happy mood right now! :D
You are now all officially updated on my life here in Deutschland! I'll try not to leave it so long the next time I update!! :D
Lots of Love
AMY!! :D
Saturday 3 October 2009
Ohh how we all love an update..!
So erm.. I should have done this sooner really, due to the fact that my memory is now failing and I can't really remember what I have done between now and that last time I wrote. Though I will try my best and perhaps once I get typing it will all just come out!
So the rest of that week, up until the Sunday, I didn't do too much. Though I did have some rather amusing conversations on msn on the Saturday night! :D
Then, on the Sunday Anne came home, so I had company once more! Woot. Lol. Hmm then what did I do.. I don't even remember! Wow this is going to be a boring blog.
On one of the days I went walking to this really gorgeous lake about half an hour from where I live! It was so peaceful and wow! Just wish I had had my camera with me to get a few pictures up. However I will be getting my camera from home soon!
Speaking of home... That's what I did!!! I booked flights to go home! So for all you blog readers out there.. I'm home 15th - 25th October! Be around and we can do stuff :D
Ohh in fact, another thing I did last Saturday - this is turning out to be more eventful than I thought - I got a haircut!! I was so brave.. I just went in and then immediately regretted my decision. I went to the nearest decent looking hairdressers, didn't need an appointment so sat down to wait. As I sat, I looked around me.. and what did I see? Two rather old, late 40s - early 50s, women cutting hair. And in all fairness, their own hairstyles weren't the best! Panic hit me. I just thought to myself.. they can't do my hair! I'm gonna end up having a bowl plonked on my head and them just cutting around it! Argh! But.. as I was taken to my seat to have my haircut... who should come out of the back room... A young woman with really gorgeous hair! And she was cutting my hair! Hallelujah!! So I managed to get that done and came out the other side more or less alive and with a better haircut than I expected! Phew!
Hmm.. so then the rest of the week, me and Anne didn't really do that much. We went into Potsdam a few times and walked around looking in shops at gorgeous clothes and shoes that I can't even afford to buy yet because I haven't been paid here yet! I saw the most beautiful pair of heels!! I wanted them. But I know I would have never for the life in me been able to walk in them! :( boohoo! Pretty lucky I couldn't afford them really!
Ohh and we found a British/American shop! PG Tips, Marmite, Walkers Crisps, Ben and Jerrys... I'm sure you can imagine the delight on my face when I saw all these things! Though I didn't buy anything! Ohh and Anne didn't know what fudge was! How do you explain what that is ?! I said it's like soft toffee.. though it's not really because I like toffee and I don't like fudge! But anyway, enough about toffee and fudge!!
The weather here has finally decided to be naughty and rain on me lots! :( the mean thing! But lately I have been in a permanent good mood for some reason unknown to me, so nothing can stop that, not even the rain! :D
Went into Potsdam yesterday and wanted to buy some salmon from the fish counter in the supermarket.. I thought I'd said everything really well in German (and I had.. to be fair)... but nooo they had to have put the signs in the wrong place so I had asked for a huuuuge piece of salmon instead of just a small one. But I mean come on.. salmon fillet.. you would assume that is a small one.. wouldn't you? Or is that just me. Then when I said no not that one, this one his.. the man got a bit angry and was like which. I can't do any bloody better than point through a piece of glass if they can't get their signs in the right place!! I got my salmon in the end though :D Gonna have it tonight! Yum! :D
So.. I've been left all alone again by Anne, she is going to a golden wedding anniversary for the weekend. Gonna head into Potsdam in an hour or so.
Ohh and then on Monday.. I have to spend about 5 or 6 hours on trains going to Cologne. Which cost me 167- € to go to an induction course that I have to do... a month after I started.. yes, that's right.. a month AFTER! And I have to pay another 30- € once I am there! Bit of a waste if you ask me. Though it does mean I get to meet some of the other language assistants in the area near me. Also from what I've heard from people who have already been there it's a laugh so I'm kinda looking forward to it actually :D
Well, that's all for now from me! Wasn't all that interesting but I'll try and update you sooner next time! Whilst things are still fresh in my mind!
Toodles for now folk!
xxxxxxx
So the rest of that week, up until the Sunday, I didn't do too much. Though I did have some rather amusing conversations on msn on the Saturday night! :D
Then, on the Sunday Anne came home, so I had company once more! Woot. Lol. Hmm then what did I do.. I don't even remember! Wow this is going to be a boring blog.
On one of the days I went walking to this really gorgeous lake about half an hour from where I live! It was so peaceful and wow! Just wish I had had my camera with me to get a few pictures up. However I will be getting my camera from home soon!
Speaking of home... That's what I did!!! I booked flights to go home! So for all you blog readers out there.. I'm home 15th - 25th October! Be around and we can do stuff :D
Ohh in fact, another thing I did last Saturday - this is turning out to be more eventful than I thought - I got a haircut!! I was so brave.. I just went in and then immediately regretted my decision. I went to the nearest decent looking hairdressers, didn't need an appointment so sat down to wait. As I sat, I looked around me.. and what did I see? Two rather old, late 40s - early 50s, women cutting hair. And in all fairness, their own hairstyles weren't the best! Panic hit me. I just thought to myself.. they can't do my hair! I'm gonna end up having a bowl plonked on my head and them just cutting around it! Argh! But.. as I was taken to my seat to have my haircut... who should come out of the back room... A young woman with really gorgeous hair! And she was cutting my hair! Hallelujah!! So I managed to get that done and came out the other side more or less alive and with a better haircut than I expected! Phew!
Hmm.. so then the rest of the week, me and Anne didn't really do that much. We went into Potsdam a few times and walked around looking in shops at gorgeous clothes and shoes that I can't even afford to buy yet because I haven't been paid here yet! I saw the most beautiful pair of heels!! I wanted them. But I know I would have never for the life in me been able to walk in them! :( boohoo! Pretty lucky I couldn't afford them really!
Ohh and we found a British/American shop! PG Tips, Marmite, Walkers Crisps, Ben and Jerrys... I'm sure you can imagine the delight on my face when I saw all these things! Though I didn't buy anything! Ohh and Anne didn't know what fudge was! How do you explain what that is ?! I said it's like soft toffee.. though it's not really because I like toffee and I don't like fudge! But anyway, enough about toffee and fudge!!
The weather here has finally decided to be naughty and rain on me lots! :( the mean thing! But lately I have been in a permanent good mood for some reason unknown to me, so nothing can stop that, not even the rain! :D
Went into Potsdam yesterday and wanted to buy some salmon from the fish counter in the supermarket.. I thought I'd said everything really well in German (and I had.. to be fair)... but nooo they had to have put the signs in the wrong place so I had asked for a huuuuge piece of salmon instead of just a small one. But I mean come on.. salmon fillet.. you would assume that is a small one.. wouldn't you? Or is that just me. Then when I said no not that one, this one his.. the man got a bit angry and was like which. I can't do any bloody better than point through a piece of glass if they can't get their signs in the right place!! I got my salmon in the end though :D Gonna have it tonight! Yum! :D
So.. I've been left all alone again by Anne, she is going to a golden wedding anniversary for the weekend. Gonna head into Potsdam in an hour or so.
Ohh and then on Monday.. I have to spend about 5 or 6 hours on trains going to Cologne. Which cost me 167- € to go to an induction course that I have to do... a month after I started.. yes, that's right.. a month AFTER! And I have to pay another 30- € once I am there! Bit of a waste if you ask me. Though it does mean I get to meet some of the other language assistants in the area near me. Also from what I've heard from people who have already been there it's a laugh so I'm kinda looking forward to it actually :D
Well, that's all for now from me! Wasn't all that interesting but I'll try and update you sooner next time! Whilst things are still fresh in my mind!
Toodles for now folk!
xxxxxxx
Wednesday 23 September 2009
2 weeks all alone!
Well! Hello, hello, hello! Time for an update methinks!
Mostly cause it has been a while but also cause of the fact that I have time on my hands!
Ok so I last left you all in the amazement of the canoe race! What a fun day that was! That was ages ago, though i'm not entirely convinced that too much has gone on since then!
The following day my flatmate went home.. in fact, I think I told you all this already. But basically, she is still at home now and has been since that Sunday! Almost 2 weeks by my count! So what have I done since then.. hmm...
Oh I had to go into Potsdam to collect my bank card.. yes that's right.. they don't send them to you here.. you have to go get them once you have got the pin! Probably a better system in case someone gets your letters by mistake! But still.. It meant I had to do some German speaking... I got about as far as 'I got this letter..' and she just nodded, walked off, got my card and made me sign something! So it wasn't all that bad! :D
Then that week I didn't really do much. Just lots of worky worky goodness! Not much interesting to tell on that front really.. except the annoying song I have permanently etched into my brain... 'In my school bag, my school bag, I've got so many things, I've got a rubber and a pencil, a ruler and a pen, In my school bag, my school bag, I've got so many things!'
OMG... I'll sing it for you all when I'm back at xmas cause I just know how much you would love to hear that! Might even do a special request at warehouse.. 'Hi Mr DJ.. can I sing my own song please?' :P haha
But all in all that was a fairly uneventful week.
Then on umm.. Friday I think it was.. or maybe Thursday.. I began exercising! Which has now led me to hate James! Grrr! Only kidding, he's my new personal trainer cause I asked him nicely.. he makes me exercise really hard! Speaking of exercise.. for those of you who didn't read it on my facebook status.. since I last weighed myself (which I think was in easter) I have lost 9lb! To some of you that may not sound like a lot over such a long period of time, but to me that is an achievement and a half!! I am so proud of myself! I just need to keep going now!
On saturday I went and did some shopping. Food and whatnot -the healthiest you have ever seen! Ohh and a bottle of wine! But of course, in true Amy style, something had to go wrong! The wine was cheap.. €2.99 for a litre.. so you would assume screw top.. the cheap ones don't have corks of course not! Oh no.. this one did! And I didn't realise til I got home.. and then once I realised.. I then found out there was no corkscrew in my flat.. and it was too late to go back! So what do I do? I don't say ohh no worries, i'll drink the wine another day when i've bought a corkscrew.. no no no! I ask everyone and anyone if they know how to open it without! After several failed attempts with many different objects.. someone finally came up with the most genius idea in the world! Pan of boiling water + wine bottle in pan = Cork comes out!! Woop! So I got my wine.... even if it was a little warm and I had to leave it in the fridge! Bought a corkscrew now though! Lesson learnt!
So I stayed up until about 4am on msn talking to someone whilst we both drank wine :P haha and didn't wake up the next day until 2.40! I think that's the latest I've ever woken up... ever! Though no hangover at least!
Monday was my day off.. cause I get every other monday off at school so I went and did a bit more shopping - I even bought House Bunny on dvd.. though I haven't watched it in German yet, only english! Oh and I bought some weighing scales cause I'm on a bit of a weight loss mish at the moment so I figured I ought to know how i'm progressing! Though again in true Amy style... got them home.. no batteries! (bought electric cause they were cheaper) so couldn't even find out how much I weighed until the next day.
Though when I eventually did find out.. how happy I was!!! (as mentioned earlier..!)
So.. today is Wednesday.. I went to school.. from 8.00 - 9.30.. seems almost pointless but at least I'm up and doing stuff ! I just finished eating a nice juicy grapefruit! Now it's time to do some more exercise...
Wish me luck blog fans!!!!
Tooooodles!
xxxxx
Mostly cause it has been a while but also cause of the fact that I have time on my hands!
Ok so I last left you all in the amazement of the canoe race! What a fun day that was! That was ages ago, though i'm not entirely convinced that too much has gone on since then!
The following day my flatmate went home.. in fact, I think I told you all this already. But basically, she is still at home now and has been since that Sunday! Almost 2 weeks by my count! So what have I done since then.. hmm...
Oh I had to go into Potsdam to collect my bank card.. yes that's right.. they don't send them to you here.. you have to go get them once you have got the pin! Probably a better system in case someone gets your letters by mistake! But still.. It meant I had to do some German speaking... I got about as far as 'I got this letter..' and she just nodded, walked off, got my card and made me sign something! So it wasn't all that bad! :D
Then that week I didn't really do much. Just lots of worky worky goodness! Not much interesting to tell on that front really.. except the annoying song I have permanently etched into my brain... 'In my school bag, my school bag, I've got so many things, I've got a rubber and a pencil, a ruler and a pen, In my school bag, my school bag, I've got so many things!'
OMG... I'll sing it for you all when I'm back at xmas cause I just know how much you would love to hear that! Might even do a special request at warehouse.. 'Hi Mr DJ.. can I sing my own song please?' :P haha
But all in all that was a fairly uneventful week.
Then on umm.. Friday I think it was.. or maybe Thursday.. I began exercising! Which has now led me to hate James! Grrr! Only kidding, he's my new personal trainer cause I asked him nicely.. he makes me exercise really hard! Speaking of exercise.. for those of you who didn't read it on my facebook status.. since I last weighed myself (which I think was in easter) I have lost 9lb! To some of you that may not sound like a lot over such a long period of time, but to me that is an achievement and a half!! I am so proud of myself! I just need to keep going now!
On saturday I went and did some shopping. Food and whatnot -the healthiest you have ever seen! Ohh and a bottle of wine! But of course, in true Amy style, something had to go wrong! The wine was cheap.. €2.99 for a litre.. so you would assume screw top.. the cheap ones don't have corks of course not! Oh no.. this one did! And I didn't realise til I got home.. and then once I realised.. I then found out there was no corkscrew in my flat.. and it was too late to go back! So what do I do? I don't say ohh no worries, i'll drink the wine another day when i've bought a corkscrew.. no no no! I ask everyone and anyone if they know how to open it without! After several failed attempts with many different objects.. someone finally came up with the most genius idea in the world! Pan of boiling water + wine bottle in pan = Cork comes out!! Woop! So I got my wine.... even if it was a little warm and I had to leave it in the fridge! Bought a corkscrew now though! Lesson learnt!
So I stayed up until about 4am on msn talking to someone whilst we both drank wine :P haha and didn't wake up the next day until 2.40! I think that's the latest I've ever woken up... ever! Though no hangover at least!
Monday was my day off.. cause I get every other monday off at school so I went and did a bit more shopping - I even bought House Bunny on dvd.. though I haven't watched it in German yet, only english! Oh and I bought some weighing scales cause I'm on a bit of a weight loss mish at the moment so I figured I ought to know how i'm progressing! Though again in true Amy style... got them home.. no batteries! (bought electric cause they were cheaper) so couldn't even find out how much I weighed until the next day.
Though when I eventually did find out.. how happy I was!!! (as mentioned earlier..!)
So.. today is Wednesday.. I went to school.. from 8.00 - 9.30.. seems almost pointless but at least I'm up and doing stuff ! I just finished eating a nice juicy grapefruit! Now it's time to do some more exercise...
Wish me luck blog fans!!!!
Tooooodles!
xxxxx
Sunday 13 September 2009
A quick update cause I had a fun day yesterday! :)
This is just going to be a quick one.. whilst I'm waiting for two films i'm trying to watch online to load!
So yesterday.. I went into Potsdam with Anne and we went to watch a Canoeing/Kayaking Race thingy in the canal! It was the Germans against the Hungarians! (that's what they are called right?)
Well anyway, that's irrelevant! We found ourselves a good position right next to the start line and waited! I think we got there a bit too early, but it meant we got a good view :D Finally.. the announcer said something incredibly fuzzy in German that I didn't understand.. then it all began! Well.. when I say began.. I mean there was about 20 minutes of 4 old men stood on a stage saying things auf Deutsch! I think they were saying some stuff about the canoe race thingy cause it was the 5th year they had done it! Then finally, one of the men said thankyou for coming and welcome to the 5th annual Potsdam canoe race.. in German though of course! hehe. Everyone cheered then these two girls were pulled along by a jet ski carrying a german flag and a hungarian flag!
Finally people got into their kayaks and raced! There was lots of races.. cause it was 1 v 1 each time. So they had to make sure everyone in every category got to race against each other! Thankfully though, the sun was shining and it was fun, so I didn't mind that it took so long to do all this! (Though I did regret the sun shining part later.. cause I am now a suitably unpleasant shade of pink! and my nose is sore!)
The Germans won pretty much all of the races.. I'm not sure what points people got for what.. but in the end I think it was something like 40 - 13 to the Germans!! So I cheered... didn't want anyone around me to think I didn't like them! Eep! Scary! :P hehe
Ohh and whilst I was stood watching all this... there was the scariest thing in the world ever!! I think it was a grasshopper! But it was like... 2 inches long and 0.5 inches wide and it was just sat on the wall right in front of me! Now.. I wouldn't exactly say i'm a fan of bugs! Quite the opposite.. so I almost screamed! Anne laughed at me and just said it's not dangerous! But I didn't take my eyes off that craftly little bugger for quite some time!! Eventually.. we had moved down a bit to let someone else squeeze in next to us.. and that person knocked it off the wall by accident and stood on it! I don't even think they realise now that they did it.. They are probably still walking round with grasshopper intestines on their shoe! So they will never know, even now.. how much they saved my life!! :| haha! Dramatic much?
Anywhoo after all this racing finished, they did a water ski show! There were jumps and everything and people were doing backflips and all sorts on their water skis! It was amazing! I wanted a go! Though knowing me Id be sat ready to be pulled along and i'd either let go of the rope or i'd just fall face first into the water and get dragged around in an oh so dignified manner! So lucky I didn't have a go! :P
After all that was done, Anne and I went to get some food! I had some form of steak sandwich.. It was called Nackensteak.. which I later found out was pork neck meat.. mmm tasty! ha. It wasn't half bad actually, bit fatty for my liking though! Then we went home.
At home, I read a bit more Lord of the Rings whilst I let Anne borrow my internet! Then I went on msn and was kept up til 3am! Was nice conversation though! So all is well! :D And now its umm about 1.50pm and I haven't done much today! So you are all officially up to date with my life!
Oohhhhh!! One more thing! I believe I may actually have moved to the sex capital of Germany!! Whilst being here, in Potsdam I have seen a total of 2 'erotic shops', an 'erotic cinema', an 'erotic dvd shop' and signs all over for an 'erotic fashion show'.. if this isn't the sex capital then it is most certainly the capital for all things erotic!! And no.. before you ask.. I haven't visited any of them!! You cheeky people!! hehe
That's all for now in my world!
Toodles!!
xxxxxxx
So yesterday.. I went into Potsdam with Anne and we went to watch a Canoeing/Kayaking Race thingy in the canal! It was the Germans against the Hungarians! (that's what they are called right?)
Well anyway, that's irrelevant! We found ourselves a good position right next to the start line and waited! I think we got there a bit too early, but it meant we got a good view :D Finally.. the announcer said something incredibly fuzzy in German that I didn't understand.. then it all began! Well.. when I say began.. I mean there was about 20 minutes of 4 old men stood on a stage saying things auf Deutsch! I think they were saying some stuff about the canoe race thingy cause it was the 5th year they had done it! Then finally, one of the men said thankyou for coming and welcome to the 5th annual Potsdam canoe race.. in German though of course! hehe. Everyone cheered then these two girls were pulled along by a jet ski carrying a german flag and a hungarian flag!
Finally people got into their kayaks and raced! There was lots of races.. cause it was 1 v 1 each time. So they had to make sure everyone in every category got to race against each other! Thankfully though, the sun was shining and it was fun, so I didn't mind that it took so long to do all this! (Though I did regret the sun shining part later.. cause I am now a suitably unpleasant shade of pink! and my nose is sore!)
The Germans won pretty much all of the races.. I'm not sure what points people got for what.. but in the end I think it was something like 40 - 13 to the Germans!! So I cheered... didn't want anyone around me to think I didn't like them! Eep! Scary! :P hehe
Ohh and whilst I was stood watching all this... there was the scariest thing in the world ever!! I think it was a grasshopper! But it was like... 2 inches long and 0.5 inches wide and it was just sat on the wall right in front of me! Now.. I wouldn't exactly say i'm a fan of bugs! Quite the opposite.. so I almost screamed! Anne laughed at me and just said it's not dangerous! But I didn't take my eyes off that craftly little bugger for quite some time!! Eventually.. we had moved down a bit to let someone else squeeze in next to us.. and that person knocked it off the wall by accident and stood on it! I don't even think they realise now that they did it.. They are probably still walking round with grasshopper intestines on their shoe! So they will never know, even now.. how much they saved my life!! :| haha! Dramatic much?
Anywhoo after all this racing finished, they did a water ski show! There were jumps and everything and people were doing backflips and all sorts on their water skis! It was amazing! I wanted a go! Though knowing me Id be sat ready to be pulled along and i'd either let go of the rope or i'd just fall face first into the water and get dragged around in an oh so dignified manner! So lucky I didn't have a go! :P
After all that was done, Anne and I went to get some food! I had some form of steak sandwich.. It was called Nackensteak.. which I later found out was pork neck meat.. mmm tasty! ha. It wasn't half bad actually, bit fatty for my liking though! Then we went home.
At home, I read a bit more Lord of the Rings whilst I let Anne borrow my internet! Then I went on msn and was kept up til 3am! Was nice conversation though! So all is well! :D And now its umm about 1.50pm and I haven't done much today! So you are all officially up to date with my life!
Oohhhhh!! One more thing! I believe I may actually have moved to the sex capital of Germany!! Whilst being here, in Potsdam I have seen a total of 2 'erotic shops', an 'erotic cinema', an 'erotic dvd shop' and signs all over for an 'erotic fashion show'.. if this isn't the sex capital then it is most certainly the capital for all things erotic!! And no.. before you ask.. I haven't visited any of them!! You cheeky people!! hehe
That's all for now in my world!
Toodles!!
xxxxxxx
Thursday 10 September 2009
And so the plot thickens...
So it's about time I filled you all in a little more on what i've been up to I guess!
Hmm.. where did I get to last time? Only my second day here... so there is much to be said to get you all up to date!
I spent the rest of that week not doing much really. I had no internet.. (though must have spent at least £20 on my phone on internet, and another £20 or so on texts!) and no friends in this place! So I just made the most of my time by going out and exploring! And rather luckily I brough my Lord of the Rings Trilogy book, so that passed some time! (Still haven't finished it yet, though this time I may actually make it all the way to the end!!)
That was pretty much my week until saturday. I ventured into Potsdam a couple of times and things got less and less scary as the week went on, but I did nothing out of the ordinary!
Then.. on Saturday, my flatmate arrived! The morning went quite quickly! She came, dropped her stuff off, said hi.. or Hallo! rather, then she left again to get food.. whilst I was sat on my bed, still reading Lord of the Rings!! ha! I then sat for ages wondering what she was going to be like; would I get along with her? would she be weird? would she be nice? would I understand her?!
Finally she came back later that day and unpacked all her stuff, then came into my room.. and she had bought me a doughnut!! Great ice breaker! Saved me from having to try starting a conversation! Found out her name is Anne (pronounced Anna) We sat in the kitchen and chatted for a while and I lost all my worries! She was (and still is..) lovely!! That evening we had tea together.. it was what I would call typically German! Bread, sausages.. you know the kind I mean! Was tasty anyway!
Then on Sunday.. I went with Doreen (english teacher) to some random park nearby and we walked round that. It was all picturesque.. as is the whole area around me here! Then we went to some castle place, Cecilienhof Castle I think it was called. We went around that and it had all historic stuff about erm.. Friedrich umm the second.. maybe! I don't remember. But it was all cultural and whatnot, so I felt a bit smart! We also went on a guided tour of the bedrooms where they used to sleep (duh!) which was all in very fast spoken german! eep! But my god do I wish I was a princess back in umm.. whenever they lived there! haha. They had their own huge bathrooms each, a whole room to use as a dressing room.. and a humungous bedroom! The bath was a massive walk in one that was in the ground! It was amazing! That is now my aim in life!! Have a bath in my bathroom floor :D haha
Then I went to a brewery on the edge of a huge lake but I don't even like beer... so I couldn't have any of their beer! Instead I had an apple juice!! Boring I know! But oh well..
Then on Monday work began!! I had to be awake at 6.15am! :| Went into the school and was with the 3rd class (equivalent to year 4 i think) and I just sat in on a german and maths lesson with them to get a feel for the school. Then they did half an english lesson too! But I didn't really have to do much with that. Then after that, I went into Potsdam with Anne and I bought the internet!! Waheyy! That was a good day for me! Haha!
Tuesday: again up at 6.15am and was in the 4th and 5th classes! Nothing of much interest happened in those, I got asked a few questions about england and that was about it. Then when I got home, I went to look around the university with Anne so she knew where she had to go when her lectures began. Then I had to go into Potsdam to get some money cause theres no Geldautomat (cash machine!) in Golm (village i live in..). Got approached by three girls asking if I could buy their cinema tickets cause they werent 18 yet! They looked older than me!! I just said NEIN!! and ran away rather swiftly!! :D then got my train back home and didn't do much else that evening.
Wednesday was probably the funniest day for me! I was in a class with another english teacher today and it was the other 5th class. They were far braver with the questions they asked my about myself and England!! One little boy in particular, called Noah, had the following conversation with me:
Noah: "Do you have a boyfriend"
Me: "No"
N: "Oh my god!! Can I have your number?"
Hmm.. where did I get to last time? Only my second day here... so there is much to be said to get you all up to date!
I spent the rest of that week not doing much really. I had no internet.. (though must have spent at least £20 on my phone on internet, and another £20 or so on texts!) and no friends in this place! So I just made the most of my time by going out and exploring! And rather luckily I brough my Lord of the Rings Trilogy book, so that passed some time! (Still haven't finished it yet, though this time I may actually make it all the way to the end!!)
That was pretty much my week until saturday. I ventured into Potsdam a couple of times and things got less and less scary as the week went on, but I did nothing out of the ordinary!
Then.. on Saturday, my flatmate arrived! The morning went quite quickly! She came, dropped her stuff off, said hi.. or Hallo! rather, then she left again to get food.. whilst I was sat on my bed, still reading Lord of the Rings!! ha! I then sat for ages wondering what she was going to be like; would I get along with her? would she be weird? would she be nice? would I understand her?!
Finally she came back later that day and unpacked all her stuff, then came into my room.. and she had bought me a doughnut!! Great ice breaker! Saved me from having to try starting a conversation! Found out her name is Anne (pronounced Anna) We sat in the kitchen and chatted for a while and I lost all my worries! She was (and still is..) lovely!! That evening we had tea together.. it was what I would call typically German! Bread, sausages.. you know the kind I mean! Was tasty anyway!
Then on Sunday.. I went with Doreen (english teacher) to some random park nearby and we walked round that. It was all picturesque.. as is the whole area around me here! Then we went to some castle place, Cecilienhof Castle I think it was called. We went around that and it had all historic stuff about erm.. Friedrich umm the second.. maybe! I don't remember. But it was all cultural and whatnot, so I felt a bit smart! We also went on a guided tour of the bedrooms where they used to sleep (duh!) which was all in very fast spoken german! eep! But my god do I wish I was a princess back in umm.. whenever they lived there! haha. They had their own huge bathrooms each, a whole room to use as a dressing room.. and a humungous bedroom! The bath was a massive walk in one that was in the ground! It was amazing! That is now my aim in life!! Have a bath in my bathroom floor :D haha
Then I went to a brewery on the edge of a huge lake but I don't even like beer... so I couldn't have any of their beer! Instead I had an apple juice!! Boring I know! But oh well..
Then on Monday work began!! I had to be awake at 6.15am! :| Went into the school and was with the 3rd class (equivalent to year 4 i think) and I just sat in on a german and maths lesson with them to get a feel for the school. Then they did half an english lesson too! But I didn't really have to do much with that. Then after that, I went into Potsdam with Anne and I bought the internet!! Waheyy! That was a good day for me! Haha!
Tuesday: again up at 6.15am and was in the 4th and 5th classes! Nothing of much interest happened in those, I got asked a few questions about england and that was about it. Then when I got home, I went to look around the university with Anne so she knew where she had to go when her lectures began. Then I had to go into Potsdam to get some money cause theres no Geldautomat (cash machine!) in Golm (village i live in..). Got approached by three girls asking if I could buy their cinema tickets cause they werent 18 yet! They looked older than me!! I just said NEIN!! and ran away rather swiftly!! :D then got my train back home and didn't do much else that evening.
Wednesday was probably the funniest day for me! I was in a class with another english teacher today and it was the other 5th class. They were far braver with the questions they asked my about myself and England!! One little boy in particular, called Noah, had the following conversation with me:
Noah: "Do you have a boyfriend"
Me: "No"
N: "Oh my god!! Can I have your number?"
Teacher: "I think that's a secret Noah!"
N: "Where do you live?"
M: "I live in Golm"
N: "I live in Golm!! What is your address"
T: "I think knowing she lives in Golm is enough Noah"
Made me chuckle so much! Bear in mind that i'm working in a primary school! So this boy can't have been any older than 10/11!!
Anywhooo, Wednesday afternoon, once I got back, I went to Park Sanssouci with Anne. Its this mega huge park near me which is amazingly beautiful with lots of fountains and pretty trees and statues and buildings and stuff!! Walked around there all afternoon! Then came home!
Thursday (today!): Went to school this morning, didn't do much, just helped out in the class and then finished at 9.30am! Haven't done much this evening! Ohhh I watched Twilight in German though! And now I want a vampire boyfriend please!!!! :D haha
Tomorrow, school again.. though I get a lie in! Up at 8.30am instead of 6.15!! can't be bad! :D Don't think I'm doing much tomorrow evening. Think Anne may have a friend coming over but I'm not so sure!
M: "I live in Golm"
N: "I live in Golm!! What is your address"
T: "I think knowing she lives in Golm is enough Noah"
Made me chuckle so much! Bear in mind that i'm working in a primary school! So this boy can't have been any older than 10/11!!
Anywhooo, Wednesday afternoon, once I got back, I went to Park Sanssouci with Anne. Its this mega huge park near me which is amazingly beautiful with lots of fountains and pretty trees and statues and buildings and stuff!! Walked around there all afternoon! Then came home!
Thursday (today!): Went to school this morning, didn't do much, just helped out in the class and then finished at 9.30am! Haven't done much this evening! Ohhh I watched Twilight in German though! And now I want a vampire boyfriend please!!!! :D haha
Tomorrow, school again.. though I get a lie in! Up at 8.30am instead of 6.15!! can't be bad! :D Don't think I'm doing much tomorrow evening. Think Anne may have a friend coming over but I'm not so sure!
Then saturday, if weather is good, we are going to watch a canoe race in Potsdam! Woop! Funtimes.
Sunday Anne is going home for the week, so back to being bored for a week, but at least this time I will have the internet!! So shouldn't be too bad!!
This post on my blog hasn't been nearly as funny/interesting as the last now I think about it.. but i'm sure soon I'll have more good things to tell you all!!
Toodles for now!!
xxxx
Sunday Anne is going home for the week, so back to being bored for a week, but at least this time I will have the internet!! So shouldn't be too bad!!
This post on my blog hasn't been nearly as funny/interesting as the last now I think about it.. but i'm sure soon I'll have more good things to tell you all!!
Toodles for now!!
xxxx
Monday 7 September 2009
Arrival in Germany...
Well, as promised, I am going to keep you all updated on my progress through my blog :)
Though whilst I am writing this, I don't even have connection to the internet but I figured I would end up forgetting what I did or not be able to give a very detailed account of what I did.
So today (as i'm writing this, probably not as you are reading this..) is day number 2 technically. But I'll start at the very beginning!
Monday 31st July - I went to the airport with my parents and that was, somewhat surprisingly, problem free. Straight in, queued up for a bit, checked my bag in and then I had several hours to spare!
So what does any sane person do whilst waiting around with their parents and sister... go get a burger king of course! Big mistake. It tasted delicious at the time.. but afterwards, my stomach was certainly feeling it! I never did trust Burger King mayonaise!
Eventually it was time for me to say my goodbyes and go through to the departure bit.. but not before trying not to laugh at some people all in tears cause one of them was going away. Am I too harsh? Or perhaps just emotionless? Either way, it was hilarious!
Gave my parents and sister hugs.. pretended to cry (not for their benefit, more as a piss take..) then off I went.
Now the scary part began. I was all alone, in a strange place.. and I didn't know what I was doing. Luckily this was still on the english side, so anything I wanted to know was generally signposted.. in english! :)
Time to go through the security thingys! I had to take off my bracelet, empty my pockets and even take off my belt! Cheeky man! :P But luckily I didn't make the machine beep! :D Then through to the waiting area bit.. which was boiling! Had they not heard of air conditioning in that place!! Jeez!
Had to wait 15 mins for the gate for my flight to open.. and finally it did! Waheyy.. or perhaps not. Once I got down to my gate.. I was surrounded by mostly english and germans, which was fine. And then a rather loud family from I assume czech republic or Russia or that general area. If there was a prize for not shutting up, they would have won it within the first 5 mins!
Finally the woman started to say we could go through... I got all excited.. until she said 'if you have a speedy boarding ticket' which i'm not going to waste my money on! So I had to wait some more.. then she announced again.. and again I got excited.. but nooo... now It was those in wheelchairs or with young children! Yet another announcement.. those with pre-booked assistance..
One final announcement and hooray! It meant I could go through the gate! At last! Through I went.. only to find more queuing! Oh how we Brits love our queues right? I didn't think it was possible, but it was even hotter queuing in this tunnel.. waiting to be let on the plane! I would choose the one sunny day we have had all summer to fly wouldn't I! grr.
At last we started moving down the corridor, down some steps and out next to the plane! I thought my hair was going to blow off because of all the wind the plane was causing! Made my way onto the plane and headed to the nearest free seat! A window seat! Waheyy! Though it was a bit of a squeeze to get in there!
I was hoping the plane wouldnt be fully booked so I could have all three seats to myself, but no chance! Two men came and sat by me. And to make matters worse.. once we had got going, they both ordered cheesy bacon sandwiches! The smell was heaven... why had I ruined my stomach with Burger King!! Grr. I bought a water... for a wonderfully cheap £2.50! It was only a 330ml bottle too! Bloody airlines!
Finally I landed, and didn't have much queuing. Got my passport checked and through I went to wait for my luggage. I stood there, hoping with everything that I have, that my luggage would come out first. Not quite... but it was certainly in the first 20! Waheyy! In and out like a flash! Then I went outside and saw the english teacher (Doreen) from the school i'm going to be working at waiting for me!
Now the real adventure begins! She was lovely, as I had assumed from her e-mails! We had to make a bit of a mad dash to get the train but we made it with seconds to spare! I went back to her flat with her, as I couldn't actually get into my flat til today cause the previous tenant had only just moved out! Met her husband, who was lovely and her daughter who was also lovely!
We had, in my opinion, a traditional german supper, with the wurst and salami and that really nice bread they have. You know the sort I mean! It was delicious! Then we took her dog for a walk so that I could see where my flat was (because I live about 5 mins away from her) and also to show me where the train station and bus stops were.
Finally went to sleep after what seemed like a very very long day! I slept like a log.. until I was woken up at 4.40am! But it was a text that made me smile lots, so I can't complain too much! :D
Woke up this morning, quickly sorted out my stuff, then off I went to the flat with Doreen's husband, because she was at work. The flat is just as beautiful inside as outside and it's a perfectly cosy little place to live in for a year!
Today I did probably the bravest thing I have ever done in my whole life... I went down to the train station, got my ticket and got on a train to what I hoped was Potsdam, a city I have never visited before and went to have a look around there today.. all on my own! I was terrified at first, but once I got there it didn't seem as bad, Still pretty scary though!
Tomorrow I am going to be even braver I think.. and make it all the way to Berlin. We shall see in the morning though!
Now I am sat at my brand new home!! hehe on my bed, just trying to hide from the weather. It is glorious.. but it is at least 30 degrees! Which is far too hot for my liking. Also because of that, I still feel like I am on holiday, rather than I am living here!
I think this evening I may go for a walk as there are plenty places to explore nearby!
Until next time people who care about what I am doing...!
Bye!!
xxxxxxxxxxx
Thursday 16 July 2009
Last wednesday out before i'm old!
I forgot how good it was to remain relatively sober whilst those around you drink themselves to oblivion!
For the first time in a while, I can actually remember every detail of my night, which was spent, rather amusingly I might add, observing those around me making fools of themselves :D
I actually lost count of the number of guys trying to pull the same too drunk girls.. I also lost count of the number of people Jason wanted to smack.. but that's a different story! :P
But all in all.. lesson learnt - Stay sober! It's the way forward :D
bye for now!
xx
For the first time in a while, I can actually remember every detail of my night, which was spent, rather amusingly I might add, observing those around me making fools of themselves :D
I actually lost count of the number of guys trying to pull the same too drunk girls.. I also lost count of the number of people Jason wanted to smack.. but that's a different story! :P
But all in all.. lesson learnt - Stay sober! It's the way forward :D
bye for now!
xx
Sunday 12 July 2009
A funny night..
Although this isn't going to be a daily thing, I felt this couldn't go without being mentioned!
So after a somewhat boring night last night, even at one point watching the Jordan interview with Piers Morgan, I finally got a bit of entertainment.
My parents had been out in town with another couple.. and went to 'Cotton Club' would you believe.. If you aren't from Huddersfield, you won't understand that. But believe me, the humour is there..
I then spent about two hours having a rather random yet funny conversation with my parents and their friends, whilst they were all quite drunk. Even down to the point of eating horrible takeaways!
Quite an amusing end to a boring night!
And today.. time to go see Bruno. Borat was horrendously bad.. but maybe this will surprise me!
Toodles for now!
So after a somewhat boring night last night, even at one point watching the Jordan interview with Piers Morgan, I finally got a bit of entertainment.
My parents had been out in town with another couple.. and went to 'Cotton Club' would you believe.. If you aren't from Huddersfield, you won't understand that. But believe me, the humour is there..
I then spent about two hours having a rather random yet funny conversation with my parents and their friends, whilst they were all quite drunk. Even down to the point of eating horrible takeaways!
Quite an amusing end to a boring night!
And today.. time to go see Bruno. Borat was horrendously bad.. but maybe this will surprise me!
Toodles for now!
Saturday 11 July 2009
My first blog!
Hello people!
Basically, since I am bored and perhaps big headed enough to assume any of you will want to read this, I decided to start a blog. That and the fact that it may be useful for you all to find out how I am getting along in Germany and to see pictures etc.
I don't actually have much to say about me right now, as this is my first ever blog.. and it's like getting used to facebook - a whole new concept right now! Perhaps this will go nowhere and be quite a pointless thing, just one of those things I decide to do, then get bored of a few days later, perhaps not!
Hopefully the next time I write on here, it will be a little more interesting but for now, this is a good start :)
Love Me!
Basically, since I am bored and perhaps big headed enough to assume any of you will want to read this, I decided to start a blog. That and the fact that it may be useful for you all to find out how I am getting along in Germany and to see pictures etc.
I don't actually have much to say about me right now, as this is my first ever blog.. and it's like getting used to facebook - a whole new concept right now! Perhaps this will go nowhere and be quite a pointless thing, just one of those things I decide to do, then get bored of a few days later, perhaps not!
Hopefully the next time I write on here, it will be a little more interesting but for now, this is a good start :)
Love Me!
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