Another first

My washing machine got delivered this morning. My friendly neighbour put up some more lamps for me and also reassured me that I/we had assembled the bed correctly.

Another long day at work meant, I didn't get home until after 8pm. It also meant that my boss gave me a lift home and it turns out, she lives only 5 minutes away from me. And also offered her help.

I still cannot quite believe how nice people have been. People who I've only just met. I was wondering this morning, whether I've been meeting the 'wrong' kind of people before, or whether I simply didn't see the kindness and generosity around me.

Occasionally, I still have this little voice in my head that says I don't deserve this...
But all of this is also making me want to be a nicer and better person. So, that's a win for everyone, right?

As of today I am the proud owner of...

...a bed! I am primarily fascinated by the fact that the bed and the mattress fit into M's car. And so very grateful that M drove me to Ikea and carried the stuff into my flat and helped built it. With school holidays having started yesterday, it wasn't the best timing, but fortunately the traffic wasn't as bad as anticipated.

The next big thing I need is a wardrobe and I've just noticed that delivery times are generally 4-5 weeks. Not exactly ideal. But contrary to the bed, I am not keen on building the wardrobe myself.

We shall see. I might just get a clothes railing for the interim. Alternatively, I can build an interim wardrobe out of my moving boxes, of course. Now that I don't need them as a bed anymore. :-)

M also brought me his old sofabed. So, I am now ready to welcome guests to my new home.
Exciting times!

Pearls of wisdom

Walking is no fun. I better get my bike fixed.

Staying late in the office can have its advantages, such as not getting soaked in the rain.

deflated

A had to take a taxi at 4:30 to get to the airport. We were both so tired last night, that we went to bed just before 23:00. To be woken by heavy rain around midnight (I think). So, we had to close the window. And then I couldn't go back to sleep... Partly cause it was so hot with the windows closed. I wonder whether that's my bosses trick: recently, I've gone to bed and feel asleep quickly. Only to wake up after a couple of hours and be wide awake. And maybe my boss then just get up, instead of tossing and turning and eventually going back under again like me.

Anyway, I am keeping up my routine to get to the office around 8am. Come lunch time I am already questioning myself what the hell I've done all morning. And then suddenly it's 19:00 and I decide to go home.

And tonight, I unfortunately had to push my bike home, as it has a puncture. Rather annoying. Not least as I have no idea how to fix it nor do I have any tools to even attempt fixing it.

And to quote Scarlet O'Hara:
I can't think about that right now. If I do, I'll go crazy*. I'll think about that tomorrow.

*not really. Just being over-dramatic! ;-)

celebrating the little wins

To be honest, they feel like big wins to me!

As I can't think very rationally sometimes - especially when it comes to my personal life as opposed to being the highly professional at work, of course! - I decided that I urgently needed a kettle, a toaster and a pink radio. Which I ordered online. Hoping that one of my new neighbours would receive the parcel for me.

Well, unfortunately my neighbour wasn't in either. So, I received a note in my letterbox that I needed to collect the parcel at the post office within the next seven working days. Which is fair enough really but tricky without a car. I basically had a sleepless night over this. Wondering who to ask - with the choice of three people. One who I've never met... When suddenly I had a lightbulb moment: the post office is close to work. And by car only five minutes from my flat. So, I decided to ask one of my new colleagues.

Issue was of course that all the people who live in Rosenheim either walk or cycle to work. And those who live in Munich take public transport. And my boss who does drive (and lives in Rosenheim) is currently in Colombia. As fate (?!) has it, I was chatting to T from accounting the other day who mentioned that he lives outside of Rosenheim. So, I figured he must drive. As I am such a chicken, I didn't even dare to ask him in person, but sent a message through our online messaging system...

And the end of the story is of course, that he was kind enough to take me to the post office and home and back to work over his lunch break. Which thanks to a long queue at the post office still took 30 minutes.

I know I am only asking little favours but I am finding it really hard as I feel I cannot offer anything in return and it's different asking friends. Anyway, I was very grateful and am very happy to have a pink radio/CD player which will find its place in my sewing room.

1 day

Until the weekend. And until lovely A will come to visit. Days are going by so fast at the moment. And while I spent all my evenings at home at the moment, I feel no motivation to update my blog. Temperatures have also gone up again to above 30, which is just way too hot for me.

Not a compliment

"I'm glad you swear as much as I do"

At least Scheisse doesn't sound as bad as f*ck. Or is that just me?

The positive note of the day is that the hover I ordered on ebay has arrived AND my neighbour kindly accepted the package for me AND it works.

What is she hearing that I am not actually saying?

Yes, I am aware of the communication models/theories. Content is only part of the overall message. I am trying to figure out what I am doing to make her not understand the content of my message. And so far, I am failing to make any progress with my analysis.

On the other hand, I think I am making good progress with communicating in one direction, which is important, too. The rest, I shall continue to work on.

sense-less

I always considered myself good with reading maps and having a good sense of direction. Turns out that I was primarily deluded...

Rosenheim is small. You can basically walk everywhere. And still, I manage to regularly get lost. Fortunately, I always carry my 'city' map with me. Today, I went into the centre from work. And when I thought I was cycling home, I actually ended up in the opposite direction, ie near work... Well done me! But - as Rosenheim is so small, this doesn't make too much difference in terms of how long it takes me to get anywhere.
Always a silver lining! :-)

Let there be light

When I picked up my keys for my new flat, I had a mild panic attack as I realized that unfurnished also means no lights. Instead of lamps there were just cables hanging from the ceiling. And never in my life did I have to figure out how to install a lamp...

After a little bit of thinking, I of course figured out that I could always just plug in a light but having ceiling lights would be beneficial. Not having a car nor a ladder and shops being closed on Sundays, this was slightly tricky to resolve. And you might imagine, just how relieved I am that the friend of my exex, came over today with lamps and bulbs and tools. So, now I have light in the kitchen, the living room and the bedroom. Still need to buy nice lamp shapes and get the light in the bathroom sorted. But it's a great start! So grateful!!!

The library

What can I say, I am pretty rock’n roll. So, on my second weekend in Rosenheim, I got myself a library card. When I told my boss, she asked where the library is! Scandalous, given that the library claims to be the most visited cultural institution in Rosenheim. And yes, that depressed me slightly... What also depresses me, is that I can never find the way to the library. I keep having to consult my map at every corner. And Rosenheim really is very small!

Anyhow, to my delight, I discovered that they have a DVD collection. You have to pay €1.50 per DVD and can only take it out for a week. Which is fair enough, but slightly impractical for one season of Mad Men for example. But also a good excuse to do nothing but watch DVDs for a whole weekend.

Last but not least, there is free wifi at the library which is great, given how quickly I am using up my data allowance both on my surfstick and my mobile. Once I am in my new flat, I will need to sort my internet.

TFIF

It's been a busy week, most of which I spent in meetings and calls. I do feel that I am learning lots. Still lots more to learn, of course, but I feel I'm on the right track.

I also cannot believe how much I've improved the way I go about doing things. It's difficult to explain but I feel so much more confident and relaxed at the same time. I had to lead our team meeting this week. On my 5th day at work. I would have previously panicked, but it didn't faze me at all (whether or not I did a good job, is probably a different question ;-)).

I don't mind doing overtime at all and especially in events, it's part of the job really. But at the moment, I also realize that there simply is a limit of how much my brain can process. Overall, I am getting even more excited about the job which just feels great.

But now, I am looking forward to a lazy weekend. I borrowed the Mad Men season 4 DVDs from the library - so the entertainment is sorted. And I also discovered that the library has a few English books, which is great. And most excitingly, I will get the keys to my new flat tomorrow. Photos to follow!

It rained!

Finally it rained last night. And today. Complete with thunder and lightning and a bit of storm. Which meant, I nearly broke one of my windows... I thought I had tipped the window (as opposed to having it wide open) but when I came back into the room, it was left hanging on just one of the hinges. Oops.

And today has just been so much better in terms of temperature. I was even wearing jeans!!! I had already resigned myself to walking to work but miraculously, it had stopped raining when I left the house. I am very happy indeed :-)

Cool

Four good reasons why I went to buy yet more dresses:

1) It’s hot. Very hot. It’s like an oven in my flat. Stores on the other hand are generally air conditioned. They are (literally) cool places to hang out in this weather.

2) It’s hot. Very hot. And my current wardrobe is not made for this weather. Especially my office dresses are made for air con weather (and sadly, my new office does not have air con). They are also largely not made for cycling. Walking in this weather is even worse than cycling though, so that’s not an option.

3)  Sales are on.

4) Shopping makes me happy J

Only at home did I realize that this is a maternity dress (the label 'Mama' gave it away)
Ah well...

I'm on a roll

After viewing just three flats - and already feeling disheartened because of all the stories of how difficult it is to find a place here - I signed the contract for my new place tonight.

Not perfect, but very spacious and with a kitchen. And I am looking forward to decorating and buying furniture.

Next on my list: getting a car. And not getting killed riding my bike... screw the bloody driver who turned right in front of me without indicating!

My last supper

With all my stuff packed up, my flat seemed much more spacious. I think I already mentioned that the removal company forgot to pack the content of one of my drawers. And I then noticed that I had forgotten to tell them to pack the content of two of my kitchen drawers. So, I ended up packing my two pots into my suitcases (and binning a lot of the other stuff). Now, in the past, this would have not only really annoyed me, I would have also stressed, got angry etc. While nowadays  - and I am hoping this is a permanent improvement – I just shrug my shoulders and deal with it. Which is of course much better for my blood pressure.

I decided it would be way too emotional to go into town for a last night out, so decided to meet G at Canary Wharf for dinner and drinks. And I made my last supper in London a very British one: steak and Guinness pie with my first ever bubble & squeak, Pimms and Great British Mess (Eaton Mess with pieces of scones). It was delightful. And I went to bed unusually calm. Somehow thinking about the moment of farewell before as well as now after the fact, makes me more emotional than at the time. 

Rosenheim is not London

Without having researched the actual crime statistics, my gut feeling tells me that London’s rate is a bit above that of Rosenheim. Nevertheless, if I keep forgetting to lock my bike, I think it might get stolen even here in Rosenheim. It’s a miracle how I can possibly forget to lock it.

Willkommen

My first three days have been great! I can honestly say, that everyone in my team is lovely and everyone has been very helpful. As per usual, I am of course feeling very impatient with myself and wish there was a way to absorb all knowledge during my sleep. It always makes me feel uncomfortable not knowing things. But I will have to sit with that feeling for a while longer, I expect.

It’s also been very nice to get a number of congratulatory messages on LinkedIn after updating my status. All in all, it’s been a good start into this new phase of my working life which could only be improved upon if the weather would cool down. Even just a little... (having said that, I think the hot weather helps me not to miss London, too much, as I wouldn’t want to do anything over there either)

Finding my words

Of course, I still speak German. But it’s hard work. Not only am I looking for words, I very often translate back from English but I also cannot stand hearing my own voice. I sound different and it all sounds very wooden. Nobody speaks like this, and it feels un-authentic. I really hope, it’ll come back quickly. Otherwise this will just be very awkward. Besides, I’ve gone a bit quiet again, as I simply don’t seem to know how to start a conversation. As if my confidence when meeting new people is restricted to interactions in English. Very bizarre indeed.

It's done

After months of waiting and rising anticipation, I have finally had my first day in my new job! And as my line manager assures me, they have equally been awaiting me. My name has already caused confusion and as I've been referred to by the English pronunciation of my first name, there was a bit of a surprise, when I introduced myself as German.

Everyone has been really nice so far and I honesty couldn't have had a better first day! I also feel rather grown up as I didn't feel nervous at all. There is so much for me to learn, but I am looking forward to taking on the challenge.

And thanks to all my friends who sent me messages today. I love you all - and don't think that you got rid of me just because I moved countries!