The last month, 2010 and GETTING HOME!!!

Good evening everyone!

I hope you're all looking forward to christmas and that you're all where you're meant to be now for Christmas (or heading there now or tomorrow). I'm DUE to go tomorrow...

More on that later.

So, if I remember correctly, I wrote to you on the 19th Nov last time on here. That means that I've been a bit lazy and that you've missed a few goings-on since then.

I think the first main thing that's gone on with me is that I've moved place within the last month. Approximately 4kms away, this new flat is on the ground floor where I have a bigger, warmer (although it ain't that warm now) ...room, with a TV, sofa, wardrobe, table etc. Simply, it's a LOT more than I had in the last place! ACTUALLY, the last place I was in was honestly a complete rip-off for 430Euros a month.

Whatever, I'm out of there now ...All is well here in 'Hamm'. I'm happy. Only time I'm not happy ...is when the FUCKING BABY upstairs starts screaming this block down. Yeah, it would happen to live above me, init! It's favourite crying time - 5-7am! Great! My flatmate later advised me to get earplugs - She does.

I will say this though, he/she can be good for when I need to get up early as I'm not a fan of it.

A bit about my new flatmate: She's all right. 38 and works all day, everyday. Love it! That means I get complete peace in the day. She's chatty and helpful and she likes my boyfriend, so that obviously goes down well.

On the school front, everything's still the same really. Kids still cute most of the time but f***ing rude the other half of the time. As I said on Facebook once, I've finally started speaking to the 9 year olds in German after 3 months of refusing to. It's all about confidence, isn't it. Now I just don't care. It makes life easier and I think they prefer it too. Obviously, I still speak a lot of English to them which is what I'm there for.

Since last speaking to you all, I've taken a number of lessons ALONE. 9 year olds, 13/14 year olds mainly. I guess all kids will try their luck but I haven't really had any major behaviour issues. You've just gotta think of good threats and be nice back to them when they do what they've got to do.

So, on the 2nd December the Deputy Head of the school invited a few of the other teachers and me round to her place for dinner and a drink. It was very a lovely evening and she has a lovely, spacious apartment. On that night, Hamburg was under a blanket of snow and her living with decorated to hilt with Christmas decorations and stuff. So that helped to make it very fitting for a Christmas get-together and meal...

...Meal's finished and the wine starts flowing. Now I had a feeling all eyes would turn to me to get the lowdown from the latest addition to the staff. You know the questions, "Do you have a girlfriend?", "Are you seeing anyone?", "What are you into? Blondes? Nice arse? Nice tits?" -Well, their faces were quite a picture when I turned around and said "Erm, DUDES."
OK, well I didn't put it exactly like that but I came out nonetheless. Awkward but they were fine about it. The questions then were just asking whether I'm seeing anyone or not. Much easier questions to answer...

Speaking of questions, one of the questions put to me during that dinner with the teachers was "When you go out of the town, Leo, are you going out for the girls or just to be with ya mates?"

Well, there have been a couple of CRAZY ones with the mates out on the town over the last month. Despite the sub-zero temperatures, we've been as raring to go as ever.
I think the most important thing that needs to be said is that I've actually found a club that blasts out the DnB all night. Not every week but every 4 or so. It's a good night and the Fischmarkt is there on your doorstep when you're done at 5 or 6am. Shame, the tube station is a good 20 mins walk away when you're both drunk and freezing your nutz off. We took a taxi last time.

Other nights out just include the gang being too drunk - Drunker than usual. Things not being remembered after a shitload more shots being downed!  I'll look forward to further nights out in Hamburg in 2011...

The Apprentice: Great series this year. I really enjoyed it. Won't say much about it, apart from the fact I did want Stella to win. And I'm happy that she did.

As I write this, this evening of the 23rd December, I think I really am the last of the assistants left here in Hamburg now. My flight back to London is due to leave here tomorrow at 11.25am. Just my luck that I'm due to fly into Heathrow with BA. Usually, Heathrow handles it a bit more - I thought! Anyway, so I'm HOPING that it's goes fairly swimmingly tomorrow. It's got to the point where I don't even care if it's delayed, long queues, even if I don't get a window seat. Just care that it's going. Because if it isn't and I can't go any other way - THEN I WILL be in Germany for Christmas which will be REALLY SAD!

It will be snowing lightly in Hamburg tomorrow (not in London), but I trust Hamburg airport more - I don't trust the British ones

I'm looking forward to coming home to see all of you there. I'll try to see as many of you as I can. I'm not there for long though - Only until Jan 2nd.

I will take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I hope 2010's been kind to you. I've had a good one. Here's what I've enjoyed throughout this year going fron the start of the year through to now:

1. Family christening in Wolverhampton (Feb)
2. 21st Birthday with Sophie in Finland. Crazy/rememberable night with included waking up in a random woman's flat (Feb)
3.  Gradually coming out to everybody (Mar)
4. Raiding fridge with Enrique after party (Mar)
5. Meeting my baby and spending the summer with him...falling for him in that time (May 2010-)
6. The Circle Line Challenge (June)
7. World Cup 2010 (June/July)
8. Notting Hill Carnival (Aug)
9. Every 'farewell' night out before I left London (Aug/Sep)
10. Altenberg (Sept) - Seriously GREAT times. Like freshers at uni again
11. Hamburg!!! (Sept-)

...Until next time people!!! xxx

Fully enjoying the weekend on next to no money?

"If you've been working all week and Friday/Saturday nights are the only nights you have a chance to have a drink, you're gonna binge, ain't ya?." Those were the words of my hard drinking Scottish ex-colleague when I was a good student working in Sainsbury's in Reading. Think she's right? I do.

But, it may be the case right now that you want to go out tonight and drink and be merry. However, you let yourself believe that your wallet won't allow you to do that.

Entirely understandable. Obviously, it wouldn't be a good idea to go out on the town if you've got rent or a mortgage to pay. If you're in my position, however, and you have been working all week but are slightly low on funds. Here's a quick uplifting guide to how I manage a cheap night out. Trust me, I'm highly trained in this field...

This refers to how how it can be done in Germany, by the way. Still useful, I suppose if you're coming over here at some point. To see me, maybe!

1. Get yourself to PENNY MARKT or LIDL or almost any German supermarket actually. They're almost all dirt cheap. Depending on what you drink, you can stock up on your pre-drink for under 5 Euros. So look at all the prices presented to you carefully.

2. I've found that the little minature bottles of spirits found in ALL German supermarket suffice when on a poor man's night out. 2 minature bottles of the spirit of your choice, throw a decent sized bottle of Coke on the conveyor belt too as mixture. Total costs: 3 Euros
If not, wine (ONE WHOLE LITRE TOO) or 3 cans of beer can all be found for under 2 Euros in German supermarkets

3. Find a friend who's also not loaded and who also wants a bit of time to gear up at home before heading out. It can be great fun with a bit of music etc. Don't drink it all too fast.

4. If you haven't finished what you bought earlier, buy a can for the journey. It's cheaper to do that than buy an extra drink in the bar/club, no?

5. Don't go into any club charging more than a fiver. Obviously, this depends on how much you have on you but that's usually my rule when I'm running low. It'll certainly be my rule tonight!

6. Down something! Anything!

7. Buy the cheapest drink on offer in the club. It's usually beer, but if there's a difference between price in draught and bottled beer. Make sure you know that before you're served. Or, ask the person serving. You don't wanna end up with a shock when they've made the drink and present you with the price, do you?

8. Then enjoy the music. If you're still not satisfied, maybe friends will buy you drinks. Or, you could just nick them - I know people were happy with that.

Have a great weekend people - Don't take this too seriously, by the way. I'm fooling around, init!

I'm still on the quest for DECENT Drum and Bass in Hamburg. If you know where it's at, I'm listening.

8MVJ9HG9C3P9

Back on the blog - Get reading!

Hey people,

It's been a while, hasn't it? And, as I write this, having just burnt the roof of my mouth with pizza fresh out the oven, there isn't too much to tell....

Tuesday evening and I saw my boyfriend leave for London again after his second visit in less than a month. Always a sad moment, but we enjoyed a good weekend - Going for lovely walks and visiting a swimming baths on Friday night.

The baths, I will say, were, well, an experience. Obviously, a great, romantic one when it came to us and spending quality time together. I hadn't been to a proper swimming baths in about ten years. So, I think I forgot how they worked ;) . Either that, or I wasn't quite ready to be faced with - a building full of bollock naked Germans - men and women. It took a minute or two to get used to it, but then I was stripping off too and strutting around the place naked like the rest of them.
I'd never been in a sauna before, especially a sweltering hot Finnish one.

85-90 degrees celsius in that place! I was astounded by the fact that I managed to stop in there for more than 5 minutes.

Eventually, when the member of staff came into the furnace to do the hourly pouring/tasting or something (I forget what it's called in English and German), but anyway, it was time for me to leave. The pouring of the liquid onto the stones produces an intense heat that I couldn't deal with. We left.
And, I never thought I'd enjoy a cold shower! I also didn't think I'd go for a dip in the outdoor pool on day when it was raining outside. But, guess what! That wasn't too bad either.
Of course, I thoroughly enjoyed it. However, I didn't quite enjoy the part when a fellow 'gay' thought we'd wanna 'get excited' with him, at one point. He touched his thing until it was...well, you know. No we weren't scared, or even freaked out - just surprised, really. We left that room, as I'm sure you can imagine. And, there was me thinking that we do a good enough job of 'gaying up' the places we visit ourselves!

All the Brits decided to go to Prague the weekend just gone. Apart from Katy who returned to Scotland for the weekend and Frazier (He's American though) who visited London for the weekend - but still, it's not Hamburg, is it? So, I didn't really have anyone to party with. But, if you know me, that didn't stop me.

There's a nice, friendly bar at the top of Hans-Albers Platz. Of course, everyone was friendly on the night I wasn't in the mood to chat to everyone. Maybe, I wasn't drunk enough. ;)

We ended up there after checking in on the 'Winterdom'. A fair which will be going on in Hamburg until early December. I only went on one ride, so I vow to go back there a finish the job off.

So, Saturday night there was a protest in the Schanze, and we diverted through there to take a look. But, after a small, but somewhat loud explosion, we sort of scarpered.
I bumped into Joel and Bastian, along with Bastian's other friends later on the Reeperbahn, anyway. Saying that though, I wasn't with them for long. And, to be honest, I don't really have that much in the wallet these days anyway.

Boring but vital: I must find somewhere to live and I must do it fast. It started to put me into one of my 'I hate life moans' on Sunday morning - The hangover didn't help either. I was told to just keep looking, and eventually, I'll find something that suits. We did actually go to a viewing somewhere on Saturday. A half-decent room in a two bedroom flat, sharing with a youngish Frau who's into her jellyfish - awww. Anyway, I just couldn't see myself living there/with her really. Even though, the room was all right and stuff but, I dunno...I...yeah, I dunno. Plus, she hasn't really replied to me either so I'm guessing she's thinking 'piss off' too

It's not that there's nothing in Hamburg, a city with 1.7 million people. But, everything just seems to have a crazily high priced Kaution/deposit whacked onto the price, or it's too far, or they don't want you. I dunno, I'll just keep looking and keep you posted, OK? I've got until Dec 1st...

I was told that the words 'yeah, but...' are frequently articulated by me. Really? Never really noticed it myself. Oh well, anyway, that's me along with half the young population of Britain. Where do you think they came up with Vicky Pollard's 'yeah but, no but' from....?

Moving onto my last bit of business this side of the Channel. And, I was told that I'd be TEACHING classes of nine year olds ALONE! Perhaps until Christmas.

Their regular English teacher whom I normally work alongside, has fallen ill. They're short-staffed as it is. So, even though I'm not supposed to be doing it according to the people who run the scheme, the kids aren't that bad. I'm glad to help the teachers out and there isn't too much pressure on me really. Plus, I'm sort of looking forward to it.

I did the first lesson on my own just six hours ago. It went swimmingly. One thing though - I should have planned a bit more work - hahaha. Can't have them just sitting back, now, can we!?

Before I go tonight, I'll just say that I've been watching live BBC coverage of this engagement announcement which has been made today. Yeah, when something 'big' happens over there, they allow to watch their news coverage from abroad. I'm happy for them and whatever. Hope it lasts and whatever! It should be a good party in London when it happens. Anything excuse for a booze-up in the streets, yeah? I just hope she 'behaves' herself and they don't order a little 'accident' for her to be involved in. I say that, but I'm actually a little monarchist really. Weird!

I like the way the BBC media folks are saying, 'for the rest of her life,' and 'she will be Queen.' Don't they know that divorce rates are higher than ever these days and that times have changed? They still sound so out-of-date.
Does Camilla Parker Bowles know how stupid she sounded saying 'it's wicked' after the reporter approached her in the street. I didn't know how much of a plum in her throat she had. I rarely hear her speak. I think, even the Queen sounds more 'in tune' these days. I like to hear the Queen saying 'it's wicked' and Parker Bowles sticking to 'it's brilliant' - Only!

...Switch back to German TV and we have a young man looking down telling his cock to only react in 'the good way' when it sees hot women, as opposed to hot men. LOL - German TV: It's classic sometimes! When it comes to the royal engagement - They ain't too bothered. Well, the 'serious channels' ones aren't really, anyway.

People, until next time!
xxx

"Professionality" and "teaching" ;)

Tuesday morning and at 8.45am it was my turn to get up in front of the class and conduct my "own lesson" with a class full of 9 year-olds. The lesson was sticking to the theme of food and breakfast because, as you know, it takes a while for things to stick in little kids' heads.

Anyway, we had to listen to a cringeworthy "rap" called "The Sandwich Rap." I may have to post it on here one day - just for laughs.

I went on to teach them a couple of knew words which they remembered today - Good stuff! Those words were lettuce, mustard and cucumber. Obviously, they had problems pronouncing lettuce but we worked on that and now it's not an issue.

A worksheet was the last thing they had to do and they did it without problems. So, I was very pleased with how it went. The only pointer the teacher gave me was to allow them a bit of time to write words down because obviously they're younger, therefore a bit slower. Next Tuesday I'll do the same lesson with the other class of 9 year-olds.

My fellow assistants and I have come to the conclusion that kids get away with more in German schools and the British ones are a lot stricter. I'll just let you one thing though - I know that we have such a thing as 'lines' in the UK but when it comes to these 9 year-olds. The teacher I'm always with loves to threaten them with "SCHREIB'ing' DIE KLASSENREGELN AB" (Copying out the classroom rules) - It's like it's all she's got lol. Always makes me giggle to myself.

Lastly, I had a good bitch just now on Facebook about getting up this morning to get to school for 8am! I won't moan anymore on here but I still don't think there's any need for a start that early. It was still pitch-black outside, for God's sake. It'll be even darker after the clocks go back at the weekend.
Oh well, I suppose it's all part of the experience, no?

Plus, it's getting colder here by the day - I'm scared of just how cold it's gonna get over the coming weeks.


Apprentice comments (27.10.2010)

Just watched watched yesterday's Apprentice and I have to say that it was pretty funny. It's always funny but this was an particularly funny episode.

Won't talk about it too much. I will say that even though I knew about Melissa's firing before watching (SOMEONE spoilt it for me on Facebook straight after the broadcast without warning) it was still fun to watch. I found Melissa funny to watch, but she was definitely the right one to go. 

At least, she'll be remembered for her great ending "Get out my face" lol - Don't think I've heard that before and the "great" words she came out with in one episode alone. 

"Manouvrement, professionality and retributed" are just three I can remember. 

I was reading the forums as I was watching it and after she came out with some of these, a page of posts followed with most people simply saying 'manouvrement? (Is that a word).'

Lord Sugar came out with a classic line also whilst talking to Melissa in the boardroom - 

'You remind me of these, like knock-off DVDs. At first glance you're quite convincing and then afterwards, you know, you're just impossible to follow.' Yeah, that one made me laugh.

Have a good weekend folks :)

This week!

A week's gone by and I feel obliged to fill you all in on my life...

I've just had a really good/crazy weekend mainly hanging around the Reeperbahn with Frazier and Joel (and Emma on the Friday night) and I finally made it to the famous Fish Market after yesterday's clubbing. I had no idea how big the whole thing was but it's AMAZING (if you like fish, that is). I over ate and I'm surprised I wasn't sick! Got in at 7am BOTH NIGHTS. I've found that I'm getting into the continental way of going out later and going all night long.

Good times anyway!

Found a drink in one of the bars called 'Kalte Muschi' - I recommend it people. It really does just taste like juice, needless to say, it's fucking you up.
I was also reunited with 'Strongbow' and 'Snakebite' after a visit to the British pub at the busy Hans Albers Platz - It's a smoking pub too which helps in these increasingly cold times.

Drinking aside, the other assistants and I attended a Training Day on Thursday so that meant a day off school! Not that it made a difference, we still had to be there for 9am. Anyway, we got the chance to meet some of the other English Speaking assistants we didn't already know who were mainly Americans. Once that was over, I had a box full of teaching material to take home with me (all for free) so that was worth it. Before taking the box home, the entire gang paid a visit to our mate's flat which was round the corner. There must have been about 15 of us in her one room. As I expected, her one flatmate soon starting complaining saying that she was 'studying.'

 I spent more than 5€ for the first time in a German supermarket, Lidl to be exact. Yeah, Lidl's German for those who don't know. I didn't for years until I came here. So, I went in to spend 7€, ended up spending 23€ - Not on anything big I might add, but the basket consisted mainly of snacks. A can of Lynx or 'Axe' as it's known on the continent and some fabric softner to top it off. I often wonder why Lynx is known as 'Axe' almost everywhere apart from at home. I've come to this conclusion: The Europeans wouldn't be able to pronounce 'Lynx' upon seeing the word due to the weird spelling, but....what do I know!


I've just got one bitch to throw out there: I suppose I don't really have the right to bitch though 'cause it's my own fault. I keep bloody forgetting to take my own plastic bags when I go and they don't provide free bags so I'm forced to spend extra pennies for fucking bags! Oh well, I'm sure I'll learn.


I still haven't cooked here. Well, I can't cook but I have managed to boil a couple of ready made meal type things. They're not hard. So, that means that the only piece of kitchen shit I've used is the frying pan - Fine by me. That brings down the number of things needing to be washed up at the end of the day!
I also know I'm not alone. One of my other mates is also living on bread and cheese!


On the school front, I didn't do much again this week but that's all gonna change this week. Giving my first lesson to the little ones on Tuesday. Looking forward to it but not as much to the bloody singing at the start.
Sat in on one of the English lessons with the older ones on Tuesday. They're quite cool and yes, I still feel sorry for the girl who got an 'F' on the English Test. She was crying, the poor thing!
They certainly know how to shame the kids in German schools when it comes to handing out results. 


Apart from that, that's it really. Getting up in the mornings is killing me. It still takes about 100 alarms to get me up. The first starting 2/3 hours before I actually have to get out of the bed. 


Thursday night was fun. We went to a Shisha Bar in the Schanze and had an hilarious sex discussion. We have them quite a lot when drink's involved but that one was a laugh. I am now accepting the fact that I have no shame sometimes.


...and I bought two books - in English whoops! But, one could come useful with the kids so naff off! It's a book of facts about the UK called '8 out of 10 Brits,' the other is a novel called 'One day' and I've been told that it's 'a really good book' so I'll let you guys know how I get on with it. I did buy some in German too before you lay into me! I've got enough material auf Deutsch to read anyway, including a book about a pisshead. Interesting! 
I'm trying to balance the reading in German and in English. I need to read a bit more German though I would say 'cause I haven't been speaking it as much as I should be. That's naughty of me. For example, it showed during my short visit to the transport centre to get the payments for my transport transferred over to my name. It was laughable but we got there in the end, didn't we luv?


Of course, I'm still missing my baby. I love him so much and I miss him but in 5 days he'll be here with me for the weekend and then AGAIN two weeks after that. Who's a lucky boy then!?


Just before I go, I'd like you to read this article if you have time. 
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/centuryold-teaching-programme-suspended-after-spending-cuts-2114235.html
It talks about how this new annoying British government may be cutting the programme which I'm doing now which would be a GREAT shame I think.

Until next time peeps

Maxed out!

British bank account - Maxed out!

German bank account - Well, there's a couple of hundred left in that and the rent's paid so that's one thing off my mind.

I didn't max out my British account boozing as you'd probably guess but booking a flight HOME for crimbo and New Year!!! Yay, I'm so happy! 

That doesn't mean I don't have any thing to look forward to over the next two months in Hamburg. 

On Saturday, my baby randomly booked a flight to come here in TWO WEEKS :D 

He was already meant to come in four weeks but now the wait's been cut down which makes us both happy :)

I can't wait to see him - in the flesh again (Skype's still serving us well).

So that's that. I'll update you on my weekend now and Saturday night was a crazy one! Thankx to toytown.com the website for ex-pats living in Germany from all the English speaking countries of the world, I had someone to go out with...

Frazier is from the East Coast of America and was up for a night out. He has a pretty demanding job and doesn't know many people in Hamburg yet. Anyway, he came to my place and we sat and had drinks with my flatmate and watched a bit of the boxing before heading out to the Reeperbahn. 

Before we left, my flatmate treated us to some homemade vodka he has here, courtesy of his girlfriend's parents' house in Ukraine. 

Strong stuff! Between 50 and 60% percent and it certainly did its work on me!

We went on to visit about 4 different bars on and around the Reeperbahn, including the 99 cent bar (every drink 99 cent). 

Not surprisingly, it was totally packed and we left to try and get into the famous 'Funky Pussy Club.' Didn't get in though and I can't rememeber the excuse they used. I believe it was that it was already too full inside. Anyhow, that didn't stop us and the night came to a close at 5am with me finally getting to bed at 6am. 

Yesterday, I was "out of action" due to a stinking hangover! Same again next week though, I should imagine.

The mates are coming round tonight for a bit. That's nice. I haven't seen them since Thursday after they pissed off to Frankfurt for the weekend leaving me.

So school's back on in other news. I'm happy in a way 'cause I was getting a bit bored hanging around the flat all day, everyday (although I wasn't complaining about the lie-ins) and when I did go out, it just meant money. Now it's back to what I came here to do. I am, however looking forward to getting up in front of the classes and doing some proper "teaching." I'll soon get bored of just sitting at the back of the class. Maybe I should come up with some ideas of things I wanna do with them then. 

I'm so pissed they already know 'Head, shoulders, knees and toes' lol. 

I've been told that I'll be working mainly with the little ones and the 8th class (I think that's Year 9 in England) I still get confused when working out with class is which in the English system. 

After Christmas, I'll move on to work with the older ones mainly working on mainly speaking practice before their exams in May. I'm fine with the younger ones for now - They're funny! And you know me, I like a laugh! ...Even in the morning!

Until next time people

Mwah! 

 

  

Update:

Today's another day and I haven't done much except walk over the road to go into Lidl for a few bits...
I picked a few things out of the jumble sale style supermarkets they have here in Germany and went to pay. As I approached the checkout, I came across something which generally really irritates the poo out of me in a German supermarket....ONE TILL OPEN!
At that moment, they managed to get another one open so I was served pretty quickly but still - I don't like queing for ages in supermarkets (or anywhere really). That's the London in me!
So I spent 11€ in there. I do love the prices of the stuff over here. I left with a bag full of crap really. You know, the stuff that tastes really nice but isn't really doing the old insides any good. That should keep me stocked up for about ...2/3 days I would say. 


Apart from that, my Haspa bank card came through today so I FINALLY have a German bank card and I can give the British bank one a rest. However, with this German card, I can only withdraw from the cashpoints owned by my bank. If not, it's a whopping 5€ charge on top - Pissed!


Speaking of being pissed, although now switching to the other meaning of the word, I've been on the wine the past two nights with the Brits. Drinking it slowly but still managing to see the bottle off while we socialise. 
I've also throw a couple of glasses of Weissbier into the mix when we've been hanging out at Jungfernstieg. 
We've now realised we need to cut out the daily visits to the bar/restaurant at that place as we're not all made of money. I think it's just boredom during the day due to the fact we're all still on holiday.


You may remember from my last post that I was VERY homesick the other day. You'll be pleased to hear that it's a lot better now and I'm happily getting back into liking the fact that I'm in Germany!
Good! It's better than being miserable and hating every minute here as I'm sure you can imagine.
I cured my homesickness by downloading literally every British TV programme on the box. Obviously, my EastEnders and Coronation Street but also, bloody Emmerdale and Hollyoaks too (two programmes I never watch at home) I think it's just the accents I wanted to hear. 
For me, they're good for giving me a dose of home but now I'm trying not to get hooked on them again and spend every morning downloading each of them (even though they don't take long to download)
...No I haven't downloaded and watched X Factor before you ask. They hype over the programme annoys me and that's one thing I don't miss!


Apprentice tonight! So give it away before I watch tomorrow and I'll speak to you all soon


Have a great Wednesday people 
xxx

My head's bloody hurtin' now!

Hey everyone, it’s 10.10.10 – Thought I’d jump on the bandwagon as everyone keeps banging on about it. I have a reason too though...It’s my guy’s birthday! I won’t tell you how old he’s turning though ‚cause that would be rude!  ;) But a very Happy Birthday to him anyway! xxx

I’m travelling back from Mannheim to Hamburg now. I’m actually writing this as we speed down the motorway (but will be posting it when I’m back in the flat with an internet connection obviously).

We’re speeding now but it was a very different story about half an hour ago when there was only about one lane open causing tailbacks. You may be able to drive as fast as you like on parts of German motorway but apart from that, they’re quite annoying – Roadworks everywhere! A lot of the time you can’t actually see what the hell the point of the roadworks are. They always seem pointless. Are they making them wider? Aren’t they already wide enough....? Anyway this is just me having a little bitch. I’m feeling homesick. I knew it would happen and it’s happening now

I think it started yesterday. We went to see a cabaret (his idea not mine) about some old German singer who’s dead now but was famous internationally...BACK IN THE DAY!  All very funny if you know enough about her and German history...and understand German well enough to get the jokes. You tend to look like a bit of a twit when you’re not in that position though, especially when almost everyone around you is pissing themselves laughing.

So anyway we left during the interval ‘cause he could see I was hating it and I don’t do pretending very well. He took me to see the neighbourhood in which he grew up which was nice for me to see. ...From Vauxhall to his childhood neighbourhood in Mannheim awww!

So then today I felt meh! Happy that it was a nice day (what a difference a few hours make going outside now) and happy ‘A’ had nice weather for his birthday but it was all hitting me – The fact that this is no holiday and I’m here for a long stay! Scary! Yeah, I always knew that but now it’s actually hitting home. We went on to sit around a table for eight with his friends for a birthday lunchtime meal in the sun. I must have come across as an anti-social ****. I can admit that I had no intentions of trying to join in the conversation, making an effort to understand it, making to effort to say anything in German to be honest. Felt disconnected again. I did, however manage to make it clear enough to them that I was sorry for being a bit quiet and that I was homesick. They all understood – very understandable situation, you see.

I’m bit of a shit traveller really. I love the idea of travelling but I can get bored of it and the languages quite quickly sometimes. I think in a lot of ways I can be a bit closed to the way things work abroad. I find it hard to put home aside in my head and get right involved in other cultures fully. I’m sure this is just natural though and I’m sure it’ll just take time. The thing is I’m not always that patient. I doubt that I’m the first person to go through these feelings sometimes. In fact, I can think of a mate here who has been experiencing similar feelings. I keep telling myself that this time in Germany will be good for me and I'm sure it will be.

On the upside though, I don’t think I’ll feel like this for long. I go through phases of homesickness as I said. I like Germany and I like speaking/trying to speak/understand/learning more German (most of the time). I’ll let you know how I go. I certainly need a good night lashin' it up to be honest! It’s been, like two weekends now. Unacceptable! For tonight though, I think I’ll just relax with some entertainment from the UK - IN BRITISH ENGLISH. My head’s been hurting recently.

 I’ll tune back into Germany and German life tomorrow lol plus I’ll keep on telling myself this…I have one week of holiday left!!!

Goodnight xxx

It was cringeABLE!

The Apprentice is back people! Wednesdays at 9 on BBC One if you're in the UK, if not, and you're as sad as me you'll go to the wall to do what I've just done in order to watch it. We all know that the BBC's iPlayer service is literally off-limits once you leave the country unless it's radio you're after. So now here's a quick run through of how to download, not just the Apprentice but almost anything else British shown on British TV if you don't know already..

Go to thebox.bz - create an account for free
Then download a Torrent client. If you don't know what this is, it's just basically enables you do download the file. I recommend uTorrent (That's the one I use anyway) - A fast internet connection would be an idea too. The Apprentice file is pretty big...1.5GB
Once you have the file because it'll be a 'MKV file' which is quite rare, you'll have to download a Codec pack but if you have no idea what this is, there is an easier option. VLC Player already supports MKV files so just download that player and it SHOULD work.

I'll comment on the actual episode in a sec. Before that, here's what I did yesterday...

As I knew that I was running out of money but didn't actually know how bad it was, I went into town to meet Katy and my first stop was the first bank we saw. As I was saying yesterday, Postbank/.comdirect forgot all about so I needed a bank account straight away if I wanted to get paid.
My mentor's husband didn't really recommend the 'Haspa' government savings bank but it was time to just get any account so got that sorted within about 30 minutes. I'll make a point of saying that I did it all in German too which I didn't expect to be able to manage. Sometimes all the bank jargon confuses me even in English 'cause I don't really deal with banks too much! Anyway, so I expected to cave in and go 'Huh? Ich verstehe nicht. Sprechen Sie englisch?' but never needed to. She was very good, spoke slowly enough and offered me a whole bottle of juice the moment I sat down.

Money's on its way.

Thank God it is because after setting up the account with Haspa I called Barclays and got the shock of my life - I'll have about £250 after I come back from Mannheim. I still need to give this guy 130€ more rent. 
Tried to get them to increase my overdraft lol - Not to say I'm gonna hit the limit but just for emergencies. They refused 'cause they haven't got an up-to-date number for me and I need to change it via online banking which I can't do because my PINsentry card reader thing is broken and in England and they won't send a new one to Germany because I don't have Telephone Banking with them and...You know what? It's just a bloody mess. I hate British banks - They never fail to piss me off. Let's hope the German banks are better when it comes to dealing with them. Yesterday was a good start!


I need to thank my mentor - She's a star! Thankx to her, I won't have to wait until after the holidays to get paid :)


Back to Apprentice and I'm glad it hasn't lost it's comedy value! It started making me laugh right from the start, right from the moment the project managers were chosen.
God, the girls seem bitchy! and that Dan guy was entertaining too. I wouldn't have minded if he stayed.
I think it'll be a good series as it's already kicked off with some GREAT lines...
How about...'It was cringable.' Don't worry Justin, English is a stupid language sometimes :) 
'Would you like to let your wife try a new sausage' LOL or something along that line.
Then there was 'I managed to hussle £14 worth of sales' 
followed by the posh guy in the board room pointing his finger exclaiming 'It..it was SHAMEFUL' and then silence haha.
No one I really hate yet, no one I really love either. The girls seems like they'll be a laugh but bitchy. 
The girls' team leader was sweet (I say that now) and then there's that mouthy woman who kept arguing with her: 'It's about PROFESSSIONAAALLISSSMMM' LOL - HER! She may go on to annoy me. At the same time she'll cause arguments which I like and I always tend to like the ones everyone hates anyway ;)
I'm glad they all turned on the Project Manager and I can't say I disagreed with the first firing and at least no hotties went first hehe.
Glad it's back - Shame there's no German version. They have everything else.


That's it from me - Thank you and Goodnight! 
Mwah!

Paris und Herbstferien!

Just a quick one, I know it's been just over a week since I kicked off this blogging thing.

So now it's the 2 week half term (Herbstferien) break from school and I set off straight away for Paris, THE city of love for most people - Not in our case. Well, I lie it started off that way but the mood turned sour Saturday night then remained sour into Sunday morning then we made up again for about 2 hours. What happened next was probably my fault, insisting on talking about our somewhat small issues while having breakfast at a cafe. Anyway we went on to "enjoy" Paris separately on the Sunday afternoon! I really believed we were over but we're stronger than that and now after some civil conversation, we're lovebirds again. Mwah!
I'll just say, if you've read the "new" Facebook relationship status, ignore it. Don't take it too seriously! I don't think I'm the first person to run and change it after things have SEEMED like they could be over. I may change it back in due course, if I do - yes it's with the same GUY! *wink wink* if you haven't yet clocked on.
For now, I think it's best if I just say keep my relationship status private on Facebook - read here for the latest goss.

As I was saying it's Herbstferien here in this German state. Yes Hamburg is its own German state if you know nothing about D-land and I don't really have many plans to be honest. I've been spending FAR too much money and it's time I calmed it down. At least I'm only spending about 5€ a go for food for the fridge. But what I'm really going mad with is eating out (I really need to learn to cook and rustle up the energy to cook in the evenings), travelling, fags, booze, books, phone credit, magazines and I haven't even looked at clothes because they seem more expensive in Germany - which is why I need to make the short trip to Bremen so that I can visit the Primark there! I've been warned it's just as manic as the stores in England, if not worse 'cause there are only two branches in the whole country (The other is in Frankfurt).
So, apart from a plan to SAVE money for the two weeks, I need a bank account because it seems like Postbank/.comdirect have forgotten me so I'll just go out right after this and open up another one pronto because I need to get paid obviously. 
It seems like the rest of the assistants have just gone for Haspa (Sparkasse) so I may follow suit.


I am going to Mannheim, Germany on Friday in the car with a stranger - may seem akward but I'll be saving like 150€ and I thank God that this car sharing practice is common in Germany and I hope it catches on in the UK. 28€ to travel cross-country - can't be beaten.
Why am I going to Mannheim? You may ask.
What the hell's there? You may also ask. I'll tell you what, I'll wink again *wink* and maybe you can guess. I'm going to celebrate the birthday of someone special to me. Awwww. 


...and then I guess I'll return to Hamburg to sit back and indulge in the trashiest TV on offer on German TV in the daytime. RTL's the main provider of it but at least they have a news programme on at midday. I think SAT1 takes the biscuit with their fake Judge Judy, and the fake male equivalent followed by the Jeremy Kyle equivalent which is so cheap the guests haven't even got chairs to sit down on. What follows is EVEN WORST and EVEN FAKER with some AWFUL actors, I'm actually happy when the adverts come on. Saying all that though, they're good for improving da Deutsch. Just so you know, I do watch a bit of news in the middle of all that to hear a bit of proper German.


So when I returned from Paris to Hamburg on Sunday it actually felt like coming home which I think is nice after only a short time. I also like the fact that I was back through the door after landing only after about 6/7 stops on the S and U-Bahn. At least the airport's nearby.
It feels like everybody's going back to England for the holidays. Maybe it's only a few people but it does seem like everyone's running back. I'm quite happy where I am. Maybe my opinion will change after 'The Apprentice' is broadcast in the UK tonight IF I can't find it anywhere online. 
No, but seriously I'm pretty happy and settled in Germany right now. Finding my way around Hamburg well. Walked from the Reeperbahn home at 2am on Monday night. LONG walk but I don't mind walking and it was nice having almost every street to myself. I think everyone was in there bed expect me and people partying on the Reeperbahn. Hamburg looks very nice at night and my walk took me past the beautiful Alster!
Oh speaking of the Alster, that 'Alsterwasser' shandy/beer stuff is bloody lovely. I only had it for the first time last night and instantly fell in love. 


But now it's time to speak of banking if I want my money to survive in this city so...
Have a great Wednesday ladies and gentlemen and I'll speak to you all soon...


Tschuss x

First two weeks on German soil!

I'll begin by saying that the title of this entry's a bit misleading. I have in fact been on German soil twice before but this is an entry concerning my first two weeks after setting up home here! The first two weeks of my year abroad during which I'll be an English Language Assistant in a school in Hamburg.

Anyway, it's only the beginning and it's all going well so far. Flew into Dusseldorf early on Sunday the 12th and headed straight for beautiful Cologne. After one night of sleeping (and drinking) there, I had already made a couple of friends to go on to Altenberg with the next day. I'll say thank God for Facebook for making the new friendship situation just that little bit easier. I think Katy and I felt like we "knew" each other without knowing each other and as we both suspected, we got on great. 

Monday afternoon and there's a British invasion at Cologne's main railway station as we all gathered there before getting onto the coaches. Once on the coaches, my hands are feeling ripped apart from pulling the heavy suitcase which only has one wheel. As there were many people making this short trip to Altenberg and also in the same boat of emigrating to Germany, almost everyone was willing to talk and make friends which was cool.

As there's a lot to get through in this first entry, I'll just quickly sum up what Altenberg was all about - an opportunity to learn a bit about our roles in the German schools, continue to make friends and booze it up at night. We were in the middle of rural Germany but this old catholic church/convent thing was transformed into a 'British villiage' - I don't think I spoke one word of German while I was there. 

We also discovered during our drunken evenings that it was, somewhat a gay villiage too with someone new coming out night after night, hour after hour. So perhaps we can assume that there's either a link between studying languages and gay guys or between studying the German language and gay guys ;)

It was only three nights in Altenberg but I think people got used to it and its community atmosphere (the only bitch I had about the place was the they didn't provide any irons for us). Anyway, it was time to leave and after dragging us out of bed at 6am (that's after a late night of drinking), everyone was looking like shit and some of us, like me had long journeys to go on to do. We discovered that out of all the 'Hamburgers,' almost all of us were taking the 10:10 train - shame some people had to pay a whopping €80 for a one way ticket. Be smart in future - buy your rail tickets in Germany in advanced (bit like in the UK really) and you'll pay €44 like I did.

Four hours on the train goes by and we arrive at Hamburg's Hbf. I'm greeted by my new flatmate and he takes me to my new flat/room. The new room I found a whole week before I was due to move here!

So, the flat's cool and so is my new flatmate. 

I really like the area - five minutes walk to the U-Bahn station and just across the road from that is a McDonalds AND a mile long shopping centre which just so happens to be called the 'Hamburger Meile.' 

The U-Bahn will get me to town in 10 minutes so it's all very handy, however some of the teachers at my school are saying the required rent is too much - €430 a month. Speaking of teachers at my school, I'll tell you about my school right now...

'Schule am Eichtalpark' is quite a small school which educates kids from the age of 9 through to 16. I won't explain the German school system, it's complicated and it's made more complicated because of all the school reforms going on in Hamburg right now. 

I will say, however that the teachers are lovely and cool. The kids are funny (especially the younger ones), very interested, and now I feel a bit more at home because they all know me now. They either shout 'Hallo Mr Thomas' or 'Hallo Herr Thomas' to me in the corridors and in the playground. 

The younger ones are hilarious with their questions and they sound much cuter when they speak German than the teens do. They fire questions at me like: 'Are you married?' 

'Do you have a car?'

'Do you live in a house of your own?'

'Have you seen my aunt in London?'

'Do I like Michael Jackson?'

'Are you coming into our class today?' and many more.

I'm certainly looking forward to working with all of them over the next academic year. Also, seeing whether schools in England are stricter or not and observing where kids are better behaved - here or back at home. Kids and teachers seem to have this idea that the kids in England are so much better behaved. I'm not convinced. 

When Friday night comes around, you know what that means if you know me. We've brought the UK's excessive drinking to Germany (not that the young German aren't good at it anyway). Usually pre-lashing in Chris's WG (flatshare) where he lives with loads of other young Germans right in the middle of town. It's always good there because there's always a decent mix of German and English being spoken and it's helps to mix it up a bit when we're forgetting we're actually in Germany. Although, I'm sure it's felt like a British invasion to them in that flat over the past couple of weeks. 

When we can't go to Chris's house, we go to Katy's. She lives in student halls a short ride out of town on the S-Bahn but there's a bar there which sells shots and bottle of beer for €1 - so it's all good. I'm sure Germany's cheaper for booze than at home but the wine is cheaper by FAR - 1 litre bottle of half-decent tasting wine available in the supermarkets for €2 or even €1.79 (£1.52 if we convert that) - so you can't go wrong.

Apart from that, I don't really think I need to go into how my first few nights out have been since I've got here. They've been pretty standard really. Main difference being that everything happens later (because it's mainland Europe) so we've been leaving to go to the clubs at 12/1am and I've been getting in at times like 5/6am. 

Of course, I LOVE the famous Reeperbahn and the Schanze area, both of which remind me of London. Not the sex shops but just the lights and the atmosphere there at the weekend.

In other news, I'm still waiting for my bank stuff to come through the post. I've gone for a .comdirect account - The stuff better come through soon because I would like some pay! But I still got to get my 'Anmeldung' done, so I'm officially a German resident now ...AND  it only took 15 minutes to get done;)

Also, I've also got a phone I can live with now - with Vodafone. Even though they're quite expensive, I just couldn't cope with the cheap Samsung I had on the Blau network and this Sony Ericsson W205 came with a Vodafone SIM card. It's hard to go back to a crappy phone when you're used to a Blackberry but I've given up on getting a contract here as most of them are for two years only!

Lastly, I have a TV, FINALLY in my room. After asking the right people in the school canteen, a TV was delivered to me very speedily later that day. It's quite heavy but the thing works! So now I have German blearing in my ears almost 24 hours a day (which is a good thing).  

A lot of people bitch about German TV but I actually don't mind it. They have their own versions of almost everything we have. I will say that some of their versions are cringeworthy but I can deal with that. I sometimes like cheesy. People often have a good old moan about the dubbing too but I think I'm in the minority - I don't mind it. At least it feels like I'm somewhere else. Even though Whoopi Goldberg sounded HILARIOUS dubbed the other night, I can live with it. So with that and being bombarded with a lot of German at the school from the teachers and kids along with a lot of reading material, I'm getting quite a bit of daily practise.

Thinking back to the UK, I'm not really missing it yet. I'm sure I will be getting a little homesick at times but that's only natural, right?

Apparently, there's an English shop in Hamburg somewhere that's everyone's trying to find. I do know that 'The Apprentice' will be starting again on BBC One in about a week's time and I have to let be known that I WILL miss that and I'll be searching the internet high and low to find the episodes after they've been broadcast by the BBC in the UK.

Apart from that for the moment, there's only one other thing I've left behind in the UK, something German as a matter of fact, something I'm missing right now.... 

...He knows who he is and all I'll say is I can't wait until Friday to see him again. I'd like to thank Skype for the brilliant FREE service they provide and allowing me to keep in daily contact with him and other friends and family (of course I'll miss them too. They're all invited) also allowing the ability to be able to see them too. I really don't know what I'd do without it!

So that's my first two weeks in Germany and that's the start of my blog. Be sure to check back here and I'll let you know how I'm getting on.

Tschuss

Leo