Picky Germans

Today I was having a semi-stressful day at work, and then I see Martin’s email where he’s completely mad and pissed off.

It made me giggle! keke.

He was at his buddy’s place and they had started the grill on the patio. Over the weekend, Martin had visited his Oma in Thüringen, where he brought back some famous Thüringen Bratwurst.

The best way to eat this bratwurst is by grilling it. Martin doesn’t have a grill at home so had been pan frying the bratwurst instead, and was excited to finally grill the things properly. Just thinking about it made his mouth water.

Then, something happened that dashed his hopes and dreams.

Apparently there is some rule where you can’t grill on Tuesdays (!), so his buddy’s next door neighbours threatened to call the police if they didn’t turn the grill off ASAP.

Uh oh, this is bad! Very very bad.

Martin hates rules and hates authority, and also can’t stand not having food prepared correctly. I once took him out for wonton noodle soup and he didn’t eat a single wonton, because the meat inside was boiled instead of pan fried or grilled. Martin thinks meat stinks if it’s boiled, and I guess I can’t fault him for that since I think so too (although I’m a vegetarian and think all meat stinks – no matter how it’s prepared or if it’s raw!).

Reading Martin’s email today made me feel better, and I just wanted to spend the day cooing at his cute face and calling him “Poor thing”! Awwww….

I have the cutest boyfriend in the world!

Deutschkurs ist sehr gut

I’m really enjoying my German classes, and learning German in general.

I didn’t think it would be so fun, because I’ve never considered myself a languages person. But it’s turning out to be such a worthwhile and gratifying experience.

There are many people in my class who are there to learn German for FUN.

One of my classmates is an older Korean lady who is moving back to Korea in 2 weeks, but felt like taking German class! Another classmate is a busy nursing student who enrolled because she decided to learn another language, so why not German? There are many other language loving folk too, mixed in with people who are dating/married to a German.

Before I wasn’t sure I would take German for the heck of it, but now I can see why people do. Not just German, but any language.

There’s the neatness of being able to converse in other language, but not just that. Languages bring people together. So do language classes ^_^!

I’ve signed up for another semester, and am really looking forward to it. It’s time well spent.

Stuff I didn’t want but may want again

When I moved to Germany, I packed 4 seasons worth of clothing and other essentials into 2 big suitcases, and dragged them across an ocean.

Which seems like a lot, but bedding, footwear, and winter coats take up A LOT of space – and I’m not the most efficient packer to begin with!

Living out of 2 suitcases for about a year was pretty neat. I was much less attached to stuff, and things felt simpler. But I also felt like I was wearing the same things over and over again, because I was.

So I left behind this pile for Martin to deal with (poor thing!):

He snapped this picture for me today, because I was asking about it and he didn’t want to describe them all (guys don’t like to describe clothing in detail!).

I didn’t know I left so much stuff!!! This is even after he brought back some things for me the last time he visited in November. keke.

Thanks Sweetie, for dealing with my mess!

Red, pink, and gold day

I haven’t written about Chinese New Year or Valentine’s Day yet! This year they fell on the same day.

For Chinese New Year, my family took my Grandma out for lunch and then to the mall to walk around. At the mall, we caught the lion dance performance. I hadn’t seen the lion dance for a long time, so it made me extremely happy and filled me with cultural glee!

And for Valentine’s Day, I don’t know who the heck celebrates it. But there must be tons of people since pink and red hearts show up everywhere in stores. Martin and I did sort of celebrate it. We sent each other cards in the mail. My card to him was actually a Chinese New Year card, which was appropriately red. His card to me was pink and red! So I guess we both stuck to the Valentine’s theme pretty well.

Martin actually spent the weekend in Berlin with his best friend Peter (!), and drunk dialed me Saturday night to introduce me to the bartender. He was so cute!! Martin, not the bartender. keke.

This is romance at its finest.

Big city

Since I last updated, I’ve been pre-approved for a mortgage! Which is very exciting to me as it’s that first step to buying a place. But I still haven’t found that dream, entry-level unit yet.

Does ‘dream’ and ‘entry-level’ even go together? It’s starting to feel very oxymoron-ish.

Everything I look at is super small. I would say that less than 500 sq ft is too small for me to live in, especially when the layout is bad. And I’m still holding out for that window in my bedroom!

I guess anyone who’s looked for a place in Toronto while on a budget can empathize.

I had to torture myself with it the other day. A comparable unit in Berlin (if you can even compare location-wise or transit-wise, as Berlin is amazing!) is around 60K euros. Can someone tell me why I haven’t moved to Berlin yet?? Aiyiyi.

Mortgage Broker

Still condo-less here.

I actually don’t even know my price range yet, because the “mobile mortgage specialist” who I decided to work with hasn’t gotten back to me about my pre-approval. It’s not my job to chase her, so she’s lost my business.

But, that turned out to be a blessing in disguise – I think – because I met an independent mortgage broker yesterday and decided to work with him instead.

He also happens to be volleyball buddies with my realtor!

Out of all the brokers I’ve interviewed, he is my favourite. He sat with me for an hour to answer all my questions and really sold me on his after care service too. I learned a lot and started the pre-approval process with him. I’ll find out on Monday and I’m SO excited!

I’ve decided to change my whole perspective on this home search. Instead of getting so worked up and stressed, I’m going to enjoy it. I mean, I’m looking for my first place! I’ve worked hard to be here and have only been dreaming about it since I was a kid. So, it’s a pretty exciting time.

It just hit me the other day that I have a job and that I am actually *real estate shopping*! Craziness!!

Skinny Bitch

I have a colleague who thinks I have an eating disorder.

She’s my bff at work, and we eat lunch together every day. She sees how little I eat or how I don’t eat at all, and offers me her food which I always decline. She quizzes me on what I’ve eaten for breakfast and expresses concern that I’m not eating. Although she is subtle in her words, I know what she is thinking.

Before you worry, I don’t have an eating disorder. If anything I can eat. But she just doesn’t see me eat.

For breakfast I usually have tea and whole grain toast with peanut butter. This is very important to me, as I’m vegetarian and need to get in my protein. I also like that it’s easily digestible, because I have an office job which means lots of sitting in front of a computer. Who wants heavy food sitting in them all day? Not me.

Because my breakfast digests so quick, I’m super hungry by around 11am. That’s when I eat my lunch at my desk. I scarf it down while I’m working.

My friend doesn’t believe me because she knows I’m super busy at work, plus she visits me a few times a day and never sees me eating.

But I do eat. I can’t not-eat because I’ll be too hungry to work otherwise.

I’ve tried to change my habits to eat at lunch time instead of 11am. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.

The other day my department was throwing a going away party for another colleague, and we had cake together in the office. It was after lunch and I was super full, so I was only eating bits of the cake. Also, the cake wasn’t that good. I noticed people looking at how I wasn’t eating, and some asked me why. Parts of the conversation also steered to how I must be a size 0.

You know, if I were fat and eating the way I do, no one would say anything! But because I’m the skinniest person in the office, people automatically think I have an eating disorder.

Which just isn’t true. There are so many factors to different body types, it’s not just based on lifestyle choices. What about genetics (a big one), health status, environment, and even socioeconomic factors?

I’ll get off my high horse now, because I’m not gonna be one of those skinny people who cry about how it’s so hard to be thin. It’s not hard at all. I would rather be my size than my size x 2, because the latter isn’t easily accepted and that makes life harder.

Plus, I must be really self disciplined or something if I can deny myself food!

Back to twisting my tongue

I had my first Intermediate German class today and it was wunderbar!

It felt really nice to dust off my German skillz, and I love that the class is very conversational and interactive.

My grammar and vocab are poor, but I noticed that I speak German more fluidly than the others. That’s because Martin and I speak a lot of ‘Denglish’ together, so it’s more natural for me to have a conversation and my accent is crisper too. Who would’ve thought!

I thought taking German classes in Toronto would feel kind of lame, since I took German classes in Germany. But turns out, I love being in class with my fellow Torontonians, who are not known to be shy. Everyone is so open to speaking and practicing. It’s great!

I think I’m gonna have a lot of fun with this!

Suburban Life

This is a new decade with new changes in thought. So I was thinking that instead of buying a small condo in downtown Toronto, why wouldn’t I buy a whole *house* in the suburbs?

(I know, craziness!)

I could live in a less than 500 sq ft space (that needs work!) or be in a nicely done 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom house with parking.

Now I understand why people like the suburbs.

Sort of.

While I prefer to live in a house, mostly I believe that I’m able to sacrifice space for the amenities in a downtown location. Especially while I’m still in my 20’s.

But I have to admit, it’s enticing to be able to afford *space*. Especially land space, not just air space.

I like that I can just walk into and out of my house, without going through security and elevators. I like that there’s a deck and a backyard. I like that there’s space to live, and everything looks pretty, and I could get a real dog vs a lap dog!! I could grow veggies in the backyard!

The downside of living the suburban life is that my transportation costs would go up. Right now it only costs me the $121 for a metropass, and I occassionally drive my parents’ car. But in the suburbs, for sure I would need to get my own car. If I drove that car to work, I would need to pay $126-$160 per month for parking. Or I could take the GO bus which costs $185 per month (which I would probably do).

I’m really considering this!!

I think it’s because I also work in North York, which used to be considered a suburb but is now part of Toronto. If I worked downtown, I wouldn’t even consider living in the ‘burbs. I’d prefer to live in a smaller place and walk to work – that’s my ideal lifestyle.

But since I’m already kinda-sorta experiencing suburban life, why not take it a step further? I’d be commuting from suburb-to-suburb, and have space galore.

It’s something to think about.

Mortgage & New Years

Let me tell you what’s making me nervous before I wish you a Happy New Years.

I haven’t actually been approved for a mortgage yet. I’ve been interviewing mortgage specialists from big banks, and have looked into independent mortgage brokers too. I wanted to do this just to see what was out there and what my options were.

They all gave me a preliminary screening, and I have a ballpark number of how much I can borrow. But, I didn’t choose anyone until last week, and only submitted my application 2 days ago.

I chose to work directly with a big bank. The customer service was more important to me than all other factors, because I want to be hand held through the process.

But now I’m worried about not qualifying for a mortgage at all! As far as I know, my credit should be good, but I never bothered to find out. So I have no idea what is on my record.

I’m thinking about how my gf thought her credit was great too, until she applied for a mortgage and found out her dormant childhood bank account was marring her credit. The account wasn’t even in arrears, it was just dormant for 20+ and she had forgotten about it!

When I got my first credit card, it was pretty quickly maxed out because someone had stolen my number and went on a shopping spree all around North America. I got legally and financially cleared of the charges, but who knows whether that made its way onto my credit history.

And finally, the last point is the biggest one. I’ve only been working full time for a month and a half! While banks have told me they only need 2 recent pay stubs, I know one month is not a lot of history.

So there, maybe all this stress of finding my dream place was all for nothing, since I may not even qualify for a mortgage.

HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all!