Biking Adventures

Martin and I are getting more into taking pictures of our regular (but very fun) excursions. I’m also in a picture posting mood!

We went for another bike ride today, but this time around the lake and river area.

We rode by this RV park and I had to stop when I saw this cute baby. His name is Maxwell and he’s so super sweet!

We ended up sticking around for 40 minutes to chat with Mika (Maxwell’s Mom), a very interesting Dutch lady who is RVing around with her husband and their 3 dogs.

Mika showed us her other dogs and let me hold the 5 month old puppy. If I look a little awkward, it’s cuz I don’t really know how to hold little dogs. But I’m always happy to try!

She also has 4 kids, all in their late teens to early 20’s. She guessed that I was 20, definitely no more than 22 (and probably guessed this because I told her I was finished school).  Yeah, I’m almost 28! keke.

This is better than when I’m in Asia and everyone thinks I’m 40.

Biking in the countryside

Martin and I just got back from a long bike ride. The weather is absolutely beautiful!

It’s so much fun for a city girl like me to ride around in the country. Much better than city-biking, that’s for sure.

We also passed by white peacocks!

Week in Pictures

Over the week, I finally went and got a much needed haircut! Jimmy, the hair stylist in the background, was SO nice (and cute too!). He looks no older than 24 to me, but runs his own busy salon. I thought that was cool!

I don’t have any good after-pics but I really like the cut!

Martin and I found a new park right across the river from the Altstadt.

It was fun! But windy…

Laundry Euro Stylez

Right now I’m sitting at Martin’s place wearing his clothes and waiting for my laundry to be done.

I’m used to my parents’ big machine (you know, the average washing machine in North America) whipping out a load in 20 minutes. I could program 6 minute washes too.

But here in Europe, a cycle of laundry takes forever. Forever meaning 3 hours for one small load. If I was in a hurry one day, I could set it on quick cycle, which would take around 1.5 hours.

It’s just so weird. I mean, the machine does a good job of cleaning my clothes and all, but really – do I need them to be THAT clean?

Better

I’m feeling better, but still more tired than usual.

I’ve been sleeping, eating, sleeping, and talking to my Mom on the phone!

Martin will be back in town in 2 days. Yay!

Importance of a Support System

Ahh, so I’m sick here again.

I’ve never been this sick before but am glad that I’m in the safety of my own apartment now.

My closest girlfriend is on vacation in Egypt, and Martin is at his parents’ place in East Germany. So I had to figure out what to do for the next few days.

This is what I mean about not having a strong support system. I don’t know many people here, which makes it harder to react to emergencies.

I ended up calling my American gf and asked her to help me, on her birthday no less! I felt bad taking her away from her party, but I was really desperate and she was a good sport about it. Phew!

I just needed some good food to tide me over for the next few days, and can’t get it on my own because I’m in a lot of pain, I black out, I’m dizzy, I vomit, and I just plain don’t have much energy to begin with.

I tried taking a walk the other day, thinking it would be helpful, but it ended up being a really BAD idea. I blacked out and almost didn’t make it home.

I can tell that I’m slowly getting better, but I still don’t trust myself to go outside yet, because I don’t feel strong enough and don’t want to risk it. That’s a shame because I’m still in lots of pain and I reaaaaallly want some drugs.

Grrr.

Don’t worry about me though. I am safe here. I cancelled all my classes this week and am planning to rest.

Public Transit Mayhem

Today was a weird day on the public transit scene.

I took off to Centro Mall in Oberhausen (32km north of Düsseldorf) to meet up with Martin and his sisters, who drove in from the opposite direction.

If I time everything right, it should only take me 40 minutes to get to Centro from my place.

It ended up taking me 1.5 hours because something was holding up my first connection. I ended up taking a different route only after waiting out a big chunk of time. Grr.

When I was leaving Centro, I was so pleased that I caught my first 2 connections so effortlessly without planning for it. Like, as soon as I walked onto the platform, the right train pulled in. Score, I was gonna be home soon!

NOT!

It took me 2.5 hours to get home from Oberhausen today!!

This was because one of my trains short turned, so me and a million other people had to take another train.

Then that one short turned too – one stop before Düsseldorf main station (everyone’s destination).

Now, it wasn’t so bad for me as I’m just a single girl traveling for fun. But there were lots of people who were under serious stress because of this.

They probably had to catch specific trains and planes, and didn’t have time to keep switching and waiting for the next connection whilst battling crowds and luggage.

The fastest, easiest, and cheapest way to the airport and main train station is to take the train. On most days.

Normally, Germans are reserved and calm on public trans (unless they are drunk and cheering about soccer, and even then there is a sense of structure about it!) but this time, I saw panic and mayhem.

People, old and young, were running for dear life and going up or down on escalators that ran in the opposite direction.

I’ve never seen Germans act so crazy before! I swear, people were feeding off of others’ frenzied energy. It wasn’t total chaos but the most chaotic I’ve ever seen it here.

Of course I kept my cool through all of it!

Ex-Pat Meme

I found this from the Spotted Sparrow, who got it off of A Touch of Dutch. Both are American ex-pats living in Germany and Netherlands respectively. Here are my answers:

BEFORE MOVING TO GERMANY

• Before you knew you’d be coming to Germany, how much did you know about the country?
  Not too much, I would say. At least not anything very specific. Germany hadn’t previously caught my attention; I was more interested in Asia and France/England.
• Did you learn about Germany in school when you were growing up?
  Yes but the most attention I paid was during the semester before I first went to Germany (December 2007). I wrote a paper on Chinese Immigration to Germany for one of my classes (killing 2 birds with one stone in terms of my “countries I wanted to learn more about” theme, keke). Oh, and I got an A on that paper.
• Do you have family who is German or of German heritage?
  Nope, I only have family roots in North America and Asia.
• Had you ever lived outside of your home country for longer than one month prior to living in Germany?
  Yes, twice in Hong Kong for 1 and 2 months.
• Had you learned to speak any other language than your own, even if only partially so, before coming to Germany? Yes, I learned French in school for 6 years, and Mandarin for 8 years. Don’t ask me to speak either! But I can communicate in Cantonese at a very basic level. That’s the language I speak to my Grandmothers in!
• When you learned you’d be coming to Germany, did you feel it was important to learn German?
  Of course, yes. I bought a book and had started learning it with Martin over the phone for fun. I didn’t think I would actually live in Germany though. I was actually working more on my Chinese because I was planning to live in Hong Kong. Turns out, I chose Germany!
• Did anyone prepare you with information of any type before you came to live in Germany, did you attempt to find information on your own, or did you come to Germany without preparing?
  Oh, I am a hardcore planner, so I researched as much as I could beforehand and came very prepared (including having a job, a visa, and a plan to find a flat…). It also helps immensely that Martin is German!
• How did your friends and family react when they learned you’d be moving to Germany?
  They were happy and supportive. Some friends also expressed real sadness at me leaving (and still do!).
• What did you think would be your biggest challenge living in a foreign country? Or did you feel you would face any big challenges?
  What I guessed would be the hardest challenge was actually the hardest, except much harder than I expected. This living truly ‘on my own’ without a huge support system. I mean, I have Martin but it’s not the same relying on just 1 person who lives 80km away (and who is frequently away on out-of-country business trips), when I am used to having a HUGE HUGE HUGE network of people in Toronto to draw from. I didn’t realize it until I left it.

AFTER MOVING TO GERMANY

• Upon arriving, can you remember the overall impression you had in the first 48 hours?
  Well, I was in Germany for 6 weeks just 2 months before I moved here. My overall impression of Germany is always positive. Germans are reserved but kind, and the towns and cities are beautiful. There are hardly any billboards around and I like that so much. Oh, and people drive fast here!

• Tell me about your bicycle, if you have one. How often do you use it?
  I have 2 bikes, a green bike and a black bike! Both are cruiser style Hollandrad (made in Holland) bikes which are common here. I take my green bike on long bike rides with Martin almost every weekend. But my black bike I rarely use because it lives in Düsseldorf and it’s not that bike friendly here. I love both my bikes very much!!!

• Name three of your favorite things about the German culture which first come to mind:
  1. German Practicality and Honesty. People tend to be very by the book and straight-laced here, which makes me feel safe and cared for.
  2. Living the Simple Life. I think this is very European, and I like it a lot.
  3. Complaining! Germans like to complain and I find it funny!
• Culture shock. Does this ring a bell? [Not sure what culture shock is? Click here to learn more.]
  I don’t feel a huge culture shock here. Maybe it’s because I spent lots of time in Hong Kong right before moving here, which was a much bigger culture shock to me. But living an immigrant life first-hand is probably the most shocking. Oh, and it’s not very service friendly here, that’s culture shock too!
• How far have you come with learning German?
  I’m very very beginner. It’s going slow but I’m learning. I can eavesdrop on conversations and understand parts of it now!
• Has your view on politics or world issues changed from how you previously viewed things before living in Germany?
  Nope, my political views are the same. But I am definitely MUCH more sensitive and patient towards people who don’t speak the dominant language of their home/host country.
• Since living here, have you learned anything new about yourself? Or perhaps have you learned anything else new? A new hobby or a new way of life?
  I’ve learned lots of great lessons! I feel stronger, smarter, more resilient, more confident, more resourceful (I could go on, lol!)… all the things I wanted to learn from moving away. I’ve also learned that my health is one of the most important things to me. A new way of life for me here is being in a relationship whilst living more simply in general. It’s a good life, I must say.

German Food

Martin and I are sitting here having a late dinner.  He made this for us!

It’s called Bratkartoffeln: Pan fried potato, onion, egg, and seasoned with salt and pepper.

So simple and so delicious!! Martin is a great cook.

Boyfriend-y Things

Martin has gotten into the lovely habit of bringing me surprises (plural!) every time he comes over.

Last week the main surprise was a clothes hook. He also brought his drill and installed it for me immediately. Now I don’t know how I lived with out it!!

Thanks Dear!

Yesterday I wasn’t feeling well so he paid me a surprise visit also bearing gifts! The main surprise was himself, but this didn’t hurt either:

This morning when I woke up, he had already left for work. I found that he had plugged my phone to charge the battery, and also left me a cute note pressed between my iBook! (he knows I’m always on my computer, keke)

Maybe he has gotten into the habit of leaving behind something nice too?

I just made myself some homemade cream of mushroom soup, that I wish I could share with Martin. Last time I made this it turned out flavourless and kinda yucky (like drinking pure cream with mushrooms floating in it). But this time, it worked!

The secret is flavouring the mushrooms with lemon juice.

That’s all for today!