I’ve been really busy here wrapping up my last week of work and slowly moving back to Martin’s place. Martin has been busy too, with back and forth business trips to France to finish up this project that never ends (boo!).
But despite all this, we decided WTH, and made an impromtu trip to Thüringen in East Germany. We just got back yesterday and had LOTS of fun!
A picture-intense post if you’re interested. (more…)
I’ve realized that I’ve turned into a big weakling here because Martin does everything for me. He carries the heavier bags, lifts my bike up and down stairs, and basically does anything and everything that requires load bearing on the bones.
So, I’ve started doing 5 push ups a day!
I know, big deal right?, but I wanted to set an easy starter goal that I could keep. Turns out, I gave myself too much credit because it wasn’t an easy goal at all. 5 push ups were SOOOO hard to do! I was literally out of breath by push up #2, and my arms didn’t feel like they had enough strength to continue.
Pathetic but that’s how bad it was. It’s been getting easier though. I just finished my 5 push ups effortlessly, so I’ll be doubling my goal to 10 push ups a day. 
I like pushups, they are so simple and I can keep up with it while I travel. I already feel muscles developing in my arms! 
Martin got a new camera! To celebrate, we took a side trip to Essen, Germany for some picture taking.
Check out some of our favourites on my Flickr account.
Categories: City
This is what I mean by countryside biking:
Cornfield to the left, wheat field to the right. 
And wild pigs:
This one too! 
keke!
For the past year and a half, I’ve been writing to Martin’s Oma. Here’s a picture of us in her garden:
She lived in Berlin before the wall went up, and knows English because she worked in a law firm. That’s pretty impressive when you think about how long ago that was (pre-1961), and how she (a young woman at the time) was working in a law firm doing international work!
Anyway, I usually write to her in English, but this time I decided to write her in German! Here it is:
Liebe Oma,
Danke für deine Postkarte. Ich denke auch an unseren Trip in Prag.
Diese Woche geht Martin nach Frankreich. Ich möchte mit Martin nach Frankreich gehen, aber ich muss arbeiten. Ich bin ein Englisch Trainer und ich unterichte 5 Klassen.
Wir werden dich bald mal besuchen!
Viele Grüße senden Dir Jessica und Martin
It’s only a simple letter, but took me close to an hour to write! Martin corrected it for me, but I wrote the bones of it so therefore claim it to be my own (and not all of it was terribly wrong either!).
Here is the translation:
Dear Oma,
Thank you for your postcard. I also think about our trip to Prague.
This week Martin is going to France. I want to go with Martin, but I must work. I am an English Trainer and I teach 5 classes.
We want to visit you soon!
Lots of nice greetings from Jessica and Martin
Oma wrote me back so I’ll get to work on the new letter soon.
I’ve also been writing to my own Grandmas, but that’s even harder because I write to them in Chinese. Chinese is much harder to write than German, so that’s some cold comfort for me.
Categories: Learning German
Martin and I went on a bike ride and stopped off at a bakery.
We got this delicious slab of fresh crumble cheese cake for only 2€!
It’s perfect.
Categories: Living Abroad · Love
Tomorrow I have a hair appointment!
This is how it went down:
Jimmy: Bitte schön.
Jessica: Ich möchte Haarschnitt Trocken.
Jimmy: Heute?
Jessica: Ja.
Jimmy: *flipping through his book – it’s clearly full* ehhh….
Jessica: Morgen?
Jimmy: Ja! *points at the time 17:30 time slot*
Jessica: Okay!
Asides from speaking to Martin, that was one of the most sophisticated conversations I’ve ever had in German in the outside world!
Jimmy is the very cute & sweet hairstylist I went to last time. I’m excited to go again. Heading there straight after work tomorrow! Tee hee.
Categories: City · Learning German
Martin is in training at his work, but he’s still exchanging emails with me to instruct me on how to open a jar of applesauce.
I am very bad at opening jars. It’s pretty pathetic and it bothers me, but I have NO wrist strength. I should probably hold those little weights and work out my wrists. I dunno if that works.
Anyway, Martin wrote me and said it’s all about the vacuum, and that I just need to let some air out. He said to use a knife to place between the glass jar and metal lid, and then lift.
And OMG, it works!!!! Like a charm!!!!
All those years of frustration and aggravation… I didn’t know it would be so easy!
I’m so THRILLED!!!! hehe.
Categories: Love
Ack, it’s 11:15pm and I just scarfed down a bunch of pan-fried hashbrowns! Now I’m too bloated to go to sleep, lol.
I’m not a big fan of junk food, but I lurve greasy potatos. Mmmm!
Germans eat their reibenkuchen (like hashbrowns) with apple sauce. Which is a really pleasing combination.
I have a jar of apple sauce here, but I can’t open it! I tried unsuccessfully for 10 minutes straight but was left with a sore wrist and the desire to cry.
So I just ate my hashbrowns the American way, with ketchup instead of apple sauce. 
Behhhh!
But I shouldn’t complain. It was still potato, greasy, and salty. Great combination that really hit the spot!
Categories: Food
Asides from spending time with Martin and his friends, I also hang out with my own ex-pat girlfriends.
Here are the two nice girls I met in my German class:
^The Brits
^The Americans
Aren’t they so cute?? And don’t they look so well-matched with their boyz????
It’s a lot of fun having girlfriends to chat and do girly things with!
