Wednesday, 24 March 2010
More!
Cafe? Salon?
Dammit, I want to live here and run tours.
So, still crazy after all these years
NOTE: In case the pictures aren't clear, the middle one has bath bombs that give you a Super Mario figure, a plastic doughnut... or a breast or a poo. Or you have the USB stick dogs that, er, move. You know. I also got a Space Invaders ice cube tray for himself.
Okay, I'll buy that one.
Another fine day today
NOTE: I was still being an idiot. The quilting exhibit didn't start until April 1. But I found plenty of other stuff...
Tuesday, 23 March 2010
Me time
Yet more proof that I am an idiot
I don't leave Kyoto tomorrow. My hotel reservation in Beppu isn't until Thursday. I had the train times written down under the wrong day in my itinerary.
Need to be at the station at 8:30 tomorrow to change my seat reservations. But before that, I'll do as Tamiho jokingly suggested and check my flight details.
Monday, 22 March 2010
Dessert Uji style
Lunch in Kyoto
Today was a bank holiday, so many museums that are normally closed on a Monday will have opened today and be closed tomorrow, my last day in Kyoto. I probably won't get to see the Fureaikan Museum of Traditional Arts, which was top of my list.
But never mind. Tomorrow is my oyster. And my wash day.
Sunday, 21 March 2010
Next!
Had a fantastic meal and chat with a teacher from my Japanese school and a far too short catch up with Dawn and Simon. Now arriving in Kyoto to stay with the Mizutanis!
Thursday, Friday, happy days
Thursday got off to a late start due to an enjoyable breakfast with my host's husband after he came back from dropping their sons off at the creche, and spending some time on the computer planning routes. I really wish this phone had data for that and maps.
I exchanged my voucher for the JR Rail Pass at Shibuya, then went to book my seats for travelling to Nagoya the next day, plus my crazy overnight route back from Nagasaki to Narita. By the time all that was done there wasn't much time before I was due at an agency for lunch, so I parked myself in a cafe and did some emailing, managing to trash the phone battery in the process. I got badly lost in Shiro-Kanedai, and the battery died as I was explaining to the agency that I'd be late - a great show all round. I finally got there and they loved the chocolates and double-sided business cards, and I ended up having a very nice lunch and chat with the boss.
I had had some vague intention of going on the Big O hubless and spokeless ferris wheel and the Thunder Dolphin rollercoaster at Tokyo Dome, or else looking for craft kits in Shibuya or Shinjuku, but once again there wasn't time before heading out to Chiba for 6pm.
In Chiba I met up with a translator I'd been working with for the last two weeks on a particularly large project. We ate at an Indian restaurant which was quite nice but the state of the waiter's jacket might have made you leave before you found that out - it looked like he had rolled in curry. I headed back at 8pm and got off at Suidobashi just after 9pm, hurrying across the road to Tokyo Dome as the guidebook said it was open until 10, but unfortunately that was the area and not the rides. Foiled! I made my way back to Meguro for my last night in Tokyo.
I was far enough over my jet lag that I slept through my host leaving the the next morning, so we resorted to saying goodbye over email. After breakfast with her husband I went back to the station with my cases and headed towards Yokohama to get to Kamakura, where I had a fantastic lunch and stroll up to Hachiman-Jingu with my friend and her little girl. I was sorely tempted to just keep on going to the giant buddha and Enoshima, but Nagoya beckoned.
The bullet train was on time as always, and I transferred to the Chuo Line to get to the Iidas' for the evening. We had a wonderful meal and great chat, and I was sorry I had to leave the next morning. But the whole trip has been and I think will be like that. There's only so much you can pack into 2.5 weeks.
Saturday, 20 March 2010
Friday, 19 March 2010
Vive le dimanche!
Thursday, 18 March 2010
The evening before and morning after
Wednesday, 17 March 2010
Yokohama
No prizes for guessing where I'm going
Plan B
Headed out at 9:00 and got lost in about 5mins. Got on a bus I thought was going to Naka-Meguro and ended up at Shibuya instead. Decided this was an omen and went straight to Yokohama instead of following one of my shopping guides around the area I'm staying in. Might do it tomorrow.
Even getting the train wasn't without its challenges. I kept asking the poor guard if I had the right ticket for the limited express on platform 3 while he tried to tell me it was on platform 2. Jet lag, I hope.
And JR are holding a contest to name the next bullet train! That's the poster for it outside Shibuya station.
Tuesday, 16 March 2010
Breakfast of champions
Passengers are requested not to sleep on the floor
No joke - it`s in the SAS flight safety video. Makes you wonder what class of passenger they get...
The flight from Zurich to Copenhagen was fine, in a thin plane which had two seats each side of a very narrow aisle, apart from the man beside me who would alternately nearly smack me in the face with his elbow while tearing pages out of magazines and stuffing them down the front of his sweater, breathe out open-mouthed making a humming noise, and adjust his privates conspicously. I hoped he was not going to Tokyo.
Copenhagen airport is very nice, and has a Lego shop with Lego Star Wars t-shirts! I could only see kid sizes. I sat and read my guidebooks until it was time to board the Tokyo flight. It was packed solid and my neighbour couldn`t operate the in-flight entertainment, kept hitting the call bell by mistake and tried to take a used hot towel from the attendent collecting them. The meals were okay and seats pretty comfortable. I watched New Moon until the vampire came back in, at which point it got pretty boring and I listened to music and tried to doze through my neighbour getting changed and repacked in her seat.
Tokyo was an incredible 20 degrees when we landed, and I made my way through immigation and customs without problems. There were several adorable sniffer labradors on constant patrol, and I was asked if I lived in Japan for some reason (as the customs guy was flicking through my passport with the embarcation card stapled to it). I found the post office and got my phone, stopped for a drink, then on to the Keisei line to Ueno and then out by subway to Kami-Meguro where my friend lives.
We got back to hers and I told her about the Niagara Curry House featured in the English-language Asahi paper that weekend, and it turns out she brings her kids there all the time! We went and had what she tells me is an average curry, but it`s all good for me. Photos are here!
After we got back to her house we chatted until she went to pick her sons up from the creche about 5:00, and I went for a lie down. Woke up at 10:00 as the boys were being put to bed. Went back to sleep and woke up very early indeed - it`s now just gone 7:00am and people are moving. Time to get washed and dressed and hit Tokyo!
The flight from Zurich to Copenhagen was fine, in a thin plane which had two seats each side of a very narrow aisle, apart from the man beside me who would alternately nearly smack me in the face with his elbow while tearing pages out of magazines and stuffing them down the front of his sweater, breathe out open-mouthed making a humming noise, and adjust his privates conspicously. I hoped he was not going to Tokyo.
Copenhagen airport is very nice, and has a Lego shop with Lego Star Wars t-shirts! I could only see kid sizes. I sat and read my guidebooks until it was time to board the Tokyo flight. It was packed solid and my neighbour couldn`t operate the in-flight entertainment, kept hitting the call bell by mistake and tried to take a used hot towel from the attendent collecting them. The meals were okay and seats pretty comfortable. I watched New Moon until the vampire came back in, at which point it got pretty boring and I listened to music and tried to doze through my neighbour getting changed and repacked in her seat.
Tokyo was an incredible 20 degrees when we landed, and I made my way through immigation and customs without problems. There were several adorable sniffer labradors on constant patrol, and I was asked if I lived in Japan for some reason (as the customs guy was flicking through my passport with the embarcation card stapled to it). I found the post office and got my phone, stopped for a drink, then on to the Keisei line to Ueno and then out by subway to Kami-Meguro where my friend lives.
We got back to hers and I told her about the Niagara Curry House featured in the English-language Asahi paper that weekend, and it turns out she brings her kids there all the time! We went and had what she tells me is an average curry, but it`s all good for me. Photos are here!
After we got back to her house we chatted until she went to pick her sons up from the creche about 5:00, and I went for a lie down. Woke up at 10:00 as the boys were being put to bed. Went back to sleep and woke up very early indeed - it`s now just gone 7:00am and people are moving. Time to get washed and dressed and hit Tokyo!
I'm here!
Just a quick one to say I arrived safely and am now at Hanae's. More tomorrow when I have a proper keyboard!
Monday, 15 March 2010
Early one Swiss morning
I got an early train this morning to get to the airport on time, buying a ticket for the first time in ages - probably since I got the post-9am pass last November.
I've never seen Monday morning commuters so cheerful. Talking, laughing, slapping each other on the back... one man even jumped down the stairs to catch a friend as they got off.
I must be missing something!
Sunday, 14 March 2010
Ready, steady, go!
Well, the day has finally rolled around! I have checked in online and have the case mostly ready to go, half full of presents and half full of clothes. I normally spend weeks working myself up before I go to Japan, which has not been the case this time as the last two weeks have been stupidly busy - I learned a certain amount, mainly not to overestimate how much I can do and that working with hard copy documents with complex formatting is far worse than I even thought it was.
We almost got there with the flat in the UK. It should take another day to pack the last few boxes, seal them and really be ready to have the movers come. I will try again after I get back. Other things that did not get done were me registering - still stuck in a Catch-22 situation for that but got some help from people in himself's office - and getting back into my smaller jeans. Oh well, I tend to walk all the time in Japan. And eat a lot. Well, hopefully it won't get any worse.
In good news, I got the provisional pass on my MA (need to wait for final approval from the exam board) and I won the ITI Japanese Network translation competition 2010 in the novice (less than 3 years in the business) category! Not so good news is that my homestay father in Japan has been diagnosed with lung cancer. He sounds in good spirits and is writing in his usual almost impeccable English so I hope he's going to be all right.
It's still cold in Zurich and snowed heavily last weekend. Himself built a snowman which is still standing despite a substantial thaw, although he has lost an eye and his nose and is listing badly. Weather forecast for Tokyo is around 14 with scattered showers.
I will be renting a phone in Japan as usual, so will put up some updates and photos here! And really should try to put more here generally. But it will have to be added to that eternal list...
We almost got there with the flat in the UK. It should take another day to pack the last few boxes, seal them and really be ready to have the movers come. I will try again after I get back. Other things that did not get done were me registering - still stuck in a Catch-22 situation for that but got some help from people in himself's office - and getting back into my smaller jeans. Oh well, I tend to walk all the time in Japan. And eat a lot. Well, hopefully it won't get any worse.
In good news, I got the provisional pass on my MA (need to wait for final approval from the exam board) and I won the ITI Japanese Network translation competition 2010 in the novice (less than 3 years in the business) category! Not so good news is that my homestay father in Japan has been diagnosed with lung cancer. He sounds in good spirits and is writing in his usual almost impeccable English so I hope he's going to be all right.
It's still cold in Zurich and snowed heavily last weekend. Himself built a snowman which is still standing despite a substantial thaw, although he has lost an eye and his nose and is listing badly. Weather forecast for Tokyo is around 14 with scattered showers.
I will be renting a phone in Japan as usual, so will put up some updates and photos here! And really should try to put more here generally. But it will have to be added to that eternal list...
Thursday, 11 February 2010
Hibernation 2
Maybe I should just resign myself to the fact that unless I'm on holiday - usually in Japan where I'm taking pictures of anything that moves and that doesn't - I don't update that much.
For the last two weekends I have mainly been making out like a bandit. First the Zurich Swiss-Japanese Friendship Society's (チューリヒスイス日本同好会) New Year's party. Apart from the amazing guitar, taiko drum and shamisen performances and making the partygoers do Obon dancing on stage, there was an interminable raffle at the end. They had to recycle the tickets twice! I won two sky lanterns, a JAL fine art calendar and a set of Sensai moisturisers, which was the only thing I saw that I really wanted. Well, if I knew what the sky lanterns were I'm sure I would have wanted them too, but it took me a while to figure out what they were. There were also amazing bento boxes from the legendary Usagiyama restaurant - I still can't believe Aarau has an onsen and ryokan - along with sushi and traditional sweets being sold in the lobby. I also picked up a new belt and a book for a few francs. Much fun had by all.
And last weekend I went over to see Mom and Dad - most of the time was spent exploring the settings on Dad's new camera and tying them up with those on his old camera and the ones he covered in his very good photography course (at the Irish Institute of Photography) and consolidating Mom's various address books, post-its, backs of envelopes, etc. into something we could get onto the computer and let Dad print labels for so that she can get back in touch with people. After spoiling the cat rotten (not that she isn't anyway) I came away with a pair of pearl earrings and a book on Hiroshige (that should have been my Xmas presents but had been "put away somewhere safe" and been sold out, respectively), a home-made paté sandwich, my plane fare, a tiny Slovak ceramic pig and a pair of snowball tea light holders, which I have loved for many years. Mom now has three small and one large one, and she gave me two of the small ones. Airport security were interested in them, but otherwise everything made it back safely. Even the paté sandwich.
It had thawed, but snowed again last night and is pretty cold today. I popped out to post something and get some stuff to clean the bathroom with. Yes, I'm at such a loose end that I'm cleaning. I've already baked a batch of muffins today (base recipe with chocolate chips and candied orange) and may even resort to studying German by the end of the day. I've got the wash room tomorrow morning, so I have some clean clothes to bring to the UK. I really hope that the week there lets us finish things up for good.
Other than that, getting back in touch with people in Japan and realising how soon my trip is! Just over 4 weeks now. I went a little mad at the airport and bought a Mondaine pocket watch for my homestay dad, but it was perfect. I've seen lots of pocket watches, but they were all too ornamented. This is beautiful. More than I was thinking of spending, but you can't put a price on how kind they've been to me and my entire family over the last 10+ years. I have a list of presents - mainly from the expensive but worth every rappen Heimatwerk - for others I am hopelessly endebted to. And the usual plethora of choccies for the agencies I'll be visiting and people I'm meeting up with. That combined with the strength of the yen is making even a 2-week holiday mostly staying at friends' houses quite damaging, but hell, I can afford it. I have to make a dent in my hosting space somehow.
For the last two weekends I have mainly been making out like a bandit. First the Zurich Swiss-Japanese Friendship Society's (チューリヒスイス日本同好会) New Year's party. Apart from the amazing guitar, taiko drum and shamisen performances and making the partygoers do Obon dancing on stage, there was an interminable raffle at the end. They had to recycle the tickets twice! I won two sky lanterns, a JAL fine art calendar and a set of Sensai moisturisers, which was the only thing I saw that I really wanted. Well, if I knew what the sky lanterns were I'm sure I would have wanted them too, but it took me a while to figure out what they were. There were also amazing bento boxes from the legendary Usagiyama restaurant - I still can't believe Aarau has an onsen and ryokan - along with sushi and traditional sweets being sold in the lobby. I also picked up a new belt and a book for a few francs. Much fun had by all.
And last weekend I went over to see Mom and Dad - most of the time was spent exploring the settings on Dad's new camera and tying them up with those on his old camera and the ones he covered in his very good photography course (at the Irish Institute of Photography) and consolidating Mom's various address books, post-its, backs of envelopes, etc. into something we could get onto the computer and let Dad print labels for so that she can get back in touch with people. After spoiling the cat rotten (not that she isn't anyway) I came away with a pair of pearl earrings and a book on Hiroshige (that should have been my Xmas presents but had been "put away somewhere safe" and been sold out, respectively), a home-made paté sandwich, my plane fare, a tiny Slovak ceramic pig and a pair of snowball tea light holders, which I have loved for many years. Mom now has three small and one large one, and she gave me two of the small ones. Airport security were interested in them, but otherwise everything made it back safely. Even the paté sandwich.
It had thawed, but snowed again last night and is pretty cold today. I popped out to post something and get some stuff to clean the bathroom with. Yes, I'm at such a loose end that I'm cleaning. I've already baked a batch of muffins today (base recipe with chocolate chips and candied orange) and may even resort to studying German by the end of the day. I've got the wash room tomorrow morning, so I have some clean clothes to bring to the UK. I really hope that the week there lets us finish things up for good.
Other than that, getting back in touch with people in Japan and realising how soon my trip is! Just over 4 weeks now. I went a little mad at the airport and bought a Mondaine pocket watch for my homestay dad, but it was perfect. I've seen lots of pocket watches, but they were all too ornamented. This is beautiful. More than I was thinking of spending, but you can't put a price on how kind they've been to me and my entire family over the last 10+ years. I have a list of presents - mainly from the expensive but worth every rappen Heimatwerk - for others I am hopelessly endebted to. And the usual plethora of choccies for the agencies I'll be visiting and people I'm meeting up with. That combined with the strength of the yen is making even a 2-week holiday mostly staying at friends' houses quite damaging, but hell, I can afford it. I have to make a dent in my hosting space somehow.
Sunday, 17 January 2010
Hibernation
Wow. I didn't realise it had been quite that long since I'd updated!
There have been a lot of things going on that I don't want to bore anyone else with, as quite frankly they've got to the point where they bore me now. To summarise:
The MA is done! I submitted my annotated translation using using wi-fi in a hotel room in Malaga. I also had to submit two printed and bound copies, which got held up in the severe weather in the UK just before Christmas - the couriers weren't even able to pick up from the printer, let alone guarantee delivery before the university closed for Christmas and New Year. I got the call about it from the printer while lost in Granada in the rain, and it was definitely the low point of the holiday. But the university cheerfully informed me that so long as the online submission had been successful, they didn't really care when the printed copies arrived. All right then. They don't know when they'll be marked and said to ask again in a few months. People in my group graduated last week, but it'll be a while longer for me, with my two extensions.
The house move is still underway. We've booked flights to go back to the UK for a week in February to try to sort it out for once and for all. Skips and Freegle and hard decisions coming up.
I've booked a long weekend to go and see my parents, and get some stuff done in Dublin with Dad's computer and Mom's address book. Looking forward to it.
The game that consumed my last 3 months in Frankfurt finally has a release date, so I'll add it to my portfolio when it comes out. And yes, I'll buy it. I really like it, flawed though it is.
I still haven't registered in Switzerland. I finally have some work in for next week, so I really should get myself into the system asap, but there's definitely something Freudian going on. I suppose I'm not 100% sure it's the right thing to do, but I have my reasons and they've got to win in the end even if the situation isn't everything I want it to be. The UK tax system is definitely the devil I know.
Flights to Japan are booked for March 15 - 31! I've confirmed dates to stay with people for most of the trip, bar some new places to go and the usual awkward weekend around Gifu and Nagoya when I never know for sure who I'm going to be able to meet. I really hope the Yen falls before I go... Got two amazing shopping guides for Tokyo - although I've been there countless times, I've still only scratched the surface. Asking for Trouble's Tokyo Shopping Guide (bought as a PDF and printed) has got to be the best £1 I've ever spent, with Sign Says Open's Little Tokyo Shops guide coming in a close second (if not joint first - haven't tried them out on the ground yet!).
We had a great time in Malaga and Granada over Christmas, despite almost constant rain. The Alhambra is amazing. I didn't have my camera as I had no room to bring it back last time from the UK (uni books took priority) but Dad will post his. I did get some good shots of Wales at New Year in the snow, and of Adliswil on a frosty day. Hoping to use some as cards for next Xmas.
Baked another batch of Just Hungry's amazing muffins last night, this time substituting wholemeal flour for all-purpose with larger eggs to compensate, lebekuchen mix, vanilla essence and chocolate chips. Nom, as they say.
Today, I'm trying to get the washing done early so we can go and see Bodyworks before it closes next month and use up one of our 2-for-1 main meal vouchers at Wagamama. My favourite place to eat in Zurich until some kind of smoking ban comes in.
Next week - work booked all week, have to hit the town hall about registering, plotting my trip to Japan. Got to earn before I spend!
There have been a lot of things going on that I don't want to bore anyone else with, as quite frankly they've got to the point where they bore me now. To summarise:
The MA is done! I submitted my annotated translation using using wi-fi in a hotel room in Malaga. I also had to submit two printed and bound copies, which got held up in the severe weather in the UK just before Christmas - the couriers weren't even able to pick up from the printer, let alone guarantee delivery before the university closed for Christmas and New Year. I got the call about it from the printer while lost in Granada in the rain, and it was definitely the low point of the holiday. But the university cheerfully informed me that so long as the online submission had been successful, they didn't really care when the printed copies arrived. All right then. They don't know when they'll be marked and said to ask again in a few months. People in my group graduated last week, but it'll be a while longer for me, with my two extensions.
The house move is still underway. We've booked flights to go back to the UK for a week in February to try to sort it out for once and for all. Skips and Freegle and hard decisions coming up.
I've booked a long weekend to go and see my parents, and get some stuff done in Dublin with Dad's computer and Mom's address book. Looking forward to it.
The game that consumed my last 3 months in Frankfurt finally has a release date, so I'll add it to my portfolio when it comes out. And yes, I'll buy it. I really like it, flawed though it is.
I still haven't registered in Switzerland. I finally have some work in for next week, so I really should get myself into the system asap, but there's definitely something Freudian going on. I suppose I'm not 100% sure it's the right thing to do, but I have my reasons and they've got to win in the end even if the situation isn't everything I want it to be. The UK tax system is definitely the devil I know.
Flights to Japan are booked for March 15 - 31! I've confirmed dates to stay with people for most of the trip, bar some new places to go and the usual awkward weekend around Gifu and Nagoya when I never know for sure who I'm going to be able to meet. I really hope the Yen falls before I go... Got two amazing shopping guides for Tokyo - although I've been there countless times, I've still only scratched the surface. Asking for Trouble's Tokyo Shopping Guide (bought as a PDF and printed) has got to be the best £1 I've ever spent, with Sign Says Open's Little Tokyo Shops guide coming in a close second (if not joint first - haven't tried them out on the ground yet!).
We had a great time in Malaga and Granada over Christmas, despite almost constant rain. The Alhambra is amazing. I didn't have my camera as I had no room to bring it back last time from the UK (uni books took priority) but Dad will post his. I did get some good shots of Wales at New Year in the snow, and of Adliswil on a frosty day. Hoping to use some as cards for next Xmas.
Baked another batch of Just Hungry's amazing muffins last night, this time substituting wholemeal flour for all-purpose with larger eggs to compensate, lebekuchen mix, vanilla essence and chocolate chips. Nom, as they say.
Today, I'm trying to get the washing done early so we can go and see Bodyworks before it closes next month and use up one of our 2-for-1 main meal vouchers at Wagamama. My favourite place to eat in Zurich until some kind of smoking ban comes in.
Next week - work booked all week, have to hit the town hall about registering, plotting my trip to Japan. Got to earn before I spend!
Friday, 27 November 2009
Cake!
I can't even remember what I was looking for when I found a recipe for chocolate cream cheese muffins. But they go a little something like this.
They're absolutely deadly. We normally eat 2 or even 3 of a newly-baked, just-cooled batch each, but we only managed 3 of these between us. And they are incredibly moist and sticky - stuck to the greased silicone cups and even to the plate I put them on after they'd cooled. I think paper cups may be in order next time! They did get noticeably less squidgy after being out for even half an hour though. I put them back in the cups and into the bread bin - not quite airtight, but somewhat.
I'm using himself's camera at the moment, as I didn't have enough room to bring mine back from the UK (priority was given to the scanner and books, and I don't like taking it in hold luggage). I'll pick it up between Xmas and New Year when we're back - must try taking some more photos although it is easier with his camera than my slightly larger one.
Tomorrow night I'm off to a Japanese expat group Xmas dinner, which involves a very nice restaurant in the city, about 40 people, and an entire tuna being cut up for our entertainment and indeed culinary pleasure. Himself, being vegetarian, has passed on the event. It's going to be insane, and probably well worth 80 CHF plus drinks. And a chance to meet people!
Wednesday, 18 November 2009
Of pumpkins and muffins
Well, it's my second week back in Zurich. The temperature is varying between cool and freezing, but no sign of snow down here yet.
I failed to meet my two objectives in Reading: finishing my annotated translation for my MA and organising movers. I have a second extension for the MA (let's just leave it at the reason for the second extension being "awaiting reply from supervisor") until the end of the year, and I'll try again for movers next year. I'm going to send the annotated translation to the printers before we go to Spain for Xmas, so I really don't have all that much time to finish it off. I still want to get a lot of reading done.
I've managed to pick up a few bits of work in the last 2 weeks from a new agency, which is great. Their rate isn't great, and charging me for bank charges is something that nearly made me walk away from them, but I can get through the work quickly (all game-related) and they have sent me quite a bit. Nice to be busy. Although it does interfere with the studying.
Other than that, I've been procrastinating. Which has expressed itself as cooking, oddly enough. I've discovered the wonderful sites Just Hungry and Just Bento, with a wealth of wonderful recipes. The one that immediately caught my eye was Earl Grey tea muffins, which I went out and bought a silcone-cup baking tray to make them with. They came out a bit heavy, probably from over-mixing, but I'm also a bit suspicious of the buttermilk - it's more like cream. But the first batch were lovely if rather misshapen, so I made a rooibos tea batch. And then a vanilla and spice tea batch. And I have enough for at least one more batch. Needless to say, this is not a good idea when you're home on your own.
Tonight I went back to an old favourite as I'd found a promising looking pumpkin in the local Migros - sweet soy pumpkin. It came out beautifully, as did the koya tofu (freeze-dried and allegedly from Mt. Koya's Buddhist monasteries) I'd bought ages ago in Zurich's Japanese food shop. Feeling a bit peckish, I drained the fluid I'd used to cook the pumpkin in (dashi, mirin, soy and sugar) and used it for cooking some brown rice. It was... amazing.
Other than that, still getting my behind kicked by FFIV. I'm near the final boss, but in another dungeon that just keeps killing my party. We had a wibble moment last weekend when we put in an order with a local electronics shop - a PS3 with additional controller and remote, Little Big Planet... and a 55" LCD TV. Last one was for himself. It should be delivered tomorrow!
So, really need to buckle down to study... again. For what really needs to be the last time. But I am as always easily distracted. Found an Earl Grey tea and white chocolate chip muffin recipe, for a start...
I failed to meet my two objectives in Reading: finishing my annotated translation for my MA and organising movers. I have a second extension for the MA (let's just leave it at the reason for the second extension being "awaiting reply from supervisor") until the end of the year, and I'll try again for movers next year. I'm going to send the annotated translation to the printers before we go to Spain for Xmas, so I really don't have all that much time to finish it off. I still want to get a lot of reading done.
I've managed to pick up a few bits of work in the last 2 weeks from a new agency, which is great. Their rate isn't great, and charging me for bank charges is something that nearly made me walk away from them, but I can get through the work quickly (all game-related) and they have sent me quite a bit. Nice to be busy. Although it does interfere with the studying.
Other than that, I've been procrastinating. Which has expressed itself as cooking, oddly enough. I've discovered the wonderful sites Just Hungry and Just Bento, with a wealth of wonderful recipes. The one that immediately caught my eye was Earl Grey tea muffins, which I went out and bought a silcone-cup baking tray to make them with. They came out a bit heavy, probably from over-mixing, but I'm also a bit suspicious of the buttermilk - it's more like cream. But the first batch were lovely if rather misshapen, so I made a rooibos tea batch. And then a vanilla and spice tea batch. And I have enough for at least one more batch. Needless to say, this is not a good idea when you're home on your own.
Tonight I went back to an old favourite as I'd found a promising looking pumpkin in the local Migros - sweet soy pumpkin. It came out beautifully, as did the koya tofu (freeze-dried and allegedly from Mt. Koya's Buddhist monasteries) I'd bought ages ago in Zurich's Japanese food shop. Feeling a bit peckish, I drained the fluid I'd used to cook the pumpkin in (dashi, mirin, soy and sugar) and used it for cooking some brown rice. It was... amazing.
Other than that, still getting my behind kicked by FFIV. I'm near the final boss, but in another dungeon that just keeps killing my party. We had a wibble moment last weekend when we put in an order with a local electronics shop - a PS3 with additional controller and remote, Little Big Planet... and a 55" LCD TV. Last one was for himself. It should be delivered tomorrow!
So, really need to buckle down to study... again. For what really needs to be the last time. But I am as always easily distracted. Found an Earl Grey tea and white chocolate chip muffin recipe, for a start...
Saturday, 3 October 2009
Old and new
Well, I've been back in Reading for a week now, and have managed to get a certain amount of things done. I have not one but two new pairs of glasses, one with reaction lenses so they'll also do as sunglasses. They're two different colours (metallic blue and red) of Ray-Ban titanium frames... for children. Or "adults with smaller faces". Ahem. I spent a lot on them, and it still feels wasteful to have more than one pair of glasses, but they're the first frames I've seen in years that I've liked.
I also got a surprise - I'm able to wear contacts again! I ended up at a smaller chain of opticians, mainly due to finding nothing I liked in the main chains, and so had a new optician who I got chatting to and told I hadn't been able to wear contacts for 6 years. She fitted me with a pair and gave me 5 days of free samples, and I had them in for 12 hours yesterday! Very happy with that.
I've also caught up on sending out information to various people as promised, and have lined up some people to catch up with. And done an awful lot of cleaning in the flat - I feel like I've been replaced by an alternate reality version of me!
What I haven't done much of yet is study - I had some freelance work in during the week, and a guest for the weekend, so I'll try to get down to it seriously next week. I'm actually still very tired.
I was rooting around in the attic, looking for a few things and finding more that can go in the bin, and mildly depressing myself by seeing all these things that I meant to do or make or study at some point. Well, I can't go back and undo anything, so I just have to start from now.
My guest had asked me to check some English for him over email ages ago, which I happily did, and he offered to pay me for it. I had totally forgotten about it, but he hadn't and handed me some cash last night. I treated myself to a kiddies' craft kit, "Winter Birds" from Buttonbag. Quite cute, if a little rudimentary.
Other than that, all the travel is booked for going to Spain for Christmas. Now I have to book a trip to Dublin and one to Japan for next spring. I really, really want to go now but there's just too much going on right now, so if anything slips by even a week or two I'll need to be in the UK or at least not on holiday in the other side of the world.
I also got a surprise - I'm able to wear contacts again! I ended up at a smaller chain of opticians, mainly due to finding nothing I liked in the main chains, and so had a new optician who I got chatting to and told I hadn't been able to wear contacts for 6 years. She fitted me with a pair and gave me 5 days of free samples, and I had them in for 12 hours yesterday! Very happy with that.
I've also caught up on sending out information to various people as promised, and have lined up some people to catch up with. And done an awful lot of cleaning in the flat - I feel like I've been replaced by an alternate reality version of me!
What I haven't done much of yet is study - I had some freelance work in during the week, and a guest for the weekend, so I'll try to get down to it seriously next week. I'm actually still very tired.
I was rooting around in the attic, looking for a few things and finding more that can go in the bin, and mildly depressing myself by seeing all these things that I meant to do or make or study at some point. Well, I can't go back and undo anything, so I just have to start from now.
My guest had asked me to check some English for him over email ages ago, which I happily did, and he offered to pay me for it. I had totally forgotten about it, but he hadn't and handed me some cash last night. I treated myself to a kiddies' craft kit, "Winter Birds" from Buttonbag. Quite cute, if a little rudimentary.
Other than that, all the travel is booked for going to Spain for Christmas. Now I have to book a trip to Dublin and one to Japan for next spring. I really, really want to go now but there's just too much going on right now, so if anything slips by even a week or two I'll need to be in the UK or at least not on holiday in the other side of the world.
Tuesday, 25 August 2009
Sunny days
First of all, thank you to everyone who sent birthday wishes, cards or presents! I had a marvelously lazy day yesterday, watching anime, playing Final Fantasy IV (nearly finished...) and starting Skulduggery Pleasant: Playing With Fire that my brother and his other half sent me - and that UPS finally managed to deliver after I gave them the wrong house number.
Tuesday was full of action though - I got my hair cut at the supermarket in what seems to be a Supercuts kind of place, no appointments and relatively cheap (41 CHF). It was so, so nice to have my hair properly short again and not looking like an electrocuted bird's nest. Then I went on to the supermarket and bought some chicken to make into skewers as I'd decided to push the boat out and actually attempt to prepare something for the barbecue I'd been invited to. Swiss chicken was about 9 CHF for 250g, where the chicken "from selected European countries" (reading the back revealed this was Hungary) was 6 CHF. Even Swiss turkey was more expensive than the European chicken.
I had decided to mix and match a Jamie Oliver recipe where you cut courgettes into strips and blanch them, then wrap them around the chicken pieces for the skewers with a marinade that I preferred from another website. I loaded up with soy sauce, honey, garlic, ginger and dried chilli flakes which made an amazing marinade. Everything went together well, even if the process of cutting the courgettes was terribly uneven and meant I ended up breaking them into pieces and wedging them between the chicken pieces half the time.
When I was about to leave the house... I heard thunder. I grabbed my coat and headed out anyway, although the barbecue was due to be held in the local forest. Sure enough, by the time I got to the station there was thunder, lightning and rain. My new friend Mr Y picked me up and we headed off to his house, since there was no hope of being outside in this weather. A lot of other people had cancelled due to pressure of work (or possibly the weather) and for a while it looked like I would be the only guest. But a newly arrived Japanese - Canadian couple arrived with their son and we had a great time playing with the Y's three cats and talking (in a mix of English, Japanese and Swiss German) about life in Zurich, Swiss festivals, Japanese food shops and all manner of things.
We had pasta and bean salads, sausages, my skewers, steaks and then coffee and an amazing plum cake. Mrs Y works at the local supermarket and was full of advice on food and life in general and they're already helped me track down all kinds of things for which I am very grateful.
And all because he was making origami at the cultural festival on the day we happened to be passing through with himself's parents! It's enough to make you believe in 縁 (a Japanese concept of a tie or connection that brings people together).
So, today I've been making more progress on FFIV, writing thank-you letters and emails, and also need to do some exercise and probably get out of the house. I may go and find the Japanese food shop. And then - study, study, study! I got my first round of feedback yesterday, which I haven't opened yet. My supervisor said it was good but needed work, which is frankly better than I was hoping for. I just need to keep on keeping on.
Tuesday was full of action though - I got my hair cut at the supermarket in what seems to be a Supercuts kind of place, no appointments and relatively cheap (41 CHF). It was so, so nice to have my hair properly short again and not looking like an electrocuted bird's nest. Then I went on to the supermarket and bought some chicken to make into skewers as I'd decided to push the boat out and actually attempt to prepare something for the barbecue I'd been invited to. Swiss chicken was about 9 CHF for 250g, where the chicken "from selected European countries" (reading the back revealed this was Hungary) was 6 CHF. Even Swiss turkey was more expensive than the European chicken.
I had decided to mix and match a Jamie Oliver recipe where you cut courgettes into strips and blanch them, then wrap them around the chicken pieces for the skewers with a marinade that I preferred from another website. I loaded up with soy sauce, honey, garlic, ginger and dried chilli flakes which made an amazing marinade. Everything went together well, even if the process of cutting the courgettes was terribly uneven and meant I ended up breaking them into pieces and wedging them between the chicken pieces half the time.
When I was about to leave the house... I heard thunder. I grabbed my coat and headed out anyway, although the barbecue was due to be held in the local forest. Sure enough, by the time I got to the station there was thunder, lightning and rain. My new friend Mr Y picked me up and we headed off to his house, since there was no hope of being outside in this weather. A lot of other people had cancelled due to pressure of work (or possibly the weather) and for a while it looked like I would be the only guest. But a newly arrived Japanese - Canadian couple arrived with their son and we had a great time playing with the Y's three cats and talking (in a mix of English, Japanese and Swiss German) about life in Zurich, Swiss festivals, Japanese food shops and all manner of things.
We had pasta and bean salads, sausages, my skewers, steaks and then coffee and an amazing plum cake. Mrs Y works at the local supermarket and was full of advice on food and life in general and they're already helped me track down all kinds of things for which I am very grateful.
And all because he was making origami at the cultural festival on the day we happened to be passing through with himself's parents! It's enough to make you believe in 縁 (a Japanese concept of a tie or connection that brings people together).
So, today I've been making more progress on FFIV, writing thank-you letters and emails, and also need to do some exercise and probably get out of the house. I may go and find the Japanese food shop. And then - study, study, study! I got my first round of feedback yesterday, which I haven't opened yet. My supervisor said it was good but needed work, which is frankly better than I was hoping for. I just need to keep on keeping on.
Thursday, 13 August 2009
Best laid plans
Well, it's a Thursday afternoon and I'm in the company flat reading the entire Help section for some computer aided translation software I bought a while ago. You guessed it - I'm sick.
I started feeling not so well on Monday afternoon but thought nothing of it. Tuesday brought severe aches and what felt like a temperature. I broke out the remaining Lemsip from my last trip to the UK and soldiered on. After a broken night's sleep I went to deregister at the Burgeramt and picked up some Grippostad C (nearest thing to Lemsip in Germany that I've found) and went in to see what I could get done.
After mentioning that I wasn't feeling so hot, I was summarily sent home by the producer and one of the administrators. And told to find out if it was swine flu, and not to come back until the doctor said I was safe to. So, I spent Wednesday lunchtime failing to see a doctor and wandering aimlessly around the town centre until I headed home and dozed until heading out for my leaving drinks. Not many people showed, but I assume they thought I'd be too sick to go out.
I saw the doctor this morning, and they confirmed I had ticked the boxes to get tested for swine flu (have been exposed to it in last 7 days - it's in the office, aches, fever), tested me for it, signed me off sick and presented me with a bill of 20.10 EUR for the visit - much less than I'd thought - and 170 EUR for the swine flu test. Couldn't believe it. My agency is trying to find out if it should be covered under E111/EHIC but I suspect not - flu medicine might be, but this is just to satisfy the office's reporting requirement to the Gesundheitamt, I think.
So, I was out in the morning, back by around 10:30, rested up, faffed around on the internet, did some very sweet translations for the school exchanges, got tired of the internet, started reading the Help system so I know what I can do with this rather expensive software, suddenly was starving and drained so shuffled across the road and bought supplies to make several days worth of pasta and meatballs and got back just in time to avoid being rained on heavily.
It's frustrating to be out sick for the last 3 days of my contract, especially when I had everything on track to finish up the validation. But, as I've said of others, having no slack is poor planning. I've been working extended hours for almost 6 months now, eating badly, getting almost no exercise and sleeping on a sofabed. I pretty much asked for this.
I'll take it easy today - I felt absolutely fine apart from a sore throat in the morning but the aches are back now and I've started coughing, so I've probably become infectious and should not be in the office anyway. Still not sure about karaoke tomorrow, might not be a good idea. No point in a) infecting everyone b) going when I can't actually sing anyway.
Although I'm not much of a believer in anything, I do subscribe to a karmic-style "it will come back to bite you in the end" theory. Time to try to do things a little differently.
I started feeling not so well on Monday afternoon but thought nothing of it. Tuesday brought severe aches and what felt like a temperature. I broke out the remaining Lemsip from my last trip to the UK and soldiered on. After a broken night's sleep I went to deregister at the Burgeramt and picked up some Grippostad C (nearest thing to Lemsip in Germany that I've found) and went in to see what I could get done.
After mentioning that I wasn't feeling so hot, I was summarily sent home by the producer and one of the administrators. And told to find out if it was swine flu, and not to come back until the doctor said I was safe to. So, I spent Wednesday lunchtime failing to see a doctor and wandering aimlessly around the town centre until I headed home and dozed until heading out for my leaving drinks. Not many people showed, but I assume they thought I'd be too sick to go out.
I saw the doctor this morning, and they confirmed I had ticked the boxes to get tested for swine flu (have been exposed to it in last 7 days - it's in the office, aches, fever), tested me for it, signed me off sick and presented me with a bill of 20.10 EUR for the visit - much less than I'd thought - and 170 EUR for the swine flu test. Couldn't believe it. My agency is trying to find out if it should be covered under E111/EHIC but I suspect not - flu medicine might be, but this is just to satisfy the office's reporting requirement to the Gesundheitamt, I think.
So, I was out in the morning, back by around 10:30, rested up, faffed around on the internet, did some very sweet translations for the school exchanges, got tired of the internet, started reading the Help system so I know what I can do with this rather expensive software, suddenly was starving and drained so shuffled across the road and bought supplies to make several days worth of pasta and meatballs and got back just in time to avoid being rained on heavily.
It's frustrating to be out sick for the last 3 days of my contract, especially when I had everything on track to finish up the validation. But, as I've said of others, having no slack is poor planning. I've been working extended hours for almost 6 months now, eating badly, getting almost no exercise and sleeping on a sofabed. I pretty much asked for this.
I'll take it easy today - I felt absolutely fine apart from a sore throat in the morning but the aches are back now and I've started coughing, so I've probably become infectious and should not be in the office anyway. Still not sure about karaoke tomorrow, might not be a good idea. No point in a) infecting everyone b) going when I can't actually sing anyway.
Although I'm not much of a believer in anything, I do subscribe to a karmic-style "it will come back to bite you in the end" theory. Time to try to do things a little differently.
Saturday, 25 July 2009
What do you call this?
Even I'm tired of the "I'm not dead" routine. Let's skip it. There's only so long you can carry on not doing something before you have to admit you've failed to do it.
There are many things I've been failing to do, like exercise, eating healthily and keeping in touch with people. Most importantly, I've been failing to get on with doing the annotated translation, the last stage of my MA. Apart from the fact that the Distance Learning Centre at Sheffield has just announced it's started a staged closure (supporting everyone currently enrolled but not taking any more students) I really don't want to let it drag on any longer, even if I am allowed a second extension. I finally exported it from the translation tool today and started editing the English and adding annotations, although some of the translation is so rough that it's almost certainly not correct and I still have a good bit of 19th century Japanese to translate into modern Japanese so that I can translate it into English. Unfortunately, I'm still trying to figure the first step out.
I managed one small victory today, doing the first run for the "4 weeks to 1 mile" running podcast I bought - although it is the third time I've done it, with the previous two not being followed by any more running that week. I'm achieving a lot at work, but it doesn't feel like it. Nothing feels rewarding or fun. Not completing files, not things going to plan, not my paycheque, nothing. Doing what I should be doing is as unrewarding as doing things I shouldn't.
Today, I manged to give myself a second dose of conditioner instead of shower gel, almost switched the coffee machine on without putting any water in and managed to annoy my downstairs neighbours by deciding to sweep off my balcony while waiting for coffee to brew - of course, they were out on their balcony enjoying the nice weather and I swept a load of petals and leaves down on them. Left me feeling rather stupid.
I've had two good nights sleep, but I don't feel like it. Maybe I am hitting the limit of working 10 hour days 5 days a week. Work has been pretty stressful, with editing taking a lot longer than it ideally should. Plus lots of other messing around, none of which directly involves me, but leaves me thinking there but for my circumstances go I.
I do want to go and devote weeks and week to the annotated translation, and spend more time exercising and keeping in touch and somehow getting things done without feeling tired and stressed all the time. I'm really worried that I won't be able to get enough work freelance (I have enough saved up to do me the rest of the year, though), and anxious about getting my residency permit in Switzerland. Not being in the EU any more is going to be strange.
The other thing I've been doing is depressing myself by reading the blogs of some very talented and knowlegeable translators, wishing I was where they are, and once again considering biting off more than I can chew by looking at the OU degree in English and French.
They did have a link to this, which looks good:
http://www.britishcouncil.org/learning-research-englishnext.htm
For the moment, it goes in the vast pile of things I really should do but haven't got around to doing.
There are many things I've been failing to do, like exercise, eating healthily and keeping in touch with people. Most importantly, I've been failing to get on with doing the annotated translation, the last stage of my MA. Apart from the fact that the Distance Learning Centre at Sheffield has just announced it's started a staged closure (supporting everyone currently enrolled but not taking any more students) I really don't want to let it drag on any longer, even if I am allowed a second extension. I finally exported it from the translation tool today and started editing the English and adding annotations, although some of the translation is so rough that it's almost certainly not correct and I still have a good bit of 19th century Japanese to translate into modern Japanese so that I can translate it into English. Unfortunately, I'm still trying to figure the first step out.
I managed one small victory today, doing the first run for the "4 weeks to 1 mile" running podcast I bought - although it is the third time I've done it, with the previous two not being followed by any more running that week. I'm achieving a lot at work, but it doesn't feel like it. Nothing feels rewarding or fun. Not completing files, not things going to plan, not my paycheque, nothing. Doing what I should be doing is as unrewarding as doing things I shouldn't.
Today, I manged to give myself a second dose of conditioner instead of shower gel, almost switched the coffee machine on without putting any water in and managed to annoy my downstairs neighbours by deciding to sweep off my balcony while waiting for coffee to brew - of course, they were out on their balcony enjoying the nice weather and I swept a load of petals and leaves down on them. Left me feeling rather stupid.
I've had two good nights sleep, but I don't feel like it. Maybe I am hitting the limit of working 10 hour days 5 days a week. Work has been pretty stressful, with editing taking a lot longer than it ideally should. Plus lots of other messing around, none of which directly involves me, but leaves me thinking there but for my circumstances go I.
I do want to go and devote weeks and week to the annotated translation, and spend more time exercising and keeping in touch and somehow getting things done without feeling tired and stressed all the time. I'm really worried that I won't be able to get enough work freelance (I have enough saved up to do me the rest of the year, though), and anxious about getting my residency permit in Switzerland. Not being in the EU any more is going to be strange.
The other thing I've been doing is depressing myself by reading the blogs of some very talented and knowlegeable translators, wishing I was where they are, and once again considering biting off more than I can chew by looking at the OU degree in English and French.
They did have a link to this, which looks good:
http://www.britishcouncil.org/learning-research-englishnext.htm
For the moment, it goes in the vast pile of things I really should do but haven't got around to doing.
Friday, 22 May 2009
A system that works
First of all, a system that doesn't - trying to finish packing at 2:30am for a 5:00 am departure. I did some packing on Tuesday night, but ended up finishing on Wednesday night with the last few things in the case. We went out to have a meal at Klosterhof and then on to Star Room for karaoke. They close at 12:00 on a Wednesday, so I would have plenty of time to go home, pack, get up at 5:00 am, leave the flat at 6:00 am and be at the station for the S-bahn at 6:30 am and on the train to Zurich from Haupbahnhof at 6:50 am.
Except someone managed to convince them to stay open until 1:30 am. By that time there were no trams and we missed a night bus, so ended up walking home - which takes longer if you're trying to shepherd a group of rather drunk people. Got back in at 2:30 am and did more packing and for some reason finally got around to patching up the rip on the inside leg of my favourite pair of jeans. Set the alarm for 5:00 am and got into bed around 3:30 am. Woke up at 5:00 am, stretched and thought that I could really do with a few more hours sleep, looked over again... and it was 5:30. Threw stuff into my bag in a total panic, and managed to forget everything in the kitchen (chocolates, parmesan, vitamins, medicine) and somehow, my music player. By the time I realised it, I was halfway to the station on foot as there were no early morning buses on a bank holiday. So, kept on going. Lugging a suitcase over Frankfurt's tiled pavements is not fun.
I got there just in time to see the previous train leave - so I'd made good time - and when I got up on to the platform I decided I needed a drink. (It was feeling thirsty and thinking about my effervescent vitamin C that I hadn't taken that made me realise I'd left all the stuff in the kitchen behind.) There were three prime sample of Frankfurt youth at the vending machine, one of whom asked me in excellent English if I'd mind throwing my suitcase at it as it was refusing to vend.
In the end I decided to walk through the station and down to the tram, where there was an earlier service to Hauptbahnhof that gave me enough time to grab a coffee and some pastries on the way to the platform. The journey was nice - we didn't go through the Rhine Valley, but still some nice scenery. My plan to read Splendid Monarchy for my MA was a total fail, and I spent most of the time staring out the window or snoozing. The train was never anywhere near full.
When we were nearly at Zurich, I texted David and asked him to come and meet me, as I was too tired to try a repeat session of "lug case and bags via public transport". He came out and we went back to the flat, then he went to get some shopping while I snoozed. We then headed out in the evening to a barbeque at some friends of himself's, all Google employees. They had a very interesting little barbeque, Son of Hibachi.
This morning we headed into Zurich Hauptbahnhof to get a Halbtax card for me and if possible a commuter pass for himself. We piled out of the flat in 10 minutes after waking to get there before our 24-hour passes from the previous day ran out, and himself forgot his passport photo. I had no problem getting the Halbtax card, which entitles you to half price tickets on everything except commuter passes - it is available to everyone, even tourists. Himself thought he couldn't get his pass with no photo, but the lovely man at the counter told me that when I got a commuter pass, they could issue it to me without a new photo as my photo would be on file... so himself, who already has a Halbtax, was able to get his commuter pass. We were given temporary cards until ours arrived in the post, and the wallets they go in have the Zurich transport map on the outside! A system that truly works.
We then spent the rest of the day in Ikea, restraining ourselves from getting anything but what we needed - some crates to move and some lights. I also got a cute set of hanging files. And the obligatory plate of meatballs. Will purchase lots when I go there again next week. We're going to get a sofabed to sleep on until we can get our stuff over from the UK. The plan is to get a Transit and take over most of the furniture, then get the flat redecorated and rented out.
So, I'll be here until June 2 at the earliest, or maybe a few weeks more depending on how delayed my project is in Frankfurt. They'll let me know and I can head back up, and I have another 8 weeks on my contract for this year. We'll see when I'm where!
Except someone managed to convince them to stay open until 1:30 am. By that time there were no trams and we missed a night bus, so ended up walking home - which takes longer if you're trying to shepherd a group of rather drunk people. Got back in at 2:30 am and did more packing and for some reason finally got around to patching up the rip on the inside leg of my favourite pair of jeans. Set the alarm for 5:00 am and got into bed around 3:30 am. Woke up at 5:00 am, stretched and thought that I could really do with a few more hours sleep, looked over again... and it was 5:30. Threw stuff into my bag in a total panic, and managed to forget everything in the kitchen (chocolates, parmesan, vitamins, medicine) and somehow, my music player. By the time I realised it, I was halfway to the station on foot as there were no early morning buses on a bank holiday. So, kept on going. Lugging a suitcase over Frankfurt's tiled pavements is not fun.
I got there just in time to see the previous train leave - so I'd made good time - and when I got up on to the platform I decided I needed a drink. (It was feeling thirsty and thinking about my effervescent vitamin C that I hadn't taken that made me realise I'd left all the stuff in the kitchen behind.) There were three prime sample of Frankfurt youth at the vending machine, one of whom asked me in excellent English if I'd mind throwing my suitcase at it as it was refusing to vend.
In the end I decided to walk through the station and down to the tram, where there was an earlier service to Hauptbahnhof that gave me enough time to grab a coffee and some pastries on the way to the platform. The journey was nice - we didn't go through the Rhine Valley, but still some nice scenery. My plan to read Splendid Monarchy for my MA was a total fail, and I spent most of the time staring out the window or snoozing. The train was never anywhere near full.
When we were nearly at Zurich, I texted David and asked him to come and meet me, as I was too tired to try a repeat session of "lug case and bags via public transport". He came out and we went back to the flat, then he went to get some shopping while I snoozed. We then headed out in the evening to a barbeque at some friends of himself's, all Google employees. They had a very interesting little barbeque, Son of Hibachi.
This morning we headed into Zurich Hauptbahnhof to get a Halbtax card for me and if possible a commuter pass for himself. We piled out of the flat in 10 minutes after waking to get there before our 24-hour passes from the previous day ran out, and himself forgot his passport photo. I had no problem getting the Halbtax card, which entitles you to half price tickets on everything except commuter passes - it is available to everyone, even tourists. Himself thought he couldn't get his pass with no photo, but the lovely man at the counter told me that when I got a commuter pass, they could issue it to me without a new photo as my photo would be on file... so himself, who already has a Halbtax, was able to get his commuter pass. We were given temporary cards until ours arrived in the post, and the wallets they go in have the Zurich transport map on the outside! A system that truly works.
We then spent the rest of the day in Ikea, restraining ourselves from getting anything but what we needed - some crates to move and some lights. I also got a cute set of hanging files. And the obligatory plate of meatballs. Will purchase lots when I go there again next week. We're going to get a sofabed to sleep on until we can get our stuff over from the UK. The plan is to get a Transit and take over most of the furniture, then get the flat redecorated and rented out.
So, I'll be here until June 2 at the earliest, or maybe a few weeks more depending on how delayed my project is in Frankfurt. They'll let me know and I can head back up, and I have another 8 weeks on my contract for this year. We'll see when I'm where!
Sunday, 26 April 2009
Rollercoaster
Well, I can't keep titling the posts "I'm not dead".
Had a blissful Easter weekend in Zurich, arriving late on Thursday night to meet up with himself at the apartment he's subletting while a colleague is seconded to the US. On Friday we walked down to the lake and around the old town, through some beautiful gardens and down the west side of the lake. Saturday was spent in Horgen, where himself is flat-hunting, and we saw one possible place - the ground floor of a 3 storey house, gorgeous but out of our price range. I swear the current tenants were a German/Swiss version of a certain couple we know in north Wales.
Sunday was spent at the zoo, with an additional adventure on the way there as we had a ticket check on the tram and after we'd happily handed over out tickets were told they were the wrong ones. The inspector warned us there is a 80 CHF fine, then took us off at the next stop to buy the correct tickets instead of charging us. The ticket machine didn't take notes. We didn't have change. He didn't have change. His colleague didn't have change. He told us to keep going on our wrong tickets, break notes at the zoo and get the right ones back.
The zoo is quite large, but did suffer from a bit of that "animals in a cage" feeling. The elephant keepers had batons, which I haven't seen before. Mind you, one of the elephants took it off the keeper while he was hosing them down and he just put his hand out and they gave it back. There's also a huge tropical dome, which is amazing but very uncomfortable with the high humidity. We had coffee and cake and wandered home.
Monday wasn't quite as hot as the other near-sunburn days, so we went out on the lake. It was billed as a cruise, but was more like a modified ferry journey. This suited us, as we wanted to look at potential neighbourhoods from the water. Some were added to the list as a result of being able to see how built-up or not they were.
Got back into work on Tuesday glowing (mentally and physically). I knew there would be some kind of comedown, but was not expecting to be called into a room with a number of other people to be told that our end client was terminating our agency. The rest of the week was spent in a blind panic and deep uncertainty about whether we could - let alone would - continue beyond the end of April when the termination took effect. Many hours were lost meeting new potential agencies and discussing our situation, during which some unsettling facts were discovered.
The weekend was spent checking on tax and residency laws, reading sample contracts and constantly on phone and messenger to each other. This week was more of the same, although I started skipping the agency meetings and tried to concentrate on getting some work done. Old rumours ran riot, new ones abounded and as the week dragged on with no information from the end client, people started to make plans.
In a wonderful demonstration of their unique modus operandi, an email with a request to speak to all of us individually went around at 5:50pm on Friday, when most people had gone home. I was in work until 8:00pm waiting to talk to HR and did get some questions answered, but not all of them and now, with four days to go, I still have no contract to sign. But it looks like there can be one, although all this was worked out by my good self, instead of the end client who caused the problem.
After talking to himself about the expenses involved in moving to Zurich, I've decided to stay on if possible. A few things will need to be worked out, but hopefully it will be possible. The other option would be just not taking the return flight after the May bank holiday weekend (which is on Friday 1 May here). Looking forward to going back for a few days for a break, even if it is to close up the flat for decoration.
Other good news: himself has had an offer on a flat - in one of the new areas we started looking in after Easter, excellent to get to work, smaller than he really wants, but about the same size as our current one and renting is incredibly expensive - and I got written confirmation from the Finanzamt that they don't want any money from me.
Reality check: I am applying for an extension for my MA. I'm just nowhere near far enough with my translation to be ready in 6 weeks, even with 2 weeks off. I keep putting off sending in the form, which I think shows how much I hate doing it. But this is one thing I can't afford to get wrong, especially after the poor mark on my last essay.
So, one more (short) week of uncertainty, and then hopefully back to business as usual.
Had a blissful Easter weekend in Zurich, arriving late on Thursday night to meet up with himself at the apartment he's subletting while a colleague is seconded to the US. On Friday we walked down to the lake and around the old town, through some beautiful gardens and down the west side of the lake. Saturday was spent in Horgen, where himself is flat-hunting, and we saw one possible place - the ground floor of a 3 storey house, gorgeous but out of our price range. I swear the current tenants were a German/Swiss version of a certain couple we know in north Wales.
Sunday was spent at the zoo, with an additional adventure on the way there as we had a ticket check on the tram and after we'd happily handed over out tickets were told they were the wrong ones. The inspector warned us there is a 80 CHF fine, then took us off at the next stop to buy the correct tickets instead of charging us. The ticket machine didn't take notes. We didn't have change. He didn't have change. His colleague didn't have change. He told us to keep going on our wrong tickets, break notes at the zoo and get the right ones back.
The zoo is quite large, but did suffer from a bit of that "animals in a cage" feeling. The elephant keepers had batons, which I haven't seen before. Mind you, one of the elephants took it off the keeper while he was hosing them down and he just put his hand out and they gave it back. There's also a huge tropical dome, which is amazing but very uncomfortable with the high humidity. We had coffee and cake and wandered home.
Monday wasn't quite as hot as the other near-sunburn days, so we went out on the lake. It was billed as a cruise, but was more like a modified ferry journey. This suited us, as we wanted to look at potential neighbourhoods from the water. Some were added to the list as a result of being able to see how built-up or not they were.
Got back into work on Tuesday glowing (mentally and physically). I knew there would be some kind of comedown, but was not expecting to be called into a room with a number of other people to be told that our end client was terminating our agency. The rest of the week was spent in a blind panic and deep uncertainty about whether we could - let alone would - continue beyond the end of April when the termination took effect. Many hours were lost meeting new potential agencies and discussing our situation, during which some unsettling facts were discovered.
The weekend was spent checking on tax and residency laws, reading sample contracts and constantly on phone and messenger to each other. This week was more of the same, although I started skipping the agency meetings and tried to concentrate on getting some work done. Old rumours ran riot, new ones abounded and as the week dragged on with no information from the end client, people started to make plans.
In a wonderful demonstration of their unique modus operandi, an email with a request to speak to all of us individually went around at 5:50pm on Friday, when most people had gone home. I was in work until 8:00pm waiting to talk to HR and did get some questions answered, but not all of them and now, with four days to go, I still have no contract to sign. But it looks like there can be one, although all this was worked out by my good self, instead of the end client who caused the problem.
After talking to himself about the expenses involved in moving to Zurich, I've decided to stay on if possible. A few things will need to be worked out, but hopefully it will be possible. The other option would be just not taking the return flight after the May bank holiday weekend (which is on Friday 1 May here). Looking forward to going back for a few days for a break, even if it is to close up the flat for decoration.
Other good news: himself has had an offer on a flat - in one of the new areas we started looking in after Easter, excellent to get to work, smaller than he really wants, but about the same size as our current one and renting is incredibly expensive - and I got written confirmation from the Finanzamt that they don't want any money from me.
Reality check: I am applying for an extension for my MA. I'm just nowhere near far enough with my translation to be ready in 6 weeks, even with 2 weeks off. I keep putting off sending in the form, which I think shows how much I hate doing it. But this is one thing I can't afford to get wrong, especially after the poor mark on my last essay.
So, one more (short) week of uncertainty, and then hopefully back to business as usual.
Sunday, 5 April 2009
Spring has sprung
Yesterday was a lovely day, sunny and fine, until I decided to go to the shops and we had a rather impressive sun shower. But I am now stocked up on all the essentials - and some chocolate biscuits.
Been having a lot of fun reading reviews of the new season of anime in Japan, ranging from "For those of you who have already figured out that this is a big load of garbage and isn't worth wasting your life on, here's a picture of a bunny. Please enjoy it and move along," to a reviewer actually going out and finding an animated icon of a little Pac-Man type thing shooting itself in the head to put in place of the number for "x out of 5" in his review. Only Japan could bring you an animated series based on a lavishly illustrated "erotic" choose-your-own-adventure game.
Other than that, actually made some progress on my Annotated Translation yesterday. I'll try to edit what I did (got very choppy towards the end as I lost concentration) and if all goes well I might be able to do another section today. The will is there but the brain power isn't always with it. Staying up until way past bedtime playing with fish on Endless Ocean did not help. At all.
I keep trying to convince myself I can translate, but this ain't simple game dialogue. It's painful even when I ignore the Meiji era quotes which I can barely decipher. I really need to improve my reading...
Been having a lot of fun reading reviews of the new season of anime in Japan, ranging from "For those of you who have already figured out that this is a big load of garbage and isn't worth wasting your life on, here's a picture of a bunny. Please enjoy it and move along," to a reviewer actually going out and finding an animated icon of a little Pac-Man type thing shooting itself in the head to put in place of the number for "x out of 5" in his review. Only Japan could bring you an animated series based on a lavishly illustrated "erotic" choose-your-own-adventure game.
Other than that, actually made some progress on my Annotated Translation yesterday. I'll try to edit what I did (got very choppy towards the end as I lost concentration) and if all goes well I might be able to do another section today. The will is there but the brain power isn't always with it. Staying up until way past bedtime playing with fish on Endless Ocean did not help. At all.
I keep trying to convince myself I can translate, but this ain't simple game dialogue. It's painful even when I ignore the Meiji era quotes which I can barely decipher. I really need to improve my reading...
Friday, 3 April 2009
Work life
Got back in full daylight! The internal employee in charge of locking away consoles went home early and so did I. I was the subject of some justified mockery for acquiring a console through purchasing via our team leader and I've managed to hook it up to the mobile broadband and it is happily updating itself.
In other work-related news, our boss' boss - the one who draws on bananas - left his notebook on the formerly mentioned internal colleague's desk. We promptly got hold of a newspaper-cutting style font and wrote a ransom note demanding chocolate, and added a picture of a kitten for good measure. It took him about two seconds to figure out who had done it. He gave us some chocolate eggs, even though he really didn't owe us anything after rumbling us.
There are some pale candy-pink cherry trees on a nearby road, one I only walk up when I've got the bus. One is in magnificent full bloom and two more not far behind. It will always, always make me think of being on Kyoto's Path of Philosophy with my parents. It's 10 years since I met my homestay family this year - must do something special.
In other work-related news, our boss' boss - the one who draws on bananas - left his notebook on the formerly mentioned internal colleague's desk. We promptly got hold of a newspaper-cutting style font and wrote a ransom note demanding chocolate, and added a picture of a kitten for good measure. It took him about two seconds to figure out who had done it. He gave us some chocolate eggs, even though he really didn't owe us anything after rumbling us.
There are some pale candy-pink cherry trees on a nearby road, one I only walk up when I've got the bus. One is in magnificent full bloom and two more not far behind. It will always, always make me think of being on Kyoto's Path of Philosophy with my parents. It's 10 years since I met my homestay family this year - must do something special.
Twilight hours
I got back to the flat in almost-daylight yesterday. Woo.
There's a bit of a fin de siecle mood at work. The automated metal blinds are malfunctioning and opening and closing relatively randonmly so we're in darkness for most of the day. At least it's better than not being able to work because of glare. We've been banned from our own breakout room and most-used kitchen because of guests for most of the week and today will have to go out onto the roof garden and cross to the other side of the building to come and go into our side as the breakout room is the only other access from the lifts/stairwell. I went out and bought hand soap for the ladies and gents in our side as the in-sink pump had run out and the cleaners replaced the soap with watered-down washing up liquid. Nice.
Everyone is still busy, but discontent and looking around. The money is good, and the experience, and the people, but it's still almost not worth it. There are rumours about the agencies which disturb me greatly. I've already popped them in the 'incompetent' box, but it's looking much worse than that. The flats haven't been cleaned in weeks, and most people are now cleaning them themselves. Handing the cleaning contracts over to the people who allegedly clean the office hasn't made any difference so far.
Need to do my accounts this weekend, as it's nearly tax time. With the constant overtime, I am earning nicely, but will be paying for it. Oh, and as freelancers we have been officially liberated from the tyranny of the German 10-hour maximum working day and no working on Sundays. We can now work as long as we like whenever we like, with authorisiation of course. 10 hours still sounds like a good limit to me.
And, oh yes, my Annotated Translation. I do need to actually pass this MA at some point. That is the plan for tomorrow.
There's a bit of a fin de siecle mood at work. The automated metal blinds are malfunctioning and opening and closing relatively randonmly so we're in darkness for most of the day. At least it's better than not being able to work because of glare. We've been banned from our own breakout room and most-used kitchen because of guests for most of the week and today will have to go out onto the roof garden and cross to the other side of the building to come and go into our side as the breakout room is the only other access from the lifts/stairwell. I went out and bought hand soap for the ladies and gents in our side as the in-sink pump had run out and the cleaners replaced the soap with watered-down washing up liquid. Nice.
Everyone is still busy, but discontent and looking around. The money is good, and the experience, and the people, but it's still almost not worth it. There are rumours about the agencies which disturb me greatly. I've already popped them in the 'incompetent' box, but it's looking much worse than that. The flats haven't been cleaned in weeks, and most people are now cleaning them themselves. Handing the cleaning contracts over to the people who allegedly clean the office hasn't made any difference so far.
Need to do my accounts this weekend, as it's nearly tax time. With the constant overtime, I am earning nicely, but will be paying for it. Oh, and as freelancers we have been officially liberated from the tyranny of the German 10-hour maximum working day and no working on Sundays. We can now work as long as we like whenever we like, with authorisiation of course. 10 hours still sounds like a good limit to me.
And, oh yes, my Annotated Translation. I do need to actually pass this MA at some point. That is the plan for tomorrow.
Tuesday, 24 March 2009
Not quite
What I shouldn't be doing but am: eating biscuits. I'd forgotten how much I like Oreos. At least I walked to and from the station today.
What I should be doing but am not: my Annotated Translation.
Instead, I'm trying out my decaf coffee and doing kumihimo (6-strand hira utsui for anyone who's interested) while watching TV. Go me.
What I should be doing but am not: my Annotated Translation.
Instead, I'm trying out my decaf coffee and doing kumihimo (6-strand hira utsui for anyone who's interested) while watching TV. Go me.
Narrow escape
So tired last night I forgot to set my alarm - thankfully woke up half an hour late which is salveageable. Must run...
Sunday, 22 March 2009
Still not dead, just rather tired
I've always liked Parkinson's Law, oft quoted by Dad: "Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion." I've decided to come up with one of my own: the goodness of a day is inversely proportional to the amount of sugar consumed for stress-related reasons.
There's nothing quite like arriving home 30 mins before bedtime. I got into work a little late after not getting out of the flat on time then going to the bank to find out what had happened to the "proper" card (EC Card) I was supposed to have received weeks ago - they had no idea and just re-ordered one for me. Then came a fun but very long lunch break spent watching G get the bank cashier to help her pay a bill and C finding out that he had been cut off a second time for not paying the same mobile phone bill.
What I was doing at work took far longer than I'd hoped, and I ended up leaving after realising I could barely type straight any more, and one message in particular engendering hysterical laughter. Then it was into the supermarket for yoghurt and muesli for breakfast, more Lavazza coffee, decaf Lavazza coffee for when I really shouldn't be having any, and, after I wandered around with C trying to find ingredients for brownies and ended up in the Imported Foods aisle, a box of Oreos and Swiss Miss hot chocolate mix. It wasn't a good day in terms of sugar.
An unfavourable sequence of trains kept me waiting for 20 minutes at my least favourite place, Hauptwache station. There are only two buses an hour at this time of night, so I walked home - at least I got the exercise in and managed to avoid the rain. Snow is forecast for tomorrow, so back to the winter coat.
In theory I'm where I want to be - translating at a major international company and taking on even more responsibility by editing. But once you open this particular box and step inside, nothing seems worth it. Yes, I'm sure it all looks very shiny from the outside, but it makes me think very, very fondly of places I walked away from because I considered them not good enough.
I have 10 more weeks here (including this one) before I go on a 2 week last push to get the Annotated Translation for my MA done, which is the last component. I started it last weekend, but didn't get too far. And obviously will not be doing any tonight. In between now and then, I have Easter in Zurich with himself and the May bank holiday weekend (that's Friday here on the continent) back in the UK for the final clearout of the flat.
And somewhere in between, some sleep. Time for the German sleepy tea...
There's nothing quite like arriving home 30 mins before bedtime. I got into work a little late after not getting out of the flat on time then going to the bank to find out what had happened to the "proper" card (EC Card) I was supposed to have received weeks ago - they had no idea and just re-ordered one for me. Then came a fun but very long lunch break spent watching G get the bank cashier to help her pay a bill and C finding out that he had been cut off a second time for not paying the same mobile phone bill.
What I was doing at work took far longer than I'd hoped, and I ended up leaving after realising I could barely type straight any more, and one message in particular engendering hysterical laughter. Then it was into the supermarket for yoghurt and muesli for breakfast, more Lavazza coffee, decaf Lavazza coffee for when I really shouldn't be having any, and, after I wandered around with C trying to find ingredients for brownies and ended up in the Imported Foods aisle, a box of Oreos and Swiss Miss hot chocolate mix. It wasn't a good day in terms of sugar.
An unfavourable sequence of trains kept me waiting for 20 minutes at my least favourite place, Hauptwache station. There are only two buses an hour at this time of night, so I walked home - at least I got the exercise in and managed to avoid the rain. Snow is forecast for tomorrow, so back to the winter coat.
In theory I'm where I want to be - translating at a major international company and taking on even more responsibility by editing. But once you open this particular box and step inside, nothing seems worth it. Yes, I'm sure it all looks very shiny from the outside, but it makes me think very, very fondly of places I walked away from because I considered them not good enough.
I have 10 more weeks here (including this one) before I go on a 2 week last push to get the Annotated Translation for my MA done, which is the last component. I started it last weekend, but didn't get too far. And obviously will not be doing any tonight. In between now and then, I have Easter in Zurich with himself and the May bank holiday weekend (that's Friday here on the continent) back in the UK for the final clearout of the flat.
And somewhere in between, some sleep. Time for the German sleepy tea...
Thursday, 5 February 2009
Important!
I searched for "German phrases" thinking I would get to the bank one of these days and wanting to know how to say "Does anyone here speak English?"
I found this page - because you never know when you'll need to know the word for "anti-tank gun" or how to say "Don't try any tricks!"
I found this page - because you never know when you'll need to know the word for "anti-tank gun" or how to say "Don't try any tricks!"
Tuesday, 3 February 2009
I'm not dead - and rabbits!
I was going to do an update the other day, but going into Blogger from my usual bookmark was giving me a page in German where the only options I could make out were "Change Password" and "Create Account".
First, the really important news - rabbits! I was walking back after having gone to the supermarket down the road (where I completely failed to find bin bags despite it being quite obvious what they look like worldwide) and walking up between the blocks of flats on the next road over - the blocks have their small/thin/side end to the road and there are raised grassy areas between them with areas to hang laundry, etc. And right at the end of one, I saw a tiny shadow with long ears! And as it shot away towards the road I saw another, larger, one on the raised grassy area. Happiness.
I didn't see any last night, as I was out until silly o'clock doing karaoke. It's amazing how many rock songs are perfectly suited to it - someone always does Hotel California, and Immigrant Song and Paranoid (both the Garbage one and the Black Sabbath one) are wonderful as well.
Tonight, came back from work late as usual, and walked back from the station but seemed to lose half the muscles in my legs about 4/5 of the way back and had to clump along noisily and gracelessly for the last bit. Certainly scared off any rabbits around.
Not much else to report really - working away, trying not to eat just because I'm lacking energy, enjoying the work and hanging around with colleagues. Very much looking forward to being back in Reading next weekend for Valentine's day - so much so that I had convinced myself during the week that it was this weekend, and was worried about my flight being cancelled due to snow. sigh
In other news, I think I've found a text for my annotated translation, a chapter from 近代天皇制への道程 (The Road to the Modern Emperor System)by 田中彰 (Akira Tanaka). He is an established historian so a safe choice, and I've always been interested in the role of the emperor - be it real or imagined - in the Meiji Restoration and subsequent events. So, should be interesting both to translate and to research around. More work to be done...
First, the really important news - rabbits! I was walking back after having gone to the supermarket down the road (where I completely failed to find bin bags despite it being quite obvious what they look like worldwide) and walking up between the blocks of flats on the next road over - the blocks have their small/thin/side end to the road and there are raised grassy areas between them with areas to hang laundry, etc. And right at the end of one, I saw a tiny shadow with long ears! And as it shot away towards the road I saw another, larger, one on the raised grassy area. Happiness.
I didn't see any last night, as I was out until silly o'clock doing karaoke. It's amazing how many rock songs are perfectly suited to it - someone always does Hotel California, and Immigrant Song and Paranoid (both the Garbage one and the Black Sabbath one) are wonderful as well.
Tonight, came back from work late as usual, and walked back from the station but seemed to lose half the muscles in my legs about 4/5 of the way back and had to clump along noisily and gracelessly for the last bit. Certainly scared off any rabbits around.
Not much else to report really - working away, trying not to eat just because I'm lacking energy, enjoying the work and hanging around with colleagues. Very much looking forward to being back in Reading next weekend for Valentine's day - so much so that I had convinced myself during the week that it was this weekend, and was worried about my flight being cancelled due to snow. sigh
In other news, I think I've found a text for my annotated translation, a chapter from 近代天皇制への道程 (The Road to the Modern Emperor System)by 田中彰 (Akira Tanaka). He is an established historian so a safe choice, and I've always been interested in the role of the emperor - be it real or imagined - in the Meiji Restoration and subsequent events. So, should be interesting both to translate and to research around. More work to be done...
Saturday, 24 January 2009
Happy days
I take it back - the shower may look ancient, but with the excellent water pressure in the building it does the job very nicely. This makes me very happy.
So, a week with mostly ten-hour days and still feeling like there isn't enough time. Several colleagues are in work today, and they're still recruiting like crazy. Really, really enjoying it.
Stumbled home last night and watched an entire season of anime - I think I may have worried the neighbours by laughing out loud for several hours, but they got me back this morning by playing Euro-pop at high volume.
So, a week with mostly ten-hour days and still feeling like there isn't enough time. Several colleagues are in work today, and they're still recruiting like crazy. Really, really enjoying it.
Stumbled home last night and watched an entire season of anime - I think I may have worried the neighbours by laughing out loud for several hours, but they got me back this morning by playing Euro-pop at high volume.
Tuesday, 20 January 2009
Well mixed
Good: got a lot of work done, got a power adapter, the flat has a bath (although there's still no heat in the bathroom and I don't know if I'll be staying here), figured out the bus route, recovered my grammar guide from the office book stack, ate none of the chocolate I brought back as a team present. Treated myself to some sushi in the department store food section I ended up doing my food shop in - two each mackerel, tuna and egg. Yum.
Bad: the phone charger sold to me by the T-Mobile shop is the wrong one for my phone, my brand new top has a hole in it, the shower in the bathroom looks like the one my grandmother used to have, the water tastes absolutely vile. Had lunch at the Chinese takeaway in the supermarket, which I was trying to avoid, but I was starving and wanted something warm. I deliberately didn't go to Lush before I left as I know there's one here, but it's much more expensive and is out of stock of things... which I've never seen in Reading... and doesn't get them in again for two weeks.
But on balance, getting better. Oh, and it's stopped raining. Not sure which category the amount of coffee I drank today goes into.
Bad: the phone charger sold to me by the T-Mobile shop is the wrong one for my phone, my brand new top has a hole in it, the shower in the bathroom looks like the one my grandmother used to have, the water tastes absolutely vile. Had lunch at the Chinese takeaway in the supermarket, which I was trying to avoid, but I was starving and wanted something warm. I deliberately didn't go to Lush before I left as I know there's one here, but it's much more expensive and is out of stock of things... which I've never seen in Reading... and doesn't get them in again for two weeks.
But on balance, getting better. Oh, and it's stopped raining. Not sure which category the amount of coffee I drank today goes into.
Et tu?
I bought a small electric toothbrush on Sunday to bring over - I really noticed the difference when I didn't have one here last time, and they plug into shaver sockets which are universal. Except this flat doesn't have one at all.
And I forgot the phone charger for my German mobile, which is now almost dead.
Oh well - at least I feel like I had a decent night's sleep. The duvet was incredibly thin, especially with the heating still building up, but I found a second one in the cupboard so that worked nicely. The bed is very strange, but didn't stop me sleeping. Apart from the bedroom door, none of the internal doors actually close - they're all hung wrong and scrape on the floor and don't line up with the frames.
So, a bit of shopping at lunchtime, methinks - adaptor plug, toothbrush, phone charger...
And I forgot the phone charger for my German mobile, which is now almost dead.
Oh well - at least I feel like I had a decent night's sleep. The duvet was incredibly thin, especially with the heating still building up, but I found a second one in the cupboard so that worked nicely. The bed is very strange, but didn't stop me sleeping. Apart from the bedroom door, none of the internal doors actually close - they're all hung wrong and scrape on the floor and don't line up with the frames.
So, a bit of shopping at lunchtime, methinks - adaptor plug, toothbrush, phone charger...
Monday, 19 January 2009
Auspicious?
Well, that could have gone more smoothly - but no permanent harm involved.
I got about 2 hours of sleep last night between packing until late, being unable to sleep and getting up just a smidgen before 5:00am in order to get a taxi at 5:10 for the coach at 5:30 to check in at 6:30 and fly at 7:10, land at 9:45 German time and be in the office about 11:00am. That all worked out, although I was feeling fairly miserable by the time we landed. Grabbing a Meal Deal in the Boots in Terminal 2 Duty Free was an excellent idea - much as I would have loved to go to Nero, the queue did not allow it.
The adult businessmen on the flight were worse than children - twice the amount of hand luggage they should have, throwing it in under unoccupied seats, stowing luggage in the emergency exit and being told off by the stewardesses, same guy stowing his coat in the emergency exit and being told off by the bursar and when the bursar tried to go back to the front of the plane he caught someone using their iPhone.
The normal passport control desks at Frankfurt were closed for some reason, so everyone from my flight ended up milling around the terminal for a while before we could get out - at least the cases were out when we finally got to them. I took out some cash, and without thinking asked for 500 Euro, forgetting I have a withdrawal limit of £200 on my card. That was refused, but thankfully a quickly done second request for 200 Euro was successful...
No problems getting back to the office and had a nice coffee with friends before being thrown in at the deep end. I'm not doing the project I thought I would be because something more important had come up... but still translation and looking forward to it. The rush involved meant that it was 8:15 by the time I left. Himself also contacted me to let me know the bank had called about a refused transaction on my card. Must sort that out soon.
I had been told I was going back to my old flat - which was great as a) I know where it is and b) I left a lot of stuff there, like coffee filters and tupperware. However, the office had lost my keys. So I ended up with keys to another flat. I hoped? assumed? that someone would help me get over to the flat, but by the time I'd finished what I was doing they had mostly staggered home after hitting the 10-hour German time limit. So, a not entirely fun evening of dragging luggage around an unfamiliar area - my case really doesn't like the bricks they use for German pavements.
That said, I did find it first time (a miracle for me, I know) - all the credit goes to Google Maps for showing me what the area looked like, I'm much better with that than any kind of directions.
The flat is very nice, quite large and even has a bath! Don't know if I'll be staying or not. But the heating isn't on so that will take a little while to kick in. To top it all off, I have brought the wrong adaptor plug (US/NZ instead of Europe) so have no plug-in power for the laptop. I shall leave it here for tonight...
I got about 2 hours of sleep last night between packing until late, being unable to sleep and getting up just a smidgen before 5:00am in order to get a taxi at 5:10 for the coach at 5:30 to check in at 6:30 and fly at 7:10, land at 9:45 German time and be in the office about 11:00am. That all worked out, although I was feeling fairly miserable by the time we landed. Grabbing a Meal Deal in the Boots in Terminal 2 Duty Free was an excellent idea - much as I would have loved to go to Nero, the queue did not allow it.
The adult businessmen on the flight were worse than children - twice the amount of hand luggage they should have, throwing it in under unoccupied seats, stowing luggage in the emergency exit and being told off by the stewardesses, same guy stowing his coat in the emergency exit and being told off by the bursar and when the bursar tried to go back to the front of the plane he caught someone using their iPhone.
The normal passport control desks at Frankfurt were closed for some reason, so everyone from my flight ended up milling around the terminal for a while before we could get out - at least the cases were out when we finally got to them. I took out some cash, and without thinking asked for 500 Euro, forgetting I have a withdrawal limit of £200 on my card. That was refused, but thankfully a quickly done second request for 200 Euro was successful...
No problems getting back to the office and had a nice coffee with friends before being thrown in at the deep end. I'm not doing the project I thought I would be because something more important had come up... but still translation and looking forward to it. The rush involved meant that it was 8:15 by the time I left. Himself also contacted me to let me know the bank had called about a refused transaction on my card. Must sort that out soon.
I had been told I was going back to my old flat - which was great as a) I know where it is and b) I left a lot of stuff there, like coffee filters and tupperware. However, the office had lost my keys. So I ended up with keys to another flat. I hoped? assumed? that someone would help me get over to the flat, but by the time I'd finished what I was doing they had mostly staggered home after hitting the 10-hour German time limit. So, a not entirely fun evening of dragging luggage around an unfamiliar area - my case really doesn't like the bricks they use for German pavements.
That said, I did find it first time (a miracle for me, I know) - all the credit goes to Google Maps for showing me what the area looked like, I'm much better with that than any kind of directions.
The flat is very nice, quite large and even has a bath! Don't know if I'll be staying or not. But the heating isn't on so that will take a little while to kick in. To top it all off, I have brought the wrong adaptor plug (US/NZ instead of Europe) so have no plug-in power for the laptop. I shall leave it here for tonight...
Monday, 12 January 2009
Ouch
An icy week with not much good in the way of news either.
Although the contract is almost sorted, still working on other things which - depending on how they work out - will make things even more complicated.
Got the results back for my last essay. Let's just say they contain the word 'disappointing'. I really went for it on this essay, but it's just not good enough. It didn't feel like an MA essay, just a good BA one, and the tutor isn't going to let that pass. It's one of the things I like about her. Not that it does me much good now. All the more reason to go for the annotated translation, if I tried for the thesis I'd probably just hurt myself.
Not a ray of sunshine recently... was incredibly cranky by the end of last week but had a great time in London on Saturday with friends and brother and spent yesterday in my pajamas doing not much. Must get out and buy milk.
Although the contract is almost sorted, still working on other things which - depending on how they work out - will make things even more complicated.
Got the results back for my last essay. Let's just say they contain the word 'disappointing'. I really went for it on this essay, but it's just not good enough. It didn't feel like an MA essay, just a good BA one, and the tutor isn't going to let that pass. It's one of the things I like about her. Not that it does me much good now. All the more reason to go for the annotated translation, if I tried for the thesis I'd probably just hurt myself.
Not a ray of sunshine recently... was incredibly cranky by the end of last week but had a great time in London on Saturday with friends and brother and spent yesterday in my pajamas doing not much. Must get out and buy milk.
Tuesday, 6 January 2009
Resolution
First, some comedy. Sent to me by otouto's other half, the truth about Wii Fit. I absolutely agree. I have sworn more at Wii Fit than anything else, even Zelda bosses. Its cheerfulness is part of what makes it so insulting. You have to be bloody-minded for it.
Next, just how sweet Okami is - feeding rabbits. After you've fed a group of animals, they permanently emit hearts whenever you're near, even when they're asleep. かわいい！
Just done 12 minutes of 'jogging' on Wii Fit, as a pathetic attempt to make up for being sat on my rear end all day. I was bouncing That Contract back and forth between the agency and a HR-savvy friend, and on chat to someone else in the same situation trying to find anyone who can advise us on German tax liability - while trying to get through an explosion of activity on the twinned school talkboards. Net result was barely moving until about 4:00pm. I'm going to try to go for another round before dinner.
Learned a new word yesterday - venepuncturist. The nice people at NHS Blood Service who put the needle in. One of them kindly came over to check on me when the smart scales complained that it the flow had gone a bit slow... and adjusted the needle. Now, I can only really do blood donation if I don't look and don't think about it too much, but I instinctively looked down and the sight - and sensation - will be with me for a while. The guy doing the questionnaires had a ball with the list of countries I've been in for over 6 months in my entire life. Must remember to book an appointment next time though - it took nearly 2 hours without one.
I'm sure I had more witty things to say, but they've slipped my mind. Shall try to get out more and have more to comment on!
Next, just how sweet Okami is - feeding rabbits. After you've fed a group of animals, they permanently emit hearts whenever you're near, even when they're asleep. かわいい！
Just done 12 minutes of 'jogging' on Wii Fit, as a pathetic attempt to make up for being sat on my rear end all day. I was bouncing That Contract back and forth between the agency and a HR-savvy friend, and on chat to someone else in the same situation trying to find anyone who can advise us on German tax liability - while trying to get through an explosion of activity on the twinned school talkboards. Net result was barely moving until about 4:00pm. I'm going to try to go for another round before dinner.
Learned a new word yesterday - venepuncturist. The nice people at NHS Blood Service who put the needle in. One of them kindly came over to check on me when the smart scales complained that it the flow had gone a bit slow... and adjusted the needle. Now, I can only really do blood donation if I don't look and don't think about it too much, but I instinctively looked down and the sight - and sensation - will be with me for a while. The guy doing the questionnaires had a ball with the list of countries I've been in for over 6 months in my entire life. Must remember to book an appointment next time though - it took nearly 2 hours without one.
I'm sure I had more witty things to say, but they've slipped my mind. Shall try to get out more and have more to comment on!
Monday, 5 January 2009
Check one
One New Year's resolution at least partially kept - went and donated blood today. Feel the usual happy but slightly light and stupefied. Working my way slowly through the To-Do List left over from 2008. Some are easy (send thank-you letters and emails) and some are a bit more involved (sort out pension).
I still don't know if I'm going to Germany or not. There was a great deal of progress on the contract today, but still some sore points and now deep thinking - in the absence of much concrete information - about what German tax liability is like. I still have some time, but it would be nice to know as so much else hinges upon it.
Need to get back to my MA work soon, specifically deciding on a thesis or a translation - I'm interested in nationalism and propaganda and the way in which the people were influenced by them between WWI and WWII, but it's a very big topic. Or an annotated translation, but my reading is still not strong enough and just understanding enough of a text to know if it's suitable or not takes an obscene amount of time.
Himself picked up Okami for the Wii on sale on New Year's Eve, and it's wonderful. I've mainly been watching him play it, but I could definitely play it myself. If only for the unutterably sweet cut-scenes when you feed the animals. And there's the pseudo-Japaneseness of it all which I enjoy.
New Year's was great - Wales was freezing, literally - the pond in our friends' back garden was solid and himself was able to walk around the edge of a reservoir on one of the two walks we went on. It was too cold to be out for long, but really enjoyable. Our friends' neighbours' dog had puppies, so we spent a while cooing over nine adorable baby labradors as well.
Oh, and it snowed! Today, while I was walking around. Hope it's also dumping it down in the mountains in Europe, as himself is going snowboarding from this weekend.
I still don't know if I'm going to Germany or not. There was a great deal of progress on the contract today, but still some sore points and now deep thinking - in the absence of much concrete information - about what German tax liability is like. I still have some time, but it would be nice to know as so much else hinges upon it.
Need to get back to my MA work soon, specifically deciding on a thesis or a translation - I'm interested in nationalism and propaganda and the way in which the people were influenced by them between WWI and WWII, but it's a very big topic. Or an annotated translation, but my reading is still not strong enough and just understanding enough of a text to know if it's suitable or not takes an obscene amount of time.
Himself picked up Okami for the Wii on sale on New Year's Eve, and it's wonderful. I've mainly been watching him play it, but I could definitely play it myself. If only for the unutterably sweet cut-scenes when you feed the animals. And there's the pseudo-Japaneseness of it all which I enjoy.
New Year's was great - Wales was freezing, literally - the pond in our friends' back garden was solid and himself was able to walk around the edge of a reservoir on one of the two walks we went on. It was too cold to be out for long, but really enjoyable. Our friends' neighbours' dog had puppies, so we spent a while cooing over nine adorable baby labradors as well.
Oh, and it snowed! Today, while I was walking around. Hope it's also dumping it down in the mountains in Europe, as himself is going snowboarding from this weekend.
Friday, 26 December 2008
Unintended gifts
I was reading a book on arthritis (Mom is starting to suffer from it in her hands), written by a nurse in 1985. There's a paragraph lamenting the lack of nutritional education among young mothers and therefore the impossibility of their children being well fed or knowing how to feed themselves. The whole things ends up with the blithe assertion that women are responsible for the working power of the nation. I'm never going to be able to read this kind of thing again after that essay...
Mom and Dad were happy with their gifts, but Dad would have been a lot happier if I hadn't given him my cold. Sorry about that.
And himself sent me this adorable picture of the changeover of Chinese zodiac years.
Mom and Dad were happy with their gifts, but Dad would have been a lot happier if I hadn't given him my cold. Sorry about that.
And himself sent me this adorable picture of the changeover of Chinese zodiac years.
Sunday, 21 December 2008
Ooooh yes...
Himself managed to find his present. So, I thought I'd get him another one, and kind of took a chance on something that I hope he'll like but not quite sure.
He's got me the latest edition of Rough Guide Japan, which I really wanted. While we were sitting around in Waterstones talking about what to get for his brother, himself suddenly said that what he should have asked for was... what I've got for him! I don't think it will arrive in time - we're both gone as of tomorrow morning for Christmas - but if I'm lucky I'll have a 'we tried to deliver' card that I can pick up from the sorting office before we go to Wales for New Year.
Result.
He's got me the latest edition of Rough Guide Japan, which I really wanted. While we were sitting around in Waterstones talking about what to get for his brother, himself suddenly said that what he should have asked for was... what I've got for him! I don't think it will arrive in time - we're both gone as of tomorrow morning for Christmas - but if I'm lucky I'll have a 'we tried to deliver' card that I can pick up from the sorting office before we go to Wales for New Year.
Result.
Thursday, 18 December 2008
Twinkle twinkle little tree
If anyone reading this might be talking to Mom - I suspect that limits it to Dad and possibly otouto - don't tell her, because this is one of her Chrisse pressies!
This is a kit for a Christmas tree made from star-shaped cushions (with a pompom on top!) that I got in Hobbyra Hobbyre in Nagoya, not this year but last year. I failed to make it in time for last Christmas, so that was one of the impetuses behind me going out and getting a sewing machine. I'm quite happy with how it turned out, especially seen it was my first time using a sewing machine and by far the most ambitious thing I've ever tried to sew.
That was actually quite fun. Now for the fabric bowls.
This is a kit for a Christmas tree made from star-shaped cushions (with a pompom on top!) that I got in Hobbyra Hobbyre in Nagoya, not this year but last year. I failed to make it in time for last Christmas, so that was one of the impetuses behind me going out and getting a sewing machine. I'm quite happy with how it turned out, especially seen it was my first time using a sewing machine and by far the most ambitious thing I've ever tried to sew.
That was actually quite fun. Now for the fabric bowls.
We know you got
I did a favour for a friend a little while ago. It meant a lot to her, it didn't particularly inconvenience me although it did require a fair amount of trust.
We met up for dinner last night, and she brought me a thank-you present, this little psuedo-kokeshi!
She said the little blurb on the box made her think of me - I was unreasonably chuffed by the whole thing. My cheeks still ache from smiling. It's going to live on my desk, and I shall affix the included sticker and badge to something, probably my electronic dictionary and only-me bag.
Mind you, the other side of the box says 'I love Dexy's Midnight Runners' - their "Come on Eileen" was mercilessly redone as "Come on Arline" by boys at my school in France and resulted in an unfortunate incident with one of said boys, a locker door and my temper finally fraying. It takes a lot, but it can happen...
We met up for dinner last night, and she brought me a thank-you present, this little psuedo-kokeshi!
She said the little blurb on the box made her think of me - I was unreasonably chuffed by the whole thing. My cheeks still ache from smiling. It's going to live on my desk, and I shall affix the included sticker and badge to something, probably my electronic dictionary and only-me bag.
Mind you, the other side of the box says 'I love Dexy's Midnight Runners' - their "Come on Eileen" was mercilessly redone as "Come on Arline" by boys at my school in France and resulted in an unfortunate incident with one of said boys, a locker door and my temper finally fraying. It takes a lot, but it can happen...
Friday, 12 December 2008
Loving it...
...as my former manager at a certain large company used to say when things were going down the drain. As usual, my source of work isn't disappearing anywhere soon. This spontaneously appeared while I was writing an email to submit my hours for a translation project.
Mine and only mine
Sorry for the lack of posts - been working away on lots of things, just nothing interesting. Plus I think I've been treating this very much as a travel blog, so not much to report after coming back!
Last essay is safely handed in, now I have to find a thesis topic or annotated translation piece. I have filed my tax return after doing far more research than I felt comfortable with on liability for tax in Germany. Someone at one of the accountancy firms I spoke to asked someone in the expatriate tax department at Deloitte & Touche in Reading to call me and they seem to agree. Phew.
In other news, my favourite bag - a black waist pack that I used as a shoulder bag, bought in Japan back in 2003 or so and just big enough for a Lonely Planet Japan and a camera and a map - went to its eternal rest in the summer after I managed to put a rip in the bottom of it. Probably Lonely Planet Germany on top my keys. I was figuring out it was on its last legs at the craft fair I did with himself's mom in July, and one of the other stands there was a lady selling handmade bags. We got talking. I remembered I had some lovely aizome fabric I bought in Ise last year. And this is the result!
The main body of the bag is blue denim, with a wide stripe fabric for the outer pockets and flap, plus a thin stripe fabric for the lining, and a little of the wide stripe for an inside pocket. It's perfect!
I had a discussion about brand goods with a friend in Japan while I was there. She saw a designer bag as a status symbol - I'm successful, at my age I can afford one of these. Maybe, but I keep getting stuck on buying my lovely Dakine bag in Frankfurt - let me get you another identical one from out the back, Made In China. I'd much rather a handmade one of a kind item than a mass produced one. It's the same as the burst of happiness I felt when someone commented that one of bracelets could never be taken for anything but handmade. I like that.
Last essay is safely handed in, now I have to find a thesis topic or annotated translation piece. I have filed my tax return after doing far more research than I felt comfortable with on liability for tax in Germany. Someone at one of the accountancy firms I spoke to asked someone in the expatriate tax department at Deloitte & Touche in Reading to call me and they seem to agree. Phew.
In other news, my favourite bag - a black waist pack that I used as a shoulder bag, bought in Japan back in 2003 or so and just big enough for a Lonely Planet Japan and a camera and a map - went to its eternal rest in the summer after I managed to put a rip in the bottom of it. Probably Lonely Planet Germany on top my keys. I was figuring out it was on its last legs at the craft fair I did with himself's mom in July, and one of the other stands there was a lady selling handmade bags. We got talking. I remembered I had some lovely aizome fabric I bought in Ise last year. And this is the result!
The main body of the bag is blue denim, with a wide stripe fabric for the outer pockets and flap, plus a thin stripe fabric for the lining, and a little of the wide stripe for an inside pocket. It's perfect!
I had a discussion about brand goods with a friend in Japan while I was there. She saw a designer bag as a status symbol - I'm successful, at my age I can afford one of these. Maybe, but I keep getting stuck on buying my lovely Dakine bag in Frankfurt - let me get you another identical one from out the back, Made In China. I'd much rather a handmade one of a kind item than a mass produced one. It's the same as the burst of happiness I felt when someone commented that one of bracelets could never be taken for anything but handmade. I like that.
Wednesday, 26 November 2008
Pass!
Just got my results from the September exams - I've passed! I thought I did, but it's nice to know for sure.
Happy with my Japanese-English translation mark, and with the one from the presentation in Japanese, seen as it went a little pear-shaped. Wish I could have done more for the Writing in Japanese, but it's a fair mark for what I did do.
Final essay (have an extension from last month) due in on Friday, then I have to make a decision on doing a thesis or an annotated translation. I may be back in Germany in January, which makes the translation much more attractive... but I have to come up with some kind of topic first!
Anyway - one big hurdle passed!
Happy with my Japanese-English translation mark, and with the one from the presentation in Japanese, seen as it went a little pear-shaped. Wish I could have done more for the Writing in Japanese, but it's a fair mark for what I did do.
Final essay (have an extension from last month) due in on Friday, then I have to make a decision on doing a thesis or an annotated translation. I may be back in Germany in January, which makes the translation much more attractive... but I have to come up with some kind of topic first!
Anyway - one big hurdle passed!
Friday, 21 November 2008
Haiku time!
I noticed while posting the last post that I have a tag 'haiku' - we did haiku and also senryuu at the Japan Foundation course last night. Where haiku celebrate the beauty of nature, senryuu are ironic or sarcastic social commentaries in the haiku 5-7-5 syllable format.
隣には
知り合いの人
世界、狭！
Sitting beside me
Someone I already know
This world is so small!
Turns out I'd already sent emails about the MA to the guy sitting beside me, but neither of us realised until the people beside us started talking about JET and we joined in.
Although my favourite one of the evening has to be one where he came up with the idea and I managed to fit it into 5-7-5 syllables - you had to do four seasonal ones, with this one for spring and the last line already there:
二日酔い
誰のせいだろ
桜かな
I'm so hung over...
Who is to blame for this pain?
The cherry blossoms!
The かな doesn't actually mean 'could it be?' but just emphasises the cherry blossoms, but we used it like that anyway. And the apparently official practice of allowing a line to be one syllable over also worked in our favour, as the middle line if spelled correctly is 8 syllables... Lots of fun had by all.
隣には
知り合いの人
世界、狭！
Sitting beside me
Someone I already know
This world is so small!
Turns out I'd already sent emails about the MA to the guy sitting beside me, but neither of us realised until the people beside us started talking about JET and we joined in.
Although my favourite one of the evening has to be one where he came up with the idea and I managed to fit it into 5-7-5 syllables - you had to do four seasonal ones, with this one for spring and the last line already there:
二日酔い
誰のせいだろ
桜かな
I'm so hung over...
Who is to blame for this pain?
The cherry blossoms!
The かな doesn't actually mean 'could it be?' but just emphasises the cherry blossoms, but we used it like that anyway. And the apparently official practice of allowing a line to be one syllable over also worked in our favour, as the middle line if spelled correctly is 8 syllables... Lots of fun had by all.
Tuesday, 18 November 2008
Discomfort, horror and thievery
Did two things I haven't done in ages on Monday: cycle and bead. The cycling wasn't too bad, I hadn't forgotten nearly as much as I had feared, but having lent the bike to someone considerably taller than me while in Germany, I neglected to check the seat height and nearly killed myself as soon as I stopped and realised my feet weren't anywhere near the ground. Action Bikes in the town centre kindly lowered the seat for me.
I haven't beaded in about 9 months now, so it was good to get something simple yet very nice indeed - this curved bar and crystal bracelet kit. I'm a big fan of kits, they give you a nice finished product and also teach you a new stitch or technique. I'm never particularly original anyway.
Things have been happening, just not particularly noteworthy ones - the bathroom tiling is now finished, which is a big thing... and I'm now working on my last essay for the MA, which is about the Japanese 'comfort women' in WWII. It really is horror after horror, right down to Imperial accountants working out "how long the women would last". It's due in next Friday and although I will be very glad to see the back of it I do want to do a good job.
Another one on the list of dubious firsts, I saw someone attempting to pickpocket yesterday. He wasn't very subtle, but it made me realise just how vulnerable people are - he took a bag right off the back of a chair while the woman's boyfriend was looking in his direction and rummaged through it, it was hidden behind his coat over his arm, but I was sitting behind him. I just stared while it was happening, I couldn't believe it. After he dropped the bag and went on to another table, I walked up to the woman and asked her if she was missing anything - she wasn't and as the man realised he was being watched he quickly left. Very unpleasant.
Off into London today to work on the essay again in the confines of the SOAS library, and hopefully meet my brother and his girlfriend for dinner. I realise I haven't written much about Japan, partly due to the phone keyboards and partly just from being with people all the time I was there - no time alone to fill with writing. I will put some highlights here, such as The Confusion of the Three Firemen in Kanazawa and other noteworthy incidents.
Back to war crimes...
I haven't beaded in about 9 months now, so it was good to get something simple yet very nice indeed - this curved bar and crystal bracelet kit. I'm a big fan of kits, they give you a nice finished product and also teach you a new stitch or technique. I'm never particularly original anyway.
Things have been happening, just not particularly noteworthy ones - the bathroom tiling is now finished, which is a big thing... and I'm now working on my last essay for the MA, which is about the Japanese 'comfort women' in WWII. It really is horror after horror, right down to Imperial accountants working out "how long the women would last". It's due in next Friday and although I will be very glad to see the back of it I do want to do a good job.
Another one on the list of dubious firsts, I saw someone attempting to pickpocket yesterday. He wasn't very subtle, but it made me realise just how vulnerable people are - he took a bag right off the back of a chair while the woman's boyfriend was looking in his direction and rummaged through it, it was hidden behind his coat over his arm, but I was sitting behind him. I just stared while it was happening, I couldn't believe it. After he dropped the bag and went on to another table, I walked up to the woman and asked her if she was missing anything - she wasn't and as the man realised he was being watched he quickly left. Very unpleasant.
Off into London today to work on the essay again in the confines of the SOAS library, and hopefully meet my brother and his girlfriend for dinner. I realise I haven't written much about Japan, partly due to the phone keyboards and partly just from being with people all the time I was there - no time alone to fill with writing. I will put some highlights here, such as The Confusion of the Three Firemen in Kanazawa and other noteworthy incidents.
Back to war crimes...
Monday, 10 November 2008
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)