Tuesday, 16 March 2010
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...
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