Sorry it's been a couple of weeks. I hit the ground running with work when I got back from London, so this weekend is the first down time I've had. I'm gonna split the last two weeks into two posts, London and home. I can't really remember all of what went down since I got back though, so I'll just give you a rundown of the more memorable moments.
So first, here's something that actually happened the day before I left. My host family had already left for their vacation and I got a letter saying that I had a letter waiting to be picked up. Now normally, a letter would just come to my house. Or if it was a package and no one was home to claim it, they'd take it to the postal place here in my neighborhood. But this said that I needed to go to the Zollamt in Schöneberg to get it. I really had no idea why, but I figured I could just swing by and get it after work at the Kita. So I took the bus out there, thinking this would just take a few minutes and then I could get back to finishing up all the pre-travel stuff I had to do. Well I was wrong. The Zollamt is the customs office. And it's just like the DMV. It actually took me forever to even figure out how to get a number (you had to wait in line at the desk in the first room and answer a bunch of questions to get it). Once I had a number, I waited. Like you do. For what seemed like forever. After an hour they finally called my number. I went back to a room with a row of cubicle type things. In my cubicle they had a little box that apparently Ben had sent me. It was at that point that I realized that it was the MagicJack he was sending for my friend to use. So I had to stand in this cubicle and open the box while the attendant stood back like this was some specialized SWAT procedure. When I showed her what was inside she asked me what it was. I tried to explain, but MagicJacks are kind of hard to explain in English, and this woman was one of the few people I've met who only spoke German. She ended up looking it up on the internet and found that on Ebay in Germany they go for 50 euros. She wanted me to pay that 50 euros, but I refused. It seemed ridiculous. I mean, most of the price is for the year's subscription to make it work and the subscription had been activated in December. After awhile she just got fed up and told me to leave. And I didn't have to pay at all. So that's my Zollamt story. Two hours later, I was done. I just sincerely hope that they never pick up one of my packages again.
Alright, so post London. I have worked loads in the week and a half that I've been back. School started again so my host mom has been gone quite a bit. Last weekend was a rough one for me because Martina finally left for Italy. I miss her like crazy. Even caught myself havng a conversation with myself this morning. Also last weekend I had to make 111 from scratch cupcakes with homemade frosting for my host mom's birthday party. I love baking, but that much of any one thing can be awfully repetitive. And then you have the added hazard of leftover frosting. And you know I only make delicious frosting, lol.
This week was just more of the same. Work and work and work. I decided to officially end summer and restarted my workout routine on Monday. I don't know why I keep doing it, since I've made zero progress since I got here. But I guess deep down inside I feel like it's gotta be helping with something at least. And then last night I pushed myself to go out and try something new. I went to an English language film quiz in the city. The quiz itself was pretty enjoyable. The people I met up with were ok, just not really my types I guess. But it was good to get out. It was the first time I'd really been in the city since we got back from London.
Overall, things have gotten better. Life is busy again, and that helps a lot. And as soon as I get these two blog posts up I'm going to get to work on finishing my website so I can start applying for jobs in earnest. I can feel this chapter of my life ending and I'm getting excited about coming home for a little while before I figure out where exactly my adventures will take me next.
And here's what I'm currently listening to, in case anyone's interested. The Pretender by Foo Fighters.
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