Appdäihts. My life in GE.
Hello dear friends!
Long time no see / hear / type! =P
How are you?!
Behind the cut, you will find a news summary to keep you up to date.
# I'm living in Gelsenkirchen for almost a month now.
# The inner-city is small, 50% of the people are "foreigners", approx. 60% seem to be unemployed. 70% smokers. 98% can't hide that Schalke04 is their purpose in life. A shocking large number of people are really overweight and/or blowsy, so now I'm the beauty of da town! XD
# My flat measures 30qm and is a bit... imperfect. E.g. water is unwantedly running in the bathroom, both below the small sink and in the shower. I'm changing the floorcloth everyday. =/
# Internet, provided by a surf stick, is still crappy but finally possible most of the time.
# No phone. =( Calling at least two friends each day is probably the thing I'm missing the most. =/
# My street is supposed to be traffic calmed, but of course no one cares. Trucks make my floor quake, and sometime parts of the corridor ceiling will fall off. XD
# However, if you go to the countryside you will see deer everywhere and even at daytime. Most speed limits are due to deer crossing. Especially pheasants are as common as blackbirds. oÔ Don't ask how often wild animals and I scared each other to death - It seems they don't realize you when you're standing in a stream.
# My guinea pigs were a bit disturbed at first, but they're getting used to their - to our - new life. Their cage is located in the living room and on the floor, both is new to them. They can't hear me during the night, they are alone while I'm at work, they have to stay in their cage during the whole week. Every second weekend they are put in their blue box, and after 1 1/2 hours listening to my loud music they are released in Hennef. Atm this is their only chance to run around in the garden or their indoor pen.
# Felina had been checked by a new vet. The loss of her fur really seems to be only due to her ovarian cysts. We started a three weeks hormone therapy to see if this makes the cysts smaller. The right cyst is the bigger one, but Felina is very blessed piggy and the cysts are not dangerous (atm). She's always happy and interested in everything that's going on (or not) around her.
# Takeru is cute cute cute. I love him. So cute. Lately he's in a very constant good mood and more like a litte boy then like an extraterrestrial monster. He's becoming happier and tamer every week. =) My beloved little caramel cookie. ♥
# I'm getting along with my boss very well. He's pretty much like my prof, so I know what to do and say. And what not.
# I've already my daily routine since I'm involved in so many tasks and even have little projects of my own. Can't believe I'm "new" to this job.
# At my first day of field work (literally) I took an involuntary bath in a stream named Berkel. The streams of "type 14" and "type 19" are very common in the lowlands and have... no bed/bottom you can stand on. It looks okay, but when you put your foot on the sand, you're sinking and sinking and sinking... and falling. That's what happened to be. Evil little streams!!!!
# Surprisingly I had to realize that I have a problem with great water depth. oÔ Last week it was my first time to examine a (huge) flooded gravel pit. When our rusty little boat reached the middle of the lake and I had to start sampling... I was wondering if my breakfast would say Hello to the water or if I would pass out first. Neither did happen and I didn't tell anyone about my freshly discovered fear, but I definetly have to work on that! D=
# Since Sunday, my car Genki has an unsolved, even undefined problem.
# I'm woking on getting my memories of / from Japan typed so that they won't fade. This takes more time than I expected and causes an uncomfortable amount of nostalgia. =/ ...
# I would like to make / upload new icons, but I'm still lacking an image processing application, time and inspiration.
# At the moment it's hard for me to keep up with my friends, and even harder to keep up with J-Rock. No time to read lyrics, check blogs or at least j-rock scans for new pictures. D= I have to fight this negative trend !!!!
# My concert life currently consists of visiting every show of Seth Lakeman & Band within a radius of 150 km from my flat. I went to Cologne,
Oberhausen, Frankfurt, which means approx. 4 hours of sleep. =) But every show was worth it. Seth Lakeman is to the twins what Hitt is to me, so on 13th of May - the twins' birthday - we'll be in London to attend a very special show of him which will take place in a chapel. *-*
# Miyavi's concert in Cologne was great. He can't sing but He knows how to party. I enjoyed it to the max. =) His styling was very simple this time: black clothes, loose black hair. To say it with Nephew: "Focus on the Sound." The concert included a minute of silence to pray for Japan and donations to the Red Cross.
# X Japan in Holland?!
I'm ending this entry with an example picture of "macrozoobenthos" (aka animals living on the ground of a running or standing water, being visible to the unaided eye), taken by me. Two larvae of the very tiny larvae of the caddis fly Hydroptila. Note the weird shape of their bodies and the cases which remind (me) of a spectacle case. Little guys like these are safeguarding my job. =)
Thank you for your interest!
Take care!
The Me.