Slow Jones. Blame Germany!

Hello! Sorry for the slowness in updating. No good excuse, just been a lazy bugger is all!

So, my first German course is done. THINK I've learnt quite a bit - I managed to have a conversation with one of Maja's colleagues the other day (in German) without any big problems, so there's hope for me yet! Got a week off now before course #2 starts, which I plan to spend looking for a job, practising what I've already learnt and generally taking it easy. These half days are such a stress, I need the break ;-)

Things generally are coming along well here. The last few weeks have been spent attending lots of little fests (the Museumsfest in Frankfurt, the Laternenfest in Bad Homburg and a small one in Usingen last weekend). It appears the Germans have loads of festivals which basically boil down to lots of food and beer stands with some fairground rides thrown in. They're good, although when you can walk for half an hour and see just food stands, they can be a bit samey. Still, they're fun!

Nice folks at the Laternenfest

This is the sign on an ice cream van that seems
to tour all the fests in the region.
Does anyone else think this is suggestive?

Life generally here is damn good. Maja makes me right happy - she's the reason I came here, and on that count, got no regrets. The language barrier is hard, and gives me lots of ups and downs. Like I said before, when I manage to have a conversation, or realise I've learnt something new, it's really satisfying - particularly knowing it's only (unless I manage to UNLEARN the German somehow) going to get better.  The frustrating times are big group gatherings. When there's a big group of people all speaking a language you don't know, all talking across each other, it can be difficult. But, people are always being nice, and trying to include me as much as they can, or explain what's going on. Those who can speak English are really trying, and I really appreciate that - without it things would be much much harder!

Me n Maja when we went to the zoo this weekend.

I've got some visitors on the horizon too - seeing Nathalie and Timo this weekend, then two weeks after, Sam and Adam are coming, then a few weeks after that, my mum and auntie are coming - so I'm really looking forward to all of those visits. Should be interesting to compare stories with Nathalie (for those who don't know, she also came to Germany for a few years, then moved back to England when I came here, and she's in my flat now), and see what we both think of Germany.

Completely unrelated to anything I just posted, but check this out - we had some crazy weather the other week... ICE (not hail) fell out of the sky. Big ass chunks of it too... LOOK....

I've got no idea WHY that happened. It wasn't a cold day, it looked like it was gonna rain, then that craziness happened. Strange.

There's also been a sad thing happened here. Ali, Maja's cat for many many years had to be put to sleep. He'd got a virus, which would only have gotten worse. He'd been not eating his food properly for weeks, losing weight and losing bowel control. After being told he was fine by a shitty vet, she took him to another vet who told her that he'd got this virus and it was likely fatal, so last week, he was put to sleep. It's strange that he's not around in the house anymore. It's only a small house, and he was an indoor cat, so you'd always see him when you came home, and now he's not here, it feels weird. And I've only lived with him for a month and a half - it's really weird for Maja.

The Beast - Ali!

So that's life here. Sorry again about being so slow to update. But hopefully this is enough of an update. As ever, visitors are welcome, and anyone who wants to catch up can get me on Skype or what have you! Seeya later folks!

Look Valpuri - the Germans knit on public things too.