Wednesday 27 August 2014

10 Observations

Hello! Guten Tag. Wie kann ich Ihnen helfen?

Sorry, in work mode then. Anyway, welcome to one of my less prose-like blog posts (I can hear the sigh of relief from here). Going about my daily life in Hamburg for a month (!!!) now, I have noticed certain things:

1. Big City, Busy People
I suspect this applies to most cities but I've noticed that living here you automatically adopt one of two mentalities: generally the I've-got-places-to-go-people-to-see-sauerkraut-to-eat mentality. Anyone who dares to get in your way for more than a second is The Most Inconsiderate Person on Earth, and if anyone shouts at you they have no right do so as your business is much more important than their business. Anyone who tries to talk to you can only want something  you don't want to give them (money, your phone number, time). I realised I'd turned into this monster today when, striding purposefully during the mall on my lunch break, a weak voice saying "Bitte, wissen Sie wo..." (please, do you know where...) seeped into my busy busy thoughts and I turned to see I'd walked past a little old lady without even seeing her. It turned out she'd entered the mall on a different floor (the two main entrances are on different levels) and couldn't figure out how to come back the way she got in. She said she'd been standing there for 5 minutes before anyone noticed her. I felt pretty ashamed of myself.

Occasionally, and blissfully, Hamburgers adopt the complete opposite mentality, where they lie in parks drinking beer all day without a care in the world.

2. Areas of the city
Most Hamburgers will talk about certain areas of the city that make them sound like Mordor. Harburg being one, a popular student area the Other Side of the River, which, while it probably does have more problems than your average area, actually turned out to be clean, tidy and with much more affordable rents than the rest of the city from what I gather.

3. Bars
Bars are brilliant in Hamburg! Open all night (which as a Brit still slightly shocks me), there are plenty of rock bars and alternative bars, which play good music. Thumbs up Hamburg!

4.Cycling
In Hamburg you get told off for cycling too slow, yet also too fast - someone actually took the time to shout at me and tell me I was going to get flashed (as in, by a speed camera, not by naked body parts, or at least one hopes) for going too fast (I wasn't). If someone decides you're too far over to the left in the cycle path, they tell you off. Which brings me too my next point...

5. You get told off a lot.
I can never seem to do anything right, try as I might. Then again, I suspect Hamburgers just love to complain, so if I'm helping them vent their anger then hey, why not. I'm very practised at letting criticism wash over me. Anyway, its not like I can really judge, I delivered a few choice words through the window of a car that cut me up the other day.

Ironically, the thing I keep doing which I should get told off for (drumroll: hoovering on a SUNDAY) appears to not bother anyone in my building, so I happily hoover away, scot free.

6. Franzbrötchen are lecker!
These are the typical pastries of Hamburg (see below) which are kind of like croissants with cinnamon and butter layered inbetween. Mmmmmmm yum.


7. Rabbits. Rabbits, everywhere.
Seriously, around my apartment there are colonies of wild rabbits who only bother to run away from you when you're a good 2 feet from them, which I find endearing, and the last thing I expected living in a city. Plus its quite calming watching them have their dinner on the grass outside your window in the evening sun.

8. German radio is weird.
Taking a shower the other day, I had my trusty little duck radio going. The concept of the evening chat show? Ring in and finish this sentence: sex ist... (sex is). Cue extreme awkwardness on the presenters part as people rang in with the oddest suggestions, which I won't repeat here, but it cheered my evening up no end.

9. Working full time, I can't be superwoman (or at least, not yet).
I was determined to be that person who manages to work from 9-6 then heads out for an array of exciting and varied evening engagements. I'd planned out my work-to-evening attire (Glamour eat your heart out) and had visions of coming home at 11pm most weeknights, tired but happy.

Shock horror, this hasn't exactly happened. Not that I'm really struggling for plans, more struggling for the energy to carry them out. From 7.30 am I am craving my bed again and it's a guilty pleasure climbing back into it to skype/sleep. I'm working on becoming that überproactive go-getting girl, but in the mean time I'll settle for relaxing evenings (with or without friends), healthy food and a good night's sleep on weekdays so I can actually do my job successfully, and leave the other bits for the weekend.

10. New vocab
I'm currently learning about 3 new German words a day through my job. Who'da thunk it'd be so fandabidozily nutzlich?

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