I'm not dead!

I was just really busy! Here's a basic summary of what (I think) had been going on in the past few months...

November - My wisdom teeth finally came out.

The surgery was kind of brutal with many people amazed at both the extent of bruising post-surgery but also the speed of my recovery.

December - Miss Pooky came to visit for Xmas! She was an epic series of Christkindlmarkt visits where I made her try out different sausages and she met Dr. Pfft to prove to her that not all Germans are sooooo bad.

I roasted an epic chicken for Xmas dinner.

After she left, the snow came down like how!

January - Okay, I really have no idea what the hell I was doing in January. I was probably working like hell because in February...

February - I went back to Melbs with stopovers in Bali and Singapore.

Relaxing on the beach in Seminyak

Relaxing in the pool in Singapore

Hanging out with Cookie Monster in Melbs

March - I've also got no idea what I was doing in March, probably because it was Starkbierfest and sickness swept through the campus. *Cough*

April - I finally managed to visit Stuttgart, Karlsruhe, and Strasbourg.

While in Strasbourg I somehow conducted a conversation with a shopguy in 3 languages - French, German, and English. YAAAAASSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!

May - This month was insane.

First off, I went to Lisbon with my German Wolfpack

. 

Next, due to the fire at Fiumicino airport a planned weekend trip to Rome turned into a crazy 12 hour trip to Rome to celebrate the end of Riz's posting. 

Then I spent a weekend raving.

I went back to Italy the following with my International Hangover girls. And finally, I rested.

June - The Third Annual Suit Up Birthday Party!

And now it's July. I can't promise that I'll be as stringent a writer as before, but I'll try!!!!

Adios hermano :(

I received some sad news during Oktoberfest - after nearly three years and many many parties together, my Spanish brother David would be leaving Munich :(.  So we did what we always do - PARTY TIME!!!

And for someone who lived here for years and went to a billion volksfest yet never got a pair of lederhosen, we bought him a uniform that would be just as acceptable. 

él le gusta!

Y con mi otro hermano, who will also leave for Paris in the new year. Oh well, another reason to go visit!

Facial paralysis

About a month ago, I started getting very localised pain in my jaw. It turns our I have 4 wisdom teeth and the lower two are not only very close to the nerve but they're impacting on my lower molars. Not surprisingly, this also meant that my gums were quite inflamed and would require some treatment before the surgery to get the wisdom teeth out.

I had requested that the treatment take place early in the morning so as to not interfere with my getting to work in time. What I didn't anticipate was receiving 4 different injections of local anaesthetic around my mouth in order for them to do the treatment (whatever it was). Needless to say, while I got to work on time, it became pretty clear VERY EARLY to my colleagues that there was no way what I would be able to spend the entire day at work. Maybe it was because they would see that I couldn't move my face properly, maybe it was when I started to cough and not being able to move my mouth properly, I started to have a small choking fit. Either way, my facial paralysis was very entertaining for all of us.

I'm somewhat looking forward to what will happen when all four wisdom teeth come out!

As an aside, the German word for wisdom teeth is a literal translation - Weisheitszähne!

Nach-Oktoberfestgrippe

A number of people I know are currently ill. This list includes:
Swiss Chris
Sarah
Caro
Laura
Susi
Thomas
Christian
Myself
There can only be one reason - we all partied too hard during Oktoberfest.

Yeah.

I really hate that colleague of mine.

On Monday I discovered something that had been requested for them had not been carried out and then yesterday morning I found evidence that it was because they had cancelled the request. This annoyed me because they had neglected to inform me, despite the fact that I am the person responsible for this. When I discovered this, I immediately fired off an email asking for confirmation that this had indeed been cancelled. I received no reply for the entire day despite seeing that they had clearly read the message. I waited today to see if they would reply in the morning. Nothing. I'm flying to Run/Fun/Yumdon this evening and will therefore leave work early. The especially shit thing about waiting for confirmation is that since I will be on vacay (wooh!), I have to then organise someone else to take care of this while I'm gone (boo!). So this isn't just inconveniencing me, it's now going to affect someone else!

Oh my god.

At Isle of Summer, I ate Burger King for lunch and then currywurst and pommes for dinner and supper. Following this wonderfully nutritious day, I decided that I would start summer diet this week.

It started relatively well - I had chicken soup and noodles for lunch and then bought things to make dip to be eaten with carrot and celery sticks. Satisfied, I headed off to the gym. Around 11pm, I started to feel not so well. By midnight I was regurgitating quite forcefully. A couple of messages later, Spuey remote diagnosed gastro, and suggested I start oral rehydration therapy as quickly as possible even if it meant I'd be throwing it up. I found a recipe that the WHO gives to people who are suffering from Cholera (heh, 30ml sugar and 2.5ml salt in 1L of water for the curious), and started to down it.

But throw it up I did. I think I was averaging a chunder every 2 hours during the night. Needless to say I've spent the last couple of days at home. I've also lost 3kg in two days, so I don't need to diet anymore. 

Mission accomplished, I suppose?

Whoopsie doodle

My glasses were scratched beyond repair at work today. I was using a dissecting microscope when the arm jammed and I was unable to adjust it to an appropriate height in order to focus on a particular plane. A colleague gave me a hand and ended up forcefully moving it before I was able to move myself away from the oculars. On the plus side, at least I was actually wearing glasses because if that hit me in my un-guarded eyes, the force could have detached my retinae.

Good thing Pooey will be arriving in Rundon with my replacement pair next month!

I think I need a life?

First of May, first of May...it was a relatively nice day and no work...so I decided to do my laundry and go to the gym.

Yep. Need a life.

Champions League :/

Well, the joyous celebrations from last year will not be repeated.

I actually had German class on Tuesday and I didn't make it to a biergarten to watch the match until 30 minutes into the match...and when I got there I think my first words were, "Well, this match is over." I hung around because you never know when they might score five goals, but alas, it was not meant to be.

So in conclusion, I would like to say, "Atleti for the win!"

Tummy ache :/

This post-Easter week has been quite busy and I haven't been able to do my usual 'Cook at home/ eat leftover at work' schtick, and so I've had to eat at our notoriously bad mensa for the past few days. Maybe that's why I ended up with a tummy ache today. I decided to go home early rather than risk having to eat mensa food again for the third day running and risk dying.

And that's how I ended up at home making some childhood comfort food - macaroni in chicken broth with carrots and spring onions.

Exactly not what my granny would have made for me - she would have made me congee. 

My boss has no words...

So after a bit of consultation with my boss (by email) and the dangling of publication carrots regarding yesterday's email, she and I came to a compromise in which I would breed the animals, with the concession that the colleague would have to aid me in the work but not need to do any of the handling.

When informed of this decision by email, this colleague refused to provide this aid. His reply also excluded our boss. Her response was that she was gobsmacked and will talk to him in person on Monday.

I'm looking forward to this!

I have no words...

I don't like to bitch about work here, but I can't hold back about this.

At the start of this year, I had to take over a colleague's mouse colony because he claimed that doing animal handling was giving him 'psychological problems', and that if I didn't want any of them myself, he would cull the colony. Today he sent me a two line email requesting that I produce 20 of these mice at P14 for his experiments. I should also mention that he sits perhaps a metre or less away from me.

THA !"$% DO YOU GET AWAY WRITING AN EMAIL LIKE THIS TO ME?!?!

Yes but no but yes but no.

Towards the end of last year, I was informed by the Immigration Office that, due to a variety of reasons, I was eligible to become a permanent resident of Germany. This would mean that should I choose to quit my job and move to another city for another job, I wouldn't have to apply for a new visa. BUT it does not make me a permanent resident of the EU at large - if I were to quit to move to France, I would still need to apply for a French visa. "No worries," I said, "Tell me what kind of paperwork I'd need to apply and I'll do it." After all, it would be a lot easier than having to come back all the time, what with all these short science contracts, and have a stack of paperwork each time. One of the conditions to getting this was to prove that I could speak basic beginner (A1) level German. "But this shouldn't be a problem for you!" said my processor - and she would know because we were talking to each other in German.

Further examination of the paperwork I was given to get residency revealed that I required a certificate. This then raised questions for me - I had completed some levels at language schools but did I have to complete a specific official certificate (e.g the TELC, Goethe Institut, or DaF) and if so, which one, or was it enough to go to my language school/teacher and say that I had completed the levels? I sent an email back to the migration office to ask this specific question...and got a reply saying that they had made an official appointment to process me in a few weeks' time. Huh? Well that didn't answer my question but okay...given that our correspondence was in German, they decided that I didn't need that certificate? That didn't seem right, but I didn't have enough time to organise an appointment to do an exam so....

Yeah...going through my paperwork, my (different) processor asked me (in German) if I had any problems with anything. I honestly replied (in German) that I didn't have the A1 language certificate because I wasn't informed which exam I needed to complete but that, as she could tell, I could understand and speak German quite well. She immediately stopped and looked at me aghast, "No, you need a certificate! It's not enough that I can tell that you understand me - they want a record saying that I can also read and write! Noooooo, I'm so sorry!!!!" and then gave me a list of accredited schools from which they would accept certificates. Turns out my school wasn't on the list (!!!) but okay. I guess I'll go back to German school and complete and even higher level because I don't see the point in paying to complete a course/exam that means nothing on a professional level.

Nooooooo

I won't be attending Starkbier this weekend - turns out I'm sick.Or at least, I was during this week and I still have some lingering tonsillitis (hooray for basic medical knowledge for self-diagnosis!). And okay sure, alcohol kills everything, but penicillin also does a good job so I'm staying home eating blue cheese and sewing some hooks back onto my dirndl.

But this week hasn't been a complete bust - I got myself a new dirndl, my fourth!

Just the green dirndl - I already have a red apron.

Also, no fotos heh.

Awesomeness in the gym

Wednesday evening in the gym. As a general rule, I prefer the elliptical trainer and/or rowing machine over all other cardio equipment. Unfortunately, it was so busy that all these machines were occupied and I instead headed to the treadmill. The treadmill isn't good for my bad ankle but I figured a relatively short 15 minute run shouldn't be too bad - I mean, I normally do twice as long on the elliptical. I started off quite slowly, more like a trot, and then after a few minutes, I thought I'd up the speed. By the end of the run, I was sweating and quite happy when the cooldown arrived and I could walk (at speed). Then I picked up  my towel to wipe the sweat off my face when...CRASH! I fell off the treadmill!

Did I scream? Yes, I did.
Did an attendant come and ask me if I was alright while I was lying on the floor? Yes, he did.
Did the guys on the treadmills next to me stop running and help me up? No, they did not! (Chivalry is dead in this country.)

I picked myself off the floor to do some pilates and core work but trying to stretch and balance while my limbs and ass hurt from when I hit the floor/equipment, I decided that it was actually time to slink home and examine my wounds. That bruise on my leg is going to be sweet when it turns purple.

Just in case you ever wondered what I look like as a redhead...

the answer is 'horrendous'. 

Someone once told me that I'm the most transparent person they know, and my thoughts are totally readable in this photo. 

Wrecked

For the last couple of weeks, I've been feeling pretty tired. And when I say tired, I mean despite staying home during the week and sleeping (relatively) early, I've been waking up late and feeling like I could do with more. Hell, Ziad even pointed out to me at a party that he'd never heard me say, "I'm tired" before - and he's seen me dance for 4 hours straight.

I chalk this feeling up to a couple of reasons. Firstly, I'm in the second half of a course of antibiotics and I think fatigue might have been listed as one of the side effects. Secondly, I don't think I've seen the sun in two weeks. I think my melatonin levels might be out of whack and not able to determine when I'm supposed to be awake. Thirdly, work has been a bit of a shit and that is never motivational.

Well, that was quick.

Two weeks into the new year and one of my resolutions is already kaputt! And it's not the one about speaking more languages! What matters is that I tried :D

Sharknado!

This gem of a movie was finally being broadcast in Germany - AND IN ENGLISH NO LESS!!! Markus and Felix actually WON tickets to watch this in a cinema while I chose to stay at home with a cup of ice cream as a tornado of sharks rained down on LA.

This is not a proper movie review because I wasn't treating it as a proper movie but our next day assessments were that, unlike other fantastically trashy moves (e.g. Iron Sky), we have no idea what the budget went into because it was not the script, sets, props or CGI. But since we got to see Steve from the original 90210 chainsaw his way out of a shark, it doesn't matter! There was also a bonus Australian (Jaason Simmons) who was a fount of random information - as Markus said, that's pretty true to life given the (one) Aussie he knows! Also, Tara Reid as the mother to two adult children? Okay...

Anyway, if you get the chance to watch this movie for free, make sure you've got some alcohol and/or ice cream, then settle an entertaining night!

Short week, long week.

Monday (6th Jan) was a public holiday so this is only a 4 day working week. Despite that, this week already feels like it's been dragging on forever as we all get back into the old routine. And so, despite it being only the second day of the working year for many people (not for myself, obviously), many of us are already saying, "I need a holiday."