Erste Tag im Praktikum

Hey Leute (“people”), so I’ve been reading my more coherent classmates’ blogs. I apologize for my lack of structure, and particularly for the lack of pictures. I feel only a little bad about the structure thing (mom told me it was very “stream of consciousness,” though in not so tidy terms lol), but I am REALLY sorry I haven’t been posting pictures. Sooooo, I’ma try to include pictures in the blog from now on, if they apply.

The toughest part so far is determining what kind of trash I’m trying to throw away. The germans care a lot about that. On the street, there are places for brown, white, and green glass, as well as plastic. And my roommate and I contribute to a compost trash thing, in ADDITION to plain ol’ trash. As a result, and as we speak, I have two things just sitting on my window sill because I have yet to ask Maria to what trash to they belong.

Today’s epiphany: Germany may cure my terrible refrigerator habits! For one, the temperature in the fridge here is higher than EVERY SINGLE FRIDGE which can be found in the US. This encourages me to eat the food I have in the fridge, just to rescue it from those HORRIBLE conditions!! Secondly, all the ingredients to everything are soooo fresh! Even the pasta sauce I bought seemed like the tomatoes still thought they were on the vine. So I buy less, and eat everything more quickly, since I am much more worried about the quality of the food I have.

Also, roommates, NOTE: I am more willing to clean my stuff like plates, silverwear, pots, pans, if the sink is free!! We have no Geshirrspülmaschine (dishwasher), so unless we clean stuff with our handiez, it all sits out. So I’ve been a good girl, and washed my dishes every night. I don’t know what the roommate does, but I’m beginning to see a village of dishes appear on the counter, so I think she accumulates her dirty dishes, just not in the sink.

Today after work, my overall mood was anxious and grumpy. There’s so much I have yet to do! Somebody in HR dropped the ball and at the moment, I have no contract for an internship. We don’t have a printer at the apartment so my roommate can’t print off my lease agreement, the Rathaus was closed when I went there to pick up a Registration form so I couldn’t register today like I had hoped, I can’t get a tax card until I’m registered and have a contract with Siemens, and I can’t get a bank account until I’m registered! So I was overwhelmed thinking about it all, to say the least, and started not liking anything about my situation. It would be so much easier to deal with if I was in a familiar environment, surrounded by familiar faces.

Oh yeah, AND I don’t have a user name or password yet at work, because the IT guys ALSO aren’t on top of their game. harumph

Apart from that, my first day at work was a little boring. My boss went over safety with me, and took me on a short tour of the facility. He seemed so excited about this thing (I forget what it’s called) that’s just like a dumbwaiter for people!! It’s a series of compartments on a belt that goes up, around, down, around, and it’s safe to ride in, it’s just kinda leery getting on and getting off these things. And GUESS WHAT?!? I got to ride in it, AND I have a picture!! 

Haha, I had spaghetti for the third night in a row. But hey, this time I cooked some ground beef!! All that’s left is for me to find some cheese . . . . (saying that makes me feel like a mouse)