Boom. Twice in 24 hrs.

If I'm in a hurry, the only time I can maintain a blazing fast walking speed is if it's freezing cold outside. There's nothing quite like frigid temps as a constant reminder that you definitely do not want to be at that place at that time. When it's warm out, my mind drifts in and out of la la land, and my legs and feet have a discipline problem if they're left alone.

My new work neighbors don't talk to each other NEARLY as much as my old neighbors. At times I wondered if my old neighbors actually got any work done at all, they were so chatty. These guys are silent and slightly intimidating. eek.

I  went up and down the stairs to my apartment so many times yesterday that I'm surprised my legs aren't sore today. Why did I do that, you ask? Well. Not-so-funny story behind it. Right after work, I went to the Geldautomat (ATM) to try to withdraw money. (I tried in Stuttgart, but my PIN wasn't working and I needed foooood so I just ignored it and yet again, with trepidation, drew on my american banking funds. Guh.) But anyways, I tried the number again here, more slowly this time so my fingers didn't trip over their own feet, and again, no can do. So I defeatedly trekked up to my apartment, checking the mail along the way (oooh! a package for me tried to be delivered today! I'll just go to the post office and pick it up, no problem, right? WRONG. Stay tuned.), and read the paperwork that this bank gave me to see if there was another PIN-like number I could try. Okay, here's one, so I write down the number, go downstairs to the bank again, type in that number, fail, go BACK to my apt to grab that letter so I could ask the tellers what in the world was going wrong, talk to said ladies, and they tell me that every number I've been trying to use with the ATM was strictly for online usage. Rat soup. So now, since no Geldautomat PIN was sent to me, one is now being to my house geschickt. (german grammar) Then she said something really fast and I got confused and thought she said I could withdraw money right there since I didn't have a PIN, so I said Ja. And she just stared at me. Soooo I guess that's NOT what she said, so I just gave up and said Danke! I was not in a very pleasant mood. :( But anyways, I head on over to the Postamt. It being 5:20 PM, I had to hurry if I wanted to make it back in time to the bakery near my apartment, which closed at 6. I get there at 5:35, wait in line (which was almost out the door) for five minutes, the [nice] lady takes my voucher slip thing, goes to look for the package, comes back empty-handed, and points the[very obvious] fact that the delivery of the package was originally attempted that very same day and that I was to come in on the "nächsten Werktag." So I went skipping along with a smile on my face and daffodils springing up wherever I tread. Not exactly. I was really frustrated with myself, after an entire hour of fruitless pursuits. How in the world did I forget how to READ?!? AS;DLKFJAW;OEIC M!!!!! I calmed down a little bit on the walk back to the bakery. Good thing I made it with 5 minutes til closing. And surprise surprise, all the Brotchens were gone. They're only €0,26 (about... 39¢?), and they're usually what I get. So I just grabbed yummy things, and wouldn't you know, (that's a dumb expression, now that I think about it) the woman who runs the place, who is usually slightly unfriendly, in the German fashion, was slightly friendly this time! That made me a little happier. What was also happi-fying was that the roll that I got in place of the Brotchen was still warm! So of course I jumped on it. NOM. Ahhh nutella... you make a girl forget that she has neither groceries nor the means to get them (for only a day at least)!

My favorite part of coffee: watching the cream/milk cloud billow when you pour any in. I think that's the only reason I drank it today. That, and there's no place to pay for a whole glass of milk at work. There's definitely a chart where you can indicate whether you drank coffee from the machine that does everything but iron the laundry, or the crappy-by-comparison one-button-only coffee maker. (guess which one is more expensive) But no symbol or price for a whole solo mug of the milk that's designated for the coffee-drinkers.

One way to greet people here in Germany is to say "Grüß Gott!" Which means literally "Greet God!" I wonder if that's the same as taking the Lord's name in vain?

Erik and I try to skype at least once a day. While that hasn't exactly panned out for us, we still try. We usually try at midnight EST, which is 6 AM for me. The plan is to talk for about an hour, then I'd get up and go to work. Sounds spectacular and very doable, right? (especially since 'midnight' to a student on an academic quarter is kind of like primetime.) hahahahaha. Yeah... Erik is quite the schedule-oriented person, so it's been hard for him to shake his early(ish)-to-bed habit he established during 6 months on co-op. And I'm flat-out brain dead right after I wake up. As a result, our late night/early morning skype date yesterday morning was quite unique. Him sick and on cold medicines, and me cross-eyed trying to wake up. Hoo boy. Rough.

Another fact about moving desks: I'm farther away from the windows. This is bad in the sense that I miss the windows. This is good in the sense that I'm now facing the room so I'm kind of like a cat in the corner. Also good in the sense that when the older men by the windows open them because it's too warm in the room, I don't feel the temperature change quite as much. This is also good, because I would always have to put on my coat when they opened the windows. I like being cozy!

In the office on Fridays, all us youngin's order out (youngin's = people(~20<age<30)). I forgot to bring money to do so last Friday, but we were ordering chinese! I couldn't pass that up! So I asked Phillip if I could pay him back and wanted to know if that was alright, and he goes (in english) "It's okay, I have a lot of money."

I'm experiencing Cincinnati weather this week. Not in the sense that it's raining without reprieve (have you all bought your scuba gear yet?), but in that it was sunny and warm Sunday morning, raining slightly that afternoon, cool and cloudy yesterday, raining last night, and FREEZING today. hot cold hot cold. ah yes, this weather makes me feel at home :)

SERIOUSLY?! I'm a hot mess. How in the world did I just poke myself in the eye with my THUMB???

There really is no better build-up to a song besides Shinedown's Devour. Well, maybe Danse Macabre's, but that song is beyond all comparison. Seriously, who can measure up to a 5 minute plus crescendo?? So I'll just stick with my original statement. Though, now I realize I'm comparing "song quality before the beat drops" to "bamfness of song leading up to the greatest musical climax of all time."

So there’s one girl at Siemens who works in HR, who has been helping me figure out what paperwork I need to complete, as well as send documents to the right people, and I’ve been to see her at least once every week that I’ve been here. Just yesterday when I went to her, she’s like Alright, hi, I’m Verena! You’ve been coming here often enough that you don’t have to call me Frau Gilzinger anymore.

Tuesday last week, the first day at this new desk I've been talking about, was also the first day for a couple guys from India who will be here until mid-June. They came with two of their bosses, who've since returned to India. I went on a tour of the facility with them, all in English since they don't speak German. It was given by Mr. Weichselbaum (boss's boss), who turns out to have quite the sense of humor. One of the fabrication machines was powered by hydrolics and Weichselbaum said “...so if it is Monday, he might be a little weak from the weekend, but no problem because the machine will still work for him!” Later, one of the Germans in the office, invited me to go somewhere with the new guys, and for the life of me, I could NOT understand what in the WORLD he was saying! So I remembered Speer saying that he had set himself a goal to never refuse an offer to hang out with Germans, so I said what the heck sure why not? We ended up going to this medeval store, which had books and games and posters, as well as costume stuffs in the basement. It was pretty sweet! I’m going back sometime.