bizzy

Yeah, I know I'm slacking in this thing real hard. But seriously, this week was, if I may, turbo busy.  I had to teach a lot at school which meant I had to prepare lessons, and I did a lot of tutoring because a bunch of kids have tests coming up and now they are freaking out because they have no clue about anything English.  Which means some nice extra money for me, but longass days, and the money is going to buying people Christmas presents anyway.  I pretty much spent the week praying for this moment:  Thursday night, when I can finally sit at home and not think about teaching a bunch of hormonally charged, anti-authority eighth-graders with filthy thoughts that aren't even creative.  But my room is looking pretty boss now, I've got little wooden chairs and a shelf and soon I'll get a sofa form my flatmate Lydia.  

I'll try to write something interesting soon, but lately I've been beat and can barely form whole sentences, let alone type a coherent blog.  I have also been having some nasty sleeping problems that end up with me being a zombie much of the time.  It takes me hours to fall asleep, and I noticed that I can't stop clenching my jaw.  Messed up.  And I regularly lose feeling in my toes, which freaks me out a little.  What if they fall off one night while I'm not sleeping and jaw-clenching?   Ugh.

dumb decisions as usual

Remember in my last post, when I said (and I quote) that I "do stupid shit ALL the time" and that "spontaneity gets me into trouble"? Well, last night pretty much proved that point. In my infinite wisdom I decided to meet up with a friend after tutoring and go to Haus 73 in the Schanze to have some beer and see a band from England play. Here's my timeline:

9:00: Band starts playing. They're okay.
11:30: Band stops, me and comrade hang around Haus 73 for a while until we decide to go.
Some point after 12:30: We realize that I have missed the last subway home.
2:00: I crash at co-conspirator's abode, dreading what is to come.
5:15: I wake up and drag myself to the bus stop. I look in my bag and happily discover a banana given to me by the Korean mom last night. I stuff it into my mouth and chew sleepily.
6:00: I arrive home. I peel off my disgusting-feeling clothes and wash the feeling of "basement" off my face. I slurp coffee.
6:30: I start planning a lesson I have to teach at 8:00. Good god.
7:25: I arrive at school. I am despondent and immediately drink more coffee.
8:00: I begin teaching a bunch of 7th graders about relative and contact clauses. I am slightly cracked out.
9:35: Crisis averted! I am successful. Becoming more and more cracked out by the minute, I proceed to grade 15 tests and complete a variety of other tasks. Coffee makes my tummy hurt.
13:52: Right now. I am not happy, because I still have four hours left at school, including my worst nightmare: Hausaufgabenhilfe. I hate Hausaufgabenhilfe, but thankfully I get paid for it so it's at least a form of hell that buys me stuff. I also have to tutor for two hours afterwards. I wistfully dream of 6:00, when I can trudge home, plod over to my room and pass out on my (freshly washed and nice-smelling, might I add) comfy little bed. But you know what? I don't regret going out at all.

My life might be ridiculous, but hey- at least I'm living it.

basking

Ah, to live in an apartment I like.  It's pretty much like having a new, happier life...living in a place with cool people and colors on the walls is practically heaven compared to my previous dungeon.

I would write more, but I have been out and about from 8 in the morning till around 9 tonight, and I am beat.  Tomorrow is a day-long conference at the school so I get a surprise day off, and I am going to sleep in as long as possible.  

I will write more interesting things soon, but I am not being lazy, I promise.  I actually ride my bike to school and back (unless the weather is bad) and that's around 11 km.  I used googlemaps to figure it all out!  Then today I also rode my bike to tutoring which ended up being around 12 km, so today I rode a total of about 23 km, which is a little over 14 miles.  I figure, since I don't have time on busy days to go to the gym, if I ride my bike everywhere I'll make up for it.  There are definitely some uphill segments too, and if I have my school stuff it adds a lot of weight and I have to pedal pretty hard.  

My friend Amy brought me chocolate and wine last night to celebrate moving into my new place.  After some wine, I forget what we were talking about exactly, I think it had to do with being bolder or something.  Anyway, she ended up taking out her notebook and writing down something I said:  "One, you don't know how DUMB I am sometimes.  Two, I do stupid shit all the time.  And C, spontaneity gets me into trouble."

Apparently, I am a wise sage.

thanksgiving, fat cash

For all that have been asking me, yeah, the picture is from Hamburg...by the oh so popular lake Alster.  Not the greatest picture if you're lusting for a skyline, but I like boats so you can JUST DEAL WITH IT, you punks.

Speaking of punks, I get to sleep late tomorrow because the ninth graders have to take a test.  Yippee!  And in even better news, I suddenly have a bunch of tutoring jobs.  I'm now also tutoring my little Korean protege in math.  He mostly has issues with word problems because it's all in English.  Being the genius I am, I have a pretty good grasp of fourth-grade mathematics and I'm pretty confident I can provide said tutoring.  So, that's four hours a week for the Koreans in the district of Othmarschen, split between Mondays and Wednesdays.  Then I've got a new one coming up in the district of Bramfeld, for this tenth grader who has dismal grades in English.  There's another 90 minutes on Tuesdays.  Then on Thursdays after school I tutor this kid Nick in Conny's LK 12 class, a pretty charming lad who, according to Conny, won't pass his Abitur (that test German high schoolers have to take in order to graduate) if he doesn't get tutoring in English grammar.  Another two hours.  And THEN I am tutoring (probably short-term unless she decides to continue) this girl Marta from the remedial English course I teach with my British colleague James, because she's got a test on December 17th and won't pass it otherwise.  Another two hours.  So that's...9 and a half hours of tutoring, which will roll in at least another hundred euros a week which would really help me out, especially since Christmas is coming up and I'd really like to bring home a few gifts other than chocolate.

Thanksgiving at Dan's was fun!  Stuffing and gravy and corn and potatoes and rolls and all the fixins', everything veg 'cept for the turkey (I had my "hippie shit" instead).  It was me, Dan, Dan's friend Julika, Amy, Amy's friend Tom, and two Brits, Helen and Kat, who were couchsurfing with Tom last weekend.  It was really fun...Helen and Kat were hilarious and there was lots of wine going around and it was just really cool.  Apparently Europeans are not familiar with the joy that is pumpkin pie.  Well, that got rectified.  We were at the table from around 8:30 till one in the morning.  I have pictures!  I also have quotes but they're pretty inappropriate so I'll share those on a request-only basis.

Happy Thanksgiving, punks.

!!!!

OMG A PICTURE!

yay weekend

Ahh I am such a slacker, I need to remember to post on this thing.  I had a really busy week again because one of the teachers I help wasn't in school this week and I had to teach her class for her.  I also went to a pizza party with other couchsurfers and we all brought different toppings and made homemade pizza.  It was really fun and I'm starting to get to know some of them.  Last night me and Amy rescued two ladies with children!  We were window-shopping and these girls were trapped in a store because the stupid employees locked up while they were still in the baby-changing room.  So we went on an epic search for the security guard and rescued the trapped damsels!  We are heroes.  Then we went to meet couchsurfing friends at a bar called Roosen with cool couches and super cheap Astra beer, and Amy went home after that.  ANNND I learned how to play backgammon!!!!!  And I think I'm obsessed.  I want my own backgammon board :(   Then I went with the others (Corinna, Renaud, Julien, Timon, Thorsten and a girl whose name I can't remember) to Barbarabar, this freaking crazy bar in the awesome dive street of Hamburger Berg with a really good DJ and space to dance.  It was nuts (and free!  since it's a bar you don't even have to pay entrance).  We were dancing for a really long time and Julien (who is one of the craziest people I think I have ever met) and I made up this weird new dance move where we pretend to fight, and it was super crowded and we were dancing on top of black boxes (I hope they weren't speakers...) and throwing around Timon's fun Blues Brothers hat.  We staggered out at like 4:30 and I told off some assholes in the subway because they thought they were cool and said this obscene German word used for short girls (I will not explain the full meaning here, but I will say that I was having none of that shit) when I stood up to exit.  It pays to know some choice German phrases in these situations.  I bounced home around five, woke up at two and now I'm going over to Dan's for THANKSGIVING DINNER YAY!   All that's missing is family, football and rotting jack-o-lanterns from Halloween in the yard.  Le sigh.

yay procrastination

Well, hello there.  I have returned, not because I have anything interesting to write, but because I don't feel like planning a bunch of lessons and would rather procrastinate.  Today I started tutoring this adorable Korean fourth-grader.  I think he understands English better than some of my high schoolers...I'm also tutoring his mom because she wants to learn English too.  They're a pretty cute family, and an extra thirty euros a week means an extra 120 euros a month which means I'll be slightly less poor (yeah, I definitely have to manage money carefully these days, the dollas are currently NOT raining on me).  I did my grocery shopping and came home with a pretty heavy backpack full of broccoli, carrots, onion, persimmons, grapes, kiwi, peppers, and all sorts of yumminess.  I'm like, the only person in this freaking apartment who eats fruits and vegetables.  I also got a loaf of the most delicious bread ever from the bakery across the street...I already ate like a third of it today.  I must've gotten one that was right from the oven or something 'cause this bread was bangin'.  And today I went to Alnatura, a big natural foods supermarket that has all the fixins' my little hippie heart desires.  I was in heaven.  Annnnnd it's closer to my new apartment too!

I haven't posted for awhile because last week I was unusually tired and had a lot to do and not much to say.  I'll post my new address soon, too.  But now I have to get back to work planning words and grammar and shit and grammar and words and grammar and shit.