Hannover

One of my co-workers, M., had two of her German friends in town last week and I managed to hijack them shortly after finding out about them. Last Monday she mentioned how they where in town, so I met them as she was leaving the office. On Tuesday morning I asked her if we could hang out and her response? ´That would be great! I don´t want to hang out with them!´ Um...what? Turns out she had a cold, was really tired and just didn´t feel much like going out. Plus, she didn´t actually know these guy very well. They happened to be friend of friends of hers. So, I gave her my number to pass onto the boys and we arranged to meet on Wednesday after work.

We meet and I received the standard question of how and why I speak German. For me, I feel as this is the one story I have told more times than any other story about myself. I went through an entire year´s worth of this question while I was in Germany, in addition to starting my job and working with the German team who were also suprised I knew German. So, I explained the story in short and we hit up a bar. It was really funny to talk to them because this was their first time in NY and in the US, so their observations were funny. We met up with some of my other co-workers, so we were speaking in English with them, but every once in a while A. would stumble on a word and I was able to translate it. (It is almost always the other way around! I felt über-proud of myself!) We then hit up another bar down the street, and this being a Wednesday night, we left by 2am. Girl has got to work in the morning, right?

We made plans to meet the following night around 9 or so in Midtown, and we hung out at an Irish pub, again with many of my co-workers. So, by the end of the night, a few of the Mädels here were convinced that German guys are fantastic. But, it was a fun two nights for me because I was able to speak German whenever we weren´t talking to my co-workers...or I was able to translate when we ran into hang-ups.

The whole thing made me completely homesick for Germany, though. Every once in a while I will just feel like I am missing something. Sometimes a bit of schnitzel and german music will cure it. Other times, I just have to wonder when I´ll go back next.

So I am looking for a new book to read since finishing A Long Way Round. I went to the Taschen book sale last night after work and they didn't really have too much that interested me. Either they sold out of the good stuff early, or they didn't have a large selection. Oh well. Email me if you have a suggestion!

A Long Way Round was actually a great book. I was a bit skeptical since it was written in part by Ewan McGreggor- the actor- but it was actually a fantastic experience to read about. Since then, I have become completely obsessed with Mongolia. I really want to go to Mongolia some time and visit a Ger and walk around on the dunes and visit a place which hasn´t been invaded with Starbucks. In essense, I am looking to visit the anti-Manhattan. I get enough of Manhattan Monday through Friday with ocasional weekend visits. Its about time I start thinking about where I might end up next. Alaska? Its not that I want to leave the hustle and bustle of the city, I just need to change things up from time to time to give the city its dicotomy from the rest of the world.

Out of all of my New Years resolutions, the 'exercise more' resolution has been...uh...lacking. I´ll see if I can work on that one a bit this weekend.

So, a couple of nights ago I went out with some of my co-workers. We all started out at the first bar and talked at random about our own office politics, living situations and where we wanted to see ourselves in a few years. A fraction of us ended up at another bar for 'one more drink.' Mary started to chat up this guy but ended up talking with his ugly brother so she walked away. Me and the new girl were talking about random stuff on the other corner of the bar and Mary comes up to us followed by the ugly brother. He starts rambling on about his sales job and at one point turned around to have us check out his ass. Yeah, there is no need for me to be checking out some balding/middle aged dude's ass. I used that moment to glare at Mary for what she had gotten us into. Another gal from our group on the other side of the bar looked at us and I shot her a glare as well and she got us out and away from ugly brother just after he announced he was married. Um, yeah.

More next time.

Don´t Speak! I might laugh!

I was at a party last Saturday night where I met a Latin teacher. A. I didn´t know public schools could afford foreign languages anymore. B. I didn´t know public schools would have anything more than spanish or maybe japanese to offer. C. Who meets Latin teachers? Definately a first for me. To set up how strange it was to meet a Latin teacher at a party was to hear about his extra curricular activities. Namely, being a brass player in a No Doubt tribute band. Not kidding. When my friend caught wind of this character she asked what his ´musical influences´ were and I almost laughed in their faces. The strange nature of this conversation didn´t end with his response of Tribe Called Quest (he couldn´t think of the name of the group, just a name of one of their songs). A little later he talked about the old days when he used to work at a toy store and described a Barbie shoe fountain. Yup. Even thinking of the whole situation now, I am speechless.

I came into work on Monday and smelled something strange. Luckily, I was not going crazy. There was some sort of gas leak going on and our entire building smelled like gas. Not too fun and a little scary because as children one of the mini-lessons you get in school is that when you smell gas, tell someone and leave the area as soon as possible in case something ignites and blows everything up. Well, we couldn't all just leave because the gas leak was coming from outside and filtering into the building. The funny thing is that they sent around an email in the office saying to stay in and not to go outside and smoke. Despite this, a whole load of people were standing outside and smoking before they went in for the day. Go figure.

This weekend I finally went to the Met. I headed out of my apt. on Saturday morning and had to walk immediately back in to change because it was 70 degrees outside! Unbelieveable weather. I met up with Maura who came to her door in a sweater and carrying a coat and I stood there looking at her with a crazy face in my tshirt. She went back in to change.

The Met was cool. And, I'll certainly have to go again since it is a rather large museum. I think my favorite things were just some random pieces- one of them was by John Singer Sargent called The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit. But the exhibit itself was packed since the exhibit is ending soon and because it was a Saturday.

I am on my way with my top ten list of resolutions. I finished A Good Year last night and it was ok. It´s a quick read that feels like a weekend getaway. You read it, glad you read it and wished there was a bit more going on with it. Nonetheless, it took your mind off of things for a while. The book certainly made me want to leave and do something different for a while. Live somewhere where the idea of living was just different than what I am currently used to.

I´ve been in NY for almost a year and the way of life here is definately different than in the Midwest. Here, I feel as if my days run as if I am on a schedule. Even if I don´t plan to do something and randomly decide to get a drink or take a walk, it was just one more activity I fit into the day before the next day began. Fill the days.

The weather in NY right now is crazy. It´s still warm and it´s January. I think I am enjoying it.

My New Years Resolution Progress

I started reading A Good Year last night. But, I bought the book so that went against my financially responsible resolution. But, I did buy the book at a going out of business sale. So, it wasn´t too bad. I have bringing my lunch to work lately, so that goes to my financially responsible resolution. I have been trying to walk around more after work, but it can get a bit hard because I usually want to head straight home. And, I am hoping to visit a museum this weekend. So, I´ll update as soon as I do any of that.

Yesterday I removed a few weeks worth of newspapers from my desk. I usually pick up a paper on my way into the subway and set it down on my desk when I get to work. And, they will pile up for weeks until I decide I have no room for anything else.

It´s New Year´s so I feel as if I should tell everyone what my resolutions are. It will make them more ´real´ or less easy to break, perhaps?

Top Ten List of Resolutions

1. Exercise more
2. Eat better (less junk food and candy and more good quality food)
3. Practice German (self study or a class if I can get into one)
4. Travel to someplace new and out of my comfort zone
5. Learn some basic Korean
6. Stay in better touch with friends and family (send one piece of corresponence per month in addition to phone calls and emails)
7. Read 13 books in 12 months (not overly ambitious, but they´re my resolutions so I can do whatever I want)
8. Be more financially responsible (save, not spend!)
9. Volunteer
10. Visit museums in the city