November 30, 2010

Today, at least the first, working part of the day, was horrendous. It took us a lot of effort to wake up and then get up after going to bed at five. It was snowing when I got to the metro station and it was rather hard to walk to the office. Imagine my shock and irritation, when I arrived, breathing hard, to see that they already had an interpreter. I felt humiliated, called the main office and was told to go there, because there had been a mistake, and they actually needed an interpreter in both places. Ok, another kilometer to the station, metro, office. I stayed there for a mere couple of hours, had a nice lunch, and as I was chewing on the last bit, I was called again and told that I was needed at the other office again, because the other interpreter couldn't stay after lunch. Thank goodness, I was given a lift by one of the colleagues. So, I came back only to translate a tiny speech, which, honestly, anyone could have done... But I did try some lebkuchen and am determined to try making it myself. At the end of the day, I walked the same very distance again, back to the station. I think, if the rerearsal had gone wrong, I wouldn't have helped crying, but surprisingly, it went really well and I sang more when I came home.

November 29, 2010

Today, I had to be at the office at four p.m., so I used the opportunity to collect the parcels that had been waiting for me for a couple of weeks, from Germany. I didn't know who could have sent them, but I was suspecting qensio, the postal service research thing, which has been sending me letters with codes for more than a year now and thanks to which I now possess a collection of Eliott Erwitt's postcards. I arrived at the post office, having trudged through all the snow, got my THREE parcels and found a staple remover in each of them. As useless as it is (considering that I haven't even got a stapler), I still found it rather sweet of them.
After going to the office, walking a kilometer in the snow and finding out that I wasn't needed there, I met up with Anya and we had a lovely catch up in a cafe with ridiculous pop music. We then went to my place, to sing... but never did and went to bed at five.

November 28, 2010

Today, I enjoyed being back home. I had quite a lazy start in the morning and went out at noon to have a lesson. The winter had definitely settled and I listened to the sound of the snow crisping under my feet and the pure white where no one has stepped yet. It was lovely to see the same rowan tree I took a picture of at the beginning of November now covered in snow.
In the evening my mum, Anya and I went to the Philharmonic Hall to hear Symphony no. 8 by Mahler. The venue was completely full and most people, I guess, were relatives of the many choristers who took part in the concert. We saw a group of little boys, half of the boys' choir, passing us on their way to the stage. They were clad in black suits and bow ties and made all the three of us go "awwww" and Anya said her son would definitely sing in a choir.
The concert itself was a little bit of a disappointment, unfortunately. Mainly because of the acoustics. We were sitting in the gallery, not in the stalls, and it just didn't feel like we were a part of it. It was more like listening to an orchestra playing in a different room with all doors shut. I came home and listened to the piece again, on the internet.

November 27, 2010

Today, I came back home...
In the morning I did have a tour around Kassel, thanks to Kristina and Anna. We walked around the centre of Kassel, and I found out that it was chosen by the Nazis to be the Headquarters for Germany's Wehrkreis IX, so it was bombed and 90% of the city was destroyed, hence the new houses and complete lack of Fachwerk.
There are still things to see. There is a humungous park called Karlsaue on the river Fulda, where we popped in going down Gustav Mahler Stairs (I have only found out the name now that I'm writing it and the oak leaves are on these very stairs). Also, the city is full of contemporary art from Documenta, an art exhibition which takes place every five years.
Very close to the city is another beautiful park called Wilhelmshöhe with a monument of Hercules and a marvellous view all over the city. Another sight worth seeing is Loewenburg (Lion's Castle) which is only a replica of a medieval castle, but still pretty.
Other things I found out about Kassel are that its twin cities are my Yaroslavl and Florence and that they have got a local beer called Martini.
It was cold today, a bit below zero, and when we drove uphill to the castle we saw some snow, and later on my way to Frankfurt, as the train was passing snowy trees, I could just imagine approaching St. Petersburg on my way from Granny's. This thought just made me so homesick.
I was absolutely knackered after this working week, so just couldn't wait to come home, to my good old freezing Russland.
Quite peculiarly, I was surrounded by number 3 today. My gate was B33, and before I noticed that I booked seat A33 for some reason. Also, I was sent to desk 333 to drop off my luggage and after we spent some time queuing to be searched they opend another gate (Number 3, of course) and beckoned me and some more people there.
The flight went well and I squeaked like a child when I saw piles of snow as we were landing.

November 26, 2010

Today, I did many things:
-nearly cried when I had to wake up at 6.30 for the fifth morning in a row
-fell asleep in the car
-grinned and cheered up when I saw the Christmas tree in the office
-tried a very German thing called Krautauflauf (didn't take a picture though)
-drank more sparkling water from those magnificent indigo-blue bottles (as much as I dislike sparkling water)
-visited Mareike at her place and absolutely loved it
-saw a picture of Pope in the toilet (what can be worse?:)
-met Mareike's horse called Frau Merckel
-had a fantastic dinner which we cooked together with Mareike, Kali and Natasha

A tour around Kassel tomorrow and then flying home! Can't wait!

November 25, 2010

Today, we had a common workshop with the other module, and it just turned into coffee-drinking and pastry-eating. It has got much colder in Germany and there was a thin layer of snow on the surrounding fields.
It was our last evening together before part of us went to Frankfurt, so we didn't go to our rooms immediately after the first glass of gluhwein (I can't believe it, I've been drinking every day for a week now) but walked around more and spent some time chatting in a nice and warm cafe in the middle of the square. Later on, two girls from the project went to my room with me and we had lovely time drinking tea and remembering how each of us got to the project...

November 24, 2010

Today, despite my expectations, work went pretty well and fast. We managed to do quite a lot and I regretted that I wasn't given a laptop right at the beginning of the project. I would have been a qualified user by now.
We walked back from the canteen outside the building and tried some tiny apples from the apple trees that grow nearby.
In the evening I got to the market early enough to buy some postcards and sweet little things. As for supper, we had a Swiss (apparently) specialty, which is melted cheese on potatoes with spices. Very nice indeed.

November 23, 2010

Today, I was stunned by the breakfast at the hotel! All sorts of food were waiting to be devoured... It's a nice thing to look forward to especially when you have yo get up at half past six...
Work was rather boring today, and there was no fog, so I couldn't retreat to my thoughts about magic and fairly tales.
The second day of the Weihnachtsmarkt was much quieter. We tried two types of gluehwein (hollunderwein, which means elderflower wine(honestly, the cordial is so so so much better) and himbeerewein (raspberry)). I think the cherry one is my favourite so far. AS for supper, we tried a Zwiebelkuchen, which was very nice. And I bought some chestnut flour and going to cook something special when I come back home.

November 22, 2010

Today, I woke up to realise that I definitely have a guardian angel. To begin with, I woke up just in time to get my bags ready and have breakfast, which I was craving for not having eaten anything since 3 p.m. on Sunday, and which, I had been told, started at 8. The only thing I saw at the groundfloor, however, was a group of my colleagues, already in coats and ready to leave. They told me they thought I was in Melsungen (the town where we were going for the workshop) and that the taxi had been ordered for 7.30 and by mere luck I hadn't been left alone in the hotel! Bugger me, I thought, and rushed back to my room to get the bag and jump into the taxi, thinking about the breakfast which never happened and shuddering at the thought that I had very nearly skipped work...
Working was rather difficult today, firstly because I didn't sleep too much, and secondly, because it was FI and they were talking too fast for me to understand what the hell they meant by all those accounting slang terms.
I didn't risk asking for the internet after my morning fiasco and entertained myself with looking through the windows at the hills and forest that surround the plant. There were clouds of fog in the distance which made it look like Forbidden Forest from Harry Potter or something worse from die Brueder Grimm...
I did make up for the morning later in the day, when I told my colleagues that the internet was free in the hotel and passwords could be obtained at the reception. I must also look like a sophisticated linguist in their eyes now that I managed to ask the driver a couple of questions in German...
Then we drove back to Kassel where the Weihnachtsmarkt started today and they played Nutcracker near one of the shops! We had some Bratwurst (which is not sold in portions smaller than half a meter) and then some Gluhwein (I kept the mug). I also found the most wonderful thing on earth, and that is NOUGAT!!! More lovely things tomorrow!

November 21, 2010

Today, I did a short tour around Cologne, met Katharina (who would have thought that it would happen so soon), tried another German dish, popped into the Chocolate Museum, had gluhwein and more Koelsch. It's a pity I was still feeling rather wobbly after yesterday (must have been mysterious food-poisoning or some sort of a stomach collapse).
Oh, I forgot to mention the wonderful hostel we discovered! It's called Die Wohngemeinschaft. They call themselves a hostel but it's so much more like a small hotel. Thet have only got 8 rooms, and only one of them is a dorm, others are privates. Each room was created by a young designer, and I would love to come back to Cologne just to stay in the other seven rooms. This time we stayed in the room with birch trees)
In the evening I boarded the slow regional train to Kassel, where I met four Russian-speaking families with two children each. I chatted to two of the fathers and one mother and watched the children playing Uno. I wish I'd taken a picture of them, they were all pretty sweet... Watching them made me feel somewhat lonely and wish I was going home and not to a hotel in a city I know nothing about...

November 20, 2010

Today, Cologne exceeded all weather expectations with a clear blue sky and lots of sun. Frankly speaking, the city is not bursting with landmarks but with Weihnacht coming, the atmosphere is just lovely with all the decorations and fir-trees and markets, and chestnuts sold in the streets and gluhwein...

In the evening we found a German brauhaus where we had Koelsch and some hearty traditional German food (Flammkuchen and Jaeger Schnitzel). I tried to speak German and we were brave enough to take menus in German, not in English, but I seem to be more successful in understanding than in expressing myself.

November 19, 2010

Today, I set off for my trip to Germany. An hour before I was supposed to leave the flat I realised I hadn't bought some things (like vodka for a friend, for example), so I had to rush and arrived at the airport rather close to the last-check-in time... Bloody typical, Sasha. On the other hand, I didn't have to wait. I was quite pleased to see the look of astonishment in my German colleagues' faces when they noticed me at the gate. The flight was all right, I did some reading and had a nice lunch (oh, I haven't travelled with decent air lines for ages). The first thing I saw upon arrival made my giggle. SAP is indeed everywhere.





The second thing I ran into was a red tape that was on my way to Fernnahnhof and, therefore, to Cologne. Apparently, someone left their handbag and they were suspecting a terrorist attack. Anyway, while waiting in a crowd of Germans, I met this lovely guy, called Dennis. We boarded the same train later on and, 40 minutes later it turned out that B.Braun is one of their suppliers (he works for a dental something company). I mentioned SAP and the woman next to us, sighed, and said that SAP implementation is a nightmare. I found that hilarious. I generally love all these encounters that I'm lucky to have during my travels!
On arrival to Koeln Haupbahnhof I spent an hour on the platform, worrying a lot but got the message I'd been waiting for at last, headed for the Koelner Dom and finally noticed a familiar and rather conspicuous moustache)

November 18, 2010

Today, I very nearly embarrassed myself. I was sitting in the conference room and translating. Then I thought that listening to some music would be nice. So, I went to Naxos Library, chose the Ceremony of Carols,and started playing it. Everything was silent and I went back to translating. A couple of seconds later, distracted by something I completely forgot about the music which still hadn't started. So, when I heard a voice singing very quietly as if in the distance, I turned around among all these people and said rather loudly: "Who is that...?" Thank goodness, I didn't finish the question and say "Singing", they would have thought I'd gone crazy...

November 17, 2010

Today, I translated for a German man who looks like someone from "Wallace&Gromit":)

November 16, 2010

Today, I met a peculiar man. At half past eleven, I was coming home by tram when I noticed a young man with a huge backpack. We exchanged smiles and I asked him where he was coming from. It turned out that he'd been in India for 6 months. Then he said: "I'm looking for shanti (that's what I heard, at least), but it doesn't seem to be here" and looked through the window at some bare trees...

November 15, 2010

Today, I felt like the most useless person at work. Everyone was testing the system and a translator was obviously not needed. I used the time well, however, and studied German) I am really enjoying the language at the moment!
On the way back I saw an absolutely charming scene on the bus. There was a ginger-haired girl clinging to her daddy's neck and chatting to him in of those lovely voices and kissing him on the cheeks saying "Папа, папа" and talking gibberish at times... I was grinning all the way home, where I found a pile of cards including a card from Lara from Canada! With a red autumnal leaf inside!

November 14, 2010

Today, I overslept and didn't see the film about Leo Tolstoy we had been going to see. What's more I was woken up by my friend who had been waiting for me at the meeting point for twenty minutes by then... So, I basically, woke up into the world of shame... She was understanding though, and we had lovely dinner together at my place and then watched a Russian film after a novel by Dina Rubina starring Alisa Freindlich (one of my favourite women on earth) and Eugeny Mironov. The film is amazing. I wish I could draw.

November 13, 2010

Today was a fascinating day! To begin with, I met up with my tutor from Uni and we went to Tatyana Glebova's exhibition in Rumyantsev's Mansion. All the exhibits were great, paintings, watercolours, illustrations, everything. I particularly liked the dresses she designed.
Then we accidentally ran into another exhibition. The sign said "Mit'ki", so we decided to pop in, and it turned out that apart from that there was also an exhibition/fair of Luthuanian traditional crafts! This was just amazing! All the participants were so peculiar, so authentic! I haven't seen so many beautiful men for a long time. When I say beautiful, I mean beautiful, not just handsome but beaming with some internal natural light! I noticed a long-haired, bearded man with a kindest looking eyes and asked to take his picture. He didn't mind and spoke to me with a most charming Lithuanian accent)) The things they were selling were magnificent, such as dolls made of straw and some liquids in bottles with snakes in them!








Later on we had a feast in an italian restaurant.
In the evening Lena and I celebrated my little orange tree's Nameday. From now on he is called Harry. Among the guests were Leon the Lemon tree, his Uncle Bonya, his granny and many other relatives. We had dinner listening to The Love for Three Oranges.