Boys, Friends, Professional Life, USA

What I’ve been up to

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So I was bitching about some of the groceries here so let me just mention that Daisy Sour Cream is really good. I usually don’t like sour cream just like that and only eat it in baked potatoes but Daisy’s tastes like German Schmand and doesn’t have that bitter after taste or that texture that makes you think baking soda is in it. So, yay! Having said that, I cooked twice so far this year, which is still pretty bad (2x in 10 days) but much more than this past month so I’m happy. I missed it! Can you believe that?! I had to cook almost every bloody day at home but I’ve really started to miss it. So I made asparagus with ham and potatoes the other day and tonight I had garlic shrimp pasta with fresh tomatoes and sour cream. Yummy!

Work has been going well. I saved the company some money by changing a booth at a trade show and designed some flyers. I was very shocked when my boss who normally doesn’t really give praise wrote “good job” and my other boss said “good job you can go home early”. Normally they don’t say anything or just a short “cool” so I was very happy. Timing is good for their outcries of praise because we need to discuss my next visa. Yikes!

Had a good time outside of work as well with lots of dinners with friends, a birthday party and my new subscription to Netflix. I’ve missed that! Tomorrow night Richard is flying in and we should have a fun weekend around Charlotte.

Oh yeah something random. About a month ago (actually when we were baking cookies) my ex from high school and early college sent me a message and after replying to him he wrote back this looooong one. Well turned out he and his girlfriend have broken up and now he wants to be friends with me. Don’t really see the point after 5 years of not hearing a single thing but oh-kay, I’m a friendly person. Very strange though. I’m so neutral towards him now, he feels like a stranger so I’m not quite sure how he imagines this whole friendship thing. Naja, lets see.

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Culture, shopping, USA

Quality

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Having lived in the US for a total of more than 2.5 years, most things here don’t seem strange to me anymore and what might be amazing, irritating, or weird to some newcomers has long become normal to me. However, there is one thing that keeps making me say I miss that from Germany! I’m talking about the quality of groceries. You’d think oranges and tangerines were fantastic here but the oranges at the supermarket are all kind of funky looking with white stuff over them and then they’re partly green and hmpf! The tangerines I bough had a ridiculous amount of seeds in them (think 1-3 per SLICE) and the olives in the glass were partly falling apart like a 3rd grade mushroom in Germany. My baby carrots had some weird portions (not too bad but still) and I don’t have to talk about ham and the like or chocolate, do I?
To be fair, there are some groceries here that are fantastic, like shrimps and beef and most fruits and veggies aren’t too bad. In general though I’d say the quality standards of a lot of German super markets and/or manufacturers are higher (prolly consumer driver).
But who cares about groceries when you can eat out or have TV dinner any day of the week, anyway, right?! (yuk) 😀
Now moving on to face care. Ahhhhhh! Nightmare here! Actually, not fair, it’s only really make-up remover clothes that suck. Spending almost 10$ on them compared to 2Euro in Germany you would expect them to work wonders. Uhm yeah no. Not that great. Same goes for cotton swabs. They practically fall apart here and you’ve got this huge fuzzy thing in your hand after cleaning your ears. Not good! The face cleaner I used in Ireland smells super weird here and is not 100% as effective as the one from there. Hmpf!
One thing I did find to have the same great quality as in Germany though is NIVEA Smooth Sensation Body Lotion but you know, that’s German engineering ;-).

(Just to be fair, there are a lot of items here that I find ok or great or feckin’ brilliant like make-up, my macbook, greeting cards, chex mix, scented candles, ice-cream,…)

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Boys, Friends, USA

Christmas Holidays

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I’m back at work after four fantastic days off. Mini-Christmas-Holiday/Vacation! Happy days! After a good day at work on Friday (sent off the new add to publishers and booked hotels for Vegas (I’m going, too!)) and a trip to Wal*Mart and ALDI, my best girlfriend’s other best friend Stefan called and we went uptown where we met with The Men. Started out at Connoly’s and things were kind of quiet so I decided to have some whiskey coke instead of beer and the fun began. Had a great time chatting and then dancing at Alley Cat. The night ended not so well for my stomach but I was good to go the next morning.
I finally got to talk to my family for a bit longer than just 10 minutes. My new macbook picks up the wireless connection much bettr than lappy’s wireless card so I was very happy! In the afternoon Chadi and I had coffee at Caribou and then strolled around Freedom Park. It’s good to walk when it doesn’t involve the mall. Feels more European. We then watched the Panthers lose again and had yummy dinner with Giorgio and Jack before we headed uptown again. A short stop at Luce to pick up Manuel and another girl. Some drinks at Blue with a band playing cool music and then we tried to go to Forum. Tried because Jack aparently isn’t 21 yet so that was a bit of drama. It worked fine at HOM though and we stayed there until 3. Very crazy night even though I didn’t drink anything (I’m so good when I drive).
Sunday was fantastic. It was raining cats and dogs in the morning so staying in bed long felt sooo cozy. Once out of it I went out to breakfast with Giorgio and that really felt like vacation with eggs and bacon and pancakes. Yum! Thereafter I drove to the hotel where Chadi works and by then the sun was shining so add a resort and sun and then a yummy green tea latte and the vacation feeling was even bigger.
Monday was Christmas Eve and after some last minute shopping I skyped with my family and we opened gifts. I got some nice things like a scarf, book, calendar, a mug and German marzipan! Yay!
Around 7ish Giorgio, Massimo and I started cooking. Massimo had made lasagne, Giorgio made potatoes and I made mulled wine, sausages and bread rolls. I was soooooooo super happy that I got to eat my German traditional food and I think the guys enjoyed it, too. Chadi came along a bit later, too, and so did Manuel and we watched Old School and were merry. At midnight the guys wanted to go to church so we went to this catholic church. A bit strange for me (as a lutheran) but it was alright. One beer at Tyber Creek and we went back to Massimo’s and Chadi did some card tricks. Then the guys opened their gifts from me (it was the 24th after all – ok so 2:30am the 25th but that’s ok).
The 25th after sleeping in a little bit and hanging out a little bit I picked up Chadi and we drove to Sauro and Giorgio’s place to start the turkey. Remember you can’t get milk at Rite Aid on Christmas Day (sold out) and everything else is closed). But we still managed to make some yummy drinks, watch fun movies (The Incredibles, Homealone, Austin Powers), enjoy cooking and good food and then crashed there. Much easier to get from work from there (10 minute drive). Unforutnately someone snored so I didn’t sleep much but at least that got me out of bed at 7 and I was at work at 7:40. Gives me 50 minutes to take off ealier on Friday. Yay! And so, the Christmas Holidays are over but they were super nice and I am so happy that I had the boys to spend them with and eat good German food with. 2.5 more days until the next 4 day weekend…
I hope you all had some wonderful Christmas days as well (or are still having them…)!
Smooch!

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Boys, Friends, Health, USA

Three Weeks Done

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I’m totally behind in my blogging since Time Warner Cable and my housing association both blame eachother for my cable’s not working and I don’t have internet access. But due to my work computer’s slowness and my having to wait for photoshop to react I can blog a bit now. It’s like I do one click, it freezes, it unfreezes, I do another click, it freezes again and so on and so on.
Anyway, I am finally healthy again after that bronchitis and then a lovely bladder infection that sent me looking for an urgent care center (kind of hard without internet). The antibiotics cleaned me up quite well and they were only 25$. I was shocked! Still have to hand that in to my insurance but yeah. Not bad!
Other than that, life has been nice. Last week was super warm and we ate lunch outside most of the days. It really does feel like a break when you get to sit on a patio and feel like you’re getting toasted. It’s super cold today though!
Hmmm, what else did I do?! Hung out with the boys at the pub next door, had sushi at my favorite sushi restaurant with a friend of a friend, went shopping (me wants macbook), saw a huge organic supermarket, received my first Christmas mail, went out clubbing on Thursday (but that wasn’t too bad and I didn’t drink), helped Giorgio move (I think I was carrying much more than the lazy boys but oh well), went out to dinner afterwards and got really weird vibes from M’s girlfriend, slept horribly because of someone’s snoring and too much noise from upstairs, had sushi buffet on Saturday and then we all hung out at Giorgio’s new place and watched TV before going out for dinner, did laundry on Sunday, read a good book, watched Christmas movies and baked cookies with Chadi and Giorgio.
Busy life here…. I love my boys but I really miss my girlfriends and I haven’t properly talked to my family since I got here!!! Stupid internet provider 🙁

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