J says odd-numbered years are good years.
Monday was my birthday! Though the day started out sleepy, by morning all was well. We went out for dinner at the Italian restaurant at the polo club.
The best part was that for one day, all those street roosters, with their four-note cock-a-doodles, were singing "Happy birthdaaay! Happy birthday!"
The car was good for two weeks, went fuzzy again last Thursday, was away until this morning - and needs to go away again. It's not fixed. I'm frustrated, but remaining relaxed.
I have a cavity and had to see the dentist. It's a complicated case in my crooked last molar so he put in a temporary filling and I'm going back in a month. He also doesn't trust the root canal work I had done in January by another dentist here, but I think I'll leave that and just hope it actually was sufficient. And that other dentist does have a good strong reputation with expats here, too.
I got notice from the Employment Appeals Tribunal in Dublin that I've been given a hearing date at the end of May. Working hard to postpone that to my visit at the end of July. Keep your fingers crossed; I only have five working days to apply for a postponement!
Last but CERTAINLY not least, I'm finished with German classes - forever, if I want to be. I had my C1 test on Saturday, and Monday, and Thursday. (Technical difficulties.) Only two of us made it past the written to take the spoken test on Thursday, and we both passed!
Showing posts with label german. Show all posts
Showing posts with label german. Show all posts
Friday, May 18, 2012
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
New floor, new roommate
The tile layers might just be finished. They came yesterday to re-tile our bedroom. The bed's pushed to a corner and we aren't supposed to move it for a couple of days. One thing they left behind is dust. Lots and lots of dust, as well as some dusty handprints on doors, doorframes, and walls, and spatters of grout on a couple of walls and windows. I suppose their job isn't, technically, to clean up after themselves (let alone to try to work cleanly in the first place). Another facet of customer service lost here...
There are also a couple of tiles that sound loose in the kitchen; however, the tiler explained that because their grout isn't cracked, they'll never shift or tent like the ones in the other rooms. We'll see how that prediction works out.
The work day at Esoko tends to go from 9:30am to 6pm. This is an issue for the German class I'd like to take, which runs 5:30-7:45 four days a week. Finally, the opportunity to be taught by a German again, and I may have to show up to class an hour late every day! Not to mention, I'd essentially be on the go 12 hours a day. I'm hoping we can work out a compromise where I get to work around 8:30 and leave at 5:30, then get to German half an hour late every day. Most of the people in the class are familiar faces, but there's one new guy who last night asked me to help him perfect his American accent in my free time, gave me a hair-raising car ride most of my way home, and today called me to ask if I have any books in German. There's taking advantage and then there's taking advantage of new contacts. Like the time the neighbor downstairs asked me to do "anything I could" by asking my boyfriend to get the neighbor's son a job at Google. The kid had almost finished his certificate in IT.
At the job, there's a lot to get used to and I have to get up to speed really quickly, so I'm having meetings daily with heads of departments to walk me through how everything works. It will be a challenge. At the moment, not fully familiar with what I have to get done, I'm nervous- but if they say I can do this first project in three months, then I can do it.
We have a new roommate: a 10-month Google intern. Not much more to say on that front!
There are also a couple of tiles that sound loose in the kitchen; however, the tiler explained that because their grout isn't cracked, they'll never shift or tent like the ones in the other rooms. We'll see how that prediction works out.
The work day at Esoko tends to go from 9:30am to 6pm. This is an issue for the German class I'd like to take, which runs 5:30-7:45 four days a week. Finally, the opportunity to be taught by a German again, and I may have to show up to class an hour late every day! Not to mention, I'd essentially be on the go 12 hours a day. I'm hoping we can work out a compromise where I get to work around 8:30 and leave at 5:30, then get to German half an hour late every day. Most of the people in the class are familiar faces, but there's one new guy who last night asked me to help him perfect his American accent in my free time, gave me a hair-raising car ride most of my way home, and today called me to ask if I have any books in German. There's taking advantage and then there's taking advantage of new contacts. Like the time the neighbor downstairs asked me to do "anything I could" by asking my boyfriend to get the neighbor's son a job at Google. The kid had almost finished his certificate in IT.
At the job, there's a lot to get used to and I have to get up to speed really quickly, so I'm having meetings daily with heads of departments to walk me through how everything works. It will be a challenge. At the moment, not fully familiar with what I have to get done, I'm nervous- but if they say I can do this first project in three months, then I can do it.
We have a new roommate: a 10-month Google intern. Not much more to say on that front!
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