2 Noteworthy Videos: Secretary Clinton "Tomorrow Will Be Better" & Rudolf Brazda, the last of the Pink Triangles (Gay Holocaust Survivor)
My buddy Tom from Philly escaped for the weekend from the students he's accompanying on an exchange to Oldenburg. We walked through the old Elbtunnel and across half of Veddel to find Wilhelmsburg, the neighborhood on a river island that the city of Hamburg is trying to turn into a hipster/student/artist enclave.
It's not really like anything you'd get in South Philly or Southern California, but still not bad for being pretty damn far away from Mexico.
Spotted on the Ottensener Hauptstrasse, the pedestrian shopping area near Bahnhof Altona
Matthew and his French coworker Alexandre came to visit me in Hamburg last weekend. I got to do some things and visit places that I usually don't, which was fun. We'd talked about staying up all night (or really late) to go to the Fischmarkt on Sunday morning, but we never made it. Next time!
When I first woke up today, the sun was out, people on twitter were all a-flutter about how bright it was outside. Yes, I check my email and twitterstream on my iPod Touch before I get out of bed.
By the time I got out of bed, got ready for work, and made it out the door, it had started snowing. This was NOT expected. The snow kept getting heavier, the flakes larger, the wind stronger. As I walked down the alley to work, I was holding up one of those large blue Ikea bags to shield me from being pummeled by the force of the wind throwing these huge clumps of snow at me.
This evening, my coworker Svenja pointed out the unusual sunset. We've got a great view from the 6th floor (5th floor as Germans count it) and every once in a while the sky cooperates.
I'm about to go to sleep for the fourth time in Hamburg, I'm posting sprawled on the wooden floor in my spacious room in the Bahrenfeld section of Hamburg, not far from the eponymous S-Bahn station.
I arrived without any luggage. British Airways had cancelled my connecting flight from London-Heathrow to Hamburg, so I'm charitably assuming that it's due to the fact that they rebooked me onto a Lufthansa flight that was leaving at the same time as my original itinerary, just a different terminal. Not due to gross incompetence in handling bags, which seems equally possible. I also got into Hamburg a few hours late because it was foggy in London. Um... aren't you guys used to that yet?
I have two roommates in the apartment, Hendric works with me at Jimdo and Daniel's got some six degrees going on with the company as well. They're both moving out at the end of the month and then I get to live with the two trainees, Martin & Sebastian.
I don't have any other furniture than the bed you see in the pictures above, but some is arriving from various sources this weekend, supposedly. There's no light in the kitchen, which makes late night snack runs difficult (not a bad thing, necessarily. Just saying). I think we may also have one small plate, one large plate, and one large pot. So far, combined with the lack of luggage, it's kind of been like camping inside an apartment.
Thankfully, one bag came on Monday (yesterday) and one came on Tuesday (today), so I've now got all my clothes, toiletries, and everything else I thought was necessary when packing last week. Matze had lent me some t-shirts and contact solution, so that helped me get through the weekend.
Work's been quite exciting, challenging, and a bit overwhelming all at once. The German aspect of it is sort of limping along. I suppose I'm not particularly articulate in English either, but I've always been acutely conscious of my deficiences in German. There's definitely that start-up atmosphere, with more projects cooking than I can hope to find out about, much less understand and keep track of, people laughing and having fun, coming early, working late, etc. I really want to jump in head first, but I keep forgetting how there's so much to just absorb in the first few weeks and months at a new place. I don't even know everyone's name yet!
I'm hoping I'll be able to work in some weekend trips over the next several weeks, over to Bremen to see folks like Malte, Thetje, Nadine, and Solveig (sorry if I forgot anyone...), down to Munich to see Philipp, Maria, and Gundula. It'd also be nice to visit Berlin for more than an afternoon... Sophia's there and maybe a few others I could visit.
Then again, it almost seems silly to be planning trips when I haven't even managed to walk around the neighborhood I'm living in!
I'll close with something weird and random I've had in my status message tonight:
My Golden Globes acceptance speech: I'd like to thank Hendric for his leftovers, Matze & Fridel for their one-sided wrestling match, Steffi for teaching me wiki-editing, Amélie for answering my stupid questions, and Amélie's dog (Virgule) for all the times I almost ran over her in my chair
twenty-something photo-taking queer internet junkie whiling away my days in the city by the bay - previously Philly - sometimes Hamburg (I work at Jimdo)
