First Week...

I made it through my first week of work - well not that I’m actually doing any work! I have been finding my way around Hamburg to get a tax card, health insurance, bank account etc. I have also been practising doing 3d models and drawings in Catia V5 for a validation test early next week. The practise models are a little bit trickier than the simpler brackets I’m use to, and the features have to be modelled in a certain order to get full marks. The validation test is a requirement to start about a month of Airbus training. I probably won’t finish the training until end of August because they thankfully decided to book me into the training courses run in English.

Every so often I hear this loud siren – like the bombs are coming and we should go hide in the underground bunker. I’m told this is just a nearby company’s signal for their workers to go on break – not funny!

There’s a very small kitchen and basic coffee machine - I haven’t got a mug so no moyling so far. Also I haven’t been able to find any hot chocolate powder – might have to go next door to Belgium. There’s free bottled water though :)

I received my EC (Eurocard) from Deutsche Bank in the mail with my telefon and online banking pins. I think I also got paid – now I just have to figure out what my ATM pin is. All my mail is in German so I’ll have to ask Joel to translate. It is a bit frustrating not knowing the language but I am getting by. Work said they would put me into a German course when it starts.

The batch of pasta I made will last another week. In the states I was making pasta about once a fortnight and freezing half of it, which was lunch on weekdays. Towards the end I almost got sick of eating pasta – almost! I managed to crack 2 plates already - I guess that’s not as bad as burning 2 pots whilst boiling water like I did in the states.

For breakfast I’ve been eating fruit muesli and toast with jam or eggs – I really like the muesli. Lunch on the weekend has been frozen baguettes or sausages. Dinner is usually mixed vegetables from a frozen bag and frozen steak or fish. I think A Current Affair said frozen vegetables are as good if not better than fresh because all the nutrients are snap frozen – I hope that’s also true for meat.

I found a snail about the size of a 5 cent coin in my frozen vegetables – now I know the French eat snails but I didn’t know Germans eat them too! I almost burnt dinner one night because I think the instructions said put it in the oven for 45 mins at 225 degrees – the broccoli based sauce on top started burning so I ended up scraping it off and frying the fish instead. Luckily there are no smoke alarms to set off.

The first time I tried to open the window was quite scary - they open like a door on one setting, and in another only the top opens like it’s falling on top of you. There are no fly screens because I’m told there aren’t many flies here – I guess it’s true as I haven’t seen any but I did see eins or zwei (one or two) other smaller bugs flying around. My windows face east and I don’t have any curtains - sometimes it is still light outside when I go to sleep and the sun also wakes me up early in the morning.

I’m still hand washing my clothes – it’s easier for me to do a bit each day as I didn’t bring that many. Socks are particularly difficult as I really have to scrub them – I’m considering waiting till the end of the week and washing them in the machine or treating them like consumables and just throw them out like someone I know. Just to clarify, it’s not my first time washing clothes out of home – the first time I actually put my clothes in the dryer with powder and only realised after I had started it because it didn’t sound like a washing machine.

I went to the Fischmarkt on Saturday but it closes early and I only got there at midday – will have to try again next week. I ended up catching the ferry across to Airbus and then the bus as I thought I’d get to see the Airbus runway. Unfortunately I only saw a lot of bushland where the runway should be. Before I knew it, we were on the freeway with signs pointing to Breman. We went into an underwater tunnel then somehow ended up close to where I live so I got out and walked home. There are maps of the city at most bus, ferry and train stations, including street references which has helped a lot.

On Saturday there was some sort of Bike/Harley-Davidson festival at the Reeperbahn. The place was packed with people lining the roadside and median strips to see the bikes ride by. There were also many leather clad bikies and their bikes parked everywhere. There is an open area with tables and live music that is really nice. The Astra beer is 2.50 euro and cocktails, 5 euro. I haven’t seen any trouble or fights there but I guess it helps that there is a polizei station nearby.

Tschüss!