15 March 2007

 

leaf ant



This is what i feel like this week. and i'm kinda proud of myself.

German apartments don't normally come with light fixtures, closets, or kitchens. I lucked out with a built-in kitchen. But the rest has been up to me.

Enter Ikea!

I had some four 2.36m closets delivered. I am about 1.7m tall. I managed to build them all up myself. uprighting them was a trick, but i managed.

the 4th and final closet body got built yesterday. all 4 are now screwed together (it took a little power drillin, but that was fun). I even managed to hang a huge heavy mirrored door last night.

now I've got to put the sliding doors on the 2 big closets and hang the second mirror door.

I had this big heavy old steelcase desk that just doesn't fit the new joint, so it got unscrewed to components and hauled down the 2 flights of stairs piece by piece.

today is Sperrmüll day, it happens in spring and fall, where the garbage men pick up big pieces of garbage - furniture, appliances and the like. I was just in time.

08 March 2007

 

My First Austrian Ski-Weekend

I rode to St. Anton Austria in a bus with a pack of Siemens Lawyers.



We stayed in a cute little Austrian Guesthouse. i loved the decor.





Breakfast was a buffet with cereal, coldcuts and brötchen, and yogurt.



the front yard looks like this:



Ulf and I made friends Saturday morning, we decided our tocques matched the other person's getup better,



so we swapped.

it was rainy/snowy all day.



we took a couple of breaks to dry out and warm up.





Aprés Ski at Mooserwirt was a massive highlight.

It was right on the hill, and their motto is "Mooserwirt, probably the worst Skihut on (Mt) Arlberg"





Imagine the best clubnight ever, in a rustic log cabin tricked out with sound system and disco lights.







everyone sweaty in skiboots and snowpants.





sometimes even their helmets



with bartenders carrying trays of beer and shots through the sea of hot salty bodies.


Sunday the weather was amazing azure clear.



this is the league of out-of-bounds boarders



there was a bit of horsing around,



but it was all good fun.

True, the Alps kicked my *ss, but I had an amazing time. I'll be back to try again..


07 March 2007

 

Bank Notes

here we pay for just about everything with debit cards. so Thursday when I went to buy my soccer shoes and my debit card was refused I got a little worried, but payed with a visa.

I called the bank the next day, they said if my card was locked I should take it in to my branch. ok, this is Friday. I have 60€ in pocket, and am leaving for the Austrian Ski weekend (pix soon) at 2pm.

I went to the bank at noon. I explained the problem. The guy took my card and went into a back room for 20 minutes. I waited, examined my cuticles, and waited. He came back and gave it to me saying it should work again.

I took it to the ATM and no go. I went back to him. He came with me to the ATM and I showed him how it didn't work. He told me that he fixed my magnetic stripe, but it could be the smartchip that was locked. To fix that they'd have to send it to Card Services office in Munich, it would probably take a week.

My face lit right up when I heard this news.

Fine, I said. Give me some money to tide me over, and send the card to Munich. Ok, so he wrote up the slip and checked the computer. Guess what! My card was fine, my Account was locked!

Why? He got a coworker to come over. Turns out they wanted to see my passport and get a copy of my work permit. The phone number on file was a pool cell phone i gave back a month ago, so they couldn't reach me. When they couldn't reach me they did the one thing that guaranteed I'd come in: Shut off the money. ha.

so she made more copies of my passport, gave me some money, and sent me on my way.

And it only took an hour! bah. I love it here. it's going really well.

01 March 2007

 

New Shoes!

Monday I start spring training at the Fußball Verein, or Soccer Club, as you like.

I played in elementary and high school. This time I bought better shinguards. Schinbeinschone (was how it sounded in the store).

Soccer is lots of running, but also some of kicking! And spikey shoes and tall socks. all good. :)

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