Jason's Daily Notes

Saturday, I got up relatively early and did my food shopping. I made sure to buy some probiotic yogurts to prepare my stomach for India :). Went to Francesco's, chilling in his flat for some time, and we walked around to buy spices. We walked back to his place, then Mike joined. Cesco stayed to do his laundry. Mike and I biked to Toom Baumarkt (near REWE on Ulmenstr), because he wanted to buy curtains for his flat. Along the way, Mike told me how he slept with Julia twice this week, on Monday and Thursday. I knew it would happen, but I didn't feel very upset as I thought I would be (and why should I anyway?). We didn't find decent curtains at toom, so we stopped by my place to rest for a little bit before we biked all the way to Obi to continue our shopping. At Obi, there were curtains but not roll-up curtains in the right size. So we left, trying Bauhaus. There was not much selection there, but at least curtain rods in the right size, so Mike got those. We biked to his place on Bismarckstr. and dropped them off there. He also installed a new port for his internet. We biked to my place and got to cooking Thai green curry for dinner. It was done pretty quickly (we make a good cooking team) and then we both fell asleep in my room :) The party at the company flat was going on, but we didn't make it there until past midnight. People were already leaving, but we just chilled there with Cesco, Nicky, Yuti, Oscar, Anna, and Andreea. Funny conversation ensued. Biked home around 2:30am.

Sunday, I was pretty productive. Something smelled really bad in the kitchen, so I cleaned out the entire fridge, and the unplugged freezer (which was covered in mold)! I went to the office in the afternoon, getting some work done on our academy presentation. Mike took his mom, stepdad, and sister around the office too. (They were visiting, and his stepdad helped with installing his curtain rods.) I went to the company flat and joined Carla, Matze, Julia, Eliz, and Rob for a little toke. Actually several not-so-small hits :) We used plastic bottles. It was cool to chill with everyone. Sabrina and Matilde returned from a trip to Amsterdam. Julia left to get her bike from her ex-boyfriend. I tried to get Mike to join, but he was writing his thesis. So I went home around 11pm and Mike came over again to get his thesis corrected. I was cozy in bed by 2am. Mike biked home - poor guy is sleeping on an air mattress still.

1 week until I leave for India!

The weather is chilly.

Stressful day full of FAILs.

Had to mail in my form for travel health insurance. Printed them out and went to the post office and mailed them in. I had to buy a bike bell and small toiletries for my trip, so I went to Nordstraße. Didn't find what I wanted at Woolworth's. My bike broke (the rear tire shield). So I went home to fix it. My solution? Duct tape. But my neighbor helped me by applying twist ties instead.

I made lunch at home. I got in the mail the official health insurance form, with a free return envelope! FAIL.

Stayed working until 8pm. So much to do (sending new deals, etc.)

Matze and Anna returned to visit for the weekend! I stayed and had a drink with Matze and Carla and then just went home.

Wednesday, 6 November 2013
Work. Thomas is still out of the office (for the rest of the week)
Mike: "I have something to confess to you." So we briefly meet. He has been offered a traineeship! But for less money than he wants.
Lunch: Leftover veggie cordon bleu and pasta.
Salsa dancing. My partner was Marina. It was a bit more challenging; we combined all the steps from previous weeks.


Thursday, 7 November 2013
Full day of work.
Lunch: Mensa (No NA Meeting)
It was raining the whole day.
Stressed. Over setting up the email campaigns.
I stayed in the office until 9pm, with Didem. Tried to create the slides for my academy presentation, but only got through 1.

It's cold. I packed my backpack for work, preparing for Badminton (but I decided not to play today).

We had a team meeting/breakfast again today. It was pretty chill. Thomas is away from the office so everything is ok.

I went to the bank and sorted out (1) my address, (2) my new TAN list, and (3) my travel plans for India.

Lunch was the leftover breakfast foods, with Nick and Mike and Toby.

Met with the new interns (Rob and Miika) to introduce myself and Toby.

I work better when it's quiet.

Mike lost his wallet, and he felt pretty upset about it. He went home around 4:30. I looked in the bathrooms and around the office for the wallet. He found it eventually inside his couch cushions.

It was raining the whole afternoon, so I stayed inside the office.

Dinner was penne with sun dried tomatoes, and a vegetarian cordon bleu.

I posted a job posting on Reddit and got over 50 responses in a few hours. I spent the evening responding to them before going to bed.

Thursday, 31 October 2013
It's Halloween. I wear my Inigo Montoya costume to work. Mike is Woody. He pulls off the costume well.
Interviewed a girl in my costume. Hilarious.
It's also the kickoff of Movember at the office. We all take a group picture.
Not much work gets done.
Stayed at the office drinking, with Nick the American. We (Lisa and I) bike to the Altstadt and meet with everyone else. Katie is rocking the Elektra/sexy skeleton, and Toby pulls off the Mad Hatter really well. We went to Sigrid's and saw everyone there. Danny and Betty were really good as the smurfs, and Yati was a cool F1 driver.

Friday, 1 November
Day off! I didn't end up going to Hamburg, Amsterdam, or Belgium at all. Just stayed in the whole weekend. I am starting to watch videos to prepare myself for India.
In the afternoon, I helped Mike move in. Well, actually: Mike arrived with his dad (driving a van with a trailer full of furniture and everything for the new apartment), and then "bad news - I forgot my key." So they had to drive all the way back to pick up the key! I waited at the office and actually got some work done :). Then, around 9-10pm I helped moving everything into the apartment.
It rained. I didn't go out. I just slept. (I have been sleeping a lot lately, probably because of the lack of sunlight these days.)

Saturday, 2 November
Went shopping with Anton. He wanted to get some weights. We went to Real, where we met Francesco. Bought stuff for the flat (baking tray) and a bunch of chicken to cook for dinner. I decided to go to Bonn the next day.
Trammed back home and baked the chicken in a lime-cumin marinade. Also made homemade guac and tortilla chips.
Ended up drinking with Anton and Badi in the flat. We then went out to the bar where Badi works (Zogel) for a couple more beers, then to the Altstadt (Schaukelstühlchen) for more drinks. We were admiring the crowd. Phil and Jennifer M were there. I was quite tipsy at the end. Anton and I didn't join Badi and his friend who went to Mauer. Instead, we walked to the Nordstraße station and caught the U-Bahn just in time!

Sunday, 3 November
Day trip to Bonn! I went with Anton, and met Valentin, Marina, and Marina's friend Leona (who was visiting from London - she also went to LSE and is now doing economic consulting!). We took the train there. Along the way, Anton was impressed with Cologne's cathedral so we decided to stop there on the way back. I was also making my usual semi-offensive jokes; Marina loved that her car key was now a brick.
Bonn was nice; small, but pleasant to walk around. We wandered quickly around the park, then the river, and in the city. Saw Beethoven's birthplace (but didn't want to pay to go in) and had a delicious filling meal and beers at the brewery Zum Stiefel (the Boot). Surprisingly, stores were open this Sunday!
Already bored and wanting to check out more, we hopped on the (slow) train to Cologne. We explored the city, walking through the cathedral and the city. We wandered all the way to Zülpicherstraße and got another drink at a bar there. Leona had to return in time for her flight, so we returned to Düsseldorf (I slept on the train).
Anton and I cooked some more chicken (the cutlets that weren't spoiled).

Monday, 4 November
The 2 new interns started: Rob from England, and Miika from Finland. I went to lunch with Carl, Toby, and Miika at Vapiano.
Mike had the day off, but he nevertheless stopped by the office to sort out ordering his Internet and finding a mattress for his apartment (he was sleeping on an air mattress).
After work, I walked Miika to his new flat. He moved into Mike's room. What a coincidence! I then went home and cooked some eggs. Then I went to the other company flat to see Yuti. Chilled with her and Nicky and Annalia and Kate (and Carlos). Chatting about their trip to Amsterdam, India, nakedness in Finland, and Breezerslets (new Dutch word, lol). I then stopped by downstairs to say hi to Sabrina and see how her trip to Belgium was. Matilde was also there, and so was Rob (the new British intern). He was feeling a bit ill so I offered him some lemon ginger tea.
It was really cold at night. Close to freezing. Got home and slept around midnight.

I was awake before 08:00, but I took my time getting ready, browsing the internet, and cleaning up, so I didn't get to the office until around 09:15.

Work is very routine now. Nothing too interesting happening. I don't have much motivation to push creative ideas or take much initiative. I'm occupied just keeping things going at the status quo.

There is still no answer from my intern, Kila. She needs to decide. I'm already interviewing other people.

For lunch, I biked to What's Beef burgers. I figured, why not? I had wanted to go there for a long time, and I was really annoyed that everyone else had gone there without me. I was also feeling particularly jealous of Mike again, for going to Mongo's restaurant last night and saying that there's no way he would go there again because it's too expensive.

I'm slowly getting prepared for my trip to India in less than 3 weeks! But first, halloween. People don't know my costume, except for the Americans. Nick is really excited for it.

We celebrated Jon's birthday by surrounding him at his desk in an ambush. There was delicious cake and "Windbeutel" (cream puffs). Mike couldn't remember the Dutch name for them (soesje).

Also, what am I going to do this weekend? I.e. where am I going to travel? There are no available hostels in Amsterdam or in Hamburg.

I went to Badminton after work. It was raining a bit on my way over. There were just 3 of us - me, Yuti, and Chusin ("Ohm") who is from Thailand and new at the company. They were both better at badminton than I was. But it was fun nonetheless.

Back at the apartment, Badi had two friends over for dinner. They left as I showered. Anton and I had dinner (I just fried up some veggie frikadelles) and lit up a dooooooobie. Watched an episode of Archer which is pretty interesting. I could get into it.

I need to get a new bike bell. Maybe I'll go to the store.

Katie and Victor came over last night, and well, I was still feeling the effects of our sampling the whole day at work.

The clocks went back one hour, so it's at least getting light at 7am, but dark by 5pm. I have been sleeping a lot. Last night, I went to bed around 9:30pm and didn't wake up until 7:30am.

It was a very relaxed, chill day at work. Just doing my daily tasks. Playing around with GDN.

There is a big storm that is hitting southern England today. But over here in Germany, there were periods of rain showers, but mainly it has been very windy! But I love it; the air feels fresh and clean.

Lunch: leftover bolognese + Sardinian pasta in the kitchen with Toby.

Toby and I are planning an academy session in 2 weeks.

Mike had a team event - Mongo's restaurant. He gets the keys to his new apartment on Wednesday, and Friday-Sunday he'll be moving. (I need to stop thinking of Mike all the time. It's making me feel less secure and happy about my own life, which makes no sense.)

I can't find my blue folder. It is important - in there was my TAN list (for banking) and the receipts for my work permit, which I want to be reimbursed for. I don't know where they could be! I came back with the folder from Amsterdam. It's not in any of my bags, or anywhere in my room (I cleaned my room and went through everything this past weekend), nor is it anywhere at my desk in the office. Hmm...

Went home and watched an episode of HIMYM before going to bed early around 10:30pm. I guess this lack of light is really making me tired!

Last night, I crashed my bike. I was on my way to Mike's place from Stadtmitte (I had just rushed to the two costume shops to buy my Halloween costume, and had also stopped at Ho's supermarket). I wasn't paying too much attention, and my bike fell into the tram tracks. I got a bad scratch on my lower right leg, and my left knee got bruised. They will be sore for the next few days.

Mike was stressed because he found out that a big release he was working on had very incorrect data. "I'll have to stay until 10, 11pm," he said. But he was home (Tod couldn't get the data before the end of the day). So I joined him for dinner - we made an asian stir fry thing which he really liked. We stayed in, gezelig as usual, and watched The Road to El Dorado (Mike said I looked like one of the characters) and some Big Bang Theory.

Got up, got ready, then went to the bank. I transferred money to Anna S. for the Justin Timberlake concert ticket. I then went to Kaisers and bought breakfast for the team (it was my turn). I showed up slightly late, so our meeting was at 10:30 instead of 10.

Work is the same; there isn't too much excitement for me. I'm writing a blog entry.

It looks like I'll finally get Kila as my intern!

Went to Salsa dancing after work. My partner was Isadora. The instructor only spoke Spanish. It was pretty good, not too difficult. I'll go back. :)

Stayed after for some beer/pizza at Ratingerstraße with Sabrina, Mathilde (the new Portuguese girl who lives in my room in the flat), Alessandro, Kevin, Hyemee, and Estela.

Biked home. Made ramen. Called home. Slept. (Last week I had been sleeping 10+ hours a night, now I'm only getting 7 and it is making me tired.) Whew!

Walked to work again.

The weather is cold and rainy, showers passing by every hour or two.

Work is much of the same. It's not bad. Just monitoring my campaigns and pushing to optimize. And uploading new pictures, etc.

Lunch: went to the Mensa, with Toby, Francesco, Mike. Robin and Franco joined us after going to the bank. Toby managed to pay for Mike's food, and it was only €1.50 per person (student price).

Dude, it's been 6 months since I started working here.

I'm struggling with whether I should move to Stadtmitte. Everyone is living there. But I don't want to seem weak and do it just because my friends are there. I have to do things for myself. Is that stupid? I mean, lots of people move near their friends, right? I do need to spend less time with Mike.

What am I going to do about this apartment search? Part of me doesn't want to move out, if it will be so much more expensive. I feel like I'm just copying Mike.

I also feel the same way about a lot of things - for example, the clothes I wear and what cologne I wear. I really feel it's important to have my own style, but I can't really have that when all my clothes are bought here. I don't want to be a follower. But is that really what makes me a leader? Fuck, I don't know what to think anymore. I just want to get all the attention. I guess I do have an American style, I'm not as naturally well-dressed as all the Europeans here. Just keep it simple.

Fuck, I still don't have a halloween costume. I'm getting so slow at doing things lately!

I also hate not having a bike. It just makes me want to stay inside all day.

Left work at 6:30. There wasn't really anything to do. Stayed in, cooked a can of soup (eintopf) and watched Glee and New Girl and some TED talks. Slept early, and woke up 7am, and now here I am!

Canadian Thanksgiving.

The sun rises really late now. It's 8:20 and its barely coming up. I decided to come to work earlier today, because there's so much to do on Monday mornings.

So it's been a couple months since I stopped my daily blogging. I have just been focusing on my work, and my social life. My life is still fully trivago, which is awesome.

I just returned from the trivago on tour trip. Wow, what an amazing experience! I cannot believe that I was lucky enough to join. I really wonder what I did in a past life to deserve this.

Today was "back to work." But a lot of people were still tired and hungover from the last few days of the trip.

I played pool "pika" with Mike in the morning. I had lunch with Antonis, to discuss Oktoberfest since he was there over the weekend. It was expensive.

Went home around 6pm. Just too tired and unmotivated to get much work done today.

I just got a phone call from Mike. HE GOT THE APARTMENT that he viewed on Thursday. It's just what he wanted - a big place all to himself, and in a very central location! I'm happy for him, but it's also bittersweet for me, since there's no more chance of us living together anymore.

Going now to the flat to watch the Breaking Bad finale!

The weather has been warm and sunny. :)

Friday, 19 July 2013
End of the day, there was a mini-crisis with one of my campaigns.
Had a couple beers, then went home with Adonis and had dinner together. We then walked together to the altstadt to Sigrid's, where she and Anna were drinking wine and enjoying the terrace. There were fireworks, so we all walked to the river and checked it out. I tried to contact Tobi and Mike but to no luck.
Ran into Francesco, who was celebrating Jureg's birthday. Adonis and I joined them, including Pavlina and Dante, and Petr and Mira, for a night out. We had cocktails (cum shots and white russians) at Mirrors, then stayed for a round of tequila shots. Then we went to Mauer, which wasn't that great but oh well.
I was happy drunk, not the angry drunk that I was before. I guess deciding to act better and care about others really changes the way I act when drunk. Nice.
Nevertheless, I was drunk. I walked back with Adonis and decided I was too drunk to bike, so I just slept on his couch.

Saturday, 22 July 2013
I woke up around 9:30am. I heard someone showering - must have been Mike. Then someone else - Adonis? But I looked up and saw standing in the doorway: Tobi! "You don't live here," I drunkenly said. Haha, he had apparently stayed with Mike the whole night, coming back here to smoke some shisha.
It was a slow day as you can imagine, but I wasn't too hungover. I went home to recharge for an hour (and to charge my phone) then joined Mike and Tobi at Real for the usual shopping. We then went to the Arcaden, where Mike bought shoes, Tobi posters, and me a charger for my phone and earphones. I also got a new pair of good flip flops for only €10.
We then were hungry and I convinced the guys to go for burgers, so Space Burger it is. Along the way, we biked right behind the Bayern Munich team bus, which stopped in front of a hotel. We stayed for about an hour waiting for the team to come out. And yes, we saw them. Maria C and Mira happened to bike by too. Funny.
Space burger was nice, we sat outside and were just making "that's what she said" jokes the whole time and checking out chicks. After 2 beers, we left and then went to the rhine steps to chill and bask in the sun. There were some drunk bums that were entertaining everyone.
Then, we each biked home to rest (bumping into David along the way).

Around 8:30pm, Mike came over with his shisha and we went to Nordpark. We found a place to just chill in the park

Sunday, 21 July 2013
Woke up early (9am) but well-rested. I guess it must have been all the tobacco from last night. Was it that strong? Anyway, I'm surprized that I enjoyed shisha so much.

I was supposed to go on a bike tour with Sigrid, but she was just back home at 11am (from a late night celebrating Tiffany's birthday) and needed to sleep. Ok, then I joined everyone else for a day at the swimming center.

It was the last day of the Kirmes but I didn't even go.


Monday, 22 July 2013
Got up a little earlier and to work. It was warm, so of course I was wearing shorts and my new flip flops. It was the last day of the big fashion/Maserati show in the building, so there were delays getting up the elevators.
Had my 1-to-1 with Thomas. His bikes were stolen.
Lunch: kebab truck with Francesco, Mike, and Tobi. A lot of coworkers were also in the park. It was really warm in the sun, so we sat in the shade. Then, had a meeting explaining product and content to us, which was useful. And then, I had a brainstorming meet
After work, I joined Mike for a really fast dinner. We rushed on our bikes (Mike sweaty and shirtless) to Cinestar and watched World War Z. Tobi and Francesco arrived just at the same time. I tried to minimize my complaining about (having to pay for) going to the movies and tried to just enjoy it. It was not bad, but cost €12.50 (including 3D glasses, ugh!).
Biked home.

Friday, 12 July 2013
Drinks after work. We got excited by the idea of booking a spontaneous trip somewhere. Mike, Francesco, Tobi, and I were all "in" to go Blind Booking, but we realized we'd just end up in Prague or Hamburg, which wasn't worth it. What about Amsterdam? No, too close. I just wanted to go somewhere with a beach. Anyway, whatever - tomorrow we'd be going to Cologne, like it or not. But we stayed drinking at the office, and people as usual headed out into the Altstadt.

Saturday, 13 July 2013
Happy birthday mom! I changed my profile pic in her honor.
Day in Cologne. Museum with Katie and Mike and Tobi. Met the rest, Katie stayed in the museum then went back to Ddorf for the French picnic. We then climbed the top of the Cathedral. Good view. And we signed our names with my permanent marker :)
We spent the day walking around, stopped by a brewery for lunch which was expensive but I had 3 meals so I was full. Took plenty of cool pictures while walking around. Walked along the river, layed in the grass. Bought a bunch of drinks, went to the other side of the city, drank in the park while waiting for fireworks. Played "who am I?" Saw the fireworks, was tipsy. Walked back into the city - a long and exhausting walk. It was 1am and we couldn't figure out the address where Daniel's friends were. I was pissed off and destructive.

Sunday 14 July 2013
Slept at 6:30 am. Was asleep until 1pm. Badi had returned from his vacation in Morocco. He had his kids over, as usual.

Monday, 15 July 2013
Back to work. 1 on 1 with Thomas. I have to follow up and set up a lot of things.
Team event after work. Casita Mexicana (replacement because What's Beef burgers was closed for some bureaucratic reason). Shots of Mescal. Oh yeah.
I wanted to go to the fair (Kirmes) but it was too late, and I would be too tired (which is the story of the week). Mike was at the fair with the French team for the team event.

Tuesday, 16 July
Work work work. Lunch with Francesco and Tobi (döner). We're all stressed and busy. Afterwards, I went to play badminton. Again, the bike group turned the other way than me. I stopped by McDonald's on the way and brought burgers. Nom. The plan was to go to the fair afterwards; Mike and I showered there (I saw Mike naked hehe), went to McD's for food, then to Mike's place to drop off his stuff. But something was wrong with his bike chain, so we stayed to fix it first. But this took some time (because of the cover on the chain. So an hour later, we were covered with bike grease and tired (from walking up and down to his flat). The fair would be closed, we thought, so instead we just went to my place, shared one Belgian beer, and watched Olympus Has Fallen, which I thought had a very thin plot but had a popular cast.

Wednesday, 17 July
Work is busy, and there aren't enough hours in the day to finish it all.
At least it's warm.
After work, I finally went to the fair! I walked there with Antonis. Mike had gotten his new phone, and he called me to let me know that he would meet us there. We also met Thomas (from LSE), and we walked around for some time. I was tired (from the walking and the long day at work). Mike was really excited to go on rides. I ate churros with ice cream (yum!) and then we rode a big spinning swing. And we had some beers (but I was knackered). They were making fun of me. Antonis couldn't handle all the pretty girls, and Mike was just like, "GO TALK TO THEM!" Thomas and I went home but Mike stayed to take more pictures.

Thursday, 18 July
I came into work late, because I was so tired. This got me into a little trouble with Thomas. Katie pulled me and said "we need you" - it was a meeting to think of a new slogan for the career website. I just said the first thing that came into my mind - "redefine work" - and it was by far the best idea of the whole session. BOOM. I'm known as a "creative" mind now. :)
I brought eggs with me for lunch. Walked with Franco a bit in the park afterwards. I have a "secret admirer" who invited me for a bike ride on Sunday. How sweet!
After work, I was planning to stay late, but instead I got pulled into beach volleyball. I biked there with Mike, Tobi, Jennifer, and Jeff (who had broken the lock to his bike). It was warm and people had no sense of coordination with themselves for it. Half of the guys were shirtless (me, Daniel, Tobi, Mike, and Eoghain). Afterwards, Mike showered naked again, heheh and we all biked back. I went straight home and cooked stir fry. I got a message from Mike saying that they were going karaoke! What, without me?! I felt bad that people would do something without me. Fuck, what happened to Friday! This was supposed to be my thing. I felt left out. But I had to stay home - I needed to rest (and not wake up so late) and hang up my laundry. So I did the right thing, but I just wanted to be out. Maybe I'm just jealous of Mike for doing so much. Oh well.

Now to work, again!

I can only talk about how many sausages I have. I had so many leftover sausages from the 4th of July party and my housewarming.

Work has been busy. Mostly because of the daily maintenance/monitoring that I now have to do. I guess it is the main part of my job, after all!

I had lunch on the terrace along with like 40 people :P At first it was just Maria C, Sigrid, and I but soon everyone came out to join. Mike and Tobias went to the park by the river. I saw them coming in as I went out to bike to Nordstrasse to buy a birthday card for my mom.

The Canadians (Alexa and Steph) complimented me repeatedly on my scruff. (that is, my partially grown-in beard).

At the end of the day, my team was planning our team event. Oktoberfest is likely out. But Thomas sent everyone a video link to a penis piano player. WTF.

I picked up some food (sausages and tomatoes) from my flat and then went to Mike's for dinner (I invited myself over). Mike, Natalie, and Tobi were just walking out to the stores. I reluctantly joined them :P The one beer I had at the office was getting to my head. They had salad; I had sausages in lettuce. Adonis returned. We watched a Playboy documentary then headed out to Ratinger str. Natalie rode on Mike's backseat again. I don't know why I feel so jealous when she does that. Actually I'm jealous of Mike for having so much balance and skill... on his bike.

Oh yes, and the whole evening's conversation was just sexual innuendos.

After stopping by Tobi's to get a jacket, Mike's seat was loose. But we continued on to Ratinger, where we entered the crowd, which was really crowded. Coincidentally we ran into a big group of work people (several of which arrived at the same time). Francesco arrived just after us. Victor and David were there, as well as Mihai, Sydney, Maren, Abhi, and several others.

Adonis arrived, and it was him and Mihai and I. The rest of them disappeared, and we kept looking for them.

Drinks in the street. This is our Wednesday routine. We went home just around midnight. I biked straight home, parting ways with Mike and Tobi just at the park.

Saturday, 6 July 2013
I was pretty tired and slightly hungover after Friday night (at the company flat). Pavlina's friends, especially Ben (or Dan? Either way, we called him Borat because of his accent) from Prague were pretty drunk and hilarious. When I left, Francesco was really worried that the cops would come again so he was desperately trying to get everyone out of the house.

I woke up around 12. On my phone was a text (in German): "Jason, did you get my email? Does 11am still work for you today?" Oh shit, I had scheduled a flat viewing. Dammit. I rescheduled to the afternoon. I tidied up a little bit, but was just tired. The plan was to have a mini-housewarming at my place tonight. I went to Rewe to buy some food for myself and supplies for the evening, and then it was already time to go to the viewing. The flat was really nice but it was only for one person, not something I would be interested in.

I biked back to the flat and just waited until the evening. I called home. I rushed out to get some last-minute beer and bread, etc., and when I walked out the door, I realized that my pocket was empty. I had my wallet, but I didn't have my keys.

Fuck.

Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Work. Was pretty productive. Mike stayed after work to the Academy (in which Malte was talking about the history of the company - apparently it gave Mike several business ideas which are good). I was at work until 19:30.
I got a call from Selcuk, saying that he was in Düsseldorf!We tried to meet up, but it was too far for him to get across the city (he was by the Medienhafen) to me. So I biked to Nordstrasse, expecting to meet him, but instead I just bought toothpaste and biked home.
For the first night, I wasn't with Mike. I just stayed home, relaxing. Mike was sending me screenshots of his chat with Tiffany, which was getting out of hand. I couldn't believe how crazy it was getting, and all because of her (not him). I did my best to console him but I realized that he needed me there, but it was already 1am and I was asleep in bed.

Wednesday, 3 July 2013.
I was getting excited for the 4th of July. It was a rainy day. I made lunch - boiled pasta with pesto sauce. Had a meeting with Thomas and Andi in which I proposed a revamp of our internal knowledge pages. Felt good to take some initiative!

After work, Mike and I biked to Netto, then Aldi, to buy (1) my pb&j for tomorrow and (2) dinner for tonight. We were hungry. We made burgers! They were delicious (with the crunchy fried onions). Mike was hot and took off his shirt. I gave him a massage. We sat, very gezelig on the couch. The two of us are not gay! But wow, we are closer than most married couples! Stayed up looking for flats. So it looks like we'll be living together soon.


Thursday, 4 July 2013.
The FOURTH OF JULY. I dressed up in my best red, white, and blue. Apparently most of the other guys in the office were wearing the same red/blue plaid button down with a white undershirt. Lame!

People were very impressed by my jacket. I was called Evel Kenievel (we need to shoot you out of a cannon!), Michael Jackson (learn that moonwalk, and start a band called Jason's Jacket), a power ranger, and Captain America. Awesome!!!

I got the tumblr account. I started posting on it.

I only had time to have a pb&j sandwich for lunch. The afternoon was useless. At 5, the girls went to receive the tables which were delivered. That left me and Patrick to coordinate the last-minute shopping and everything else. It was a mess. Stephen and I walked to Netto and bought what we could. But burgers were still missing. So, I biked ahead to Aldi and to a kiosk to buy newspaper, then rushed in the warm afternoon sun to the riverfront. There was the team. I unloaded my stuff and tried to start the fire asap. The wind blowing made it hard to for the charcoal to catch; and it was soggy, which slowed it down further.

Soon, Francesco (the birthday boy) also arrived and groups of people from the office. Still no bbq. But people were drinking. Oh well. I was also a little stressed about the playlist - it was started 2/3 of the way through, skipping over so many classic and good songs that I had coordinated. Mike was there, with his luggage. We were singing "Livin' on a Prayer" and "Don't Stop Believin'" loudly. It was awesome. The grill finally started around 7:30 and we could make some burgers, which were hard to flip with just a spatula (they fell off the grill). Oh well. I made several batches of pb&j for people. The chili was good, and Syd and Katie's mac and cheese was amazing but cold.

Mike left for his train. For some reason my phone wasn't getting any signal at all! Drinking continued, people playing flunkyball and ultimate frisbee. Beer pong and flip cup. Somehow people made shots of whiskey and maple syrup, which were surprisingly good.

That was it. We started taking turns bringing back cases of empty beer bottles to the office. It was a messy process to clean it all up. Peter and I. Tobi and Syd and Alexa were really drunk, after doing jello shots. Tobi and Syd fell down and both bruised their ankles and were in so much pain, but it was hilarious too! I live-texted the events to Mike (who was just arriving home) as they unfolded. I made it home around 12:30 (with a bag full of food) and took a bath.

Friday, 5 July 2013
Work = slow. I helped Katie and Steph clean up the beer bottles in the morning. I returned Katie's socks.
Tobi was really hungover. We had a meeting to discuss KPI reporting and brainstorm new ideas. I went to lunch with the team to a Goulash place (Dauser) that was affordable and good. We got ice cream (noggers) from Netto on the way back to the office.
Did not get much work done.

BBQ at the company flat afterwards for Celine's last day.

Friday, 28 June 2013
Work. Had a lot to finish up. I skipped Janko's birthday celebration, and Denis' leaving drinks, where apparently Malte gave a speech. Stayed late, joined everyone around 6:30 for beers. It was loud and crowded on the 10th floor. I chatted with Liziane the Brazilian who is nice. Some people went to the Altstadt. Everyone else (led by Mike) went for pizza just around the corner, but I wanted to do my own thing so I just went home (and I think I resent Mike being such a natural leader).

Saturday, 29 June 2013
Got up and cleaned a bit. Sigrid arranged for us to meet at the flea market. Hyemee and Kevin were already there. I biked to Mike's place; Adoni took the tram there, while Mike and I rode our bikes. There, Mike easily got distracted by all of the bike accessories, and the Dutch fish stand. I found Sigrid and Tiffany sitting at a table. I had a flammkuchen.

We then biked to the Arcaden. I bought two watched. Adoni and Tiffany walked. My goal was to get a red/white outfit for Canada Day and the 4th of July. And a pink shirt for Friday. Sigrid was my personal shopper.

Sigrid invited everyone over to Tiffany's for dinner. The plan was for Tiff to make sushi. We split up; Sigrid and Tiff S-Bahned home, while Adoni took Sigrid's bike with us to the Asian store as we bought supplies. I stopped by Karstadt to return my bike tire. Adonis discovered that Sigrid's rear tire was flat, so he walked the rest of the way, while Mike and I biked, stopping by Aldi.

Wednesday, 26 June 2013
Work. I had a bunch of things to do.

The weather was cool. It's supposed to be summer!

Brought lunch. Had a planning meeting for the 4th of July office party.

Beach vollyball after work. Kevin drove us (in Anna's car). There were only 6 of us: Me, Alexa, Anna, Mihai, Hannes, and Vicky. It was good - a bit of a workout, and I was sloppy (especially as a setter).
Afterwards, we took the U-Bahn into the city. There, I said bye to Alexa (who was going to Berlin for a King's of Leon concert and for the weekend) and went to Ratingerstr. to meet Mike. I saw his bike and gave him a text. Tobi then called me back, and I met up with them (plus Antonis).

We had a couple beers on the sidewalk. We went back into the crowd and found the b marketing team. Fabian had bought a round of shots for everyone!

Thursday, 27 June 2013
Had our team USA meeting. I then made a calendar of all the weird holidays in the world. Mike saw it and said that he already did it. Really?? Mike does so much work, and he somehow has time to take his own initiative on really big projects.

I am trying to figure out the best way to keep track of the KPIs. It's sort of embarrassing that I don't know at this point, but I should ask for help. Because I'm devising my own system when there may already be an internal system in place (display cont?).

After work, there was the "academy" session on Excel training. It was so slow and boring and useless. He just taught us like 5 formulas, but nothing I would really use frequently.

Then, it was time for dinner at Sigrid's. Danny and I biked together. Sigrid was preparing meatballs. There was also Anna, Mike, Daniel (new guy from Sweden), and Tiffany (Daniel's flatmate, a gourmet dessert chef from Liverpool via Aus/New Zealand).

Sunday, June 23, 2013
Hangover day. I went for a run around Nordpark. It was nice, such a beautiful park. After the antics of last night, I presume that everyone else was completely dead.

I didn't hear anything from Mike until the mid-afternoon. He had slept over at Sigrid's place, sharing the bed with her and Lilly. No, Sigrid just slept, but Lilly was awake, and Mike was up all night :) I am really impressed with Mike. 2 weeks and he's really knocking it out of the park at our job, both professionally and personally/socially. He's an all star.

In the evening, I went to Mike's place for dinner. We cooked spätzle with bacon and onions and some mashed potatoes on the side. It tasted really bland. Adonis joined us. I made my first video on Instagram. Mike and I stayed up, starting to watch some animated movie that looked boring, so we switched to Peep Show. I biked home around 11:30.

Monday, June 24, 2013
Back to work. And things were not going well for me: My campaigns were performing poorly. Very poorly. Like, only getting less than 10 per day (a more acceptable rate would be closer to 10,000).

I brought lunch - frozen veggies and veggie schnitzel. Ate it late, around 2:30pm. I was supposed to meet with Thomas, but he kept postponing the scheduled meeting again and again.

Had a call in the evening with a potential site - but it didn't really go too well. So I ended the day feeling bad about work and somewhat stressed.

I had dinner with Mike at his place after work. We stopped by Netto and bought some pork chops. Cooked it with rice. Antonis bought some more rice. We (including Mandy) all took the trash downstairs (for the first time; they just got their key). I stayed until around 11:30 again, just Mike and I chilling on the couch. Mike began to skype with Lilly. Aww.

Tuesday, June 25, 2013
In the morning, I met Badi, who was about to leave for Morocco for 16 days. But (after a night of heavy drinking) his phone was broken and he needed some way to contact his friend on the way to the airport. So I set him up with my old UK phone.

Got to work around 9:30. Not too much to do; Robin keeps asking me questions every 5 minutes, which does interrupt my (slow) work but which I also totally understand.

Mike got official news from Sydney: His contract would be renewed to stay on for his thesis! Yes! And Syd said "if I ever leave my job you'll take over for me" - WOW. Just wow. 2 weeks in the job and he is basically guaranteed to become a leader/manager at the company. Seriously, I'm truly impressed.

Lunch: Joined Matze, Francesco, Toby, and Mike. Mike wanted to invite people from the 10th floor, but no one bit. We went to Luxor grill and all ordered some chicken with side veggies and covered with gravy (not bad).

In the afternoon, I had a meeting with my boss and the head of marketing. It was a performance review and goal-setting session for the rest of the year. I wasn't too prepared for it. They gave me some goals that I need to reach by the end of the year, and my variable (bonus) payment depends on it. I need to be proactive and independent, and smart. I also need to be unafraid of asking questions. I'm already 2 months into my job and I still don't know a lot.

Long story short: Like always, I need to be like Mike.

There was cake at work (for the 2nd day in a row - good job team). I got some leftovers. I stayed at work late (until 8pm) but had a good phone call that might lead to something good :)

Stayed home and had a hard time finding online streams/torrents (even with my unblocker). I reactivated my Netflix subscription, but few movies were there. I watched The Hangover Part II and The Hangover III. They were alright, but not as gut-burstingly funny as movies from 10+ years ago (or I'm just less easily amused).

Friday, 21 June 2013
I had work. I was late to work - I woke up and it was already 9:30. Oops. So, I had my breakfast at 11:30am. Thus, I wasn't hungry when we (Francesco, Matze, Mike and I) went to Vapiano. I had a salad that I finished quickly.

I was pretty bored at work. Unlike everyone else. So I did feel a bit guilty about it. I had 1 beer before leaving - I was on a quest to buy my bike repair kit. Sigrid lent me her bike (because her friend Lilly was visiting and they were going to take the tram together. Her bike was heavy and had only pedal brakes. I went home and then headed out to Real. Along the way, I realized that I would pass Karstadt Sport, where I could buy the repair kit. So I did that, and I went straight from there to Sigrid's.

Sigrid hosted dinner for Lilly, myself, Mike, and Danny. I arrived there a little early, and we chatted for a bit before Mike and Danny came. We spent the night chatting, making jokes and innuendos, at eating the really nice salad and cheese that Sigrid made.

I took the U-Bahn back, arriving home just around midnight, as Mike and Danny biked home.

Saturday, 22 June 2013
Mike fixed my bike! He came over and just did it. I'm so grateful. He is an expert at it - knowing how to remove the tire (which was particularly difficult on my bike), to soak the inner tube in water to identify the leak, sand down the puncture area, apply the patch, hold it for 5 minutes, and put the tire back in (starting from opposite the valve). I was truly impressed.

I resolved to spend the day without complaining. I want to be a truly positive person, not douchey. So I bit my tongue whenever I could.

It's almost the solstice. The days are really long. Even at 11:30pm, it's not fully dark yet. I like it, and it makes it easy not to have a light on my bike :)

Anyway, work was both boring and busy. Because I essentially have to wait for TW to approve much of what I do, I'm just sitting around not doing much. And then in the afternoon, I have calls and emails and meetings with the US (bc of the time difference).

I try to bother Mike into coffee breaks as much as possible, but he's also busy and rushes off quickly. He's doing really well. As I always say, I love this guy to the end. He gives everything his all, and doesn't complain. He offers to help people where most people would shrug off the inconvenience. He is determined and friendly. He's unbelievably energetic. And he's really smart, so he always does his work better than anyone else can, and he's always suggesting great new ideas. It's no secret that I admire him, and am constantly jealous of him. I have absolutely zero worries about him and his future - he will easily achieve whatever he sets his mind to, and he will set his mind to some great things, I'm sure. I love this dude and even contemplating a future without him starts to break my heart.

Enough about my love story with Mike. (Apparently we're "vapendragere" in Swedish.)

It was warm and humid. I was wearing shorts. Some heavy rain passed through in the middle of the day, so we (DPM) ordered delivery, luckily before everyone else did so we got our lunch in time. I had a quick meeting with team North America (sans Jon) which was cool. Played a round of pool against Robin after lunch; he's really good!

Had a call at 6pm; played a quick round of pool with Mike. Then he went home to skype (he's got some worries on his mind because Laura's sister, sadly, had a miscarriage and now has cancer).

Worked until 7pm. Got home, and was determined to fix my bike's flat tire, because it has been weighing on my mind constantly for the last few days. I had the bike pump and pumped up the rear tire. I went for a quick ride, and it worked fine. Then, I saw that Real is open until 22:00, so I thought, why not bike there? I did, but after 5 minutes my tire was flat again. No worries, I pumped it up, but again after 3 minutes it was flat again. This was going to be a pain in the ass. I wasn't even halfway to the store but already sweaty and exhausted. So fuck it, I turned around and biked home, having to pump it up along the way. I was intercepted by "Rollnacht" (the Thursday night gathering of rollerbladers taking over the streets of Düsseldorf).

Got home, slept early, around 11pm, and woke up at 9:30am. o.O I'm going to be late for work!


Best,
Jason

It's now the second week of Mike working at the office. I also have a new desk neighbor, Robin from the UK. I actually met him on Saturday, at the pre-drinks at the company flat (Mike and I went there to cook dinner with Natalie).

Friday, 14 June 2013
Stayed at the office after work. Katie had reserved the upstairs patio and grill, and we drank a lot of beer. It was fun. I went home, while several others went to the city (apparently Stefano pulled Francesco away to get on the tram).

Saturday, 15 June 2013
Spent the day with Mike (of course). He was waiting for me outside his flat on his bike. We biked to the flea market (Trödelmarkt) which was closed! It was making way for some circus/festival/carnival/fair thing. But we met Anna and Sigrid, who had just bought a bike, and we talked Anna out of buying a way overpriced bike.

Then Mike and I biked to the Arcaden, stopping by Lidl along the way (to buy bread). There, we bought some shorts and Natalie met us. Mike panicked that he lost his keys in the fitting room, and the weren't there - but they were still in his bike lock! XD

We stepped outside, and it started to rain. So we went back inside to get some lunch. And guess what - there was Thomas (from LSE)! We joined him for lunch at the Asian food stand, and got to catch up. He's busy as a consultant for a real estate consultancy.

My best friend has come to me and started working with me. I feel amazing. The last few days we have spent almost all our time together, and I have been absolutely loving it.

"You guys are like a married couple," Judy said to us after we were commenting on each other's outfits. And we both smirked and said "yeah." It's true though - we make each other complete like no one else :)

Anyway, so let's recap how the last days have been.

Sunday, 9 June 2013
I'm hungover from the night before. Mike arrives in Düsseldorf. His dad and stepmom drive him over in a station wagon filled to the brim with boxes. They drive away quickly, and suddenly it's just me and Mike! We get settled into my room and then biked together to the trivago flat, where I promised Francesco and co. that I would come over to grill the meat that we had. So we did, even though it was cloudy and not too warm. Danny, Pavlina, and Matze were all hungover too. Celine was back from the festival, looking beat as well. We ended up watching some Formula 1 (taking place in Montreal, to Mike's delight) before heading back.

Monday, 10 June 2013
Mike's first day of work. I went with him to the office, had some cereal and dropped him off to wait for Sydney (who was running late).

Meanwhile, my whole team was uprooted and moved to new desks. Just 2 rows away, but a completely different view. I'm no longer staring outside into the sunlight, which is good; however, I'm closer to the bathroom and corridor so I hear more noise.

For lunch I joined Mike and Sydney at Vapiano.

Otherwise, for me it was a slow day at work. Until 5pm, when I got a couple new projects (setting up DBM). Typical.

After work, Mike and I went into the Altstadt to buy him a SIM card. But that was unsuccessful. We walked around for a bit before biking back home.

After a long way back from Antwerp to Düsseldorf, which involved taking 5 different trains and a rail replacement bus, I dragged my luggage off the tram and back to my flat. I was tired.

I was nervous about work, because I had made a big mistake and didn't know what the fallout would be. I arrived on Monday, understanding that I needed to do some sort of penance, and there was some underlying tension, but it soon was all gone.

I was a bit of a workaholic this week, really trying to get our costs under control, and trying to get a new deal agreed on. I was frequently at work late, making phone calls to the US (because of the time difference).

On Tuesday, I had an almost all-day-long training session. Then, I went to Badminton after work. It was fun, and not too hard. Danny was really good at it. Jennifer, who had been playing for 2 years, was still taking some tips from Phil.

Wednesday, my bike lock broke. Like, the key almost snapped in half. So I rushed to Woolworth's to buy a replacement.

At home each day this week, I just watched episodes of Game of Thrones. I stayed off facebook and whatsapp for some time to avoid all the spoilers.

Thursday, lots of meetings.

Friday! Slow day. Thomas left early to go to Rock am Ring. Jealous.

Saturday = go to Real,- as we usually do. I met Francesco at the Hbf and we took the tram further. We were going to grill, but the timing didn't work out as we needed to go to the Kö at 8:30pm to meet everyone. So we just cooked some chicken with rice. And pre-drank. Belgian beer, then Bacardi and coke.

The club night at Mr Thompson's was awesome. It's like a Vegas club. In my usual fashion, I left without saying goodbye to anyone and then walked (yes, WALKED!!) all the way home (in my nice shoes).

What a legend.

Anyway, Mike is on his way RIGHT NOW to Germany. He's bringing 8 boxes and 2 suitcases, oh my god, how I will fit all of that in?! (that's what she said)

Started the day with a quick breakfast of bread, butter, cheese and sliced salami.
Used my new bike lock (because my other one broke yesterday; the key almost snapped in half!)
Work around 09:30.
Was admonished by Thomas. I had fucked up a bit last week.
Spent time trying to "fix" my mistakes on GDN.
Had 4-5 hours of training for a new system.
Lunch: a short 15 minute break, devoured my pasta tofu bolognese.
Swag almost ruined GoT for me.
More GDN fixing.
Had to prepare slides for tomorrow's meeting
Call with a US deals website.
Badminton! I stopped by home to pick up my clothes. It's not too hard and pretty fun. Easier to just pick up than tennis. I would do it again.
Home - watched 2 episodes of GoT, almost caught up now (the season finale is on Sunday).

I still have to unpack all my stuff from Belgium.

Saturday, 11 May 2013
Went to the flea market with Francesco and Matze. It was too late, everything was closing down. We took the tram to the Arcade, where we bought posters at Media Markt, and then to Real, where we bought some food and a bottle of rum.
We played drinking games; specifically, the mustache game! While watching a game schow where a contestant goes head-to-head against Stefan Raab. Drunkenness yay.

Sunday, 12 May 2013
Relaxing day (because we have no choice).
I watched a lot of The Office. I'm almost done with the final season.
The internet in the apartment sucks.
Mike has an interview here on Wednesday! I'm really really excited just thinking about it. I miss him. (But I also have a fear that he would make new friends, do a better job than me, and move on. I know it's crazy, but I really am afraid of people changing. I want to always enjoy things as they are now.)

Monday, 13 May 2013
We launched the world trip giveaway on our Facebook. Exciting!

Tuesday, 14 May 2013
Work. More promotion of the world trip, and contacting potential networks to partner with.
The weather sucks, it's chilly and rainy.

Wednesday, 15 May 2013
I got up early, biked to the city office to pick up my visa.
Got to work. MIKE WAS ON HIS WAY!
I got to meet him at 10:30am just before he had his interview. He was nervous, and for once I felt more confident in him than in myself :) But I knew he was going to rock it - just from the way he handled himself, he already seemed more comfortable there than I do.
Had a meeting to introduce the new "dealform" which we're pushing forward.
After work, I picked up the keys to my new flat.

Thursday, 16 May 2013
Work is fine. Martin is out. I'm contacting a lot of websites. Apparently, there are several websites (bloggers) that I shouldn't be contacting. Oops. Now I have to run my list of contacts with the SEO department to avoid double contacts.

Friday, 17 May 2013
A quiet day - Thomas is gone (to Seattle) through the next week. Waldemar was also out. Most people left the office early, like 3pm. There was nothing to do, so I went home just before 5pm. I finished The Office and received a message from Francesco. They were still drinking in the office apparently, so I returned to join them. The Greek girls were there. Our whole flat was there. We played "touch cup" and I got properly tipsy (doing a helicopter before each drink). I biked home with Eliz. Passed out.

Saturday, 18 May 2013
I biked by myself to the flea market, where I bought some bed sheets (for my new flat). Stopped by the Arcaden, where I bought a polo shirt from H&M and a new pair of shoes (which was necessary considering the horrible state of my only pair of shoes).
Returned home. Francesco and Matze were just getting up. We had some food and then went out to buy food. The music shop was closed. We went to the Sri Lankan store and then to the big Asian supermarket (Ho's), where we got everything necessary to make sushi. Back home, we made sushi with (cooked) salmon, bacon, cucumber, paprika, and avocado.

We then started drinking. We had a bottle of rum, some sake, and a good amount of the disgusting Hungarian liquor that Danny had with him. We did the mustache game again. David joined us, with a lot of beers.  We were watching the Eurovision song contest. We wanted Greece to win.

Danny, David, Francesco, and I walked to Les Halles, where a lot of people from work apparently were. I don’t remember too much ;) but it was fun. I walked back home. I threw a pizza at Francesco. Apparently Danny was beyond gone, as he returned home with a girl and David.

Sunday, 19 May 2013
Detox day. But my hangover wasn’t so bad. I made eggs and (shitty) fries and then joined David and Francesco for a walk in the park, because it was the only sunny day for the whole week. We ended up walking to Grafenberg, where we climbed the forested hills and visited the Wildpark. We gawked at the animals (wild boars and deer) while discussing how delicious they were and their sex. Matze went to Cologne.

In the evening, we helped Eliz learn some Excel to prepare for a work presentation. Mom called; she was just about to leave for a cruise to Mexico and then will be flying to Seattle for the week after that. Too bad I can’t be there.

At least Monday is a holiday :).

Ok. I have stopped posting for the last week or two. A lot has happened, and I've been busy. And recently, my flatmates and I have come to realization that the last thing we want to do after work is stare at another screen in the evening!

But today is the big day: Mike is coming here for his interview!!! He's on the train now, I'll meet him in a few hours. I've been so excited for the last week or two just thinking about being reunited with Mike, it's going to be awesome.

Last night, I watched the season finale of HIMYM. They finally showed the face of the mother. Woot!

I have been getting more busy at work. Managing our ongoing Adwords campaign and continually reaching out to new potential partners. I'm itching to actually get some campaigns off the ground and running.

We launched our World Trip giveaway! It's exciting, and I've been gladly helping out (giving feedback, helping promote it on other websites, etc.). I learned that Americans are complaining that they won't have enough time to take off from work, and that they would have to pay tax. :/

Tonight I pick up the keys for my new flat. I think I'll have at least a week of overlap with my current flat (if possible).

[because I'm used to writing so many emails nowadays] Best,
Jason

This week was another holiday-interrupted week. I can't complain, except for the fact that everything is closed on these holidays, so there's absolutely nothing to do!

Monday, 6 May 2013
Work. Put the other GDN campaigns online. Learned to optimise them.

Tuesday, 7 May 2013
Work. Not much more to do.

Wednesday, 8 May 2013
With the holiday in the morning, everyone went out in the evening. Ratinger Straße gets full on an average Wednesday, and today it was the place to be. People just standing in the streets drinking. Katie was there with two friends who also went to Berkeley; we chatted. Then, we went to two clubs. At the first, I got a cowboy hat. Ran into Thomas, haha. Next, Matthias and Francesco branched off and I stuck with David to a second club. I suddenly felt tired and then pulled a "Polish goodbye," just leaving without saying bye. I walked home!

Thursday, 9 May 2013
Day off. I went into the city (Altstadt) with Matthias and Francesco. We got ice cream, sat on the stairs for a couple minutes, then ate Vietnamese/Chinese food of questionable quality.
Brian's birthday.
Spontaneously, I got a call from Martin. He and a friend (Clemens) had decided to go to a Pennywise concert. Ok, I'm in! We drove in Clemens' van to Cologne. The opening band - Old Man Markley - was unique and good. Stefano (and a couple others from work) were there! I got a black eye. My shoes were destroyed. It was awesome.

Friday, 10 May 2013
A Monday and Friday in one. Matze went straight home. I stayed a little after to drink, Francesco too. Met the Greek girls. Katie won in a captivating game of pool.

Saturday, 4 May 2013

Today was a good day. In fact, the last few days have been good days. Just not my birthday. My birthday wasn't "bad"; it just wasn't particularly special. And it was one of the least exciting birthdays I have had in the last 5 years.

After dropping off his dry cleaning and going to Lidl in the morning, Francesco and I went with Celine to Obi, to buy a grill for our barbecue tomorrow. We then had ice cream at the nearby McDonald's. Ce dropped us off in the city center, and F and I spent several hours wandering around from store to store. We were on a quest to properly stock up for the bbq. We specifically wanted chilis and spices, which were not easy to find. Even the Asian and Turkish stores didn't have them. We ended up going to like 10 different stores, including a Mexican restaurant. We found Real, which is the biggest store of them all, and it had almost everything (except cilantro, which I later found out is coriander).

Sunday, 5 May 2013

Cindo de Drinko! Well, not exactly. We had the barbecue on Celine's balcony. David, Monique and Lisa joined. The sun was shining, and everything felt good. We cooked a lot of meat, and it was great :) We even roasted some marshmallows afterwards. There was a lot to clean up afterwards, but no big worry.

In the evening, our new flatmate arrived: Matthias, from near Würzburg.

I'd like to say that things have gotten much busier at work, but they haven't really; I still needed to get set up with a Google Account to manage our campaigns.

Tuesday (30 April) was Queen's Day in the Netherlands. Many people from our office went there. I feel bad about not going.

Wednesday (1 May) was a day off. Everything in the city was closed. Danny returned home from Queen's day looking completely ragged. I went for a stroll through the park.

Thursday (2 May) was my birthday. Francesco took me out to lunch at a nice but affordable Portuguese place near work. In the evening, nothing was happening, so I sent out invites on CouchSurfing to meet up. I had a few small beers with Gilles (at Kurzes). I biked home, and the girls upstairs surprised me with mini muffins :)

Friday (3 May), I finally got my log in for the Google account, so I spent the day preparing a campaign to launch. I was busy and productive; awesome! Stayed for drinks a little bit after work.

Tuesday, 23 April 2013
Work. We've got a "Round the World" challenge running on Facebook.


In the evening, instead of watching the Champions League match, I found the (German dubbed version of) Man vs. Food. God, I miss American big portion food. I have been missing a lot of things about home.

Wednesday, 24 April 2013
Work. I'm continuing contacting ad agencies. Cool!


Had a flat viewing in the evening, on Nordstraße. The flat isn't huge (i.e. there isn't much place to have guests sleep over), but the location is great. They just showed me the kitchen and the room I'd rent. Germans and their privacy. (Ok, actually just the guy - Silva - was German. Joana is Brazilian and Rana, whom I didn't meet, is Afghanistan).

I went to Woolworths and then was about to ride home when I got a missed call from Jon. Turns out there was a team event tonight, and I was neglected to be informed. The event? An Altbier Safari! Awesome. We (a big group of 20 people or so) went to 5 different breweries and tried many different beers. I met Helena from Britain, Patricia (Sunny?), spoke with Judy, etc. Jon and Katie got into an argument at the Schlüssel brewery. People were noticing. But it was all ok afterwards.


Thursday, 25 April 2013
Work. Had the Team USA meeting.

After work, I joined Alexa, Paola, Felix, Ioannis, and some others for beach volleyball. Felix drove. The court was where the 2012 Olympic mens gold medalists train. And one of them was at the court next to us! I didn't have a change of clothes, so I just simply played in my jeans. It was warm - 26° and somewhat humid. I rode back with Alexa and then biked home. Wow, was I exhausted after that! Slept really well.

Friday, 26 April 2013
Work. Thomas was in London. I still didn't get my access to GDN activated. I had a call with Amazon, handled it all by myself! Afterwards, I hung around and had some drinks at the office. The party wasn't as big as in previous weeks, though.

We (me, Danny, and the girls - Pear, Myrna, Jun, and Anja) went to Vapiano for dinner. It was nice, but I found it annoying how you had to carry around a card and then pay afterwards.

It was raining. I returned on my bike with Danny.

Saturday, 27 April 2013
I would have loved to just relaxed, as I usually do on Saturdays, but in Germany, you have to do all your weekend shopping on Saturday because EVERYTHING IS CLOSED ON SUNDAYS. In the morning, I biked to Aldi, where I loaded up on Groceries. I then spent some time cleaning the kitchen, which was in a disgusting state. I had to scoop out piles of rice from the dishwasher.

I then biked into the city, looking for a clothes shop. Since I didn't go to Belgium this weekend, I had to get some new clothes to wear during the workweek. I found Karstadt, which had a good selection. I was surprised to discover that underwear was, in many cases, more expensive than shirts. Wtf? I stayed shopping for over an hour, overwhelmed by the variety. I bought some shirts. I then hopped over to the sports section across the street and bought some socks. On the way home, I stopped at the Rewe across the train tracks and got milk.

We were having a party in the evening. Well, not really, just the "pre-drinks" before the triple birthday/leaving event at Les Halles. I cooked some tortelloni (undercooked) and then passed out on my bed as Tom and Francesco started drinking. My stomach was not ready for more beer. But I soon joined, as people started arriving. David from upstairs. Tom's rugby friends. Monique. Katie. The girls from upstairs.

We had plenty of beers. Then, we took taxis to the club. They wanted to charge us each €9 to enter, but eventually they talked them into letting all of us in free and with a free prosecco. Yes. It was chilly outside (wtf, spring?!). The club was 60% people from my company. The music was weird at first (many people were just standing around instead of dancing) but it picked up.

Dancing happened. My boss was there. I was pretty restrained, as I didn't really know most of my coworkers that well. And, after all, we were coworkers - I didn't want to have a regrettable impression. I was surprised at how many of my coworkers were coupled up. Hmm.

Around 4 (or 5) we taxied home. Baked some more stuffed hash brown thingies, which are delicious! Danny skyped his girlfriend.

Sunday, 28 April 2013
A slow day. Francesco was really badly hung over (he did have shots of tequila, after all - rarely a good idea). He, Danny, Celine, and I cleaned up together in the morning. It was pretty painless. The sun was warm through the window. There was a marathon going on outside, but we had no interest in seeing it.

We decided to order some pizza. It took a long time (over an hour) to arrive, thanks to the road closures from the marathon. We then watched some New Girl while waiting.

Later in the afternoon, I went for a walk. Clouds had rolled in. I walked around the Zoopark and then north and back. Listening to my iPhone. Was good.

Danny invited me to dinner - it was Tom's goodbye. I shared a taxi there with Tom and his girlfriend Hannah. They were nice but typically British, all small talk but not much of substance, sadly. Dinner was amazingly delicious, but I was sat in an awkward position - at the end, next to Mikkel, who was with his girlfriend Luisa. Tom and Hannah were sitting across from me. So I couldn't participate too much in the conversation. (What's wrong with me? Why am I being so socially awkward around coworkers?! I don't want to be that guy!)

Taxied back with Tom and Hannah. They were exhausted and occupied the bathtub. I went to bed.

Monday, 29 April 2013
It's a short week at work (we have Wednesday off as a holiday). There was a new batch of new people starting at the office today. One girl from Sweden started in SEM. For lunch, we all ordered Chinese food together. But it took a long time to arrive (like 2pm). My stomach was killing me from hunger! (And also maybe because I poured spoiled milk into my coffee in the morning!)

I finally got GDN access (after lots of confusing back-and-forth with the invitation). Soon I'll actually start doing stuff. Otherwise, it was a slow day - I really didn't have much to do.

I'm getting annoyed with Germans constant focus on following the rules. I now really appreciate Americans' attitude and focus on individualism - "just do what you want. don't let anyone get in your way." Whereas here, it's like an earth-shattering sin if you dare to even nudge someone out of your way. It makes it hard to have fun. Nobody appreciates my rule-breaking behavior. :/

Homesick, I spent a couple hours compiling amazing pictures of places in the USA off Reddit. Then watched some Weeds and blogged :)

Earth day. Matt's birthday.

I had a meeting with Rolf, one of the company bosses. The conference room was booked, so I waited for a bit and then just met him directly. We had a nice chat and he reassured me to just be myself and to be unafraid of making mistakes, so that I can learn along with the company overall.

My phone was vibrating several times throughout the meeting, but I didn't dare pick it up. Apparently, Jon, Lisa, Alexa, and Thomas were all looking for me, and it was urgent: The foreign registration office, which usually takes months to get an appointment at, had a free slot today for me, but I had to leave ASAP. By the time the meeting was over, it was too late. But not to worry - Lisa managed to reschedule the meeting for Wednesday! :)

Lunch with Waldemar - I Heart Döner. It was sunny but still cool. I'm still waiting for summer (or at least a decent spring). Martin was out (still in Malaga).

I started contacting lots of US ad agencies. Woot, business!

Cooked ghetto beef with broccoli for dinner. it wasn't too bad. Francesco was chatting with me, "what's your perfect girl?"
"The female version of my best friend."
I skyped with Mike. "Dude, if I were gay..." Haha - seriously, we have the same mind! He had fun in London at Jasper's wedding this weekend. I didn't tell him how jealous I was of his life.

Slept around midnight again.

Friday, 19 April
Work.  I joined Martin, Waldermar, and their colleague for lunch - we walked to a metzgerei/imbiss on Nordstraße, where I got schnitzel with curry sauce. We walked back to eat at the office (the cafe was completely full, and standing room only anyway). Along the way, Martin told me it was his birthday, and we had an awkward moment discussing Hitler's birthday. The food was really delicious.

The weekly "party" was cancelled because Rolf needed the conference room on Saturday morning. Thomas went home shortly after 3; I left around 5:30.

Victoria's last day in the office - she's back to Mallorca.

Saturday, 4/20
I pretty much stayed in. I went to Aldi on my bike (not taking my backpack) and then walked to Kaiser's. I stocked up on soy milk, got some beets, and found some cheese-stuffed hash browns at Aldi. Yum!

Nico texted me from their flat.

I watched some Parks & Rec and comedy (Russell Peters) with Francesco, who had just bought a new HTC phone and was really (really) enjoying it!

Sunday, 21 April
I called mom briefly (before she went to church).

Everything in Germany is closed on Sundays! I hate it!

I had a flat viewing in the afternoon (16:30) - it was in a sketchy neighborhood near the Hbf. The flatmates (Antoine, Elias, Katharina, and the girl from Sweden) were all really nice, but I couldn't find a place to park my bike, and I would have to buy a bed (mattress) and some other furniture. So I would turn them down. I started catching up with The Office.

For the last 3 days I have been spending my days at the office, learning the systems and trying to teach myself the world of display advertising. There is a lot to learn!

The weather has been awesome. Sunny everyday and relatively warm - like 18-22°C every day! I have been riding my bike everyday. The room I have (in the company apartment) is massive, but mostly empty. I simply don't have anything to decorate it with!

Lunch: Tuesday, I went to the local registration office to get my tax registration sorted. I then went home to eat lunch (leftover chili). I tried to make it to the bank, but they were closed between 1 and 2pm! Argh. On Wednesday, I had lunch with "Team America" (Jon, Patrick, Katie, Sydney, and Alexa who looks a lot like Anne Hathaway); we went to the Schwan and everyone else got (or shared) a burger while I had the goulash. Thursday (yesterday), I was going to get lunch with Victoria, but instead I was pulled last-minute into a meeting (USA) where I met Judy (Social) and Peter (SEO). Fun. Thus, I just got a döner from the cart and ate it in the park by the river, basking in sunshine.

The trees are in bloom and starting to grow back their leaves! Finally. I like it.

At 5pm everyday, they pass out beers. Awesome. I still need to figure out how to open a beer from another bottle. Or get a bottle opener ring or something.

I had a flat viewing on Tuesday night. It's a furnished room, not too big, but really close to work. At €450, it's slightly more pricey though.

Wednesday, I returned home after work and caught up completely with HIMYM. Slept around midnight.

Thursday, after work, we had our team event: Go Kart racing, pizza, and laser tag! Wow, what a great time. I drove there with Jose, who offered to take me in his BMW Z3 convertible. We got a little sidetracked by the construction in the city center, but still made it well before everyone else. Go karting (my first time) was unexpectedly intense. The turns were fast and I was slower than most of the group at first, but I eventually found my way and was rolling through the turns easily. Still, 7th place, but I'll take it. Laser tag was great too :) But wow, I was sooo exhausted afterwards.

I asked my friends back in the US to complete some reviews to help our company.

I might go to Antwerp tomorrow, to pick up my luggage. Had no response from Nike. We'll see.

Mike is in London this weekend. I'm honestly jealous of him (I know, I have this amazing job and he's jealous of me), but I would never get invited to a coworker's wedding. And I worked for 2 years at a job. He made closer friends in 6 months than I did in over 2 years -.-

Michelle just joined viber! So, thanks to the time difference, we had a little chat in the morning as I woke up. She was on an overnight bus from NY to Boston.

I was to be at the office at 10am. Danny and I biked together there (everyone else in the flat had left earlier). There were several newbies waiting in the lobby. Jon picked me up and gave me a tour of the office.

Wow, what an office! There are small task rooms, and larger conference rooms, all creatively decorated and named; a climbing/bouldering wall; kitchens everywhere, fully stocked; beer fridges; foosball ("kicker") tables, and so on.

I had an orientation with all the other interns - looks like Danny and I are the only full-time employees starting today. But the company is expanding, so there's lots of new people joining. I then was led to my desk. I sit between Martin and Wildemar. I already had tasks assigned to me (mainly setting up my work accounts, and so on), so I got straight on to that. My "boss," Thomas, was out, busy with appointments. Across from me sits Jennifer, doing Social Media; Vicky, here for just 1 week, from Mallorca; and Felix, who I think does SEM.

Before I knew it, it was lunch time. I joined Martin and Wildemar for some döner. Thomas had a meeting, so he didn't join us at the döner car; instead, we walked to I Heart Döner.

The afternoon was spent doing more of the same, setting up accounts, and so on.

Returned home at 6pm. Danny was there with me. I biked to the grocery store (Aldi), filling up my backback with necessary supplies. (Why do grocers scan so quickly in Germany? There's no space. I can't even fill up my backpack at that pace!) I also stopped by REWE to get what I couldn't at Aldi.

I cooked chili for myself. Tom was back, and he was cooking curry with David (our neighbor from upstairs). He put on A Night at the Roxbury, which was really funny (and which I don't really remember).

I then found out that there were some bombings at the Boston Marathon finish line. I checked that Michelle was ok. Watched some news about it for a few minutes, then retired to bed. What a day.

Friday, 12 April 2013

I left Duisburg and moved into the company-owned flat in Düsseldorf. I made two trips - the first in the morning (while Martin was teaching). It was a nice day so I had a lamacun from the shop around the corner, which I ate in the park. It started sprinkling rain. I returned to Duisburg, meeting Martin at his place. We made burgers (very oily and missing many ingredients such as lettuce and mayo).

We played tennis. Indoors. And I made a fool of myself. Rain began to pour down. It cost €11 per person. Blah.

I then left, with just my backpack of stuff left to carry to the flat. No one was there. I watched TV for a few hours - a behind-the-scenes of South Park, some news, and some Family Guy. I went to bed and then heard everyone return. They were drinking at the office (it was Friday, after all). I met Francesco, Italian/English, from Glasgow. And there was Danny from Denmark, and Todd, Bulgarian but raised in Germany. Danny starts work on Monday as well.


Saturday, 13 April 2013

Danny and I went to the flea market in the south of town. We looked for bikes, shopping for a while before finally choosing a cheap bike each. Mine cost €30 and is a single-speed. But it works.

We (Francesco, Todd, Danny, and I) walked to REWE to stock up on food supplies.

Jan came to visit! He drove from Mainz to see me and to compile his reportage. He accompanied me to my flat viewing in Friedrichstadt. The flatmate, Lars, seemed nice at first but then became increasingly uncomfortable and asked us to delete the pictures we were taking. What a loser. Jan and I kept making fun of him the rest of the day.

Returned to the flat (Jan forgot his wallet) and then we took the tram into the city. Walked around the Altstadt, and we ate at Space Burger, which has a crazy selection of hamburgers but the burger itself was overcooked and on the dry side. We walked, in the warm afternoon sun, along the river, past the Rheinturm to the Medienhafen. We were now craving ice cream, and we walked to an Eismacher (so my phone said) but it wasn't there. At the tram stop, there was a froyo shop which would do.

We returned to the Altstadt and had an Alt bier at Uerige; the beer was more bitter than I remember, bleh.

Back at the flat, Jan conducted his "interview" of me. Francesco was cooking. Jan stayed until around midnight, helping me eat my chocolate bunny, then drove home.


Sunday, 14 April 2013
It was a warm and sunny day. I woke up around 9am and wrote an essay for a travel writing contest. The winning writer gets $500, and the previous years' winners did not seem as well-written as my writing, so I actually think I have a shot. I wrote about my experiences trying to get a UK visa.

Around 2:30pm, I went out for a bike ride. I went past the office to the Rhine and saw all the people enjoying the first "warm" day of the year. It actually felt somewhat humid in the sun. I biked to the Nordpark, taking pictures here and there.

Returned to the apartment, watched several episodes of HIMYM, snacked on bread and leberwurst, and watched some of the football game (AC Milan vs Napoli 1:1). I put a frozen pizza in the oven.

I start work tomorrow!!!! Exciting! Hope I enjoy it - but let's not expect too much! :)

I scheduled two viewings for the day. Just because I still officially have no flat.

Still awaiting the decision from Tobi and my #1 flat. I'm trying to prepare myself for a "no" answer.

But I did get word from the company that I could move into one of their flats temporarily until I found my own place to live. Awesome! So that means I finally, for the first time in 2.5 months, have my own place to live!

My other goal for the day: register with the city. To do that, I needed my rental contract. I emailed with the company to see when I could get it, but Lisa didn't respond until the late afternoon.

In the meantime, I explored a bit (walking across the bridge) and then went to view my first flat of the day. It was being let by an agency; the guy (Markus) arrived 10 minutes late on his bike. It's in Flingern Süd, walking distance from the Hbf (with some new development, including pwc's office, nearby) but not really the most convenient location for me to get to work. But the room would be furnished. Meh. It's like my #3 or 4 choice, just for being furnished.

I then took the tram from the Hbf to Düsseltal, to at least see the neighborhood where the company flat was. It's a good area. Perfect biking distance to work. I walked onward into Pempelfort/Derendorf, where I caught the 701 tram from Münsterplatz (I'm learning these places already!) into the city center and returned to Burger King (which is now my go-to spot for free Wifi!). I got a crispy chicken combo, which tasted really artificial, and checked my email/chatted with Oli and Topi a little on fb. I then got Lisa's email that I could come pick up the contract, so I rushed through my meal and went straight to the office, trying to make it before 5pm. I got there at 4:58 XD and picked up the contract and keys from Monique, the receptionist. I also briefly met Marko? (crap, I'm going to have a hard time remembering everyone's names).

Straight from there, I went to the Bürgerbüro to register. They are open until 18:00 on Thursdays (the only late day) so I was lucky to arrive there at 17:20. I was at first unsure where to go, but I got a number from the information desk. Waited ~15-20 minutes and then was called to a desk, where the guy was really friendly. He just needed my passport really, so I didn't really need the rental contract! Oh well. I'm now officially a resident of Düsseldorf. I also got a welcome package :)

From there, I took the S-Bahn to Zoo and walked to my new (if only temporary) flat. It was on the "ground floor" but upon entering, it split into upper and lower floors. I tried the lower floor first, but no key would work. Then, quietly (so as not to upset the wrong neighbor) I tried the upper floor, and voila - it worked! Inside was Tom, from the UK (Yorkshire, near Leeds). He works in marketing as well and has been in the flat since November. Celine (from Germany) also arrived right after me; she's doing a praktikum (internship). I discovered my room, which is huge, and has a bed (but missing slots in the bed frame). Chatted for a little bit, helped Tom search for a flat, then went off to my other viewing of the day.

I went to an area in Friedrichstadt, not far from the Hbf, and met Flo and Andreas in their 4th-floor flat. The flatmate moving out is taking everything, so the room would be unfurnished, and the two guys are moving out at the end of June too, so it's not the most ideal situation. Flo is moving to Delaware to work, and I chatted with him about commuting there from DC/Baltimore. "Dein Deutsch is verdammt gut." Said Flo. Said bye and headed back.

I caught the first train to Duisburg. It was an inter-city train, which I wasn't allowed to travel on with my ticket. Oops :X. But the ticket checker let me go.

Martin was out on another date with Dunya. He returned, tired (and she was tired too). I skyped with Mike in the evening. He's going to London next week (for Jasper's wedding). He was "bored" with classes so he has taken up another job (selling instructional MS Office-training software) and is applying to be on the board of directors for a company. WTF?! How can one person be so productive, or have so much motivation?

I have been trying to force myself into enjoying the taste of mineralwasser. So far, it only works if I make a schorle (a mix of juice and sparkling water).

I had no viewing in Düsseldorf today, so I stayed in Duisburg and did some sightseeing. It was raining on and off in the morning, so I waited for the rain to clear up first. I ran into Martin, who was just arriving home as I walked out the door. As I walked into the city center, I passed a hair salon that had men's haircuts for €11, so I went in and got one. The ladies working there were really nice, unable to speak English but impressed with my German. (They were surprised that I wanted to cut off my locks of curly hair!) They also said that the way I said "danke" sounded like a French accent XD

Anyway, I continued into the city center. It's a standard Fußgängerzone (pedestrian-only area) with stores and cafés. It was cool (but not cold!) and cloudy. I tried to explore the whole area, finding the city hall and an old church, and then I got slightly disoriented and wandered north when I meant to go east. Anyway, I stumbled upon the dock area, with a park next to it, and a Jewish memorial. I walked back into the city center and got a döner box (with salad).

Returned to the apartment. Along the way, I bought some chocolate soy milk from Edeka. I wasn't very hungry, and Martin had a date (with Dunya, a girl he met on the internet and who lives nearby). So I made dinner late (around 10pm), cooking up some minced meat with balsamic vinegar and tomato sauce.

Slept well. Martin was already off to work/school. I enjoyed uninterrupted internet use for the first time in days (the wifi keeps disconnecting on my laptop when someone else is also connected). I stayed in most of the day.

Around 12:30 I went to Aldi to buy some food supplies. Martin was back from school when I returned. I cooked some onions/peppers with chicken and couscous. I helped him find an infographic on USA gun laws (for one of his classes’ exams tomorrow).

I scheduled to meet Anja (whom I missed on Sunday) to view her flat. We were to meet at 18:00 at the S-Bahn station Wehrhahn. I rushed to catch the S-Bahn, which nevertheless made me arrive at 18:03. She wasn't there. And she has no phone. I sent her some emails, but no response. I waited, watching the people (some of whom were really "posh" - I understand why people say that about Düsseldorf) until 18:35 and then took the S-Bahn back. The ticket machine was broken so I didn't buy a ticket.

Back home, I made some dinner - my version of a lemon pepper chicken with bell peppers. Served with couscous, it was simple and easy. :)

I didn’t get a response from Tobi all day (regarding the apartment). I stayed in Martin’s apartment all day. He also had the day off. I did my laundry. We finished the chili and couscous.

I only had 1 viewing, at 8pm. So I left at 7pm, caught the tram to Duisburg Hbf and then got the next S-Bahn (which comes every 20-30 minutes) to Ddorf. I had to change at Düsseldorf Hbf and the next S-Bahn got me to Volkslinger Straße a little late, at 20:05. I walked to the apartment, meeting Daniel and apologizing for my delay. The apartment was really clean and gorgeous. And only for about €485 a month. Daniel works for E-Plus and spends a lot of time in Berlin for work (where his girlfriend also is). He’s nice but could be a more open guy. I honestly don’t like this process of having to interview for flats.

Anyway, I finished viewing the flat, walked around the Mediahafen area (which is really nice and modern), taking a few pictures before returning to the S-Bahn station. I changed to a RE train at the Hbf, not sure if I was allowed to take that train, but whatever. At Duisburg Hbf, the next tram was coming in 25 minutes, so I decided to get some McDonald’s. It started to rain. I returned to the tram station, and the tram didn’t show! Everyone on the platform just walked away to catch another tram. WTF?! I decided to walk home. Of course I was annoyed, because things weren’t going my way!

Got a message from Tobi saying that he can’t give me a definite answer yet, because someone else was viewing the flat. Grr.

I got up early-ish, like 10am, because my first viewing was at 11am. My facial wounds had scabbed up again. I showered and rushed out. The sun was shining brightly! I grabbed the tram. For some reason the ticket machine wouldn’t accept my cash, so I bought my ticket at the machine at the Hbf.

I had to figure out which train would come next, which was a little complicated. I did catch the S-Bahn, but it was too slow for me to make the 11:30 viewing. But it was no problem – I got a message from him saying that we would meet at 2pm instead. Perfect. This gave me another hour or two to hang out before going to my 1pm viewing.  I was excited – from what I could tell, today’s flats were goo – affordable, well-located and with cool-sounding flatmates. The first viewing, in Derendorf, was the best one of the day. Tobias greeted me, showed me the large room, which I could take with furniture, and we sat and chatted. He’s from Hamburg, works long hours, but is still very very chill. AND the other flatmate, Adina from Romania, works at Trivago! Yep that’s right – I could live with a co-worker. How perfect!

At that point, I didn’t want to view any other flats, because this one seemed so perfect. Nevertheless, I had appointments and wanted to follow up on them. I had 25 minutes to get to the next flat, so I walked. The area was nice, peaceful but at least a little exciting. I rang the bell and walked upstairs to meet Robin and his friend Jena. Rob was wearing a dress shirt and a sweater – a bit formal for being at home on a Sunday, I thought.  His flat was really nice and quite big. The flat had a cosy but modern kitchen, 3 bedrooms (one of which was to be used by his mom when she’s back for Christmas, etc.), and a nice large balcony. In the bright sunshine, the balcony looked especially inviting. We chatted for a while; he told me that he wanted to leave Düsseldorf but could find no job relevant to his background (truck logistics). He offered to look up directions to my next viewing but I saw that it was walking distance.

I said bye then walked to the next flat. Again, I was early so I hung outside for a few minutes. This neighbourhood was Flingern Nord, which actually seemed much cooler and residential than what I imagined (from looking at the map). Cafés and bars on each corner, and a good neighbourhood feeling. I rand the bell then went up to the top floor to view the room. Lars (guy moving out) greeted me and showed me the small room (which at €300 is also the cheapest of those I’m viewing). I met the flatmates – Verena and Kai, who are both studying. We chatted for a bit, then I went off. This room is the smallest, and the flatmates weren’t as open/friendly as I imagined.

I had over 2 hours before my last viewing, at 18:45. I walked and looked for a place to eat. I walked toward the city center, then caught the tram at Schloss Jägerhof toward Nordstraße. I walked toward Derendorf, thinking of getting Chinese or Asian food, but then changed my mind and opted for a kebab at the Turkish place near Dreieck. After finishing my döner teller, I walked toward the river, to enjoy the sunshine. As I approached, I saw that there were a lot of people hanging out on the riverfront. Turns out it was the monthly fish market, which stretched along the waterfront right in front of the Altstadt. It was great – a tent with a band playing schlager music, many stalls selling small bites to eat (fried fish, cakes, cheese, etc), and a few actually selling fresh fish. I had a fried potato pancake with applesauce. I then walked through the city center again. The line to get ice cream was ridiculous. I could understand, through: I mean, it was “only” like 11°C, but after such a long stretch of cold, snowy weather, even I wanted to just lay out in the sun.

Anyway, I was again ahead of schedule, so I took the tram toward Bilk, where my last viewing was. The U-Bahn was packed full of people; it reminded me of London. Robin warned me that this are was an “up and coming” part of town, and yes, there were some immigrants, but still it wasn’t bad by any means (I mean, after all, I lived in London). I met Daniel, T (Joti or something like that, from Laos), and Max. The room was big, and the flat was very spacious, with a huge living room (perfect!). We chatted for a while. T was a flight attendant for Air Berlin, and Max was a 19-year-old student who works part time at a hotel. I could tell we would get on well. So, I’d mark this flat as my #2 choice, because I would have to buy furniture and it was further away from my office.

That was it. I took the U-Bahn to the Hbf and caught the S-Bahn to Duisburg. Listened to music and watched the sun set outside the window. It was 8pm. The days are getting longer! Now if only they would get warmer!

Had leftover chilli with Martin for dinner. We made some (soggy) couscous to go along with it.