MOMMY!!!!!



Pictures

Here are the visual aides for the last bit. Some of a bench, some night wandering while contemplating life, and time with my mommy!

CBYX/PPP - 23 - MOMMY!!!

Rundown

Well, there's a fair amount of things that have passed in the last two weeks. A lot. I'll try and remember most of it.

Two weeks ago, I had my B2 Language Level Test. There were 5 parts: Hearing, Reading, Writing, Grammar, and Speaking. It was spread over 3 days, and I went into it pretty relaxed. I thought I did pretty good. Long story short, after the oral portion last Friday (31.01) I ended up passing with the equivalent of a B+. Not as good of a grade as I thought, but hey, going from A1 to B2 in 6 months is quite an accomplishment. Let's hope the next 6 months have even more improvement!

Last Saturday I jumped on a train and went to pick up my mommy from the airport!!! I was so excited to see her and show her Germany on her first trip to Europe!

Mommy and Me at the Berliner Dom

She flew in, and we threw our stuff at the hostel (Mommy's first Hostel experience!), and started walking around. First stop, Currywurst (Mommy's first Currywurst experience!). Nom nom. Then we walked around downtown Berlin. I'm a terrible tour guide, but it was great showing her around, and giving her her first taste of Europe! We got to see a bunch of stuff, and got great weather for it too. Plus, seeing that pure excitement from her from such new surroundings was a great treat.

Well, we spent Saturday night in Berlin and wandered around Sunday morning, checking out the Reichstag area, and then over to the East Side Gallery. After that, we got out of the cold, met up with Katherine, and grabbed some coffee. Later on, we jumped on a train and got back to Magdeburg in time for dinner. We had a big dinner with Dietrich and some friends, and it was interesting being an interpreter. Not sure I could ever do that for a living. Great food, fun times.

Monday morning I had an interview in Hamburg (more info on that to come), so rather than waste a day, Mommy came with. I had my interview at 8.2 Consulting AG, and during my interview Mom went and wandered around. The interview went well, but I had to wait for an answer. Headed back to the hostel, hung out and changed, and back came Mom. The jet lag and stuff before the trip were still depriving her of rest, so she decided to take a nap. Can't blame her.

Not wanting to sit around, and on my cool quest (to be explained later), I headed down to Bremen to check out the city and hang out with Amy, another friend from the program. This was my first time to Bremen, and it turns out it's quite a pretty city. I really liked the Rathausplatz, for some reason it just seemed a lot cooler and very unique compared to other ones I've seen. Well, we walked around, chatted, saw some cool stuff, and grabbed dinner at a brewery downtown. Good fun, then I headed back to Hamburg to get some sleep.

Bremen Rathausplatz

The next day we headed down to Erfurt, partly to finish off my cool quest, but mostly for both me and mommy to see a new city in the heart of Deutschland. Well, it is a gorgeous city. Definitely unique to other cities because of the landscape and the cool things there, and we thoroughly enjoyed it. According to my mom, cities like Erfurt and Weimar (moreso Weimar) are what she thought of when she thought of German cities. Quaint, full of history, and beautiful.

Erfurt Market Street

So we explored Erfurt and Weimar, and my mom got to see two really beautiful cities. Along the way, we met up with more PPPlers in the area. Grabbed some beer with Scott, went out to ice cream with Adriana and Kwazi, and then grabbed dinner with those three and Sam. It's pretty cool having friends all over the place.

Erfurt Buildings

Thursday we headed back to Magdeburg and hung out there Thursday and Friday. One thing, eating at Dietrich's was really cool. Having that cross-cultural interaction (what I was like at the beginning of the program) and the excellent hospitality was very encouraging and awesome to see. In Magdeburg, I was able to get some work done while Mom explored the (not so big) town of Magdeburg. We headed back to Berlin on Saturday because of her flight, and got to walk around Schloss Charlottenburg and grab some great food.

The next morning I took her to the airport. It was hard to see her go, and caused a few tears from both of us. Either way, I was really sad. We had some fun, talked a lot, realized more and more that we are in VERY similar situations right now, and just had some time together. It was really great and we both needed it.

Well, I was down after sending mom off back to the US. Thankfully, I got a pick me up with breakfast at Katherine's guest family's house. Every Sunday they make pancakes for breakfast. So I jumped on that train quick and downed a little taste of home. Followed that up with a little bit of laziness, then met up with Hilary and walked around Tempelhof Airfield (crazy cool bing there), and then met up with Pat and walked around and grabbed some food and drinks. Great end to the Sunday and getting me back in the groove.

Tempelhof Runway

Well, now getting back to reality, I've just been getting things ready to head up to Hamburg. Work contract, Intern prep manual, finding a place to live, and getting all packed up have been what I've been busy with in the last few days. Overall, it's been really lazy and laid back, and pretty successful. Found a place to live, move up tomorrow (Wednesday), and start on Monday. So I'll have a couple of days to hang out. I wanna try and get my bike fixed. But we'll see how it goes.

So yeah, that's what's been going on lately...

I GOT WORK, aka My Internship

While indulging in our sweet teeth in ice cream in Weimar, I got a call. Jumped outside, and turns out I got an internship offer!!! I was pumped!!! I'll be working for 8.2 Consulting AG, doing Project Management, Site Development, and Collision Analysis for Offshore Wind Farms. I'm really pumped to start working there. It'll be a great experience, hopefully something I really enjoy, and hopefully lead to something cool down the road. We'll see!

Talking to Katherine's guest father made it even better. He works in renewable energy, and he said that 8.2 Consulting AG is a very well known firm in the industry, and that they are great. This made good news even better, and is getting me pretty excited to get things started. Let's just say I'm pumped for Monday to start. And even a little bit pumped to read through the 200-page education booklet.

Family

First off, it was absolutely great to see my mommy. I am so unbelievably proud of her for everything that she is going through and how she has powered through it. It ain't over, but she is doing awesome. And she has done so much for me in all aspects of my life, yet she just keeps going. I hope I can be as good of a parent as her when I have kids. Gah, my mom is the best!

I love my family. It's not always sunshine and puppies, but they are my family. And I love them. The shitty thing is we're so far away. I'm in Germany, Mom's in Portland, Paula's in Pullman, and Alicia's in Chicago. Not exactly around the corner. The other shitty thing is that I won't be able to attend Peewee's graduation in May. That makes me sad. And one of the shitty things of us all being so far away is that the times we do see each other things are too concentrated. Despite how awesome my mom is, and how pumped I was to have her here, there were times where I just needed a break. Because we don't see each other that often, we have really intense times. And that sucks when the time is so rare. Gah. Frustration.

Mommy and I had quite a lot of time to chat during her trip, and had some really great, and really diverse conversations. Life, family, current events, babies, everything. I really love my mom. I could not ask for a better, more down to earth, more helpful, awesome mom.

But yeah, my family is awesome. Totally awesome.

Spreading Wonder

One of the other cool things about having my mom here was the fact that it was her first time in Europe, and first time in Germany. It wass great seeing the child-like wonder, the same wonder I had on my first trip in Germany. When you live somewhere you get dulled down to just where you are; you lose some of that appreciation and wonder. It's great to get a refresh on my appreciation for where I'm at.

Similarities

It's pretty crazy how my mom and I are pretty much going through the same stuff, and have been for like the last year. I moved to Germany, she moved to Bend. Getting used to a new environment, so was she. Both of us feeling like vagabonds without a true place to call 'home'. Both of us moving again after finding new jobs. It's really pretty eery and crazy to think about. But also kinda cool that we both really have a decent understanding of the different things that we're going through.

My Cool Quest

So, with my little excursion to Bremen, and my trip to Erfurt and Weimar, I've visited at least one city in all of the 16 Bundesländer!!! A pretty cool achievement in my opinion. Here's a list of the Bundesländer, and my favorite city in each!

Cities in Germany I Still Want To See

Regensburg, Freiburg, Heidelburg, Mannheim, Koblenz.

Up Next

Well, I've got a few days until my internship starts. I know on the train ride up tomorrow I'm going to be reading that work manual, and hopefully make a good dent. This week I'm going to try and go into work and sign my contract, maybe pick up a transport pass, and probably do some wandering around town.

What I for sure want to do is a) get started playing frisbee in Hamburg (already made connections, what up), and b) try and find a climbing gym. Mom brought out my gear, and I really want to get back into it. I miss it a lot. Thankfully, I've already located a couple gyms, and one is going to be close to my place. So I'm hoping I can get there pretty often, and maybe even meet some new people through that.

Other than that, I should probably finish my work manual, I think me and my new landlady are going to Ikea on Friday or Saturday to get me a dresser, and then who knows what else will happen. A new city, new people, new things, new stuff to do.

I'm excited.



Original Publish Date: February 11th, 2014