Another month, another milestone. June had been the only month in which I’d not
spent any time in Berlin, so that situation has now been rectified. I’m now well and truly settled in the new
flat. I had been reluctant to move here
initially but we had no choice – our rental contract on the other flat couldn’t
be extended as the owner was coming back to Berlin and wanted to move back
in. However, I did quickly grow to prefer
this one. I think my concerns were that
it was smaller than the other flat and open-plan. I don’t have a problem with open-plan – I’m
mildly claustrophobic so I like big spaces.
But I was concerned that it wouldn’t be practical if one of us wanted to
work. In the other flat I spent a lot of
time in the kitchen where I’d made a desk out of the dining table and could get
on with things without disturbing Alan or without him disturbing me. It’s not been a problem though as we have a
desk area and a kitchen dining area to work at, and also the sofa’s quite a
useful workspace being large and L-shaped.
My other concern was a purely cosmetic one. The flat was styled in a very masculine way
with lots of black and red. I looked
around after we got the keys and thought we had made a mistake. We’d rented the flat for nine months, until
the end of January 2015, extending the duration of our intended stay by three
months. However, once left on my own –
Alan very conveniently had a football match to go to that night – I set about
rearranging things to make it more agreeable to me. I removed the pictures – luridly-coloured
photographs of a floodlit Brandenburger Tor and Fernsehturm – and put them in
the hall. Then I got rid of the
red. I removed a red throw, cushions and
rug to the bedroom replacing the rug with the bedroom’s more neutral-coloured
one. I then found a couple of
oatmeal-coloured throws in a drawer which I used to drape over a red chair. The final challenge was the bedroom. The bedding was a garishly-patterned purple,
red, yellow and orange. Luckily we’d
bought some plain white bedding at the other flat because the dark brown and
navy bedding there was depressing. I’m
beginning to wonder if it’s a German foible to sleep in ghastly-coloured
bedding. I know that all of our tastes
are different and the flat is lovely and modern but it was just a bit too
sterile and, as I say ‘bachelor-pad’ for me.
I’ve been making acquaintance with the neighbours here too. They seem very friendly in this house in
comparison to the previous one. I think
the problem there was that a few of the flats were holiday lets so there was a
constant turnover of new faces. However,
I think we had lived there long enough to be recognised and acknowledged by the
neighbours when we passed them in the hof.
Some people were friendly but by no means all. A couple of weeks ago I got talking to
Franziska, who lives three floors up from us and that weekend she invited us to
a barbecue in her garden. The garden –
attached to an old DDR-era datscha – was a ten minute bike ride away in the
direction of Pankow. It was a lovely,
serene place to be at the end of a hot and dusty day in the city. A table was set up under a vine-entangled porch,
and beers cooled in a tub of water while Franziska prepared salads and picked
strawberries and Tilo, her partner, took charge of the barbecue. We sat talking until late into the night,
Tegel-bound planes gliding overhead, before cycling back through the still hot but by
then fairly quiet streets.
On the subject of new acquaintances, I’ve acquired a
tandem-speaking partner and last Thursday I met up with her at Messe Nord ICC. From there we walked down to the Leitzensee
where we had a drink and sat looking over the lake towards the Funkturm until
sundown. We chatted about all sorts of
things and I’m not sure we got a lot of tandem-speaking done but I’m preparing
some things I’d like to go over at our next meeting.
It’s been a month so far of baking-hot temperatures and practically non-stop work. I’ve taken another couple of sessions at the
language exchange which I’m really enjoying doing. I’m also revising hard for my TEFL exam. I’ve now completed all of the work but, as
I’ve got about eight weeks left I’m taking my time to go over the material
again and practice getting my lesson plans done within a time frame. I’ve also landed my first job. It’s only a few hours here and there of
freelance copywriting but It's a real job and I'm so pleased to be doing it.
Right now the city is firmly in the grip of World Cup mania
– it seems as though every single bar, restaurant, café and even takeaway has
installed screens especially for the matches.
We watched the Spain-Netherlands match at our local amongst a healthy
sprinkling of fans from both countries and the atmosphere was fantastic. Later, we're off to meet a bunch of friends to watch the England match. I might even do a World Cup post before long.
I already have a few posts in the pipeline, one on the
literary scene in Berlin and a ‘favourite places’ post but finding the time to
get them completed is proving to be quite a challenge!
