I can hardly believe I am here for such a long time already! Time is flying too fast...I am slowly getting used to a life in Germany again. Some things are great here, like drinking alcohol in the park without hiding it, eating good bread, that actually fills you up (I had to say that...), cheese is soooo cheap (even at the Karstadt Deli store) and delicious, the weather - it's like summer!, biking to get around (although the roads are soooo bumpy and bad, worse than Canada)! But I also miss Toronto, going out for food, good coffee places (it's not really common here to take your laptop and go working/writing in a cafe - or I haven't found it yet...), the multiculturalness (here, you walk over the street and everyone is white - I miss the different faces from all over the world), the international crowd is missing here, and the possibility of shopping on sundays (such a stress on saturdays. trying to buy food, and stuff for the apartment..), and a saturdays farmers-market in the center (this is the first city I live in which doesn't have it - I miss my stroll over the market!). And Germans like to complain about everything (now it's too warm, then it's too humid...), which I guess you should just ignore.
I think I am spending most of my time in the climbing gym...Met some great people, we already went outside climbing once. It was nice, the cliff was in an old quarry that had filled up a little with water - so for the approach you had to walk through knee deep water (ok for summer weather...), but then you feel like you are climbing on a little beach. we just missed the BBQ and beer! We did some easy routes to get used to being outside again, and put up a top rope on a harder one. I am stoked, my fingers are itching, and I need to get out again! Too bad that today, there were already thunderstorms (and likely more to come). I am thinking of buying a bouldering mat, and than cycle around the city and start buildering!
My place is about a 2min walk to a nice big park, which continues along a small river out of the city. It's nice, still a little sparse, but it's getting there. Since thursday I am eating again on a table, feeling a little too civilized again (or maybe is it the dish washer???), and even bought nice plates, a set of WMF pots (yes, I am getting old, no more (or less) Ikea stuff :D)...discovered the Xenos yesterday and felt brought back to Groningen! I am still waiting for my bed, shelfs, cupboard, still need to buy lamps, curtains,...Is it only me, or is shopping getting increasingly difficult due to the choice we have now? I went to the hardware store the other day to buy a light bulb - It's crazy, there are 50 different kinds (or more sigh), how can you ever decide on anything....and why do we need that? I mean I could live with just one kind. There's everywhere too much choice, in the supermarkets as well, who needs all that stuff? no wonder that 1/4 of all produce goes to waste. I would be happier to have less but then better quality. I seem to be the only one among my colleagues who thinks that groceries are cheap. but look at it - 50 years ago, we spend half of our income on food, now it's 10%, plus we have lots more...
yesterday night, I went out for dancing to music I actually really like! I cannot remember when that happened the last time (not that I had been out much)! The gothic/wave/alternative scene here seems big and interesting, so I am hoping to try out more very soon!
I am starting to feel a little more alive again - but I wish Mike would be here with me. He would like it here, experiencing the differences between Eastern and Western born Germans, living in a place where people are more conscious about the environment, with lots of green parks, and lots of old buildings but also socially very different neighbourhoods. Packing out his climbing gear here broke my heart. It's so real and definitive. Every morning on the way to work, I pass the place where we stayed 2.5h years ago on our short visit here. The old GDR cafe where we had breakfast, has now made place to a more western bakery chain.
Some impression of the last weeks - need to get out and take more photos again :)
view from my living room window including some herbs :)
kitchen area including dishwasher, what a luxury! But only a beer-cooler sized fridge...
view from my guest-apartment window after the construction covers were removed. To the left is the building where our offices are.
cherry blossoms!
Spring at the institute site, there's a little pond in front of the cafeteria.
a 'Schrebergarten' - little garden parcels people can rent in the city, where you can grow veggies/fruits/flowers, have garden parties....a typical German concept for city folks.
tree-art 
The climbing area: the approach went through the lake along the left side...
Now there's rhododendron flowering everywhere!
Playing around at the Clara-Park close to my house - a great place to be at night, too, withe BBQ, picknick, beer and wine!
