I thought this might interest some of you, and I saw someone in Finland do it before and post it to Imgur. Basically, the idea is to document my entire day and share it with you guys so you can get an idea of what my average life is like in Deutschland. Sure, this might not be as interesting as a Paris or Amsterdam post, but, contrary to popular belief, I don't go on a fabulous trip every weekend (bummer). The other 90% of my time is spent in the Schoenste Stadt der Welt.
And if you all like this one, I can do a similar post for an average day on the weekend, or a post about what it's like to go grocery/clothes shopping, a tourist's guide to Hamburg, whatever you like! I'm open to suggestions!
These pictures are all actually from Monday, Jan 26th.
I've been doing "30 Days of Yoga" with Adriene from Youtube this past month. I'll miss a day occasionally, but overall I've been pretty consistent. It isn't necessarily a workout, but I do notice it in my arms and it gets the blood flowing for the day. And it starts me off in a good mood, which is wholly necessary considering the lack of sunshine I've had for the past month. I've really noticed it affecting my mood and energy.
I included this picture because choosing the right scarf has become a daily fashion choice... these are only about half of my scarves (the spring/summer ones are packed in a box because they're too lightweight right now)
In California I never really understood why people would insist on taking off their shoes when they walk in the house. We certainly never did it in my house growing up. But when there is a lot of wet weather, you take off those muddy/snowy shoes *immediately*. Also, coat racks? Very necessary when you actually wear a heavy coat. Why would you drag that thing all the way to your room where it's just going to take up tons of space and you're just going to use it again the next time you step outside the door? Notice the hat and gloves stuck in my coat hood for convenience. There's also no real sense in putting those away.
There's this well-known kids' joke that asks you several questions rapidly that you have to answer as fast as you can, and the last one is, "What do you put in a toaster?" The answer, of course, is "bread", but most people accidentally say "toast". Well in Germany that answer would be correct, because the bread that is designed for the toaster is actually called "toast"! (Another example of an English word that has been adopted and modified)
I love having a one-button, single cup coffee machine. And this doesn't use the little pre-portioned cups. You just pour in whole beans on one side and water on the other, and voila! I'll have to get me one of these for my next place.
It took me a while to find all-natural peanut butter, but I finally stumbled across this little guy after a couple of months. Interestingly enough, that second word "Mus" is used for apple sauce ("Apfelmus"). The peanut butter with partially-hydrogenated oils is referred to as "Erdnussbutter", and the all-natural stuff is referred to as "Ednuss-mus".
This is what I eat for breakfast almost every day: banana with peanut butter, and a slice of toast with jam
The temperature that day was hovering right at about freezing, with a wind chill that took it to the upper 20s F. (-2 C). I actually really like winter clothes: they're so snuggly!
This U-Bahn (subway) stop is so close to my front door that if I leave at 7:35, I can catch the 7:38 train. I've been taking it a lot lately because I've had a bum foot, but on Monday I was in a new pair of shoes that I got last weekend, and they hurt far less than my other shoes. So I decided to walk. It's about ten minutes, and fully necessary when I have a desk job.
Everyday I meet a couple of co-workers in this Platz, right next to the Hauptbahnhof (Central Train Station) to carpool to work. The days are still really short: this picture was taken at 7:45 AM, and as you can see it's just starting to get light.
And after a 45-minute drive, we arrive in Geesthacht... am Ende der Welt ("at the end of the world." sarcasm. kind of.). This is my office:
I've created my own forbidden standing desk ("Stehtisch") via an over-turned trash can and a cardboard box. It makes a HUGE difference in how my body feels at the end of the day. I usually alternate every couple of hours or stand in the morning, sit in the afternoon (or vice versa). I also find that I concentrate better, and if I hit a blood sugar low, it's easier to keep working through it than if I'm sitting down.
This is my life lately: Matlab...
and Python.
I didn't document lunch because I didn't want my co-workers to start asking questions, but we have a cafeteria at the institute where there are always three choices of meals and a salad bar. The price is super reasonable (rarely more than 5 euros for a meal, usually between 3.50 and 4.50), but unfortunately the meals are not balanced. The chefs seem to think that potatoes count as a vegetable, and more often than not, two of the three prepared meals are meat and potatoes, while the third is some sort of noodle with a cheese/cream sauce. They REALLY don't understand what a well-balanced vegetarian meal looks like, and doing it without cheese is like asking them to re-invent the wheel. I pack my own lunch several times a week.
On Monday I wanted to get home quickly so I could take off to the gym, so I hopped on the train for one stop. It actually saves me about ten minutes of time to do this, and every time I do I'm grateful that I bought a subscription transit pass. It's an honor system in Hamburg, without any sort of turnstiles, so I can literally run down the stairs and right onto the train.
I also went to the gym on Monday, but I personally think it's really strange to take pictures inside of a gym, so I refrained. Maybe I'll sneak some in the future, but it's not much different from any other gym.
Bonus picture: on Tuesday morning the sky was clear. Look at that beautiful shade of blue!
Each day obviously isn't exactly the same, but this one was pretty standard. So what do you want next? A post about eating out in Germany? A post about the many bridges of Hamburg? Let me know!
"The true secret of happiness lies in taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life."
-William Morris
