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It's starting to bother me a bit that I don't speak German particularly fluently as a lack of command in the language has started to feel a little isolating. That's not to say my German hasn't improved, it certainly has over the last five months or so, but ultimately there is still an awful lot to learn, while I am struggling to understand what people say to me outside of certain proscribed situations because of my lack of knowledge, coupled with them speaking too fast. I do have to just get on with it and keep trying I suppose, but sometimes it gets on top of me.
I probably could have spent more time speaking German this week, but at least I did go down to the elderly couple on Wednesday. Wolfie was away working in Erfuhrt and Leipzig, which gave me the opportunity to speak German to Monika. This also enabled me to get to know her husband Fred, who speaks no English at all. I was delighted that I was able to hold a ninety minute conversation in German, interspersed by us watching a reality TV show called Summerhouse of the Stars or something, after which there was a consumer affairs programme testing fish fingers (our Gut und Gunstig variety came third out of nine in taste, but I think poorly on nutritional content). Monika asked me to go and get some beer for them later in the week, as they couldn't go to the supermarket due to their infirmities and their home help was away, but she never got in touch with me in the end to arrange it. I kinda ran out of time on Friday for a number of reasons, not least because my new boss is very intense and insists I'm at my desk at all times, as he rings literally ten times a day. Anyway, it was a pleasant evening with the old couple, where they gave me a couple of beers and some cheese sticks. Monika still wasn't happy about the house though, saying no German would accept the poor standards. Certainly, I fear the underfloor heating isn't working, meaning I'm going to have to register a complaint, but it's not too bad, although some of the finishing standards do leave a lot to be desired. Sometimes, when I leave there, I do feel a bit bad about having made the wrong choice to move here but the house is working well enough for us I suppose (although I do prefer the flat we had in Charlottenburg).
On Tuesday, we went to see the new James Bond film, No Time To Die, at the Kinostar on Alexanderplatz. Arranging furries is an incredibly challenging job and so it proved once again, with the Fureigners group being my main conduit for organisation. There was a lot of umming and aahing, but in the end, I just had to bite the bullet and book six tickets for those who had confirmed their presence. Alas, on the day, two of our party had failed to get their vaccine passports sorted out (if they had gotten vaccines at all), so they had to go home. Fortunately, the cinema were decent about giving me a refund, but it did make me vow never to organise such an event again. The queue to get into the film was quite long, but it was just for the COVID check, so it moved quickly and soon we were inside. Once I had obtained the refund, which the nice lady checking the tickets told me I was entitled to, we grabbed a drink and some popcorn and headed to the screen. The corridors were quite old, like a 1970s Little Chef, but once inside, the theatre was quite roomy. There was Wolfie, me, Arakin and Hunter, and the four of us really enjoyed the movie, although it's not really like a Bond. Still, it was one of the better ones of the Daniel Craig era, with a number of plot points referencing earlier films, as well as a fair bit of humour. We went to see the original English language version, partly because our German isn't good enough to deal with the dubbed version, but also because with dubbing, you lose a lot of the voice acting. We didn't think it was worth it. The Geman cinema experience was very much like the British one, with a load of adverts preceding the film, but I did enjoy the five minute 'Kurze Eis Pause' which was just a screen detailing all of the ice creams you can buy, which remained on long enough for you to get an ice cream immediately before the film started, so you could eat it while enjoying the movie.
Wolfie returned back to the UK on Friday for two weeks, so Thursday was our last night together. He was quite late getting back from Leipzig, walking in at around 9pm, which was just as well as I was just finishing work at that point. We wanted a special evening, but with time against us, we just headed over to one of the local pizzerias we had been meaning to try, Pizzeria Romana. This was a cheap and cheery kind of place, with pizzas for around €6 and wine out of perspex carafes. There was an awful lot of flies buzzing aimlessly around, while there were still some food stains on the red and white checked tablecloths. We ordered starters, with me mis-interpreting the Italian word for snails, thinking it would be the pasta that comes in the shape of a snail. Alas, when the six snails I ordered arrived - brown and sat in runny garlic butter - I was somewhat disappointed as, like with mushrooms, I don't like their rubbery texture. Still, I ate them as they weren't too bad. The pizza itself, salami in my case, was rather basic but it was pleasant enough and for the price reasonable and we felt pretty satiated when we left. It was still just after 10pm, so we decided to head round to the semi-craft beer bar in Spandau we had discovered. The first time I was there, I ended up feeling a little down, and it was kinda the same again although for different reasons. I was somewhat propositioned by an old woman, who I think knew the barman, as she wanted change for a €2 coin, which I obliged. She then came back with a rose, which she gave to me. She kept coming back and back, to Wolfie's not inconsiderable mirth, telling me how to cut the rose to make it survive. She was lovely, but it was all a little awkward and I couldn't wait to leave. Of course, Wolfie wanted to order another beer to prolong the torment. Still, I do have a rose sat in a beer bottle on my living room table now, although I did come downstairs on Friday morning to see it wilting as I hadn't pushed the stalk down far enough into the bottle. Of course, Wolfie anthropomorphised the rose, making me feel sad. At least it was pink though.
Wolfie's flight was quite late on Friday, meaning he had a whole day of work before leaving at around 6:45pm. It was an odd day, but I helped him pack and made sure he had all of the things he needed, including the passenger locator form prior to flying. Saying goodbye to him was rather difficult, as was seeing the images from the Leeds Meet on Saturday. This was one of the reasons why he returned, as it was the first real-life meet since the pandemic began, and he felt it best to be there to run the show. It was great that he could meet his family and our friends again, as well as stay in our house in Pudsey, but all of this reminded me just how far I am away from that too. My immigration interview date is still unknown, which suggests that I'll be missing another family Christmas if the length of time it took for Wolfie to get his residence card is anything to go by. Furthermore, being sat alone in the house is odd for me - usually, when we're away for this length of time, it's me travelling around SE Asia and Wolfie left at home. We've only been apart this long four times before and I am already missing him, although I have kept myself busy this weekend.
On Friday evening I had arranged to meet Blackie, one of Fox Amoore's friends, a German who lives in Berlin when he's not away from the army. We arranged to meet at a pizzeria called Albero, which was on the ground floor of the block of flats in which he lives. I regret that I did not use the opportunity to speak much German, but I was tired from the working week and emotional after Wolfie's departure. I did briefly talk to the couple sitting next to us, who were new to the block of flats, while the waitressing staff were friendly too. I had never met Blackie before, but we had been trying to arrange a meet for the best part of four months, so it was good to catch up finally. The pizza here was exquisite, I had the quattro formagi, and afterwards we headed back to his seventeenth floor flat which offered breathtaking views over the city, beyond Hauptbahnhof towards west Berlin and eventually Spandau. We drank red wine, chatted and chilled for a while before I headed back to Spandau shortly after 11pm, knackered.
I hadn't really planned to do much with Saturday, but I was feeling listless without Wolfie and thought it would be best not to mope about. I already had a 24 hour BVG ticket, allowing me basically free travel until 8pm, so I asked on the Fureigners chat if anyone was free. Fortunately, Arakin seemed to be, so around 3pm, I headed down to Prenzlauer Allee to meet up with him and Ben. They fancied a bite to eat so we ended up in a place called Burger Nation, which looked a little rundown and very much like a cafe style takeaway. We were allowed to sit in, the only people there, but the food was fantastic. I had the falafel burger and fries, which was exceptionally delicious, while I enjoyed catching up with Arakin and Ben, of whom I have seen very little during our near-year stay here. We were worried by the toilet roll in the bathroom which mentioned creating special memories, which isn't really a selling point for such a product, before ending up on the ground floor of a shopping mall at the Junge Backerei enjoying white hot chocolate. Arakin was heading to a party later in the evening with a fur called Tigger, who turned up briefly, but after our drink we had just enough time to squeeze a trip back to Arakin's for some tea and chat. Then I had to go, heading back to Spandau and taking the opportunity to do my shopping and speak to my father. Still, it was a really nice day and I must thank Arakin and Ben for keeping me company, as it was tough knowing that I would be at the Leeds Meet with all my friends there had my immigration interview taken place.
Today we did have something planned - fursuit bowling with Trax's crew. This was at the Kangaroo Bowling place near where he lives, whose mascot is a dejected kangaroo. There is even a fursuit at the front door that looks like something out of Five Nights At Freddie's. The bowling alley were very accommodating though, even giving us a spare room to change in, as well as tolerating our general fuckery. We ended up doing two rounds of bowling, where I scored 33 and 40, finishing third of four and fourth of four respectively. I wasn't too displeased by this, particularly as I was in fursuit and competing against some who were not, but I must admit my annoying competitive side started to rear its head even though this really was just a load of fun. Still, we got to meet loads of people and take selfies, while afterwards we headed to a Greek restaurant for some delicious food. As Leophan was visiting, much of the conversation was in English, which I didn't feel too bad about, but on occasion I did feel a little left out due to my lack of grasp of German. It's going to have to get better, so I'm going to have to dedicate more time into learning it. It is a source of some upset though.
I probably could have spent more time speaking German this week, but at least I did go down to the elderly couple on Wednesday. Wolfie was away working in Erfuhrt and Leipzig, which gave me the opportunity to speak German to Monika. This also enabled me to get to know her husband Fred, who speaks no English at all. I was delighted that I was able to hold a ninety minute conversation in German, interspersed by us watching a reality TV show called Summerhouse of the Stars or something, after which there was a consumer affairs programme testing fish fingers (our Gut und Gunstig variety came third out of nine in taste, but I think poorly on nutritional content). Monika asked me to go and get some beer for them later in the week, as they couldn't go to the supermarket due to their infirmities and their home help was away, but she never got in touch with me in the end to arrange it. I kinda ran out of time on Friday for a number of reasons, not least because my new boss is very intense and insists I'm at my desk at all times, as he rings literally ten times a day. Anyway, it was a pleasant evening with the old couple, where they gave me a couple of beers and some cheese sticks. Monika still wasn't happy about the house though, saying no German would accept the poor standards. Certainly, I fear the underfloor heating isn't working, meaning I'm going to have to register a complaint, but it's not too bad, although some of the finishing standards do leave a lot to be desired. Sometimes, when I leave there, I do feel a bit bad about having made the wrong choice to move here but the house is working well enough for us I suppose (although I do prefer the flat we had in Charlottenburg).
On Tuesday, we went to see the new James Bond film, No Time To Die, at the Kinostar on Alexanderplatz. Arranging furries is an incredibly challenging job and so it proved once again, with the Fureigners group being my main conduit for organisation. There was a lot of umming and aahing, but in the end, I just had to bite the bullet and book six tickets for those who had confirmed their presence. Alas, on the day, two of our party had failed to get their vaccine passports sorted out (if they had gotten vaccines at all), so they had to go home. Fortunately, the cinema were decent about giving me a refund, but it did make me vow never to organise such an event again. The queue to get into the film was quite long, but it was just for the COVID check, so it moved quickly and soon we were inside. Once I had obtained the refund, which the nice lady checking the tickets told me I was entitled to, we grabbed a drink and some popcorn and headed to the screen. The corridors were quite old, like a 1970s Little Chef, but once inside, the theatre was quite roomy. There was Wolfie, me, Arakin and Hunter, and the four of us really enjoyed the movie, although it's not really like a Bond. Still, it was one of the better ones of the Daniel Craig era, with a number of plot points referencing earlier films, as well as a fair bit of humour. We went to see the original English language version, partly because our German isn't good enough to deal with the dubbed version, but also because with dubbing, you lose a lot of the voice acting. We didn't think it was worth it. The Geman cinema experience was very much like the British one, with a load of adverts preceding the film, but I did enjoy the five minute 'Kurze Eis Pause' which was just a screen detailing all of the ice creams you can buy, which remained on long enough for you to get an ice cream immediately before the film started, so you could eat it while enjoying the movie.
Wolfie returned back to the UK on Friday for two weeks, so Thursday was our last night together. He was quite late getting back from Leipzig, walking in at around 9pm, which was just as well as I was just finishing work at that point. We wanted a special evening, but with time against us, we just headed over to one of the local pizzerias we had been meaning to try, Pizzeria Romana. This was a cheap and cheery kind of place, with pizzas for around €6 and wine out of perspex carafes. There was an awful lot of flies buzzing aimlessly around, while there were still some food stains on the red and white checked tablecloths. We ordered starters, with me mis-interpreting the Italian word for snails, thinking it would be the pasta that comes in the shape of a snail. Alas, when the six snails I ordered arrived - brown and sat in runny garlic butter - I was somewhat disappointed as, like with mushrooms, I don't like their rubbery texture. Still, I ate them as they weren't too bad. The pizza itself, salami in my case, was rather basic but it was pleasant enough and for the price reasonable and we felt pretty satiated when we left. It was still just after 10pm, so we decided to head round to the semi-craft beer bar in Spandau we had discovered. The first time I was there, I ended up feeling a little down, and it was kinda the same again although for different reasons. I was somewhat propositioned by an old woman, who I think knew the barman, as she wanted change for a €2 coin, which I obliged. She then came back with a rose, which she gave to me. She kept coming back and back, to Wolfie's not inconsiderable mirth, telling me how to cut the rose to make it survive. She was lovely, but it was all a little awkward and I couldn't wait to leave. Of course, Wolfie wanted to order another beer to prolong the torment. Still, I do have a rose sat in a beer bottle on my living room table now, although I did come downstairs on Friday morning to see it wilting as I hadn't pushed the stalk down far enough into the bottle. Of course, Wolfie anthropomorphised the rose, making me feel sad. At least it was pink though.
Wolfie's flight was quite late on Friday, meaning he had a whole day of work before leaving at around 6:45pm. It was an odd day, but I helped him pack and made sure he had all of the things he needed, including the passenger locator form prior to flying. Saying goodbye to him was rather difficult, as was seeing the images from the Leeds Meet on Saturday. This was one of the reasons why he returned, as it was the first real-life meet since the pandemic began, and he felt it best to be there to run the show. It was great that he could meet his family and our friends again, as well as stay in our house in Pudsey, but all of this reminded me just how far I am away from that too. My immigration interview date is still unknown, which suggests that I'll be missing another family Christmas if the length of time it took for Wolfie to get his residence card is anything to go by. Furthermore, being sat alone in the house is odd for me - usually, when we're away for this length of time, it's me travelling around SE Asia and Wolfie left at home. We've only been apart this long four times before and I am already missing him, although I have kept myself busy this weekend.
On Friday evening I had arranged to meet Blackie, one of Fox Amoore's friends, a German who lives in Berlin when he's not away from the army. We arranged to meet at a pizzeria called Albero, which was on the ground floor of the block of flats in which he lives. I regret that I did not use the opportunity to speak much German, but I was tired from the working week and emotional after Wolfie's departure. I did briefly talk to the couple sitting next to us, who were new to the block of flats, while the waitressing staff were friendly too. I had never met Blackie before, but we had been trying to arrange a meet for the best part of four months, so it was good to catch up finally. The pizza here was exquisite, I had the quattro formagi, and afterwards we headed back to his seventeenth floor flat which offered breathtaking views over the city, beyond Hauptbahnhof towards west Berlin and eventually Spandau. We drank red wine, chatted and chilled for a while before I headed back to Spandau shortly after 11pm, knackered.
I hadn't really planned to do much with Saturday, but I was feeling listless without Wolfie and thought it would be best not to mope about. I already had a 24 hour BVG ticket, allowing me basically free travel until 8pm, so I asked on the Fureigners chat if anyone was free. Fortunately, Arakin seemed to be, so around 3pm, I headed down to Prenzlauer Allee to meet up with him and Ben. They fancied a bite to eat so we ended up in a place called Burger Nation, which looked a little rundown and very much like a cafe style takeaway. We were allowed to sit in, the only people there, but the food was fantastic. I had the falafel burger and fries, which was exceptionally delicious, while I enjoyed catching up with Arakin and Ben, of whom I have seen very little during our near-year stay here. We were worried by the toilet roll in the bathroom which mentioned creating special memories, which isn't really a selling point for such a product, before ending up on the ground floor of a shopping mall at the Junge Backerei enjoying white hot chocolate. Arakin was heading to a party later in the evening with a fur called Tigger, who turned up briefly, but after our drink we had just enough time to squeeze a trip back to Arakin's for some tea and chat. Then I had to go, heading back to Spandau and taking the opportunity to do my shopping and speak to my father. Still, it was a really nice day and I must thank Arakin and Ben for keeping me company, as it was tough knowing that I would be at the Leeds Meet with all my friends there had my immigration interview taken place.
Today we did have something planned - fursuit bowling with Trax's crew. This was at the Kangaroo Bowling place near where he lives, whose mascot is a dejected kangaroo. There is even a fursuit at the front door that looks like something out of Five Nights At Freddie's. The bowling alley were very accommodating though, even giving us a spare room to change in, as well as tolerating our general fuckery. We ended up doing two rounds of bowling, where I scored 33 and 40, finishing third of four and fourth of four respectively. I wasn't too displeased by this, particularly as I was in fursuit and competing against some who were not, but I must admit my annoying competitive side started to rear its head even though this really was just a load of fun. Still, we got to meet loads of people and take selfies, while afterwards we headed to a Greek restaurant for some delicious food. As Leophan was visiting, much of the conversation was in English, which I didn't feel too bad about, but on occasion I did feel a little left out due to my lack of grasp of German. It's going to have to get better, so I'm going to have to dedicate more time into learning it. It is a source of some upset though.
