The family has grown. That is, not the human family, but the cat family that belongs to niece no. 1. There are four little kittens that momma cat now has to learn to take care of. Es gab Familienzuwachs. Naja, nicht in der Menschenfamilie, aber in der Katzenfamilie, die Nichte Nr. 1 gehört. Jetzt gibt es 4 kleine Mäuse, um die sich zu kümmern Mamakatze nun lernen muss.
I’m planting a garden. A little garden of succulents. For this I ordered flower pots from the Internet, and a friend gave me a bunch of offshoots. Ich pflanz mir einen Garten. Einen kleinen Sukkulentengarten. Dafür habe ich mir im Internet extra ein paar Blumentöpfe besorgt, und viele Ableger von einer Freundin bekommen.
You may remember some of my earlier posts about the new lobby that was coming, and the excitement we all share in having a nice entrance to our faculty accommodations. Well … it’s done. The lobby’s finally finished, and we enjoy short ways to the cafeteria, and a nice nice lounging area where we can sit and talk and relax and sip our coffees (or teas) and eat delicious cakes or sandwiches, and … You get the point! We’re really happy with our new lobby!
You may remember some of my earlier posts about the new lobby that was coming, and the excitement we all share in having a nice entrance to our faculty accommodations. Well … it’s done. The lobby’s finally finished, and we enjoy short ways to the cafeteria, and a nice nice lounging area where we can sit and talk and relax and sip our coffees (or teas) and eat delicious cakes or sandwiches, and … You get the point! We’re really happy with our new lobby!
See this? It’s our new lobby, and it’s been coming together just nicely over the last couple of days. Ever since they started the cleaning process! In fact, things have progressed so well, that now we’re actually using the lobby to quickly get from the one building to the other one, whether they want us to or not. Life has definitely improved by a lobby these days! And I can’t wait to see it when it’s actually done!
So, I’ve been telling you about how I’ve been living in a construction zone more or less lately, right? Well, here’s one of the reasons for why this isn’t necessarily a very good thing … Both of these signs can be found in our hallways these days. Need I say more? Well, luckily, my apartment has not been affected by this … y.e.t.!
Lobbies are peculiar things. They serve very well as entrance areas … if they exist. The new lobby which is supposed to connect our new faculty residence with the old faculty residence has been under construction for quite a while now, and we are eagerly awaiting the day when admittance is allowed, and we can use the new main entrance instead of the old side entrance. As I pass by the new lobby every day on my way in or out the building, a thought keeps occurring to me: Life will go a lot faster, once that lobby is in use. Why? Because it’ll cut short my walks to the old building (which I frequent several times a day) by more than half the distance. That’s going to save me a lot of time, I assure you! Unfortunately, that lobby’s still being worked on, so no one can tell, when exactly we’re actually going to be able to use it. However, when I was walking by the place the other, I made an exciting …
The other day, I told you about surprise visits I get – be they welcome or not. Well, guess what happened to me just the other day when I got home from work and entered my bedroom … I had this interesting sight to behold: Another kind of surprise visit. This time they’d not bothered using my window as access, but the result was almost the same: Someone roaming about outside my window, a little scare from the unexpected scene, and a sharp pang of realization: you’re not alone – big brother’s always watching … or at least hanging in there right outside of your window!
I told you I’d had more repair stories for you. Here’s one to begin with. As half of our building is still a construction zone, unexpected visits by the workers are not unusual these days. So, on more than one occasion lately, I’ve had surprise visitors. Not the kind of people who like to sit down for a chat with you. No. The kind of visitors who want to walk into your bedroom, climb on the windowsill and use the window as a doorway onto the roof, where some work or other seems to await them. And while I usually like surprises, I’m not quite sure whether I should be pleased about these kinds of visits.
I have my own “star wars” battles that I’m fighting these days. To be more precise, it’s actually a lightbulbs war! Ever since I moved into my new place, almost every single day a lightbulb decides to quit its service. Last week, during the holidays (when there was no way of fixing them) it was even seven lightbulbs that needed to be replaced. Now, I know the argument for using energy saving lightbulbs, which are said to be long lasting, and efficient. Yet, I’m someone who prefers the soft, warm light of the traditional lightbulb, and as long as the workers keep replacing the broken bulbs with these bulbs, I won’t mind fighting my own star wars battle with the lightbulbs these days (though I’m aware that the days are numbered!) …
