YA: Being Just As Busy As A Bee Can Be.

Look, OK, I really do have an excuse for my absence this time. In fact I have several. Would you like to hear about them?

Firstly, there's my stonking social life -  prepare to be utterly overwhelmed by jealousy as I launch into a detailed and adjectivally-stuffed description of my fabulous existence!

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You're right, that is going too far (and erring on the arrogant). Saying that, I can't deny that recent times have been pretty damn good. I've had a guest to stay in the form of a certain Miss Pearson and I had a great time giving her a wee tour of my adoptive Bundesland. The long anticipated Fort Day took place, though with considerably less fort building than face-packs (which Matt refused to partake in) and bacon sandwiches. We had an en masse trip to Ikea and Gelsenkirchen's new Primark in order to stock up on cheep accessories and household furnishings. I also went to a tip top gig, my first proper small gig since being in Germany; Tubelord and Shoes And Socks Off were brilliant, and hopefully there'll be a somewhat belated live review on this very blog soon. Then, on top of all that, there's been the numerous trips to the ol' Kneipe and various nights out in different cities (Münster, Düsseldorf, Essen, Duisburg) not to mention the past three weekends spent outside of Germany...

No, actually, let's mention those. First, there was Amsterdam. Oh, my beloved Amsterdam, how I had missed thee! We only went for a short time, taking advantage of Deutsche Bahn's cheapy-cheap saving train fares and for 38Euro there and back it was thoroughly worth it. I mean, it wasn't an entirely hitch-free trip; the hostel we wanted to stay in ran out of walk-in rooms (they wouldn't take a phone reservation) and we had a nerve wracking couple of hours where we all tried to put a brave face on the fact that we could possibly be sleeping rough in the Dutch capital. Fortunately, a very lovely woman (whom I want to adopt as a member of my family) in the tourist information centre hooked us up with a three-star hotel at 33Euro each for the night and we were saved. Other than me dropping my chips, everything else went swimmingly. We took in the delights of the flower market and the sex museum, got some Dutch food and wandered off into the night. Obviously, we took a turn down the red light district, though the prostitutes weren't nearly as interesting as all the ducks and swans lining the canal which Carol decided to feed. Then it was pub time. Several long strolls and numerous beers later, it was suddenly 4am in we were in a jazz bar and Kelsey was falling asleep against the wall. We decided it was probably time to hit the sheets. The next morning we stocked up (and I mean stocked up) on the hotel's free breakfast before heading to the Anne Frank House. I'd been before, but I didn't find it any the less moving and I thoroughly recommend going if you haven't yet had the chance to visit. Finally, there was time for a quick photo-shoot on the I Amsterdam sign before boarding the train back to Duisburg, and frankly, crashing right out. 

The weekend after I hit up another European capital: Copenhagen. Since my oldest friend in the world, Jennie, currently resides there I thought it only right and proper that I should pay her a visit. She was a tremendous host, talking me drinking at cool bars and for dinner at a restaurant shaped like an old-fashioned tram (and I can still taste the awesome-osity of that burger). I took the night train up on the Thursday night, arriving in the middle of Friday, the rest of which was pretty much taken up with the aforementioned burger and a Hoegarden in a tumbler that must have previously belonged to a giant it was so big. On Saturday we were tourists, heading out to the Little Mermaid statue and then into Christiania, the crazy hippy commune in the middle of town with it's own a rules and a bar with a fish-tank celling in the toilets. Then, after fabulous home cooked lasagne (thanks, Jennie's flatmate) we got changed and went to the most international flat party I've ever had the privilege to attend. There was only about eleven people but we spanned six different nationalities: British, Turkish, Danish, Norwegian, American and Polish. Crazy. Even crazier, then, that I spent the rest of my night getting well and truly trollied on extremely cheap Turborg at a Balkan Music night in a disused factory turned club. Needless to say, the hangover the next day was considerable and the ten hours of training back to Germany unwelcome, but I had a completely awesome weekend and I'd do it all again tomorrow if not sooner. 

Then (last one now) last weekend Kelsey and I made another trip to Holland in order to help Lyndsay move her shed-loads of stuff across to Groningen. We had said goodbye the night before in typical student style, with a meal and a bout of karaoke and several well-liquored cocktails (also, me and Kelsey, having accidentally bought the same outfit without knowing a few weeks previously decided it would be the perfect farewell gift to go out dressed completely identically, an act which inspired great hilarity). Therefore, the next day should have been a gruelling and grumble-filled trip consisting of crap food and five trains and a hangover to boot, but was actually just one big laugh. We played "That's What She Said" relentlessly for seven hours without getting bored and filmed our adventure. We even wrote a soundtrack and any second now I expect a phone call from Simon Cowell offering us a six-figure advance on a record deal. The only rubbish aspect of the whole thing was that we had to leave Lyndsay behind when we left. I will miss her very much; Germany won't quite be the same and I'm already very much looking forward to fourth year cups of tea and the promise of being introduced to Dempsy's.  

I should say at this point that it hasn't been all play and no work. In fact, it's been very much the opposite, in that work's gone equally crackers and I've found my weeks just as jam-packed as the weekends. This is largely because two of the projects I've been working on at school are coming to a close soon. The first, a play about Robin Hood with Klasse 6, is in full rehearsal mode, with lines to be learnt, costumes to be found and sets to be made. Everything has to be done and dusted by opening night next Thursday; the pupils are performing at the bilingual night as well as to the visiting Grundschule kids who are considering HHG as their Gymnasium of choice for the next nine years of their academic existence. The other is the FCE and CAE voluntary English exams that I have been tutoring for. With less than three weeks until the speaking exams and the written papers the week after that (both events, I might add, which will demand my attendance at school at 8am on a SATURDAY), I've found myself trying to cram even more activities into my thrice weekly lessons as well as spending my evenings trawling the internet and trying to knock together revision packs. This Thursday I have to go additional training of some description in the next town, though I have no idea what that will entail. In addition to this, the Klasse 7 bilingual-politics class that I assist in have just started work on their final  courtroom role-play project and my level of Nachhilfestunden has increased to three per week with the promise of one more should I choose to call the number given to me today.   

So, you see, I haven't been ignoring my blogging duties on purpose! I really have been a very busy bumble bee. I've succeeded in filling my weeks so well that I've barely noticed I've been back six weeks already. Christ, there's only eight weeks to go and it's Easter, and then when that's done I've only got four more weeks before I'm done for good.

Shucks. Just when I was starting to get into it.