Neighbors suck!...Jan 29

ok...this catches me up now....

We are unfortunate to have a  very nosy, bored old lady for a downstairs neighbor. She informed our landlady that Oskar was dirtying the precious stairwell (how could he when we carry him up and down the stairs?). There is a problem around here of people taking things way too seriously(the German way?). Bettina said that it’s a Southern Germany thing---where people will try and find anything to complain about, snooping and peering at those around them. It really makes us feel as though we do not have our own space. We feel very considerate of our neighbors feelings—cleaning the stairwell weekly when we have to, being quite coming and going down the stairs, and carrying the damn dog up and down so he doesn’t dirty the stairs with his paws. People’s shoes bring a lot more dirt to the stairs than this little dogs paws do. And she still told on us. LAME. While Oskar was playing in the courtyard park the other day, another peering, spying old lady came out to tell us that he couldn’t be there. This was at like 11am on a Tuesday morning—nobody around. Pisses me off. We try not to let them bother us, but it really makes me feel like being loud in the stairwell and stomping my muddy shoes in front of their door, just to make them mad. Guess its my aversion to authority. Its not Big Brother we are worried about over here—it’s Grumpy Old Lady Watching. You Cant Bring Me Down! 

Took Mayzie to the public pool just down the road. We had a good time, once we were in the water. Learning the locker system and the uni-sex changing room system proved difficult with my limited German skills, but we made it in. In a society that seems to be very rules driven, there was a surprising lack of them at the pool. No lifeguards on the big water slide, no barriers to stay behind where the kids come pouring out of the slide. No signs, or guards outside in the spa area…felt nice to wander through the different pools and not feel watched. Mayzie loves the water and we splashed for a couple hours. 

I stopped in at a pizza place on the way home and got a reall Italian style Hawaiian pizza to go. All in broken German and sign language. My  confidence is building. You really have to not be worried about feeling like an ass every time you step into a store. 

I received my work permissions, so all is set for starting work next Wednesday.  First thing I did after I got my papers was go back to the internet store and try to get that going—of course they needed to wait for permission from HQ, so we will know tomorrow morning. I will be surprised if it all goes smoothly. Walking 20 mins to the library just to check email is getting annoying. 

The local library deserves its own dedicated blog posting—its a very cool, well laid out space and has 2 beer gardens right outside its doors. The gardens open up in mid April, cant wait for that. Jenna is tired of me pointing out all the beer gardens and bike paths. Cant wait for some warm weather!