What have you done today…

Yesterday Last week A few days ago This time two weeks ago At the beginning of last month I found myself in a little café near Rudolfsplatz with a mug of creamy hot chocolate, catching up with a friend I hadn’t seen since a Silbermond concert at the Goethe Institut back in 2012 (and in the way that things go, it’s only now that I’m getting round to finishing what I wanted to say about it). He’d invited me there the day before, and with a day off from my theatre work I decided to check it out. Called Grad 20, it was just the sort of place that I’d happily spend an afternoon in with a book or with friends, and gave me the impression that it was a sort of hidden treasure of Cologne, since it lies unobtrusively along a row of restaurants, supermarkets and stores which are certainly more well-known than this independent café.

The singer was a girl and her guitar, a London dweller who busks in Underground stations and plays in bars at events around Europe. Charlotte Campbell’s her name, and during her one hour/90 minute slot she sang a few covers as well as her own songs (and if anyone’s interested, her YouTube Channel is https://www.youtube.com/user/CCampbellMusic). The set-up of a mic and an amp suited the unassuming venue, and it made for a very lovely couple of hours on a cold November evening.

When asked how she came about this tiny establishment in Cologne, she replied, “I just emailed them, and they said yes.” I don’t quite know what I was expecting, but I was surprised at the simplicity. Perhaps it was because I’ve been used to the masses of red tape in my own amateur theatre life, or having the onslaught of German/English admin when moving out here. Either way I had to admire the “decide to do it and just do it” attitude she has. Having already played in Greece earlier this year, her talent is certainly allowing her to explore beyond London. In the audience this time round there were two girls who had seen her in Berlin and came to support her again in Cologne, which just goes to show that how music can connect people even when there is a language barrier.

With it being such a small venue, I ended up having a little chat with Charlotte in her breaks and afterwards. We talked a little about our lives and I explained that I was on my year abroad and working in a theatre, to which she responded, “[for my age], you’ve achieved so much.” Being one of about 180 students in my uni alone who are spending their third year abroad, I didn’t really consider my big move anything spectacular, so I complimented her back with congratulations on her own successes, to which she smiled and played them down. What struck me then was that our accomplishments were considered more highly by the other person than by ourselves (if that makes any sense at all). Our modesty about our achievements made us forget the fact that they were achievements at all (noteworthy, yes, but not achievements), simply because we viewed them as just another part of our day-to-day lives.

My own realisation of my progress came whilst trying to find a new job, as well as struggling to complete my Stundenzettel for the past 4 months (scary moment where you know exactly how many injuries you’ve sustained from work- 13 bruises and 3 cuts- but not how many hours you’ve worked…). The thought of joining a new theatre made me realise just how much I love my work and colleagues in Cologne and it was the little things that went by unnoticed, such as being able to programme the lighting desk in accordance to the performer’s wishes in German, that contributed to me feeling like part of the theatre family.

The older we get, the higher expectations we have for what we would call a success- after all, adults can’t get a Well Done Certificate for paying attention in class for the week. It can be incredibly easy overlook the “smaller” achievements in our lives as we push forward, blinkered, to the next task (students remain fairly good at spotting and rewarding themselves, even if it’s 2 hours’ extra sleep for completing an essay before a deadline. Though to be fair, essays are rarely considered a small feat for their writer…), and actually, it doesn’t hurt to recognise them a little more. Not all accomplishments need a round of applause as you walk to the front of the hall in your school uniform- they can be the completed tasks of the day that, whilst not enough for a full-on party, certainly deserve a smile or two. So, in true primary school rewards assembly style, I shall end this post with Heather Small…

What have you done today to make you feel proud?

5 lessons I’ve re-learnt abroad

Almost everyone needs it, asks for it, gives it, but hardly anyone ever takes it. What is it?

There Are Even Wise Words About Pasta

Those try-to-make-you-feel-good words of wisdom found printed on mugs, sewn onto cushions and sprawled across Facebook timeline photos (mine included); encouragement and guidance passed on by mum/dad/grandparent/teacher/friend/stranger to which you often find yourself absent-mindedly nodding along without taking it in. The endless clichés that many complain about and still find themselves repeating at some point or another. In short: life advice.

It’s the 2-month mark of my Year Abroad (okay, the tiniest bit belated… ) and instead of studying at a foreign uni I decided to take the plunge and look for work. Some jobs are specially suited to YA students, such as translation work and marketing assistants, and these jobs are posted round to our email inboxes, some of us (me included) waiting round in hopes of receiving one that matches our interests. What I ended up doing, however, was applying for theatre jobs intended for native Germans as well as Soon-to-be-Germans, jobs that did not state “Englisch erwünscht,” which admittedly made getting a job offer such a great surprise for me.

It meant that I’d be working in a place where the fact you’re a uni student from a different country with a funny accent is a novelty for the first day only, and not very helpful afterwards. But the most refreshing thing for me? Not working in a place full of students, essay deadlines and imminent paper exams. Whilst I think uni has been a great experience so far, it’s no surprise that you find yourself living in a bubble, where the catastrophes of the day most likely involves a malfunctioning printer or Starbucks getting your order wrong (again). Escaping from the bubble has made me re-learn the most simple and obvious of life lessons multiple times over, so much so that a few may have to adorn my Facebook cover photo in the near future…

1) The main thing is that you are understood

Credit to http://fuckyeahforeignlanguagemajor.tumblr.com/

Let’s start off with a language student mantra. After years of “verb comma verb” constructions and enough of the Konjunktiv I and II to really mess up your grasp on first and third person verbs, you find that the quick and simple answers are always the best. Translation exams come along with sentences 5 lines long and verbs left, right and centre, but enter the real world and your little soliloquy creates just the same effect as a simple “Ja, natürlich!” Which is both relieving (as I am prone to forgetting what I was even talking about once I get to the end of the clause, let alone the verb that corresponds to the subject mentioned right at the beginning of the sentence) and a little frustrating, as hey, I would like to improve that. A comedian performed the other night and highlighted this perfectly:

(roughly translated) “The German language can be so expressive. Just take verbs of speech, for example. We have such a range of verbs to choose: erzählen, fragen, anflehen, anmerken, berichten, etc. And when you talk about conversations such long sentences can be created, like:

“Er hat mir die Geschichte erzählt aber ich habe ihn nicht verstanden und musste meine Freundin fragen…

“But what do people say nowadays?

“Er war so ‘puhh!’ Und ich so ‘hä?’ Und sie so ‘doch!'”

The youth speak of today 😉

But whatever I do decide to say (or if I decide to not say anything at all and instead rely on gestures), there’s the small reminder at the back of my mind that actually, I chose to study languages so that I can communicate with people. As long as I can do that, I can feel grand- and worry about the frills later.

 

2) There is such a thing as working too hard

Or forks. Either way.

And it’s not the same as keeping busy. Which is what everyone tells me, but I still admit to being a self-confessed workaholic who is associate producing a show back at her uni whilst being in a different country. But it’s only out here that I’ve heard about Burnout- the state of stress that leads to mental and physical exhaustion and can affect your health and happiness. It isn’t “just for the office workers” or any particular job in general- anyone can experience it at any point of their lives. In the first few weeks of work where my Dienstplan was still a bit of a mystery to me (as long as I could see “Li” on a date next to a time, I knew I needed to be at the theatre then, and work until… whenever), my colleagues would sometimes say that I could leave before the show starts, as I wasn’t rota-ed in for doing it. At times I felt that I hadn’t worked enough that day to justify leaving early, and a couple of times I had voluntarily stayed and watched the show (and help with the get out afterwards), but I learnt the ways of the roster and now accept my Feierabend, thus going home at a sensible time. But it’s not only about health. Whilst I’m more used to people asking “Don’t you have a home to go to?!”, it does make you think when colleagues mention that they haven’t seen wives and children for days on end simply due to clashing work hours. Theatre can bring friends and family together, but those who run it behind the scenes and perform on stage may be missing out on quality time with their own loved ones due to the nature of the live entertainment business, something that I’ve only really half-appreciated. My teachers’ reminders of “all work and no play” are being listened to more and more: Loving your work is great. Being married to your work is best being left to Sherlock.

3) Make the most of the time you’ve got

Christmas trees in October

Or Carpe Diem. Or Live Every Day as if it Were Your Last. Or YOLO. Whichever form it takes, you hear it everywhere- but at least what’s being preached to us is undeniably true. My French teacher often told me that “time speeds up the older you become”, and already I’m sitting wondering what I’ve actually done in 2014 whilst the Christmas decorations are being rolled out in the Galeria Kaufhof, so God help me when I turn 30. I’m 2 months into my year abroad, meaning that this time next year I’ll be back for fourth year at uni and this adventure will just be a collection of memories and photos (with the additional hope of improved German…). So what’s better than packing your year of recently-rediscovered freedom with travelling and friends and doing what you love? My first (well, first after the initial introduction) blog covers this in more detail, so I shall leave it there with this one (as if you guys don’t know it, anyway).

4) But when you do nothing, that’s okay too.

So I may be cheating by giving the opposite of number 3 as number 4. But even after writing down what I’d like to do in Trier, Koblenz, Monchengladbach, Bergisch Gladbach, Essen, Berlin etc etc, I still haven’t gone to any of them yet. Partly because I’m going to other places. But also because I sometimes use my day off as… well, a day off from everything. I only have a limited time in Germany, but even so my body loves to remind me that I do like to sleep (a lot) and stay in bed reading, and that’s just as good as hopping onto the next train to Neverland and exploring the unknown. Better sometimes, considering that I LOVE books and haven’t been able to read for pleasure in such a long time- I’m currently re-reading The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, with Gone Girl next on my reading list. Could I do this back at home, rather than in Cologne? Technically, yes (if I made myself). But we all need a rest, as do our bank accounts, so there’s no point feeling bad.

5) Just say Yes 

Cue Snow Patrol (Okay, I did that on purpose, just so I could link in one of my favourite songs, but oh well). This one’s a tricky one, since it’s more “Just Say Yes Within Reason and With Boundaries of Common Sense”. But in short- be open to anything and experience will follow.

Some Things Never Change in Theatre

Even when things can seem as foreign as they get in a different country, you’re never far away from homely reminders, whether it’s the many H&M signs flooding the High Streets in Germany (or PRIMARK staring at you as you get off the Stadtbahn in Neumarkt) or the seemingly endless strings of adverts you have to endure whilst unwinding in front of the television. When taking a job in a theatre here in Cologne, I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to carry my weight on a team of techies who have all trained in this field as Azubis or at uni, whereas I’ve come from an amateur theatre background with only my enthusiasm and the tuppence I’ve learnt here and there on various shows I’ve done.

Starting from the basics, such as cable-winding, and working upwards was a huge help, simply because of vocabulary and making sure that what I’ve done previously had been correct. Plus, I guess I have to admit to cheating in the smallest of senses, since the lighting board’s programming software is unfortunately (or fortunately, for the show’s sake) in English. But in terms of the transfer from my university theatre to here, it’s not been as big a leap as I had been fearing, particularly as in some circumstances my home theatre is more advance (or so I think). For one thing, a stage manager is a definite must for most shows put on at the university’s main stage, whereas over here there doesn’t seem to be any sign of an InspizientIn… The lighting and sound operators are given a script and are left to their own devices. As for props and being on the book, the tasks are divided out to other members of the creative team, such as the assistant director and set designers. During a tech where there were already 2 techies on ladders focusing lights and another 2 at the lighting desk, I found myself backstage, helping the directing intern fill condoms with long-life milk. And then leaving oily handprints on the black stage as I got down to find a sink… #ProppyProblems #StageManagerAtHeart

Whilst there can be differences between theatres in terms of how they run and who is responsible for what, the dynamic of theatre-making is more or less universal. There will always be a (at least, a planned) dress rehearsal, for example, as well as a pile of cables (Kabelsalat= Cable salad) somewhere in the wings. So I thought I’d share a few thoughts about my theatre goings-on on this blog, knowing that other theatre people, regardless of current location, would (hopefully) be able to relate to them.

1) Theatre’s oh-so-regular working hours

Copyright Q2Q Comics q2qcomics.com

Working on a long-running show in the West End will be an exception here, but it’s the bullet point on any theatre job advertisement that both excites and frustrates all techies: Irregular working hours, inc. evenings and weekends. We all sign up for it regardless, and can enjoy the lie-ins granted by a 2pm start and sigh in despair when the 10:30am matinee (I’ve also had the joys of a 7am tech) comes round and you drag yourself to the theatre armed with your coffee in a paper cup. Some onlookers do not seem to understand this- that the theatre runs outside of showtimes too. I found myself working on 3rd October, Germany’s Tag des Deutschen Einheits. A national bank holiday, and I was scheduled for an 8am start: all fine, nothing new there. We had to dismantle the scaffolding from a show the previous night and load it all into a van, ready to send it off to its next venue. 11:30am, all of us pushing through, transporting 25kg sandbags from the theatre’s roof down 5 floors to the bottom, when a man shuffles over and says (translated):

“Excuse me, it is the Tag des Deutschen Einheits- a bank holiday, and I am having my breakfast at the cafe over there on my day off- please can you be quieter?”

Cue all of us looking at each other with raised eyebrows. Bank holiday or no bank holiday, metal will always clang when being loaded into a truck. And let’s not get us started on the fact that we had to work on a bank holiday in the first place…

2) The many cigarette breaks

Not exclusive to the theatre scene, my 10 minute breaks from work are generally determined by my co-workers’ call of “Raucherpause!”. Whereas I’ve generally worked in teams in which smokers were limited to 2 or 3 people, I’d say that about half of the technical department here smokes- and chatting to my language friends, this fraction seems to be the norm in Germany. I’ve always been vaguely amused when I walk past buildings and see uniformed chefs and nurses standing around together outside the fire exit, like pupils congregating to the unsurveillenced nook in school fitting in a smoke together between classes. And now I’ve become part of this culture, as a gaggle of black-clothed techies emerge from the depths of backstage, lighters and tobacco in hand. Though I’ll be the one without a cigarette…

3) Sweet Treats

I’ve generally been taught: Best way to please the stage manager/crew? Bring food. Preferably unhealthy food. And my theatre over here does that well, with a tub of Haribo backstage, along with sandwiches, fruit, carrot sticks, tea, coffee and the likes. Admittedly we only get this special treatment when a visiting company comes in, and we do have to share with them, but we do get a pretty good deal.

I do miss the pizza ordered during uni get-ins, though. (http://whatshouldtheatrecallme.tumblr.com/post/75920470428/when-youre-having-a-tech-work-day-and-the-pizza explains it so very well)

4) And finally… the short jokes.

Unfortunately I’m not as useful as I could be, simply because of the fact that I am small (so can’t reach much without a ladder) and a tiny bit weak (You’ve probably already done the task for me in the time it takes me to get a wooden ladder and set it up). However, I do try, and get greeted with sympathetic smiles and teasings when it doesn’t always go to plan. Or when I’m about to get up the tallest ladder (the middle ladder is a little too wobbly for my liking) and my colleague comments, “but, are you heavy enough for the brakes to work on that ladder?!”

Oh well, at least I’m having a ball there 🙂

Ohne Arbeit wär das Leben öde…

Translated as: “Life would be boring without work”, a line from Wir Sind Helden’s (Ode) An Die Arbeit, and something I learnt when travelling to Edinburgh this summer: It’s nicer when you have a purpose for being somewhere. Even though I am a fan of strolling aimlessly and discovering where you end up, I’ve been enjoying the working world here too (thankfully!) and building up some work experience in a theatre here in Cologne. So a little introduction to my experiences so far…

There are days when I understand everything and can follow orders without a hitch. There are days when I think I understand, and turns out I’m wrong and need to ask again. And then there are days when I understand what I’m being told, and still do the wrong thing (like when my colleague suggested I wait for a trolley before carrying a wooden board to the lift to save my [possibly aching] back, with me answering “gute Idee!” and still walking away with it towards the lift…). Whether it’s instructions being lost in translation or simply lost in common sense, my colleagues are incredibly friendly and patient with me as I get to grips with the technical vocab needed im Theater (Eine Farbfolie, anyone?).

The theatre itself is also amazing. With two auditoriums and its own acting courses, there’s always something going on, and the techies have sometimes been given a spotlight as backstage tours pass through. From 10:30am children’s matinees to evening cabaret and call times between 8am and 11pm, it’s rather impossible to get into a mundane working pattern. Last night was die Koelner Theaternacht, which meant that there were performances of 3 shows throughout the evening, the final ones ending around 1am. Tonight it’s die Lange Nacht der Literatur, expected to finish at midnight. And when the audience have given the final clap (One thing I’ve noticed is that the casts coming to this theatre, possibly in Germany in general, is that the curtain call lasts a VERY long time, with multiple returns to stage…) and have left the building, the techies stay for the get-out, ready for the next set to grace the stage.

Alles fuer die Kunst 🙂

No Time Like The Present

So. I set up this blog on the 1st September thinking: First of the month, great time to start something new.

My work starts on the 2nd. I shall write my first proper blog post then.

Perhaps I should wait a week, then I’ll have something to talk about.

I go to Bonn on the 14th, I should wait until then.

But oh wait, I’m going to Munich on the 19th, I’ll definitely have a lot to say then!

Hmm, I cannot upload my photos yet, as I don’t have my laptop. I’ll wait until then.

And so, coming to the close of September and nearly 4 weeks since promising myself to start a Year Abroad blog, I finally find myself getting out my metaphorical pen and paper (actually a keyboard) and having so much to say that I don’t know where to begin. But I now have photos! So perhaps I should start with that:

Balancing Act

I would have started with the usual Kölner Dom or the amazing panorama along the Rhein, but I have to say this is my favourite little discovery so far. This balancing figure can be seen on the Hohenzollernbrücke, and for me is the reminder that Cologne has its quirky side nestled within the foreboding elegance of the traditional buildings scattered around the fourth largest city in Germany. Cologne offers something for so many tastes, so being open-minded on a year abroad can result in having something different to do everyday. However, two things stop me from wondering through the city all day, every day, and that is a) work and b) the rest of Germany/Europe/the world which I want to explore too.

My technical theatre work is so much fun, and although the many get-ins are proving just how much I need to go to the gym and build up my muscles, I’m enjoying my time there. There are irregular work times, very long days and last minute changes,

ChinaFest

which I believe has made me want to make the most of my free time all the more.

So whilst there are mornings that I spend on my computer for too long, there have also been walks along the Rhein and the casual strolls through street festivals and city events happening in and out of Cologne. Last Sunday, for example, saw Neumarkt being invaded by red tents and butterfly kites whilst Roncalliplatz was given a pop-up stage ready for performances throughout the day. With a working day of 2pm-8pm, a morning visit was a must.

And after work? Definitely a stroll back down the Rhein, but this time the river wasn’t the main attraction. With the Photokina taking place at KölnMesse, the Deutsches Sport und Olympia Museum played host to the Red Bull Illume photo exhibition, and what better way to end the day than to walk past some skillful sport photography with music playing and a lilac sky.

Illume Exhibition

Oh, and it really was a great end to the weekend too. Last minute changes to your working schedule can be annoying, but I was told that instead of having a Friday and Sunday off, I was to have Friday and Saturday off instead. Within 12 hours of getting 2 days off in a row, I had booked coach tickets to Munich and had sorted out whose floor I was sleeping on for the night, who I was meeting up with and what I was packing- and then I was on my way a week later. Coming from a family that plans everything a year in advance, this sudden need for spontaneity is something that will probably be exercised quite a lot this year, perhaps to the dismay of my bank balance.

But who would say no to 30 hours in the south of Germany, with the wonders of Oktoberfest coincidentally coinciding? Even when my coach arrived 90 minutes late (and the so-called free Wi-Fi didn’t even work…), I had a splendid time meeting up with fellow YAers and theatre friends and generally getting to continue my full-time occupation of tourist. I was lucky enough to be around for the opening parade of Oktoberfest, and luckier still when it started to rain and my uni friend’s office overlooked the street the way the royal box would at ASCOT. Which also meant that my camera was working overtime as the floats and musicians went on by….

Clown, anyone?

So I guess I haven’t had a bad first month in Cologne, and after all of the pre-planning and Bürokratie I’m finally getting to see Germany. Just need to remember to charge my camera batteries!

Wie ein Lichtermeer (or a mandatory yet uninteresting introduction to me)

My story isn’t much unlike so many people’s before mine (in fact, I have been thinking about what to write so much that I was pipped to the post by a friend in Lyon a couple of days ago). The intention of starting a blog has been nestled at the back of my mind for years, and now that something rather exciting (in my case, my year abroad- cheers modern languages degree) has come along, it’d be a shame not to document the (hopefully) numerous adventures I plan to go on (time/money-permitting).

That, plus the fact that I have been absolutely awful at keeping up with the “yes, of course I’ll email and stay in touch with you!” notion for the past two years since going to uni. So what with living a year away from good friends whose 21st birthdays and graduations I’ll sadly be missing, hopefully this will be killing two birds with one stone. Perhaps.

Ooh, and plus the fact that it gives me a motivation to write for enjoyment, something I’ve been missing out on for far too long. Whilst my teenage ambitions of writing a best-selling novel or a 5 star play are still eons away from becoming a reality (read as: I had ideas. Attempted to write down said ideas. Said ideas didn’t sound so great on page. Gave up on said ideas. Repeat.), at least you can’t really go wrong with a blog. I will most likely try and fail to be witty, and any insight will probably come at a (rare and gigantic) push, but if anything, you can just skim over any gratuitous musings and would probably be able to summarise my posts in a sentence. Summary of this one, for example: hi there!

So, for an introduction: Hello, for those who have stumbled on this by mistake after looking up Unheilig song lyrics (explained below) rather than through my social media, my name is Lian and I’m currently undertaking my year abroad in Germany as part of my modern languages degree. As a theatre techie-wannabe, I’ve been able to get some work experience in a small theatre in Cologne, and am currently living with a family who are friends of friends of relatives (yep, successful apartment/WG searching appears not to be my forté, but the family are wonderful so I’m not complaining 🙂 )

I’ve actually been in Cologne for 10 days now (which was meant to be time for apartment viewings and securing a home for the year… in reality I’ve only had 1 [non-scam] reply out of the many emails sent…), which means that I’ve already done the admin joys of registering, getting a bank account, SIM card etc., and have already despaired at the tiny luxuries I forgot to pack with me (spare phone for my English SIM, cable that lets me upload pictures onto my computer, more than 3 pairs of trousers…). As today was the first day my €62 Formel9 ticket was gültig (valid on all transport in Cologne from 9am weekdays and all day weekends, like an off-peak monthly travelcard in London), I now haven’t got an excuse for staying in my room all day trawling the pages of wg-gesucht.de . Oh, and my Praktikum starts tomorrow. So yep, time to enter the real world (and have something to write about).

But today I decided to work on my blog, something that, as a perfectionist, took far more time than it’s probably worth. And since it took up quite a lot of time, I feel that the creation of this blog can be the topic of the rest of this post (no Cologne musings just yet, and it’s not incredibly fascinating.. you can skip this and go onto the next post, if you like.). Or at least, I feel I should explain the blog’s http address, meant to be read as WieEinLichtermeer.wordpress.com, but annoyingly no capitals are used and instead you get a garbled sequence of letters that to a non-German speaker looks like I gave up with a name entirely and used whatever was produced when I bashed my hands on the keyboard. All other blogs I have written have been for other groups, so choosing a domain title immediately put me into baby-naming panic mode (can’t sound too precocious, but I do like something with a melody, but it’s got to live with it for its entire existence, blah blah blah…). The title actually comes from the song Lichter der Stadt by Unheilig, meaning “like a sea of lights.” I  had intended to use a line from a Silbermond song, “Lass Wind in Deine Segel” (Alles Gute), but being song lyrics, most fans tend to snap up the best lines for their own blogs (I had also tried LichterDerStadt.wordpress.com, to no avail, and decreed that LassWindInDeineSegelUndLaufAufZuNeuenWegen.wordpress.com was a bit too much). But ultimately I think what I have ended up with kind of defines what I love about travelling- the amazing cityscapes and panoramas out there, particularly at night. The cliché of a city coming to life is actually what I love the most, and it’s fitting that my next travel dream is to see the Northern Lights; that my favourite celebration is Bonfire Night and that I’ve tried my hand a few times as a lighting designer (okay, the last one is perhaps a very loose connection…). With my favourite memory of Germany so far being the view of Berlin’s “Lichtermeer” from the plane as my school trip drew to a close, I’m hoping to challenge my not-so-good-with-night-portraits camera to the full this year- perhaps making that the focus of my year abroad (aside from, you know, actually surviving abroad). And so hence the domain name and title for this post.

Then came trying to make the webpage predominantly purple with a picture of a pink sunset taken back at uni, giving up and going with something predominantly yellow instead. Choosing a profile picture (having been called Little Miss Sunshine by a couple of bands of friends, it seemed to fit in nicely here). Writing a first post. Listen to Lichter Der Stadt again.

Now to actually start living in Germany.