A Calm Weekend? Who am I Becoming?

Too bad everyone can seem my screen
at work I could do this often.

It's been a few days since the last post, sorry. I've just been busy ... or something like that.

Work has been going better, one of the guys in the office has made it his point to keep me busy which is nice but a lot of the work has been busy work. Is that better than nothing at all to do though? I haven't given it much thought but I think so ... Maybe.

On Friday during lunch, I walked my bike to a repair shop and had it fixed. The ridiculously gorgeous German man that fixed it only charged me 2 euro for it too! And Monday I need to take it in to get lights put on it so I can ride at night!

How I feel about most of the things
I do at work.

The week wasn't too eventful just reading a lot of books but, of course, the weekend has been eventful!

I found a new (well, new to me) application for my iPod called "Wattpad" that has free books and short stories written by amateurs but it has some great stories that you can't put down. Maybe I'll even start sharing some of the stories I have on here.

On Friday after work, I did my grocery shopping as usual and came back to the apartment to relax some. I ran into some of the guys I met the other day in my apartment complex (yeah mom, those ones) and I told them about Jango which is a website like Pandora that allows you to listen to music online. It's a life saver since most YouTube videos don't work in Germany because of GEMA. I can't get to Pandora here though and Jess showed Jango. It's nice to have a small piece of America to match my American flag currently hanging in my room.

The guys (all German) were very happy to find a new website for music as they had been listening to music off someone's playlists and it was getting repetitive. One of the boys, Patrick, asked me as I was leaving if I was "coming tonight?" Um, where? I hadn't heard of anything going on yet so I had no idea what they were talking about. Apparently they were having a party in their new "hang out room" in my building. Um, sure, I'll try to stop by.

It's weird, but when I get home on Fridays I have no motivation to do anything and just want to stay in bed all night but after a short, OK, maybe a long nap, I wake up between 6 and 9 PM and I'm ready to go.

This Friday I had a date, though I'd rather not talk about the awkwardness that was the date. I mean, he's a nice guy but when it came down to being alone at dinner without alcohol as a buffer, we didn't have much to say. We went to a pizza place and had dinner but, like I said, it was awkward. I felt that I could finally let out a big breath I was not aware I had been holding as soon as I got back to my apartment. I don't think I'm ready to date again.

By 10 PM, the party was just beginning and I stopped by, fully intending on showing my face then going up to bed or out to the bar. Of course, I got stuck staying at the party. Made some interesting new acquaintances. I only remember two people's names though. "Ossie" pronounced a bit like Ozzy and "Hector" pronounced very Spanish-like, Ek-tor.

It was nice to see some familiar faces though and around 1:45 AM, I was ready to be away from them again plus, the party was getting boring. I wound up in my room, directly below the party, and got on Skype with my parents. It was good to see them and hear about life in Michigan while they had dinner. They thought they'd rub in the fact that they had Salt Water Taffy from The Jersey Shore trip they recently went on. Good thing I have fast picture taking skills and snapped this picture of my mom! :) It was probably around 3:30 or 4 AM that I finally got to bed.

I woke up refreshed on Saturday morning around 8:30 AM and relaxed while reading a book in bed. I got up and decided to go shopping. Best idea ever! I love shopping and this was just what I needed. I would up in Paderborn's city center where I went into Peek & Cloppenburg where I fell in love with these pants. Yes, they're an obnoxious green color, but who doesn't want pants like that? 

I've probably said this a million times, but clothing in Germany is really expensive. Like, really expensive. These green pants cost 149,95 euro (190.00 USD.) Don't worry, they were on sale for 59,95 euro (75.96 USD.) But still, that's almost the most I have ever spent on clothing before. Of course, I had to look for a shirt to wear with it and found one in Galeria Kaufhof, just a plain black top for 12 euro or so. Much cheaper.

When I got back to my apartment, I made a quick lunch. Salami and Gouda cheese on a roll. I had time to kill before my night plans would happen so I decided to lay down with a book and read some but I was soon asleep. I woke up around 5 PM and showered. I decided to French braid my hair and it turned out better than it usually does so I left it. Marius, a coworker would be picking me up at 7:30 PM to go to a 40th birthday party for another coworkers husband. 

At 7:30 PM Marius picked me up and we drove to Salzkotten where the party was. We met up with Dominik, Hans (the boss of the department) and his wife Petra. I got to meet Thorsten, Sandra's husband who's birthday it was and we had a lot of drinks. Why not, it was an open bar after all. We had dinner, it was a buffet and there were all kinds of new foods for me to try! Around 11 PM, we headed home. Sandra's three year old daughter was cute, it made me miss home and Lexi and Roo and she didn't want me to go. She made a point of following us to the car and waving goodbye. German children are so cute, hearing them speak German is adorable.

I got back to the apartment and came to my room but I didn't want to stay in. I went looking for the people I knew at the B.I.B. but no one was there. I decided to go out to a bar and walked into the city. Sadly, I wound up at the Irish Pub and had a beer but I don't like to go places alone. It seems that people can tell you're alone and vulnerable and that scares me. I finished my beer and walked back to my apartment. I was quickly in bed and out for the night.

Today has been a slow one. I slept in until noon! That's really late for me! I went to make breakfast in the kitchen and there was a new guy in there. I didn't catch his name but he's from France and he's also working for Benteler. His first day is tomorrow. We talked while we both made breakfast / lunch and went our separate ways. The rest of my day so far has been spent reading, writing, and of course online. I'm ready for bed now though.