lively lolita

Falk made it out of his neighboring apartment in perfect time last night. In the end, some neighbors on the ground floor had a party until 1pm. I began to consider myself thankful that it hadn’t gone on longer and I fell asleep. I don’t recall dreaming of a Thomas, but the name woke me up – that’s for sure. There was some sort of fight in the building at 2.am. The yelling and the beating on the door was a little worrying since it got louder and louder. I don’t sleep that well with so much noise, but after a few coffees this morning, it was all back to the usual Euphonies self. I had expected quite the exhausting day, but I was pleasantly surprised today with an extra enjoyable work atmosphere. Still, it is a puzzle to be very efficient in the time you are free to actually work at work. Meetings, informal and formal have you running around whilst the work is still on your desk at the end of the day. Puzzle. Hey, my colleagues are starting to open up. I think the key for that here is your friendliness and them seeing you reliable in producing a piece of work. There are going to be ups and downs, that is a normal phenomenon, but making friends is a big support in this roller coaster. It is good to start to have your odd humor understood across the cultures, to be able to run into an office and blurt out an expressive monologue in German to people who look at you blank and then understand, this is either euphonies getting mixed up, or euphonies trying to be funny. * Phew, one point for euphonies!* The cleaning lady made me feel good two days in a row by telling me she wants to steal my clothes. I guess this is an affectionate way of telling you, you look ok. That does something to your self-esteem. She assured me, she wanted to steal my 5 euro bordeaux color shirt in the night. She is so funny. She yanked the shirt towards her to look at the tag: “no, there is no way you know this name brand” I assured her. (we are the super bargain hunters, right mama?) Lolita is afraid of one of the people in the office. You know when this colleague is out, cause she will chirp, sing, yell joyfully, slap you on the back hard and even drink your remaining cold coffee. Reminds me of the cleaning ladies at my university in England, who when offered to help themselves to fruit from my fruit bowl, took the whole bowl: “well, euphonies, thank you!” But I take it well since I am a little eccentric as well.
Here, Lolita will even tell me, “chica euphonies, get on the floor now and move your files!” She is great, I love her. However, the same South American temperament blows up and cries in desperation at the news of her son’s first bad grade in English. “Euphonies, teach him tomorrow at 16h!” asked a tearful Lolita yesterday. *oh, that would only be leaving four hours early*. Then, she grabs my telephone and asks her son to talk to me about what he needs to learn: “Tell her Juan Carlos what you are bad at, tell her, she is going to teach you”. Today she was upbeat once again. My friendly colleague had slipped out. Otherwise for some reason she becomes timid and diligent. Her bright self didn’t mind vacuuming under my table whilst I was on the phone today. She is great fun. People like her, who love their job no matter what the job is, are very unique. She is exactly what it takes to loosen up the atmosphere. It is still not quite the weekend yet, but nevertheless pleasant to lighten up after plenty of concentration. Speaking of the weekend, I am looking forward to a Thanksgiving party at some new friends’ house as well as the special visitor from beautiful Baden-Würrtemberg this weekend. I have plenty to be thankful for this weekend. Happy Thanksgiving!