Chapter 3 - Settlement

Three weeks in Germany have flown by. I feel like I've been here forever and that I've always been part of the company.

I have officially moved to my new place as of yesterday. It is such an awesome room, and both my housemates are gorgeous and lovely. As I type this blog, I can look out my window and see the snow falling, and the sun faintly peeking through the clouds. I need to buy a few things, but otherwise I am completely equipped. So much happier now, I feel that I can actually start to settle down.

All my paperwork has been completed and organised, so I don't have so much to worry about now. Work is going as well as it can. We spent the week on stage so that we could space a few things and work things out around the set. We have slightly over two weeks before the premiere of Cassandra, but it's nowhere close to finished. I hope that there is not too much to go. At this point, I don't really know how much more there is to do.

Had a really fun night last night. I always thought it would be sehr schwierig for me to hang out with Europeans because I don't smoke or drink, but I think I proved to my friends that it's possible to still have lots of fun and stay sober. Plus, the drunk people always pay for everything, so things end up way cheaper for me :P I really like my new friends and colleagues, and I'm starting to feel a lot more comfortable here.

My German is improving, though it is still very slow. I am feeling more confident in saying some words and putting awkward sentences together. I have started reading Der Zauberer der Smaragdenstadt, which is The Wizard of Oz in German. It's a great way to learn new words and understand sentence structure. I just need to buy an English-German-English dictionary. I have asked my German colleagues to only speak German to me outside the studio, and I can only reply to them in German. It is so hard at the moment, but I hope with time it will get better and easier.

Photo: Meindert, Victor & I.