söndag 27 januari 2008

Weekend, rain, "hurricane"

As pretty much every Saturday, first I went to the gym to do some sports. Normally different courses start quite late so I usually go on those stepping/climbing machines. It felt good. Then biking home (which due to the wind made me more tried than excercising earlier), breakfast with Filip and then going downtown. It was awfully grey outside but I was sure that it wouldn't rain today. Yeah, right! As soon as we got out of the apartment it started raining and together with the damn strong wind the combination sucked. Anyway, we went to Schanze (the shops are cool, little bit odd and not as mainstream as downtown). Then Handan joined as, we had coffee and decided to go to the center to look for some skis, skiing clothes and ... other stuff. We were hungry but because we decided to eat in a Mongolian restaurant in the evening, we didn't want to spoil our apetites. It was crazy! Anyway, we all managed to buy something (shoes!!!) which felt good. Before heading to the restaurant we managed to got wet again. It took us a while to find the place (Mongo's in Eppendorf) but when we ordered the food everything was perfect!!!! The concept over there is great - you pick either one meal or all you can eat, then you go and put into a bowl whatever you want: lots of fresh and great vegetables, different kind of meats (incl. Kangooro, crocodile, etc.) and fish and seafood. Afterwards you left that bowl in the kitchen and they woked it for you. Oh yeah - before picking the food, you tell a waiter what kind of marinade you would like. There are 7-8 different kinds, and they add them while woking. This was delicious!!! Next time any of you come here, we will go there!!! Mums! Yummi! Mniam!
After eating it was so hard to start walking again. We went to a rental DVD place, after 30 min we finally chose "The Bourne Ultimatum" and we watched it at Handan's place. Before actually watching the movie, I got a cup of tea from Handan, and while trying to grab it I managed to put my hand inside the mug, so I burned myself and spilled the tea all over. Great job! Today the hand is little bit red and hurts a little but hope it will be good.
Then Filip and I went home and guess what...? It was damn windy and rained like hell..... We both came into conclusion that this part of Europe is not for us....
Enjoy your day!

fredag 25 januari 2008

Thursday night


Long time no hear... Yesterday Txell, Handan, Thomas and I decided to play tennis at our "wonderful" Sportlife hotel in Elmshorn. The game was fun and we will probably continue that every week. Afterwards we had a dinner at T & T place and later on we went out!!! The whole Eimsbuttel-gang (Guillem joined as well). Wow! On Thursday! Like during study times! ;-) The main person who organized this going out is Cyril - a crazy French guy who parties a lot!! And because we have promised him we would go out on Thu for 3 weeks, it was time we did it!
The place was some after work party close to Planten & Blummen, quite cool. We met some new international people, and after having some beers (I had water) we decided we needed to dance. MISTAKE! The music was some drum´n´base crap but we gave a try. So after getting through a huge crowd, we ended up right below a huge loudspeaker so we were half deaf and you could feel the beat in your lungs. But that was nothing yet! Suddenly I turned and saw how most of the people there were performing a dance, which was like a direct copy of this crazy guy from "Black Cat, White Cat" dance. If you haven't seen the movie - you just have to see it. And on the picture you can more less see what I mean (taken from Google).
We laughed sooooo badly!!!
Around midnight we, the older ones, got tired and left home.
Friday morning at work was hard but somehow I survived the day. And of course the German course until 20.00. Then getting some groceries and meeting Filip (my brother) who came to visit for the weekend. By the way, it took him 45 min to find a parking spot around 8 PM. Cool, huh?

I'll write more during the weekend. Wish you a good one!

söndag 20 januari 2008

New Year 2008





There will be some stories and pictures from Xmas time and New Year's eve party but I'm still waiting for DVD with them. After Poland I went to Göteborg to celebrate Orthodox New Year (well, not really since this year Tania didn't search so much for her roots) but we had a nice dinner at Tania's place with Marita and Torbjörn who came from Jönköping. It was a really nice weekend at home but as usual too short.... (thanks to SAS I had to fly earlier on Sunday since they cancel many flights).

The first weekend after coming back to HH we went indoor skiing to Snowdome - 60 km from HH. I went with some VEVA guys (work) and although the hill was really small, we had fun! It took max 2 min to go down and about 10-15 min to wait for the lift. But it was good to get some skiing mood and we decided maybe to go skiing to Czech in 1 month. For a longer weekend. We'll see...

Anyway, here are some pics from the Snowdome. With the Alps in the background :-)

Christmas and New Year



I flew from Hamburg to Gdansk with WizzAir (Filip wished me good luck after his awful adventures with these airlines in Bucharest) but the only problem I had was a delay of 1.5 hour - not so bad. Even if it is only Lubeck airport...
My dad and Filip picked me up. Ooops! Sorry - M.Sc. Filip! He defended his thesis the same day so he was ready to party. Anyway the day after we had a visit of my cousin Iwona with her Mexican husband Miguel and sweet boy Jasiu. It was so cool to see them (I haven't seen Jasiu earlier so it was high time we met). Some hours after they left her sister Gosia with her family came over. Gosia's and Jarek's boys are so big!!!! Anyway, it was fun to see them again! We decided we need to go out next time I'm in Gdynia (which everybody hopes it will happen still this year ;-)

The day after we went to my grandmom's for Xmas. My dad wanted us to take a brand new higway from Gdansk which just got opened. The whole 25 km!!! WOW!!!! But we thought it was worth trying, checked the watches and were prepared to have a shorter trip to my grandmom's than usual. Well..... all went fine until we were 30 km from their place. My dad's 2 year old VW Passat suddenly died, half a meter after passing a railway track!!! Puh! we had no clue what had happened and of course the car didn't want to start....So after about 1 hour of making phone calls, checking the insurance, arguing etc one guy came with the towing truck (crane or however you call it). We called Magda and she came with her moher's monster pick-up to pick us up (that's why the pick-up! ;-) kidding...). It was a good idea to take this car since we had LOTS of luggage plus Filip's skiing equipment. Anyway, the whole car problem got solved after 2 days cause the spare part - some gasoline pump had to come by train from Gdynia (expensive but the car is working). Dad - I told you - buy a Volvo! ;-)

Friends



Most of my friends here in Hamburg are international people. The only German representative is Thomas - Txell's (a girl from Barcelona) boyfriend. We all work at Autoliv and often try to come up with some fun during the weekends. Sometimes also during the weeks, although this is much harder. So, the friends are (on the group picture - from the left):
Miguel ("crazy" Mexican guy who is heard easily when he laughs ;-) ), his wife Melody (one of the few ones who don't work at our company), Meritxell (or Txell) - a girl from Barcelona who fell for the German - Thomas (next to her) - he LOVES beer! Then Monica - another girl from the Catalan connection who fell for another German - Rainer (next to her; the longest one in the company). At the back - Dennis - another American guy who used to work with Miguel in Michigan. He fell for a Polish girl in Hamburg - Agnieszka - the first one on the right side. Agnieszka is actually from Gdansk! Next to her - Handan - my Swedish soulmate here! Me. Next to me - Elena (a girl from Romania who works quite much in our plant here). Then Paula - a Brazilian girl who came to be here with Pedro (next to her) who LOVES beer and F1!
The picture is from Gröninger - a HUGE beer cave/restaurant - really good beer and really great place to come to with such a group of people. Wonderful to have you guys here!!! (Guillem & Sveta are missing on that picture; also Cyril - a French guy who has joined the gang recently).

The other picture is from Thomas' birthday party in November. With the theme of the 70's (Handan, Karo and Txell).

lördag 19 januari 2008

Fall








The rest of the fall was also quite warm and nice. Alex had holidays in October so he came over to HH for about 2 weeks. It was cool! We went to the Western part of Germany and also to Holland to visit his "relatives". We did some turism, saw the gallery and exhibition of Ton Schulten in Ootmarsum (really nice and colorful paintings). We stayed and Kuert's and Barbara's place - great and so friendly Dutch people. It was really nice to get to meet them.
What else happened in October was that I took my Polish citizen-responsibility and voted in the Parliament elections. I just felt I had to. It was good that Alex had his car - cause the Polish consulate in HH is really off in some industrial area. So we went there and I voted and he could get a little bit of feeling about Polish people and chaos at the consulate. Which didn't really differ from Romania ;-)
One big milestone this fall was also my purchase of a CAR!! The first one in my life!!! I saw it at a second-hand dealer near my place and decided to buy it. A cute, Dacia blue, New Beetle (well 5 years old....). I'm so proud of myself! ;-)

torsdag 17 januari 2008

September - a good month to visit Hamburg






September was fun! The weather was amazing!!! It was still summer and sunny and warm. It is a good month to visit. The first person who came for almost 1 month to Hamburg was Ales (who got training at his mother company in HH). There was not so much time to party during the week but Ales, Handan and I spent some time together during the weekends. Then came Alex as well, who had some scheduled meetings here. We celebrated Alex's birthday together with Ales and Handan. We went to Vapiano (Italian chain restaurant - with nice atmosphere, good food and a very good wine). We started with one bottle and at the end each one ordered a new one. 4 bottles for 4 people. Not so bad, huh? ;-)
And when we were leaving one (old) guy wanted to start a fight with Ales. For no reason... It was funny cause this guy was not only quite old but quite short as well, and probably quite drunk. But he wanted to get into trouble ;-)
After Vapiano we went to one club in Schanze. Over there Handan and I tried to explain to some British guys what we do in HH and why we only drank water in this club; Alex made friends with a cool DJ and Ales tried to impress two German girls (or whatever they talked about).

We also went to Blankenesee one weekend. Summer weather! Check the pictures!

onsdag 16 januari 2008

Almost at present






After Romania were vacations. Very nice, however little bit hectic as well. I came back to Gothenburg, afterwards went for Aga's wedding to Poland, then one week holidays with my cousin Magda. Back to Gdynia, repacking and back to Gothenburg.
After 10 days or so - repacking again and starting another adventure - going to work to Hamburg (this time a real job - and 2 year's long contract here).
The first 5 weeks I lived in the hotel in Elmshorn (the "favorite" one ;-) Anyway Bernd beats all the records - he is a VIP over there. Always the same room, everybody knows his name and what tea he drinks for breakfast. Respect! ;-)
It was good to have Handan and Bernd and also Nikola staying there at the same time. Days were pretty much just work, going back to the hotel, training in the gym, beer or apfelschorle. But we also did some nice trips like to St. Peter Ording and Sylt (see pics).
Handan and I went also to Norah Jones' concert in HH. Nice!!!

tisdag 15 januari 2008

Situations and people in Romania








The largest danger in Romania is probably traffic and driving a car. Many people drive like crazy so the first days of driving Dacia to work was a challenge. Another big danger is that if people are not going to change their attitude to throwing garbage, scrap, plastic bottles, etc, all over (especially in the nature) this country will suffer an environmental catastrophy. It is a pity that if you go out and try to enjoy the nature, you can see wastes around. Even quite high up in the mountains.
But I think this will change. It just has to. People have to learn to respect the nature.
Otherwise people I met are really nice, friendly and helpful. Hospitality is something they can be proud of.
During my 6 months in Brasov, I spent a lot of time with Kristin (and Kico and Kosmos - see the picture). It wouldn't be the same without Kristin over there. Thank you for all the moments, our complaints, weak times and great times, good laughs, "att bitcha loss i Dacian", trips and picnics, being turist guides to 2 Italians (after being in BV for 1 week), skiing, hiking, eating burned fat from the fire, Bucharest trip, Donau Delta trip (here thanks also to Alex and Christer!), really nice dinners, lunches at work, partying, drinking palinka, karaoke in the taxi (tack till alla svenskar i den taxin från Poiana till stan!), Sibiu trip (thanks to Alex as well!), swimming pool, having pizza and beer at the great pizza places, salmon + spinach + Moldavian Chardonnay at Casa Hirscher, Midsommar, etc. These are only a few of those moments we shared. TACK för allt! Det var grymt!

söndag 13 januari 2008

Romanian nature










The nature is beautiful. Which you can see on the pictures here. Most of them are from Fagaras and Bucegi mountains.

Still Romania...




Time spent in Brasov was great. The nature around is just beautiful, with the mountains and forests around. My trainee friend Kristin was also working in our plant there and every weekend we tried to visit the towns and areas close to Brasov. We shared a company's Dacia Logan (some people wouldn't call it a car but I liked it...in a way....). The car is somehow elevated which was perfect for the Romanian roads full of holes. To the right you can see the car and also my friend Dan who came together with Magnus to visit me in May.

Brasov is in Transilvania - some of you may associate it with Dracula. Not bad. Close to Brasov there is a village called Bran, with a nice castle, which some people connect with Dracula. Honestly speaking - me too. Until I got there... The castle may look quite mystical and "scary" but when you visit it, there is NO word about Dracula. So disappointing!! But the market below the castle sells a LOT of kitch connected to Dracula: mugs, dishes, clothes, toys, you name it.

lördag 12 januari 2008

Last year in January....





I arrived to Brasov (without my luggage which didn't make it from Paris) and I was prepared for a strong winter. However, it was warm and hardly any snow (which is not the case his year). The first weekend I was a tourist in the town and here you can see how it looked like.

The beginning

I've intended to have a blog since last year when the big adventure began. Namely, I went to work to Brasov, Romania for 6 months. Perfect opportunity to have a blog! But... I couldn't get access to internet at home (min. time for the contract was 1 year and if shorter than you would need an attorney who would have to help you to cancel the contract. Complicated!). And I was too lazy to go often to an internet café. So I wrote emails instead.
It is actually exactly one year since I started working in Brasov (for my Swedish employer) so I'm gonna put some stories and pictures from this adventure as well.
Right now I work and live in Hamburg. There is definitely less going on than in Romania (also less "exotic") but still worth giving you some updates.
So, there you go - I'm starting this blog and you are so welcome to read it and hope you will enjoy it!

What was also hard was to choose the language to write in. First I thought of Swedish but there is my family in Poland and friends all over the world who don't speak Swedish. That's why it is English - we are global, huh?

Hugs
Karo