So orange is nur Berlin

If you've ever been to Berlin, you might've noticed the bright orange rubbish bins scattered across the city. They actually seem to be on every street corner, so if you somehow managed to miss them, you must have been walking around with your eyes closed :p

Anyway, the rubbish bins might all be orange, but the are not the quite the same. Different text or images are printed on them. I've made a little collection which is by no means exhaustive;)

The cold that wouldn't leave

So, I've managed to catch a cold. Not that odd, happens all the time. This particular cold has stuck around for a week and a half, but luckily it now seems to be overwith. The cold resulted in something I've never tried before. I lost my voice! It was only for a couple of days, but it makes you realise how often during the day you need your voice. Also, I discovered that it was easier for me to talk Danish, harder to speak English and almost impossible to speak German. I'm assuming that the mothertongue is easier due to the familiarity of the language's or something like that.

But German being a relatively new language caused me a lot of problems. Which was rather unfortunate since I had German class. I managed by whispering or simply keeping quiet.

Losing your voice really makes you appreciate it and I'm really happy it's back!

Church bells

When I come home after a long day at work, relaxing on my sofa with some mindless TV is on the top of my list. However these days these supposedly relaxing and quiet moments are being ruined. After my move to Friedrichshain, I am living near a church. Nothing wrong with that, I grew up near a church. But this church is something special. Every day at 6pm the church bells start ringing, that in itself is not so strange and it doesn't bother me that I can hear it once in a while. What does bother me is that it keeps ringing for 6 minutes! Every day at 6pm! What is up with that?!? It's invading my quiet time! I can live with the fact that it goes off at what seems like random hours of the day (5.47am, 7.20pm and 1am are just examples). But why must I be submitted to this kind of auditory torture every day? 6 minutes can seem like a really long time, when you're just waiting for the minutes too pass so that you can go back to enjoying your quiet time ;)

The little things...

To pass time, procrastinate and otherwise keep my self entertained, I play a little Candy Crush. You could even go so far as to say that it's a guilty pleasure of mine :-p
Anyway, for the last couple of months (yes, months!), I have been stuck at this really difficult level (level 168, in case you're wondering) but today I finally solved it (and is now stuck at the next level ;)).
Advancing to this next level brought a smile to my lips on this otherwise dull and rainy day. It really is about all the little things:)

Best friend

This little fella is my new best friend! I don't think I would've made it through this weekend with out him!

Just another TV slave

So, I guess I promised that I would elaborate on my TV situation. So here goes...

The flat I moved to in Friedrichshain was TV-less when I moved in. It was furnished, yes. But no TV. And although it's very hip to say "Oh, we don't have a TV, that's too mainstream for us" (or something similar :p), when you come home to an empty flat after a long of work, it's just nice to turn on the TV and relax. And if that makes me a mainstream TV slave, then so be it. I've never been much of a hipster anyway.

So I went out and bought a TV. When I bought my TV, the World Cup was already wrapping up its second week, so I missed quite a lot of matches. Some of the matches I was able to watch online (thanks to ARD and ZDF online live TV), but as my Internet connection is not as good as one could have hoped that was only a half fix. The true solution was going to Saturn and buying a new TV. And I am very happy with that decision.

Even though, all the TV programmes are still in German, it's great to unwind in front of the TV after a long day at work. And thankfully, I now also get BCC World and CNN. And more importantly, Eurosport. The Tour de France has just started after all ;)

Where did June go?

June flew by so fast I feel slightly dizzy. Being on your own in a city full of strangers doesn't necessarily equal time flying by. But June decided to take off and fly by. Of course, the fact that I visited Copenhagen twice and my parents came to visit plays a large role in this flying business. Maybe the World Cup even contributed or the fact that I now have a TV (more on that later) I don't know, all I know is July is here!