Finally settled in Freiburg

Hi everyone, greetings from Freiburg!

I’ve been in Freiburg for nearly a month now, and I have to say that West German life is pretty great. It’s actually completely opposite from East German life, specifically: People don’t stare at me nearly as much, it’s sunny and warm most of the time, people are mostly kind and helpful, and the whole communist DDR theme isn’t really here. I live in a house with 4 other people (Italian, Swiss, and 2 German foresters) on the outskirts of town and the Black Forest is a 10-minute walk from my front door. I really like my job, and so I’ll start off with that.

The name of my firm is Unique Forestry, and I have decided that they are not named Unique because of their ways of handling business, they call themselves that because they are so Un-German. Not a single one of them is blonde, they eat spicy exotic foods from areas like Sri Lanka, and they have a FREE coffee/cappuccino/espresso machine. The last one is actually unbelievable since NOTHING is free in Germany. Since I’m not a coffee drinker, they granted me unlimited access to the “Tee Schrank,” which is a cabinet in the kitchen stocked with all sorts of exotic teas from far away lands. Now I love tea more than most people and drink it in large quantities, but what they have in that cabinet is not tea- it is crack in leaf form. I made the mistake of drinking a cup of it on my first day of work and not only did I feel like jumping out of my own skin, but the magical way in which caffeine gets things moving made my first few hours at the office a living hell. I didn’t know where the bathroom was and I certainly didn’t want to be known as the destroyer. So I’ll stop there, and just say that I am forever in debt to the little French bakery on the corner. Anyways, besides the fact that the company doesn’t operate without caffeine, everyone is really laid back. It’s not uncommon for my coworkers to show up to work wearing the exact same thing as the day before. This is probably due to the fact that all of their clean clothes are still line drying, but it’s great news for me since my current wardrobe consists of 3 pairs of pants and 3 sweaters. They have me doing random fun projects that so far have ranged from a carbon footprint to shea butter marketing, but I sit at a desk every day from 9 to 5, and that is extremely difficult for me.

Umm, let me see here. I was on a hike last week and I saw an old woman standing in the woods holding a leash with a cat on the other end. I couldn't resist asking her what she was doing, so I did- and she told me that her cat was blind and really good at finding mushrooms. I could not think of any comments for that, so we parted ways. Turns out, that woman is my across the street neighbor! I saw her walking her cat on Monday and I went to introduce myself. She asked me if I spoke english, I said yes, then she asked if we could be tandem language partners. I agreed, so we'll see how it goes with a possibly crazy lady and her blind, mushroom finding cat.

The only other major thing going on with me at the moment is that I have joined a women’s soccer team. I was worried that I had lost all of my soccer skills since it has been 3.5 years since I last played, but alas- it’s like riding a bike (the bike just has a flat tire at the moment). At my ripe old age of 24, I am the oldest person on the team by at least 5 years… there are girls on my team who were born in 1991! Despite the fact that I rarely know what is coming out of my teammates mouths (mostly slang, damn teenagers!), I seem to be fitting in all right and I can’t wait to start playing in games.

Ok, so that is my update for the past month or so. In no particular order, this is why all of you should come visit me: Wine, bikes, black forest, beer, France, Switzerland, fresh markets, 70 degree weather, and did I mention that my room is a loft room with a SWING!

Take care everyone,
-Eliza

Here is my new Address:

E. Greenman
Johannisbergstr. 15
79102 Freiburg-Waldsee
Deutschland