And then there was oil.

On Sunday, my new-to-me car decided to dump out all of its motor oil. I spent most of today running around to get the situation taken care of. The problem was the oil drain plug, which mysteriously fell out. The car seems to be OK now.

Deutsch: Am Sonntag hat mein "neues" Auto beschlossen, sein gesamtes Motoroel auszuspucken. Einen grossen Teil des heutigen Tages habe ich damit verbracht, diese Situation zu klaeren. Das Problem war die Oel-Ablassschraube, die mysterioeserweise herausgefallen war. Dem Auto scheint es aber gut zu gehen. (Ich habe selbstverstaendlich nichts fuers Abschleppen oder die Reparatur bezahlt.)

Finally a sofa?

After my yoga class today, I plan to go to IKEA and finally buy this sofa. We'll see how long the delivery will take :)

A day filled with Bikram Yoga: Esak Garcia gives a posture clinic

Yesterday I had the luxury of spending a whole day in the hot room. After a brutally hot class taught by Esak Garcia, he gave a posture clinic. We discussed general principles of hatha yoga, for example the breathing, and we also went through specific postures (pranayama breathing, standing head to knee, standing bow pulling, separate standing head to knee, cobra, and floor bow). I got a lot out of it and I am curious about how I will be able to integrate it into my practice.

A favorite from yesterday: a woman describes how she has trouble with a specific posture, Esak says: "Well, there is no reason why you should be good at this if you haven't practiced it for a long time!" Simple truth. I can only guess what a "long time" means though. Esak has been practicing for about 15 years, since he was 17 years old.

Happy Friday!

Friday is Bagel-Day in the office! We get Bagels, different cream cheeses, and Doughnuts for breakfast... what a great start into the weekend :)

I have some sweet things planned for this weekend: Saturday will be a Yoga-Day. I'm participating in a seminar with Esak Garcia. He is a very experienced yogi and Bikram yoga teacher. I am looking forward to meeting him, practicing with him, and learning from him!

To my former colleagues.

I’ve had my first English-speaking yogi tea today and it tastes disgusting (can you believe it’s sugared?!), but I would like to share with you: “May you have faith in your worth and act with wisdom.”

Do your practice and all will come.

I am going to take a Bikram yoga class today and I will try to get back to my regular practice of going at least three times a week. There is nothing that could be better for me right now.

Namaste.

Das Auto.

Picked up my new car last night!

Here it is again... Sorry, the gray Michigan weather isn't really ideal for picture taking :)

Yep, we're German :)

Enjoying my apartment

 It was a nice and sunny day today. I spent it mostly in my apartment, doing some cleaning and a tiny bit of decorating. I'm enjoying my apartment a lot! The plants you see here (and on the picture below) were a housewarming gift from a dear friend. Because she knows me so well, they are fake ;)

And this is my colorful bathroom! Now that I live by myself, I can decorate it as girly as I want :)


Deutsch: Heute war ein schöner, sonniger Tag. Ich habe ihn hauptsächlich in meinem Apartment verbracht, und mich mit Putzen und ein bisschen Dekorieren beschäftigt. Ich genieße mein Apartment wirklich sehr! Die Planzen, die ihr auf den Bildern seht, sind Neue-Wohnung-Geschenke von einer lieben Freundin von mir. Da sich mich so gut kennt, sind sie aus Plastik ;)

Dies ist mein farbenfrohes Badezimmer. Da ich ja nun alleine wohne, kann ich es so mädchenhaft dekorieren wie ich möchte :)

Yay for the weekend!

Hmmm, yummm, so glad Starbucks doesn't cost a fortune here in the US :)

Spend the day relaxing and getting some paperwork done for my car (insurance, bank stuff). Also went to IKEA, so I might update with some pictures of my apartment soon :)

Vrrrrmmmmm vvvrrrrrrmmmm!

What's that beautiful sound, you ask?

Yep, it's German, it's got 5 cylinders, it's pretty awesome!

Yeah!!! I'm picking it up on Monday!

Thinking of...

Yes, my mind is currently completely occupied by cars. Yes, I am an automotive engineer, so I guess it's to be expected. But I'm also still an the search for a German car for myself... I hope I'll have one by next week... I'll keep you all posted!

PS.: This is obviously an old picture... A beach is the last thing you'll see in Michigan in January. It's an old favorite of mine though. A dorky friend and dorky me drew these in the sand in 2005 on a beach in Florida.

Driver's license and -- yeah!!! -- two more boxes

I spent my lunch hour at the Secretary of State to get a new Michigan driver's license. After a lot of back and forth (bureaucracy is the same in every country, I guess) I was issued a temporary one and my new one should arrive soon... Yay!

Aaaaand, two more boxes arrived today!!!!!! 5 down, 3 to go!

One of them was really beat up and had this notice from the postal service, telling me they had to repack, because the package was falling apart... When I read that, I hoped everything would still be in there...

Then I found this in the package.

What it is?

I don't know! It doesn't belong to me! *scratching head* .... but.... ummm.... thank you... I guess?

I was very, very glad to find my yellow fleece blanket in the package! I have been freezing like crazy in my bedroom. My apartment does get warm, but the bedroom is very cold and I've had to turn the heat up more than I liked to so I don't freeze to death in my sleep. So yes!!! Blanket!!! <3

Second day at work...

This is my little paradise at work ;) Still looks a little empty, but I'm sure it will fill up soon.

Just to give a general impression of what the building looks like on the inside. Here you see the laboratory (obviously). Most of the cubicles (including mine) are to the left of it. My company's colors are red and blue, so they painted the walls accordingly. I like it!

Deutsch: Hier ist mein kleines Arbeits-Paradies ;) Es ist noch etwas spärlich eingerichtet, aber das wird sich sicher bald ändern.

Hier noch ein Bild um einen Eindruck vom Gebäudeinneren zu erlangen. Geradeaus sieht man das Labor (offensichtlich). Die meisten cubicles (die kleinen "Arbeits-Abteile") sind links davon; meins auch. Die Farben der Firma sind rot und blau und die Wände wurden entsprechend gestaltet. Ich find's schön hier!

First day at work!

This is my company's building. I really enjoyed my first day there. Thank you for the warm welcome, new colleagues!

Before and after (my first piece of furniture)

Before: This was the air mattress I slept on last night (also borrowed).

Then my friend with the big truck came by and we drove to IKEA!

Aaaand this is the After picture :) Doesn't it look cozy already? Yay!

*PS: I'm sorry this post was late... Don't have an internet connection at my apartment yet...

Moving into my apartment!

Packed my stuff and ready to move into my new place!

My rental agreement and my keys... Thank you again to my sweet friends who let me stay with them for a couple of days before I could move in!!!

All my stuff trying to squeeze through the front door :)

My first piece of furniture... is borrowed :D Thank you, friends!!!

So my apartment feels nice and spacious. I think I'll like it here :) More pics to follow as my apartment goes through its transformation from "house" to "home".

Just another boring, but expensive day

Got a super-yummy, healthy and fairly affordable lunch at Jimmy John's today! Hmmm, veggie gourmet sub! After lunch, I went to the bank and got my security deposit etc for the new apartment... like I said... expensive day! I get to move in tomorrow, yaaaay! :)

Detroit

To get the electricity set up for my apartment, I had to take a trip to Detroit today... as in... actually Detroit, not the suburbs. I also had to pass the "magical border" of 8 Mile Road. This road, made famous by Eminem's sort-of-biographical movie "8 Mile", is the unofficial border between the poor parts of Detroit and it's richer suburbs. I don't want to go into detail here, but when you cross the border it is definitely very noticeable and it really made me think about our society.

Deutsch: Um den Strom in meinem neuen Apartment anzumelden, musste ich heute eine kleine Reise nach Detroit unternehmen... damit meine ich wirklich Detroit und nicht seine Vororte. Ich musste dafür die "magische Grenze" der 8 Mile Road überqueren. Diese Straße, die durch Eminems halb-biographischen Film "8 Mile" berühmt geworden ist, ist die inoffizielle Grenze zwischen dem armen Detroit und seinen reichen Vororten. Ich werde an dieser Stelle nicht in die Tiefe gehen, aber die Grenze zu überschreiten ist definitiv stark spürbar und hat mich stark zum Grübeln gebracht was unsere Gesellschaft angeht.

One down, seven to go

One of my eight packages made it across the ocean yesterday. It looks really beat up! Now I have visions of my stuff floating around (sans packaging) in some package distribution center... I hope the other seven packages will follow soon and in one piece :)

Snow snow snow

It snowed today. A lot. I've seen lots of accidents on the highways, but I didn't run into any problems (thank god!). No more than one traffic accident per year, please!

Not a lot of picture-worthy stuff has happened in the last couple of days... sorry! BUT I am moving into my new apartment on Saturday and I've been looking at more cars, so there might be some interesting stuff coming up :)

Deutsch: Es hat heute geschneit. Ziemlich viel. Ich habe einige Unfälle auf den Autobahnen gesehen, aber ich hatte keine Probleme (zum Glück!). Bitte nicht mehr als einen Autounfall pro Jahr!

In den letzten Tagen ist nicht viel "Photographier-wertes" passiert... sorry! ABER ich ziehe am Samstag in meine neue Wohnung ein und ich habe mir noch einige weitere Autos angeschaut, also könnte es bald ein paar interessante Dinge geben :)