The seventh heaven

So... this must be the seventh heaven: a place where you can not be better -because I find difficult to imagine a better moment than this one I am living now. Heck, wait, the prospects are quite good actually! Ok, after the long entry with all those photos from the UAE, I finally post here something about this new stage in Frankfurt.

Starting by the place where I am living: it fits me quite well. I've found a large room in a central location, very close to the train station. Part of the ceiling is slopping down as it is an attic, but I absolutely love the window piercing the roof. I've put a sofa under it and so the light comes from above. It is also cool when I open it and I feel the air as if I had a 'convertible room'. It will be hot in summer and cold in winter, but I am sure I can live with that... The rest of the flat is brand new, very complete and everything in perfect conditions. I share with a local girl who has the whole place rented and she sublets me this room. I like the area although it is a bit noisy. However, it is exactly what I wanted: the noise of the city. I can also see part of Frankfurt's Skyline from the window. My district neighbours are mainly Pakistanis, Turkish, Chinese, Ethiopians, prostitutes (the train station area), junkies (there is a methadone distribution centre round the corner) and the Hell's Angels (they have the headquarters nearby). All these things seem to be drawbacks for someone else, but I like all of it! They make also the rent to be low compared to other "nicer" areas of a quite expensive city, to be in Germany (too many banks, too much dough around...)

About the city, there is not much I can say in general and thousands of things in particular, so I will go for the general stuff for the sake of everybody's time... I like it, definitely. I'm sure that this will be very different the rest of the year, but I think I have come in the best moment to discover a city. Although the weather is not very good most of the days, there are plenty of cultural activities, sports and stuff to do every weekend. Some people have told me that they do the same every year and I will get bored at some point. Well, I hope to be here long enough to get bored. At least there is something: Oxford was faaaar more boring in this aspect. I love the flea market that they do every Saturday where you can find absolutely everything: lots of cool and weird stuff. I am seeing different places slow by slow in the way I like it: meeting people, running some errands, some shopping...

The work is fine too although I am not doing much at the moment. I arrived at the end of a project and we will have to wait until we get a new project hopefully in one month. In the meanwhile, we keep busy doing bits and bops or sometimes literally nothing. Anyway, the general impression of the tasks and the people I work with is quite good and I think I will like it here.

And out of the job, I am doing some activities in the evenings and planning to do some more. Every Thursday I meet some guys from the office and we play basketball. I feel good and comfortable playing after a dry patch of so many years away from a court. I will also go today to play some games with a gay sports association from here. Although the first target audience were gay men, they are open to everybody nowadays regardless the option. It is a club where you pay a monthly fee and then you can take part in many sports. However, I think that the only one which interests me is basketball, so I will go and try: I will join the club if I like the atmosphere or won't go back if it is not what I look for in terms of commitment and level. They allow newcomers to participate for free in up to 3 sessions in any sport. And last, but not least, I am finally starting my German lessons on Tuesday. It will be something light to start with from the very basic beginnings. They teach us for free one hour per week in the agency, which will be good to start getting a first impression of the language, its characteristics, the way it works, basic vocabulary... They obviously want to focus on conversation, as it is what we need more immediately (we will be all foreigners working at Nintendo through that agency).

The bottom line is that I seem to be recovering some sensations I only had two years ago, on that wonderful 2008. The situation is very different of course, since I was then settled in Oxford after one year there with many people and places I already knew. However, I definitely feel much better than when I arrived to that town for the first time and also to Manchester. Everything looks fine and I am trying to make the most of it as who knows when things can turn ugly again. Anyway, so far, so good. After setting the general frame, I will let you know more in detail some of the things I do in the next entries, as I expect to have busy weekends the whole next month with some trips included.