Take That’s “Back for Good” is Terrible

Last year I wrote about how I think that “Little Saint Nick” is a really stupid song. Well guys, I have another one. It breaks my heart, but Take That’s ‘Back for Good’.

Now, I love Take That. I begged my mum to get me Take That bed sheets when I was younger. She didn’t let me because they were way too expensive. But it’s only as an adult that I listen to Back For Good and realise that they would not have made the ideal boyfriends.

Don’t believe me? Well, let’s take a look at the lyrics!

(For those who don’t know this song, or need reminding, find the music video HERE)

I guess now it’s time for me to give up 
I feel it’s time 
Got a picture of you beside me 
Got your lipstick mark still on your coffee cup 
Got a fist of pure emotion 
Got a head of shattered dreams 
Gotta leave it, gotta leave it all behind now 

Charlotte says – wow, you’re emotional. Maybe something really bad happened to you?

Whatever I said, whatever I did I didn’t mean it 
I just want you back for good 
Whenever I’m wrong just tell me the song and I’ll sing it 
You’ll be right and understood 

Charlotte – So… what you’re saying basically is “I’m not sure what I did to upset you, but whatever it was I didn’t mean it and take me back now plz because I’m sad”.

Unaware but underlined I figured out this story 
It wasn’t good 
But in the corner of my mind I celebrated glory 
But that was not to be 
In the twist of separation you excelled at being free 
Can’t you find a little room inside for me 

Charlotte – So you figured out that she was pissed at you, but you still felt chuffed with yourself? She went off and was happier without you, and now you are sad.

Whatever I said, whatever I did I didn’t mean it 
I just want you back for good 
Whenever I’m wrong just tell me the song and I’ll sing it 
You’ll be right and understood 

Charlotte – tell you the song? So basically “put words into my mouth and I’ll agree to them and then we can get back together”? That isn’t a healthy relationship!!

And we’ll be together, this time is forever 
We’ll be fighting and forever we will be 
So complete in our love 
We will never be uncovered again 

Charlotte – I think you’re getting a bit delusional now.

Whatever I said, whatever I did I didn’t mean it 
I just want you back for good 
Whenever I’m wrong just tell me the song and I’ll sing it 
You’ll be right and understood 

I guess now it’s time, that you came back for good

And so, as you can see, it’s not a pretty picture. I’m glad these boys grew up to understand women so much more (yeah scrap that…)

It’s amazing how, when you listen to songs you know and love and actually hear the lyrics…

Thoughts on Smoking

I was with a friend trying out a new burger restaurant in town. It was a gorgeous day, so we sat outside. The restaurant serves healthy burgers and really wholesome food. My veggie friend and I were looking forward to a really nice dinner.

We were sat on benches, across the table from each other. Just after we’d ordered our food, we noticed some young girls looking for a place to sit, then pointing at our table. We motioned for them to come and join us, so they did.

The food was delicious and I was taking my sweet time. However, towards the end of my meal, one of the girls lit up a cigarette and started smoking. I looked over to her and said “I’m still eating. Would you mind not doing that right now please?” They are giggled and bitched in German under their breath.

To my annoyance, the second I put my knife and fork down to finish, they lit up again. I was so angry.

People here just don’t think it’s rude or gross or bad at all to light up around people eating. It affects the taste for me – after all, taste is whatever % smell, right? But it happens so often here. Back in Japan, too, it wasn’t uncommon to have people smoking at the next table along from you. I always put it down to Japanese men being stubborn because most of the time it’s men and not women who smoke.

Germany has this super clean and conscientious image but when it comes to smoking it can be pretty behind the times. A lot of great bars in Frankfurt are let down by there being smokers there. And the one thing I miss the most about British life is being able to go out for a drink and not having stinking jeans and hair afterwards.

I just don’t understand why *I* must be uncomfortable when out eating or drinking just because some people want to smoke. It makes me pretty angry…

Maybe I’m in the minority with this kind of thing and most people just put up with it?

Coming Up in Frankfurt

So the other day on Facebook someone mentioned this amazing art exhibition that’s basically a room full of balloons. Unfortunately it was the last day, so even though I made it in time, it is too late to tell you all to go see it

BUT I do know of a few cool things happening in Frankfurt in the next few weeks.

Firstly, TLS have a great show coming up called Shakespeare, Anyone? Who wouldn’t want to hang out in a cool bar and just have a bit of Mr Shakes going on? It’s starting in April so make sure you’re free to see it!

The Caricature Museum has a pretty cool collection right now that I went to go see over the Easter weekend, when it was free to get in. I want to find some really funny things there, but these were really sweet cartoons. I hope they’ll have something off the scale funny soon!

Speaking of museums, night of the museums is coming up soon – pay for one ticket (12 euros) and visit as many museums in Frankfurt as you can for one night. I must say, I went last year and it was PACKED and so don’t expect me to be there this year! But it’s a good deal if you can handle places with lots of people.

There is a Holi festival happening in Frankfurt in the summer but the tickets (some of which I wanted to buy…) sold out in an hour. But if you don’t have crap knees like I do, there’s always the Color Run which is the same concept but with the festival being replaces with a marathon. I wish I could go for it… sadface.

If you like beer and fairground rides then you should also try out Dipplemess which is on for another few weeks or so. I went with some friends on the first night and though it was COOOOOLD it was still good fun!

For other good events, check out these pages from the Frankfurt Walking Tour (which is always awesome) for April, May and June!

Queuing

This week Dunkin’ Donuts opened in Frankfurt. My wonderful colleague queued up before work and brought us a big box of brightly coloured doughnuts. This whole concept brought me a bit of Japan-nostalgia since the city I lived in, Ise, had special mochi sweets on sale on the first day of every month. People would go down to the old district at 4am and queue up for some of these rare sweets.

My friends always went and I scoffed at them, but towards the end of my time in Japan I realised I’d regret it if I didn’t start going to buy these mochi. I went about 3 or 4 times in the end and it was really amazing because I could zip through a completely empty city on my moped at 4am, and then when we got to the line we always met really great people which made the (often) 2 hour wait completely worth it. Then after buying the mochi we’d queue again (above) for the special breakfast that was available at the restaurant next door. That breakfast was one of the best I’ve ever had. Hmm… I wonder if I have a photo of that too…

Look what I found!

But thinking about queuing up for stuff in Japan and in Frankfurt got me thinking about queuing up in general. You may think this is not so much a topic interesting enough to blog about but actually, as a British person, I think about queuing a lot. These crazy 3 hour long queues are not a thing for me. In Japan they will queue for anything, and they have NO limit to their patience. If it says in a magazine that such-and-such a place has good cakes, they will wait for 3 hours to try one – even if they know the article is sponsored and probably a lie. At any given time on Japanese tv there will be crazy tv shows where minor celebrities go to some restaurant in some town and try some food, announce that it’s the softest, juiciest  tastiest thing they have ever eaten and afterwards that restaurant won’t be able to move for customers – they will be spending the whole day queuing outside to taste this soft juicy tasty thing. (Please click on the “crazy tv shows” link to watch the video… it’s SUCH a typical Japanese tv show…)

For me, I think my limit would be 40 minutes. When Krispy Kremes opened in Osaka I did wait for 40 minutes to get some (and boy were they worth it…) but when it opened in Nagoya I saw people waiting for 4 hours and said to my friend that they could go to the airport, fly to Korea (where they have had Krispy Kremes for years), walk into a shop and buy doughnuts, fly back and they would still beat the people in the queue.

As an expat, queue methods can also be pretty confusing. In Japan they have pretty much the same queuing system as in Britain, but with one added rule – old women can break all the rules and it’s ok. I remember this one time when I was in Japan I went to an illuminations event. When it was over, the route back to the exit was ridiculously crowded and so we had to wait in a long crowd-queue to get out. I was waiting patiently with everyone else until these old ladies started jabbing me in the stomach to get past me. They really had no shame. They will also push in front of you when you’re waiting for a bus or train as well. I’d gladly let elderly people through but I get annoyed when they are rude about it.

Here in Germany there is a slightly different queue style. Where in the UK we form one line that feeds multiple cashiers in a shop, in Germany they form one like per cashier. This means that you can easily be served first if you just join the right queue. German people are a lot less angry at people who push in, as well. In Britain, we are REALLY angry when people push in. But most of the time we just tut and glare and do no more. A few times I have had people ignore the line and wait at the side of the counter to push in but where German queuers are ok with this, German shop staff are thankfully strict.

Where German people are TERRIBLE, though isn’t technically a queue but it’s a related form of waiting; when the train is coming into a station and people need to get out. Instead of waiting to see who else is getting out, each person assumes automatically that they will be the only person and as soon as the platform is in sight, they will push to get to the front of the door so that they can be the person to press the button and exit the train first. And then people rarely let you off the train before they cram on it. I guess German people just get stuff done.

I find peoples’ queuing styles say a lot about their culture and way of life. British people get angry a lot but don’t say anything out right. German people are harsh and abrupt but get what they want in the end.

How does queuing happen where you’re from?

Recent Photos

 

Oranges at Jade Chinese restaurant / One of the flatcats being gorgeous / My friends made me some delicious dinner! / Snowy Frankfurt…again!

 

My Pikachu outfit / Another gorgeous flatcat / YUMMY burger…

 

Peanut butter jelly donut / Homemade jams from the farmers’ market / Potato pancakes from the same farmers’ market / I went to Kiehl’s to buy the Midnight Recovery and got ALL these samples free!

OCS Japanese Store Frankfurt – Closing

I have the day off today because we get an extra day when we move house. Apparently this is just a Nintendo thing and isn’t universal in Germany.

As I was biking round town trying to get official things done for my move (like registering my change of address, taking my name off of the bills for my old apartment..) I went past the Japanese store OCS. The has been a hit with the Japanese speaking population in Frankfurt since it sells Japanese books, magazines, snacks and other cool things.

But apparently it wasn’t popular enough since it’ll be closing at the end of March. The online shop will still remain, so there’s not much of a sale (right now it’s 30% off). Just like when I was in Paris, I didn’t feel the need to splash out on a 20 euro Japanese book, so I left empty handed in the hope that that 30% will grow a little in the next few weeks.

Anyway, if you are in Frankfurt then check this place out before it closes down! Find it at Große Gallusstraße 1-7.

“Help! I need to find a place to live in Frankfurt!”

On any forum, or Facebook group or online community of any shape that concerns Frankfurt, the thing that comes up ALL the time is “how can I find a place to live”?

I’m going through the process of moving right now – my current apartment isn’t in an ideal location, and things aren’t going so well with my flatmate so I have found a nice room in an apartment with 5 really lovely German people and 2 cats!

It all happened so quickly – I happened to be casually browsing an apartment website when I saw a nice advert, written in English, mentioning cats and I thought, what the hell, I’ll probably not get it so I might as well try. That was on a Friday. Sunday night I was asked to choose an appointment time to go and visit the apartment and meet the people, Monday after work I went to visit, and by Monday night they had chosen me.

The first time round it didn’t happen anywhere near as smoothly as this. I was in Japan, it was just after the Tsunami and I knew nothing about Germany. I had the right websites, but the first hurdle was that I didn’t speak any German at all, the second was that I was unable to go visit the apartment and the third was that people didn’t like the fact that I was in potentially-radioactive Japan.

What’s more, I made a big mistake – I was doing all this about 5 months in advance of me moving to Germany, which is way too early to get something good. My rental agreement, and German etiquette will tell you that one must give notice of their leaving 3 months in advance, but in actuality this doesn’t happen. Where German people will plan their whole year’s worth of holidays in January, they seem to plan to move flats in less than a month.

Eventually someone gave me a break and I moved in with a German girl, who was replaced with my current Japanese flatmate when the German girl left for London. So, what advice can I give you when moving to Frankfurt?

Learn the lingo -

You can easily get by in finding an apartment without knowing German. But you should know key terms that will crop up in your search. Here’s some for starters -

WG – Wohnung Gemeinschaft – shared apartment. I’d say about half of the people I know share apartments and the other half have their own place. Normally people will come here and share for a while until they find a good place to live by themselves for good.

Miete – rent. If you’re sharing then in Frankfurt this could cost anything from 300 euros for quite a crappy apartment to 600 for a nice room in a great apartment. If you’re looking to live alone, expect to pay around 600 a month for a standard, small, probably studio apartment.

Zimmer – room. When an advert says it’s 2 Zimmer it means a bedroom and a living room, not two bedrooms (if you say in English it’s a 2 roomed apartment most people will think it’s got two bedrooms).

Einbaukuche – kitchen is included. Important info warning! Especially if you are renting your own place (ie not a shared apartment) your kitchen will probably not be included. You will need to go buy yourself a kitchen. I have no idea how to do this, as I’ve not done this before. On the same note, things like lighting and curtains may not be included even in a shared apartment. To this day, my “curtains” are a sheet that sandwiched in between the frame and the door of my window.

4 OG – it’s on the 4th floor (same as the UK – 5th floor US style). The apartment you like is in the attic on the 7th floor? You’re thinking “ach, I’ll just send my belongings up in the elevator”? WRONG. 90% of the time there will be no elevator in your building. On the plus side, after a year living in that 7th floor apartment, you’ll have a lovely bum.

kalt/warm – cold/warm. Your cold rent will be the base cost of your apartment and the warm rent will be rent + how much is costs to heat and electrify it.

Makler – evil companies/individuals who will take your hard earned cash just to show you a few apartments and give you a key. The fee will often be around 3 month’s rent. You won’t have to use one of these if you are looking to move into a shared apartment.

Kaution – deposit. Usually 2 month’s rent. Important info warning! In researching for this post I found that according to German law, your landlord must put your Kaution into a separate bank account in your name and not touch the money until you move out. Any interest gained on this money will be yours.

Provisionsfrei – No agency fees needed.

So what have we learnt so far? Moving to a new place in Germany costs a lot of money. Now let’s look at some of websites you can use to find an apartment!

wg-gesucht.de is a good site for finding shared apartments. In the top right hand corner you can click on a little Union Jack and make everything English. I found both of my apartments through this, and it’s easy to understand everything because of the little icons. You can see whether the people living there can speak English or not and you can easily see how many people are living in the apartment.

Don’t want a shared apartment? Try Immobilienscout24.de! I’ve not used this site but it’s pretty easy to use, even without any English.

Back to shared apartments – wgfinden.de is a site I’d not seen last time I was looking for a flat here. But it looks like a cool site, and there are links to the flatemates’ facebook pages so you can see if they are weirdos or not.

Speaking of Facebook, Wohnen in Frankfurt is a good page with regular posts from people with free rooms/apartments. You can find both shared and own apartments here.

If I were looking for an apartment, I would stay clear of forums like ToyTown or other expat communities because a) the people on there are usually grumpy (“You posted in the wrong section! Go look in the correct place for your apartment!!!”) and b) every other chump looking for an apartment will be there as well. Be wise, use the above websites like a German person.

There are many, many more websites out there – if you know any other good ones, be sure to share the knowledge in the comments section!

Which area of Frankfurt should I live in?

This varies greatly from person to person (some people I know won’t even go over the river for a good dinner, let alone live there) but here is a very brief break-down of the areas in Frankfurt.

Innenstadt – the inner city. Can be a little pricey depending on location, but will probably be noisy. Good for shared apartments.

Bahnhofsviertel – The area around the main station. This is the area I live in, and the area I will stay in after I move. It is not as dangerous as people think. My previous apartment was in a quieter area and I always worried that if I was attacked no one would be around to help me, but aside from a few cat-calls and a few cars pulling up beside me, I’ve had no problems. There are people openly using hard drugs at the mouth of Kaiserstraße but if you ignore them they will ignore you. This area is usually very cheap since no one wants to live there and you’re likely to get a nice apartment for a great price.

Nordend – A nice area suitable for a family. Leafy, safe, and full of people who wish they lived in Bornheim. A very popular area, which pushes up the rent price.

Ostend – Good connection on the S Bahn but the area ranges from super lovely (near the zoo) to just as bad as near the main station (near the S Bahn station). There is a legal drug den next to the train station to keep drug users off the streets, but you still get the occasional dodgy looking person in that area.

Bornheim – The place everyone wants to live. It has its own little shopping street, plenty of cafes and so many lovely restaurants. It’s pretty safe, but can be an awkward place to live if you are stuck up the wrong end of Bergerstraße, far from the U Bahn stop. An expensive place to live, but you can get lucky and find a solo-apartment for around 500-600.

Gallus – Like the area around the main station, this has a bad rep. People will pity you if you say you live here, but I know people who do live in Gallus and it’s not that bad. It’s 1 block away from where I live and my improv classes are there too and I’ve never heard or experienced anything bad there. The only thing I would say is that it’s a little dirtier than other places. You can probably find a pretty good apartment for a decent price here, and it’s got a good S Bahn link as well as trams running through it.

Bockenheim – Student central. Nice wide roads and nice buildings in a fairly safe area. Expect to find a lot of cheap shared apartments with more than 4 people living in them. A lot of people from work live there in apartments like that and it’s a great way to start your Frankfurt life as it’s a great way to meet new people and make friends.

Sachsenhausen – Over the river. If you’re a family, I’d say this is your best bet, though it may be pricey. This is the more traditional side of Frankfurt and if you go further south in Sachsenhausen you’ll get nice leafy areas with large houses to live in. The area around the Sudbahnhof station can be very pricey but it’s a nice area to live in nonetheless.

Flughafen – The area around the airport. I don’t know anyone who lives here but apartments here seem to be pretty cheap. It’s probably very noisy.

Niederrad – Over the river, between Sachsenhausen and the airport. This is where I work and the people who live here are usually people who have to work late in the office. On one hand this area can be pretty cheap to live in, and it may or may not be close to where you work since it’s a jungle of tall office buildings, but on the other hand it can be a pain in the bum to travel home to after a night on the town, and it’s often lacking the culture and shops etc of other areas.

Griesheim, Rodelheim, Praunheim – Places that are far away that people only live in if they want super cheap apartments and/or don’t know Frankfurt very well.

Höchst – A suburb of Frankfurt. You get to it by train or by S Bahn. Technically it’s part of Frankfurt but it’s it’s own place and I imagine pretty annoying to live in if you don’t have a car to get about easily.

Offenbach – The town next to Frankfurt. You can easily get from there to Frankfurt on the S Bahn but people say it’s not a nice place to live. Probably has some of the cheapest apartments you can get.

Anything else to mention?

It can take anything from a week to three months to find an apartment here, depending on how picky you are and how you do in apartment interviews. Be aware that when you move out of an apartment you may be required to repaint it. In some contracts there are strict rules about when you are able to use the washing machine/play music/make noise, as well as how often you are required to open your windows to prevent mould. If your contract is in German then get a German person to outline it for you.

Helpful links -

Housing in Germany

Apartment rental – Toytown

Dictionary of related terms

General Frankfurt Information

Tasty Donuts, Frankfurt

There’s a new kid in town, and this kid loves his donuts! Newly opened near to where Nom Nom was (RIP) is a donut shop called Tasty Donuts. Of course, myself and Danni from Sparrow Dove needed to check it out!

There were SO many to choose from that we were stood at the counter for way too long, but Danni had a kiwi donut…

And I had the cookies and cream one. They were SOOO good. They had sold out of the peanut butter and jam ones, but that is next on my list. I need it in my life.

Not only do they do awesome donuts, but awesome drinks, too! Danni had the apple tea which smelt a-may-zing, and I had the chai tea laté which was also SO good.

This amazing shop is open 7 (SEVEN) days a week, and from 8am on weekdays! Would anyone like to join the pre-work queue with us here?!

You can find Tasty Donuts at Stiftstraße 9, 60313 Frankfurt

On a side note, shops like this don’t stay around too long in Frankfurt (just look at Nom Nom which had people queuing up outside it not 6 months ago) so if you appreciate the existence of a donut shop in Frankfurt, please help us keep the business alive by getting fat on their goodies!

Product of the Month/Not Product of the Month Feb

I had said a week ago to a blogging friend that I would stop doing beauty posts because they are not usually as popular as other ones I do, but you know what? I like doing beauty posts. So I think the monthly product of the month/not product of the month will be fine!

Product of the month is Olay’s Regenerist Regenerating Serum. I got a free sample… but I can’t remember where from. The back is in German so maybe I got it at Douglas? Anyway, I put this on at night after I’ve washed my face etc and in the morning my skin is noticeably softer and fresher. The full priced product is… an ok price. I’m not sure I’d pay out 20+ for something I don’t particularly NEED… but I would do in a few years’ time when I enter wrinkle city.

Not the product of the month is the So Susan lip cushion that I got with a JolieBox a while back. It’s a lip balm, that smells like a strawberry beauty product aimed at a 12 year old, but you try to put your finger in it to get some product and barely anything comes off. I just tried to go to their website to see how much it costs and their website is ridiculously hard to use and looks like no one is checking to see if it actually works or not. Sad faces all round.

If you’ve tried either of these products, I’d like to hear from you!

Speed Dating Abroad (ramble-tasic)

This may turn out to be a rambly post. But let’s just stick with it. It may lead to somewhere nice.

About a month ago, I got a Facebook invite to a speed dating event in Frankfurt. I signed up thinking it would be a laugh but nothing more serious than that. The day came up and I picked out an outfit that was a little sexier (… or so I hope…) than I’d normally wear and went off to the event, which was held in a cookie shop.

When I arrived, I noticed the people there were a lot older. And not really my type. But I thought it would be a good way to meet new people. I took the welcome drink, sat down and started talking.

In through the door came a couple. Hmm… that’s weird. Why would a couple come to speed dating? Then another couple came in. The hostess also commented on how weird it was that there were couples. Was this like a swingers’ party or something?

So time went on and there was very little speed dating happening. I settled down into a conversation with a lovely American girl and her somewhat grumpy German boyfriend and asked them “but.. don’t you think it’s weird you two coming to a speed dating thing together?” To which they freaked out, not thinking it was speed dating. I checked my Facebook event list and sure enough, the event said nothing about speed dating. But… I could have sworn it was… Am I going crazy?

After about 40 minutes more, I realised that even without being a speed dating thing, the people weren’t really the kind of people I’d click with, though they were all really lovely and interesting. I went off down the road for a pint with my friends who were sat waiting for me.

I’ve been to a (real) speed dating before, in Japan. Back in the days when I thought a boyfriend would cure my loneliness, I went to an event at a snack bar. Snack bars are Japanese inventions, where men pay way too much money to visit, in order to be flirted at by the supposedly beautiful bar staff there. The one in my town was frequented a lot by the Americans I was friends with, and so I went along with them a few times and got to know the staff a bit. They liked having us around because it made their bar look more stylish. I just liked speaking in Japanese and potentially making new friends.

The speed dating event they had there was pretty fun, actually. An hour before, we had a “girls party” where the mama would do our makeup and hair. Then the boys would arrive and we would go through the “speed dating” part of the night, then group off and play a few party games.

The two American lads were pretty popular, I think, and one may have even gotten lucky that night. I was not so popular. At the time, a new bar had opened up in the town and one of the barmen was a serious crush of mine. He remains to be quite possibly the most beautiful human being to walk the planet, in my eyes at least. To Japanese girls, he is pretty plain, but this is normal since Western ideas of beauty and Japanese ideas of the same are pretty much polar opposite. That’s why you can have a bi-racial couple where Western onlookers will comment on how ugly the Western person is and how the Asian person is out of their league, where Asian onlookers will be saying the exact same thing about the Asian of the couple.

But he was there at the event (not in any of the photos so stop looking!!) and so I was really excited.

By the end of the night, some of the people were pretty drunk. Mama tiptoed up to me and said “psst! That guy over there! He picked you as his favourite!” So I went over to said guy. He was drunk as a fart. Slowly melting into his drink. We spoke for a while, he was pretty cute, but red as a tomato (as Japanese people are when they’re drunk) and talking jibberish. We swapped numbers because I didn’t have the heart to tell him no when he asked.

A few months later, after him being super sweet to me non-stop, we started dating. Me having a boyfriend didn’t cure my loneliness. The end.

What happened to the barman? Well everyone under the sun knew I had a crush on him since I went all red whenever he was about… and also there was that one time I drunkenly serenaded him with a pretty sweet song at their bar. Oh youth.

Have you ever done speed dating? Let’s get some comments rolling!