German Evening & Farewell Party

Our experiences of the last two weeks...

We have our delicious chocolate cake because our roommates want it! But this time Julian bakes it and it tastes very good again. Jay even finds the perfect name for the cake: kimchoc

I really like that. 😏

On Saturday there will be another party. The theme this time is German food, so Julian and I are buying everything for our recipes. The menu looks as follows:

first course: salad

second course: mashed potatoes with fried egg and spinach

third course: sliced meat with spaetzle and mushrooms

fourth course: apple crumble

Since we are responsible for the food, the guys will get the drinks. Julian is also getting everything for a beer pong tournament because the guys have never played beer pong before. The pressure is quite high because Julian tells them that I was a beer pong world champion. Unfortunately, my performance speaks differently. The next morning, it's time to clean up. In addition, I am making an anklet for Khushbu, which I will post directly in my Insta story and start my first survey on Insta. 😄

The following week is really stressful for me. Since there is a final inspection of the building by the city on Wednesday, there is so much to do that I have to work many overtime hours every day. All the protection on all 26 floors with six apartments each, in the hallways, and in the elevators has to be removed! Everything is thrown away. In addition, all the equipment and materials have to be moved out of the building and can only be stored in a small corner in the underground garage. In the end, the building passes the inspection and everything relaxes a bit again. There is also news at Julian's work. Since his supervisor is on vacation, Julian becomes a team leader and even gets the key ring with all the keys for the building and the elevators. Of course, the week doesn't go completely smoothly and there is stress because one employee tries to fire another employee. The reason: she helped the 'guys team'. This may sound strange... it is! 🤨😄

At Julian's construction site, it is arranged that the genders work separately. That means the guys do 'guys work', which involves carrying things, and there are the girls who do 'girls work', which involves sweeping and cleaning. If something is in the girls' way, they have to call the guys and aren't allowed to carry the things themselves... no matter how light the things are!  

In that week, a girl works together with the guys because she is bored and has no task. When the colleague sees this, she is so upset that she fires the helper. And a colleague who wants to defend the girl is told to 'shut up!'. 😅 In the end, Julian takes the 'blame' and things calm down again. 

The latest news regarding food: Tim Hortons has a new donut. It's called oreo dream and consists of individual chocolate timbits, which are laid out in a circle, coated with Oreo cream, and topped with half an Oreo cookie. 🤤 Really delicious!

Last Saturday, there was a Happy Send Off Party. First, we bought a lot of food and had pizza, homemade burgers à la Khushbu, and fries. We also had one last round of beer pong. The teams were drawn, and the teams were as follows:

* Jay & Kim

* Thomas & Julian

* Khushbu & Athul

In the end, Thomas and Julian won, and we wanted to play a second round with new teams. This time Khushbu played with Julian, Jay played with Athul, and Thomas played with me in teams. After a more than dramatic game with misunderstandings, a heated feud, and some arguing, the winners were determined: Thomas and me! 😂🏆

In the evening, there was a surprise: our roommates bought us a farewell chocolate cake that Julian and I cut together. It was really emotional in the end, and we promise to come back after our road trip! 💖

Today we were invited to an Indian lunch by Julian's colleagues. The food is very delicious. We ate traditionally on the floor, and after a while, my feet fell asleep because I'm not used to it. 😅

The couple lives a bit outside. The houses here are really nice, and there are front yards that we rarely see in the city center. The only disadvantage is that they cannot walk to work. Time flies by, and we learn some interesting details about life in India. Of course, I also make a little faux pas, and I don't want to keep this story from you: Since it's so warm and sunny, I decide to wear shorts and a top: for me a normal summer outfit. Anushka tells us that in India, society gets extremely involved in people's lives. There is a lot of gossiping and judging if you don't fit the perfect or 'normal' image. And so, for example, it is normal to always wear long clothing at home - in other words, long pants and long-sleeved tops. It is not appropriate to show skin. And so I listen to this story in my shorts and bare arms. My comment 'Oh, I'm a bit underdressed today...' is smiled at. 😂

When we later get home and I tell Khushbu the story, she tells me that she would have 'warned' me if she had known I was choosing this outfit. But on the other hand, we are currently not in India, so everything is fine. 

I hope you all enjoy the summer, no matter what you're wearing! 😄☀

Now just two more weeks of work, and then our road trip starts. We rented a car last week. It will be a Jeep Compass or a similar size. 

I'm really looking forward to the month. Just Julian and me on the road with lots of nature. I'm already very excited after all the time in the big city! 🏕🏞