- it took some effort but I made it to the orientation day for new trainees. there's a direct bus from where I live which is nice BUT as my apartment is a bit outside of the city, the bus only stops on request at random stops among the fields and makes it a bit difficult to figure out where I need to get off. thank god for google maps and internet data working EU-wide.

- ok so Luxembourg is a very international and diverse city and as I said the use of languages is a big mess. to be polite and use the country's language, I was trying to use German at first, but it turns out even people selling train tickets or croissants speak fluent English and so it seems less painful for everyone involved to just use English (I am not sure yet but it feels like even more people speak English than German). however, the one place where it is 100% sure that there are definitely people working from all over Europe, at the European Commission.... the canteen has everything ONLY in French. thanks man, I didn't want to know what I'm eating anyway.

- instantly started hanging out with a super nice and down-to-earth Slovak girl K. who likes sarcasm, feminism and Lidl, and, most importantly, speaks Norwegian (and Danish and bazillion other languages) and a super funny laid-back Greek girl M. who says things as they are and has me and K. laughing all the time.

- Saturday: a walk through the city center which looks like from a fairytale with other trainees and a visit to a gigantic migration festival with K. and M.

- Sunday: Nazi propaganda exhibition

- tomorrow: first real working day

My life in Bochum in Luxembourg~

- survived the 13 hour bus ride with a 2,5 hour transit in Leipzig in the middle of the night and made it safely to Luxembourg!
- the landlord seems really nice and intelligent. he picked me up at the bus center, showed me around the apartment, and -as if he knew how bad I am with directions- drew me a map of the neighbourhood.

storing for future use

- the apartment is really nice but there is this one slightly creepy tiny thing.

- the administrative office where people need to register is in a castle (and is, in fact, called "castle")
- looking up when they're open, I found out the web page is only in Luxembourgish. there was a brief confusion whether "biergerzenter" means the administration office (as I thought) or "beer centrum" (as google translate suggested), but I figured if accidentally ending up in a beer centrum is the worst case scenario than I'm good to go.
- despite having the map, I left the apartment confidentaly heading exactly in the opposite direction of the castle. which is how I found the bus and train stop.
- I made it to the castle eventually and successfully registered. in German! I learnt how to say birth certificate (Geburtsschein) and somehow convinced the lady that I don't need it for the registration.

- using languages feels so random here. the three official languages of Lux are French, German and Luxembourgish (a language similar to German). I thought that would mean most signs, official websites etc would be in all of these languages. that is not the case.
- when searching for apartments, everything was in French (very soon I got good at recognizing words like "dryer" and "visits not/allowed" in French). when looking up the administrative office in Luxembourg city, all was in French only; for the one in Bettembourg (where I live), everything only in Luxembourgish. opening hours on bakeries are in Lux., elevator warnings in French, descriptions on a small library in the park in French and German.
- Not that I have talked to that many people yet but it feels like they just start speaking a language and eventually you get to a language that both parties participating in the conversation understand.
- anyway, French seems to be omnipresent and I should really start learning it, like, now.

English teaching

I have been teaching English conversation to a group of grandmas and grandpas in a community center and it has been a blast. They respect me as a teacher but also treat me a bit like a grandchild. One of them always uses keigo (very formal respectful Japanese) with me and one calls me Veronika-chan and brings me candy and little seasonal presents. One can't here very well and only uses strong Hiroshima dialect. I very rarely know what he is saying but he always smiles at me and shows me translations of random words he looks up.

They decide the topics they want to talk about and it leads to both most interesting and most absurd conversations. I am learning so much from them and keep being amazed by their stories. Also, my English limits get tested regularly. Examples of the topics we talked about:

- dentists, teeth, types of teeth and their parts, mouth diseases, jaws, gums and ways their get infected
- disposable pocket warmers and how they work

- ways you can injure your back
- differences between a dean, principal, rector and university president
- cryptocurrency
- how planes work (and crash)
- many many many types of flowers and trees. pine trees and their parts. cutting instruments for different parts of pine trees.
- groups of animals - herds, flocks, schools. in Japanese, there is just one word for all the groups (mure), což vysvětluje, proč W. sensei nevěděl, jestli má magisterským studentům říkat stádo, nebo hejno monster.
- insects
- frauds in Japan and the world
- mental arithmetics and abacus school clubs
- endless list of Japanese festivals and traditions
- egg hole puncher (yes, it is a thing. you can buy one in daiso for 100 yen)

Seeing the cute elterly grandma literally jumping with excitement in front of the white board as she explained how eggs work and pretended to be the forces inside an egg was one of the highlights of everything. Getting excited about how eggs work when I retire is lifegoals.

languages

- watching Q. (Chinese) and H. (Japanese) talk about chinese characters and kanji might be one of the most mind-blowing and absurd things I have ever witnessed. watching the connection between the characters and the languages is a language freak dream come true.
- panda in Chinese is written with the characters for bear and cat. penguin for standing and goose.
- number of people that know the word for penguin in Czech, tučňák, is growing significantly. I have a sense of accomplishment.


- my Czech class has started again and I have three new students. They are awesome and it is so rewarding and fun to see their progress. We watched Bob and Bobek because they wanted to see a Czech cartoon. It was only our third class so I thought it would only be for the animation. But they understood so many words like prosím, děkuji, dva, králíci and naříznout (před tím jsme koukali na krtečka, kde ježek stavěl myšce po potopě dům, připravoval dřevo a u toho si zpíval řízi říz. pak v Bob a Bobek šli do školy sportu, kde trenér cvičil karate (!!) a přelamoval rukou destičky. králíci mu nevěřili, že to takhle dokáže, a tvrdili, že ty destičky jsou určitě naříznutý).
- the concept of cuteness in Japan is ever-present and so they already know how the word roztomilý
- following Czech conversations are happening spontaneously:

Mám ráda roztomilý králíky. Doma máme psa a králíka.
Já mám dva psy.
Výborně!
Děkuji

All "teachers" were supposed to prepare a small introduction for their language classes. The penguin situation - this is what it has come to.

welcome party

internship updates / translations

- The office might be re-arranged soon and so there have been many measuring men randomly appearing during the past weeks. One time the office tree had to be moved and in broke in half on the move but it was decided not to be given upon. "This tree has to depend on something. It is not rigid." Supported with chopsticks and duck tape, and tied to a desk, it was given a chance to "もうちょっと頑張っていく".

- Lately, I have been translating Eng-Jap, Jap-Eng. It is not always easy; Japanese newspaper headlines were sent from hell, I think. Mostly it just looks like a chaos of kanji ended with a random particle.
- One wrong kanji combined with google translate create gems like "Faculty of Budgeting Sciences."

Mission impossible translated by my (Japanese!) friends as 不可能なやるべき

graduation ceremony

N. <3
She was chosen to make the graduation speech and it was amazing. I was so impressed and proud.