Tuesday, September 08, 2009

why fhy

I am in Cologne, and after quite a tiring first day here, I am starting to feel much better.
My first and outmost urgent mission when getting to a new place, is to nest and nest well. For that I need a few basic things: First one and above all, is an Internet connection.
If you don't do something similar to what I do for a living, you probably don't quite understand that sick obsession and deeply rooted need to be so connected, but I promise you- Internet in a foreign place is like what my orthopedic insoles are to my lower back pain: salvation.
Upon arrival at my new apartment here, I already knew that there was no phone line here therefore no DSL, but I was hoping for an unlocked kind neighbor's, or some kind of a lifeline, maybe a T-mobil hotspot.. something...
But as it seems to be here- no German is a fool (as apparently they can get jailed for their hacker's surfing habits); There are literally dozens of WiFi signals here- all *locked*!
I actually spent some desperate time trying to knock on my neighbor's doors to ask for their password (nobody was home), and then proceeded to try and *guess* them. LoL.
The apartment was nice but empty. The TV spoke German which I was way too tired to try to understand, the fridge was plastic cold empty shelves, and the shower was soapless.
I put my things down and since it was a Sunday, I like the rest of Europe, was put on a hold. No supermarkets open, no dealing with Internet connection possibilities. I *had* to wait.
At least Monday was a sunny day, the cell company O2 got me on a portable USB stick which gives me WiFi wherever (What a fabulous solution!), I got a huge first shopping done (ground coffee, bananas, ricecakes, olive oil, and some other eclectic products that make no one decent meal at any point, but still fill up that un-lived-in-place feel).
We even covered more or less the entire first act and I still have the feeling that I am going to like being here for the next two months.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

on Sundays, try a train station, they almost always have small grocery stores that are open 7 days a week!

7:57 AM  
Blogger Singin'rin said...

ja ja... Thanks for the tip :)
I have spent too many Sundays in Germany to ever forget about this old trick... :p
(But I guess I was just way too tired this time around to find the S-Bahn and its magic anti-sunday attitude...) LoL.. I guess I wasn't desperate enough :)

9:31 AM  

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