Koala Willem's Odyssee

Although my previous two blogs may at surface have appeared to be written by a happy, even if somewhat disorientated person, those of you who know me well, could have sensed that something was not quite right here in Mainz. On reading them you will have noticed that I have been living alone. Now, it is clear that it was never my intention to bring boyfriend Manfred with me to Germany. Let alone the financial costs of that operation, or the fact that I am supposed to be slaving away at my research not having the time for kisses, my courageous attempts to try and learn some German would just become painful in comparison with his impeccable knowledge of the language. Still, in such a situation, one does need an Ersatz-Manfred. I may not have time for kisses, but I do need the occasional hug. Koala Willem has generously served this need, ever since I decided to go abroad for my studies.
My Willem is a fantastic Koala. He is fluffy, soft, witty, friendly, a great lover of Eucalyptus, everything in fact a Koala should be. He is, however, also very naughty and very playful. About a month ago, while I was in Trier for a conference, Willem decided to play hide and seek in the pension. He hid, I did not seek. Only on arriving back home in Groningen, did I realise he was missing. Knowing Willem, I immediately suspected he was still hiding under the bed in the pension, and phoned up the hostess the next morning. It would be easiest and quickest I reasoned, if Willem would be put in a special delivery package, and my worries were put to rest by the hostess when she said she would get straight to it. This is when Willem's horrible Odyssee began.
Willem has not told me everything as he is still a little traumatised, but it all began when the DHL-person manning the desk concluded that Willem was so little, he did not need a package and could be sent as a letter. Now, Willem has always had a chip on his shoulders about his lack of legs, and I suppose the fear that he was thought not to be a complete Koala, probably stopped him from being his usual self and prevented him from protesting. Were I there, I would never have agreed to this demeaning treatment, but unfortunately my hostess's daughter who had took upon herself the noble task of delivering Willem to the office was persuaded by the DHL-lady that this was cheaper as well as safe.
What happened next is still shrouded in confusing and contradicting statements from DHL, the hostess, her daughter and Willem, who has barely been able to start addressing the issue, but the fact of the matter is that it took him a whole month to arrive, and by the time he arrived he had lost his little nose! Manfred and I think he may have been attacked by either a dog or a baby.
Anyway, it is not hard to image that for the last two weeks I have had severe troubles sleeping, worrying all the time about my little friend and fearing I had lost him forever. I had almost given up searching for him, when last thursday Willem phoned up from Groningen where he had finally reached his home. I subsequently went home myself, my official excuse being I still had some work to finish off at the university, gave Willem a nice, relaxing Eucalyptus-bath and let both him and me have some well-deserved rest.
That Willem is the most wonderful Koala in the whole wide world is proven by the simple fact that he is now here with me. He was hesitant to come with me to Germany, having developed a real Germano-phobia, but decided to step over his fears when he realised that without him I had been sleeping alone. Now I can really start feeling at home here in Mainz.

Not Helmut Lotti!

Wo kommen sie her? Sie sprechen genau so wie Helmut Lotti! Thus spoke the cleaning lady at the Akademie when I introduced myself this monday. One thing is clear: I really need that speaking course German for which I have just registered. This is definitely not a complimentary comparison. I can, however, be proud that I have not spoken one word of english since I got here, the only exception being that I needed to explain my english keyboard before my laptop could be logged on to the project's catalogue. It turns out control is not control on a German keyboard. It also turns out y and z are on different places. Very confusing.
I have now had two working days at the Akademie. Or, to be fair, I had one getting myself installed-day and one proper working day. The slavery-project occupies the upper floor of the Academy-building and apart from me there is Johannes Deissler, who runs the day-to-day business of the project, and a mysterious Mitarbeiter whom I have not had the pleasure of meeting with yet, but whose main business, as far as I understand it, is to catalogue the thousands of books and articles scattered through the three rooms belonging to the project. One of these rooms is mine: I sit in the middle of the category 'Roman slavery'. As Johannes works from 6 am (!) to 2 pm, and as I am not a morning bird, half of my working day it is just me and the gladiators. Tomorrow I will be shown the university library. This will definitely be useful as my dissertation is not exactly 100 % slavery.
My personal life here in Mainz is also slowly taking shape. As I live in a very busy area opposite the railwaystation I despaired of finding a green patch to run, but after having risked my life crossing the motorway (my German is good enough to understand the insults several motorists threw at me while I did so, but I won't repeat them), I found a 2 k stretch of what appears to be Roman defensive banks turned into a Romantic patch of greenery, and on returning I also found a somewhat less hazardous route to my house. My house, by the way, is not in the best of neighboorhoods, so I won't go running after dark.

arrival

I have arrived! It took me a little while, travelling by train from Groningen to Mainz, as German punktlichkeit is not what it used to be, and caused me to wander round Frankfurt Flughafen in wait for the lokal train to Mainz. I was lucky to still be in time to meet Mwamba, who is a friend of my landlady Lan. I am renting her appartment for two months while she is visiting her family in Vietnam. It is a little strange to be camping in her place as the two major themes in the interior decoration are 'Vietnam' and 'Buddhism', neither of which I have any connection with. So far I feel like a guest without a hostess. Still, it is a nice and cosy appartment, situated ideally between the main trainstation and two major supermarkets.
Today I spent most of my morning figuring out the internet (as you can see it was a struggle in which I finally triumphed!) and finishing up some marking for the course I have been teaching in the Netherlands. With this chore done I can focus 100 % on my placement here at the Akademie der Wissenschaften und Literatur. For those of you who don't know (i.e. my imaginary readers -they will also need to know I am just a tiny bit crazy), I have the good fortune of being allowed to participate in the Forschungen zur antike Sklaverei project for the next two months, and, most importantly, use its library. A future blog will no doubt fill you in on the details of my Phd-research, but for now I will keep this simple, since, frankly, that is my present state of mind.
I can offer no sufficient excuses for not having done any work today, but if I were to blame it on anything, it would be on the Tourist Information, where I had planned to go and get a map and, map in hand, explore the university campus (I am saving the Akademie for monday, when, or so I have been informed, everyone will be there for a new year's reception). Now, why would anybody plant the Tourist Information on top of a carpark?! And which fool has turned all the signs round so that I have walked round the Dom at least three times before realising I had to go in the direct opposite direction? I have to admit that the Dom is rather nice, but I have seen more than enough of it in one day, thank you very much. When I got there, their cash register did not work. Coffee was needed and only after that I was finally able to get my map. By that time it was getting dark and I decided I would not risk losing my way again in search of the university.
My adventure has however taught me one thing: it is far nicer to be able to ask (and understand!!) directions in proper German than in the very limited German I now have. I have therefore registered with an online Sprachkurse Deutsch which starts on the first of February. And that, regrettably, is my succes of the day.

Bis schnell! Lydia