I started a new job in Hamburg this week. I was at my last job for 9 years and 2 months. Holy shit. I didn’t realize how long it really was until I looked at the words I just wrote.

Anyway, I commute every morning with the train. It reminds me a lot of my former life in Chicago when I used work at Streeterville Studios or at some crappy temp job and I would have to take the blue line down to the loop. It’s funny how half a world away, the sullen and sleepy faces of work bound commuters are the same.

At my new job I am the only native English speaker. I have no problem reading or writing German, but when I am sitting at a table with 5 other Germans during a brain storming session, I have a real hard time keeping up with what is being said.

Maybe I’ll hear an interesting compound word and I’ll try to parse it in my head. By the time I figure out what was meant, the conversation has moved on to some other point and I’m kind of lost.

It’s only the first week though. I’ve been packing a lot of information into my brain and it probably just needs a weekend to relax a bit.