Back in Leipzig, two feet on the ground.

It’s high time I wrote: it’s been a crazy few weeks, jet-setting across countries and getting back in Leipzig in time for my birthday. As you may have read in last week’s post. Which turned out to be a premonition. Remember that part about the sore throat? Well, it turns out I left work, went to the hairdresser and mid-trim managed to pass out, get hauled out by the ambulance, and into the hospital. They were afraid it was epilepsy, it turned out to be tonsilitis.So the next few days of last week I spent reading the inside of my eyelids, and watching Mike Leigh movies (the man’s a genius). But now I am fully recuperated, even baked a cake for my lovely co-workers as is the custom in Germany (lifted, by the way, from Chocolate and Zucchini).

And spent the weekend appreciating being back in Leipzig, and you know, upright. Took some photos. Lordy, I love the city. And even work in the area that I remember thinking was so striking back in 2001, when I first visited the city. It’s a specific aesthetic, it’s good to appreciate industry, and falling-apartness which I happen to… And it’s cheap (so surprising!). Rent is cheap, food is cheap (though, I won’t even try to compare it to Sicily).

I’ve lived here for two years, not so long really, but run into people I know like all the time. But to the credit of all foreign newcomers: it’s a lot harder without much German (there was a lot of nodding along to conversations for the first 6 months), and without a connection to the local scene. But, having arrived back, I’m remembering it’s a great place to live.

Especially, if you like scenes like this: