Most of the people we know are amazed at the fact that after almost three years of being together my husband and I still act like we are a new couple. No bickering, no deadly stares, no sarcasms. We are always sweet to each other so people started to ask us how are we able to do it.

I don’t know exactly but I have a good feeling that the fact that we don’t share a toilet and bathroom has something to do with it (LOL). The flat we lived in in Changchun and the flat we are living in now have two bathrooms so we just kind of agree who’s going to use which bathroom.

We don’t have to wait turns. Nobody needs to knock at the door and beg the other person because he/she urgently needs to use the bathroom. And if we have to go somewhere else, we can prepare at the same time. This means nobody has to wait several minutes for the other person while that other person is preparing. Also, since I am confident that I am the only one using “my” bathroom, I can leave a few strands of hair on the floor when I am rushing without worrying that there will be somebody complaining. Same is with my husband. He can freely use his electric shaver without minding a few of his facial shavings being scattered around the sink. We can clean our bathrooms in our own time or we can wait for the maid to do it. Nobody is bothered. Nobody is disturbed. Everything is sunshine.

I wonder how it is going to be in Europe. We are moving there in April and the flat waiting for us has only one toilet and bathroom.

I am not a morning person. The only possible reason for me to stand up early would be because I had more than enough sleep. That’s what happened today when I woke up at 5am. Being able to sleep for 9 hours uninterrupted, my body told me that I have to stand up at 5 otherwise I will just twist and turn and will probably wake my husband up disgruntled.

So I stood up, checked my emails, and then I read a book while enjoying my cup of coffee. Then I remembered that my husband had told that he has to wake up early because he has some very important early morning meeting at work so at 7am, I woke him up so that he could be at work by 8am (normally he goes to work at 9:00-9:30). He obediently woke up and did his morning routines.

Before he left for work, he told me something.

Marcus: Schatzi, next time please let my alarmclock wake me up.
Me: Why?
Marcus: Because I hate my alarmclock.

Written on : January 16, 2008

We worked out a plan concerning our problem about being away from each other for three months. I will not go to Austria this summer to study German there but I have to get a tutor here and I must take my lessons seriously. I must really learn how to speak before we go there for a two weeks vacation in May. By then, I should be good enough to pass the examination. So we will risk it. I will take the course’s examination without attending its lessons. Getting the school to agree to this is yet another thing we have to manage but right now I am just glad to know that we don’t have to be separated for 3 months.

My previous German tutor is an Austrian. I had around 10 sessions with her but she is now expecting so she needed to go back to Austria for good. Marcus got me another tutor and she is a Korean who is married to a Belgian guy. She can speak Korean, Chinese, English, Belgian, and German. Impressive. I met her today for our first lesson and I have to say that she is quite good. She’s not a native speaker of German but she teaches this language well.

Maybe a lot of you are wondering why Marcus is not teaching me. Well, Marcus is not a very good teacher. Sure he can speak perfect German (obviously because it’s his mother tongue) but he doesn’t know how to explain the intricacies of it. He can correct me if my grammar is wrong however he cannot explain why my grammar is wrong and how I can make it right. Plus, we are so used to speaking in English with each another. So far, the most difficult thing that I have to overcome in this intercultural marriage thing is that even if Marcus can speak perfect English, I still have to study German. Do you know what’s his? For him, the most difficult thing to overcome is eating balut (fertilized duck eggs).