Welcome To Stuttgart

Hi everyone! My name is Valentina and I live in Stuttgart. Am 30 years old. I live with my husband and son Timothy. I have been living here since I was 19. I have 2 university degrees and am currently doing my Masters in Business Administration specializing in Controlling. I have two jobs one on my speciality the other as a seller in a clothing shop that sells Armani and Gucci products. Today am free but on a usual working day my program goes like: waking up – going to work- work- coming back home- sleep. Today am planning for a small walk around the area, visit the dentist, buy a souvenir for Annie, visit a friend, some knitting and paperwork.
On the picture is me at my friend Olesya’s place. She is a good photographer. We do photosessions every now and then.

Today I did not wake up so early but by 9.00 a.m. I should be at the nursery. Its not so dark outside. Its January and the daylight hours have significantly increased.

On my way I pass by Timothy’s room

Timothy’s little lodge made for him by his dad from a dresser. When other kids come visiting they play with the U-boat which has a periscope.

Our small marafet. I must say taking a shower then using the drier to dry hair does not take much time.

Its a quarter to eight. This is our living room and we spend most of our time here. The green boxes are for toys mostly Lego – 28 pieces. The treadmill is worthy and is well placed. The dressers conveniently package the contents of Timothy’s lodge. They wieigh almost 90 kg and in them we store stuff for scrap. The sofas are from Bretz and they spring-legged; literally a haven for kids. Timothy jumps on it like its a trampoline.

Today am going to visit my friend Olesya. We met at school where we used to study in one group. We prepared for exams together, wrote protocols, and even used to “chat” in class by writing short sentences on a piece of paper and passing it on to each other. Moreover, I have lots of her photos. We have a lot of things in common; for instance I teach her about life and in return she teaches me how to cook. We have many common phrases that only the two of us understand. We haven’t seen each other for the past two weeks since she had gone to visit her parents, now she awaits me. As I prepare to leave, breakfast today will be warm water to keep the main body processes running. I saw such a kettle in the TV series “Sherlock” as he waited for Moriaty for tea.

After some household chores, it was time to leave the house. My husband will do the driving. There is a light drizzle outside and the temperature is at 5 degrees. This type of weather moreso reminds of spring and not winter.

The houses on the street remind one of the cartoon “the Musicians of Bremen.” This building is Rathaus. It is here that all civil issues are solved. It is here that people are registered, get and exchange passports. This is the same place where our new family got registered.

We passed by the dentist. Here we are at the waiting room. For the younger patients is a small chair with a character from “Sesame Street.” I was scheduled for 9.45 a.m. I waited for an hour and ended up in a couch. The most interesting thing at the dentist’s is this painting on the ceiling.

The dentist did his job quickly and in minutes I came out another person. On my way home I saw this funny porch with a case full of empty beer bottles. That could cost about 8 Euros. Lucky for the owner that no one has taken it yet.

This used to be an intersection but due to the high number of accidents they made it into a turn with two stripes. I once read in the local newspaper that this spot used to have the highest number of road accidents in the city. They even installed the orange blocks to ensure the drivers were moving in a circular.

motion.

The tram arrives. While I was at the bustop I overheard two ladies speaking in Russian. I could not help it but had to join in the conversation. When I told them that I was from Ukraine, they could not believe it. They thought that I was a German who taught Russian. After a long conversation I sat in the tram and bid them farewell. To open the tram’s door one has to use the yellow button. On the right is a former school which is now a cultural centre and music school.

The next stop. To the left is “Sony” and to the right is “Kodak”

I arrive at the city center. I went straight away to the souvenir shop and bought some magnets for my friend Anne. These will be a surprise for her.

Inside the railway station. The small red machines are ticket dispensers for destinations within and in between cities. Nearby is an ad for the chocolate Ritter Sport – it was founded in this city.

At the news stand I could find Russian press.

Am going to Olesya but with a transfer. The screens at the station show cultural news but not as videos but in text.

Lucky for some people to have bikes. I remember our German teacher asking us why our teachers do not ride bikes to work. I could not help but think of looking at some of them on a bike. That would have been a very funny scenario. But its 10 years down the lane and the site of any bike always brings me back to the joke.

I arrive at the Daimler square. Named after the “father of the automobile.” By the way in 2011 they celebrated the 125th anniversary of the automobile. The orange van transports waste. At the top is a Taxi, their color was changed to ivory since it was too hard to recognize a taxi back in the days.

The christmas trees are collected at a given spot and a special service comes to pick them up. Everything is organized here.

I bought a carrot cake and went to Olesya’s. I was met by her and we had it with latte macchiato and “daisy” sweets which are my favorites. I had missed Olesya and she told me about her visit to her parents.

I stayed at Olesya’s till four and headed to the kindergarten to pick up Timothy. As I sat listening to music, someone joined me. Its Alyosha! We had not seen each other since last October. He is another friend from my studies. I have repect for him. He is a man with a family, and at the same time he is studying and working. As we reached the stop, I gave him some candy as a gift from Olesya and went on.

This is the kindergarten. They have a large yard and a beautiful building. The left side is for evacuation in case of emergencies. They also have a laboratory with microscopes, generally, they offer a lot to the children.

Olesya brought me Ukranian candy “Boom”, they are very tasty and have alcohol. We arrived home with Timothy at 4.15 p.m. Before we had gone to the shop for candy and I offered some of my candy to the shopkeeper- she is a very nice lady. For the evening I ate these two boxes. My day turned out unusual with lots of candy and cakes. Such has never happened to me. I spent the rest of the evening feeding Timothy, assisting him with homework, a little playing around and took him to bed at around 10.00 p.m.