A random day in Germany. A random day in my life. And the same day I have written this post last year. That wasn’t planned but how interesting. Well and it isn’t really a random random regular day in Germany. At least not for me. It is November 9th today. A date that has a significantly important relevance in a Germany’s history.
November 9, 1938 – one of the darkest days in German history.
The November pogroms of 1938 in reference to the night from 9 to 10 November 1938 were violent measures organized and directed by the National Socialist regime against Jews in the German Reich.
November 9, 1989 – one of the most joyful das in German history.
The fall of the Berlin Wall (Mauerfall) in November 1989, during the Peaceful Revolution, was a pivotal event in world history which marked the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the figurative Iron Curtain.
Way am I mentioning this? Because today it was the most important part of my day. But let’s start at the beginning.
1.18 am – I wake up and need to use the bathroom and get a sip of water.
2.22 am – awake again…
2.50 am – again waking up, using the bathroom and another drink.
5.24 am – sigh awake again. Try to doze before waking completely… which works because next time I check the clock it’s
6.54 am – I keep my eyes closed trying to figure out if I should keep on sleeping. Still tired and exhausted.
7.00 am – the husbands alarm goes off (which is basically kind of my alarm too if I am not yet awake). I roll over and we snuggle.
7.02 am – husband gets up. I also roll out of bed, use the bathroom, get a sip of water and grab the phone to go back to bed.
7.05 am – I jot down the first part of this post on my phone in bed. Very unusual as I don’t use my phone in bed. A habit I establish in 2019 I think.
7.15 am – take my kindle book “Howls and Hollows” to read.
8.15 am – finished the book. Hadn’t planned to do so but couldn’t stop. So the start to the day is a bit late but oh we’ll. Getting up and making coffee. As the husband so adequately pointed out only so he can make the bed. His daily doing and I love him for it.
8.20 am – on the couch with my coffee scrolling through Instagram.
8.40 am – kissing the husband good bye who is heading into the office today. Pondering if I should do yoga before showering… scrolling more Instagram…
8.50 am – rolling out the yoga mat.
9.15 am – done with yoga off to the shower, getting dressed, doing make-up, starting a load of laundry, making some tea while loading and starting the dishwasher (was lazy last night)
10.00 am – at the desk. First task going through potential new project I could apply too. I find two interesting projects. I realize I need to update my CV because I recently won an award and I should include that. I upload my new documents to the platforms and send of my application. I follow up on a project by calling a lady but she is not available.
I really really need to clean up my desk.
11.25 am – short break to stretch my muscles and I quickly text my sister about tonight.
11.30 am – client work. Updating the online shop with some technical stuff. Creating a new B2B newsletter and briefing the creative team that are quickly responding.
12.30 pm – short break for stretching and putting the laundry in the dryer… of course that one needed cleaning first.
12:40 pm – updating a landing page with the photos I just received.
1.04 pm – time for lunch. But first cleaning up the kitchen quickly because, well it’s about time. Then lunch with a podcast “Freelance Writing Coach” and a bit of Instagram scrolling.
2 pm – back at the desk with a fresh coffee and a meeting about our Pinterest campaign and how to move forward.
3 pm – meeting is over, client needs to attend to other meeting so we can’t update and will talk more in our Jour Fixe tomorrow. That also means I don’t have any more immediate tasks I have to attend or can attend to right now. So I decide to call it a work day and spend time with blogging. I finish up, check emails and scheduling meetings.
3.20 pm – hang up the laundry I started during lunch, unload the dishwasher, getting a drink
3.30 pm – sitting down in my reading chair with my laptop and opening WordPress and Feedly to do this NaBloPo thing. Reading all posts from yesterday (yes I am starting to get behind) and finishing up some pictures for a post I have already written. Also working a bit on this post.
4.45 pm – need to get ready for my evening plans. Touching up make-up, packing my bag, getting the trash ready to take along, starting the robot vacuum to work while I am gone.
5.07 pm – leaving the house.
5.17 pm – catching the bus 10 min earlier than intended. Trying to read some blog posts but I am getting motion sickness today. So I look out the window mostly.
6.05 pm – arriving at Berlin central station. Walking to the tram for the last leg of the journey. And yes, I live in Berlin and so do my parents. Still I need over an hour to get there.
6.20 pm – hopping into the store to get some white roses.
6.30 pm – arriving at my parents home. Dad invited my sister and I for dinner.
7.05 pm – heading towards church with my sister. Dad follows with his bike since he can’t walk very well anymore.
When we moved to Berlin in 1991 my mother always did a little 9th of November tour with us to remember the Progroms of 1938. We usually gotten some white roses and candles and walked to the synagogue in Oranienburger Straße and stopped at the old jewish cemetery that also housed a retirement home that Nazis occupied and used as deportation facilities. Sometimes we did a longer tour and headed to the memorial in Rosenstraße as well.
In the past years I was not able to do so regularly. When my sister suggested we should go this year we all immediately agreed. Only my sister not living in Berlin couldn’t join.
7.30 pm – memorial church service for victims of the 1938 Progrom night. My mom joins us.
8.30 pm – silent memorial walk (1,5 km) through the neighborhood passing the old synagogue
and ending at a memorial site of a deportation facility.
9.50 pm – headed home, leaving some more roses at memorial sites along the way.
10.15 pm – heading home, learning Spanish, writing on this post, just letting my mind wander and think about tonight.
11.19 pm – bus arrives home, now just a short walk.
11.29 pm – I am home.
11.31 pm – I am in my pjs and head to the living room where the husband is. We kiss hello and tell each other from our days. Today we spend a bit more time talking. And it is somewhat part a celebration of the second part of this memorable day. The husband and I would not know each other without the incidents in 1989. And so wouldn’t my sisters have met their significant other. I remember this today and am thankful.
12.09 am – I am tired and get ready for bed.
12.21 am – I am in bed and taking my book out to read a bit
12.39 am – I am calling it quiets after the kindle has almost fallen on my face the third time and I really don’t know what is happening in the book. So good night it is.
And here you have it. My everyday life on a random day in 2023. If you feel like you want to read more of the mundane check backt o 2022, 2021, 2017, 2016, 2015.
But now let me know: What has surprised you in my day? What would have been overwhelming? What do you envy? How is your life different? How does it compare?
23 comments
This was so fun to read! I love hearing about the day-to-day activities of people’s everyday habits. And thanks for sharing about the history and tradition associated with marking this solemn anniversary.
Thank you for reading Elisabeth. I also like to get this sneak into someone else’s routines. I know my daily life is much different from yours and many other people as we do not have children.
I’m glad that Berlin commemorates this solemn anniversary. I fear the US does not do the same for our solemn days.
We do. It is ingrained in our society. However as with all societies some people do not and that it when we need to make an extra effort to make it visible. It was a bigger memorial this year and more people too. It was good to see a lot of teenagers there too.
I do agree that the US may need to do some catching up in this department.
I LOVE Day in the Life posts!!! I’m struck by your peaceful start to the day- I’m always jumping out of bed as soon as mu alarm goes off- a lot of that is getting my daughter up and ready for school. I also love your workday- it sounds LOVELY to work from home like that!
What an amazing evening- thank you so much for sharing this. November 9th, what a day- a very sad anniversary and a happy occasion as well. I love how you commemorated it.
It was an extra slow day. I am not always spending an hour in bed reading. But I do have more slow mornings than not.
I am sure once your daughter leaves the house yours could get slower too.
And thank you. Yes, November9yh is a historical loaded day. I love the way my family is commemorating.
I envy the slow start to your day and that your time is a bit unscheduled, or loosely scheduled. Or at least it seems like a relaxed start to the day. What work do you do for clients? Like, do you tend to make your own schedule? I remember when the Berlin Wall came down. I was in college. That was amazing. I liked learning about the day of rememberance too. Thanks for giving us a glimpse into your day.
Thank you Ernie. I do have a very loosely scheduled day especially right now as I have a very small workload. I am marketing consultant and handle social media accounts, newsletter writings and all sort of communication tasks.
I liked sharing about the meaning of November 9th and glad you found it interesting
It sounds like a really special day. I like the idea of remembering this day like this. Thank you for sharing!
A ‘usual’ weekday morning for me starts with the alarm going of at 6am so that I can have a coffee in bed and read the news before I make lunches for the kids and head out with them by 7:50am. Most days I have to be at work in person but on days I can work some of it from home I also may start the laundry while making tea.
Thank you. It is a good tradition to remember.
Always getting up at 6 am is so hard. I once had a job where I had to do it and never getting used to it.
Tell me about it ;)
This was beautiful, Tobia. What a wonderful way to hold this day and the memories of the lives affected in your heart.
Thank you Suzanne. It’s important for me to do so.
I love the day in the life posts…. not so much that it started with insomnia for you. Ugh. I am so sorry. I feel so hard for people with insomnia.
The rest of the day sounds relaxed and lovely and I think it’s great that even though it’s s solemn anniversary, you were able to commemorate this historic day.
Thanks so much for taking us along!
Thank you San. Yes, I could have done without the insomnia but at least this night I fell back to sleep and didn’t spend hours awake.
It is a sad anniversary but we need to keep those in our mind too.
This was super interesting and fun to read. I am also jealous of your slow, peaceful morning. I’m sorry you seemed to have broken sleep, though. I’m impressed you made it so late the following day after that! Thank you for sharing about the historic significance of that day.
I was surprised too to be up so late and not that tired. I am either used to it or I was hyped.
I love my peaceful mornings and I know not every one has them.
Since I do them so often on my blog, you KNOW I love a good day in the life post. Thanks for taking us along! I love that you were able to start your day by finishing a book!
I read a book once that compared the way Germany contends with its past to the way the U.S. does, and how Germany does not try to shy away from the atrocities but instead commemorates them, which is something my country does NOT do. It’s really sad, and I think it was probably really lovely to commemorate such a hard day with other people. <3
Thank you Stephany. Do you remember that bookstitel? I agree the US could probably improve in being more considerate of it’s not so glorious past. It is ingrained in Germany’s culture that we are looking at what has been done. Of course you always have stupid people so it’s important to educate and show that the majority is having different opinion.
Thank you for reading
This was so fun to read!
Thank you Sarah. Very different from your life.
This was wonderful to read- thank you!!
Glad you enjoyed it Daria.