It took all day and the help of a friendly van driver – but now, we are proud members of 
the IKEA family and got some of their unbelievable bargains (we went there because we didn’t know where else to go). This morning, we decided to take the bull by its horns and make the big jump into the cold water at the deep end (mixing metaphors doesn’t work that well here, I just noticed). So –
Tonight, I am writing to you from Forbacher Straße 11 in 22049 Hamburg. We are not quite set up yet, but we are definitely getting there. We need to do something about the curtain (it’s not much fun sitting on the ground floor of a house surrounded by other houses, with what amounts to open windows:). We’ll also need to get the fridge and a coffee machine going. The reset then will be a piece of cake.
Last night, between 9.30 and 11.30, Kila worked up the crowd at their concert to make a big noise sending good vibes to Pádraig, singing their song ‘seo mo leaba’. How nice is that! Unfortunately, we weren’t in his room when they made this big noise, but he was pretty alert most of the day today. Most of his physical readings were quite good, despite him being off the ventilator for longer periods now. He makes such a huge effort to open his eyes and to connect, he really deserves a big turn around, an awakening, a getting better in a big way. Good vibrations…!
Over the past days, I realized and remembered that part of the initial reason for writing the blog was to tell you about the stuff that is going on here: from the acute hospital to early neuro rehabilitation. Once we are over Christmas, I will do some investigating and
‘Eiskalte Leidenschaft’ in our Edeka shop…
share the results with you. Looking after people with acquired brain injuries is not something that the Irish health service does particularly well, they are even worse when it comes to rehabilitation. I will spend some time reading about this stuff, once Christams is over.
… with a special touch screen dispenser for the vices:)
We went shopping in our local Edeka shop tonight (8-22, closed on Sundays), and saw some funny and interesting posters. We also went to a Thai take-away / restaurant and found it really ‘preiwert’, with extremely nice people. We’ll have to discover this part of town over the next few weeks!
In the mean time, we’ll experience our first night in Hamburg (I’m missing the drive already:) Seo mo leaba is waiting for me:)
Today’s German Music Tip
Sido, Bilder im Kopf (2012). 33.6m hits for this song by German rapper Sido on youtube is quite something. It’s not to everybody’s liking this kind of music – but for Germany to have this kind of rapper isn’t all that bad, even if you’re not a huge fan of rap must!
What’s hot
Willkommen in der Forbacher Straße
What’s cold
Living on the ground floor without curtains:)
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Eiskalte Leidenschaft (‘Leidenschaft’ as a word by itself is great, look up its meaning and etymology; it’s wonderful)
Hospi-Tales 
Hello, Reinhard,
I’m very glad to hear about Pádraig being alert and his physical readings being good. May this continue.
I watched a performance of ‘Seo mo leaba’ on YouTube. God help me, but I had assumed it was all about sleeping … I need to watch out for these worrying signs of middle-aged sedateness and cut them off at the pass, without mercy. And as for ‘Leidenschaft’ – lots of interesting definitions indeed, and they will go on to the medium-term (i.e. post MA!) list for further perusal, because I really am taking your incidental German lessons on board.
I wish you all the best with getting the apartment fully sorted out. I couldn’t find Edeka on Google Maps, though the inevitable Aldi and Lidl seem to have stores close by. The offices of a lot of medical people are also listed, in the vicinity.
I look forward to the fruits of your investigations post Christmas, and to the opportunity I will have to discuss these with you in person as well as reading about them on the blog.
With best wishes,
Louise