New squid in town

[Либра]

'Sup everyone!
After months and months of playing this addictive game I finally decided to come aboard.

Boring info about myself incoming, if you're not interested do NOT push the button. n_n/)

Spoiler: Boring info

Okay, you've been warned.
I'm Ivan (oh, so that's where those cyrillic letters come from...), 23 y/o and live in Germany where I'm currently working as a weird mix between a web designer and developer depending on our customer's needs. Actually I'm not quite there yet as I'm just a trainee but my boss likes to see things otherwise. Nah, I do not get paid extra. |D

My hobbies include but are not limited to: Gaming (duh), drawing, playing instruments, collecting merchandise and figures, training (strength/bodyweight), archery, naginata-do, kendo ... eh, various martial arts. I also enjoy rock climbing but I do not get the chance to do so very often. But I digress. I'm currently working hard to master the Japanese language for the JLPT tests so I can get the certificates which might come in handy one day. n_n

Other than that, hum... I have a pet dog, a Golden Retriever. Even though he's gettin' old he refuses to act his age...

Personality-wise.... I talk a lot of nonsense when I'm bored, I'm pondering about the weirdest things when I get tired and I'm always very tired/sleepy. On the flip-side, I'm rather energetic and move around a lot when given the chance to do so. I'm usually friendly 'n' patient and it's quite an act to actually see the worse of me. If you do manage to tick me off, prepare for some serious snark. That's about it. The more you get to know me, the crazier I become. According to friends.

Splatoon related info:
If you've ever seen the very same cyrillic letters on an inkling boy who never lets go of his trusty pilot goggles, then congrats, you've probably seen me. If you had me on your team while I was having a bad day/match: I'm sorry team. |D
In case you've been wondering and didn't feel like using Google translate, the name reads as "Libra".

Really lookin' forward to talkin' with ya. n_n/)

 

[Floating Eyeball]

Welcome to the community!

 

[TeaBee]

'Sup everyone!
After months and months of playing this addictive game I finally decided to come aboard.

Boring info about myself incoming, if you're not interested do NOT push the button. n_n/)

Spoiler: Boring info

Okay, you've been warned.
I'm Ivan (oh, so that's where those cyrillic letters come from...), 23 y/o and live in Germany where I'm currently working as a weird mix between a web designer and developer depending on our customer's needs. Actually I'm not quite there yet as I'm just a trainee but my boss likes to see things otherwise. Nah, I do not get paid extra. |D

My hobbies include but are not limited to: Gaming (duh), drawing, playing instruments, collecting merchandise and figures, training (strength/bodyweight), archery, naginata-do, kendo ... eh, various martial arts. I also enjoy rock climbing but I do not get the chance to do so very often. But I digress. I'm currently working hard to master the Japanese language for the JLPT tests so I can get the certificates which might come in handy one day. n_n

Other than that, hum... I have a pet dog, a Golden Retriever. Even though he's gettin' old he refuses to act his age...

Personality-wise.... I talk a lot of nonsense when I'm bored, I'm pondering about the weirdest things when I get tired and I'm always very tired/sleepy. On the flip-side, I'm rather energetic and move around a lot when given the chance to do so. I'm usually friendly 'n' patient and it's quite an act to actually see the worse of me. If you do manage to tick me off, prepare for some serious snark. That's about it. The more you get to know me, the crazier I become. According to friends.

Splatoon related info:
If you've ever seen the very same cyrillic letters on an inkling boy who never lets go of his trusty pilot goggles, then congrats, you've probably seen me. If you had me on your team while I was having a bad day/match: I'm sorry team. |D
In case you've been wondering and didn't feel like using Google translate, the name reads as "Libra".

Really lookin' forward to talkin' with ya. n_n/)

Welcome aboard Ivan. You have a lot of interests I see.

 

[Koah15]

Well I'm looking for new members

 

[Либра]

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone. n_n

Welcome aboard Ivan. You have a lot of interests I see.

You actually read through my introductory wall of text? Color me amazed. :D I actually left out a few but didn't feel the need to include those because they'll show in due time anyway.

Well I'm looking for new members

I'm not sure whether you posted this in reply to my thread. Anyhow, you might want to elaborate if you actually did. Just want to make sure I didn't misunderstand. n_n

 

[Koah15]

Oh yea sorry about that but me and my clan are looking for new ppl so if anyone of y'all want to play just contact me on Skype @iso_king1516

 

[Chronya]

I'm Ivan

Ho-ho-ho, Ivan! Do you speak Russian?

 

[TeaBee]

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone. n_n

You actually read through my introductory wall of text? Color me amazed. :D I actually left out a few but didn't feel the need to include those because they'll show in due time anyway.


I'm not sure whether you posted this in reply to my thread. Anyhow, you might want to elaborate if you actually did. Just want to make sure I didn't misunderstand. n_n

There's more? This sounds like fun. Also, what's Germany like? o.o

 

[Либра]

Ho-ho-ho, Ivan! Do you speak Russian?

I used to but after years of not actively speaking it it got so rusty that I have to admit it's rather broken right now. I seriously need to brush it up in due time. Needless to say, I still understand almost everything perfectly fine, but it's a shame nevertheless. Guess it's the price you pay if you don't have any Russian peers and grow up in a different country where people are only capable of speaking German and even then, not too well. I'm not too sure if this is the case in every country but boy, there's Germans who can't speak proper German for life and don't get me started on foreign languages. |D Anyhow, I hope this answers your question sufficiently.

Also, what's Germany like?

Well, I've been living in Germany since forever since I was born there and I'm not sure how to answer your question. Like with every country, it's a mixed bag. For starters, the educational system is a joke. Generally speaking it's like after fourth grade your grades/performance decide over which secondary school you're going to attend and it's basically like, the lowest two are practically a huge punch to your face because you'd have to invest more years to be qualified for attending a university after graduating, plus it's a huge pain in your rear. E.g. you start in the lowest, you'd first need to finish the second lowest AND get your "Abitur" which is the highest certificate you can get after secondary school. So yeah, go figure. There's a lot of children who are late bloomers and are severely punished for that, on the flip-side there's children who perform well in the first four, maybe five grades and then start having real troubles during their "Gymnasium" school life. (Gymnasium is the highest public secondary school you can go to, generally speaking.) I for one had no trouble at all but I've seen people struggling so hard it wasn't funny anymore. Bonus points if they went to school in North Germany where the curriculum is completely different from the one in South Germany, so if you moved from North to South prepare for trouble. Yeah, the curriculum is different for EVERY state! How ridiculous is that? It gets even more ridiculous in vocational school, but I digress.

The wages are o.k., a basic health care insurance is obligatory which is a good thing. I don't have to pay for MRIs, life-saving operations and other services other than a small contribution when I have to buy meds. Our politicians are even more of a joke than our educational system is, btw. If you've read fun-fun stories about 'em, they're probably true. Sadness.

On the real positive side, living in Germany is rather affordable and the € (Euro) is still going strong, at least strong enough for me not to get into financial troubles when importing things from Japan. |'D Quite frankly though, I don't know what kind of answer you've been expecting. Germany isn't as special of a country other than for its history. If you're into discovery you might've found a great place to go to because we have a lot of beautiful old buildings and castles (so does Poland though..) and the landscape isn't bad either, especially in South Germany with all those mountains, forests, yada yada. Once you enter a larger city it's basically the same though - fast food restaurants popping up like shimeji mushrooms, shopping malls, plenty of stores in general and random people asking you to change your confession or join for a political cause. Uh, yeah. In smaller cities/villages there's not too much to do, those who are more into clubbing go to a larger city like Stuttgart, those who like doing sports during the day are better off in more rural areas.

During those 23 years I've walked on these grounds, I've had a fair share of experiences with Germans and other non-German people. To sum it up...it's probably not much different from any other ('western') country. There's plenty o' nice people, there's lazy leechers, there's egoistic ...uh... y'know-the-word, even a lot of xenophobic people. It didn't spike before the recent refugee crisis but it was apparent in many more conservative environments.

As you can see, you've probably gained nothing from reading this wall of text, but if you have any more specific questions I can answer in shorter paragraphs, I'll be happy to oblige. |'D

 

[TeaBee]

I used to but after years of not actively speaking it it got so rusty that I have to admit it's rather broken right now. I seriously need to brush it up in due time. Needless to say, I still understand almost everything perfectly fine, but it's a shame nevertheless. Guess it's the price you pay if you don't have any Russian peers and grow up in a different country where people are only capable of speaking German and even then, not too well. I'm not too sure if this is the case in every country but boy, there's Germans who can't speak proper German for life and don't get me started on foreign languages. |D Anyhow, I hope this answers your question sufficiently.


Well, I've been living in Germany since forever since I was born there and I'm not sure how to answer your question. Like with every country, it's a mixed bag. For starters, the educational system is a joke. Generally speaking it's like after fourth grade your grades/performance decide over which secondary school you're going to attend and it's basically like, the lowest two are practically a huge punch to your face because you'd have to invest more years to be qualified for attending a university after graduating, plus it's a huge pain in your rear. E.g. you start in the lowest, you'd first need to finish the second lowest AND get your "Abitur" which is the highest certificate you can get after secondary school. So yeah, go figure. There's a lot of children who are late bloomers and are severely punished for that, on the flip-side there's children who perform well in the first four, maybe five grades and then start having real troubles during their "Gymnasium" school life. (Gymnasium is the highest public secondary school you can go to, generally speaking.) I for one had no trouble at all but I've seen people struggling so hard it wasn't funny anymore. Bonus points if they went to school in North Germany where the curriculum is completely different from the one in South Germany, so if you moved from North to South prepare for trouble. Yeah, the curriculum is different for EVERY state! How ridiculous is that? It gets even more ridiculous in vocational school, but I digress.

The wages are o.k., a basic health care insurance is obligatory which is a good thing. I don't have to pay for MRIs, life-saving operations and other services other than a small contribution when I have to buy meds. Our politicians are even more of a joke than our educational system is, btw. If you've read fun-fun stories about 'em, they're probably true. Sadness.

On the real positive side, living in Germany is rather affordable and the € (Euro) is still going strong, at least strong enough for me not to get into financial troubles when importing things from Japan. |'D Quite frankly though, I don't know what kind of answer you've been expecting. Germany isn't as special of a country other than for its history. If you're into discovery you might've found a great place to go to because we have a lot of beautiful old buildings and castles (so does Poland though..) and the landscape isn't bad either, especially in South Germany with all those mountains, forests, yada yada. Once you enter a larger city it's basically the same though - fast food restaurants popping up like shimeji mushrooms, shopping malls, plenty of stores in general and random people asking you to change your confession or join for a political cause. Uh, yeah. In smaller cities/villages there's not too much to do, those who are more into clubbing go to a larger city like Stuttgart, those who like doing sports during the day are better off in more rural areas.

During those 23 years I've walked on these grounds, I've had a fair share of experiences with Germans and other non-German people. To sum it up...it's probably not much different from any other ('western') country. There's plenty o' nice people, there's lazy leechers, there's egoistic ...uh... y'know-the-word, even a lot of xenophobic people. It didn't spike before the recent refugee crisis but it was apparent in many more conservative environments.

As you can see, you've probably gained nothing from reading this wall of text, but if you have any more specific questions I can answer in shorter paragraphs, I'll be happy to oblige. |'D

On the contrary, I found this information interesting. I just wanted to hear more about Germany in general and your experience. The educational system sounds crazy. >_> I'll make sure the questions aren't three paragraphs. For now I'm gonna stop. Don't wanna wear you out with 20 questions(not that I have twenty). :D