Dear Paris. Laura Paulsen

But whether what the lecturer taught them would really have such a success? Well, she'd see if it made a difference on her next applications. Today there had been primarily information on how to apply properly. You could hardly imagine what you could do wrong and what people actually did wrong! It was a mystery to Sharon how adults came up with the idea of applying without a name or address, not adding a phone number, or simply applying on a detached check sheet, handwritten and full of spelling mistakes. Either these people didn't want to get the job they were applying for and they only applied because the job center forced them to, or they simply lacked intelligence. In any case, the lecturer assured that all the applications she had submitted had actually taken place in this way.

Chapter 2

      On the way home, Sharon quickly went into the discount store to buy some groceries and was happy when she finally arrived home shortly after four o'clock. From the exhausting first day of job application training and dragging the shopping all done.

      Her eyes fell on a removal van standing in front of the house. Two people were about to carry a couch into the house. That must be the entry of the new neighbors among her. The apartment had been empty for the last two months after the old Mrs. Lehmann had moved to the senior citizens' residence. I hope they were nice people.

      As Sharon slowly followed the men up the stairs with the couch, she saw a young man standing in the door of Mrs. Lehmann's former apartment. The two men put the couch upright in front of the apartment door.

      "Go by first, young lady," said the older of the two men.

      Sharon thanked and greeted the handsome blonde man standing at the front door.

      "Are you the new tenant? I'm Sharon Schröder and I live right above them." She hoped that didn't sound too curious.

      "Hello! Yes, I'm the new tenant. Joshua Miller. Well, here's to good neighborhood!"

      He smiled at her friendly and Sharon noticed his bright blue eyes. She would have liked to have stopped and exchanged a few words with this Mr. Miller. But that seemed a little too pushy for her.

      The men were certainly more interested in the couch and all the other furniture and cartons that were still in the removal van, in the than chatting with her. But as soon as she was in her apartment, her curiosity did not let her go and she could not help but run to the window and, standing behind the curtain, watch as the men unloaded the transporter.

      "Joshua Miller," she murmured to herself. "Not bad. He'd be something for me."

      But in the next moment she gave her joy about the new acquaintance a damper herself.

      "As if he'd even look at me! He greeted me friendly, why not, as a new neighbour, but there probably won't be anything more. He certainly doesn't like the hippopotamus I am."

      She turned her eyes away from the window and went into the kitchen to finally unpack her groceries and prepare dinner. Spaghetti with Bolognese sauce should be here today. Freshly boiled Bolognese sauce, no instant sauce. She didn't put anything like that on the table. Even though she had little money and let herself go, she at least cooked with fresh ingredients as far as possible and was not a fast food junkies. Well, the one or other frozen pizza also found its way into her stomach, just like she liked to get herself a kebab. But since cooking was her passion, she rarely had ready meals.

      While she was cooking, she was constantly thinking about her new neighbour. Again and again she ran to the window and took a look at the transporter that was still standing in front of the front door.

      I don't even know this guy! Maybe he has a wife or girlfriend, maybe he isn't as likeable as he seemed at first glance, she tried to persuade herself. But her thoughts just didn't want to wander away from him.

      "This hasn't happened to me for a long time, that somebody fascinates me like that".

      Shaking her head, she wrapped some spaghetti on the fork, led it to her mouth - and jumped open immediately when she heard the door under her open and the men said goodbye to each other. She pressed her ear against the apartment door to hear better. But then the door under her closed and she heard the footsteps of the men down the stairs.

      She ran quickly to the window. The two men who had just carried the couch up the stairs got into the furniture van and drove away. The move was obviously done. It was quiet under her. A woman's voice had not yet been heard and there had been no woman to be seen. At least Joshua Miller seemed to have moved into the apartment alone.

      She sat down again at the table and ate on. The tabloid magazine "Taff" ran on television, but she didn't listen at all today. While eating the dessert, a chocolate cream pudding, she suddenly paused and dropped the spoon into the cup.

      "If I keep eating like this, he won't look at me! I have to stop stuffing myself like this!"

      She felt a tear rolling down her cheek. "My whole life would be different if I wasn't so fat! I might have a chance with Joshua and I might finally find a job again - and besides, I wouldn't always sweat so fast and get out of breath so fast. My knees already hurt when I walk stairs. I'll ruin my health if I don't finally do something. But it is the only thing I enjoy - eating, cooking, baking, and of course watching TV and surfing the Internet. What else have I got?"

      As more tears ran down her cheeks, she picked up her chocolate pudding again and ate it further.

      "Now I've started it, now I'm eating it too. He won't end up in the garbage. But at least I could start with some sport today. Afterwards, when I watch a movie, I'll do some exercises."

      That was easier said than done. It wasn't her first attempt at sports. Again and again she had failed and gave up her plan before she had really started. Around 8 pm, when she was sitting in front of the news, she still felt too full of dinner and postponed her sport exercises to 9 pm. At 9 pm, in the middle of the film, she thought that she wanted to start sports today, but didn't feel like getting up and starting. It was just so nice and comfortable on the couch and the film exciting! At 10 pm, when the film was over and she was zapping on another programme, she wondered if she shouldn't start playing sports tomorrow. One day is no longer important.

      But then her guilty conscience began to move. She knew she would have the same excuses every night, shifting the sport to the next day every day if she didn't just start. She knew herself and had to admit that this had always been the case. So she decided to start with very simple exercises from the couch, set the timer on her phone to ten minutes and did some loosening and stretching exercises on her arms and legs while sitting. The ten minutes seemed to drag on forever and seemed almost like an hour to her. But she at least held out - and when she wanted to get some sweets from the kitchen afterwards as a reward, she pulled herself together, overcame her desire for sweets and simply drank her cup of tea instead. Then she surfed another one a bit on the Internet, until she finally went to sleep around 11 pm and fell asleep with the thoughts of her new neighbor.

      The second day of application training was as boring as the first. Sharon would have preferred to drop out of the course and not go back. She didn't see much sense in this class. She knew how to write an application and how to behave in an interview. Anyway, she didn't think she'd learn much in this course. Even if the lecturer emphasized again and again that they would be amazed at how much the training would bring them. A large part of the participants seemed to have no interest at all in the application training and to participate only forcedly in it. These participants seemed correspondingly unmotivated. While the teacher was trying to give lessons, some participants were busy with their mobile phones and did not listen to the teacher at all. Until he burst his collar and she had an absolute ban on mobile phones during lessons. Which in turn led to heated discussions. Even though Sharon was only compelled to participate, she was at least quiet, listening most of the time, unless she was absent with her thoughts, and tried to take at least a little bit of knowledge with her. As on the first day, however, she was happy when the lessons finally came to an end at fifteen o'clock after six long hours. She said goodbye to Sabine, wished her a nice remaining day and hurried home. You might have thought someone was waiting for her at home. But she just wanted to get away and make herself comfortable on her couch at home.

      Arriving