No explanations; no one cares.

So, I'm in a 4-star hotel in Napoli, Italy... it's been two weeks since I last updated, so I figure that I really should write something. The week before I left Pb was pretty hectic, to say the least. However, I did have some fun. The last day of the German class, our teachers hosted a little party for us, with board games, coffee, and lots of cake and biscuits, which was really very sweet. I even got a hug from Frau Bartsch! So that was a good, fun afternoon. Most of our class wasn't there; everyone was already flown home or just not showing up, seeing as how we already had our grades for the level. (I got 90.1% for the record, so if I bother doing some work in the next level, I could get DSH-3, which is a level higher than I would need to study in a German uni. However, I have no intention whatsoever to study in their nightmare of a university system, so really, I could just sit back and do very little if I were so inclined.)

On the 17th, I headed up to Muenster with my suitcase... because the train lines had been closed several times in the previous days, owing to heavy snow and freezing weather. I was a bit concerned about being able to get to Rheine for my IC to Amsterdam, but thankfully Matt correctly interpreted the panic in my message, and I got an SMS from Tash saying that I could stay there overnight. In Muenster, I waited 50 mins for the bus to their house, but it never came... three buses should have come in that time, so I managed to catch another line half way there and walk the rest, which was only about 20 mins I think. So it wasn't too painful; pulling a suitcase through the snow was significantly warmer than freezing my toes off whilst waiting at a bus stop. I was pleased to finally get there! Anyway, those guys are the best hosts ever, so I even got fed dinner and delicious beer. Being in good company definitely alleviated some of my stress.

The next morning I set out on the first bus (which was actually running, thank jebus) and even had a conversation with the bus driver! It was a bit awkward on my end. Oh well. The bus ran a little late, but that was okay, because the train I was going to catch to Rheine ran even later. I'd left plenty of time to allow for this, however, and relaxed in the coffee shop with a Tash-baked lemon cupcake and a cup of coffee while I waited for my train. Said train also ran late, but at least it was warm, and I got to Amsterdam at about 2pm. I found myself at Amsterdam Zuid station, with directions to get on a tram to a certain stop, etc... I started by finding the tram line, then managing to get on the right tram, and even getting off at the right stop... and yet somehow, I never worked out where to buy a ticket. Oh well, I have no aversion to free travel.

I made my way to the hotel (small but okay; the roasted hazelnuts and walnut halves at breakfast definitely raised my opinion of the place!) and got a map of the town. Went for a rather long wander to find a branch of Maoz felafel that I vaguely remembered from being there in 2006. And yes, thankyou, I did find it. I rule. So, stuffed with delicious felafel, I headed back to the hotel. Jayne arrived, only four or five hours late in the end, and we went out for dinner.

In Amsterdam, we did the usual; the Heineken Experience (brewery tour; good fun, really), the markets, strolled passed the floating Bloemenmarkt, visited Anne Frank House, the Van Gogh Musuem, the open part of the Rijksmuseum, etc... I'd already seen a lot of it, but it was still good. The second night, we ate at a highly recommended Chinese restaurant (which was delicious; I ate enough for three people, seriously! It's the only time on this holiday where I've been satisfied with my vegetable intake) and on the third night, we ate at The Supper Club. Basically, it was a hipster bar with 'beds' and low set tables sitting on them, and we got a 5-course meal for 65 Euros. Jayne was paying, because obviously I don't have that sort of cash to spend on dinner! They were perfectly happy to make me something vegan, and they did a good job; the first course was sushi rolls that had been dipped in tempura batter and deep-fried. Yum! They were on a salad of mixed lettuce and seaweed. Loved it. Mushroom soup for second course, a selection of grilled vegetables (including half a fennel that I just couldn't eat, because I'm not huge on fennel) for third, fourth (which I was too full to do any justice to) was stacks of beets and sweet potato with lentils and sauce inbetween... the lentils were a bit undercooked, but it was still fine. Dessert was fruit salad for me; not fresh, definitely on its last legs. Jayne also got chocolate mousse and creme brulee, so she was perfectly happy with hers!

During the last few courses the place started to fill up, because it's something of a club, too. The music was definitely too loud for us to be eating dinner in. I thought the crowd there was pretty young, but Jayne didn't seem to agree. Anyway, part of the deal is that there's some sort of theatrical art piece during the dinner... and, accordingly, at some point a woman dressed in white lace decided to do some interpretative dance to creepy music. Then she got up on the bar, picked an apple that was suspended from the ceiling, and began to eat it with increasing desperation until the apple was a mess and all of a sudden there was fake blood everywhere. (Jayne and I discussed it later, and decided it was in her sleeve, because we saw the apple being strung up earlier in the evening and it was perfectly intact, plus she was chewing her sleeve a bit eating the apple.) So this woman, dripping with blood, starts writhing and dying on the floor, after grabbing at a few people first. It was pretty entertaining, but not the sort of 'performance' I'd see on a regular occasion; it all seemed a bit cliche and cheap. Anyway, it was a good evening, and the food was mostly pretty good.

Our trip from Amsterdam to Paris on a Thalyss train was a little... hm. Interesting. Or rather, insanely boring, because we were sitting on the train for nearly an hour in Amsterdam Centraal with "mechanical difficulties", reading magazines and listening to to the train's engine running, then stop running, then finally start running again, and then stop running again... you get the picture. They told us to get on the next train (scheduled an hour after hours) and we managed to get seats for about half the journey, and had to stand in the aisle for the rest of it. That train was about an hour late because of snowy tracks and waiting for a section of rail to get repaired. So we finally got into Paris, found our hotel (which was really nice) and went for dinner at the Bistro across the street (as recommended by the receptionist). I had an artichoke in vinaigrette and a salad (literally just lettuce). At least the waiter was good-looking, to distract me from the fact that I was filling up on bread for dinner. Jayne didn't seem to catch on the entire time (or deliberately ignored) how Megan-unfriendly French restaurants are. The last day, we stumbled across this awesome looking place that had couscous and vegetable tagine and other potentially flavourful food, and she refused to go there. I ended up eating tomato pasta. Again. Ugh. I'm so sick of bread right now. All I want are some vegetables... whimper...

Anyway, in Paris we had a bike tour, which was fun, and not too strenuous. We had a wine tasting in a cellar that was a few hundred years old. I didn't like any of the wines, but I learned a little about how to look for viscosity and acid before I drink them. That was cool. The next day we had a desserts class that I'd organised, which ended up being my Christmas present for Jayne. (The bike-friendly poncho was more of a joke than anything. She gave me lunch at Joel Robuchon, plus a cute scarf with hearts on it.) We ate terrible pizza at the nearest place, because we hadn't had lunch before going to the class. Oh well, it was cheap. We learned about making lemon meringue pie, madelines, and choux pastry (cream puffs!) and everything involved about a thousand eggs. Was fun to watch, and to participate with piping, zesting, mixing, etc. I also got to use a blow torch to caramelise a creme brulee. That ruled.

Anyway, that night, we went to Mon Vieil Ami, which was a restaurant I'd found online whilst searching for candidates for our Christmas lunch. It was recommended by David Lebowitz, too, so I figured it should be good. And it was! We hurried there after the class, and the wait staff were lovely, not to mention also good-looking. Must be a theme in better Parisian restaurants. Anyway, they were more than friendly about making me some vegan eats. For entree, I had a generously sized beet salad, which was incredibly delicious. It had a nice scattering of greens, some spicy radish sprouts, a delicious oil and vinegar mix (so good I mopped it up with bread) and both cooked red beets as well as paper-thin (mandoline-sliced) pieces of coloured beets. (Well, yellow beets and chioggia, which are pink and white in concentric circles. I grew them once, but was always more impressed with red. Red have the best flavour, followed closely by yellow.) For mains, they gave me a claypot with some meltingly tender leeks, button and oyster mushrooms, sultanas and orange, sauteed in some kind of alcohol; I'm guessing Cointreau. It was aweeesome. Jayne said her main was good, but wasn't impressed overall. We have such different ideas about food.

On Christmas Eve, we went to the Louvre, which was cool. We went our own separate ways, which was much less stressful. We met again for lunch, in the same food court as where we'd eaten during the bike tour; this time I had 'Mediterranean' mixed salads as opposed to the 'Moroccan' mixed salad that I'd had earlier. Anyway, the hommus was delicious, and it was nice to get some vegetables. After that, we went to Galeries La Fayette, which was ok... the highlight was the gourmet food section, where I bought some tropical fruits for Christmas day, plus some Chestnut bread, some hommus, and some 'spicy' green olives. Jayne bought Cheese, a baguette, and some more macarons. She bought more macarons in Paris than I've ever seen in my lifetime, but she didn't like most of the flavours. I guess that's what happens when you don't like chocolate or coffee flavour. Weird. I did buy some dark chocolate from a little shop, too, and discovered, much to my dismay, that I don't really like crystallised ginger. I should love it, theoretically, because I quite like sweets and I fucking love ginger. But no, it just didn't do anything for me. I'm a little heartbroken. However, I had candied orange slices dipped in dark chocolate in the same box, which are one of my favourite chocolate treats ever, so it all balanced out in the end. Christmas eve was when we ate the terrible pasta, by the way. All I wanted was couscous... sigh.

Anyway, on to Christmas. We chatted to the parents on Skype briefly, but the connection was pretty bad and Mum was making dinner, so I didn't really get to talk to her. Jayne cut in on everything, so I didn't really get to talk. Oh well, next time. She and I just don't have overly compatible personalities, I've decided; I don't care about being rich or pushy. She's so hell bent on having her own way on everything, and I'm generally pretty relaxed, so I'll give in just because I can't be fucked fighting. I think I'm just lazy, but also, I'm smart enough to see when fighting has absolutely no benefit to anyone. She just doesn't let up. I was talking about food systems and she was trying to accuse me of saying that Asia should just eat rice. Um, hi, rice doesn't grow in all of Asia, for a start. I was talking about crop productivity, and citing some statistics from a book I'm currently reading, and she just wouldn't have a bar of it. I thought about showing her the passages, but I decided against it, because I was sick of arguing about something that she clearly doesn't know shit about. Yes, you guessed right; my holiday with my sister isn't nearly as good as I'd hoped. I'm wishing I was in Adelaide right now, which is my usual reaction to discomfort.

So, to quit being a sook, and get back to Paris: we went to lunch at L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon on Christmas day for lunch. I enquired about the vegetarian options; they were only willing to make two vegan. One dish was an entree (tomato pasta) and the other was a tapas-sized plate (vege stack). So I filled up on bread again, in the most expensive restaurant I've ever eaten in. It was depressing, actually. Jayne ate fois gras and other expensive things. She had three more plates after the first two, actually, so I just waited until dessert. Then I got some sorbet (the basil was good) and an espresso, which was also good. But, really, two options that can be potentially vegan, and a complete unwillingness to talk to a chef to come up with something else? Pretty abysmal. Much better was Christmas dinner, which was the food from La Fayette. The hommus was amazing. The olives weren't spicy, much to my dismay. But they were okay. The fruit wasn't too bad, either. I found Twinings Lady Grey in Amsterdam and bought some, so I had a cup of that after dinner, with some dark chocolate, courtesy of the hotel. It was nice. Talk about simple pleasures, hey?

The next morning, I hung out at the hotel, packing and catching up on internet, while Jayne went for a walk. About 11:30am we headed out to Orly Airport, getting there an hour later. We had to wait to check in for our flight, because it was a 15:15 flight and apparently with Easyjet the check-in opens two hours before the flight. So we waited around and dropped off our bags, then looked for lunch... I found absolutely nothing, and Jayne ate a quiche lorraine and a square of pizza. Then we went through the security checkpoint to get us through to the gates, and, hooray! I found a place with some vegan options; I had a carrot salad and a warm rice and vege-mix type thing. Expensive, but at least I was fed. And hey, it was considerably cheaper (and better) than some of the food I ate in Paris...

Our flight was delayed by two hours, so we didn't get in to Naples until about 7pm. Caught the shuttle bus to the main station, then a taxi to the hotel. (10 Euro; probably should have been about 5, but hey, whatever. We got here, which is the important part; every time I'm in Napoli traffic I feel like I'm going to be in a car crash... not joking, that's just how they drive.) Went to a trattoria for dinner; I ordered a salad, some grilled vegetables, and an entree-sized pasta. I was hungry, and craving vegetables. Unfortunately, the vegetable dishes were tiny, and the pasta came out with parmesan (despite the "no cheese!" pleas) so I filled up on bread again. At least it was bread with olive oil and balsamic this time.

I haven't been enjoying Napoli. I'm only here because Jayne insisted that Italy be on the itinerary, so I organised it. I wanted France, she wanted Italy. But I have no enthusiasm for anything. Yesterday was a modern art museum and an archaeology museum, and it was just an ordeal. We went to the castle in the evening, and that was ok. Ate a square of pizza for lunch; just tomato with heaps of garlic, and no cheese, freshly microwaved from a street vendor. Probably the best pizza I've eaten here. Not that the pizza isn't good, but it's just so 'same'. This square had heaps of rich tomato topping, and wasn't as bland as the others.

For dinner, Jayne had circled a restaurant recommended by Lonely Planet, and we walked there. On the way, we passed a pizza place not yet open, with a lineup out the front. We found the restaurant she'd circled, and I read the menu, and was really happy with my options; the pizzas sounded good and there was an amazing salad that I wanted. Of course, Jayne wasn't happy, and made us go back to the place with the lineup, so that she, too, could line up. Ugh. It was rated #3 of all Napoli restaurants on Trip Advisor, she informed me today. That doesn't excuse the plastic cups and drinks option; I asked for an Italian beer, a Peroni or something, I don't remember... and was told the only had one beer. So I shrugged my acquiescence and was brought a can of fucking Pauliner... I was a bit disappointed to get a tinny of German beer, as you can well imagine. Anyway, the pizza was nice, but nothing special. Their veg options tended to just have one vegetable; I ordered the artichoke pizza, and asked for mushrooms too, but without cheese. The mushrooms were a bit slimy, actually. Anyway, the moral of the story is that I wasn't happy to be there. I missed out on the salad from the other place because we didn't eat dinner tonight.

Today: Mt Vesuvius is currently off-limits to tourists after a freak storm a few days ago, so today we went on a tour to Pompeii. It was quite interesting, and the guide was pretty amusing, especially when he was talking about brothels and phallic imagery. Yep, there were carved stone dicks pointing to buildings, supposedly to bring the occupants prosperity and fertility. Hell, if that's all it takes to get rich, I've got a few friends who would be more than willing to point their dicks at my wallet for a while. I'd even shout them a drink for it. Anyway, as I was saying, the guide was good, and quite knowledgeable, even mentioning my old friend Emperor Constantine... Matt, if you read this, then yes, I wrote an essay about that guy for your Imperialism topic. And I think the guide was a bit too quick to dismiss my comment about the Roman Empire overextending itself, saying that it was just one of many reasons for the fall of Rome... yeah, it was the cause of many of those reasons. Ahem. Anyway, there's my uneducated 2c worth. I didn't learn anything about the explosion, sadly, so I'll Wikipedia that later. I only know that it lasted 3 days and that people all died of asphyxiation. Lovely.

So, after that, we got dropped off near the other castle we were going to visit. We found a pizzeria, finally, where they put cheese on my pizza and I had to explain to the waitress that no, I didn't mean just one sort of cheese on my pizza, rather, none at all. It was all a bit painful. I ate too much, too fast, and then followed Jayne around the castle. Telling her to slow down does nothing; I catch up at signs because I'm a much faster reader than she is. But I don't enjoy walking for hours without sitting down; when I travel alone, I wake early, see things for a few hours, then sit down for a while, eat lunch, and sightsee some more. Then I sit down and relax and have a tea or coffee and read a book for an hour. Then I get up and do some more. Jayne doesn't seem to adjust to that sort of pace. I've been hobbling a little on sore feet lately, and my stuffed knee (I slipped on ice in Amsterdam, twice on the same night). She's been looking down at me for taking the lift to the room on the third floor, and wanting to take the Paris metro. Oh well. The knee is nearly better; the bruise is pretty much gone, but it's still a bit stiff. Meh.

Anyway, we went around the castle; I trailed a few minutes after her, because she didn't slow down. On the way back to the hotel, I finally found a pharmacy, and bought a pack of bandaids for my blistered heels; I wore my running sneakers, and they were beginning to rub. Will be back to my snow boots tomorrow, irrespective of how warm they are. (It's too warm to wear them here, really. It'll be better and colder in Florence, and in every city from then on.) Anyway, didn't have dinner; went to the bar here for our 'welcome drink'; the bartender said the drink had to be sparkling wine, but somehow it ended up with peach in it. Gross. He never said it had to be a welcome 'cocktail' instead of something drinkable. Anyway, we were served some peanuts and green olives, and I had an unpleasant experience with a really seedy caperberry. I'll be steering clear in future, as cute as they are. Came back here and wrote this. Now am talking to Amy on Skype, which is good, because I'm actually feeling kinda lonely. Should get some sleep, though... train to Florence in the morning.

About to go on holiday...

11 days since my last post. That's better than last time, right? But, of course, life likes to get in the way of these things. Which certainly isn't to say that mine is exciting, because that would be a downright lie. But I can deal with that. I'm sure I'll have enough excitement on my travels...

So, what have I been doing since the last post? I wish I had more news to relay, but it's generally the same old; uni, seminar, sleeping. And not enough of the latter, either. Last weekend I went to Muenster on Friday afternoon, and stayed until Saturday lunchtime. Though, technically I didn't really stay there, because I participated in the ladies' shopping trip that Tash had organised. Five of us went to Entschede, just over the border with the Netherlands. It was great fun; they called me like a lost child over the PA of a department store, irrespective of the fact that I was only in the ladies' section, and we had to run to catch the train with seconds to spare... the latter was a little stressful at the time, but pretty funny in retrospect. We had the world's nicest waiter when we ate lunch, which was easily the best customer service that I've had in Europe (won top position by a mile; customer service can be pretty terrible here!) and I'll definitely have to return to Entschede in future... maybe for some post-Christmas sales, Tash? ;)

This week has been a bit difficult. I've had absolutely no focus; it's impossible to achieve anything. Especially in the German class; we've just been repeating the grammar that we've already learned. And no, it's not making me remember it any better. For the seminar, the projector worked this week (was pretty disappointing last week when it didn't) and I spoke about everything from the Vietnam War to Bogans. Definitely managed to illicit a few laughs, which was awesome. I'd deliberately written a shorter lecture, knowing that people have pretty limited attention spans during the few days (or few weeks, in my case) before the holidays. I spent the last ten minutes reading Immunity by Tim Winton; I love his short stories, and better yet, I was able to find one that made reference to the Vietnam war. It was really therapeutic just to read a story out loud, to make it awkward by pausing in the right places and to use the appropriate Australianisms. I really enjoyed it, and felt pretty good afterwards.

Yesterday I managed to spend nearly ten Euro on printing costs; I've printed what I hope is all of the train tickets, plane tickets, vouchers, maps and confirmation letters for Jayne & I's holiday. Now I just need to put it all into some semblance or order, and make sure that it's all there. We had a sort of afternoon tea in the German class yesterday; no one had told me, because I took a 'mental health day' to get everything done on Tuesday. So I didn't bring anything to eat, but it's ok, because in the end I was too strung out to eat anything anyway. I did, however, drink a few cups of coffee. Last night I went to see Feuerzangebowle with Steffi, Andrea and Matze (Steffi's bf). I couldn't understand all of the film, because it was pretty hard to hear (old film, music was too loud, not clearly spoken, etc) and because the vocab used was apparently a bit archaic. Steffi translated when I missed out on a joke, thankfully. So I really enjoyed it. The accompanying alcoholic beverage of the same name (fire-tongs-bowl? haha) had so much sugar in it that it tasted like melted skittles. I could only drink one cup, because it was too sickly, but it kept me warm for the first half of the movie. Andrea and I walked back to Kasseler Tor together and talked about Refused and T(i)NC. Another example of my vocab falling desperately short of what I wanted to convey, but oh well.

Today I slept in until quarter to eight, showered and got ready in 25 mins, and managed to be the second person arriving for the course, irrespective of the fact that I was 5 minutes late. We started the morning with 6 people, and 4 came after the break. So a pretty small turnout; I think people thought yesterday was the last day, because the teacher had sort of implied as much; I think she just needed to specify that it was her last day with us for the year, not our last day in the course for the year. Oh well. We got told today that there's a small surprise for us tomorrow, and to bring a coffee mug. It sounds good already, if there'll be coffee involved.

So, part of my stress lately has been our cooking class in Paris; the morning market class was cancelled (moved to an earlier day, during which we're not actually in Paris) and I assumed that both our classes were cancelled. Not so, I eventually found out (after several emails). Not very clear. Anyway, we still have an afternoon desserts class... I'm not even looking forward to it anymore, after all the hassle, but ehh, whatever. I've already paid a large amount of money towards it, so hey, I'd better enjoy it. I'm a little stressed too, today, after finding out that there's been so much snow over Muenster that the trains can't get through. I think they're running again, but still, it freaks me out... I'm not sure if I should go early to Muenster, because my train leaves from there. Hm. Guess that depends on how much time I have to pack, etc, and whether the trains can get through. Worst comes to worst, I'll work out a way to catch new trains and avoid the whole area, but that'll be expensive and will have me arrive quite late. Keep your fingers crossed for me, kids.

Tonight I'm going to the ballet with Mona and Katja from my German course, and one of Katja's friends. It's the Nutcracker, so hopefully will be good... I'm so tired that I don't know how I'll keep my eyes open, but I'll manage. It's at the Paderhalle, which I've never been to before, but I've heard that it's a nice venue. Hm. Hope it doesn't finish too late.

Oh, and I gave Steffi her Christmas present today; clear salt and pepper grinders. They're tall and have a really nice shape; or, I liked them anyway. She seemed thrilled, which is awesome. She gave me a present of a hot water bottle and a heatpack a few days ago, which was awesome because I've been saying for months that I need to get a hot water bottle; I just kept forgetting. So I've been using that to keep my feet warm since then!

Anyway, no rest for the wicked; I'd better get started on the million and one things that I'm yet to finish, before I have to go out for the night. I want sleep.

I stalked you for a year - you didn't notice.

It's been a busy few weeks, so there's my lame excuse for not posting over and done with. And in the first sentence, too! I'm quick to make excuses. Honestly, it's just the end of the term and I'm holding out for Christmas holidays and Jayne's visit and travelling. I have absolutely no interest in the Deutschkurs right now, I'm been putting off writing my seminars until the last possible minute, and I haven't done my homework for over a week. Two more weeks, that's what I need to repeat to myself to get through. Two more weeks.

Of course, it's been two weeks since I last posted. As you can imagine, the weekdays have been filled with the usual; German course, coming home for lunch, drinking tea in the kitchen with Steffi, and avoiding Lukas and Doro. It's not that they're that bad, they're just so loud. They just scream at eachother all the time, and not with violence, either: they simply think nothing of the thin walls or yelling for eachother from one end of the hall to the other. I'm beginning to think that it would actually be easier to deal with if they were fighting. I think Steffi's going to have a word to them about it, which would be lovely, because that means I don't have to attempt to do it. Lukas takes offense to absolutely everything (only child) and I don't know Doro very well, so it's much easier for Steffi to talk to Doro. She'll take it on board a bit more easily. Still, only two weeks more of putting up with it...

Last weekend was Matt's birthday, so I went up to Muenster on Saturday. I made the same brownies that I made last time, except that this time I actually followed the recipe... so, of course, they didn't work out. This is what I get for following recipes!! I'm never making that mistake again. Anyway, I'm going to adapt my own version and blog it, but I don't want to do that until I'm over the sheer sugar influx of the last batch. In training to be a diabetic, at this rate. So, I also brought the bottle of Hendrick's gin to Matt & Tash's house, and Matt and I did our best at polishing it off. I ate more food that I have ever eaten before, to the point where I actually felt sick. I blame the garlic dip, it was addictive. Anzacs near me? Oh yeah, that was me. Probably why I ate about 10 of them. Ughhhhh. Anyway, I was happily drunk and lolling around on the lounge that I can't sit up straight on (it's more comfy if you're slouched to nearly vertical, cos then you can rest your head on the back!) and had a good time talking to lovely people. Was an awesome night, and I think Matt should have birthdays more often.

Got a few hours sleep (precious few!) and didn't manage to get back to sleep after the Fitzgrundy kids woke up at some ungodly hour of morning, but did stay in bed for a lot longer afterwards. Long enough not to feel too seedy, anyway, or at least in comparison to Matt! Poor guy. Tash was an absolute champion and managed the kids on her own so that everyone else could sleep in. I don't know how she does it, honestly. I don't do very well on so little sleep... anyway, everyone (minus Matt) headed into town to see off friends to the airport, and I caught the train back to Padders. Started to feel a little seedy at about Hamm, and went to bed at some ridiculously early hour. Of course, I got woken up by Lukas and Doro not using their inside voices, which meant that I then stayed awake until about 2am again... but ehh what can you do.

Another highlight of late is that Mona invited me over for lunch on Friday. She also invited Nevin, who couldn't come in the end, but it was fun even without her. Mona shares a rather cute loft apartment in Auf der Lieth with her sister. She made me awesome Iranian food! The main dish was rice and lentils, cooked to allow a crust to develop on the bottom. Best style of cooking ever, I love rice crust! Crispy and delicious. Anyway, with that was as accompaniment of fried onions, sultanas, tumeric, powdered persian lime and cinnamon, which got mixed into the rice. Ahh delicious. And a chopped cucumber and tomato salad, too. Mona also ate yoghurt mixed with powdered rose petals and powdered mint, which sounds like a heavenly meal if ever there was one. I'm going to have to get my hands on some powdered rose petals and try that with soy yoghurt. I'm also going to have to get my hands on powdered lime, so I can make the same rice dish... so good!

After lunch we lazed about and I drank tea. Iranian snacks were awesome - dried white figs, dried white mulberries (yes! best ever!), little dried cherries that might possibly have been barberries or something similar, fruit (ate quince raw, and it was pretty good!), nuts, and little biscuits. So good. I was stuffed to the gills! So awesome to eat new foods - definitely going to have to track them down back home in Australia. Anyway, food aside, it was nice to hang out. I was a bit worried that we wouldn't have anything to talk about, but we managed nicely. Turns out that she's an awesome artist, too. I stayed too late and missed going to the bank, which means I was managing the last of my cash pretty carefully not to ruin my plans.

On Saturday I went to Koln and saw the Roman-Germanic Museum. It wasn't that great, honestly, but it only cost me 2 Euro, so what do I care? I then went back to the Ludwig museum, to raid them of the last of their supply of Kaffeebechers. Lucky timing. I was right next to one of the Christmas markets, so I wandered out for a look, seeing as I had 40 minutes before my train. It was crowded, unpleasantly so, and I decided to try a Gluhwein (mulled wine) to warm my freezing self. Admittedly, the Gluhwein was terrible - tasted like rocket fuel, but definitely not as cool as rocket fuel. Much more daggy 70s. Anyway, I managed to choke it down because I wanted back my 2.50 cup deposit. However, the one positive was that it was very warming - the alcohol was more responsible than the heat of the beverage. It started to snow, suddenly and heavily, and I got to watch snowflakes collect on my scarf. They kept falling into my cup and melting on impact, which made me think that my wine was like a snowflake slaughterhouse, which was pretty appropriate considering the colour of the wine. I bought some sugared macadamias with my change (I was scraping it together at this point) and headed for the train.

Train back to Pb, half cut because I'd practically skulled my wine on an empty stomach, nibbling on macadamias and the olive bread that I bought in the train station with my last dollar. Got into a short conversation with a lady who I let order ahead of me, which doesn't happen too often. It was fun, anyway, which put me in a good mood. I've been in a much better mood since I started taking some vitamin D every day... begone, winter blues. To hell with you.

Today I tried to dye my hair (epic fail; it didn't lighten the brown, and it was too close to the natural colour to show any difference on the roots of my hair) which made me miss the product I used to use to strip colour from my hair back in Australia. Anyway, afterwards I cut my hair. And, yes, I voluntarily gave myself an undercut. It looks awesome. However, it's insanely messy, because I can't cut my own hair and the back of my head that short and keep it uniform. Really, it needs some clippers, but I don't have any, so it'll have to deal with being messy. Anyway, I trimmed the top and sides much shorter and gave myself a slightly thicker fringe. Love it.

So, plans for this week: well, write the seminar at some point. Tomorrow I'm meeting with Manfred to discuss plans for some kind of booklet based on the contents of my lectures. Tuesday is a Christmas Party at the Pienemann's Pb apartment for all the people who work for Manfred, to which I've decided to bring tarts. Except not quite; the puff pastry sheets come in small rectangles, and I don't have appropriate tart cases, so I'm just going to leave them as-is, top them with roasted pumpkin, olive and morroccan-style spices, and bake them. I bought the olives at the market yesterday (they were the first thing I bought, being the most essential, and other fruit and veg were just to top up what was in my fridge; managed to spend less than usual, just because I didn't have my usual 25 Euro to spend!) and anyway, they're delicious. Only let myself try one... I'll be sure to eat all the leftovers, though.

Anyway, time to give up on actually getting anything done tonight. I really want to go running, but it's cold and wet and icy, and that will only end with me breaking something. Sigh.

She was a damn fine dancer, but she wasn't all that great of a girlfriend.

It's been two weeks since I last posted - what a disgrace, I know! I'd like to say that a lot has been happening, and I suppose it has, but honestly, damned if I can remember it all. So, my apologies if this is all sporadic and disjointed and (most likely) completely incomprehensible.

So, for the last two weeks, German class was over in the Technologiepark - it's about a 15 minute walk from the uni. I walked half of the time, which necessitated leaving a little earlier, or caught the bus when I wanted to leave at 8am as normal. Catching the bus was quick and easy, but I resented having to talk to people who were on the same bus as me, or having to walk with them into the Technologiepark after the bus ride. I like having my mornings to myself; I want to take off my ipod when I get into class, not before. I like having my half-hour of music alone with my thoughts. So I didn't enjoy having other people infringe on that. I'm going to do my best to avoid taking the bus, and make sure I get off my lazy backside and walk every morning. It'll be easier from now on, because we're back at the uni, in the 'fishbowl' (one of the room in E-building, everyone can see in as they walk past) for the rest of the term.

So, last weekend... where did that time go? I went to the Market on Saturday, as usual, and I think I walked through town at some point. That might've been when I went to the Marktkauf on the other side of town. No, wait, that was another day. Hm, dunno. On Sunday I managed to get the seminar's material written in one fell swoop, which was nice. That's my task for today, too.

OH, I know what I did last week: I chased up a tax card. I handed in all my stupid paperwork for this job, and then got told to get this card, and bring it back. So, after visits to a few offices (they really enjoy redirecting people to other offices!) I managed to get one. It only took a few minutes in the end; I looked at the woman and said, "That was so easy!" with amazement, and she laughed. Anyway, I did finally hand in all the extra paperwork, with the tax card. Then on Thursday morning, I got a call from the poor woman trying to put together my contract (she doesn't speak English, and consequently has to endure my insufficient German)... I was in the breakfast line at a hostel at that point, which I'll get to later, but I managed to understand in the end. The problem is that I can't get a job as a student assistant unless I'm enrolled in a degree at the uni. I've emailed Manfred but am yet to hear back, so I'll go visit him on Monday if I don't get a reply. I apologised profusely to the poor woman, but I know I've just been a total pain in the ass for her. No wonder this town has such a reputation for disliking foreigners, hahaha!

I spoke with Mum on Skype today (she forgot about me last weekend! I was really sad) and she said that I shouldn't be working if I wasn't getting paid for it, because it's taking time away from the German course. While I'm disappointed that there's been issues with getting paid, I still hope that there's some way that I can be employed and get some money, so I'm crossing my fingers that I can just be employed as a casual. Of course, I don't think they'd be too psyched about paying me for the full length of time that I'll actually be working; I've been working for a month, which means that they'd technically have to pay me until after I've left the country, and I really don't see that happening. It's all getting a bit complicated right now. Either way, as much as I agree that it's totally cut into the time I spend on the German course outside of class (aka, it's gone from "a little bit" to "absolutely nothing") I don't think that I should just throw it in if I don't get paid, because it'll help me get a job later. It's just such an annoyance right now.

So, back to everything else. On Monday night I picked up Steph, a girl I used to work with at Woolies, from the train station. She'd been on some tour around Europe (I think you should all know how I feel about tours, but in her defense, at least it wasn't Contiki) and was dropping in to visit for a couple of days; I think she was pleased to have a familiar face, because she's not really cut out for travelling alone for so long. Anyway, after uni on Tuesday, we went to the Dom and had a wander around. Went to Real for some food and cooked up awesome pasta when we got back. By Wednesday I was exhausted - I think she'd forgotten that I still had to get up at 6:30am, when she had the luxury of sleeping in until 10, so I probably wasn't as active as I could have been. Anyway, she met me at the uni for lunch, and sat in on the Seminar. Manfred wasn't there, for the second week in a row. None of the students were surprised, actually. Interesting. So, after that, we went (via Netto for snacks) to the train station. Caught the train to Koln. Missed the transfer in Hamm because first the train was half an hour late, then it pulled in to a different platform. By the time I'd confirmed that it was in fact the train we wanted (the sign gave a totally different destination) the doors had closed, and we weren't on it. So we waited half an hour for the next (on time) train.

I got off the train at Messe-Deutz and checked into my hostel, and Steph went to the Hbf (they're only a stop apart, directly across the river) and found her hostel. I caught an S-bahn across the bridge to meet her, and we dropped by my hostel again. (I wasn't sure if mine had lockers, so she'd taken my laptop... only to discover that I did have a locker, and that the only free locker in her room was broken!) So, we then caught the tram a couple of stops to Gebaude 9, and managed to catch a couple of songs of Skylark or whatever they were called. I think they were British. Anyway, they weren't great, so I didn't mind missing them. Les Savy Fav started soon after, and they were great fun. It was something of a learning curve for Steph; she said as we were going into the warehouse that she'd have never have gone anywhere like that on her own. I couldn't explain to her why I knew it was safe from the first time I was there. I likened it to familiarity with being amongst punk kids; I know they're not starting fights. My only experiences with street tensions have been with kids who think they're gangsters trying to start shit with the kids with tattoos and tunnels, who usually walk off without comment. I tried to explain that if I saw a group of punk kids on one side of the street, and a group of hip hop kids on the other, I'd be a thousand times safer on the punk side, but I'm not sure if she could understand my logic. Eh, whatever.

Les Savy Fav were fun, but not as brilliant as the first two times I'd seen them. Kids were still dancing, and the singer was absolutely nuts, but I had to keep worrying about Steph's reactions. I guess when you already know that the singer of a band is likely to come out on stage in costume (including a decorated body stocking with muscles and organs and bones drawn on, saying "everybody has a body" across the back) then you don't get such a surprise. Either way, I think it was probably a new experience for her to see someone who just didn't give a fuck; he's this massive guy, with a huge belly, a huge beard, and balding hair, who fucks around on stage and climbs on stuff and gets down. I thought it was awesome; it takes a lot of guts to stop caring what anyone thinks, and just be silly and have fun. I tried to explain that later, but I think that was somewhere else where different people will have different opinions. ;)

Anyway, we were both exhausted after the show, after being on the go for so long, and walked back to our hostels. I helped Steph find the pedestrian section of the rail bridge before I walked back to my hostel - she didn't want to catch the train for some reason. Oh, I forgot to mention that the reason why she wasn't staying at the Deutz YHA was that it was fully booked; I'd booked my room months ago. I got back at about one. Anyway, she sent me the necessary sms to say that she was safe, and I slept like a coma until about 7:30am. I had breakfast in the cafeteria-style breakfast room, which was loaded with sugar because of course jam was the only vegan option. I was totally over sugar that day. We met at the station at 9:30am and explored inside the Dom. The treasury was pretty cool, too. We then went to the Ludwig museum, which is a modern art museum. Steph isn't really into art, so I don't think she enjoyed it so much. I was walking around looking at awesome 1920s Parisian photographs in an exhibition while she was just sitting there. Fair enough, everyone gets tired feet, but I was unwilling to skip an exhibition I was loving, especially after having paid for it. We both got excited about the cute stuff in the gift shop after; I bought the ceramic travel mug (ok, no handle, so technically it's more of a beaker) with silicon heat-proof lid and and grip that you see at the top of the post. I love it, and am using it religiously; it keeps my drinks warm! And it feels nice to hold it. And it's pretty. Love it.

Anyway, afterwards we went for a quick walk through the shopping district - Steph needed new ballet flats because hers had fallen apart completely. She didn't buy any, but she did throw the old ones out, which was definitely a step in the right direction! We sat down and had a coffee (and she had a danish) and then we wandered over to the NS-Dokumentation exhibit, which was in a building previously used by the Gestapo. The small museum would have been much cooler had it not been filled with screaming schoolkids (they were maybe 13 or 14) a few minutes after we arrived. I wanted to complain to their teacher, but figured there was no point. I think I did a pretty good job of translating lots of the signs, but failed epically with the old-fashioned print... the alphabet is simply incomprehensible sometimes. Anyway, after that, we wandered over to the train station, and I got a salad for dinner. Steph got a wrap; we were happy for some vegetables, after eating baked goods all day. Halves in a fruit salad, too. I did, however, introduce her to the wonders of German prezels, baked goods, and streusel: mission accomplished. I managed to showcase the one good thing about German food, at least.

Caught the train back to Pb at 4:21 (arrived just before 7pm) and came back here, tired and ready to relax. Steph repacked her bag while I updated my internet stuff, and then she skyped her Mum while I fell into bed. I didn't sleep until after she'd finished, though, despite her being in the kitchen, so I probably should have better-utilised that time and read a book. Oh well. I caught the bus to the Techpark direct from there, and struggled to stay awake in class. I was thankful for the weekend. I was invited to a party hosted by the students from Cameroon, and Frau Bartsch discovered that my name is pronnounced with a long "ee" sound. I think she felt a bit bad that she'd always said it wrong, but I did my best to explain that Germans just pronnounced it as it was written, so it wasn't a big deal. Anyway, it was a relief to have the week over and done with. I had an early night after reading a book; finally had the time to finish Empires of Food. It's been sorely neglected; outside of blogs, I haven't read anything for leisure (ok, blogs are more addiction than leisure) since before I got the job. So it was a nice accomplishment, and I recommend the book to anyone with an interest in food.

Saturday I got up early and went to the markets. The Christmas Market is being set up, so I had to search for a while to find my usual lady. 25 Euros later (how do I do that?!) I was at home, tucking into onion baguette slathered with harissa, hot coffee, and fresh apples. I love weekend breakfasts; I'm all alone, the world is peaceful, and I have the time to cook myself something delicious. They're my favourite time of the week. And this weekend, I had massive coffees in my beautiful cup. Love it. Ahem. So, moving on, yesterday was a recharge-day of sorts. I watched the rest of the "Victorian Farm" series on Youtube (yep, from episode 19 to 36!), which is a series about 3 historians living in the Victorian manner on a farm. I love stuff like that. I basically lazed in bed and ate for the entire day, and it was awesome. I need a whole week of that, and maybe then I'll feel relaxed again. I had a headache last night because I read all day without my glasses, so I didn't go to the party; I felt a bit bad, but the idea of going all the way out to Stephens Scheune at 10:30pm didn't appeal to me. It's too far, too late, and didn't allow me the appropriate public transport options to just do a courtesy visit. Oh well.

So, this morning I got up at 8am, finally feeling like I'd caught up on sleep (even though I know that's physically impossible). I made Korean-style vegetable pancakes for breakfast using leftover kale, and they were amaaaazing. So good and crispy! I chatted to my mum for over an hour, which was lovely, and she discussed the possibility of selling my car to Jayne (and buying something else that I will have access to). I'm always glad to get consulted for these things; I think after I cracked the shits about the billion and one car-swaps while I was trying to get my license, they've realised that it does, in fact, matter to me which car I'm driving. Jayne has booked the first hotel for our trip (good; I was getting really nervous about how late she's left it). So, now I just have to write about food in Australia, and put together some kind of powerpoint. I think I'm going to bake some Anzac bikkies too, on Tuesday night, so that the class will like me. (Buying favouritism? Hell, yes.) Haha. Nah, really it's just because I can't be trusted to bake an entire batch of cookies, because I eat them all myself. The chocolate cookies last week proved that... they tasted like nutella. Mmm.

So, I think that's the whole fortnight, recapped. Oh, I got a letter from Louise (I won in the cute-card competition, so I'm going to start a modern-art postcard competition) and, despite needing another vaccum (Steph had some pringles break open in her bag) my room is looking good again. Life is busy, but it's not too bad. Still looking forward to going home, but hey, all in good time. In the meantime, I'm looking forward to next weekend, to the first snow (against all logic, I know) and to my December travels with Jayne. Just gotta hold on in the German course (still getting good marks, but I know that I'm not learning as much as I could) and get through it.

I'm going to try to go for a run, for the first time in weeks. Legs, and foot that I think I fractured in my first week here, I apologise in advance.

Yaaaaayyyyyy!

My vanilla slice got featured on the daily roundup at the Vegan Mofo blog!

http://veganmofo.wordpress.com/2010/11/07/vegan-mofo-round-up-7-that-was-the-week-that-was/

I'm incredibly thrilled, needless to say... there's like 700 blogs in it this year, and only a couple of them get picked for the daily roundup. I'm so excited!

Dear Ambellina, the Prise wishes you to watch over me.

So, the weekly update. I should be doing my German homework or writing for my next seminar presentation on Wednesday, but honestly, I'm worn out. I've been cooking up a storm for the past few hours, trying to get lots of photos and get ahead for the next week of Vegan Mofo (Vegan Month of Food)... my plans have been foiled because Blogger backdates entries to when they were started, as opposed to dating them to when they were published. It's something of a pain in the ass. The idea of posting every day is also pretty difficult, but I love the idea and I've been having so much fun reading everyone else's entries. Plus I've been getting heaps of blog traffic and even some nice comments, so it's goodwill all 'round, really.

So, the last week. Well, last Sunday I went up to Muenster and saw the open Atelier exhibition with Tash, plus her (Australian) friends Felicity and Mark. They were both really nice, and while the exhibition was pretty hit-or-miss, I really enjoyed it. The buildings that housed all the artists' studios were really cool too, and if I had any sort of true artistic talent, I'd definitely be edging my way into a place like that. The need for talent didn't stop some of the artists (I know, I'm a bitch) but it was still fun. And there was an interactive exhibit where we got to model things from plasticine. My green creature was mostly a rabbit, but looked a little cat-like too. I think it was pretty good for a first attempt! Tash invited me back for dinner (probably not a wise move on her part; I was staaaarving, having not eaten lunch) and I ate my way through all of their snacks and then most of the risotto. It's not my fault that I got offered delicious food! ;)

Anyway I had to head back to the train station to return my rented bicycle and catch the train home, and my timing was so perfect that the train left about a minute after I got on board. I slept like a coma that night. Monday was a public holiday so I spent my time preparing for the week's seminar. I collected some more awesome pictures this time and had the luxury of not feeling quite so rushed. I'd still love to be a few weeks ahead, but that's really not working out at this point in time. (Still working on the one for this week, will have to finish it tomorrow night). I also prepped a bunch of posts for the other blog. Today I've just made a few different dishes and refrigerated them for later eating, which is pretty convenient. Plus I had the oven on so the kitchen is cosy. I always do that!

So, tuesday was just the German class, and that evening I finished writing the next day's presentation. Wednesday was German, then I ate with Katja in the Mensa, which was nice. She goes to Prague soon, so it was good to see her before she leaves. That afternoon was the seminar, which was absolutely fantastic. I got a lot of laughs, people seemed interested, and I even got a few responses when I asked questions. I was pretty thrilled afterwards, and Manfred complimented me, which is definitely high praise in my book. Plus, most importantly, I really enjoyed myself while I was in the class. Talking in front of people doesn't usually phase me too much, but being able to joke around and enjoy the response is definitely on another level. I'm definitely never going to be cut out to be a teacher, but I don't mind being a talker. :)

So, Thursday was the German course. I ate in the Mensa (I only ever get food from the salad bar - most of the time I grab a bread roll and make a sandwich, how uncouth!) and did some reading/research in the office for a while. Oh, yeah, I have access to an office in the uni, courtesy of two lovely ladies in the Linguistics department. I should have a key sometime this week, which is great because it means I've got a quiet space to actually get some work done, and no distractions. Plus Christine was in there when I went in, and she gave me a couple of mochi that her husband had brought back from Japan. Mochi are deliiiiicious.

Friday was German course, and I was glad when it was over. The new grammar doesn't really interest me and I got told to learn my stammformen (verb forms in past tense), but the real problem is that I don't know most of the verbs. If I've never heard something before, and have no idea what it means, then fucked if I know how to conjugate it. Sigh. I'd like to remind Frau Bartsch that my entire understanding of the language is context-based, but really I should just study more, in that non-existent spare time of mine. Somewhere in all of that I also went to the supermarket a couple of times, too. On Friday evening I had to go twice, because I forgot to buy icing sugar for my vanilla slice. I made brownies, too, but the recipe wasn't fantastic - too cakey and not fudgey enough. That didn't stop me from eating all the broken bits, though!

So, on Saturday morning I got up early and went to the markets. Bought my week's fruit and veg, and indulged in another 20-pack of those small oranges. They have seeds, but they're really juicy. Yum. I packed up the vanilla slice (incredibly carefully, because I had to make it in Lukas' beloved baking dish) and some brownies, and caught the train to Muenster. I managed to talk to Mum briefly on Skype before that, and had to jog most of the way to the station as a consequence. I didn't miss the train, thankfully, but then the train ran late anyway. Sigh. I managed to get a bus as soon as I got to Muenster, though, which was a relief, so I wasn't too late for lunch. Matt and Tash had invited me over (well, I'd already invited myself over for that night, but they extended the invite to lunch) because they had Manfred and Helena over for lunch. I finally know I can use the "du" form with them! (For all the readers who don't speak a language with formal and informal terms of address, then just know that this is a big deal.)

Anyway, lunch was really lovely (Tash cooked all on her own, because Matt was a little "under the weather") and the company was fantastic. We spoke German for half of it - I tend to be a little quiet when that happens, partly because I enjoy listening, but also because I'm scared to entirely screw up my grammar infront of a former teacher! Haha. Helena has planted the idea in my mind to go to the art gallery and market in Entschede, so that'll be a plan for another weekend. (Hey Tash, want to come with?) I'll also point out that Helena and Manfred brought along a bottle of South Australian wine which was so fantastic that I completely forgot that I'm not usually that into Shiraz. I miss the ready access to Australian wine!

After Manfred and Helena left, I helped out with the dishes and spent some quality time lazing about. (Getting out of Paderborn on weekends, and just being able to forget about everything and properly relax, is definitely what has kept me sane these past few weeks.) After such a generous lunch, no one could much be bothered with dinner, and toast was the order of the day. I felt like eating something virtuous and had some fruit, which was delicious. I always forget how much I adore tinned peaches! I don't buy them much while fresh fruit is available but I think I'll get into them a lot this coming winter. Dessert was red wine and vanilla slice, which went down an absolute treat. I actually put away a lot of red wine over the course of the day! Come evening and I was planning to see Minus the Bear, until I discovered that it was pissing down with rain. I decided to save my twenty euros and my fragile health (finally kicking that goddamn cough) in favour of lounging around with more red wine. Matt and Tash are always great company, so I think I had a much better evening than if I'd been cold and soaked at the show. I slept like a coma, and was pretty reluctant to get up in the morning, but was content to lie on my mattress and watch cartoons with the kids.

I also ate the world's biggest breakfast, which I think was because I'd eaten such a light (read: mostly liquid) dinner. I haven't been hungry all day, though, so it was clearly enough for me. That hasn't stopped me from eating, though! Tash gave me some lemon cupcakes to take home (you can see that I'm spoiled!) and I took some vanilla slice, too. Lukas' dish made it home intact, and I didn't fall asleep on the train or miss my station, so that's definitely good. I've been cooking all afternoon, partly for Vegan Mofo and partly so that I've got easy meals to grab during the week. I had some leftover couscous for dinner and now I'm going to make myself a cup of tea and try to do my German homework before I fall asleep.

Squeeeeee!

I just booked my flight half-way home. By which I mean that I booked a flight from Frankfurt to Singapore, and it only cost me 500 Euro. Thankyou, Qantas. I'm going to meet Mum (and hopefully Jill, if she can get the time off of work) in Singapore for a few days of sightseeing and relaxing. I'm ecstatic about it all. So, I'm now counting down until March 18th. Ok, not really counting down, because time here is flying by and I'm constantly amazed at how long I've been here. But my final exam is on March 12th, and I've left a few days leeway (ok, I left a week - it pays to be paranoid!) in case of Oral exams and the stresses of packing up one's entire life (again). I plan on selling my furniture, if I can, and shipping my things home (ok, books and clothes) by freight. Things that don't suit the take-home category get donated to Steffi or Charity. Or anyone else who wants them, really.

I know it's still a bit early to be thinking about that kind of stuff but it really does affect my purchases here. Things need to either be in the "so cheap it doesn't matter" category (like bakeware and bedding) or "worth carrying half way across the world" (like books, which I'm banned from purchasing, because I have so many already). Clothes will definitely be subjected to a wardrobe cull, which is ok because lots of them are getting worn out anyway, but I also have more than enough replacement tshirts to get me through. (Oh, and can I put in a good word for certain underwear items made by Berlei and owned by nearly every woman I know? Seriously, that line lasts foreeeever.)

So, back onto life at present. I've been a bit sick this week, with sore throat, cough, crazy-high temperatures and a general lack of energy. I also had two days where my skin was sensitive and hurting, which always makes me feel a bit sour, but thankfully that's over. I should be better in a couple of days. It's definitely my own fault for not getting enough sleep lately - sometimes I forget to prioritise. But that's ok. So, I last wrote... hm, ages ago. So, I'll write about last week. The German class was nondescript and outside of that I didn't really do anything interesting. On the weekend, however, I went first to the Dom Markt, where I found curly kale (win! It's now appearing pre-shredded in massive bags, which is awesome) and bought incredible amounts of fruit. I've been eating a lot of fruit this week.

Saturday I also took the train to Muenster, and rented a bike. Matt met me at the station, and we cycled along the Aasee back to his & Tash's house. They'd baked lemon cupcakes (ohh delicious!) and I'd baked pumpkin scones and brought vegemite, so lunch was a treat. That afternoon, we all headed out to the Herbst Send (Autumn Fair)... I was wishing I'd worn my lined boots, because my feet were freezing. The weather didn't seem to dampen the kids' enthusiasm, and the bear & I had a great time on the dodgem cars (especially chasing after Matt and the monkey, in order to run into them!)... what can I say, I'm a bad influence on other people's children. I bought a sprinkle-covered toffee apple, which got eaten a couple of days later (I couldn't deal with that much sugar in one sitting), stole more than my fair share of the popcorn, and puchased a disgustingly artificial fairy floss that was nothing but disappointment. I still ate it, though, because I hate wasting food. Especially when I've paid for it. I also went on a Matterhorn-type ride, which was good fun, and got to laugh at Matt and Tash being all cute about the engraved bread boards for the kids. Seriously, cute overload. :)

So, it was nice to get back to the warm house and have a cup of tea! Dinner that night was stir-fry, cooked up by a team effort, and Matt discovered that the secret to good eggs is a sprinkle of vege stock... MSG, pure umami deliciousness. After the kids went to bed, we got to do adult things like sit around drinking wine, which is definitely up there on my list of "favourite ways to spend time". Their upstairs neighbours came around for a few drinks, which meant that the conversation switched entirely to German. I was mighty pleased that I was able to keep up with what was going on, and enjoyed listening, though at some point I got tired and probably didn't say much. All of a sudden it was 1am, and I realised that I'd been up since 6am, and that my eyes were trying to close. I slept like a coma, until the kids decided that it was time to get out of bed. I enjoyed the proximity of my mattress to the TV, and watched German cartoons with the bear without having to even get out of bed. Win.

We went down to the swimming pool (awesome Sunday routine, I approve entirely) and I got to swim some laps and enjoy being in a sub-tropical climate for a while. The pool in Muenster is nicer (and yet cheaper?!) than the pool here. No wolf whistles from the bear this time, but he did make a really loud comment about how hairy some man's "boobs" were (his choice of words! to be fair, the guy was pretty porky) and I had to try to keep a straight face, and remind him that it's not nice to comment on other people's bodies, even if they do have incredibly hairy boobs! ;)

After the pool, Matt dutifully took the kids home (Tash has clearly done a good job of the husband-training there) and she and I went for another look around the Herbst Send. I bought some sugared cashews, which were every bit as delicious and crunchy as the name implies, and some roasted chestnuts. We headed back to Fitz-house for seedy bread rolls (the best kind!) for lunch. Delicious! I could live on fresh bread, I really could. I went home in the afternoon and caught up on some sleep that night.

So, onto this week. German class every morning. Met with Manfred on Monday night, and got my job options decided. I filled out some paperwork, which I brought back on Tuesday, only to discover that I had a lot more paperwork to fill out, too. I'll have to do that this weekend. I was feeling a bit miserable all week, but am in pretty good spirits now that I'm feeling a bit better. Tuesday night I went over all the stuff that I'd gathered for Wednesday's class, and did a fair chunk of photocopying. Hopefully people actually read it so that we can have a bit more discussion next week. But the response was good, from both Manfred and the students, though I did catch myself talking a little too fast sometimes. It wasn't perfect by any means, but the last speaker of the presentation before me was absolutely dismal, which made me look pretty good by comparison. So I'm feeling better about next week. I'm going to use this weekend to write a couple of weeks worth of stuff, so that I don't have to stress about it this time. Plus now I know that the room has a LCD projector, so it's Powerpoint all the way.

Yesterday I went to bed ridiculously early, simply because I didn't have any energy. However, I didn't manage to get to sleep at all - I was just vaguing out and daydreaming, which is nice enough, except that I probably could have used the extra sleep. Steffi heard me coughing up a storm at about 11am and knocked on my door to offer me cups of tea and not-quite Vicks vapour rub. I took her up on the latter. The smell of Vicks (the brand here is Wick! hahaha!) makes me think of Poppa, because when I was a kid, he always used to have the Vicks nearby. Somehow I don't remember him smelling like that in his last few years... either he stopped using it so much, or I just grew used to the smell over the years. Either way, it helped me to breathe a little better, which is always nice.

This morning I got up early (can't screw up my routine, it's finally starting to feel normal again!) and went to the markets. Didn't buy any fruit (oranges were a bit expensive and I'm kinda sick of apples and pears after last week, haha!) except quinces, which I've simmered into soft cubes. Still undecided about what I'll make. The Quittenmus was awesome, but I feel like something with a bit more texture. Maybe quince and cinnamon muffins. Or I could just buy some natural yoghurt. Yum. Anyway, I stocked up on kale, brussels sprouts and potatoes (rare buy for me! I want to make mash, though) and a few other veg for the week. I've made a green soup (green veg) for lunch so I might eat that with some more onion baguette... which was breakfast. Tash generously donated to me half a jar of homemade harissa from a friend of theirs, because she wasn't sure if they'd use it up fast enough. I ate it slathered on bread, discovering that the best way to handle the heat was to eat it quickly, so that you only had to endure the burning sensation when you finished eating. Seriously, it was so good. I'm going to have to beg for the recipe. I could live on it.

I've rambled enough for now. Time to organise some eats, and maybe finally post a box of goodies to Kari. I finally posted Jesse's birthday present to him yesterday, so it should only be a few days late...

Second Batch of Hamburgers... ;)

On my last day in Hamburg, I bid farewell to the shoes that I've loved for the last 4 years. You can sort of see the holes in the soles here.

Happiness is a cup of Earl Grey and a good book, but it's also pretty cool when someone gives you a free pastry.

Hanging out with the locals. This guy was kinda cool.

Hm, looks oddly familiar. Australian, almost. ;)

Dear Daum Freres, please make me a vase like this.

This photo does the glass no justice whatsoever. Emile Galle > my photos.

Japanese print with lotus.

This is the only photo of me that you get. I couldn't decide which amazing Meissen photo to display, so I chose the worst one. So many photos of porcelain and bone china... sigh.

Someone please buy me a historic piano-like instrument, thanks.

I hung out with this guy whilst waiting for the Museum for Kunst und Gewerbe (Museum for Art and Craft) to open. Photos above come from this museum.

Outer door at said Museum, but not one to enter or exit by. Pity.

First Installment of Hamburg Photos.

Happiness is Earl Grey and Truman Capote.

Ok, really I just took the photo of shoe-chocolates to send to my mother, but I'm sure that other people can enjoy the ridiculousness too.

This is the old tunnel under the river in Hamburg. So Awesome. Creepy and cool.

This is the lift used to get cars up and down from street level. Oh, the technology!

These are the statistics.

View of the Rathaus and lakes from St Nickolai Kirche.

Ruins of St Nikolai Kirche, destroyed by a bomb in WWII.

Door at Nikolaikirche. Love the wrought iron work!

This chandelier (inside the Rathaus) makes me think suspiciously of the Phantom of the Opera...

Justice stands outside a private government chamber. Oh, the irony!

Wooden door in the "Orphan's Room" in the Rathaus.

Ceiling in the Rathaus. They really were trying their best to make it into a palace.

Government chamber in the Rathaus.

Main stairwell in the Hamburg Kunsthalle.

This was just a shop display I walked past. How cute!

Gloomy skies over Hamburg's river shipping yard.

Pipe organ inside Michaelskirche.

Pure happiness on a train ride.

Move down from your town to avenues near water.

I'm hanging out in my kitchen again, which seems to be the theme of this weekend. Both housemates have been away, which I've really enjoyed. Not to say that it's unpleasant with them here, not by any means. But I do like having the place to myself for a while. I'm expecting it to end any moment now...

So, I suppose I should update what's been happening. Really, I'm already tired and want to go to bed, except that it's only 7pm and I haven't finished either of the things that I said that I would. The first of those is homework, and the second is to finish a plan of both an introduction to Australian culture and the first week's session, but I'll get onto that in a moment. Needless to say, the German homework is considerably easier than my other options. Which explains why I'm backing up my computer instead of doing it, of course...

No, sadly, the computer really does need backing up. Aside from the fact that there's some music and movies that are new and needing to be saved, I've been having some troubles with my computer since the virus. First it was running slowly... so I ran two full scans (one with Malawarebytes, the other with Avast) and they each found another virus. Sigh. So, those are now gone, which has made the computer run considerably faster. However, I'm also having serious problems with it suddenly freezing. What happens is that the screen is fixed (usually completely black) but I'm able to move the cursor, just unable to move or select anything. It's incredibly frustrating, and I just have to reset my computer every time. It's mostly happening when I close it - so, when it's resuming from the 'sleep' function. It never even makes it to the password screen. It's running, and I can hear it thinking, but nothing's happening. Grrr.

I'll also lament the loss of the two-finger scrolling option, which is most definitely enabled, but also unwilling to work post-virus. How did people ever survive before? I either have to click on the page and use the arrows (faster option) or use the page scrollbar (too excruciating to bother with). It definitely takes me a lot more time to read my blog roll right now. I'm hating it.

So, my backup is about a quarter of the way through. This is going to take a looong time. It might be another late one tonight, which is a little frustrating, because I've been unable to get up at my old wake-up hour lately. Something to do with a freezing cold flat and pure darkness outside will do that to me... so this weekend, it hasn't been earlier than 8am. I'm not doing well with this getting-into-rhythm thing for class. And I feel like I've just wanted to sleep so much more, lately. I've been sleeping for 9-10 hours a night before I feel like I can get up. I think today's max was about 8 degrees, and it never really became bright. I want out.

I guess I should start from the beginning of my week. Monday was the first German class - we had Frau Scheid, in a group of 22 people (thankfully only about 15 present), with all of the GII group there in the same group. Except that those who failed, of course - and I wasn't surprised about any of them. Thankfully Mona, from Iran, made it through. I was a bit worried because I know that she only ever finished A1 (not A2, so she missed out on a lot of grammar) but she clearly worked really hard to get through. (Compared to Caner, who simply dropped out when he realised it was beyond him, but got cocky and said it was a class for idiots. At least we idiots had the guts to stick with it.) I can admire Mona's work ethic, anyway, despite never needing to work hard on anything in my life. No wonder I'm so lazy.

Anyway, there were a bunch of new people in the class. I didn't really get to know them, because on Tuesday, the first thing we were told was that our groups were splitting up. Two B2-C1 classes (my group's level) were being divided into three, of about sixteen students each. They must have had a lot of people who needed to come up a group, after the first session! Anyway, the old GII group plus a handful of others got moved into the P building, which is much better, albeit further from the pub, which is where we spend the morning break. So we have a bunch of new people, now, including a very loud Georgian ex-Au-Pair-Madchen. And our new teacher, Frau Lammers, was absolutely fantastic. Usually a teacher for Oberstufe (C1), she spoke much more clearly than Monday's teacher and just excuded 'caring'. She's with us Mondays and Tuesdays, and Frau Bartsch (from last term) is with us the other three days, so I think it'll be a good semester. I'm feeling optimistic about it, which is a definite U-turn from how I felt last term. And really, last term did, in fact, suck. Sorry to be so moronic about it, but it's true. So hopefully this one will be better. Less grammar and more vocab. Win.

Anyway, we already had a discussion on class about family-types (Single parent, traditional, both-parents-working, etc) which made me realise just how traditional the upbringing of some of these students is. And how lucky I am to come from a country that, generally speaking, gives me my rights. If I were gay, sure, I'd be barred from marrying or adoption, and probably a whole bunch of other stuff (tax cuts? visitation rights? artificial insemination? who knows!) but I'm not, so really I have it easy. The couple charged under archaic anti-abortion laws were found not guilty, which gives me some hope that women's free choice is protected, or at least possible. I did, however, get into an argument with a right-wing-fundamentalist-Christian about abortion, which proved to me that I really shouldn't let religious crazies get added to my facebook 'friends' lists. Especially not when they were a teenage mother, and clearly have enough money from parents to live overseas (plus 2-yo kid) in Germany for an exchange. Ughhh, I hate when people don't see how privileged they are. Anyway, it was a pointless argument, so I got bored and ignored it. No point in being directed to the "facts" on any more Christian teen websites, hahahaha!

So, what else has been happening? Um, I stumbled into a job. Well, really, it was handed to me on a silver platter, courtesy of Matt and Manfred. I finally got an email back from Manfred asking if I wanted to come have a chat about the course, if I was still interested in taking on a cultural component. I was actually resigned to never hearing from him again, so I was quite pleased. And a bit nervous. And a bit excited, if I'm being completely honest. I didn't want to tell anyone for fear of fucking up my chances, and I'm still a bit cautious, because I don't sign the contract until Tuesday. I don't know details yet - how many hours per week, or rates of pay. It won't be much, but it's better than nothing, and should provide a good challenge for me. So, I'll be tutoring some linguistics students in Australian culture, so that they can have some context for the linguistics that they're learning from Manfred. Pretty cool - I only wish I had longer to prepare. I don't want to do a half-arsed job about it, really. My main concern is sucking at it. My next concern is also sucking at it.

So, my conversation with Manfred actually ended up being quite long (and the poor man probably just wanted to go home to his dinner! thankfully he's much too polite to tell me to sod off, haha) and it was really exciting. I have a lot of ideas about things I want to share. I know I'm all "to hell with nationalism!" and what-have-you, but I'm still more than happy to share the things that made me who I am, in the wider sense. We are a product of our upbringing. Sure, I'm a product of my parents (which clearly explains why I'm fantastic, hahaha!) but I'm also a product of growing up in an incredibly relaxed society. My language is a product of that. So I'm hoping to be able to link the culture and the linguistics with Australia's isolation, history and cultural heritage. Fingers crossed.

I think the main problem to me at this point is that I don't have the clearest outline of what I'm doing, exactly. There's a possibility that I could be tutoring a separate session, my own class, which would admittedly be much easier. Sure, it'd be longer and a lot more work, but I could get in a bit more culture and history. Otherwise I'll be confined to a portion in Manfred's seminars, which are one two-hour timeslot per week, which leaves me with absolutely no idea as to how much to prepare. I'm also not entirely sure as to whether I can set reading tasks if I'm operating out of that kind of system, simply because I'm sure that the students will be getting sufficient work from Manfred, and I know that the context-scenario is nothing but a clever after-thought.

I have too many ideas and not enough time to focus them. Still, I have several pages of notes, a head full of incredibly funny words (thanks to friends on Fb!) and a lot of helpful links to websites. Manfred gave me a couple of articles that could be student reading, so I need to re-read and make an analysis of those. They're both good articles and have a very Australian journalistic style. I've also got some good short stories, and I'm definitely going to have to find some relevant video clips. So I have ideas by the squillion. I think it'll be easier to structure it all after I meet with Manfred on Tuesday afternoon, so that I know exactly how much time I'll have, and how much I can make demands on his lazy students. ;)

What I also need to do, in the meantime, is brush up on my Australian history... because, admittedly, it's been a decade since I studied any of that. No one tell Manfred that I didn't actually take a single course in Australian history whilst at Flinders, ok? Probably also don't want to tell him that I'm still a semester away from finishing a BA. At least he already knows that I haven't taken a tute group before. Funny, that's the thing that I find the least daunting. I can only hope they have a sense of humour, else a lot of this culture is going to be totally lost on them... or, at least, any potantial endearments that I might have as a tutor will be completely lost.

So, that's the lowdown. I've spent most of this weekend on my laptop. I stocked up at the markets on Saturday, and my new jacket did, in fact, keep me dry. I found pears related to my favourite Comice pears at the Wayville Farmers' Markets... they're a cross between Comice and Conference, and yet I can't remember what they're called. Also bought the world's largest and smallest apples - separate species. And quinces. And delicata squash, and many other veg... except no cucumber, because the price had tripled after the first frost of the season. Sigh. I'm already not into Autumn, except that sometimes when I go running, all the crushed leaves underfoot smell really good. Other than that, it can go to hell.

I've been living on a new drink, in an attempt to drink less caffeine. (I've also been buying tea at uni, which is marginally better than their terrible coffee, and leaves me with less caffeine-shakes afterwards. Seriously, how do you get so much caffeine into coffee with so little flavour?) I mix water, soymilk, and a touch of sugar or agave syrup in a pot, and add a touch of cinnamon and nutmeg. I could definitely drink it with just straight soymilk, but unfortunately that would go against my health-regime, and I definitely wouldn't be able to drink so much. Being able to warm the kitchen sporadically by turning on the hot plates to heat it up is one of its charms. Sure, I could just use the microwave, but I figure that being an environmental vandal through my stove, and wearing a few extra jumpers, is better than caving in and turning on the heating. Steffi said that she plans on holding out for a few more weeks, and that last year she managed until November... I'm going to try that, too. I miss my electric blanket, though!

I'm going to do my German homework... soon.