Rain, rain, go away, come again another day.

So it's pouring in Paderborn again. I know, you're just as surprised as I am. It's not like it rains all the time around here, or anything. Ahem.

What this means is that I'm going to stay home and write things (ok, admittedly recipes, even though we all know I can't follow one to save my life) instead of getting out and doing something. Which is actually ok, because I've already done my morning's exercise. Today, as yesterday, I caught the bus to the Sudring Centre and roller skated in their undercover carpark for half an hour. It was great fun, despite the rivers of water rushing down from the roof, which made the (already oily) carpark kinda slippery. I've only fallen once, which was today, which didn't really hurt and left a couple of red marks on my palms that will be gone by tomorrow. I got back up and kept skating, but the adrenalin of having fallen meant that my balance wasn't too good. My body is a bit retarded like that.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure all the Sudring Centre workers think I'm nuts, but that's ok. It's not like I'm getting in anyone's way, and no one has actually told me they think I'm nuts, so I'm happy to go on in my oblivion. Either way, I'm proud of myself for getting out of bed on a rainy morning, when really, I didn't have to. Go me. Either way, it was better this morning, because I didn't have to go to uni afterwards.

So, on to the rest of the week. The zipper on my only real pair of jeans broke yesterday. It's ok because I still have my really tough black ones, plus a bright blue and an aqua green pair, both of which are stretchy and probably not very warm. So I'll live without real jeans. I'm tempted to recycle the material and make it into something else, because I got caught up on cute handmade craft blogs recently... so maybe, when I get an awesome idea and actually make it, I'll be able to post a photo. I'm not getting my hopes up, because I know I'm hopeless at finishing things, but I'll give it a try.

I'm contemplating going into Thaliaa (bookshop here, with cute gifts too) and getting a red rain cape with white polka dots. I think it would come in pretty handy on days like today... plus I feel like I'm becoming shameless enough to wear it. Well on my way to being a cat lady...

On Wednesday morning I got up a little earlier than usual and went to the Dom Markt. Splashed out more than 9 Euro on buying two hokkaido squash from the Bio stall... but theirs looked the best. The skins are almost red, they're so vibrant. I'm going to have to take some photos, because really, one learns to appreciate how precious vegetables are when you have a veritable drought in your adopted country. (Note that I'm temporarily adopting this country; I certainly don't think this country is adopting me. But I'm not exactly fussed by that.)

Anyway, I stocked up on veg again. Made a frittata with the greens of two bunches of beets, and roasted the beets themselves until I could simply peel off the skins like an overripe peach. They're sitting in one of my pretty canning jars in the fridge, tasting for all the world like the familiar tinned beets at home - minus the liquid, though. They're already several billion (at least) times better than the packaged beets I bought a while ago, which are the only thing I've bought here that I simply couldn't eat. I learned my lesson about shrink-wrapped foods from those... and now that I'm trying to eat locally, I've discovered how easy it is to get beets that actually taste like beets. Plus I secretly really enjoyed having pink fingers for a few hours. ;)

The old man at the potato stall said my German was perfect, and was surprised that I'd only been learning for 5 months now. On Sept 5 I have my 6-month anniversary of being here. It's not quite half-way, but close enough. And on that day, I'll be in Berlin with my parents for the morning, then catching a train back to Pb with them in the afternoon. It's quite fitting, really. Anyway, I'll go to the market again tomorrow, more because I like going than actually needing anything. I have a big tub of roasted veg in the fridge that I'm going to eat over the next few days. However, I'm out of lettuce... there we go, market trip completely justified.

I'm contemplating ordering a bunch of concert tickets online but I should properly decide what I really need to see... going to Koln in the midst of a semester isn't the easiest logistically, because it's just so much easier not to miss class. Two shows I want to see are in Hamburg on consecutive nights, and in my holidays, so I think it's about time I organised that trip to Hamburg that I've been talking about.

I think that today is Baking Weather. Steffi suggested something with cinnamon, because today's weather makes it feel closer to Christmas... might work out some cookies. Mmmm.