I guess I've been meaning to post something here, but it's so easy to get caught up doing... well, a great deal of SFA. Tash has put me to shame by managing an update (with photos, no less! I'm always too impatient to wait for them to upload) despite having three small charges to chase after. I am so slack. I meant to update my recipe-blog, too, but I've been too much of a guts... that is, I ate everything before I got to take any photos. Made an awesome vege-chilli (could make the non-carne joke but don't really need to) but the last of that disappeared for lunch. I'd like to think that it wasn't what caused my swollen lips last night / this morning... fuck knows. Possible causes could be cumin or capsicum, but I was fine with a cumin-heavy curry that I made recently, and I ate some of the capsicum raw to no ill-effect... stupid face, I wish it would just chill out. Though it has been ok recently.
But hey, I'm enjoying my sloth while it lasts, which won't be for too long. On Monday I'm heading to Hamburg for 4 nights (and then Bremen too, because it's kinda on the way home...ish) so I'm looking forward to that. Managed to find single rooms in hostels for 30 and 35 euros, as opposed to the 20 - 25 euro pricetag that comes with a 4-person dorm. I'm more than happy to splash out an extra tenner per night to avoid other people. I'm just so sick of talking to strangers... I think I got worn out after my first couple of months here and have never been up to the task since then.
So, when did I last update? Wednesday. Hmm... well, on Thursday I caught the train up to Muenster again, this time so that I could see This Will Destroy You. I got fed curry for dinner courtesy of Matt and Tash, who have been putting me up (or putting up with me, hehehe) a lot recently, which is completely awesome. I borrowed Tash's bike to ride into town and managed not to fall off, which I was quite proud about. (I'm pretty wobbly when I can't get both feet on the ground!) Saw TWDY, who were actually really good - I'd half expected some sort of pretentious indie-trying-to-be-doom rubbish but was pleasantly surprised. Glad I remembered earplugs, though - I'm already terribly deaf. Sound was good, though - definitely want the loop station from the lead guitarist. Maybe his shoes, too. Rode back at a good pace, feeling kinda elated. Need to get that tyre replaced on my rubbish bike so that I can go for night rides in the rain, because it feels pretty good. I slept well, for the one and only time in the last week, so I think there's something to be said for the exercise.
The next morning, I crawled out of bed at the appropriate time (breakfasttime! hehe), met up with Tash in the city for a spot of shopping, and managed to find a jar of fresh, vegan pesto. Nom nom nom. I was going to open it on the train and dip bread into it, but I managed to restrain myself til I got it home. Then I sauteed some veg (mushrooms, beans and tomato - the dregs of the fridge, basically) and coated them in pesto. So good! The rest of the pesto was supposed to have made its way onto some baked tofu, but instead was devoured over pieces of bread. Oh well, at least it met a noble end. In my guts, that is. The baked tofu can wait, and the block of tofu will be used for a scramble, just as soon as I buy some garlic... so, probably tomorrow. Dom Markt is on... I'm probably going to buy more olives. So hooked.
Saturday I also went to the Dom Markt (and yes, stocked up on olives... so much garlic, but so good!) and bought a few things. Delicata squash, a giant spaghetti squash (which had terrible flavour compared to the other sort, but it looked like a pumpkin, so I bought it without knowing it was a spaghetti squash) and various other vegetables. More Elstar apples... turns out the bags are 3kg, so that's 2 euro per kilo. I bought some local Cox's Orange Pippins the other day, also bulk-packed, for the equivalent of a Euro per kilo... but they just aren't as good. I'll stick to Elstar. White and crisp and juicy, yum. They're my lazy snack at the moment, which is probably better than getting into the salted peanuts again.
Since then, I've been incredibly lazy. Oh, today I went to the post office and sent a couple of books home, plus a postcard and then a card for Lou, just because it was cute. 26 Euro! 24 of which was the books. It's a pricy endeavour, but entirely worth it. But I'm going to need a hell of a lot of money to get all my books home now. No one let me buy any more, ok? I did read Dracula the other day, which was borrowed from the Mitbewohnerin. It was pretty good, but dragged a little towards the end. Did make me feel a bit creeped out when they talked about blood infusions - much moreso than the actual sucking of blood. Ugh. This coming from the wuss whose father studied Medicine, whose mother studied Dentistry, and who used to calmly go along to the blood bank as a child, hang around while Mum donated blood, and then be excited because they'd give me a biscuit (frequently a Scotch Finger). What the hell happened?! Meh, anyway.
Presently, when I'm not prowling youtube for videos (The Hawaiian Islands acoustic stuff is hilarious, especially when Lee gets into the falsetto backups) I'm reading a book called "Empires of Food: Feast, Famine, and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations". I'm about a third of the way in, and enjoying it, which generally bodes well for a book. I really had to claw my way through Fast Food Nation, but I'm pretty sure that I'd already read it somewhere, which was why I found it boring. Also, the problem with these books (I'm looking at you, Michael Pollan) is that they're all just using the same statistical information over and over, presenting the same findings (aka, we're fucked, but more eloquently spoken) and often go so far as to quote eachother. Overkill, people! I know it's great that you're all drawing attention to the revolting mess that is our food system, especially the animal-raising part, but honestly, can we get a fresh perspective here?
End rant. I think I'm just happier reading tidbits from Civil Eats (even if all the best entries seem to be cross-posted from Grist) and the Politics of the Plate. Plus the other sixty or seventy food blogs that I seem to be following these days. It just keeps growing, and growing... I'm going to be stuffed when I have to go back to class. I don't want to. I want to go home and hang out in the Summer, except that a) it's not Summer at home and b) that would make this whole venture a rather large waste of time and money. Today it only got to 12 degrees.
This morning I got up early and watched 'Scent of the Green Papaya', which I remembered watching in about year 6 at school. I'd seen it in the foreign section at the video shop nearest to my old house, so I thought it'd be worth a go. It wasn't great, honestly. But the ideas were good, just poorly-executed. It's amazing how fast film moves forward these days... I suppose I could say the same for many things, but I feel as though media shows so accurately the changes in style as they pass... or rather, preserves them well enough for us to reflect on in the future. It's like how you can look at something made in the 70s, but designed to be set in the future, and you can still tell that it's the 70s simply because of their clothing and haircuts, despite the fact that it's supposed to be futuristic. Oh, and can someone please tell the world that no, we will NOT be wearing one-piece suits in the future? I think everyone should be aware that as much as I love a onesie, they're a pain in the ass when you need to pee. What's that, you don't care? I'm just sayin', is all. ;)
For future reference:
http://relyme.com/2009/03/18/urban-outfitters/
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Officially on Holidays.
It's such a nice feeling to have nothing do to today. Oh, sure, there's plenty of things that I probably should be doing. But nothing's going to come and eat me if I haven't done them by tomorrow. This morning atabout 9am (before the people bothering to go into the uni saw them, even) I saw that the uni had already put up the Deutschkurs exam results. I ruled it, which reassures me as to why I felt so bored in the exam. I got 19.5/20 for the Reading Comprehension, 17.5/20 for the Listening Comprehension, 18.5/20 for the Text Production and 9.1/10 for the Grammar. Combined with my in-class not-talking-enough mark (bahaha), that means that I got just over 90% for the whole subject. Go me and my lazy non-study methods, they're clearly working out here.
Five people (of our group of sixteen) didn't pass, according to the results. We're listed by number, not by name, so I'm not exactly sure of who. But I'm pretty certain about three of them. As for the other two, I have a sinking feeling about one of the girls, who had only completed A1 before she got thrown in the deep end with us. I really hope that she made it through, because she worked hard, but I think there's a chance that she just didn't manage to catch up in time. There were a couple in our group who really should have been put into G1, and it definitely wasn't fair on them that they got thrown in with us. But it's not my system, so who am I to dictate it?
And, because I make no claims to being a good human being, there's actually one person who I'm actually hoping is amongst the group who failed... simply because then in Mittelstufe I won't have to listen to his goddamn sexist jokes about how women can't do this, that or the other. It'll save me from being kicked out of the course for punching someone. ;)
So, the exam was on Friday morning. I didn't study in the lead-up, because I'm of the opinion that had I not been able to learn a certain grammar in three months, then chances are that I won't learn it in a few days before an exam. Also because I was lazy and read food blogs instead, but that's another story. Anyway, we got the usual complimentary eats, which is always nice, and our teachers plied us with chocolates and sweets. I managed to finish the sections a bit early, which was good because I didn't have to sit there and stress, and bad because I got to hang out awkwardly in the hall with the people organising the snacks. They were nice, but really I couldn't be bothered talking to them, and they weren't exactly toning down their vocab for the beginners, here. I did get coffee for free, though, so really I should shut my trap.
The text production was probably the part that I found the easiest. In fact, I actually got really bored. I'd finished writing my reply to the requisite letter in the first twenty minutes. I decided to write a bit more, simply because I could, and waffled on for a little longer. But then I decided that I'd already answered the few questions in the text quite adequately, and I couldn't really be bothered waffling on for any longer. I got impatient, really. So I handed up my text, and left. I didn't even proof-read the damn thing, which is stupidity if ever I saw it. But it doesn't matter, because I still got a good mark, and marks don't even matter so long as I passed. I walked home, still a little over-caffeinated and with a touch too much adrenaline, thinking all manner of uncouth words towards the exam and listening to the most brutal music my ipod could supply. I'd like to think it was more a victory march than a retreat - really, I was just glad it was over, and I could have a few weeks' peace.
I came home, ate some lunch, and caught the train to Muenster. Talk about the perfect getaway! I went from over-alert to braindead in the space of a 90-minute train ride, and stayed that way for the better part of the weekend. It was great to be able to relax, and in retrospect I was pretty confident about passing the exam, though admittedly I didn't think about it. I caught the bus to Matt & Tash's (though really I should be calling Tash "Frau T", simply because I think being called "Fraulein M" on her blog is nothing short of brilliant!) and was met by Tash with kids in tow. Now, as if you weren't already confident of me being in good hands for the weekend, I arrived to their house to discover it smelling deliciously cake-y... and a vegan lemon cake, made with contribution from the kids, cooling on the benchtop. I am most definitely spoiled rotten!
The evening was exactly what I needed - a chance to relax! Dinner was pumpkin soup with ginger and coconut cream (and if you know me, then you'll know how awesome I found it), followed by that amazing cake, and the requisite cup of tea. Because, y'know, the fastest way to kick your coffee addiction is to replace it with tea. Then, after the kids had gone to bed, we got to talk about blogs and homewares and other cute things, over a glass (or two) of red wine and some of my homemade olive-oil biscuits.
Saturday morning we were up bright and early for the final Flohmarkt. Tash forgot her wallet, which I had to have a giggle about (sorry!) and bravely left me in charge of her small zoo of children while she retrieved it. Thankfully, they were all beautifully well-behaved and she was back very soon. The Flohmarkt itself was good fun, and people seemed to be asking more resonable prices than at the last one. I got some kneepads and wrist guards to wear whilst skating (because I've been skating in fear of seriously hurting myself, or worse, grazing my hands) and the cutest little thermos. Warm drinks, as if we weren't already close, I'm now going to be carting you wherever I go. And yes, I'm excited about it.
Tash managed to get properly-fitting snow pants for all three kids, plus games and books, not to mention the enormously popular gummi-bear night light. She even managed to find the cutest hoodie, and it fit her perfectly. I didn't find anything amongst the clothes, generally because the cool things on offer were from impossibly small ladies. I did see a couple of pairs of cool shoes, but none of them were in my size, so I think that's probably providence of some sort, telling me to stop buying stuff that I won't want to lug home. Speaking of lugging things home, I found a link to course dates for next semester, and apparently the DSH exam is on the 12th of March, which'll mean I'll be home in time for the birthdays of both Mum & Dad and Louise. Definite win.
Anyway, we went back to Matt & Tash's house for lunch. The monkey reminds me, quite decidedly, of one of my sisters. The last bit of soup and bread was for lunch, and I managed to find time for yet another cup of tea. I definitely needed it, to thaw myself out! The markets were pretty freezing, and both fingers and toes were feeling the wintery conditions. We braved the cold again, and were fortunate with the weather admittedly, in order to go to the food market by the Dom. It's like the Dom Markt here, except that it's bigger and without my favourite stall-lady. I was upsold some raspberries, and was completely happy about it. Tash stocked up on fruit and veg, half of which was probably eaten by me within the next few hours, hehehe. If a berry is squashed then it has to be eaten, right? I also got to put forward a bit of Elstar-Apple propagandha and eat some amazing pears.
We used the veg and bread at the markets to make pita pizzas. Everyone got to decorate their own (except the Mouse, who was happy just to nibble on the cheese, and Matt, who wasn't there yet) and I covered mine with all manner of delicious toppings. Probably the most interesting, for those who have known me for a while, was olives! Yep, I now consider myself amongst the ranks of the converted. I guess I'd been slowly warming to them, but I completely fell in love with the Zitronen-Oliven... needless to say, those got eaten up well before we started assembling the pizzas! Matt got home that evening and was full of excitement about the conference he'd been attending in Manchester. I read over the extracts, and it did look pretty interesting. He brought home the cutest books for the kids, which I also enjoyed reading... child at heart, here!
The next day brought a relative sleep-in for me (6:50am, oh my!) and one of the best breakfasts I'd had in ages... oats with banana and berries. So good! We went to the pool later that morning, and I was happy to be back in water for a while. Swam some laps and chilled out in a spa-type pool when the other one became too cold. It reminded me that I really need to go swimming more often! Swimming always makes me feel good. And hungry. Ravenous, even. So much so, that when we were relating the glory of the lemon cake to Matt, the idea of another one was raised... and seeing as how the oven was going on for the kids' Mozarella sticks, it sort of made sense to bake another lemon cake. So I threw all the ingredients into a bowl, the kids mixed it for me, the Bear made the icing with a bit of assistance (and a few sneaky fingers in the bowl) and we had more cake for afternoon tea. So awesome.
I went home in the afternoon, managing to a) time the bus perfectly so that I waited about 30 seconds for the train to leave after boarding, and b) leaving the Spiegel that Matt had recommended on their table. Oops. I did, however, borrow "Eating Animals" by Johnathan Safran Foer, which was a good read. I'll return that when I go up there tomorrow. Tash has said that they'll have the jar of Apfelmus empty by then (oh yeah, I brought a jar of Apfelmus with me. So much better than the store-bought, if I say so myself!) so I can take that back, and refill it with another batch! I can see my Winter-additions all laid out ahead of me: hot drinks, Apfelmus, pumpkins and vegan lemon cake. Mmmmm.
I was back in Padders by about 7pm, and managed to make the fastest pan-sized carrot-fritter in the world whilst having to share the kitchen with the Mitbewohner and his girlfriend. They were making fish fingers, red cabbage from a jar, and gnocchi from a packet to go with it. I rest my case. There's still pumple stains from the cabbage on the stove, and all they had to do was heat it up! Anyway, I'm not sure if I've ever explained my obsession with pan-sized vegetable fritters (which I call 'frittata', highly innacurately, simply because I think calling them vegetable pancakes or fritters is also an especial injustice) but I figure that can wait til later. I have zucchini in the fridge, so pretty soon I'll make an old favourite: zucchini, pea and basil fritters. Yum.
Monday I did the bare minimum of anything, and loved it. Two loads of washing did get done, though. I washed my Lucky Jeans jacket, and the belt got a bit tattered, which made me realise that I'd never washed it before. I'm a bit embarassed about that, how revolting! It's not like it smelled or anything, but still... ahem. Yesterday I also did a great deal of nothing, which was as enjoyable as on Monday, but I also went shopping. I bought a tshirt, a knit top, and some red hair dye. Online I bought some Cheap Mondays jeans, because they were dirt cheap and I'm in love with them. Awesome.
Today I went to the market, and my usual lady joked with me about the predictability of my purchases (well, about my half kilo of green beans) and how I should eat them up before they finish and I'm onto the cabbage... she has a good point, though. I also bought about a dozen Elstar apples, of which I've already eaten three, and olives from two different vendors... see, I'm transformed! The ones with lemon and rosemary, which I expected to be amazing, were quite average, so today I made olive bread. I ate half of the loaf for lunch, just dipping it in olive oil. So addictive, but a bit of gluttony on my part, really. I'll save the other one in the freezer for a later day, otherwise that'd be dinner, too... heh.
Oh, and I was supposed to have K over for dinner tonight, except that he cancelled. I'm a bit unimpressed with him of late (being a bit sketchy about replying to things) so maybe I'll just forget to reply next time. A bit of passive-aggression, in the nicest possible way. I told him that he has six months to reschedule, and that it should be enough time to work it out. I did that in a completely deadpan timbre, however, so hopefully he knows me well enough to understand my dry humour. If not, that's his bad luck. I'm not the one missing out on curry tonight...! :)
Five people (of our group of sixteen) didn't pass, according to the results. We're listed by number, not by name, so I'm not exactly sure of who. But I'm pretty certain about three of them. As for the other two, I have a sinking feeling about one of the girls, who had only completed A1 before she got thrown in the deep end with us. I really hope that she made it through, because she worked hard, but I think there's a chance that she just didn't manage to catch up in time. There were a couple in our group who really should have been put into G1, and it definitely wasn't fair on them that they got thrown in with us. But it's not my system, so who am I to dictate it?
And, because I make no claims to being a good human being, there's actually one person who I'm actually hoping is amongst the group who failed... simply because then in Mittelstufe I won't have to listen to his goddamn sexist jokes about how women can't do this, that or the other. It'll save me from being kicked out of the course for punching someone. ;)
So, the exam was on Friday morning. I didn't study in the lead-up, because I'm of the opinion that had I not been able to learn a certain grammar in three months, then chances are that I won't learn it in a few days before an exam. Also because I was lazy and read food blogs instead, but that's another story. Anyway, we got the usual complimentary eats, which is always nice, and our teachers plied us with chocolates and sweets. I managed to finish the sections a bit early, which was good because I didn't have to sit there and stress, and bad because I got to hang out awkwardly in the hall with the people organising the snacks. They were nice, but really I couldn't be bothered talking to them, and they weren't exactly toning down their vocab for the beginners, here. I did get coffee for free, though, so really I should shut my trap.
The text production was probably the part that I found the easiest. In fact, I actually got really bored. I'd finished writing my reply to the requisite letter in the first twenty minutes. I decided to write a bit more, simply because I could, and waffled on for a little longer. But then I decided that I'd already answered the few questions in the text quite adequately, and I couldn't really be bothered waffling on for any longer. I got impatient, really. So I handed up my text, and left. I didn't even proof-read the damn thing, which is stupidity if ever I saw it. But it doesn't matter, because I still got a good mark, and marks don't even matter so long as I passed. I walked home, still a little over-caffeinated and with a touch too much adrenaline, thinking all manner of uncouth words towards the exam and listening to the most brutal music my ipod could supply. I'd like to think it was more a victory march than a retreat - really, I was just glad it was over, and I could have a few weeks' peace.
I came home, ate some lunch, and caught the train to Muenster. Talk about the perfect getaway! I went from over-alert to braindead in the space of a 90-minute train ride, and stayed that way for the better part of the weekend. It was great to be able to relax, and in retrospect I was pretty confident about passing the exam, though admittedly I didn't think about it. I caught the bus to Matt & Tash's (though really I should be calling Tash "Frau T", simply because I think being called "Fraulein M" on her blog is nothing short of brilliant!) and was met by Tash with kids in tow. Now, as if you weren't already confident of me being in good hands for the weekend, I arrived to their house to discover it smelling deliciously cake-y... and a vegan lemon cake, made with contribution from the kids, cooling on the benchtop. I am most definitely spoiled rotten!
The evening was exactly what I needed - a chance to relax! Dinner was pumpkin soup with ginger and coconut cream (and if you know me, then you'll know how awesome I found it), followed by that amazing cake, and the requisite cup of tea. Because, y'know, the fastest way to kick your coffee addiction is to replace it with tea. Then, after the kids had gone to bed, we got to talk about blogs and homewares and other cute things, over a glass (or two) of red wine and some of my homemade olive-oil biscuits.
Saturday morning we were up bright and early for the final Flohmarkt. Tash forgot her wallet, which I had to have a giggle about (sorry!) and bravely left me in charge of her small zoo of children while she retrieved it. Thankfully, they were all beautifully well-behaved and she was back very soon. The Flohmarkt itself was good fun, and people seemed to be asking more resonable prices than at the last one. I got some kneepads and wrist guards to wear whilst skating (because I've been skating in fear of seriously hurting myself, or worse, grazing my hands) and the cutest little thermos. Warm drinks, as if we weren't already close, I'm now going to be carting you wherever I go. And yes, I'm excited about it.
Tash managed to get properly-fitting snow pants for all three kids, plus games and books, not to mention the enormously popular gummi-bear night light. She even managed to find the cutest hoodie, and it fit her perfectly. I didn't find anything amongst the clothes, generally because the cool things on offer were from impossibly small ladies. I did see a couple of pairs of cool shoes, but none of them were in my size, so I think that's probably providence of some sort, telling me to stop buying stuff that I won't want to lug home. Speaking of lugging things home, I found a link to course dates for next semester, and apparently the DSH exam is on the 12th of March, which'll mean I'll be home in time for the birthdays of both Mum & Dad and Louise. Definite win.
Anyway, we went back to Matt & Tash's house for lunch. The monkey reminds me, quite decidedly, of one of my sisters. The last bit of soup and bread was for lunch, and I managed to find time for yet another cup of tea. I definitely needed it, to thaw myself out! The markets were pretty freezing, and both fingers and toes were feeling the wintery conditions. We braved the cold again, and were fortunate with the weather admittedly, in order to go to the food market by the Dom. It's like the Dom Markt here, except that it's bigger and without my favourite stall-lady. I was upsold some raspberries, and was completely happy about it. Tash stocked up on fruit and veg, half of which was probably eaten by me within the next few hours, hehehe. If a berry is squashed then it has to be eaten, right? I also got to put forward a bit of Elstar-Apple propagandha and eat some amazing pears.
We used the veg and bread at the markets to make pita pizzas. Everyone got to decorate their own (except the Mouse, who was happy just to nibble on the cheese, and Matt, who wasn't there yet) and I covered mine with all manner of delicious toppings. Probably the most interesting, for those who have known me for a while, was olives! Yep, I now consider myself amongst the ranks of the converted. I guess I'd been slowly warming to them, but I completely fell in love with the Zitronen-Oliven... needless to say, those got eaten up well before we started assembling the pizzas! Matt got home that evening and was full of excitement about the conference he'd been attending in Manchester. I read over the extracts, and it did look pretty interesting. He brought home the cutest books for the kids, which I also enjoyed reading... child at heart, here!
The next day brought a relative sleep-in for me (6:50am, oh my!) and one of the best breakfasts I'd had in ages... oats with banana and berries. So good! We went to the pool later that morning, and I was happy to be back in water for a while. Swam some laps and chilled out in a spa-type pool when the other one became too cold. It reminded me that I really need to go swimming more often! Swimming always makes me feel good. And hungry. Ravenous, even. So much so, that when we were relating the glory of the lemon cake to Matt, the idea of another one was raised... and seeing as how the oven was going on for the kids' Mozarella sticks, it sort of made sense to bake another lemon cake. So I threw all the ingredients into a bowl, the kids mixed it for me, the Bear made the icing with a bit of assistance (and a few sneaky fingers in the bowl) and we had more cake for afternoon tea. So awesome.
I went home in the afternoon, managing to a) time the bus perfectly so that I waited about 30 seconds for the train to leave after boarding, and b) leaving the Spiegel that Matt had recommended on their table. Oops. I did, however, borrow "Eating Animals" by Johnathan Safran Foer, which was a good read. I'll return that when I go up there tomorrow. Tash has said that they'll have the jar of Apfelmus empty by then (oh yeah, I brought a jar of Apfelmus with me. So much better than the store-bought, if I say so myself!) so I can take that back, and refill it with another batch! I can see my Winter-additions all laid out ahead of me: hot drinks, Apfelmus, pumpkins and vegan lemon cake. Mmmmm.
I was back in Padders by about 7pm, and managed to make the fastest pan-sized carrot-fritter in the world whilst having to share the kitchen with the Mitbewohner and his girlfriend. They were making fish fingers, red cabbage from a jar, and gnocchi from a packet to go with it. I rest my case. There's still pumple stains from the cabbage on the stove, and all they had to do was heat it up! Anyway, I'm not sure if I've ever explained my obsession with pan-sized vegetable fritters (which I call 'frittata', highly innacurately, simply because I think calling them vegetable pancakes or fritters is also an especial injustice) but I figure that can wait til later. I have zucchini in the fridge, so pretty soon I'll make an old favourite: zucchini, pea and basil fritters. Yum.
Monday I did the bare minimum of anything, and loved it. Two loads of washing did get done, though. I washed my Lucky Jeans jacket, and the belt got a bit tattered, which made me realise that I'd never washed it before. I'm a bit embarassed about that, how revolting! It's not like it smelled or anything, but still... ahem. Yesterday I also did a great deal of nothing, which was as enjoyable as on Monday, but I also went shopping. I bought a tshirt, a knit top, and some red hair dye. Online I bought some Cheap Mondays jeans, because they were dirt cheap and I'm in love with them. Awesome.
Today I went to the market, and my usual lady joked with me about the predictability of my purchases (well, about my half kilo of green beans) and how I should eat them up before they finish and I'm onto the cabbage... she has a good point, though. I also bought about a dozen Elstar apples, of which I've already eaten three, and olives from two different vendors... see, I'm transformed! The ones with lemon and rosemary, which I expected to be amazing, were quite average, so today I made olive bread. I ate half of the loaf for lunch, just dipping it in olive oil. So addictive, but a bit of gluttony on my part, really. I'll save the other one in the freezer for a later day, otherwise that'd be dinner, too... heh.
Oh, and I was supposed to have K over for dinner tonight, except that he cancelled. I'm a bit unimpressed with him of late (being a bit sketchy about replying to things) so maybe I'll just forget to reply next time. A bit of passive-aggression, in the nicest possible way. I told him that he has six months to reschedule, and that it should be enough time to work it out. I did that in a completely deadpan timbre, however, so hopefully he knows me well enough to understand my dry humour. If not, that's his bad luck. I'm not the one missing out on curry tonight...! :)
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Ready to start!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNn6mimskt0
Ahhhhhh love it. I also want the singer's haircut. There, I said it - I have a secret wish to have crucial hair. hehehe.
Ahhhhhh love it. I also want the singer's haircut. There, I said it - I have a secret wish to have crucial hair. hehehe.
A city with no children in it.
Yep, still listening to nothing but the new Arcade Fire album. It's so much easier to title these posts with random lyrics than to actually come up with something relevant, otherwise they'd all be labelled "epic rant on today's theme" or some such.
Before I start the epic rant, I'd just like to share that I ate the most awesome carrot and sesame salad for dinner. I used purple carrots (ok, they're only purple on the outside, and have orange in the middle, but close enough) and my hands are stained a strange blue/grey colour from peeling and grating them. Somehow, food is so much more satisfying when it stains your hands. Beets are my favourite example of that, but purple carrots are definitely more versatile.
Ok, on to the rant. I actually raised my voice to someone today. I know, it's definitely not something I'm going to make a habit of. I've always maintained that you should never yell at adults. A disapproving or angry tone of voice definitely does a lot more for animals or small children, who might not yet understand all the necessary words of someone explaining that they've done something wrong. So for me to get angry is a pretty big deal.
In fact, it was Sd that I got angry at - I know, you're all dying of shock right now (sorry, that was a bit too sarcastic!)... but I can't stand hanging out with him and he doesn't get that he creeps me out by being too clingy. So today I was standing in the Mensa Foyer, having a chat to K, and then I went to leave to go home. And he comes running after me, to say that we have to talk sometime. And I, of course, asked why. I can't see why he would come chasing after me to tell me that we need to talk (as if I were a child) instead of just shutting up and talking to me some other time, especially because all of his friends were going into the Mensa already, but eh, whatever.
So he comes running up and I ask him what we need to talk about. And he complains that I don't want to hang out with him. Which frustrated me even more, because really, why would you be clamouring to talk to someone if they're making it completely clear that they don't want to hang out with you? So I said I didn't feel like hanging out, and I turned to leave. You'd think that that would be sufficient, no? But instead he comes following after me, in order to have a whinge about what I've just told him. Walking away clearly wasn't enough of a "leave me alone" message.
So, finally, I snapped. I said I was sick of hanging out, that I didn't enjoy his company, and that I wanted to be left alone. I turned, walked out of the building, down the stairs, and put in my ipod headphone so that I couldn't hear him. You'd think that maybe by now, he'd have taken the hint, surely. But no, he's incapable of reading the "leave me the hell alone" signal. So he follows me half way across the damn uni, finally grabbing my backpack to make me stop, which made me even angrier.
So I yelled at him. Not terribly loudly, but it was in English, and it contained a little more of the f-word than I'd care to admit to. I told him to fuck off, to leave me alone and to stop following me. (I'd told him to stop following me about 10 times by this point.) So when he didn't get the hint, I told him that he didn't have the right to come chasing after me and demanding that I speak to him when clearly I didn't want to. I was annoyed that he thought that he could control how I spent my time, because honestly, if I want to be alone then hanging around to have an argument isn't really a viable option. So I just repeated that I didn't like hanging out, that I absolutely hated that he always comes to my house when he's not invited, and that I had no respect for him after the whole conversation about how he was going to quit the German course and travel instead (on his parents' money). I also called him an idiot a few times.
So, after walking off again, and him still following me, he grabbed my arm. Which is really a bad move, honestly. It was all getting too stalker-ish by this point. I yanked my arm away as hard as I could, yelled "fuck off!" quite loudly, and finally he stopped following me. The last thing I heard before I put my earphones back in was "I don't deserve this!", which made me realise he was still completely ignorant to everything that I'd told him. But I felt like a pressure was lifted from my shoulders, even if my words had fallen on deaf ears. I walked home, brimming with anger - not only at him for not taking the hint, but at myself for getting angry. It takes an awful lot to make me show my anger. I needed a lot of tea to calm down after that.
I had a good chat with the mitbewohnerin in the kitchen, and she reassured me a lot. She knows that I've tried to be polite for a long time (probably too long) and that it takes a lotttt for me to actually show someone that I'm angry with them. She also put it down to possible cultural differences, of a guy not being used to having a woman tell him to get lost, but I'm skeptical about that one. I think it's just another case of someone seemingly normal turning into someone completely whacked. Either way, I hope he'll finally leave me alone now, and I'm pretty sure he's going away after his exam. Hope he doesn't come back - the last thing I need is a stalker, which is kinda how I've felt over the last few weeks. I can't bear people who don't know how to take a hint, and think onyl about themselves instead of reading the clear signs that someone is giving them.
So, there's my rant over and done with. Sorry about that. I figure if I'm writing a blog to document my time here then I do need to write the bad along with the good.
So, here's a list of the good:
- After 14:00 Friday, I'm on holidays!
- I made the world's best Apfelmus. Seriously.
- I'm going to Muenster on Friday to hang out with T&M&kids, and there will be a Flohmarkt and possibly swimming involved. I'm excited already!
- I'm going to Hamburg and Bremen at the end of the month.
- My carrot salad. Nom nom nom...
- I've been completely ignoring the salicylate diet, and I'm feeling pretty good. I even ate masses of zucchini and mushrooms the other day! I'm also steering away from processed foods, and perhaps that has something to do with it...
- I told my favourite stall holder at the market that her lettuces make my table look good, and she laughed.
- I have 2 spaghetti squashes, 2 butternuts and 4 hokkaido in my possession.
- I think I'm actually going to pass the German exam, even though I haven't started studying yet.
- I spoke to someone today who was surprised that I'd walk to a supermarket that's only 10 minutes from my house, instead of going to the dodgey Netto that's 5 minutes away, and it made me feel a little better about everything I stand for.
- I paid extra for fair-trade coffee and it smells amaaaazing.
- I think I'm starting to lose weight. I won't go running because it's been raining constantly, but I'm eating better, and it's good.
- My hair is a dark red colour again, instead of being a faded pink.
- I finally remembered to buy new notepaper for German class.
- I'm getting into sewing again. Sure, I'm terrible, but I told a friend that I'd send her something handmade. Loving it!
- I bought a heart-shaped cooking cutter that has a little slice taken out of it, on the side, so that you can hang your cookie from your teacup.
So, now that all of my anger has been vented, and now that I feel like my biggest problem here is solved, I'm actually feeling pretty good. :)
Before I start the epic rant, I'd just like to share that I ate the most awesome carrot and sesame salad for dinner. I used purple carrots (ok, they're only purple on the outside, and have orange in the middle, but close enough) and my hands are stained a strange blue/grey colour from peeling and grating them. Somehow, food is so much more satisfying when it stains your hands. Beets are my favourite example of that, but purple carrots are definitely more versatile.
Ok, on to the rant. I actually raised my voice to someone today. I know, it's definitely not something I'm going to make a habit of. I've always maintained that you should never yell at adults. A disapproving or angry tone of voice definitely does a lot more for animals or small children, who might not yet understand all the necessary words of someone explaining that they've done something wrong. So for me to get angry is a pretty big deal.
In fact, it was Sd that I got angry at - I know, you're all dying of shock right now (sorry, that was a bit too sarcastic!)... but I can't stand hanging out with him and he doesn't get that he creeps me out by being too clingy. So today I was standing in the Mensa Foyer, having a chat to K, and then I went to leave to go home. And he comes running after me, to say that we have to talk sometime. And I, of course, asked why. I can't see why he would come chasing after me to tell me that we need to talk (as if I were a child) instead of just shutting up and talking to me some other time, especially because all of his friends were going into the Mensa already, but eh, whatever.
So he comes running up and I ask him what we need to talk about. And he complains that I don't want to hang out with him. Which frustrated me even more, because really, why would you be clamouring to talk to someone if they're making it completely clear that they don't want to hang out with you? So I said I didn't feel like hanging out, and I turned to leave. You'd think that that would be sufficient, no? But instead he comes following after me, in order to have a whinge about what I've just told him. Walking away clearly wasn't enough of a "leave me alone" message.
So, finally, I snapped. I said I was sick of hanging out, that I didn't enjoy his company, and that I wanted to be left alone. I turned, walked out of the building, down the stairs, and put in my ipod headphone so that I couldn't hear him. You'd think that maybe by now, he'd have taken the hint, surely. But no, he's incapable of reading the "leave me the hell alone" signal. So he follows me half way across the damn uni, finally grabbing my backpack to make me stop, which made me even angrier.
So I yelled at him. Not terribly loudly, but it was in English, and it contained a little more of the f-word than I'd care to admit to. I told him to fuck off, to leave me alone and to stop following me. (I'd told him to stop following me about 10 times by this point.) So when he didn't get the hint, I told him that he didn't have the right to come chasing after me and demanding that I speak to him when clearly I didn't want to. I was annoyed that he thought that he could control how I spent my time, because honestly, if I want to be alone then hanging around to have an argument isn't really a viable option. So I just repeated that I didn't like hanging out, that I absolutely hated that he always comes to my house when he's not invited, and that I had no respect for him after the whole conversation about how he was going to quit the German course and travel instead (on his parents' money). I also called him an idiot a few times.
So, after walking off again, and him still following me, he grabbed my arm. Which is really a bad move, honestly. It was all getting too stalker-ish by this point. I yanked my arm away as hard as I could, yelled "fuck off!" quite loudly, and finally he stopped following me. The last thing I heard before I put my earphones back in was "I don't deserve this!", which made me realise he was still completely ignorant to everything that I'd told him. But I felt like a pressure was lifted from my shoulders, even if my words had fallen on deaf ears. I walked home, brimming with anger - not only at him for not taking the hint, but at myself for getting angry. It takes an awful lot to make me show my anger. I needed a lot of tea to calm down after that.
I had a good chat with the mitbewohnerin in the kitchen, and she reassured me a lot. She knows that I've tried to be polite for a long time (probably too long) and that it takes a lotttt for me to actually show someone that I'm angry with them. She also put it down to possible cultural differences, of a guy not being used to having a woman tell him to get lost, but I'm skeptical about that one. I think it's just another case of someone seemingly normal turning into someone completely whacked. Either way, I hope he'll finally leave me alone now, and I'm pretty sure he's going away after his exam. Hope he doesn't come back - the last thing I need is a stalker, which is kinda how I've felt over the last few weeks. I can't bear people who don't know how to take a hint, and think onyl about themselves instead of reading the clear signs that someone is giving them.
So, there's my rant over and done with. Sorry about that. I figure if I'm writing a blog to document my time here then I do need to write the bad along with the good.
So, here's a list of the good:
- After 14:00 Friday, I'm on holidays!
- I made the world's best Apfelmus. Seriously.
- I'm going to Muenster on Friday to hang out with T&M&kids, and there will be a Flohmarkt and possibly swimming involved. I'm excited already!
- I'm going to Hamburg and Bremen at the end of the month.
- My carrot salad. Nom nom nom...
- I've been completely ignoring the salicylate diet, and I'm feeling pretty good. I even ate masses of zucchini and mushrooms the other day! I'm also steering away from processed foods, and perhaps that has something to do with it...
- I told my favourite stall holder at the market that her lettuces make my table look good, and she laughed.
- I have 2 spaghetti squashes, 2 butternuts and 4 hokkaido in my possession.
- I think I'm actually going to pass the German exam, even though I haven't started studying yet.
- I spoke to someone today who was surprised that I'd walk to a supermarket that's only 10 minutes from my house, instead of going to the dodgey Netto that's 5 minutes away, and it made me feel a little better about everything I stand for.
- I paid extra for fair-trade coffee and it smells amaaaazing.
- I think I'm starting to lose weight. I won't go running because it's been raining constantly, but I'm eating better, and it's good.
- My hair is a dark red colour again, instead of being a faded pink.
- I finally remembered to buy new notepaper for German class.
- I'm getting into sewing again. Sure, I'm terrible, but I told a friend that I'd send her something handmade. Loving it!
- I bought a heart-shaped cooking cutter that has a little slice taken out of it, on the side, so that you can hang your cookie from your teacup.
So, now that all of my anger has been vented, and now that I feel like my biggest problem here is solved, I'm actually feeling pretty good. :)
Sunday, September 12, 2010
If I was yours... but I'm not. Now I'm ready to start.
I'm absolutely loving the new Arcade Fire album (The Suburbs)... so much so, that I've been listening to it on repeat. I'm one of those annoying people who can listen to the same song about 250 times in a row before I get sick of it. :)
I'm feeling a bit guilty at the moment. Sd just dropped by - uninvited, again. He'd sent me an sms, and of course, not waited for an answer. So, I'd finally started studying for the day, because my German exam is on Friday, but now I'm in a bad mood and can't concentrate, so hello, internet. Today's sunshine is long gone, in favour of a grey sky and some not-too-distant thunder, and my mood is feeling much the same.
Anyway, I didn't invite him in, and stood in the stairwell for a few moments to talk. He'd brought over the elbow pads that he'd bought for rollerblading, not realising that they were womens' size. I guess it's one less item for me to buy, and it's a really nice thought. That's why I'm feeling bad - because I didn't want a visitor and he was clearly expecting to be invited in for a cup of tea, like I had last time he showed up unannounced. But I told him that I was studying, and that I didn't have time. And now I'm annoyed, and can't even study. Frustrating.
My morning, however, was lovely. I slept in until 7:15, which I felt a bit bad about, because when I sleep past 6am it makes it really difficult to get up on time for the next week, until I get back into the rhythm of it. Anyway, the extra sleep clearly did me some good, because I was in the sunniest mood this morning. The weather was great, sunny and about 23 degrees. I dyed my hair before I had a shower - mahogany again. I was getting sick of faded-pink. I even went for a short (15-minute) jog, and then walked for about half an hour. It was really great to be outside, and to actually enjoy being outside.
I had two giant corn cobs for lunch, fresh from yesterday's markets. (I ate the other three corn on the cob yesterday for breakfast!) And then Steffi and I hung out in the kitchen for a while, because both of us had tons of apples and planned on making apfelmus. We made separate batches, though. My apples were Elstar, and they were so good that when I peeled the first one, I didn't have the heart to cut it up and drown it in acidulated water. So I just ate it, heh. It was easier to cut up the apples on a full stomach! Her apples were becoming apfelmus as a necessity (they were soft and browning) rather than having been purchased for the purpose, like mine, so mine is a more golden colour. I also added less cinnamon, to let the apples shine a little more. It's awesome. I even made the accompanying apple-syrup with the leftover apple liquid. Yum. Anyway, I made so much apfelmus, I think I'll freeze some. It looks amazing!
It just started raining. God, I hate this place sometimes.
So, the last week. Hm. Tuesday was a mental health day, because I was pretty sad about my parents leaving. Wednesday I went back to uni, but I just have no motivation at the moment. I went to the market that morning, and got a few things. Just felt a bit out of it all day. Thursday was uni again, and I was so glad it was weekend. Though it didn't feel like it should be, because I'd just had a day off. I raised the idea of a class party for monday, but he didn't ask the teachers, and he didn't tell everyone, so I'm a bit undecided as to whether I should make anything. I guess I can just bake a cake this afternoon, and bring it out only if necessary. I only have wholemeal flour, so it'll have to be a chocolate cake, else it might taste a bit funny.
Friday I don't even know what I did. I think it involved a lot of reading, though. I think I went for a short jog at some point. And yesterday I went on a walk for an hour - I need to do that more often. I felt good afterwards.
Yeserday I did a few bits of shopping. Saw the new group of exchange students coming into the city. I waved to someone I know, but avoided them. Can't be bothered with new people right now. Tried to sew a few things, but with limited success (too messy to send as a gift) so I'll try again soon. I went to the markets at 7am that morning, too. Got a couple of spaghetti squash, 5 sweetcorn and half a kilo of fresh porcini (aka ceps, aka chestnut mushrooms, aka boletes). Half the porcini got made into pea & procini bruschetta. It tasted awesome but the texture was a little more slippery than button mushrooms. I removed the gills when I cooked the rest, and it was a bit better, but those are some expensive scraps... I think I'll use these ones for pasta sauce. Yum.
Speaking of which, I'm starved, so I might get onto making dinner.
I'm feeling a bit guilty at the moment. Sd just dropped by - uninvited, again. He'd sent me an sms, and of course, not waited for an answer. So, I'd finally started studying for the day, because my German exam is on Friday, but now I'm in a bad mood and can't concentrate, so hello, internet. Today's sunshine is long gone, in favour of a grey sky and some not-too-distant thunder, and my mood is feeling much the same.
Anyway, I didn't invite him in, and stood in the stairwell for a few moments to talk. He'd brought over the elbow pads that he'd bought for rollerblading, not realising that they were womens' size. I guess it's one less item for me to buy, and it's a really nice thought. That's why I'm feeling bad - because I didn't want a visitor and he was clearly expecting to be invited in for a cup of tea, like I had last time he showed up unannounced. But I told him that I was studying, and that I didn't have time. And now I'm annoyed, and can't even study. Frustrating.
My morning, however, was lovely. I slept in until 7:15, which I felt a bit bad about, because when I sleep past 6am it makes it really difficult to get up on time for the next week, until I get back into the rhythm of it. Anyway, the extra sleep clearly did me some good, because I was in the sunniest mood this morning. The weather was great, sunny and about 23 degrees. I dyed my hair before I had a shower - mahogany again. I was getting sick of faded-pink. I even went for a short (15-minute) jog, and then walked for about half an hour. It was really great to be outside, and to actually enjoy being outside.
I had two giant corn cobs for lunch, fresh from yesterday's markets. (I ate the other three corn on the cob yesterday for breakfast!) And then Steffi and I hung out in the kitchen for a while, because both of us had tons of apples and planned on making apfelmus. We made separate batches, though. My apples were Elstar, and they were so good that when I peeled the first one, I didn't have the heart to cut it up and drown it in acidulated water. So I just ate it, heh. It was easier to cut up the apples on a full stomach! Her apples were becoming apfelmus as a necessity (they were soft and browning) rather than having been purchased for the purpose, like mine, so mine is a more golden colour. I also added less cinnamon, to let the apples shine a little more. It's awesome. I even made the accompanying apple-syrup with the leftover apple liquid. Yum. Anyway, I made so much apfelmus, I think I'll freeze some. It looks amazing!
It just started raining. God, I hate this place sometimes.
So, the last week. Hm. Tuesday was a mental health day, because I was pretty sad about my parents leaving. Wednesday I went back to uni, but I just have no motivation at the moment. I went to the market that morning, and got a few things. Just felt a bit out of it all day. Thursday was uni again, and I was so glad it was weekend. Though it didn't feel like it should be, because I'd just had a day off. I raised the idea of a class party for monday, but he didn't ask the teachers, and he didn't tell everyone, so I'm a bit undecided as to whether I should make anything. I guess I can just bake a cake this afternoon, and bring it out only if necessary. I only have wholemeal flour, so it'll have to be a chocolate cake, else it might taste a bit funny.
Friday I don't even know what I did. I think it involved a lot of reading, though. I think I went for a short jog at some point. And yesterday I went on a walk for an hour - I need to do that more often. I felt good afterwards.
Yeserday I did a few bits of shopping. Saw the new group of exchange students coming into the city. I waved to someone I know, but avoided them. Can't be bothered with new people right now. Tried to sew a few things, but with limited success (too messy to send as a gift) so I'll try again soon. I went to the markets at 7am that morning, too. Got a couple of spaghetti squash, 5 sweetcorn and half a kilo of fresh porcini (aka ceps, aka chestnut mushrooms, aka boletes). Half the porcini got made into pea & procini bruschetta. It tasted awesome but the texture was a little more slippery than button mushrooms. I removed the gills when I cooked the rest, and it was a bit better, but those are some expensive scraps... I think I'll use these ones for pasta sauce. Yum.
Speaking of which, I'm starved, so I might get onto making dinner.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Stretch out your weary hand to me, it's alright.
Less than an hour ago, I saw off my parents at the Pb train station. You'll excuse me, accordingly, for being a complete sook today. I've decided I'm on hiatus and I'm not going to uni this afternoon. (Also because I haven't written the text production piece that I should have, because I didn't have a free hour last night.) I consoled myself with familiar items from the Asian Grocery on the way home... Kang Kon, Bok Choy, Massaman Curry Paste, Mung Bean Thread Noodles, Tofu, Coriander, etc. It's the things that are "exotic" here that help me to feel more at home.
I got into a conversation with the couple working in the Asian grocery store. Oh, and notice that I can't call it an Asian Supermarket... simply because my local Asian Supermarket back in Adelaide is literally called "Asian Grocery" and I've adopted that grammatical error as the name of all Asian Supermarkets. Anyway, they were really lovely, came from Vietnam, and talked to me about language courses (because their daughter took one in France, etc)... it was great to have a friendly conversation with total strangers. I don't usually like talking to strangers, but it put me in much better spirits.
So, since I last updated, a few things have been happening. Obviously I just went to uni as normal on Wednesday and Thursday, and on Thursday evening I caught a train to Bielefeld, and then one to Berlin. My mother met me at the Hauptbahnhof and we walked back towards their miniloft with Dad meeting us on the way. It was awesome to see them - to get excited talking about everything and sit down and have a glass of wine and really catch up. I talk to them nearly every weekend on Skype, but it's so good to actually see them.
We went out for dinner at a little student-ish pizza place, where I managed to get a mushroom and rocket pizza without cheese. Win. It was my first attempt at translating for my parents, and ordering their dinners for them, so I'm glad that it all went smoothly. Over the course of the trip, Mum did ask a few silly questions like, "What's reis?" or, later at a Chinese place, "What's 'Peking' Suppe?" ...I think she realised how silly the questions were as she asked them, because the phonetics are idential to English. Either then, or when I laughed at her. :)
Oh, and while I remember, the Miniloft was amazing. Stark, modern architechture, in a tiny apartment that I would be absolutely thrilled to live in. (Especially because it was in Berlin, but whatever.) Anyway, I could never afford it - it was way too good for the likes of me! And it was in a good location, walking distance from the Hbf and inner city. I loved it, and so did my parents. Very cool.
So, the second day, Dad went off to the conference and Mum and I took a tour of Sachsenhausen. I'm generally of the self-guiding variety, but Mum had already booked it, so I was happy enough to go along. I didn't really learn anything new (except for a couple of Sachsenhausen statistics) but Mum found it fascinating, which is what's important. We got back to the miniloft at about 5:30pm and met Dad there. Hung around for a bit, resting our tired feet, and then got ready for the conference dinner.
Which, I might add, was in the Alexanderplatz Tv Tower Revolving Restaurant.
Yep, I was there. At the cost of a hundred Euro to my parents. What champions! I was pleased that I'd decided to get a dress and look decent, because the dinner was pretty nice. Admittedly there was nothing vegetarian except for a green salad and olives, but I ate around what I could, and Dad made a nice compromise with a hot chicken dish where I fished around for mushrooms and veg in the sauce, and if I found any chicken bits I served them to him. Good compromise, really! The desserts were equally me-unfriendly but I got some fruit and a couple of petit-fours, and then a cup of tea. So it was all good in the end. And oh, the view of Berlin! It was fantastic. Even at night, when it was all lights. We sat with an Australian couple from Perth and a Polish lady, and they were all lovely. So it was a nice night.
The next day, Dad went on again to the conference (which I think was more difficult than it sounds here, because he's had an awful cold that he caught from a certain granddaughter of his) and Mum and I wandered around the city. I've been there before and Mum had already done the walking tour, so we decided to go shopping... the pretense was that I needed winter boots. I did, eventually, find a nice lined pair with sturdy enough soles to withstand some snow, but there were more than a few pairs that I put back because they were incredibly expensive. Anyway, that's my Christmas present from the parents covered!
We also managed to find me a new pair of jeans (Cheap Mondays, which Md always raved about... they're so comfy!) and they fit nicely. My last pair self-destructed (zipper) last week, so I've been wearing my light green jeans since then... I'm glad to be able to wear red again. Mum bought a few tops and a scarf, and she bought me two brooches that are giant buttons. One is red and the other is white... I think she's got some jealousy about the white one, so I'm going to find her one from the store here (it's a chain store) and send it home as a thankyou. I think she'll be pleased, because they're mighty cute brooches.
So, we got home at about 5:30pm again. We hung out there for a while, while it was raining, and then went down to a German pub for dinner. The food was okay, very cheap, and the dark beer that Dad and I had was awesome. Then, back to the miniloft to laze about. I had an early night, but didn't sleep too well, because both of the parents had developed a hacking cough, and I was woken up routinely. Poor things.
The next morning (Sunday) everything was packed back into suitcases and we caught the train to Pb. Mum and Dad got into the spirit of things, buying baked goods for the train journey. I had the same delicious olive bread that I'd eaten a few days prior, and they got giant pretzels and streusels. Dad's loving the prevalence of baked apple desserts here, and Mum's loving the 3pm cake-and-coffee timeslot. Anyway, we got into Pb at 2pm, and I dropped them at the hotel before taking my bag home. I went back for them, and we hung out for a while, and went into the square near the Dom, because there was a vintage car rally on. Dad enjoyed having a look at the cars, some of which were pretty cool, even though I know nothing about cars, except for how to drive one.
We went back to my apartment so that they could see where I lived, and Mum did some laundry too. We hung out in the kitchen drinking wine (I got Mum a gin from my private collection, haha) and they got to meet my housemates. Needless to say, they have the same high opinion that I have of the girl that I live with (who came in and had a glass of wine with us, and bedazzled my parents with her flawless English) and the same low opinion of the guy I live with. Amusing, no?
We went to the local German pub so that they could get schnitzels for dinner. Our waitress was a young woman who studies at the uni and spoke fluent English, so I wasn't forced to use my embarassing German, which is always nice. The food was pretty ordinary, and my salad came covered in some sort of creamy dressing, so I ate around the edges and filled up on chips. As if I wasn't already unhealthy enough in Berlin! Anyway, I went home after that, and they went back to the hotel. The hotel, for the record, was La Petit Galerie, which is right on the park in the middle of the city, in a fantastic old building. I think they liked it, which is definitely good, because I was the one who booked it. Heh.
Anyway, they looked around the city in the morning while I was at uni. I left early while everyone else did some Text Production, with the instructions that I was only allowed an hour to write mine at home. I still haven't written it, because I chose not to attend uni this morning. I met my parents in the city at one and we had lunch at the Rathaus Kellar (Cellar Restaurant in the Town Hall). I just had a salad, but it was delicious, albeit absoultely drowned in dressing, as German salads tend to be. Mum had some German-style tapas, which she totally just ordered for the smoked salmon (ahem, since when was that German?) and a potato soup, and dad had some chicken thing that came on a giant skewer. Anyway, we were pleased with the quality of the food, placing that meal in the minority of my restaurant experiences in Germany. This country still needs to get over the tinned corn and iceberg lettuce in salads, though.
Anyway, after lunch we wandered around so that I could show them the part of the Dom that they'd missed (like the courtyard with the Hare Window) and a cute street that has amazing houses. Then Dad went back to the hotel for a nap, on the insistence of Mum and I, and we went shopping. Didn't really buy anything (not true: Mum bought pants from H&M) but it was still nice. Actually, I lie entirely: I bought pirate cupcake papers from Thalia. My bad. Anyway, we had afternoon tea really late back at the hotel. Mum had a beesting cake and Dad had a apple-corner (puff pastry thing) from Backfactory, which we snuck into the hotel to have with the tea. Because they were eating so late (5pm) they weren't really hungry for dinner, so I was the only one to take advantage of the full buffet at Phoenix. I couldn't believe that they just went for the deep-fried options, but I guess that's a basic human instinct. They were happy to eat rice for the first time in a week. Our waiter got things a bit confused but we accepted the random glass of red wine that he randomly delivered (though not the rose that appeared when we ordered a white wine for Mum!)... Dad drank it, because I thought it was rubbish. Oh well.
Anyway, we came back to my house afterwards so that they could claim their washed clothes. Mum ironed Dad's shirts, and a certain housemate and his girlfriend seemed a bit surprised when they came in, but they're pretty slow on the uptake, so I guess they'd be surprised by anything. They sort of look like goldfish, slightly open-mouthed and blinking. Anyway, I had an early night last night, and slept like a coma.
Today I got up at my normal time of 6am, ate the last of Dad's muesli for breakfast and picked up my parents at 8:30am. Did I mention my parents donated their leftover miniloft food to me? Muesli that I don't usually eat, instant coffee that I will never drink, and marmalade that I will make an effort to eat because it's tasty, despite the fact that I would never buy it for myself, and don't buy bread much. I digress. I walked them to the station, we sat and had a coffee, and then I put them on the train. It was sad to say goodbye, and I'm old enough to admit that I had tears in my eyes as I walked away. It sucks to know that I won't see them for another 6 months. But I have plans to meet Mum in Singapore on the way home, so that's something to look forward to.
So now I'm home, I've talked to Amy on Skype, eaten Banh Mi for lunch (oh, I did this post in two sections, which is why it's now quarter to two) and I'm going to catch up on the hundred blog posts I haven't read while I was in Berlin.
I got into a conversation with the couple working in the Asian grocery store. Oh, and notice that I can't call it an Asian Supermarket... simply because my local Asian Supermarket back in Adelaide is literally called "Asian Grocery" and I've adopted that grammatical error as the name of all Asian Supermarkets. Anyway, they were really lovely, came from Vietnam, and talked to me about language courses (because their daughter took one in France, etc)... it was great to have a friendly conversation with total strangers. I don't usually like talking to strangers, but it put me in much better spirits.
So, since I last updated, a few things have been happening. Obviously I just went to uni as normal on Wednesday and Thursday, and on Thursday evening I caught a train to Bielefeld, and then one to Berlin. My mother met me at the Hauptbahnhof and we walked back towards their miniloft with Dad meeting us on the way. It was awesome to see them - to get excited talking about everything and sit down and have a glass of wine and really catch up. I talk to them nearly every weekend on Skype, but it's so good to actually see them.
We went out for dinner at a little student-ish pizza place, where I managed to get a mushroom and rocket pizza without cheese. Win. It was my first attempt at translating for my parents, and ordering their dinners for them, so I'm glad that it all went smoothly. Over the course of the trip, Mum did ask a few silly questions like, "What's reis?" or, later at a Chinese place, "What's 'Peking' Suppe?" ...I think she realised how silly the questions were as she asked them, because the phonetics are idential to English. Either then, or when I laughed at her. :)
Oh, and while I remember, the Miniloft was amazing. Stark, modern architechture, in a tiny apartment that I would be absolutely thrilled to live in. (Especially because it was in Berlin, but whatever.) Anyway, I could never afford it - it was way too good for the likes of me! And it was in a good location, walking distance from the Hbf and inner city. I loved it, and so did my parents. Very cool.
So, the second day, Dad went off to the conference and Mum and I took a tour of Sachsenhausen. I'm generally of the self-guiding variety, but Mum had already booked it, so I was happy enough to go along. I didn't really learn anything new (except for a couple of Sachsenhausen statistics) but Mum found it fascinating, which is what's important. We got back to the miniloft at about 5:30pm and met Dad there. Hung around for a bit, resting our tired feet, and then got ready for the conference dinner.
Which, I might add, was in the Alexanderplatz Tv Tower Revolving Restaurant.
Yep, I was there. At the cost of a hundred Euro to my parents. What champions! I was pleased that I'd decided to get a dress and look decent, because the dinner was pretty nice. Admittedly there was nothing vegetarian except for a green salad and olives, but I ate around what I could, and Dad made a nice compromise with a hot chicken dish where I fished around for mushrooms and veg in the sauce, and if I found any chicken bits I served them to him. Good compromise, really! The desserts were equally me-unfriendly but I got some fruit and a couple of petit-fours, and then a cup of tea. So it was all good in the end. And oh, the view of Berlin! It was fantastic. Even at night, when it was all lights. We sat with an Australian couple from Perth and a Polish lady, and they were all lovely. So it was a nice night.
The next day, Dad went on again to the conference (which I think was more difficult than it sounds here, because he's had an awful cold that he caught from a certain granddaughter of his) and Mum and I wandered around the city. I've been there before and Mum had already done the walking tour, so we decided to go shopping... the pretense was that I needed winter boots. I did, eventually, find a nice lined pair with sturdy enough soles to withstand some snow, but there were more than a few pairs that I put back because they were incredibly expensive. Anyway, that's my Christmas present from the parents covered!
We also managed to find me a new pair of jeans (Cheap Mondays, which Md always raved about... they're so comfy!) and they fit nicely. My last pair self-destructed (zipper) last week, so I've been wearing my light green jeans since then... I'm glad to be able to wear red again. Mum bought a few tops and a scarf, and she bought me two brooches that are giant buttons. One is red and the other is white... I think she's got some jealousy about the white one, so I'm going to find her one from the store here (it's a chain store) and send it home as a thankyou. I think she'll be pleased, because they're mighty cute brooches.
So, we got home at about 5:30pm again. We hung out there for a while, while it was raining, and then went down to a German pub for dinner. The food was okay, very cheap, and the dark beer that Dad and I had was awesome. Then, back to the miniloft to laze about. I had an early night, but didn't sleep too well, because both of the parents had developed a hacking cough, and I was woken up routinely. Poor things.
The next morning (Sunday) everything was packed back into suitcases and we caught the train to Pb. Mum and Dad got into the spirit of things, buying baked goods for the train journey. I had the same delicious olive bread that I'd eaten a few days prior, and they got giant pretzels and streusels. Dad's loving the prevalence of baked apple desserts here, and Mum's loving the 3pm cake-and-coffee timeslot. Anyway, we got into Pb at 2pm, and I dropped them at the hotel before taking my bag home. I went back for them, and we hung out for a while, and went into the square near the Dom, because there was a vintage car rally on. Dad enjoyed having a look at the cars, some of which were pretty cool, even though I know nothing about cars, except for how to drive one.
We went back to my apartment so that they could see where I lived, and Mum did some laundry too. We hung out in the kitchen drinking wine (I got Mum a gin from my private collection, haha) and they got to meet my housemates. Needless to say, they have the same high opinion that I have of the girl that I live with (who came in and had a glass of wine with us, and bedazzled my parents with her flawless English) and the same low opinion of the guy I live with. Amusing, no?
We went to the local German pub so that they could get schnitzels for dinner. Our waitress was a young woman who studies at the uni and spoke fluent English, so I wasn't forced to use my embarassing German, which is always nice. The food was pretty ordinary, and my salad came covered in some sort of creamy dressing, so I ate around the edges and filled up on chips. As if I wasn't already unhealthy enough in Berlin! Anyway, I went home after that, and they went back to the hotel. The hotel, for the record, was La Petit Galerie, which is right on the park in the middle of the city, in a fantastic old building. I think they liked it, which is definitely good, because I was the one who booked it. Heh.
Anyway, they looked around the city in the morning while I was at uni. I left early while everyone else did some Text Production, with the instructions that I was only allowed an hour to write mine at home. I still haven't written it, because I chose not to attend uni this morning. I met my parents in the city at one and we had lunch at the Rathaus Kellar (Cellar Restaurant in the Town Hall). I just had a salad, but it was delicious, albeit absoultely drowned in dressing, as German salads tend to be. Mum had some German-style tapas, which she totally just ordered for the smoked salmon (ahem, since when was that German?) and a potato soup, and dad had some chicken thing that came on a giant skewer. Anyway, we were pleased with the quality of the food, placing that meal in the minority of my restaurant experiences in Germany. This country still needs to get over the tinned corn and iceberg lettuce in salads, though.
Anyway, after lunch we wandered around so that I could show them the part of the Dom that they'd missed (like the courtyard with the Hare Window) and a cute street that has amazing houses. Then Dad went back to the hotel for a nap, on the insistence of Mum and I, and we went shopping. Didn't really buy anything (not true: Mum bought pants from H&M) but it was still nice. Actually, I lie entirely: I bought pirate cupcake papers from Thalia. My bad. Anyway, we had afternoon tea really late back at the hotel. Mum had a beesting cake and Dad had a apple-corner (puff pastry thing) from Backfactory, which we snuck into the hotel to have with the tea. Because they were eating so late (5pm) they weren't really hungry for dinner, so I was the only one to take advantage of the full buffet at Phoenix. I couldn't believe that they just went for the deep-fried options, but I guess that's a basic human instinct. They were happy to eat rice for the first time in a week. Our waiter got things a bit confused but we accepted the random glass of red wine that he randomly delivered (though not the rose that appeared when we ordered a white wine for Mum!)... Dad drank it, because I thought it was rubbish. Oh well.
Anyway, we came back to my house afterwards so that they could claim their washed clothes. Mum ironed Dad's shirts, and a certain housemate and his girlfriend seemed a bit surprised when they came in, but they're pretty slow on the uptake, so I guess they'd be surprised by anything. They sort of look like goldfish, slightly open-mouthed and blinking. Anyway, I had an early night last night, and slept like a coma.
Today I got up at my normal time of 6am, ate the last of Dad's muesli for breakfast and picked up my parents at 8:30am. Did I mention my parents donated their leftover miniloft food to me? Muesli that I don't usually eat, instant coffee that I will never drink, and marmalade that I will make an effort to eat because it's tasty, despite the fact that I would never buy it for myself, and don't buy bread much. I digress. I walked them to the station, we sat and had a coffee, and then I put them on the train. It was sad to say goodbye, and I'm old enough to admit that I had tears in my eyes as I walked away. It sucks to know that I won't see them for another 6 months. But I have plans to meet Mum in Singapore on the way home, so that's something to look forward to.
So now I'm home, I've talked to Amy on Skype, eaten Banh Mi for lunch (oh, I did this post in two sections, which is why it's now quarter to two) and I'm going to catch up on the hundred blog posts I haven't read while I was in Berlin.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)