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.
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