About to go on holiday...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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