the nation of ulysses.

So, another week, another update. I wish I had something more interesting to say for myself, but ehhh, whatever. My life is just waiting, right now: waiting for class to be over. Waiting for the exam. Waiting for Steffi to borrow scales from her friend so I can weigh the suitcase I want to ship home. Waiting for my Referat to be over (though I should probably write that at some point; I can't even begin to explain to you how boring it is.) Waiting for my foot to get better so that I can go running again. Waiting for someone to fix up my application for a credit waiver at Flinders, because I applied months ago and they've done fuck all. It's all a bit frustrating right now.

So, really, uni was just a week that dragged on forever. Natia and I spoke to Frau Didiere on Monday, and explained that we didn't think the afternoon study-prep course was helpful for us. Unfortunately, the only other option is to take the verbal exam on the 16th of March, which is 5 days after the exam and 2 days before I leave the country. In that I want this all over and done with as quickly as possible, I've decided that I'll just stay in the afternoon course and hold the Referat and grumble about it. Fucking stupid, all of it, because Natia and I are the last people who need an oral exam. We certainly contribute the most information in class. The most smartassery, too, hehehe.

So, on Thursday after the break, we sat a trial-hearing-comprehension in a lecture theatre. It was rather too small for exam conditions; no one could sit apart, and due to poor design, we kept elbowing our neighbours while we tried to write. I thought they text was too easy, but that's not to say that I did well. I just wanted to get out of there, so I wrote quickly, and spent some quality time (20 mins) daydreaming before I was allowed to leave. However, I find Frau Didiere very easy to understand; she has a soft but really pleasant voice, and she was using a microphone, so no problems whatsoever. So, that was something a bit different for the German course. Much better than learning grammar; not that I've been doing any of that. The learning, that is. No idea with grammar anymore; fell off the boat and haven't bothered to swim back to shore. Should look into that.

Friday afternoon I put the finishing touches on Steffi's Present. It was her birthday, and I was a little disorganised... she'd asked me to write out a few recipes for her, for when she's doing her teaching prac years and will be run off her feet. I think she got a bit freaked out seeing a friend of hers who suffered really badly under the stress and lost heaps of weight. So I wrote out some of my quick and easy recipes in the cutest little recipe binder, and bought her the latest Ottolenghi cookbook... would have liked it for myself, hehe! Except it was in German, which doesn't really pose any problems anymore, but I don't find the language as pleasant to read as English.

Anyway, I wrapped it (using the same paper as her Christmas present, because it was all I had!) and gave it to her. She was really pleased, which was nice. I wrote inside the cover, "Eats & Treats: Recipes for Teachers". I'd also made some desserts on Thursday night in light of her having invited a couple of friends over for Friday evening. I made two things; one was a marble cake, with chocolate, vanilla and berry cake, though the berry cake swirls seemed to disappear into the chocolate. Still tasted good, and was nice and dense and moist. The other was a custard slice, with a thin vanilla cake base, a layer of vanilla custard, and homemade red berry jelly (agartine, my hero!) on top. It was totally delicious. Steffi's boyfriend also made her a cake, which was the layers-of-biscuits-sandwiched-with-chocolate thing that's so popular here. It was in the shape of a heart, which makes it even cuter. And then her friend brought chocolate cupcakes when she showed up! So much cake in our kitchen. I'm all sugared out, and so are Steffi and Matze. They had chocolate cream in the fridge from the night before, too, and they also ate cake at M's parents' house that afternoon. Too much cake!

Anyway, it was fun to hang out and have some wine and relax. My German was terrible, but ehh, no one really cared. I tried Matze's homemade currant wine, which was really delicious and not too sweet, which is always appreciated. Sweet alcohol can go to hell. I had slept really badly for the past two nights and was exhausted, and fell into bed at about midnight. Then, of course, woke at 7am. Ugh. Why can't I get 8 hours?! Last night I was so wrecked that I went to bed at 8pm, and of course, still only managed 6 hours sleep. In retrospect it's good that I didn't end up going to Muenster, because I'm too wiped out to be good company right now. I felt a bit wretched yesterday morning; I hadn't drunk enough to be hungover (in fact, I wasn't drunk in the slightest) but was reeling from an overdose of sugar, which is what happens when you have three slices of cake for dessert.

So I've decided to be healthy for a while, to deal with my unhappy stomach. More raw foods and less processed, because I've been eating a lot of bread lately (which is bad for me, as delicious as it is) and I think I need a break. I was eating heaps of fruit & veg a few weeks ago (as in, even more than usual!) and was feeling amazing, so I want to get back there. Next weekend Steffi is taking me to the Nordsee, so I want to be feeling nice and chirpy. We have to come back a little sooner than planned because I received a dinner invite for Sunday night. Manfred and Joerg, who is the other editor of the textbook I proof-read, have offered dinner as a thankyou. So it was quite necessary that I accept (and Helena wrote me a really lovely email, though I find replying in German so stressful, especially without umlauted keys!) and thankfully Steffi understood. We'll still have Friday and Saturday to spend there, so all is well.

So, I think I need a snack.

Today's Empires, Tomorrow's Ashes

These are the flowers that I bought for Steffi while she was in the midst of writing her final paper. She gave me a hardcover copy as a thankyou, and is taking me on holiday to the North Sea at the end of the month. I'm spoiled! And all this for minimum effort... and minimum cost. Flowers are cheap here, and one of the flower stalls at the markets had an offer than was too delicious to resist: 20 tulips for 5 Euro. WIN!

So, my week has been pretty standard. German class in the morning, afternoon study-prep class on Mon & Wed (I won't even tell you how little attention I pay, but the tutor understands that it's all completely irrelevant to me, so she doesn't begrudge me the extra facebook time) and little pieces of life in between. Today was one of two free days that we have free in the entire 3-month duration of the course (last term we only had one free day!)... I wasted it by going to the doctor to get my foot checked out. It's been giving me grief for a while; mostly just hurting a little while I'm jogging, or being really sore while I'm trying to walk somewhere in a hurry. But lately it's escalated to the point where it's a dull ache even when I'm not moving it. Ugh.

Anyway, it's been getting swollen after I walk on it, and it's affecting my knee now too. So I thought it was time to go to the doctor. (Ok, Kari bullied me into it, but whatever.) I could feel a massive lump on the bone (the one that connects to my big toe, in case you care) and was worried that I'd just cause more injury if I continued to limp around. So I went to the doctor at 9:40am... waited an hour. How do you run that late so early in the morning?! If it were late afternoon, I might understand. Ahem. Anyway, I went in to the doctor, and he prodded it, which hurt like fuck. And then I got sent to an X-ray place with the appropriate referral. I stopped by home for a coffee and some breakfast (had only eaten a banana, because I wasn't hungry when I woke) and then went to the X-ray place. That was actually pretty quick, and the staff spoke to me in English when it was clear that I wasn't catching some of what they were saying. They were all really friendly, and my longest wait was waiting for the print-out (on photo paper, not transparency) of the X-ray. Anyway, my foot isn't broken, which is the best outcome.

So I went back to the doctor, X-ray in hand, to wait for ages again. He prescribed me some Voltaren gel (all that for a 12-euro tube of fucking Voltaren?!) and charged me twenty euro for my time. Yep, it was my time, not his. Anyway, the surgery don't accept payments on bank cards (ahem, wtf?) so I have to do the bank transfer thing, which I think is what they prefer anyway. So, 4 hours later, all I had to show for my morning was a lot of stress, a rude pharmacy lady (if I ask you to slow down when you talk, I'm being serious, so slow the hell down, lady!) and a tube of overpriced sports gel. Ughhh. I came home and was glad to eat some lunch and relax. Not a good way to spend my free day, but it had to be done.

Guess I won't be running for a while. That sucks.

No real news to share. I found out that DHS ship baggage and parcels internationally for 114 Euro under 31kg, so I'm part way through packing a suitcase. It's full of my books, so I'm concerned that it'll be over 30kg. I need to borrow some bathroom scales from someone so that I can check, when I'm finished packing. Plus for a few more Euro, they offer pick-up between certain times, so I'm most definitely going to do that. Slightly cheaper when you arrange it online. Finally, my aversion to customer service is working in my favour! haha. So in go my books, a few winter coats, clothes I won't need now or in Singapore, and maybe my roller skates... ;) Don't tell mother dearest about that one. Heh.

In the meantime, I think I might catch the bus to the Sudring Centre, so that I can cash in the small bag of miscellaneous bottles hanging about in my room. I don't buy plastic bottled products often, so I think my ten or so bottles have been accumulated over about 6 months. What can I say? I'm a reuseable-drink-bottle kind of woman. Buying water is an epic waste of money and resources, and I only do it when I've forgotten to bring my own. I hate seeing people do it on a regular occasion. Ugh.

Time to get rugged up against the cold...

The city sleeps beneath me...

I'm the first person to admit being slack with this blog, but phwoarrrr, I've amazed even myself over these past few months. So, I'll try to recount some highlights, rather than boring any potential readers (ahem, Tash, pretty sure you're the only one still following this thing) with blow-by-blow accounts of my mediocre life. :)

Hm. Well, last Wednesday was the final seminar for the linguistics course. I talked about sport, showed some videos of footy and netball, and just generally got to be silly. Everyone seemed to be in a pretty good mood, which means I got a lot of laughs, even when I showed a picture of Tony Abbott in budgie smugglers. And talking about Surf Lifesaving and the Burquini... though at that point, I'm pretty sure everyone was giggling at my glee over the photo, because I was pointing to the burquini saying, "C'mon, HOW GOOD IS THAT?!" Burquinis are the best idea ever. Ahem, I digress.

After that I chatted with Manfred about the text he wanted me to proof-read, and then went to a small farewell gathering for another guy who worked in the department. Found out that he, too, was into Minor Threat in his youth. Funny stuff. I think it was the first time I've ever had champagne and orange juice mixed together. I thought only my nanna drank that. But it's a good way to deal with the fact that I don't especially like champagne. Ahem, sekt, I mean.

Over the weekend, and also early on Monday morning (6:30am kitchen hangouts with Steffi) I proof-read Steffi's final paper. She was writing about vampires in American literature, and how they've changed over time; essentially, from monster to human to superhuman. It was interesting stuff, but written in an entirely different style to one I'd have used. But I took Matt's advice (he'd explained how things here tend to be more narrative) and just made sure that Steffi took efforts to tie her information back to her argument, and corrected any strange-sounding grammar or tenses. She gave me a beautifully bound copy, which I'm going to send back to Mum, who requested to read it when Steffi was done writing. Oh, and I bought tulips for Steffi at the markets that Saturday; they were only 5 euro for a bunch of 20, and they're still hanging out in the kitchen, looking absolutely stunning. We needed some colour!

Last weekend I went to Muenster to hang out with Brangelina. Stress of concussions aside, the entire family (Hungarian neighbours included!) managed to get sick with a stomach bug. Poor guys. Matt gave me a call on Sunday night, which was a welcome heads-up about what could potentially follow. Monday night found me waking up at 3am to rush to the bathroom, dry retch for a while (I never throw up. Never! Not since early Jan '98. So I was luckier than they were) and then warm myself up with a shower. It was about -8 overnight, and our bathroom window is always open, so I needed to thaw out before going back to bed. So, I crawled back to bed at about 5am, and managed to get some sleep whilst only lying on one side, because the second I turned over, I felt nauseous. I'd used Mum's old trick of towels on the bed and over the pillow in case I was sick, but thankfully I wasn't. The stomach pain was pretty awful, though. I even had a bucket next to my bed, just in case. That's not something that happens too often, with me.

My alarm went off at 6:30am, and I turned it off, because its noise made me want to retch. Slept in until 10:30am, when I tried to ignore my pounding headache and function like a normal human being. I couldn't, so I just lay in bed for ages. Went back to sleep at about midday, and woke again at about two. Spent the rest of the time proof-reading the manuscript for the textbook, and generally wrote off the day as useless. The only thing I ate that day was some chia (my cereal) with berries, and a cup of tea, at about 8pm.

Oh, and I forgot to say, that whilst in Muenster, I went for a run with Matt. I mean, I'm certainly never going to be running around the Aasee again. Google maps informed me that it was 6km, which isn't bad. It was at least -4 when we went out (-6 by their backyard thermometer) so I was frozen, but in the end, I was probably overdressed. My foot didn't play up too much, and I managed to keep pace with Matt (who was probably bored with how slow I jog, haha) and I was pleased to have done it. It's been a running joke for a while that I'd run a lap of the Aasee, but of course, I never bring my running gear to Muenster, and always tell Matt that he's crazy when he goes for a run... so, it was nice to be just as crazy, just that one time.

Anyway, I discussed the textbook with Manfred on Wednesday. I was hesitant to be too bold, and knew that I couldn't change other people's voices, but did point out a few inconsistencies and spelling errors, etc. I also pointed out that two sections were quite incomprehensible, in that they'd clearly been written in a German style with too little regard for English structure. Every sentence had about 30 clauses (ok, slight exaggeration) with passive meaning. Too much written, but too little actually said. I'm sure it would have been beautiful in German, though. So, Manfred has his work cut out for him there. The book was supposed to be a collaboration, of his ex-PhD students etc, and everyone was writing a chapter. Manfred had already re-written a couple of chapters, by the time I read it. He wondered aloud at one point why he hadn't just written it himself, and I wanted to agree, but was being polite. Either way, it's not my problem. He did one of those, "Oh no, I couldn't expect you to re-write the chapter" type things and I was only too happy to agree. I wasn't going to volunteer for that one, not a chance! Also, I don't know shit about linguistics. heh. Let's keep it that way!

So, the other endurance of the week (proof-reading aside) was a class on Wednesday that I've managed to avoid until now because of the seminars... a "preparing to study" course that is compulsory for DSH-Kurs students to attend. NOT IMPRESSED. I watched one terrible Referat, and then sat around bored for another few hours while the group 'discussed' how to make contact with German students. On the bus? Not fucking likely. When someone tries to talk to me on the bus, I scowl and give them dirty looks, and monosyllabic answers. Get a life, UniPb, you're insulting my intelligence by giving me conversation outlines and wasting my fucking time. I'm going to draft a letter to Frau Ollech and have Steffi read over it (to make sure it's polite and with appropriate grammar), and see if anyone else wants to sign it. Especially as from this week, we have to go TWICE a week, with sessions from 1:30pm to 5pm. As if being at uni from 8:30am wasn't enough. The course is disgraceful.

So, whinges aside: life is pretty good. "Every day I'm alive is the best day of my life." Still want to get that tattooed somewhere, to always remind me. I'm getting steadily good marks in the German course, though I really need to work on my grammar, which sucks. I have a referat to write, and that will be given on 23 Feb. On 25th Feb, Steffi and I are hoping to go hang out at the North Sea Coast for a couple of days. Should be awesome. I've been collecting entire discographies of bands courtesy of Miro, and have been finding some great new music, too.

Oh, and despite my laziness with taking photos and blogging about it, I've been making some awesome meals. I guess they're not that interesting to write about because for several weeks, I've been craving green vegetables for every meal. I ignored that for breakfast, because I always eat chia/berries/banana, but lunch and dinner were generally involving kale, spinach, and the like. The urge to eat only green foods has receded, so I suppose whatever deficiency (sunlight!) caused that has also been fixed. Either way, I'm generally eating really healthily. Lots of fruit and veg, not too much of anything else. I've been feeling pretty good, accordingly. And while I haven't been running as much as I should (foot, snow on ground) I did jog on Friday and it was nice. I should go again today, while the weather is in positive-temperatures and not raining.

So, I figure that's about all I have to say at the moment. Might go see if Twitter needs me... ;)