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.