The city sleeps beneath me.

My apologies for being terribly slack with this. There's a lot that's been happening, to be sure, but realistically, I have had time to update... it's just that sometimes prowling Facebook and Twitter ends up being more important. Ahem.

So, I last wrote about four weeks ago. Things have been pretty crazy since then. For a start, I'm back in Adelaide. It feels completely surreal, but I'll get to that later. So, I wrote on the 6th of March. On the 11th, I aced my German exam; 91.3% for the semester. (And 20 out of 20 for the listening comprehension, which is awesome.) That means I was the third best out of the sixty-odd students who sat the exam; only a handful of us got DSH-3, which is the best grade. Of course, I was pleased as punch. I didn't even realise how tense I'd been about the results until I knew I had 3... DSH-2 would have been perfectly fine and acceptable, but once I'd realised that I could potentially get 3, I would have been bitterly disappointed with anything lower. So, after something of a muted exclamation on seeing my marks, I let out an incredible sigh of relief.

My last week in Paderborn involved eating my way through the food left in my pantry, though Steffi will still be learning to cook things with sago and dried shiitakes. (Probably not together, though.) There wasn't too much left at the end of it. I had my last market visit on the day after the exam; the lady at my regular stall gave me my vegetables for free when I told her that it was the last time I'd be seeing her. I nearly cried. What a sweetheart. I'm not terribly good at taking things for free. Even worse than I am at taking compliments, but thankfully, neither of them come up overly often, so I can avoid the embarrassment. ;)

I visited Matt and Tash for the last time on Monday the 14th, and I won't be seeing them again until they come home to Adelaide. So they're left to enjoy the miserable weather on their own! hehe. Though, of course, it warms up in Padders the second that I leave. Typical. I can't wait to use the Muenster cookie cutter that they gave me; it's in the shape of the town hall and fairly screams for multi-coloured icing windows. They're going to be both delicious and gorgeous, I can see it already.

Tuesday night I caught up with a few people from the German class, Wednesday morning we got our results (and I closed my bank account), Wednesday night I saw Pina in 3D at the movies with Steffi and Andrea, and then Thursday night those two ladies + Matze + me sat around the kitchen table and ate pizza. Ok, and we drank Matze's homemade Currant wine, too. I had an early night, and was pleased that I'd managed to pack everything. (Also pleased that I'd been able to send home two suitcases packed with clothes and books. I hate to admit that the one packed with clothes was heavier, but in my defense, there were a few books and a ceramic bunny in there too!) That night, Steffi and I baked bread according to her secret recipe, which isn't terribly secret because I now have a copy of it. It's the grainiest bread in the universe. Usually it has buttermilk, but we made my loaf with water, so it was vegan. Deliiiiicious.

Friday morning, I got up early, ate breakfast, and hugged Steffi goodbye. She was feeling pretty sick (she'd been coming down with something for a few days) so Matze dropped me at the train station. I caught two trains (both ICE, score!) to Frankfurt airport, where I vagued out and ate the remnants of the bread that I'd packed for snacks. Four hours after arriving, I checked in for my flight, and wandered around the airport for a while. There was really nothing to see there (disappointing, Frankfurt!) so I had a coffee and read a newspaper for a while. Eventually boarded the flight, which ran on time. Thanks Qantas! No thanks for the cow milk on my vegan tray, though. Might need to write you a letter about that one.

...And I'm back, having filled in their online feedback form. Excellent.

So, after four movies (Black Swan - terrible, 127 Hours - worse than terrible, The King's Speech - not bad, The Social Network - bad) and maybe half an hour of sleep, I landed in Singapore. Mum & Jill's flight was delayed, so I struggled to stay awake by the baggage claim for about an hour. They arrived (well, technically I saw them going into the duty-free shop to buy a bottle of gin, so I surprised them rather than them surprising me) and we caught a taxi to the hotel. We ducked into a neighbourhood food stall for dinner (delicious) and had a relatively early night, which was just what I needed.

I didn't sleep overly well in Singapore, probably due to some issues with my body clock, but the hotel was decent and we had a ball. Mum and Jill enjoyed the shopping (admittedly, Jill most of all; Mum bought a few items and I bought one pair of discounted Adidas jogging shorts) and we had a lot of fun. Night Safari, Chinatown and the Botanic Gardens were my favourites. We had some fantastic meals, the best of which cost about $3 each and came from tiny stalls in Chinatown. I drank more coconut juice than I care to tell you about, which was delicious (and leaves me disappointed that I don't have one now). I'll point out that it was fresh from a young coconut, which meant that I could use my spoon to scrape out the delicate, jelly-like flesh. It's heavenly.

So, here comes the necessary paragraph about food, because we all know that I'm a massive food nerd. Here goes:

In Singapore, my favourite place to eat is Chinatown. I ate a lot of soy-based treats, such as silken tofu with sweet syrup, and deep fried tofu. Soymilk based drinks, such as Cendol and grass jelly in soymilk, or better yet, tapioca pearls and palm sugar and soymilk, were a definite highlight. I ate brightly coloured steam buns, ordered absoultely everything that came in Pandan flavour, had strange gelatinous rice stuffed with mung bean paste, and had fluorescent crushed ice desserts. Jill and I tried durian, which I actually really enjoyed, and I ate a lot of mangoes. I even ate a couple of carambola (star fruit) and a dragonfruit. I tried another small fruit, which was disappointing: I think it must have been related to a sapote. It was really small, oblong, and had light flesh the colour of brown sugar. The taste was a little bland, and the flesh was quite creamy, like a sapote. Meh. I did also stuff my face with a bag of mangosteens, because they're the best fruit ever.

So, food over: we had a great time in Singapore. We flew home, and I didn't sleep, but did write two assignments. I had two hours nap and went to uni, which was an epic struggle, because I wasn't really equipped to stay awake. I survived it, anyway. Thursday night I went to bed terribly early. Friday I went to uni again, and on Friday afternoon Jesse came over; it was awesome to see him again. He had dinner with us (parents + Tim, Amy and Georgia) and then he and I headed down to Louise's parents' house to catch up with her & Richard, and play singstar of course! Louise had already planned family dinner, not realising that I'd be in Adelaide that night, but it was great to see her family, too. I was exhausted by the time Jesse and I left; probably about quarter past ten. We came back to my parents' house to drop my car home, and then had to walk to Henley Beach Rd to catch a bus to town. Turns out Adelaidemetro cut services to the 287 route while I was away, and consequently, the last bus to the city is at 10:30pm. Pathetic.

We finally got to Jesse's apartment, crashed, and woke up with the alarm at 4:15am. Breakfast, shower, and got a lift to the airport from Stan. Early flight with Tiger, arrived in Melbourne CBD at about 8am, and went to Hudson's for a second breakfast. I had a bagel for the first time since Poland, enjoyed being able to order coffee with soy (but am missing unsweetened soymilk! All my coffees are too sweet!) and slathered my bagel with a healthy serving of vegemite. We later went to see Pat, whose house we were staying at, and hung out with Pat and Nick on Brunswick St. Had a cheeky pint in the Little Creatures brewhouse, ordered a takeaway Tempeh Burger from Vege Bar (tempeh! first time in a year!) and still, somehow, managed to have room for Thai for dinner.

The show was at the Arthouse, and was great fun. I chatted to lovely people, such as Mara, Footy & Laura, April & Josh, Brettzen, and the Stolen Youth boys. Craig even surprised me by saying he'd tracked down a 7inch I wanted when I was 17, from some incredibly obscure Netherlanderish indie band, and would send me a copy. I was really surprised, not least because I hadn't spoken to him in many years. Weird. Not complaining, though. Anyway, I had vegan baked goods from the bakesale, which gave me the diabeetus, and made my teeth hurt. I'm not cut out for sugary treats in the way I used to be. They were nice, anyway. Just much too sweet.

The bands were good, but I was really there for Shotpointblank, and that was great. Pretty rough during their set, but I got a mic handout during my favourite song, and ended up kinda hoarse accordingly. Mara was pretty hyperactive and ended up with a potentially broken nose, and I have a massive bruise on the back of my calf (and no idea how I got it), so you know we were having a good time. Kids went nuts and we all felt like teenagers again... it was pretty awesome. It was the last time I'll ever be in the Arthouse, which makes me sad, because it was a venue that did so much for the bands and the Melbourne community as a whole. Shaun got a bit teary during Stolen Youth's set when he mentioned that it was the last time they'd ever play there... I think him getting teary may have had an effect on the rest of us, but I'll leave emotions to the girls. heh.

Speaking of which, at some point Shaun asked me something, and I was so tired that I couldn't string together a coherent answer; I just couldn't talk. He gave me a nice pat on the shoulder and made some sympathetic noises, which made me feel better. I think everyone understands the mechanics of jet lag, but it was nice to feel like slightly less of a tard.

I also caught up with Lee at one point, which was a little strange, because we're such polar opposites now. We met in the middle for a little while, back when I was 19 and interested in drinking and staying up late, but now he's still at that point in his life where he drinks instead of eating, and I'd rather get some sleep and have quiet dinners with friends. It made me sad to see that he hadn't progressed at all, but I guess that other people's lives are absolutely none of my business, and I should really shut up. He's winning over me in the musical stakes, so hm, perhaps that's where I've gone wrong...

So, it was a great night and I loved being able to hang out with awesome people. I also loved being able to get a cab back to Pat's apartment and go to sleep, because I was exhausted. I slept like a coma until 10am, which was probably a solid 9 hours sleep. Jesse and I met other people at the East Brunswick Club for 12pm breakfast; we were a little late, but it was all good. We met there partly because it was across the road from the show space (DIY show, in a warehouse-ish type space where people lived, aka Cat Food Press) and partly because they did some greasy vegan meals. The vegan big breakfast was a bit disappointing to me, being short on veg and not as big as advertised... plus I'm not into mock meat. Tofu scrams were ok though. Jesse had the non-vegan "Elvis" pancakes; maple syrup, grilled banana, bacon and peanut butter. I'm glad I didn't opt for the vegan version of those; I probably would have died of a sugar overdose. A strong coffee helped pick me up, and we wandered over to the show just after the supposed starting time.

The show was awesome; I got to tell Stolen Youth that the title track from their new record is now officially their best song (because I'm the one who decides these things, of course) and I finally saw Anchors after listening to Jesse talk about them for a year. Shotpoint made a "secret" (aka, announced about an hour before the show) guest appearance after Stolen Youth, and once again, we all sang along and I got to sing a large chunk of my favourite song by them. Honestly, it was a thousand times better than the Arthouse the night before; Brett was clearly having a ball, despite some mic issues, and ended up using three of them... at once. Only one was working, though! haha. I sang along with Dave and Mara, and ended up in some photos on Facebook, which is quite funny.

Oh, and I'd shaved my head again on getting home, and it's probably a tiny bit uneven, but thankfully not enough to notice. I shaved it on 3 this time, but I think I'll do 2 down the bottom in future. It was nice to lighten up a little! Anyway, that's a bit irrelevant, but I thought of it after Matt's comment on Facebook, and because a girl commented on it at uni today and said it looked good. None of my friends have said anything, which I find weird, but ehhh, I guess it was old news on Fb.

Anyway, during the show I got to hang out with Dase, which completely ruled because Dase is a champion. I even finally met his girlfriend! She also rules. After the show, Jesse and I met Lulu at Yong Green Food... I contemplated getting a raw option, but the dragon bowl (aka, bibimbap) won me over. I did have raw cheesecake for dessert (yummm, strawberry!) so I was happy. Jesse had a raw Pecan Pie and was instantly won over to the virtues of raw foods. I said I'd make a raw cheesecake for him sometime, and I intend to do so. That way I don't eat it all myself, heh. Lu was her lovely, sunshiney self, and even drove us back to Pat's apartment. He wasn't home yet, so we had car hangs until he arrived. It was awesome.

Back at Pat's, we hung out with him and Bec for a while, until everyone (except Jesse) professed tiredness and went to bed. Jesse had no choice but to go to bed, but didn't sleep terribly well, poor boy. I slept like a coma again, and needless to say, it ruled. I got up a little before he did, and showered etc, and we headed into the city after saying goodbye to Pat & Bec. Then, straight to the airport; we were slim on time, and decided not to risk waiting around for coffee and food orders. We ate at Hudsons in the airport terminal, and then headed over to the Tiger Terminal (aka tin shed)... where, of course, our flight was an hour late. So we could have had a luxurious breakfast, but oh well, such is life. I played Angry Birds on his iphone, and am probably converted forever to the virtues of iphones. They're fun to use. I still don't have a simcard here, for the record.

Back in Adelaide, I've been keeping busy. Jesse and I went to Mara's house for dinner on Monday night; Jo and Dale were there, plus Mara's housemates, so we had a fantastic night. My stomach hurt from laughing so much! Mara made tempeh burgers and delectable sides, and I brought a Date & Walnut Loaf (it gets capitalised because it's so important to my family!) for dessert. The tempeh may have stolen my heart, but the roasted mushrooms were pretty amazing, too. I gave Jesse a lift home, and was exhausted by the time I dropped into bed. All I want to do these days is sleep! I guess I'm finally catching up after all those flights and early mornings.

Tuesday I met up with Dougy for lunch at Vego & Loven It, and then Tuesday night I did something... can't remember, argh! Yesterday I met up with Mark for a coffee before he had to go to uni (and I dropped in on Footy at Clarity Records, which was the first time I'd been there! It was awesome!) and then had dinner with Lou & Richard. Oh, and yesterday Mum & I went to Gaganis and the Asian Grocery, where I stocked up on certain essentials. I bought four types of greens at the Asian Grocery. Four! Pak Choy (eaten tonight), young spinach (eaten for lunch today), chinese broccoli / gai larn (eaten yesterday, when I made hotpot for Lou & Rich) and amaranth leaf, which is still in the crisper drawer. Greens rule. I also stocked up on tofu & tempeh. Yummmm!

Oh, and today I went to uni ($4 for day parking! ouch! At least the silly machines are for 24 hours of parking, so I can park for free tomorrow morning, muwahahah) and that was rather dull. I should do my readings for tomorrow... maybe. Writing this took a lot longer than anticipated, but I guess a lot has been happening.

Either way, it's strange to be home. People ask what's changed, and all I can say is "everything and nothing". Sure, there are new shops in the mall, there's a lot that's familiar, but I'm still not really settled in. I'll see my sister Amy tomorrow, because she's dropping in to Adelaide briefly, so that'll be nice. Until I get my new copy of my birth certificate (must have lost the old one in the move from Leader St) I'm broke, because the birth certificate is needed to prove to Centrelink that I was born, even though they've already paid me in the past. Sigh.

So, I'm going to get some sleep. xo.