Catching up

I have been in Munster for nearly a week now, and there are all sorts of things about which I would like to write. Alas, I do not appear to be able to compose blog posts while in the presence of a computer (although the ones I compose when there is no computer around are beautiful. Promise.).

Anyway, I have been here for a week and I still can’t speak German. Also, I still only have one friend. The former problem does not help in my quest to solve the latter. I went to the International Students place today, only to find out that the only event left to happen this academic year will probably take place in Hungarian, and probably wouldn’t be all that interesting anyway.

Still, tomorrow is Saturday, and I shall go to the vegetable garden to help. I may make myself some new friends there, or I may just be disappointed to find out that everyone there speaks German, also.

This is al very sedentary and dull. I kind of though that moving to a different country would somehow make my blog posts better. I suppose that human interaction is an important factor in a lot of good blog posts, and I get most of mine at the moment by nearly being run into by cyclists who don’t like the way I am wavering on my bike, and by shop assistants who scan my items and tell me how much they cost. Which I understand sometimes. I even questioned a total the other day*. I said “nein” in a disbelieving tone of voice. Sure enough, I was right! I saved myself 5 Euros with the combination of my amazing language skills and my amazing maths skills.

So, dear reader, I suppose that I ought to do something exciting so that I have something to write about, and so that my blog is therefore worth reading. I think that listing the things I bought since coming here will not impress you, but I am going to try with the list of things (abridged) that I have eaten since coming here.

I started off with yoghurt. It was a bit battered, having come from Taize, but tasted lovely. I also ate oats and UHT milk, but that wasn’t going to last me very well – it’s breakfast food, really. After going shopping, my food options expanded to rice and spicy pesto. No further, as I cooked enough rice for four days on the first day post-shopping, and was feeling in a parsimonious sort of mood. The microwave here is excellent. After that, we went to the vegetable garden, and my dear, lovely neighbour (and I mean this without even the slightest trace of sarcasm – she is wonderful) decided that it was a good idea to dig up most of the potatoes; I didn’t have enough German to ask her to stop in a polite manner. I am supposed to give them away, but I don’t yet have enough friends to give them to. I therefore have several kilograms of potatoes waiting in the kitchen.

I am on the third day of potato-based meals now. I boiled some two days ago (when I decided that the rice was no longer fit for eating), and fried the remaining ones yesterday. I also made some extremely dodgy clafoutis (recipe: some milk, some eggs, some gluten-free flour, some sugar, loads and loads of delicious cherries from the market), which was nonetheless edible (less flour next time), and at the same time as baking that, baked some delicious-smelling peppers, again from the market. This morning I finished the clafoutis, and this evening I made a sauce from the peppers, the remaining tomato sauce, some bacon, some garlic and some low-fat spread. And, of course, some wine. It is Friday, after all. I ate it with microwaved fried potatoes. My best meal so far. Tomorrow, I eat leftover sauce, and will have to cook some more potatoes. If you fancy eating potatoes, please do call round!

The oats have gone on hiatus, though. Apparently my body doesn’t like oats. They have been going through me... well, I’ll spare you the details. I have been feeling perfectly well, though, so they can’t be that bad. Perhaps they can be a once-weekly treat.

Ooh – I hear rain, I think. It is fairly consistently above 25C here, and all rain is welcome. Except, of course, for the rain which comes after I have made the effort to go to the vegetable patch and water the thing. I got lost twice on the way back. Well, perhaps “got lost” is putting it a bit too strongly, but I assert that it would have taken me an exceptionally long time to get home this evening, had it not been for my adequate sense of direction.

Ooh – it’s definitely raining now. There’s lightning, and everything! So much for my good intentions with the potatoes.

Hmm. This really is rambling, isn’t it? Ah well – there’s a week (nearly) of stuff to be dumped in here. Having got it out of my system, hopefully I will be able to post in a more orderly and less crap fashion.

Mmm – lots of rain! I am getting splashed. I’m sitting here in the bedroom with the window open, and the computer between myself and the window. Perhaps I should close the window a little. It doesn’t like to be closed a little, apparently. There we go – just open at the top now. I still get the lovely breeze, but the monitor is no longer being splashed.

Shower, then bed? Then we forget that this horrid post ever happened and I return (stop sniggering) to my usual good blogging form? Thank you. Goodnight.


*15 + 1 + 1 does not equal 22.