It is feeling colder every night. I see my breathe walking back to my room… Eek… what will it be like when it snows… Snow. Snowmen, skiing, snow angels, sledding, snowy trees and snowy Alps, yellow snow… Enjoying all except the last. I’ll avoid that no worries. I don’t know how I feel about the prospect of snow. It has been so long since I last saw it… I saw some at the end of January in Colorado, but that doesn’t count since it was a random dirty 2 ft by 2 ft patch on the ground. The time before that was back in ’92 or was it ’93? You get the picture. I was little and digging myself a little palace in the snow of my grandparent’s ditch… Don’t remember much except that it was cold and I was all wrapped in warm but really itchy wool and a scarf with my arms sticking out kind of looked like the little kid in the Christmas Story. Yup… That is my snow experience… We shall see what the next experience will be like.
I woke up a little later than I planned, but the sun was out and the chance for a quick walk before work energized me enough to pop out of bed. I keep taking the same path but it is always like it’s the first time. Perfect :) I returned to my room, left for lunch forgetting my kitchen note book but was too lazy to go back. Walked into work with the notebook on my mind and started to set up my little corner of the table… One of the interns told me to go to the schedule… Turned out today is a free day. Yay! I guess I needed that since I immediately started to smile and eagerly picked up my things and hurried back to tell the other intern Maya. (From here on I will just say Maya since it is so much easier and faster to type than, “the other intern” or “my American buddy”). I get more time off here in Germany than back home! My first thoughts, “let’s get out of here and walk to Sonthofen!”
We got a bit of a later start to our walk so our arrival was around 5 and an hour before most stores close. (We will go back to the city tomorrow since I off then too!) First order of business: more mango gummies and for extra interest: Black currant gummies… I’m actually enjoying these darker chewy bits of joy as I type. We walked around some more and into some more stores. Doors began to close and we walked into one that stays open late! Till 6:30! It sells coffee, rain gear, and underwear???? Most random combination of merchandise I’ve ever seen, but I think the extra half hour brings in more business and must keep up competition with the surrounding shops.
There seems to be an interesting pattern of store randomness in the German supermarkets. I don’t quite know how to explain it… It isn’t like shopping at Publix: bread in the bakery area or specific aisles for specific genre of items. The only area with a pattern is the refridgerated / freezer area and maybe one aisle with some foods but in the middle are stacks or big containers holding random products. At one point I walked past a row of cookies next to “build-yourself” shelving, a basket of extension cords, bras, potted flowers and then plant seeds…. This was facing the freezer unit for chicken wings, pizza, and pot stickers. Very odd… but worth revisiting for my mango and black currant gummies if nothing else.
We discovered a little Asian restaurant and stopped for dinner to break up our daily wurst and brut diet. Although it fulfilled a need for wasabi I think I’ll wait the next 10 weeks and 3 days for something a little better to my sushi needs. Some extremely friendly Germans paid for the meal. We smiled and said thanks after trying to pay for it ourselves… Aaannnnnd declined the after dinner coffee offer at their dark little shop nearby. I think we will stick to the more anti-social German restaurants closer to the main road from now on. The walk back up the steep hill kept us warm in the night air. There is a mist that seems to cover the whole area at night. The view is in continual change… I can’t pick my favorite time of day since it is never ugly…. Even when it is raining I can help but enjoy it!
Tomorrow or later on tonight (depending on the upstairs party situation) I must face the dread of dreads… more laundry. At least this time it will just be a load of my civilian-wear and I am armed with several 50 cent coins. I dropped off my chef stuff today with the hotel laundry ladies. I’m eager to see how it all comes back! One load here is traumatizing enough so I am excited to not need to do the chef part, and I think they iron them too! A definite perk :)
My list for tomorrow’s walk to Sonthofen: some sort of good smelling sanitizing spray… the left over cheese has infused my fridge with a very strong odor… I don’t want to store my gummies in there till the fumes have been removed. Yeah… stinky mango gummies just don’t sound right. I can’t open the fridge without unpleasant wafts hovering about my room… for a while. These late night, after work, cheese snacks- though delectable- are not worth the hover.
Alright, time to put away the gummies and work on my first two journal entries on communication for school. The assignment: two entries 2-3 sentences long to describe how I, the student, am, “competent in assessing, analyzing, recommending and/ or implementing suitable solutions to work place problems.” Due tomorrow... yay homework!
No comments:
Post a Comment