Well, this is somewhat of a first: I ran out of steam by the middle of the week. Usually it's the end of the week when that happens. I attended 3 of the 4 German classes but one evening, when I was sitting in my first class and nursing a headache, I started to wonder how I was going to make it through another almost three hours before I'd get home. I then had a liberating thought: I was going to go home and relax instead of going to class. I very much had needed that!
-I also met with my tandem speaking partner. I finally downloaded a free app on my phone so I was ready to make a request of her: would she say my weekly vocabulary words for me? She indeed did and now I have a very handy recording of that chapter's words with the English definitions. I just don't have any time to make and review flashcards right now so this is an excellent alternative that I can listen to in the car.
-After getting home after 10 pm one night, I realized that I really needed to get cracking on making the strawberry freezer jam. I didn't have time to stop by the commissary for pectin so I bought Gelierzucker from Lidl, which is what Germans use for making jams. It's sugar mixed with the pectin.
This was a rather impatient move and a great way to stretch my already overburdened brain late on a work night, right? Yeah, it makes total sense (rolling my eyes here). Take my advice: if you're not good/experienced at doing domestic stuff, don't have a lot of time, and are stressed, it's not the best idea to try to make something new especially using instructions in a foreign language. Thanks to the kind help of a lady in an internet forum, I got it all figured out and put up some jam.
It was delicious but very, very sugary. I recently read about a different kind of pectin that uses a calcium addition and one can use minimal sugar with it. That warrants further research (and probably ordering it online from the US).
-I went to the Lange Nacht der Kultur in Kaiserslautern with my sidehugging friend (inside joke), J; we later met up with his friend H. Lange Nacht is an evening of culture, entertainment, and performances. Cultural (and not so cultural) institutions throughout the city throw open their doors (well, to those who've purchased the entry wristband) and welcome visitors. We were out until about 1:30 a.m. then called it a night.
-I spent a day at home, relaxing followed by cleaning and working in the house. I washed my kitchen floor by hand, using a scrub brush and rag. I usually steam mop and was surprised at how much cleaner the floors were after hand washing them. Word to the wise on those: if the tile floors have a texture to them, the steam mop doesn't do the best job ever.
I also finished making the elderflower syrup. Mmm, is it good! I froze it because it is not shelf stable when homemade. Continuing on the domestic loop, I dreamed up ways to use the kilogram of spinach I bought (only 2.50 euros at the farmers' market!). I ate a spinach omelet for breakfast, a spinach smoothie for lunch, and made spinach spaetzle for dinner. It barely made a dent in the bag so I have to figure something out for freezing the spinach because I won't be able to eat it fast enough.
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