My week: July 26 ed.

-Whoa, double weekly updates! What does it mean? So intense!

-Sorry. Now I'm done double-rainbowing. I was very happy this week because a good deal of it was somewhat cold (well, compared to 85-99 degrees it had been earlier in the month; I don't like hot weather!).

-In the world of homesteading and foraging, I made fruit leather out of unsweetened wild plums by using solar dehydration via placing the pan in my car's front window. I also found what I'm rather sure is Giant Hogweed so I did my Girl Scout best and contacted the facility manager to deal with it since it's toxic.

-I had my last German classes from the Uni's Verein. On the last day, we brought in snacks to celebrate. I brought a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos. I figured they would be popular and indeed, they were. People seem to love Doritos and true ones aren't really available in German grocery stores. The bonus is that I don't like them at all and was not tempted to have any.

I did, however, eat some delicious Indonesian fried corn fritter things and Spanish fried milk that my classmates made. Yes, fried milk is totally a thing and it's good; it reminds me of bread pudding but without the bread. That's the cool thing about multicultural classmates: one can learn more about their culture and cuisine.

On Saturday, I took the exam for the class. I don't think I did so great on it. Part of the recordings from the listening tests were homemade and incredibly difficult to hear because of poor recording quality. In another part of the exam, the instructions were very unclear and even when I asked about them, the test monitor wouldn't clarify it. Oh well.

-On Sunday, I went with a new tandem partner for a short hike at Karlstal, a nature area just south of Kaiserslautern (about 10 minutes by driving). The path cuts through a forested area with rock formations and a creek. It's an easy hike (though involves steps, bridges, and slightly uneven ground) and makes for a nice, short hike. There is also a historic mill that's been turned into a restaurant too. We enjoyed some warm drinks too, watching the sheep in the adjacent pasture. I was thrilled to be able to finally drink something warm after a spate of horribly hot weather! I also enjoyed conversing in German. It's awesome to be able to have somewhat complicated conversations now.