The Most Exciting Cake Ever: Or, Why My Coworkers Are the Best

It's my birthday soon and I wanted to have a few (well, maybe 15-20 or so) friends over for a party. The last few years I've had lower-key birthdays but this year I wanted something a little bigger, especially since I know more people now and it's always fun to party!

My coworkers are awesome. S asked me if I'd like a cake and offered to make carrot cake. That sounded awesome so I took her up on it, finding out that she made a Bundt cake. Of course that prompted us to watch the scene from My Big Fat Greek Wedding where the main character's non-Greek future in-laws bring a Bundt cake to her Greek family, with hilarious results. We were in hysterics.

S decorated the cake in the style of the movie's cake but made it even ever so much better. I just about died of delight when I saw it. It's the most exciting cake I've ever seen! I love all the little chocolate bugs around it with the unsettling, anthropomorphic faces. The bunch of lollipops with happy birthday candles shooting out is very lively. She even wrote multiple letter As around the cake.  There's so much going on with this over-the-top cake that it is beyond fantastic.

Best. Cake. Ever. Thanks, S! It is such a treat to work with such awesome, thoughtful (and funny!) coworkers.

Is this not exciting?

Don't squash me! I have a human face! says the chocolate bug.

Everyone was excited about the new mall opening

It's been almost a month since the new K in Lautern Mall opened in Kaiserslautern. It was surprising how busy everything was, and how busy everything has remained. I took some pictures during the grand opening night, when the mall was open late and the shopping district offered special events.

The visiting researcher I hung out with last weekend said everyone at the university was talking about the opening too. She asked if there were anything particularly special about the mall. I can't say whether there is or not, but I can say that not a ton of "exciting" things happen around here normally so it provided a lot of excitement during its opening.

One of my favorites was the world's largest shopping cart (or so they said it was). It's one of those things that makes a person say, "whyyy?"

K in Lautern Mall entrance, Fackelwoog Strasse

(Supposedly) the world's largest shopping cart.

I recognize that light fixture from the Bad Dürkheim wine hike!

This sculpture had me rolling my eyes.

The Beate Usha store, which faces the mall, cracked me up. This store sells, um, things for adults. The mannequins were curious about the new mall, too!

I'm no Goethe

I had some blood drawn at the doctor's office. I'm not sure that I got the nurse who was the most talented at drawing blood because she had to try multiple times and I now have several holes in my arms. To be fair, though, I must say that I'm a difficult patient for blood draws since I have small veins that are deep, sideways, and prone to rolling. By the time she was done, I was feeling a bit giddy.

I also was almost overtaken by an attack of giggles, which certainly didn't help the situation much. The nurse asked me to "make a Faust." I must have been making a strange face because I almost lost it in giggles. I kept thinking, "I can't do that! I'm not Goethe!" I would just about get myself composed and she'd ask again. Even later during the day, it would come to mind and I'd get caught in giggles again.

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In another literary note, I am starting another writing project, in addition to this one. My friend C and I will be writing something together that's completely over the top. I'm not busy enough with work, school, and social activities, it seems. It's been really fun though.

Das ist ein schönes Bild!

It's that time of the year again! What time is it? you ask. Well, it's the time where I register for German classes at the uni. As is the new norm for me, they will overlap with the Volkshochschule classes and I will learn German four nights a week. I will probably also be a bit worn out and grumpy feeling from the lack of free time, as is also the norm for me.

The uni registration form has a spot where one attaches a photo of oneself. I think that this is ridiculous; so many things require photos in Germany, including resumes (don't even get me started on how wrong and rife for discrimination I think that is), that I feel shouldn't. I'm not interested in having to give a photo to register for a class. It's a pain in the neck to go to a photo booth and shell out six euros for a series of photos.

Instead, I took matters into my own hands: I drew a portrait of myself in the Foto box. It was a smiling stick person me.

Mr. Uni Registerer of DaF Students was amused when I took it to him. "Das ist ein schönes Bild," he remarked.

I replied in Germish: "Danke. Ich bin sehr photogenic."

My week: April 12 ed.

This week was another week of vacation from German classes. I filled it up in other ways.

-I met with my German tandem partner. She shared humorous stories from her time on stage and we had a good laugh.

-A friend, Cl., agreed to show me how to make piñatas since I am having a party soon. We first went shopping for supplies, including balloons and wallpaper paste. It was a lot easier to make piñatas than I had thought it would be. Blow up a balloon and cover it with five layers of newspaper covered with the paste. I need to repeat this process when the first application of newspaper has dried.

-I met up with a visiting researcher and a uni student to give them a tour of town. We ate lunch and walked all over Kaiserslautern. We visited the Gartenschau; I took the opportunity to buy the annual membership offered at a discount through SWK (I wrote about the program here). Meeting up was especially awesome because the researcher lives in Freiburg, which I've been wanting to visit, and she invited me to come by. We really enjoyed each other's company; she was happy to have a tour guide and some company since she didn't know anyone here. I especially enjoyed getting a science "fix," learning more about some topics of interest. It was awesome all around.

On Sunday, we enjoyed a leisurely visit to Mannheim. I always want to giggle when I visit that city because Rick Steves, a widely known (in the US, at least) travel guide author, can't stand the city. I'm always wanting to say, "eat it, Rick Steves, because I like the city." I'm sure he wouldn't care and part of the reason I enjoy the city is because I experience it as more of a local (or regional, at least) visitor. I have friends there and favorite restaurants there. I can see where it doesn't appeal to tourists and that suits me just fine.

Anyway, we ate at Istanbul, which I prefer a bit more to Meydan (both are great though). We basked in the sun as it was quite warm (about 70 degrees) and lovely. We then stopped by Pasa, my favorite Turkish bakery. There were these confectionery roll "thingies." I asked the store clerk, in German, what they were. She smiled and said that they are like Turkish "Gummibärchen" ("little gummi bears"). This totally cracked me up and she laughed too. Of course I had to buy a piece to try it. It was a sweet end to our trip.

What the clerk described as Turkish "Gummibärchen."

-It's coming up on Spargelzeit, which is white asparagus and very popular in Germany. The article I wrote last year popped up on GermanyJa again. Check it out.

Unsettling sight in Prague

In 2011, I took a trip with my family to Prague and saw this ad in the Metro station. It's sooo unsettling!

What using an epilator is really like

What is an epilator? Is it something that shouldn't be discussed in polite company? Why on earth is ATW writing about this?

Here's the back story: sometimes I get Ideas. These Ideas are sometimes useful and other times they are trouble-causing. My newest Idea was that I wanted to have summer-ready legs (i.e. sans cheveux). My current bathroom set up is not at all conducive for someone who wishes to remove leg hair without potentially gouging herself and bleeding to death in the tiny, slippery shower.

I thought that surely there was some other way that doesn't involve nicking oneself with a razor and/or falling in the shower. Mr. Google delivered, as always. Apparently there is a torture device that is a rotating mass of tweezers that will painfully efficiently remove hair: the epilator.

It sounded great! Sign me up, I thought. Some people said it was painful. I agreed more with the people who said that it's slightly painful in the beginning but is easy enough to withstand. The other ones were a bunch of wusses, I thought. Of course it made perfect sense that I would form an opinion before using the torture implement epilator, right?

I ordered one online and received it today. Fridays are Lazy Days for me, which means that I am loathe to make plans. I'm usually exhausted after a week of work and lots of activities. It would be the perfect day to try out the epilator, I thought. I could relax, rip hair by the roots out of my legs, and bask in silky smooth skin afterward. Sounds great, huh?

This is how it really went down.

1. Unwrap epilator, plug it in, and turn it on to the slow setting.
2. Instantly feel a deep sense of foreboding because the slow setting blasts along at warp speed and looks quite threatening. I haven't had a heart attack yet so I turn it on the fast setting. Whimper. The things hasn't even touched me yet and I'm already afraid of it.
3. Tell myself to stop being a wuss and just get on with it.
4. Turn on the slow setting and (stupidly) start working on the area by my ankle.
5. After touching it to my skin, nearly hit the ceiling and immediately turn it off. Did it just cut me?! What the heck! It felt as if it cut me.
6. The shock wears off a little and I look at the skin. No, it didn't cut me, but there is a drop of blood from where it yanked out a hair. There are also razor burn-looking bumps too.
7. Take a picture of epilated spot and text it to my colleague. We had been joking that the movie name that would describe this event would be There Will Be Blood. There was indeed blood (albeit not a lot) so it seemed important to text the picture. She had wanted to know how everything turned out.
8. Go back and forth via text a little bit, being a total smart aleck. Think for a moment that it's really weird that I am texting my colleague a picture of my newly shorn leg on a Friday night. Don't normal people go out to dinner and a movie or something?
9. Plan to go back to the torture.
10. Get a phone call from R. just as I am beginning. Talk to him for a while. Mention that we were considering doing this as a party game and anyone who can stand it gets a prize. Then realize that it would probably be too germy for my slightly germophobic American ways and decide not to do it after all.
11. Finish phone call and get back to business. Wish I had been drinking some wine so it wouldn't be quite so painful.
12. Oh lawd is it painful.
13. Couldn't I at least have a bullet to bite to get through this? Seriously, how is it not cutting me but feels like it is?
14. Finish one leg. Oh, man. I have another leg to go.
15. Really wish that I had been drinking some wine.
16. Am a little smarter on leg #2 and do not start on the incredibly sensitive areas above my ankles first. 
17. Power through leg two and even do the sensitive ankle-ish areas.
18. Really wish I had been drinking through this.

Several hours later, I tried to admire my (mostly) hairless legs but instead can't help but notice the redness and bumps from the procedure. I also notice that I need to moisturize.

I can't believe that I'm saying this, but I am curious about trying this again. Next time, though, There Will Be Wine.