This is how I feel right now

I have a lot of things to write about.

I have a lot of things to do.

I have what is, for me, a lot of free time.

This is how I feel right now:

Yes, I feel like a giant blue Godzilla. I want to DO ALL THE THINGS and LEARN ALL THE NEW THINGS but I'm also feeling a bit..."meh." (let it be noted that I can't stand that word but it does sum up how I feel.)

Although I have a long list of errands and things to learn in my personal life, I mostly just want to sit around after work and cuddle with Moo while I read some books on foraging or nature. Am I a lazy bum or is this just the fallout of a busy year filled with classes, up to four times a week on top of full time employment?

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.

Some recent foraging moments

I'm totally digging foraging and developing traditional homesteading skills right now. I've recently had the following experiences, which (to me, at least) are a funny juxtaposition of the natural world and the not-so natural world.

-I was foraging some wild raspberries at one of the installations and was thinking about how I'd like to learn more about botany to really interact more with the wild environment. Suddenly I had to retreat into the foliage to avoid being squished by a Humvee.

- I was driving a coworker in my car so we could go pick up our work vehicle. At the installation's gate, we stopped to show our IDs. The guard looked into my backseat and said, "What IS that?" I said, "Do you know what fruit roll-ups are?" (he was German, so he might not have). He answered in the affirmative so I said that I was making cherry fruit roll-ups. He cracked up and waved me through. Indeed, I am using the foraged cherries and am dehydrating them in the car (which is said to be a hack when person doesn't have a dehydrator). Crazy Homesteading Using One's Car Level Attained: 8.

My Week: July 19 ed.

Ha! I'm a week behind on writing this up. I think that the heat over the past few weeks sucked up most of my motivation.

-In addition to my regular German meetings and tandem meeting, I also hosted a native German speaker for the weekend. She visited the past winter so it was a pleasant reunion even if I was lazy and didn't bother to speak German with her.

-My friend had a game night and invited some of our mutual friends. We spent most of the time speaking German since there were only two non-Germans there. It was great practice and I understood most of what was going on, even as we played the German version of Cranium. Woot woot!

I had a total MacGyver moment before the party: I made homemade caramel corn. Not only did I make the caramel topping myself (which is remarkably easily done with a microwave), I also ended up making homemade microwave popcorn, too! My air popper died on me and I was feeling stubbornly devoted to making caramel corn so I asked Mr. Google and found out it's easy (and much more healthful) to make one's own microwave popcorn: take popcorn kernels, mix a little bit of oil (I used canola) and put it in a paper bag and pop for 2-3 minutes. Of course, don't make the mistake that I made and burn the heck out of the first batch of caramel corn though! That part wasn't so cool, but impressing my friends with the product I made correctly was fun.

-We also had a potluck, where I played Cards Against Humanity for the first time. I like Apples to Apples and CAH is the same idea but beyond wrong, with awful examples. It was hilarious and disconcerting to have to explain some of the concepts to non-English speakers.

German ist nicht so scary!

This gave me a giggle.

A forest at the bus stop in Hannover

I saw this really cool bus stop in Hannover. There are small trees/bushes growing on top of it.

Galeria Kaufhaus and the Very Alarming Steiff Bear

This is definitely not going to be the title of a children's book! When I was in Hannover, my friend S and I stopped by Galeria Kaufhof, which is a department store. In the toy section, we found a giant Steiff teddy bear. Push the button and he'll talk about animals. Cool, huh?

Well, it was not so cool. If anything, he was a bit creepy! As he spoke, he gyrated his hips. I was a bit in shock as he was going on like Elvis when he was talking about turtles. By the time I had regained my composure, he was done. I pushed the button again and he talked about chimpanzees. I recorded this but noted that he was much more restrained in his gyrations this time around.