All posts filed under: Blog

Apple Roses

Published by Sula H.

Apfel Rosen Remember that bake sale a couple of days ago? Well, me not being really good at food things, I dared – for the first time – to actually contribute more than just my money to the sale. I made apple roses. Apple roses with lots of hurdles, that is. First, them not being a very common thing around here, I didn’t have any cupcake wrappers to start with. Then, of course, I didn’t have any crescent dough (which is what the recipe called for). And ultimately, I don’t have anything to slice things into really thin slices. Not withstanding all these obstacles, since the rest of this endeavor seemed somewhat foolproof, I set out on the daring adventure of creating apple roses. From my colleagues and friends I gathered the missing pieces, and from the internet I found myself an apple pie recipe to replace for the crescent dough stuff. All good so far. Except that with the recipe I got, the dough turned out to be very runny. Which is all …

The Wedding Aftermath

Published by Sula H.

Das Hochzeitsnachspiel You know that I went to a wedding yesterday, right? So, the one thing that I usually don’t care much about when it comes to local weddings is the food. It’s too meaty for a veggie lover like myself. But then, what I do like about weddings here are the snacks that you get to take home after the wedding. I’ve had some really good stuff in the past, and this wedding being no different. Actually, this time, we all got something that is high on my list of favorite yumminesses: Ferrero Rocher. They’re usually so expensive here that I never buy them. But when I grabbed the little gift box waiting for the guests on our way out, and when I opened it to peak inside, I thought: Jackpot! This has been the best little wedding snack I’ve had so far (aside from maybe the Hershey’s chocolate stuff we had en masse during another wedding a couple of years ago). Ihr wisst ja, dass ich gestern auf einer Hochzeit war, nicht? …

Half an Hour with the Bride

Published by Sula H.

Eine halbe Stunde mit der Braut So, here’s the problem: I neither have much equipment (esp. to take photos in very dark environments), nor is my camera in good shape any more (I’ve just taken too many photos in the past and the camera has run its course, I guess). Still, I get asked to take wedding photos for my friends quite a lot. And really, I don’t mind – as long as I won’t be held accountable for producing first rate, professional photos. So, once more, today, did I find myself in the position of being the designated wedding photographer. And that got me into the unique position of spending a half hour alone with the bride right before the ceremony – as we were waiting for the last guests to arrive. Yes, the bride was waiting for the last guests to arrive, and the wedding was postponed by half an hour because of the late comers! But for me, it was a nice little half an hour because I got to hear …

Sweet Friendship

Published by Sula H.

Zuckersüsse Freundschaft This is my friend B. Das ist B., ein Freund von mir. And this is stuff that was available at the Bake Sale we just had today. Und diese netten Naschereien standen uns heute beim Backwarenverkauf zur Verfügung. Well, actually, they were all the things we weren’t able to buy any more because my friend B. had bought them for his own delight. I also got myself a couple of somethings, but with B. in front of me in the line, there wasn’t really that much left for anyone else coming after him. But I’m not complaining. It’s all for a good cause, as the money is going towards orphaned children. And maybe, my friend B. actually did me a favor by taking all the calories on his own plate so that there’s little danger of too much sweets on my side. Thanks, B. for being such a good friend! Naja, eigentlich sind das nur alles die Sachen, die wir nicht mehr kaufen konnten, da …

A Hunter’s Life

Published by Sula H.

Ein Jägersleben Alright, alright! Admitted, it’s my fault. I left out some fruit stuff for too long. So I can’t really blame those little critters, though they certainly were not at all welcome in my home. But welcome or not, they did come. And not too few, and here I was, having myself a pretty nice little fruit fly invasion. But I wouldn’t be me, if I’d allow that to bug me. So, I put on my hunter’s gear (aka a cup of water with vinegar and some fruit juice, and – most importantly – dishwashing detergent) and went on a fruit fly hunt. And if you look closely, I was victorious! I managed to catch quite a number of these things and have to conclude: invasion evaded! On to new adventures! Also gut, ich geb’s ja zu: es ist meine Schuld. Ich hab so ein paar Obstsachen zu lange draußen gelassen. Also kann ich diesen kleinen Viecher wirklich nicht allzuviel in die (nicht-existenten) Schuhe schieben, ausser dass sie wirklich wirklich nicht bei mir …

The Last of Such Delights

Published by Sula H.

Der letzte solcher Genüsse Today was a very sad day. Why, you ask? Because of the Giotto. If you are anywhere from central Europe you probably know exactly what I mean when I say Giotto. If not, let me quickly explain. Giotto are small snack balls of some kind of nut cream filling, a crunchy pastry layer and then covered by nut pieces on the outside. They’re pretty much “yum!” to anyone I know. And this summer I had been lucky enough that a couple of my friends went to Germany and brought me back a pack of Giotto. And what’s so sad about it is the fact that today I ate my last roll of Giotto. Alas! No more! And once more I had a revelation. Namely, that that’s always the problem with yummy things like this: They get eaten up and are no more. Yes, yes, too sad! (Though, of course, I shouldn’t forget to mention that eating the Giotto is a supreme delight!) Heute war ein sehr trauriger Tag. “Warum?” fragst …

A Window-Load of Fresh Air

Published by Sula H.

Eine Fensterladung frischer Luft I have a dilemma. I like to air dry my laundry. One reason for that is that the dryers are in constant use and it’s difficult to catch a free one if you don’t want to do your laundry in the middle of the night (as some of my colleagues do). Another reason is that I don’t want to keep chasing my laundry in case I come late and others need to use the dryer and take out my laundry before I get to the laundry room.So, like I said, I prefer to hang my clothes and let them dry slowly. But I also don’t like to hang them outside because the air’s so polluted that I feel like I might as well return the clothes to the laundry after hanging them outside. The problem with hanging up clothes inside the building is that the air in my apartment is pretty damp. So drying clothes on a rack takes quite some time. I’d just done a couple loads of laundry …

Smokin’ Good

Published by Sula H.

Verr(a)ucht Do you see this? Seht ihr dies Bild? This is our lobby. And no. This isn’t a bad picture taken of the lobby (though, admitted, the picture is pretty bad). But this is our lobby during harvest season. The mist you see in the picture is actually smoke. From all the harvest fires. And that smoke doesn’t just give our lobby a sweet and dreamy appearance. That smoke is everywhere, wafting through the hallways and into our rooms. Smokin’ good, ain’t it! Das ist unsere Eingangshalle. Und nein, das ist nicht nur ein schlechtes Bild von unserer Lobby (obwohl, zugegeben, das Bild ist ziemlich schlecht). Aber das ist unsere Lobby während der Ernte. Der leichte Nebel, den ihr da seht, ist eigentlich Rauch. Von all den Erntefeuern. Und der Rauch gibt nicht nur unserer Lobby eine verträumte Erscheinung. Dieser Rauch ist überall, wabert durch die Flure und Hallen in unsere Wohnungen. Ziemlich verr(a)ucht, findet ihr nicht auch?

13 – 2 + 5 1/2 = A Very Merry Party

Published by Sula H.

13 – 2 + 5 1/2 = Eine muntere Gesellschaft So, we’re on holiday, right? And one of my students had asked me, if I would like to go hiking with her. I thought that might be a good idea and began asking around to find more people who’d be interested to join. Quite a number of people (both students and colleagues) expressed an interest, so that by yesterday (Sunday) I thought it might be a good idea to start looking for transportation. We had enough people at this time to be needing a second van. Problem #1: It’s the holiday. One of the biggest holidays of the year, at that. Well, the holiday itself isn’t actually really the problem. We like holidays. It’s just that the problem with holidays here is that half the nation tends to be traveling and is in need of transportation, which leads us to Problem #2: All vans are booked. At least by the time I started to think about calling various drivers, none of them was available …

Of Buckets and Bowls and a Very Risky Shower

Published by Sula H.

Von Eimern und Schüsseln und einer ganz riskanten Dusche The announcement came a couple of days ago: There will be no water on Saturday due to some maintenance work (or should I say because there’s been a number of colleagues who haven’t had hot water in their showers for quite a while?). A friendly reminder came in last night, once more emphasizing that water would be out from 8 am to 6 pm, or in other words the entire day. Someone had mentioned to me a couple days ago that this only applies to certain parts of the building (where I live wasn’t supposed to be part of that). So, I kind of ignored those notifications and merely made a mental notice that I’d fill up a bucket and a bowl before the water was gone, hoping that I’d remember. It being a holiday, however, I “forgot” to wake up before 8 and by the time I saw the notification again, which reminded me, it was nearly 10 am. Oh no! I said to …