I think I posted earlier in this blog that I noticed there weren't as many mosquitoes here in Switzerland... I think that was because we were close to the city, because now that we are closer to nature... We are being attacked!
I understand we live right next to a brook, we have a farm in our back yard, and we leave the windows wide open all day (no screens), but still it's hard to believe that this wasn't a bigger problem just 20 minutes into the city. I have read so many places that the mosquitoes here are smaller and slower. I will agree with some of that, because they are definitely a lot smaller here than at home, however, they are only slower once they are already filled with your blood. They are also incredible hiders. They like to buzz in your ear the second before you are about to pass out. You know that if you don't kill him, you will wake up the next morning covered in bites on the parts of your body that weren't completely covered by a blanket. This has been an issue the last couple of nights.
Just a few nights ago, Brett and I were pretty fed up with the biting and the buzzing. They had been bothering me for a while, but Brett thought I was making it into a bigger deal than it was... until he started to get bit up. Ha! We took a few precautionary steps... First, we made sure the doors and windows were closed when night came. Second, we made sure to keep our bedroom door closed so mosquitoes that may be hiding around the other rooms, didn't make their way into ours. Third, we had a good ol' fashion mosquito hunt right before we went to bed.
Brett and I both grabbed something to smack them with. We stood in our room and swung at anything that moved. Of course, because they are a good amount smaller than what we are used to, it's amazing how much harder they are to see. They hide on the walls, the ceiling and of course the curtains. We killed 6 mosquitoes. We stood for a couple more minutes waiting to see if we could hear anything else buzzing... silence. Perfect. We got our PJ's on and went to bed.
Buzzzzzz! Buzzzzzz! You have got to be kidding me?! We killed 6 of these horrible insects and they were still some alive. This was insane. We couldn't believe it. We tried to swat them away as we were pretty tired, but finally we had it. We didn't want to wake up an itchy mess again... We turned the light back on and of course they hide.
Now, I know we have a farm in our backyard and not many other people are up at midnight killing mosquitoes, but if anybody was up and could see our window from their window... they must have had a good laugh. There aren't many street lights where we live and when it's dark outside, it's pitch black. So, I'm sure everyone could clearly see us going nuts on the mosquitoes because our light was the brightest thing in the neighborhood.
Anyways, back to the mosquito hunt. We stood still in awkward positions every time we heard a buzz, because we knew if we moved they would hide again. The more they hid, the longer we would have to stay up doing this mosquito hunt. Ready for it? 10 more! We killed 10 more mosquitoes! Where were they coming from? How did they find us? Why...
Brett and I began to think that there was some kind of secret passage they were taking into our room. At this point, I realize we started going a bit crazy. However, I'm sure you would too if you were already covered in mosquito bites and they were threatening to bite you even more.
Brett thought it would be a good idea to leave a few of the dead bodies on the window and the wall to send a warning to the rest of the mosquitoes that dared to enter our room. We don't know how to say "Tell all your friends!" in German, but I think squashed mosquito knows no language barriers.
We go to bed finally to the sound of silence and enjoy a bite free night.... until two nights later!
So, that was last night. We couldn't find this thing to save our lives. We went to bed, heard the buzzing, got up saw nothing. Shook the curtains, carefully looked on the walls and ceiling. Nothing. There wasn't a mosquito in sight. We tried to go back to bed. Buzzed again! Alright, he's in here, we have to find him. This time, I got up and turned the light on, Brett stayed in bed to lure him back. Nothing. So, then I stood at the light switch, with the lights off, waiting for Brett to tell me he heard buzzing. I would then turn on the lights and run for the mosquito. This didn't work either. I know... I said we started to go crazy. Finally, we just decided that the literal markings on the wall would scare the jerk away from biting us that night. We went to bed and covered up as much of our bodies as we could with the blankets to ensure we didn't get bit. I'm pretty sure we didn't hear from that crazy mosquito again, but there's always tonight...
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Friday, September 23, 2011
Appenzeller, Emmentaler, Forsterkase... Oh my!
Yes, those are all types of cheeses. I just returned from a trip to Migros to pick up a few grocery items. While I was there, I ventured into the cheese isle... Oh yeah, they have one whole isle dedicated to cheeses. You have your soft cheese, hard cheese, shredded cheese, sliced cheese, semi-soft cheese, sheep cheese, goat cheese, cheese spread, cheese from France, cheese from Germany, cheese from the Alps... and the list goes on.
So, I stand there gazing at this array of cheese and realize just how impossible this is. Sure, my first stares are at the Migros brand and the cheese that's on Action, but I don't even know what I'm buying. I know it's cheese and by analyzing the texture I can come up with a good guess whether it's hard or semi-soft. My best bet is to look at the Italian labeling, because at least that's pretty close to Spanish and with the very little Italian I know, I can get some words translated, or at least enough that I feel comfortable buying it.
There's just so many different kinds! To think, that in the States, we categorize that cheese with the holes in it as Swiss cheese and that's it. I also noticed that most of the cheeses are white, with not many yellow cheese options. The fact that everything is the same color, doesn't help me much either.
I stood there, for probably about 15 minutes, just reading... or trying to. Other people passing by, grabbing the exact kind of cheese they want. Out of all the people that passed by (and there were a lot because it's a Friday evening) only one person stopped to analyze the difference between two difference cheeses. Two!? I'm trying to take this whole isle and figure out what to put in my little basket!
Sure, once you get some idea of what type of cheese you want, then there's the price. So, now I'm trying to compare prices with types and sort of mixing in the equation of the cheese that's on Action. The problem is, the Action cheese isn't always going to be your best bet, so then you got to figure out the amounts of cheese that's in the package. Alright, so this is where I started going crazy because since I went to school in the US, we were only taught pounds and ounces... Everything here is in metrics! Ah!
I understand most of you are thinking, why is this one trip to Migros so difficult. 1) I was buy myself and didn't have Leve to ask to translate and 2) I wanted to buy a different cheese than what we had been buying before.
It's amazing the little things you take for granted when you are living in a country that speaks your first language. How easy would it be to go to the nearest Copps or Pick n' Save and say "I'd like a quarter-pound of cheddar please"? Oh yeah, too easy! Anyways, the cheese that I ended up getting is...
And I still don't really have a clue as to what it is... I could Google it, but I'm too hungry to do that now. I'll let you know how it tastes later. Dinner time!
So, I stand there gazing at this array of cheese and realize just how impossible this is. Sure, my first stares are at the Migros brand and the cheese that's on Action, but I don't even know what I'm buying. I know it's cheese and by analyzing the texture I can come up with a good guess whether it's hard or semi-soft. My best bet is to look at the Italian labeling, because at least that's pretty close to Spanish and with the very little Italian I know, I can get some words translated, or at least enough that I feel comfortable buying it.
There's just so many different kinds! To think, that in the States, we categorize that cheese with the holes in it as Swiss cheese and that's it. I also noticed that most of the cheeses are white, with not many yellow cheese options. The fact that everything is the same color, doesn't help me much either.
I stood there, for probably about 15 minutes, just reading... or trying to. Other people passing by, grabbing the exact kind of cheese they want. Out of all the people that passed by (and there were a lot because it's a Friday evening) only one person stopped to analyze the difference between two difference cheeses. Two!? I'm trying to take this whole isle and figure out what to put in my little basket!
Sure, once you get some idea of what type of cheese you want, then there's the price. So, now I'm trying to compare prices with types and sort of mixing in the equation of the cheese that's on Action. The problem is, the Action cheese isn't always going to be your best bet, so then you got to figure out the amounts of cheese that's in the package. Alright, so this is where I started going crazy because since I went to school in the US, we were only taught pounds and ounces... Everything here is in metrics! Ah!
I understand most of you are thinking, why is this one trip to Migros so difficult. 1) I was buy myself and didn't have Leve to ask to translate and 2) I wanted to buy a different cheese than what we had been buying before.
It's amazing the little things you take for granted when you are living in a country that speaks your first language. How easy would it be to go to the nearest Copps or Pick n' Save and say "I'd like a quarter-pound of cheddar please"? Oh yeah, too easy! Anyways, the cheese that I ended up getting is...
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Love Me Some Quiet Sunday
Not that we didn't do enough relaxing on Saturday, but Sunday is beginning to be one of my favorite days of the week. However, I am missing our usual Sundays in the fall, where it's football, football, football. However, we were lucky enough to catch the Philadelphia Eagles vs. the St. Louis Rams game since it was an afternoon game. It was definitely comforting to watch a little football on a Sunday night, even though it wasn't the Sunday night football game, but it was night time for us!
Anyways, most of the day was spent relaxing and hanging out with Leve. We talk about culture, history and differences between different countries. Luckily for us, he has experience in more than one country, unlike Brett and I. It's a lot of fun listening to stories. Just talking is an experience, because sometimes Leve can't think of the word he's trying to say in English and it turns into a guessing game, until we all figure it out. This works in our favor as well, because then we learn what the German word is, and sometimes the Hungarian one as well! A lot of our discussions stem from these guessing games. It's more fun than you would think!
In other news, the cows are getting closer! I don't know why we are so obsessed with these cows. I think it's because I've never had cows living in my backyard before and the fact that they wear bells around their necks is frosting on the cake!
Then, the sky started to get dark and we heard thunder in the distance. Could it be? Another thunderstorm!? It blew in very fast. You know when a storm is coming because other than that, we don't get much wind where we live... I think the mountains block it. I'm not sure though.
First it was a small drizzle, but then it was like a torrential downpour. Luckily, some time in our earlier conversations when we first moved here, we asked if there were tornadoes here. Leve said no. It sounds silly, because usually wherever you go in the States, you have an idea about what their weather is like in different states. When you go to a different country, you have no idea... so you ask. So, we were able to just enjoy the storm. Then, to our surprise, it started to hail! I was not expecting this. Leve was pretty shocked about the hail, because I guess it doesn't happen too often. This is when we told him about the hail that Wisconsin gets... he couldn't believe it!
You couldn't even see the mountains in the back! The clouds were so low and the rain was so heavy. It was great!
After the rain had stopped, we walked out on the back balcony. The rain was so heavy and rushing down the mountain so fast, you could hear the brook next to our apartment. Usually you can't hear it because the water travels so gentle, but after this rain, it sounded like the ocean, or a large waterfall.
Later that night, we had salad and dinner like usual with Leve. We watch the football game and taught Leve a little bit more about American football. Right now he says his favorite team is the New England Patriots, but we are pretty sure we can convert him to a Packers fan. They are only the best team in the world! So, far we have only seen one person in Switzerland wearing a Packers sweatshirt. Not sure if he was a fan or not, but it still counts anyways.
Another enjoyable quiet Sunday has passed... on to the next day!
Anyways, most of the day was spent relaxing and hanging out with Leve. We talk about culture, history and differences between different countries. Luckily for us, he has experience in more than one country, unlike Brett and I. It's a lot of fun listening to stories. Just talking is an experience, because sometimes Leve can't think of the word he's trying to say in English and it turns into a guessing game, until we all figure it out. This works in our favor as well, because then we learn what the German word is, and sometimes the Hungarian one as well! A lot of our discussions stem from these guessing games. It's more fun than you would think!
In other news, the cows are getting closer! I don't know why we are so obsessed with these cows. I think it's because I've never had cows living in my backyard before and the fact that they wear bells around their necks is frosting on the cake!
Then, the sky started to get dark and we heard thunder in the distance. Could it be? Another thunderstorm!? It blew in very fast. You know when a storm is coming because other than that, we don't get much wind where we live... I think the mountains block it. I'm not sure though.
First it was a small drizzle, but then it was like a torrential downpour. Luckily, some time in our earlier conversations when we first moved here, we asked if there were tornadoes here. Leve said no. It sounds silly, because usually wherever you go in the States, you have an idea about what their weather is like in different states. When you go to a different country, you have no idea... so you ask. So, we were able to just enjoy the storm. Then, to our surprise, it started to hail! I was not expecting this. Leve was pretty shocked about the hail, because I guess it doesn't happen too often. This is when we told him about the hail that Wisconsin gets... he couldn't believe it!
You couldn't even see the mountains in the back! The clouds were so low and the rain was so heavy. It was great!
After the rain had stopped, we walked out on the back balcony. The rain was so heavy and rushing down the mountain so fast, you could hear the brook next to our apartment. Usually you can't hear it because the water travels so gentle, but after this rain, it sounded like the ocean, or a large waterfall.
Later that night, we had salad and dinner like usual with Leve. We watch the football game and taught Leve a little bit more about American football. Right now he says his favorite team is the New England Patriots, but we are pretty sure we can convert him to a Packers fan. They are only the best team in the world! So, far we have only seen one person in Switzerland wearing a Packers sweatshirt. Not sure if he was a fan or not, but it still counts anyways.
Another enjoyable quiet Sunday has passed... on to the next day!
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Warm Sun, Cold Lake
Today was hot. I don't know why, but 80°F feels a lot hotter here than it does in the States. Also, so far my experience has been, it's not the air that is warm, it is the sun. As long as the sun was beating on you, you were sweating, but if you got into the slightest bit of shade, you felt relief. This was great, because at least when walking around on a hot day, you could walk on the side of the street that was in the shade.
Anyways, back to it being really hot. We didn't have much to do except the usual Saturday grocery shopping. We got that done pretty early, enjoyed some lunch together with Leve, then decided to all go to the beach. Back by where our hostel was, there was a big open grassy area and a beach for people to sun bath. Beaches are full of ping pong tables and there is plenty of space to lounge. We set up our stuff on the grass and enjoyed the view.
It was getting warm in the sun, so we decided to get go for a dip in the lake. Leve checked the lake temperature before we left. He said it was 20°C, (68°F) which was pretty good for mid-September because it usually doesn't get much warmer than that. Lake Luzern is known for being a colder lake. I went in to about my shins before I almost screamed it was so cold. Leve of course just ran in and then swam away. Brett and I were standing there... shivering... as Leve was already probably 25ft. out. By the time he swam back, we still hadn't moved. He said we needed to just go completely underwater and then we would feel great. Yeah, I've heard that before. I took the plunge... when I came back up, I didn't feel much different. That water was just plain freezing. Now that we were really cooled down, we went to go back and lay in the sun.
In previous posts I mentioned a bridge that we saw other people jumping off of. I told myself that I needed to do this. The bridge, at its tallest point, was 12ft. above the water. We told Leve about this bridge, and he said he would jump off of it too! So, we left our stuff on the grass and took a short walk to the bridge. There were a few other people on it jumping or discussing whether they wanted to jump or not. Leve happily did it first!
Brett climbing over the railing and getting ready to jump.
Brett and Leve.
Brett and Leve off to go take one more dip into the Lake. I was fine staying nice and warm in the sun.
On to the next day!
Anyways, back to it being really hot. We didn't have much to do except the usual Saturday grocery shopping. We got that done pretty early, enjoyed some lunch together with Leve, then decided to all go to the beach. Back by where our hostel was, there was a big open grassy area and a beach for people to sun bath. Beaches are full of ping pong tables and there is plenty of space to lounge. We set up our stuff on the grass and enjoyed the view.
It was getting warm in the sun, so we decided to get go for a dip in the lake. Leve checked the lake temperature before we left. He said it was 20°C, (68°F) which was pretty good for mid-September because it usually doesn't get much warmer than that. Lake Luzern is known for being a colder lake. I went in to about my shins before I almost screamed it was so cold. Leve of course just ran in and then swam away. Brett and I were standing there... shivering... as Leve was already probably 25ft. out. By the time he swam back, we still hadn't moved. He said we needed to just go completely underwater and then we would feel great. Yeah, I've heard that before. I took the plunge... when I came back up, I didn't feel much different. That water was just plain freezing. Now that we were really cooled down, we went to go back and lay in the sun.
In previous posts I mentioned a bridge that we saw other people jumping off of. I told myself that I needed to do this. The bridge, at its tallest point, was 12ft. above the water. We told Leve about this bridge, and he said he would jump off of it too! So, we left our stuff on the grass and took a short walk to the bridge. There were a few other people on it jumping or discussing whether they wanted to jump or not. Leve happily did it first!
That was Leve's splash! Now, Brett's turn! I obviously made him go before me. Just because I said I wanted to do it, didn't mean I wasn't scared!
Brett climbing over the railing and getting ready to jump.
Woo! It looks like he is flying. Leve is waiting patiently in the water for him.
Now, it was my turn. Oh boy... Have I mentioned I'm not a huge fan of heights? So, I asked Brett how I should jump in. He told me to just do a canon ball. So, I did a canon ball.
There we go! That was the longest drop into water I have ever done. I remember thinking, as I tightly held my legs up making the perfect canon ball, "Why haven't I hit the water yet? It's been like a minu...." Boom! Wow, that was cold! And oh, did that hurt! My butt stung so bad. Apparently, when Brett said do a canon ball, he didn't mean to do one all the way to the water, but to release half way down. I broke the water with my butt, and only my butt. That's a hard hit from 12ft. up!
Yay! We survived! That was so much fun, but I still could hardly feel my butt. Here is proof that I'm a canon ball pro!
Yeah, see that slightly purple spot... that was already a bruise forming; totally worth it!
We went back to our towels and laid down to soak up more sun. The bridge jumping must have tuckered me out because Brett caught a picture of me dozing off...
We enjoyed the rest of our day in the sun. Hung out with Leve and played some beach ball. It was a good Saturday with plenty of fun.
Brett and Leve.
Brett and Leve off to go take one more dip into the Lake. I was fine staying nice and warm in the sun.
On to the next day!
Monday, September 12, 2011
Forgetful Friday
To be completely honest, I don't remember what we did on Friday. Probably the usual... Migros, food, visiting with Leve... However, neither of us can remember any specifics. So, I'm going to take advantage of this post to explain about Switzerland recycling.
I have never see recycling like I have seen it here. Not only was I shocked that they had to pay for the bags to through their trash out, but that there are special recycling sites near every neighborhood. People who live near by bring a wagon or carry their recyclables over, the people who live farther away bring trunk fulls of stuff. At these special areas, they have large bins for all different types of recycling. There was a bin for green glass, clear glass, brown class, hard cardboard, light cardboard, plastic, etc.
The first day we spent at our new flat Leve gave us the run down on how we had to split up our garbage. There is a small bin in the kitchen for all food scraps. This gets dumped into the compost. So, egg shells, fruit peels, potato skins, bread crumbs... all go into this little bin. It fills up in about a week and a half. Then we have to dump the small bin in the large compost. The large compost is located near the garage entrance of our flat.
Next to the small bin, is a little plastic bag full of aluminum and glass. The glass can easily be separated from the aluminum, so it's okay to keep everything in one bag. We haven't had to throw this out yet, but if we had to, we would take a walk down the block to one of those large recycling areas.
Then, there are three shelves in the kitchen. We separate paper, like magazines and newspapers into this pile. There's a separate pile for light weight cardboard and then another shelve for heavier weight cardboard.
We got used to this method pretty quick, but the rule of thumb was, try to use everything you could. If you had to throw something out, try to make sure it doesn't belong in one of the other piles before you put it in one of the blue trash bags. I still can't believe they make them back 4chf for garbage bags.
Anyways, that was my Forgetful Friday run down of how recycle friendly Switzerland is!
I have never see recycling like I have seen it here. Not only was I shocked that they had to pay for the bags to through their trash out, but that there are special recycling sites near every neighborhood. People who live near by bring a wagon or carry their recyclables over, the people who live farther away bring trunk fulls of stuff. At these special areas, they have large bins for all different types of recycling. There was a bin for green glass, clear glass, brown class, hard cardboard, light cardboard, plastic, etc.
The first day we spent at our new flat Leve gave us the run down on how we had to split up our garbage. There is a small bin in the kitchen for all food scraps. This gets dumped into the compost. So, egg shells, fruit peels, potato skins, bread crumbs... all go into this little bin. It fills up in about a week and a half. Then we have to dump the small bin in the large compost. The large compost is located near the garage entrance of our flat.
Next to the small bin, is a little plastic bag full of aluminum and glass. The glass can easily be separated from the aluminum, so it's okay to keep everything in one bag. We haven't had to throw this out yet, but if we had to, we would take a walk down the block to one of those large recycling areas.
Then, there are three shelves in the kitchen. We separate paper, like magazines and newspapers into this pile. There's a separate pile for light weight cardboard and then another shelve for heavier weight cardboard.
We got used to this method pretty quick, but the rule of thumb was, try to use everything you could. If you had to throw something out, try to make sure it doesn't belong in one of the other piles before you put it in one of the blue trash bags. I still can't believe they make them back 4chf for garbage bags.
Anyways, that was my Forgetful Friday run down of how recycle friendly Switzerland is!
Apartment Tour Thursday
I thought today would be a good day to show you around our new flat. First, let's start with the entrance. In previous posts, I mentioned that everyone kept their shoes outside of their door. Leve had a cabinet for us to keep all our shoes in so that they don't lay in a big messy pile in front of the door.
We also bought an air freshener because after Brett and I added our shoes in there, it didn't smell so good when you opened up the doors. We didn't want Leve to regret letting us use the cabinet... Now, it smells like raspberries... and feet.
Here is the view from the front door....
That leads into our little area. To the right of the curtains, is the bathroom. Brett is busy playing some game on his computer in our bedroom.
Our room with the windows wide open. If you look on the far right of the picture, it's the light button to turn on the lights in our little hallway. All the lights are like this, they don't have the up-and-down switches. This takes some getting used to.
Our bathroom. And below, a view from the other side of the bathroom.
Here is a picture of one side of the kitchen. The farthest left door is the refrigerator. The bottom part is the refrigerator as well, except fruit and beverages belong in there. The top part of the main door is the freezer, which is not pictured very well.
The other side of the kitchen. Some nice tiling... a stove and an oven... the usual kitchen stuff.
Oh yeah, almost forgot... off-brand Nutella! Who would have thought they made it?!
This jar brings me to another point. Notice there are three separate lines of text. The first line is German, second is French and the third is Italian. It's so neat to see three languages on every single package or food label. Anyways, off-brand Nutella tastes exactly like Nutella. It's great!
Next, is the eating area. I think the pub style bench is awesome! The benches lift up for storage as well. Right next to the table is a small balcony.
This is the view from the small balcony.
This is the other side of the living room.
The large balcony views out the same side as our bedroom window. Below is a view of the left side from the balcony.
We also bought an air freshener because after Brett and I added our shoes in there, it didn't smell so good when you opened up the doors. We didn't want Leve to regret letting us use the cabinet... Now, it smells like raspberries... and feet.
Here is the view from the front door....
That leads into our little area. To the right of the curtains, is the bathroom. Brett is busy playing some game on his computer in our bedroom.
Our room with the windows wide open. If you look on the far right of the picture, it's the light button to turn on the lights in our little hallway. All the lights are like this, they don't have the up-and-down switches. This takes some getting used to.
Our bathroom. And below, a view from the other side of the bathroom.
Here is a picture of one side of the kitchen. The farthest left door is the refrigerator. The bottom part is the refrigerator as well, except fruit and beverages belong in there. The top part of the main door is the freezer, which is not pictured very well.
The other side of the kitchen. Some nice tiling... a stove and an oven... the usual kitchen stuff.
Oh yeah, almost forgot... off-brand Nutella! Who would have thought they made it?!
This jar brings me to another point. Notice there are three separate lines of text. The first line is German, second is French and the third is Italian. It's so neat to see three languages on every single package or food label. Anyways, off-brand Nutella tastes exactly like Nutella. It's great!
Next, is the eating area. I think the pub style bench is awesome! The benches lift up for storage as well. Right next to the table is a small balcony.
This is the view from the small balcony.
Then, down below us, there is a little swing-set and some benches to sit on. Oh, and a neighbor kitty.
On the the living room... Directly behind the eating area is the entrance into the living room. Below is a picture of the nice fireplace and door to the large balcony.
This is the other side of the living room.
On to the balcony.
The large balcony views out the same side as our bedroom window. Below is a view of the left side from the balcony.
Well, I hope you enjoyed our tour. Welcome to our flat!
Relaxing Wednesday
Like I said, we didn't have much going on this week... We were able to finally relax now that we knew we had a roof over our heads. We have been hanging out with Leve a lot. It's been fun getting to know him and his Switzerland experience thus far.
The first night we stayed at our flat was last Friday night. That day, Leve was gone earlier in the day because he was giving blood. I forgot to mention this in the earlier posts, and I think it's interesting enough to bring it up again. When we sat down that evening with Leve, he offered us some wine. Brett and I happily accepted. Then Leve said something along the lines of the reason why he is drinking wine is because he got his blood taken that day. Brett and I laughed, thinking it was a joke. Like, oh yeah, drinking wine is a creative way of bringing your blood sugar back up to where it needs to be. Leve looked confused as to why we were laughing. We tried to then understand exactly what he meant. After some back and forth, we realized that he got the bottle of wine from giving blood. Yes. That was his gift for giving blood; a nice bottle of Italian wine. We still laughed and told him that in the States you get a juice box and some stale cookies when you give blood. Can you imagine how many more people would want to give blood if they gave booze away with it?! What an idea.
We took another trip to Migros to pick up food for the next couple of days. Pretty much every night so far, Leve makes a salad for us to all share before dinner, and then one of us makes dinner for everyone. It's been nice to have someone else to share dinner with. Brett finally found hot sauce at Migros, so now he is a happy camper. Leve has tried to eat at the same hot level as Brett... not quite successful, but at least he tried. He now only has "8 drops" of hot sauce instead of Brett's 25 or more!
It was raining on and off throughout the day, so we stayed inside for most of it. Like I said, it's been comforting to just have a place where we can lounge and relax. There was no place to do this at the hostel.
Tonight, Brett cooked dinner. It was so good. Pasta with butter and cheese and potatoes with a mixture of seasonings. I don't know what Brett used, but they were delicious.
Brett cooking dinner.
My dinner. Brett and leve'e dishes had meat in it.
Brett relaxing as I do the dishes. That's the trade. One cooks, the other cleans it up. Sounds like a good deal to me!
Well, that was our day in a nutshell. In other news, the cows are getting closer and closer to our building. The farmer must come out in the early morning and moves this barbed wire line to keep the cows in one area. It's fun to watch them.
And now I even know how to say cow in German... Kuh. Well, that's all for today... on to the next!
The first night we stayed at our flat was last Friday night. That day, Leve was gone earlier in the day because he was giving blood. I forgot to mention this in the earlier posts, and I think it's interesting enough to bring it up again. When we sat down that evening with Leve, he offered us some wine. Brett and I happily accepted. Then Leve said something along the lines of the reason why he is drinking wine is because he got his blood taken that day. Brett and I laughed, thinking it was a joke. Like, oh yeah, drinking wine is a creative way of bringing your blood sugar back up to where it needs to be. Leve looked confused as to why we were laughing. We tried to then understand exactly what he meant. After some back and forth, we realized that he got the bottle of wine from giving blood. Yes. That was his gift for giving blood; a nice bottle of Italian wine. We still laughed and told him that in the States you get a juice box and some stale cookies when you give blood. Can you imagine how many more people would want to give blood if they gave booze away with it?! What an idea.
We took another trip to Migros to pick up food for the next couple of days. Pretty much every night so far, Leve makes a salad for us to all share before dinner, and then one of us makes dinner for everyone. It's been nice to have someone else to share dinner with. Brett finally found hot sauce at Migros, so now he is a happy camper. Leve has tried to eat at the same hot level as Brett... not quite successful, but at least he tried. He now only has "8 drops" of hot sauce instead of Brett's 25 or more!
It was raining on and off throughout the day, so we stayed inside for most of it. Like I said, it's been comforting to just have a place where we can lounge and relax. There was no place to do this at the hostel.
Tonight, Brett cooked dinner. It was so good. Pasta with butter and cheese and potatoes with a mixture of seasonings. I don't know what Brett used, but they were delicious.
Brett cooking dinner.
My dinner. Brett and leve'e dishes had meat in it.
Brett relaxing as I do the dishes. That's the trade. One cooks, the other cleans it up. Sounds like a good deal to me!
Well, that was our day in a nutshell. In other news, the cows are getting closer and closer to our building. The farmer must come out in the early morning and moves this barbed wire line to keep the cows in one area. It's fun to watch them.
And now I even know how to say cow in German... Kuh. Well, that's all for today... on to the next!
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