Last night I was awakened by a crash of thunder and a bolt of lightning that made my entire window turn white. I hadn't fastened my window all the way earlier, and storm winds had blown it open (fortunately just at the top-- yay German windows!!). I got out of bed to close it only to be greeted by another flash of light. This time it became clear. Everything had been turned white, not because of the size of the lightning, but because of the heavy snow that was falling. So there I was, in the middle of the night, standing at my window watching this amazing nature show of lightning, thunder, and snow. The best part? Alydia didn't wake up and get scared, so I was allowed to go back into my own bed and get to sleep as the storm continued. Alydia woke me up this morning with a "Mommy, mommy, there's SNOW outside!!" "I know, Alydia," I said, "I know."
Friday I turned in my first paper, and Tuesday I turn in the second. The paper is done, except for a few formatting formalities, and I may very well turn it in on Monday if I get the chance. I just want to get it out of the way. But I finished the big writing portions last week, and was able to use part of last week and the weekend so far to do some reading for my thesis next year. It's hard to believe I'm already working on a thesis to graduate from college. I feel like there are lots of things wrong with this. But, it's here and it's coming fast.
Most of my friends either just have a topic picked out or haven't even gotten that far, but all my research is happening now because this is one of the few places with free public access to the reading materials I need. I am, for those of you who don't know, studying Luxembourg, specifically Luxembourgish. I haven't officially formed a question yet. That's what all this research is for. But I'd like to talk about the existence and rise of Luxembourgish as a language. I'm doing a survey next semester that asks questions about what languages native Luxembourgers use (between the three German, French, and Luxembourgish that are used in the school systems), and which languages they want to use or prefer to use. But I've started this reading, and every page is making me more and more interested in my topic. I think I've picked a good one. They're such an interesting people with such an interesting history. Granted, they're no Middle-East. Nothing completely horrible and devastating has really happened to them. But they're interesting despite their un-thrill-story tendencies.
On a separate note: I am really picky about my food. Most of you know this. I'm obsessed with peanut butter, but don't do much by the way of fruits. Here's why: food goes bad. I don't like food. I wouldn't eat it if I didn't have to (except for maybe chocolate. seriously, guys, that stuff is good), and I certainly don't like dealing with it if it's in any way "tainted". I hate doing dishes, I don't like eating leftovers, and I will not eat a soft apple or a banana bruise no matter how many times you tell me it won't hurt me. I know, I'm a snob. But I just think it's gross. Which leads me to my story...
Tonight for dinner I wanted to brown some meat and make tacos or sloppy joe's or something. I had bought meat on Wednesday afternoon, intending to cook it then, but I've been fighting off some kind of sickness since then and feeling too nauseous to handle cooking meat, so I stuck the meat, still wrapped, way back in the fridge and right under the little freezer portion. Today I was feeling much better (yay!), so I decided to brown that meat, thinking that in three days, being refrigerated, it would still be okay.
I turned the meat out into the skillet, and it looked a little off. Nothing big, mind you. Just a little oddly colored. But seeing as I've only browned meat twice in Germany and seeing as it's a different type of ground beef than in the states, I thought I was overreacting. I turned the heat on and started to cook it... it didn't brown like it was supposed to. Parts of it turned that weird grey-ish color that we associate with cooked meat, but parts of it turned a really dark purple. Eww. And, of course, it started to smell. So, off the heat went and after it had cooled a bit I double bagged a trash bag and scooped the meat in. I then put those two trash bags inside another trash bag and hauled it outside. I promptly scalded my hands with hot water and soap once I got back in, and the skillet is going through its third run of boiling water. I haven't even attempted to scrub it. I'm just letting it sit there in hot water. (Don't worry --I will scrub it. I'm just not brave enough yet.)
One more reason to go back to my pre-christmas-basically-vegetarian way of life.
Next post: leaps and bounds in language acquisition
No comments:
Post a Comment