Simple things make me happy

Another week flies by. Late last week I figured out how to get the bus to WalMart. It wasn’t a place I shopped at, in the states. But here, it is so convenient that I cannot pass it up. I loaded up on household supplies and ended up with the knapsack stuffed full and heavy (OK, there was wine in there too), a 4-pack of paper towels under my arm & 2 shopping bags. Made it home with everything intact, but it was a close thing. The design of my knapsack is such that if the zipper gets opened a bit at the top, and there’s lots of stuff in it, it unzips itself rather quickly. As I was coming off the bus I noticed some plastic cups rolling along the pavement. Yikes - those had been inside! I got the pack off and set down just in time before the wine fell out. Got it contained again & home with no further incident. I can now better gauge what I can carry, and it is not w hole shopping cart full.

On Saturday, we ended up driving back to WalMart, it seems to be the closest ‘getranke’ market – drinks – to us. I wanted to have plenty of waters and some beers on hand. It was easy to load up the cart and buy it, not so easy fitting it into the car (we took a couple plastic crates for the water and beer) and very tough taking it upstairs.

Then we got everything staged for the potluck, this involved taking the kitchen table and chairs to the dining room, and the chairs off the balcony too.

We played from 6 – 7:30 on Saturday evening, then Logan and I zoomed home (first a bus, then the U-bahn) and quick cleaned up and got the lasagna into the oven. The first guests showed up at about 8:30, everyone was there by 9. I think we didn’t start eating until 9:30. A bit late for me, considering I had been running around the court. Two of the people, Anna & Niklas, are very good players. They invited Phillip & Christiane. Phillip is the Bavarian badminton champion. Watching him play was amazing – just a blur. The sound when he smashed it – I didn’t know a badminton shuttlecock could make that noise! I have a lot to learn. Not sure how to get more practice in, I may need to find a coach.

This was the first time I’d made lasagna here, and I substituted the Bavarian ‘Quark’ for ricotta cheese. It worked out well. And, I made a huge amount so we have leftovers. The dining room table here is narrow, but with the 2 leaves open we managed to squeeze 10 of us around it. We had the kitchen table set, but ended up not needing it as a couple people couldn’t make it. So no one had to sit at the “kid’s table”.

The house is still pretty clean and picked up, so it feels nice to be here. A win all around.

It was great entertaining again, even though I miss having all my utensils, nice wine glasses, platters & plates. I will have to think carefully about what I’ll serve at future events, I don’t want to buy a bunch of stuff here, there’s just no place for it. But I did find, finally, a salad spinner. We have been using a colander, which is poorly designed in that there are no holes at the very bottom, so there’s a little puddle of water in there no matter how much you shake it. I had seen a lovely chrome job in the local equivalent of Restoration Hardware, but was NOT going to pay 155 Euros for a salad spinner! Last week I was browsing in the nearby Woolworth and there it was – a thing of beauty, to me at least. I’m very happy with my 5.95 purchase.

On Sunday we went upstairs to visit with some of the neighbors. 16:00 at the Simons, for cookies, cakes & tea. It was great to meet them and the Luhmans, who live below us. Their English is great and their friendliness was wonderful. Dr Simon is a dentist by trade and a hobbyist electrician/designer. He showed us several lamps that he’s made – a couple have ostrich eggs for the shade, and he’s drilled out stars all over the shell, so the light twinkles through. Beautiful. Their place is rich with paintings, some of which Dr. Simon’s mother has done; photos, 3 large framed racks containing test tubes filled with sands from around the world; all kinds of things to look at. It was fun to see how their place is differently configured from ours, and to see how they’ve decorated.

Christmas cookies are taken very seriously here – everyone bakes and there are several ‘must-do’ types. I really like a couple of them and will look for recipes, for next year. I think I have just about OD’ed on cookies for this year. Since I have no scale I can’t tell if they’re sticking. But I have realized it’s time to join a gym. I have not been walking much or biking at all and that’s not good. There is one pretty close to here that has reasonable prices. Meanwhile I’m walking up all the stairs I can.