And now, for an exciting 'Julia cooking' story:
It's actually not at all my fault, and I didn't light any fires, but anyway...
I was making pasta last Tuesday night, as it is one of the meals I am fully able to make. When I went to get water to boil from the sink, I realized that it was kind of clogged, but nothing too terrible. While my water was boiling, and I was minding my own business, cutting up some tomatoes, I realized that the sink was gurgling, and bubbling up with dirty water from the drain. I was mildly disturbed by this realization, but didn't think it would overflow. Turns out, it would overflow, and start dripping all over the floor. Luckily, my pasta was already cooked, so I took all my food from the kitchen and ran to my room. I then went to the bulletin board in the lobby to see if there was an emergency number to call (at this point there was water all over the kitchen floor. and it was gross). However, the signs on the board were all in German. So then I started asking anyone who walked through the lobby if they knew a number to call - no one did. By this time, water had stopped actively pouring out of the sink, so I thought that it probably wouldn't get any worse. So I went to bed, hoping everything would be better in the morning.
By some miracle, in the morning, most of the water was gone, but the sink was full of dirt, and everything was gross. I was able to get to my cereal, though, which made me happy.
I then ran into a man that lives on my floor, who was no where to be found during the sink explosion, and asked him if he had seen the sink last night. He hadn't, and didn't really notice the dirt everywhere... but he did know where to find the landlady, Frau Werner. So I went to see her to tell her that the sink had exploded and that there was water everywhere. Although she spoke very little English, the words 'water all over the kitchen' were successful, and she sent someone to fix it while I was at work. I was also able to buy washing machine tokens from her, so overall, that was a success. And now the sink works great!
Story number 2, in which Julia still doesn't speak German:
By Thursday, I realized I should go to an ATM so I would have money for my weekend adventures. Also, the euro was way down last week, so I wanted to capitalize on the great exchange rate. Then I realized that, although I could use my Bank of America card at a Deutschebank ATM (geldautomat, in German. I do know some words!), there was a good chance the ATM would be entirely in German. In fear that I would accidentally try to deposit money, or empty my account, or something terrible, I asked Verena for all the possible words that could show up on an ATM so I would know what to do. She was very helpful and wrote everything down for me. I was still nervous, mostly that I would look confused and then someone would steal all of my money. eek. So, I ate a peanut butter sandwich to steady my nerves, and took the bus and tram into the city, getting off at the Juliuspromenade stop. I saw the ATM across the street, went up to it, and... there was a button for English! Success! I was able to use it, and then wanted to walk around a while. I found right next to the bank, a 'bio-mart' - kind of like a Whole Foods. Best news: they had salad greens.
And instant cappuchino mix, so I can get my caffeine fix on weekends when I can't get coffee from the lab. :D
Then I walked to the Old Bridge and read a little bit, while some people played jazz. Overall, a very successful evening. Although, I did want to go get ice cream on the way back, but stores here close a lot earlier than I'm used to, so I couldn't get ice cream :(
Overall, Week Number 2 was great! Next I will put pictures up from my weekend trip to Rothenburg... and World Cup stories, and pictures of candy....
Now I need to go de-stain a gel, and mush up some bacteria. tasty.
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