Dear People Who Sent Us Various American Foods for Christmas

YOU ROCK!!

Oreos, Mac&Cheese, Chocolate chips, and beloved Ranch Dressing--these are a few of our favorite things!

Thank you!!!

P.S. And he's wearing THE shirt.  Am I right?  I know, right?!

Completely Disconnected Post

My incredibly serious looking introductory picture that has nothing to do with anything in this post

I've discovered that people (aka I)  like blogs and websites with pictures in them, and because I didn't take any pictures today (it was a boring day), I thought I'd make this rather serious looking pairing for today's post.

Yes, yes how terribly intensely serious it looks.  Like I'm about to say something about life's journey or true love or the indomitable spirit of the human race or how my walls have jaundice.

But nope.  Nothing as cool as that.

Just the fact that today I'm back at work (for real)--heading out through the rainstorm to the Lab and the University.

Did you know Paul has this new shirt that makes him look like a faREAKin' supermodel.  Every time he walks into the room I have to grab at my heart because of the pure shock and ecstasy of seeing him.  Seriously.   And then he does that "awww go on" smile thing and I just pass out right there.

On the blue tile of the Aquahaus.

Finally, Jillian Michaels broke my poor little body two days ago.  I was miraculously cured by applying a cayenne pepper poultice to my pulled abdominal muscles and an hour into the four-hour treatment I was pretty much convinced that I burned my skin off and was going to die.

Then I woke up the next morning and could stand up for the first time in two days and I was so happy!  I did an interpretive dance of my suffering and redemption in the kitchen all alone--I was wearing black stretch pants, black flats, and a black shirt.  I channeled Audrey Hepburn.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand scene.

Das ist hell

Lemme tell you a story...

Once upon a time, I was in German class (here, in this building right here).

As class started I realized I hadn't finished one section of our homework.  So, I'm sitting there scribbling like mad: "Ich bin....Du...bist..."  when I glance up and see this written across the board in huge letters:

"DAS IST HELL"

Whoa, what?  Whoaa....  Because, to me, that pretty much translated to exactly what you think it translates to.

And I thought, "Hey now, that seems a little harsh.  It's not that bad here."

My teacher kept pointing upwards and saying, "Das ist hell.  Das ist hell." And I was like, "Liebe Teacher, you're confused.  That place isn't up.  It's down.  Way down."

Everything was backwards.  Everything was confused.  "Das ist hell!  Das ist hell!"  Bwaahahaha.  Twilight zone. It was getting scary.  She really was trying to get me to understand that up in the sky was hell.

Then she turned off the light and said, "Das ist dunkel."  Turned on the light and said, "Das ist hell."  Off: "Dunkel"  On: "Hell"

That was the day I understood that I could use mild English curse words to say common things like, "light."

You can bet your bottom dollar that I walk around every day thinking of sentences with "hell" in them all the time.  I am a rebel.  I have gone rogue.

Back to Work

It's back to (real) work for both of us this week.  I say that because Paul had to work part-time all last week too.  He's a trooper.  A barnacle-nurturing trooper.

I woke up this morning in a panic because I realized that after spending a week completely in vacation-land, I have half a German workbook to complete, a Master's course to start, another German project to start and finish, an English lesson to plan, and a GIS freelance contract to wrap up all before Wednesday.

Huh.  That should be fun.

But aaaanyway, check out these aqua-vases I found for 3 euro.  I got them because there are tulips for sale in the street markets.  I think the purchasing process for vases and flowers is usually the other way around...

That's how we roll in the eastern hemisphere.

It's Paul's New Year's Present to Me!

I'm so happy.**

We plan on putting many more black dot stickers on this puppy by the time 2013 rolls around.

**Points for movie quote identification.