Sat. Evening Post? 3/20

Ok, I know that this isn't Saturday, but since most of you reading it in the States don't receive this update until 24 hrs. after I post it, it not only won't be Saturday by the time you read this, it probably won't even be Sunday. The truth of the matter is that I simply forgot to to do my update yesterday before going to sleep. I was more worried about getting to bed by 11pm because of daylight savings time than remembering to post this.

Mistake of the week: thinking that last night was daylight savings time. It wasn't. It's not until next week here. So I got up at 5:30 this morning and didn't know my mistake until one of my roommates got up two hours later to inform me.


Fun finds and experimentation of the week:

I found two items at the grocery store this week about which I was very excited. One lived up to the excitement and the other sadly did not. The item that I'm still excited about (but am worried that they won't continue to carry) is pepperoni salami from Spain. Sausages here are very popular, but aren't sausage like we think of being sausage. It's basically the exact same width as pepperoni, but still in the log, not sliced super thin. In the big grocery stores here there are usually at least one row of these sausages, if not two. I'm sure there are multiple ways to eat them, but the norm is to slice it and eat it on bread. Now, you meat eaters may be thinking this sounds wonderful, but I have a hard time with them, because they have an extremely high fat content which you can see. Plus, I've never seen anything remotely like pepperoni. So last week as I was exploring the store, I'm not sure why I headed down the sausage aisle since I never buy them, but I did. And there I found Chorizo Spicy Sausage from Spain....and it looked just like a pepperoni log. After giving it a taste and finding that it also tasted like pepperoni I immediately went back to buy two more out of fear that they wouldn't carry it any more. =-)

Experimentation of the week: making chicken salad from chicken farsh(ground chicken). I highly recommend that you don't try it. It doesn't work so well.

The disappointment: they look like waffles, right? Well, perhaps they are, but not like ours. They were soft and supersweet and wouldn't get crispy no matter what I tried. Maybe I should do what it says on the package? Go fry!

My new room

Because I'm going to be traveling a fair amount, I was switched into the smallest room. It's about 9x7 and there's no extra room for anything, but it's cozy. Plus, it's so small I'll have to be neat or I won't be able to move! I was excited to try out my new light blocking curtains which arrived in my Meest box this week. I've had sheer curtains all along and am very happy to have curtains which block the street light that shines all night.

Dog of the week:

This is perhaps one of my favorite dog pictures of all the time that I've been doing this. I came around a corner at the market and there they were.

Other activiies of the week:

being sick. I almost always seem to get sick after a big trip. It's all that canned air, I guess. I'm pretty congested and have a sinus infection and am praying that it will work through my system before I leave for Slovakia next Sunday. A lot of this week has been spent unpacking, moving everything in my new room, shopping, getting my sleeping patterns adjusted, and spending evenings with the Iowa group that has been here for the last week. It was a joy to see the growth in the young people from our church from last year to this year. There was a very large turnout to many of the events this year and it was so great to see them right in the midst of it serving through translation, leadership, friendship, etc.

Everyone saying their goodbyes to the Iowans after church today