Making a Splash with Hotdish....

Hi all,
I wish I had lots of exciting things to talk about and make you laugh at which is usually why my blog entries take a while to appear. However, this hasn't been a very eventful week, but I'll try to make it sound interesting...

Yes...we call it a "Hotdish"....there is no German equivalent.
So, one of the most exciting things to receive in the package from my mom (the most exciting probably being the baking soda) was the condensed soup mixes. I have since found out that they have very similar things here, but not in a can form. Anyhow, after requesting the recipe from my mom I picked a night (yesterday) to make hotdish. This warranted intense scrutiny from my Mitbewohner (co-inhabiter of an apt) Christian who was rather perplexed with it. Of course, the whole conversation ended up being rather amusing since he kept trying to describe something he was looking for... "die Saugluft" - it made more sense to me once he described it (complete with body motion and sound effects) and he had a good giggle over the name it has in English - vacuum.

Later, when I kept popping my head out of the window that overlooks the courtyard from the kitchen he asked if I was expecting company. I'd invited Eric, Claudia and Christine over and had heard an affirmative from Eric at least (he had my phone charger and my phone died...) so I said yes. Christian then asked if my boyfriend was coming to dinner - which is funny for a few reasons. He's seen me with Eric and Claudia a lot and I've introduced him to both. Likewise, he knows I have a boyfriend named Chris. What made matters more interesting was that we were having the conversation in German and of course that's never perfect. The simplest thing for me to say was that I didn't have a boyfriend in Germany...which was then interpreted that I didn't have a boyfriend at all. After a few minutes of trying to explain in German I had to admit defeat and switch to English. At least we both got a few laughs out of it...

The hotdish turned out great and Christine was thrilled (she came later) to finally have a hotdish (apparently during her year at UND she somehow missed out on theses delicacies...).

Time at the Pool
As much love as I have for swimming (or rather, wearing a swimsuit) Eric managed to convince me to go swimming today (he mentioned a waterslide and wave pool...). Honestly, I ended up having a great time. Upon entering the building, Eric sees the little swim shop in the corner and says he's interested in goggles (since he actually swims...). After eying the display for a minute, one of the ladies (of about 6 crammed into a little 15x15 corner) runs over and helps him to put them on. It was hilarious. The whole time she's positioning and re-positioning a pair of goggles on his head she's talking to me (and pretty much ignoring him) about every detail (talking about his large head, how to adjust them, where they're most likely to leak...and then demonstrating multiple times the correct way to put them on). So while Eric's having his head squeezed, poked and prodded I get to stand there intently listening to the whole spiel. At one point, it got even better and we had 2 ladies "helping". In the end they let him borrow a pair to try until 6 o'clock.

Now, while Eric swam in the big cold pool, I stuck to the side heated pool with massaging bubble beds and people watched. My favorite would have to have been the 5 year old (or so) with the oversized floaties on his arms. He had a method of swimming that consisted of: Flailing his right arm in a forward, letting his body spin 360 degrees while drifting forward 6-12 inches with the momentum of the flail and then repeating. No left arm...just the right. It was hilarious. The best part was the defiant look he gave everyone while giving his all to his task.

The pools were actually amazing. Next to the warm bubbly pool was the wave/splash pool. Even cooler (literally) was the pool that opened up to the outdoors. The water was comfortably heated and it made mist rise (since it was around 30 degrees). Also outside (though connected to the indoors) was one of the water slides. I didn't try it out, but I was impressed. For 3 euros you get 3 hours at the pool (or you can do a 10x for 30 euros or 6 months for 130) it was fun and inexpensive. Anyhow, the picture is a map of the pool facility.

Anyhow, hope all is well with everyone...
Steph