Playing Catch-up: The England Trip

Whew, okay, I know...I'm really bad. It's been nearly two months since my last blog post. In my defense, however, I spent nearly 6 of those weeks traveling and running around, so while that's not the perfect excuse I think it should at least fend off some of the blame! I'll start back where the lack of blogging all started, mostly for my mother's sake (who always complains loudest about not being able to follow my exciting exploits in real time), with the trip to England!

We set sail for London (well, you know, in a plane) on February 13th, and at that point I was just thrilled to be going. Somehow I managed to come down with something awful and flu-ish two days prior to our departure, and was afraid that I would have to delay the trip. Miraculously, I woke up feeling well enough to get out of bed the morning of the flight, and with snacks and sandwiches packed by my wonderful traveling companion, Josh (who offered to carry my big duffel backpack every two minutes or so...my poor invalid self), we were off to London! I'd like to take this moment to thank the Stuttgart airport for being MUCH saner than it's Frankfurt equivalent...

We arrived a couple of hours later, only a little worse for wear thanks to some snow flurries in Stuttgart that had us sitting on the tarmac for quite some time. We were de-iced, we were prepared for take-off, the airport as 'shut down', it re-opened again briefly, and our opportunistic pilot snuck us out and into the air in it's brief (and earlier than expected) 're-opening'. I wondered the whole time what exactly 'closed' means for an airport. I kept picturing all of the lights being shut off and the entire building going dark, which is of course completely unrealistic, but seemed a lot more amusing than a bunch of planes neither allowed to land, nor take off while people continued to mill about the building, checking in and going through security anyway.

This meant we were about an hour late, and had missed the coach from the airport to London Victoria that we'd originally scheduled. Our plan was to beg the coach driver for the next departure to let us on anyway, and the ultimate back-up was to pretend we were married and feign some sort of pregnancy with a difficult first trimester that necessitated our getting home as soon as possible. We realized this might be a little tricky when we ran up to the bus and I had my large duffel on my back, but it turned out for an extra 5 GBP, we could change our tickets, and things were more or less solved. We picked up Anya on the commuter rail on the way out to Josh's, and a friend of his picked us up at the station and drove us home (after some plans for his younger brother to grab us somewhat fell through).


We slept in the next morning and cooked up a delicious traditional English breakfast with eggs, sausage, hashbrowns, fried bread, mushrooms, tomatoes, bacon, and, of course, beans, which we quickly fell in love with! We had a walk around Farnham and moseyed over to some nearby ruins--Waverly Abbey--which, as it turns out, was the first Cistercian abbey in England (founded in 1128). 

After it got a little darker and chillier, we headed to a very old pub for a pint. This involved not only having my first 'real pint' (according to Josh), but also our meeting a 6 month-old Leonberger puppy. Leonbergers, it turns out, are an enormous breed of dog. This one was probably about 110 lbs, and is going to double in size. He was incredibly quiet and sweet, and happily greeted customers without bowling anyone over; needless to say, I was impressed. Such a cutie!

The next day, we met up with two of Anya's friends living in London who studied with her in Regensburg in 2009. We hopped the commuter train into the city and made our first stop at the British Museum, which I couldn't not see while there. For those unaware the BM has a large collection of antiquities, but is most infamous for it's acquisition and retention of the Elgin Marbles. Very breifly, these are sections of the sculptural program of the Parthenon that include mostly pedimental sculpture (the traingular bits between the columns and the roof) and metopes (the square sections that run around the outer perimeter below the metope), as well as bits of the inner frieze that represents what is believed to be a procession associated with the Panathenaeic Festival. They were removed by Lord Elgin, the British diplomat to the Ottoman Empire, with permission from the then-government to take them as a gift, and he eventually sold them to the BM when he essentially went broke. There has been great debate between the BM and the Greek government about where the marbles belong, and with the new, state of the art museum in Athens, the argument is getting even more tenuous. I certainly won't get into it here, since most people reading this will likely find it less-than-thrilling, but what I will do is share some photos! This was an absolute treat for me to be able to see, and Josh patiently walked around listening to me yammer on about sculptural programs and styles and asking questions to keep me talking. Such a great host.

 The Rosetta Stone--obviously a must

 Mausolus and his sister-wife, removed from his tomb (fun fact: also the origin of the world 'mausoleum')

 Absolutely beautiful caryatid--structural sculpture of a woman taken from the porch of the Erectheion on the Athenian acropolis

 Inner Parthenon frieze: Child handing what may or may not be a new garment for Athena to an official--a very important part of the   Panathenaic procession and festival. But the nudity (see that butt...) is oh so controversial. Is it a boy? Could it really be a partially-naked girl?! The things we have to wonder...

Pedimental sculpture from the Parthenon... you can see how it was originally made to fit into a triangle 

Parthenon Metope: The relief of these sculptures (in this case a centaur attacking a human soldier) is unreal 

 Josh and an extremely large cat, looking very enthusiastic about our museum day!

Insert obligatory photo of pottery that no one else I know seems to find quite as exciting as I do. The Geometric Period stuff just slays me--too great.  

I couldn't resist sharing what is essentially a Roman muffin tin...

We spent the rest of the day walking around London with Anya's friends, visiting and walking around Covent Garden, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and The London Eye (a ride on which was postponed until we could decide whether or not to spend the money...not cheap!)

The enormous, smashed 'Cadbury Egg' public art sculpture in Covent Garden 

Inside Covent Garden... 

 ...and outside...absolutely loved this place, it had such a nice atmosphere

 Trafalgar Square

 Looking towards Big Ben and Parliament

 Buckingham Palace

 Up close at dusk...it was crazy how close you could get as a tourist...nothing like the White House (which sort of makes sense, but was still really surprising to experience firsthand)

 Victoria Memorial, right in front of the Palace

 Obligatory photo of a red phone booth

 Approaching Big Ben and Parliament...everything was so beautiful and well-lit at night

 Westminster Abbey, which we enthusiastically considered from the outside to avoid entrance fees (we're talking more than 10 GBP...that's over $15)

 The London Eye

Looking back across the river from the Eye side

The entire trip is now a bit of a blur in terms of order, but I believe the next day was our trip to the henges and Bath. We started out a civilized  hour of the morning for Stonehenge, which just sort of suddenly rises up out of the rolling countryside along the highway...you're driving along and then bam, it's there. You rather amusingly park across the road and walk through a tunnel under the highway, listening to a free audio guide that, true to Anya's report of past experiences, seems to imagine you shuffling a snail's pace up to the monument entrance, at least based on the amount of information they relate and the intervals of the directions provided (as if following the path were very difficult). 

Due to preservation (and defacement) issues, you can't actually really approach the monument anymore (disappointing, but truly understandable). A pathway that is roped off and takes you around the perimeter was under repair, so we were able to get a good look at about half of the henge, but it was definitely a decent look. Talking with two of the guides on-site, Josh discovered it's possible to come for a special tour either early or late in the day and actually walk through the stones...I'll have to put this on my list for the next time I'm there!

 It was a blustery enough day, and early enough as well, that the site wasn't too busy, there were maybe 3x the number of people you see in this photo there with us. This, plus having half of the path closed, are how I wound up with so many people-less photos, which was a huge plus.

Anya and Josh, enjoying their audio guides and looking decidedly windswept 

 There is a ditch surrounding the henge area that has provided lots of very interesting information about the site...I believe the ditch was one of the first features constructed on the site, and I'm also fairly certain they've found both human and animal remains interred in it, as well as large pieces of antler that are presumed to have been digging tools. 

 Here we are!

We then headed down the road to Woodhenge, the theoretically 'living' equivalent to the 'dead' Stonehenge. a notable British archaeologist, Mike Parker-Pearson, has done excavation work in an area somewhere between the two, and believes he has found the site of the settlement where the builders of both henges would have lived. He theorizes that settlement here was seasonal, and that Stone-and Woodhenge provided sites for celebration and feasting, as well as communion with ancestors and the ability to maintain a relationship with the earth and the season that so affected the people who built the monuments. There's a very interesting documentary on the subject in which he plays a principal part, so I won't go into great detail here, but Parker-Pearson has lots of interesting ideas about the human activity here. 

Woodhenge isn't preserved in the same manner as Stonehenge because, of course, wood decomposes. Postholes remain, however, and they have been filled with cement pillars to denote where the monumental components were. 

 Take 7: In which we achieve the perfect jumping photo

 We also began a series of photos here that, *ahem*, explore the juxtaposition of technology and tourism on history and the past. Also known as "texting in inappropriate places". Note: Josh isn't actually texting of his own volition in these photos, he's just posing. Please, as if!

A better view of a chunk of the monument

The fun part about the area around Stonehenge and Woodhenge is that even though you can't approach the monument at Stonehenge, you're still effectively standing on an enormous site. The area around and between the two is chock full of information--burial mounds, other features (the cursus, most notably), and an entire archaeological landscape not really noticeable to the average tourist or even naked eye. Very cool. 

We then made our way to Bath, a famous resort city/town (particularly for the Edwardians and Victorians) not too too far from Farnham (well, a couple of hours). The city, though it was a grayish day, was absolutely beautiful, and we really enjoyed walking around, especially with all of the beautiful architecture and stunning old townhouses for the wealthy. I'll take one!

 Wandering the cobbled streets of Bath

 Some lovely architecture

 The Roman baths: yet another attraction we didn't enter due to price concerns. Too bad, really. 

 We sample treacle tart; deliciousness ensues

And we thought the leeks in Kaufland were enormous! 

 Mmmmm such nice houses

Very classy, subdued gray phone booths...intriguing 

More old townhouses...this place was unbelievable  

Inappropriate texting: Bath Edition

On the way home, though it was getting on towards dusk, we stopped in Avebury at the urging of the Stonehenge guides, which has it's own phenomenal megalithic stones standing in lines all around the village (the road even drives right through them!). My photos turned out horrible, thanks to the diminishing sun, but do please enjoy the wikipedia article, complete with great photos: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avebury

Thursday was another quieter day for us, and we drove to check out a local airfield where Josh had flown gliders as a kid, and then went to see Jane Austen's house, which has been turned into a lovely museum. No photos were permitted inside, but I have a few from the outside and another site link! The main house was full of Austen-related artifacts, belonging either to the author herself or family members. It was nice to discover more of the history of a female author who was actually recognized for her talent by her contemporary public. 

 Inappropriate texting: Jane Austen

Reconstructed Kitchen/bakehouse

http://www.jane-austens-house-museum.org.uk/index.php

On Friday we made our way back to London in preparation to take an evening coach to Cambridge. Anya and I decided to fork over the money to go up on the Eye, which is a 30-minute ride somewhat akin to a ferris wheel. It was very cool, and we were definitely glad we went! I took a zillion photos, so here is just a smattering:

Rising up in our little Eye-pod (no pun intended, I swear) 

Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament 

We spent the rest of our time walking around, venturing down to see the reproduction of the Globe Theater, the Tate Gallery, and the Tower Bridge (which I hadn't known most of us conflate with London Bridge)

 There it is!

And finally, St. Paul's Cathedral in the rain...

After a coach ride and a very interesting evening at an infamous Trinity Hall dance party (Josh's particular college at Cambridge), we found ourselves relatively well-rested in our guest room at the college the following morning. We took a seriously lengthy walk around Cambridge to see a number of the colleges and get a sense for the city. I'm not going to go into great detail about this part of the trip, as it was a lot of socializing and meeting Josh's friends from school, eating at formal dinner, continuing to stuff our faces with English breakfast, and some tea and scones. We did make it out onto the Cam to enjoy some punting, at which point it began to rain. We know, we have such good luck!

 The River Cam, on a beautiful day when we SHOULD have gone punting, but failed to

I'd take a nice bridge like that over my own personal river. Great.  

Trinity College 

 A view of Trinity Hall beyond the bridge and tree, which, I should point out, is not to be confused with Trinity COLLEGE, is much older, and had a good deal of its land poached by one of the King Henry's (I think it was a Henry?) to found the latter. 

 Rather idyllic, no?

King's College Chapel, which is utterly beautiful inside 

The Orchard garden in a nearby village to which we walked for some tea and a picnic. This was apparently quite the hangout spot for literary superstars. Think Virgina Woolf. 

We were unfortunately obliged to leave Josh in Cambridge to do some work on his senior thesis, but Anya and I hopped several trains to take us up to the Lake District (think Jane Austen, here--"What are men to rocks and mountains?"--which, by the way, as entirely misinterpreted and misused in the most recent adaptation featuring Kiera Knightley. FOR SHAME)

We arrived at night, missing the extraordinary view, but were still able to take advantage of the delicious food served at our hostel. I swear, if cost weren't a constraint I would have eaten my dinner there every evening. Not to mention they served yet more English breakfast. Can't get enough of that stuff! Things were fairly empty while we were there (the one exception being Saturday evening, when there were several families with tons of kids running around), we mostly had our 8-bed dorm room to ourselves. We spent the first day wandering around the village and seeing the old Wordsworth house on the opposite side of the village...we snuck around the garden acting as though we were going to enter, but never did because we are stingy and poor. 

Some of the view from our hostel 

 And some more of it...

 Walking around in the town

 Around the other side of Grasmere to the Wordsworth House

 I couldn't get over how beautiful it was here...definitely understand where New England got it's name

 Garden at the Wordsworth House

 The house itself

 The view down the lane

On our second full day there, we decided to take one of the walks with a written guide that's located in the area. We bought a packet that had several, but settled on one that takes walkers around Loughrigg Fell. Want to see some photos that are much more amazing than any I could capture? Just pop that name into google image search. Breathtaking!

The walk felt like part Lord of the Rings adventure, part Jane Austen stroll--it took us several hours, but we had such a good time!

 The rocky, craggy top of the Fell was absolutely fantastic--definitely couldn't capture more than 30% of the awesomeness in my photos. 

 We stopped here for our picnic lunch--life is rough. 

My new house, please and thank you!

It was a little gray while we were there, but the rain held off for the most part. We spent the rest of our time strolling, enjoying tea and scones with clotted cream and jam, and reading and relaxing. This was the perfect spot to do it, and we had a fabulous hostel. If anyone gets up that way, stay at the YHA--Butharlyp Howe. No, we don't know exactly how to pronounce it, but it didn't seem to matter. 

Next up, the trip to Ireland! Coming shortly....

Travels and Trunks*

(*Ten points if you can cite the reference!)


As the handy countdown timer over on the right points out, the trip to England and Ireland is almost upon me! On the phone and ironing out some details this morning, my friend Josh (our English host) and I discovered we were both feeling like we were coming down with colds--though to be fair, his sounds more intense than mine. Since yesterday morning I've had an odd scratchy throat and absolutely no other symptoms. I refuse to be sick!  People who went to Wes with me know that there, I often had a cold, winter or not. Well, I've not had one yet in Germany, and I refuse to have one now, three days before I get on a plain to go travel for three weeks. We shall see who wins this battle, but the tea and oranges I've been stuffing my face with all morning predict it shall be me.

It continues to be coldcoldcold here in Tübingen, but we're surviving and I'm finding ways to occupy myself in doors...I swear, just as I decided I wanted to start running we got snowed on and frozen.

On Wednesday, I went with the woman I babysit for--whom I rather affectionately call my 'babysitting mom'--to one of the Gymnasiums (German high schools, essentially) where she teaches English. I sat with her and her students for their 90-minute class and basically just answered all of the questions the students--who were between 16 and 18--could think of. This included everything from what racism is like in the U.S, to how Americans feel about socialism and communism now, to whether or not I spoke German and what big cultural differences were. I had a good time, they all seemed to have a good time, and I wish we could have had longer. It's always nice to dispel rumors about the US and try to provide a little more of an honest perspective on my home culture.

It was a little tricky, because they were asking a lot of questions about my opinion about things--Bush included--and I had planned on going in and, especially when discussing the political system and the election (which I'd been asked to do), be as unbiased as possible. I didn't want to not answer their questions honestly, so I just really tried to emphasize that the US is a big country and that not everyone agrees with me about certain things. For example, I never personally witnessed an act of racism growing up (at least, not that I was aware of), but I did know that racism still very much existed in our country because of things I saw on the news. I tried to explain that in such a big place with so many different people and opinions, there were certainly parts of our country where racism is still present, but that it wasn't a part of daily life for every American. Then I had to try to explain that the vestiges of more all-encompassing racism throughout our history were still very much present and evident on our national landscape. This was a little harder to explain succinctly, but I think they got the picture. Most interesting for me was when, after this question, my babysitting mom asked the kids what they thought about racism in Germany. Their general, overall response was that racism wasn't that bad in Germany, and that if it existed, it mostly had to do with guest-workers and people with a Turkish background, and not with African or Afro-German individuals. My babysitting mom, who has two Afro-German children, revealed this to them and explained that the experiences she, her children, and their father had had in Germany proved quite the opposite. All of the kids seemed pretty shocked, and she then pointed out that in her experience in both the States and Germany, there is just much less awareness here. I'd been trying not to make this comment, because I didn't want them to think I was criticizing any part of their culture, but what I really wanted to say when they were claiming Germany didn't have much in the way of racism was that the whole other kettle of fish is political correctness and global awareness. Tübingen, at least, as "Asia Restaurants" and food that comes with "Asia sauce" (and no, I'm not missing an 'n' on my adjective there). Generalizing about groups of people is much more accepted here, and if I were so inclined, I could make comments here that would get me openly stared at and stink-eyed in the US.  As I pointed out to them, I really think it's important to remember that an individual cannot represent a whole country, and that a government or country cannot publicly represent all of its individual citizens, but still....

This whole experience has made me consider taking part in a program at the DAI called Rent-an-American. You basically volunteer to go to schools and talk with kids in their classes.  I think intercultural communication is really important, and while I'm trying to get paid to do as much as possible right now (whooo saving, saving, saving!), this would likely be a lot of fun, and very worthwhile.

I had my last English class and babysitting evening this week, and (somewhat) sadly won't be returning to Tübingen until March. I'm really excited for our trip, though, and have just about finished making (or having Josh make...) most of the arrangements (hey, he offers...he's all up on British tourism and travel...). For those people in my life who like to keep track of where I am, here's our very general itinerary for the next three weeks. I may have some of this wrong, since we've changed our plans multiple times to accommodate our (awesome, generous, fantastic) host-friends, but here's the theoretical plan (and feel free not to read or care if you're not my mother:)

2/13: fly to London with Josh, get settled at his place in Farnham (about an hour from London I gather...)
2/14: Farnham and Jane Austen's house (I die...)
2/15: Stonehenge and Woodhenge! I am possibly the only tourist ever to INSIST on going to Woodhenge, which the others agreed to since it turns out it's free and exceedingly close by. (As I informed Josh and Anya when they questioned the distance...according to (archaeologist) Mike Parker-Pearson, it's one day's slow trudge along the very windy river Avon from Stonehenge to Woodhenge...)
2/16: Time in London
2/17: More time in London and hopefully meeting up with an old au-pair of mine!
2/18: London and then a bus to Cambridge (where Josh studies) and what is apparently a phenomenal monthly (or fort-nightly?) dance party
2/19: Cambridge
2/20: Cambridge
2/21: Cambridge
2/22: Cambridge and another legendary dance party. At some point we are also attending formal dinner to which students must wear their robes. We, unfortunately, cannot. I even offered to bring my graduation gown from the States. Alas...
2/23: Anya and I are off to the Lakes District!
2/24: Lakes
2/25: Lakes
2/26: Lakes
2/27: Off to Ireland and a wonderful recuperative evening at Sinead's with her family and their amazing food
2/28: Dublin...Trinity College, Guiness, excellent music, and some merriment
2/29: Off to Sinead's family's holiday cottage in Kilkee, on the western coast of County Clare
3/1: Kilkee
3/2: to Galway
3/3: in Galway
3/4: back to Dublin and a trip to the archaeological site of New Grange
3/5: in Dublin
3/6: in Dublin
3/7: fly back to Tübingen, hopefully without plane delays so that I can make it to my English class

I'm only just a smidge daunted at how exhausting this will be, and can't wait to leave the confines of the airport (the only time I've spent anywhere remotely near England/Ireland was a layover in Heathrow). I will definitely be sending postcards, so if you want them, throw me an address!

Snow and the Super Bowl: Quick Notes

I'm thrilled to say that it finally feels like Christmas in Tübingen! A couple of months too late, but I try not to complain these days (and anyone but my parents might actually believe me on that score...). The only downside is that the temperature has also been hovering around 10 F, but unlike some of the locals I've seen walking around, I fortunately know how to bundle up appropriately. Yes, confused-looking student, I'm not wearing a hat. Why? Because I'm wearing a scarf up around my ears and a michelin man jacket and am feeling super toasty, that's why. And we're about to get on a bus. Your hat looks nice, but don't think I don't see you shivering in your extremely fashionable cotton coat sans insulation.


Anyway....

I awoke this morning to a lovely dusting of now and flurries in the air!

The view from my bus stop, looking back in the direction of my street (I life just around the corner beyond the car on the left)

This is what the little Neckar tributary looked like a couple of days ago (you can see the main Neckar, flowing perpendicularly in the background)...actually somewhat frozen over. Sections of the whole river are covered in ice and dusted snow now, though certainly not enough that anything more than a duck could sit on it...and maybe not even a duck.  

Finally, Anya and her friend from French class came to an event at the DAI (German-American Institute, where I work as an English teacher) on Sunday to watch the Super Bowl! I don't know what I expected, except that it wasn't this at all. There must have been over 200 people there, and when we arrived all of the seats were full...we finally took some from members of Tübingen's American Footbal Team (yes, we have one. I'm just as shocked as you) who had left their coats on the chairs while they cooked and sold food for people in attendance to purchase. Seriously guys, you're going to be cooking for the whole game and you left your coat to save a seat for yourself? What kinds of co-sponsors are you? People are standing all around the walls and sitting in the aisles! This was definitely an interesting experience...according to what Anya overheard, lots of people had bet on the game and were therefore rooting rather zealously for something they might not have otherwise cared about at all---this resulted in a lot of German Giants' fans. Unclear why. We think because "New York" is a recognizable name? Tired (the game started at 12:30 am here) and somewhat easily irritated, the thoughts that crossed my mind most often were, "You are improperly using football vocabulary," "There is nothing to clap at...why are you clapping?" and "Why do so many Germans care about American Football?". I mean, I'm not a football expert and I don't pretend to be--I know enough to watch and enjoy the game, understand the bulk of what's going on (that matters to the spectator) and what major penalties are for. That and how the course of the game is going for a certain team. But I still found parts of this experience...mildly irritating. The upside is we had a great venue to watch the game--thanks DAI!

The lighting is rather awkward and this is the camera on my phone, but you're looking at a space that was about half of the room in front of us....we were sitting in the back 1/4 of the space, and there were probably 200 people in here and another 50 in the German-telecast room. 

Also, as a sidenote, I really need to figure out what meat is used for German burgers. It tastes like beef, but it's so salty and tough when it's cooked! The local team was grilling and selling things, and it's the second burger I've had that made me wonder how ground beef could turn out that way. Very curious. 

Semesterferien

The semester in Tübingen is finally over, and vacation is here! The darn thing felt like it was dragging on for ages, and I can't believe I finally reached the end of it. Poor old me had a presentation, written portfolio, and final exam to finish off the semester, and every time my housemates heard that I really only had one final exam, I swear like they were looking a me with just a little less respect. Hey now kids, I wanted to say, I spent the last four years busting my butt, so let's not forget I earned my BA with honors on six-days-a-week of rowing. Of course, this would be rude (though, as my babysitting mom/pseudo German mother pointed out, the Germans do have quite the culture of direct communication), so instead, I just offered to cook an apartment dinner for all of us (Hil's lasagna!) while they're busy studying in a couple of days. The German-Greek translation exam was not a complete disaster---I had things to put down on the page, passed the course (which was really way too hard for me...sometimes falling between the lines in someone else's system has its downsides), and got a great compliment from my extremely nice Greek professor about my German: "Your German was quite good when you got here," he told me, "but I've noticed you've continued to improve a lot since October". Well shucks, Herr Schelske, even though I hated everything I had to do for your class--which was not at all you fault--I'm still sort of going to miss it, because you just make my day.

Since my last day of classes last Wednesday, there hasn't been a whole lot going on (unless you count occasional revelry). My English class is still going, and I'm very much enjoying my students. We've moved into real grammar now, and the future tense, which I thought would be relatively easy, has given some of them a lot of trouble. The challenge for me is to try to cater to all of my students...those that learn quickly and easily and those that don't, but I'm hoping they're all enjoying themselves. They certainly seem to be. It's always a fun day when I can get them to be a little more energetic and laughing....tough work when some of them have been on the job at the company and factory all day! I've sorted out a sub for my travel time, so that's one more burden off of my shoulders, but I'm going to miss seeing my students for a few weeks.

I've still been babysitting every Thursday, too, and I feel like the younger of the two kids is finally really warming up to me. I've always been able to tell that she likes me, but she can be a little bit shy. Her brother was off on a school ski trip a couple of weeks ago, so we had time to ourselves for the whole three hours I was there, and we cooked dinner together from a vegetarian cookbook they have. We walked down to the grocery store near the student dorms to get ingredients and she had a really good time showing me how to make her favorite soup. We've also been  playing a game she got for Christmas called "Make n' Break Extreme". there are ten blocks that look like big tetris pieces, and a there's also a timer and a whole deck of cards. You roll a special die to determine how much time you will have...1, 2, or 3 (not sure if this corresponds to exact minutes...they're just settings on the timer dial). You then have that much time to see how many cards you can complete, which you do by flipping over a new card and building the picture shape. The trick is to get all of the blocks in the right place, and to make sure that your creation balances...yes, you're building vertically. We have lots of fun with this, and it's nice to have a staple other than drawing that I enjoy as much as she does.

Here's the game with some of the extra tiles for special points and things. There are some cards that involve special tasks, like building with one hand, passing the card to the person on your left to complete, or creating a standing shape out of all ten blocks (and only two can touch the table). Good times! Not that I'm a little addicted or anything...

 I don't have the recipe, but I do have some photos from our soup, which could easily be recreated without one. It's a tomato basil noodle soup that starts with soaking scored tomatoes in boiled water for about four minutes. 

...like so....

Then we peeled and diced them into a tomato mush, added onions and garlic and sauteed it all in the bottom of a pot, and finally added some diced red pepper to the mix. Broth get's added and the whole thing gets brought to a boil and simmered for about 15 minutes. You add fresh or dried basil, depending on the resources you have at hand, and season to taste.

 It will look--very exciting, I know--just like this. 

Then you take an immersion blender to the sucker and give it a good puree. The color changes to a lovely bright reddish-orange thanks to the pepper, and it's really simple and totally delicious. Cooked noodles are optional, and we went for her favorite, little shells. 

 Here she is testing our soup. It was hot! 

I've been doing a lot more cooking in general, since I've finally actually had some time, and my other favorite project was these scones. They look a little funky in the oven, but sitting on a plate and dusted with granulated sugar, they were stunning, I tell you, stunning. 

Gilder bought me a cookbook/memoir from the foremost bakery institution on Lopez Island (where multiple generations and branches of his family have very strong connections, and some houses, just off the coast of Washington). I've visited the island, but not the bakery--which is closed during the winter, and he wanted to give me something to experience the delicious food when I'm not there or it's not available. Well, the book is wonderful, telling a lovely story of the bakery and the bakery's family on the island, and I decided I had to try something immediately. I went for a relatively simple recipe, since it was getting late and I didn't want to be up all night, and I chose their scone mix. The baker and author very thoughtfully provides both the recipe for their dry mix (that can be made in bulk and then refrigerated or frozen for ages) and their favorite scones with wet ingredients and flavor combinations included. I wanted to make and freeze a huge batch, but I didn't really have the storage space, so I went for just a single recipe. I chose to make my scones pear-ginger, which was one of their recommended combinations, because the pears in Kaufland were delicious and I had both fresh and powdered ginger around the house. These were dead easy and absolutely scrumptious. Here's the recipe from, "With Love & Butter" by Holly Bower and Sarah Eppenbach (http://www.amazon.com/Love-Butter-Favorite-Recipes-Cookbook/dp/0615119190/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328640205&sr=8-1)

Scone Mix (makes 40 scones---I think I quartered it) (pg. 60)

9 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup sugar
3 Tbs baking powder
2 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 3/4 cups cold butter (this is also labeled as 5 1/2 cubes)

1. Place all the ingredients except the butter in a large bowl and mix
2. Using a food processor (or if you're me, your hands, as if for pie crust), cut 1 1/2 cubes of butter into 2 cups of the mixture until it's reduced to pearl-sized bits. Don't over-process or it will turn into a dough--you want a dry mix.
3. Pour the processed mixture into another large empty bowl and repeat this process four more times using 1 cube butter and 2 cups flour each time.
4. Transfer the scone mix into a gallon tub. The mix can now be stored, ready for use, up to 2 months in the refrigerator or 6 months in the freezer.

Fruit Scones (makes 8 scones) (pg. 61)

3 1/4 cups Scone Mix
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup fresh or frozen fruit; small berries left whole, other fruit cut into approximate 1/2-inch cubes
5/8 cup buttermilk
sugar for topping scones

1. Preheat the oven to 375 F with the rack in the center position. Line a large baking sheet with bakery parchment or grease lightly.
2. In a medium bowl, toss the Scone Mix and sugar together with your fingers. Add the fruit and toss again until just-mixed....Drizzle the buttermilk over the mixture and stir gently. The mixture should be just wet enough to make a ball when pressed together. If too dry, drizzle on more buttermilk; if too gooey, add more Scone Mix. Dryer is better than wetter.
3. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and form into a disk about 1 1/2 inches thick. Sprinkle generously with sugar. Cut the circle into 8 wedges. Place the scones at least 1 inch apart on the prepared cookie sheet.
4. Bake 10 minutes, rotate the pan, and bake 5-10 minutes more or until the scones are brown on the bottom (check with a metal spatula) and slightly brown on top. the baking time will be shorter if using fresh fruit. The centers should be dry and non doughy (peek inside one of the scones). Cool just a moment, then serve warm.

I cannot recommend these scones enough!


In other news, I've picked up what promises to be a very enjoyable, second babysitting job. My friend Anya has been taking care of an adorable little boy, a job she inherited from her friend here on Fulbright last year. The family was looking for a couple of other people to pick up the extra hours when Anya's not available, so  she kindly suggested me. I went over for a trial with Anya a couple of weekends ago, and had an absolute blast! The only downside is that we're both going to be traveling a lot and won't be seeing much of him until April.

Here is the mischievous little cutie himself on the playground!

Last, but certainly not least, I'm finally in the process of hearing back from graduate schools! I don't want to say too much yet, but I will admit that the good news is having a bit of an impact on my travel plans, and I may have to forego my trip to Greece for a trip back to the US to visit programs. Greece isn't being canceled, just postponed (though neither Gilder nor I are super excited about the postponement), but I will definitely be in the states for at least one long weekend next month, if not for two weeks with a stint at home between a couple of program visits. The upside is that if I miss out on the Greece trip as originally scheduled, I'll get to spend a week-and-a-half with my family in Hanover and Gilder will hopefully be able to swap his flight to Athens for a flight to Boston. And you know...I might actually have an educational future : )