Yum!
It should not come as a great surprise that I am equally excited to be going back to the States and crushed to be leaving Germany. I am returning to a loving family, old friends and new opportunities. But I am leaving new friends, a culture with a healthier pace of life and many interesting sights. I am also bummed to be leaving...my grocery store full of products, many of which I have yet to try! Here are three of my latest discoveries:
Actually, I am not a fan of the Kinder Pengui. The white "milk" filling is not as sweet as a marshmellow, but feels a bit marshmellowy in my mouth:-p The apple tea and white asparagus cup-o-soup though were delicious! I will probably take some of the tea home with me.
How many more yummy things have I yet to try in my grocery store... I've only got 27 days to find out!
A quiet few days
The heat has finally broken, and I enjoyed a wonderfully cool and mostly sunny weekend in Berlin. It is on a weekend such as this that I know I would be happy staying here. But alas, my time in Germany (for now) is quickly nearing a close. One month from tomorrow I will be on my way back to the States!! It is absolutely unbelievable that I have been here for more than 11 months already. On the one hand, it seems like I just arrived. My time in Bonn seems like yesterday and each day is still filled with new sights that I have never seen before. Other times though, I think that I am very well adjusted and have been here for ages. Practically a Berliner!
Saturday morning, I awoke to the sound of the rain gently sprinkling through the leaves on the trees outside my window. There is nothing more relaxing than laying in bed on the weekends and looking out at the trees and sky. Since I am on the 5th floor and the bedroom looks into the court yard, I sometimes feel like I live in a treehouse:-)
After the rain stopped, I headed to the market at Haeckescher Markt and bought a painting that will always remind me of my year in Germany. I had first seen the work in the fall (before I had even found an apartment.) I've "visited" it all year long, but was concerned about its size (6 feet long) and how I would get something that large back to the States. Luckily, the artist recently painted a much smaller version, so I am now the proud owner of a Juergen Woelk original. I can't wait for it to hang in the US! I also visited my favorite market in Berlin-- the Kollowitz Platz market. Open every Saturday, it it THE place to go for fresh fruit, veggies, pasta and cheese. This week's pasta special was feta and thyme raviolis! YUM!!
Its back to writing this week. At least I know that the paper will be done in 30 days from now!
