Crochet, part 2

And here is the scarf again. I got some of my friends to help me hold it down so that I could take a picture. Now the body of the scarf is 2/3 done. After I finish the skein of multi colored yarn I'll figure out how to put the fringe on.

Travel

I have now been to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Hessigheim, Bessigheim, and Bietigheim (I think). On Sunday we drove to Rothenburg, checked into our hotel, and then went for a walk. Rothenburg is one of just 3 cities in Germany that have a castle wall all the way around them. We walked along/on/near most of the wall. In some places it was made of wooden planks, and some places were made of stone or brick. There were a few too many places that had planks or ceilings above our heads that were a little too short for Rob. He thunked his head a few times. Ouch! Even though most "stores" are not allowed to open on Sundays, a few were open because they sold beverages/food. So Rob finally found the perfect Bavarian hat. We had dinner in a "classic" German restaurant, with great steak for me and goose or duck for Rob. On Monday morning we drove to Hessigheim to meet Laura and Jorg and their girls. Jorg grew up in Hessigheim and we enjoyed seeing his hometown. From there we followed them to Bessigheim where we walked thru a really old part of town (some buildings from the 1300's), and then we drove to Bietigheim, where we had lunch, walked, played on the playground(s) and walked some more. I think that all day the temperature hovered in the mid to upper 20's. Brrr! Finally, we drove home. It was a very fun day, and so good to see old friends again.

Christmas and after

On Christmas day we got up late, had breakfast, opened gifts, went for a walk, watched a movie, ate coffee cake (a tradition) and had a roast beef dinner (also our tradition!). The roast beef was roasted on a rotisserie spit in our toaster oven. I had to get creative when it came time to tie the roast so that it wouldn't droop on the spit. I ended up using embroidery floss. There was no option of finding an open store, because here EVERY store is closed on Christmas day. In fact, they all close by 2 pm on Christmas Eve. And, to our surprise, they were all still closed the day AFTER Christmas. I'm glad we had leftover roast beef! We went for a short walk that day too (ok, so every day we go for a walk of some sort) but it was sooo cold that we didn't stay out for long. I won't complain, I've heard it's been even colder and much wetter in Oregon. I wish I could have been there to see all the snow, but cabin fever may have gotten me! On another topic, in the last week two sets of friends have become grandparents, so congratulations to Brad and Darsy, and Gail and Joe!

Bunny!

I told Rob a few weeks ago that I needed a snuggly creature for when I get homesick and lonely. And tonight, I met my new friend. He's perfect!

Crochet

A couple weeks ago when I was at Hertie looking for bias tape or thread or something like that, I saw some yarn and fell in love. When Lauri was here for a visit two weeks ago, she wanted some yarn too, so that she could knit on her plane ride back to Oregon. I took it as a sign that the yarn and I were fated to be together. I decided that I should learn to crochet. But I don't know how, and seeing pictures of the process isn't very helpful. So I am learning by trial and error (lots of error). Here's a picture of what I've got so far. By the way, it's a scarf and I figure it's about 1/4 done.

Holiday Plans

What are we doing for the holidays, anyhow? Rob is working thru Wednesday. On Thursday we'll open some gifts and hopefully skype a bunch of friends and family. Friday, maybe go for a long walk. Hopefully we'll have a little bit of snow again. Saturday we might try to see the Kandinsky exhibit at a museum near us. Sunday we're driving to HockenSchmokenBerg (I made that up, we really are driving somewhere, but I forget where), and then on Monday we'll see our friends Laura, Jorg, Laina, and Min. Tuesday relax. Wednesday go to John and Janine's to celebrate New Years--they call it something different here. There is a show that lots of Germans watch traditionally on that evening, it's called "Dinner for One" and it's a British show so it's in English. And some time that week we'll also go to the Pinotek Museum which Rob says is really cool. We may meet friends to play games on the 5th, and on the 7th: Homeward Bound!!! Rob is coming with me, and he'll be in Oregon thru the 15th. So, that's what we're doing. What are you doing?

Shopping

In an effort to be prepared for Christmas I went shopping today. I think a lot of the shops will be closed tomorrow, and of course they all will be closed on Christmas day. In Germany, all the shops are closed on Sundays, too, so we get used to buying enough to last. My first stop was Vitalia, which is the place that sells GF crackers. They didn't have any, so I bought pretzels instead.
Then I headed back towards home, and stopped at Hertie. There, I bought kartoffelen (potatoes, so we can have mashed potatoes), Merz Ora-Nekt (Apple/Orange/Nectarine juice), Tortillas (actually, chips), Eier (eggs, 6, brown, non-refrigerated), Hackfleisch (ground beef/pork mix), Pikante Kraeuter (cheese spread for the crackers I didn't find), and Orangensaft (OJ). It cost 12.13 Euros for these. Then I took it all home, dropped it off on the counter, and headed out again, this time to Tengelmann. There I got Bio Piccolin (mini Tomato Mozzarella pizza bagel things), H-Milch (almost nonfat milk, also not refrigerated), Broccoli, Zucchini, and, the most important part of the Christmas meal: Schmorbra! Hopefully that translates to a roast beef. (16.21 Euros)

every morning

When I wake up and take a shower I see a back brush. In German, it says "bath," but I can't help but feel like I've done something wrong because of it's English meaning. Really, I didn't do it! Fortunately when I dry off I see my towel holder on the mirror, and the bright red flower cheers me up. Some day I might just go out and buy a can of paint and paint a wall some happy color. Just for fun.

what you see, what i see

The doors in our apartment are made of a wood veneer that I don't think is all that pretty. But anyhow. When I'm in the bathroom and the door is shut, you might think I see this---^

But what I really see is this:

Cemetary Visit

Nope, we don't know anyone buried here. But we needed to get out, go for a walk, and this cemetary is not far from our apartment. It had snowed a few days earlier. This is what we saw.

I fought the can...

...and I won. I was making chicken with onions and tomatoes. Delicious, actually. But the tomato part was difficult. We had a can of tomatoes. We had a can opener. But the can opener was made for US cans, and the tomatoes were canned here in Germany. Bad idea. Since then, I have been to the store and bought a German made can opener.

Dust bunnies

So, I've been feeling really dusty. I sweep the floors probably twice a week, and yet there's always so much dust. I finally figured out why. You know how when you dry a load of clothing in the dryer, you have to clean the lint filter? Well, since we don't have a dryer, we don't have a lint filter, so I think the clothes just delint as they choose, wherever they choose. Thus, this is what the dustpan looks like on a weekly basis.

Stop, or go?

I'm not sure what this means. The stop sign says stop. The green light says go. So what are you supposed to do here?

Fun Facts

Or so I think.
1. The majority of the sidewalks I walk on are made of cobblestones.
2. You can't buy bleach just anywhere. In fact, I can't even find any.
3. In the winter, babies and sleeping bags are synonymous.
4. I hear a police siren at least once a day. And no, it's not all in my head.
5. My oven is more of a dehydrater than a baker.
6. I spent 6.99 Euros today on a pack of just 4 AAA batteries. That's almost $9!
7. Here, when you want to buy ginger, you look for Ingwer.

Vienna and more

We took the train to Vienna this past weekend. It took about 4 hours, the same as driving, and there was no worry about finding a parking space. Trains in Europe are a great way to travel. When we got there, we had reservations in a little family run hotel. My nephew Scott and his girlfriend Kelly met us there. It was great because they had already been there for a few days, so they knew all the Ubahn stations and things to do.

We went to the Haus der Musik, which is a four story house, all about music. There were all sorts of interactive programs to play with, displays of all the prominent Austrian composers, and video stuff and audio stuff and wow! It was really cool. We also went to the Hundertwasser Haus, which is a crazy big apartment building with windows of all different shapes and sizes and columns in random places and wow! Here's a picture:

We also went to the Christkindlmarkt (yes, the sign in the picture says "Wiener" because that means Vienna). It was pretty. We must have walked miles and miles that day. At the end of the day we went to a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner held at a restaurant. Kelly's sister, Amy, is in Vienna for study abroad, and the 8 or 9 students and their host families and some of their teachers were there. Afterward dinner but before pumpkin pie Amy played the cello and a couple students sang.

Back in Munich, I've been to the shopping centers a few times to get some Christmas decorations. So far I've found two strings of lights, two candle holders, and a wooden woodcutter figure. And we went to the Christkindlmarkt here, which just opened on Sunday. I got a delicious donut-like thing that had been sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. I've gotta go back and get another one when my gluten intolerance allows.

I spent a couple hours making some decorations out of paper too. I've got snowflakes hanging in the windows and paper balls hanging from the light fixtures.

Well, Rob heads off to Ireland tomorrow for just one night, and then Meg and Lauri are coming on Sunday. I can't wait to see them and take them all over the place. We're going to go to Nurnberg and Salzburg and who knows where else.

Back in Munich

I went from fall to winter in one day. It was fall when I left Portland. It's winter here. Last night we had several inches of snow. When I went out today, I saw a man driving a little golf-cart like vehicle up and down the sidewalks, sprinkling gravel as he went. Christmas decorations are going up all over the city, especially at Marienplatz. There are a lot of huts selling nuts and dried fruits, and even an ice skating rink.

Back in Munich Again

Today, or maybe yesterday, I was driven to the airport in pouring rain, flew across dark skies, and landed in strong wind gusts in Frankfurt. After having the gate changed three times, I finally boarded my flight from Frankfurt to Munich. Only an hour long, but what an exciting hour! I thought we were going to crash when we took off. It was really scary! Now I am safely here, back in the apartment, which looks so much homier than the first time I came here. I brought my wii and numerous games, a portable dvd player, and my kindle (see Amazon if you haven't heard of it). It was a lot of electronics to take through security. And why did I go through security twice to get here? That was odd! But I'm here. And secure.
And now I'll start blogging pretty regularly again.
Tomorrow, I want to see pretty snow and xmas lights, and buy a toaster oven. (It's snowing right now!)

october

Here's the pumpkin I carved, a man named Dylan, and a mysterious sunny circle around my table. You can figure out which is which.

Smart Bird

I have a very smart bird. This morning, he made a little sound, which I like to think of as a little kiss. In response, I made a kiss sound back. Then he made two kiss sounds, and I did two back. Then he kissed three times, and I did too. Then he did four in a row, and I did too. Then he lost count. But wow! I have the smartest parakeet on the block, for sure. Just don't ask him about the vacuum incident. I'm not sure he's gotten over that yet.

Nose Day

Today I had my septum undeviated and my turbinates shrunk.

This is what I look like tonight. An icepack on my cheeks and a gauzy moustache under my nose. How lovely.

comments

I just realized that my settings don't allow many people to add comments to my blog. I think I have fixed it. Please, feel free to comment now!

Home!

I'm home. My flights were smooth, everything happened on time, and the house is standing. There are tons of weeds to pull in the yard and I'm looking forward to getting out there tomorrow. I'll try to round up some of my houseplants and get my parakeet soon. Thank you to everyone who helped keep things going, with a special thanks to Monica!

homeward bound

I come home on Tuesday. I can't wait. My plane lands at 11:20 am. Stephanie will pick me up at the airport, and I will treat her to Panda Express Orange Chicken. I can't wait!
I have dinner with Meg and Mladen on Wed night, sewing with Steph on Thursday, and games at the Volz's on Friday. Then Saturday and Sunday I'm packing surveys for the church fund raiser. And I get to see my church friends on Sunday morning, too. The next week is wide open. I hope I get to see lots of friends then. So everybody, call me, and let's hang out!

Quilting

But first, here's how they sell corn here.

When I packed for Germany, I brought fabric for 2 quilts. The first one was already cut out and ready to go when I packed it. After sewing only about 9 of the 48 squares I gave up. I'll work on it back in Oregon. The second quilt has been my focus this week. So here are some pictures of what I've been doing now that my suitcases are packed (yah, a bit early). First, here is the link to a picture of the quilt in the magazine that inspired me. And now here are pictures of my progress. First, cut, then partly sewn, then sewn some more. The rest has to wait for Oregon cuz I don't have the border fabric purchased yet, and I don't want to spend 20 Euros/meter for it!

Ole Madrid

We went out for dinner tonight, to a place called Ole Madrid. It was really good. The strawberry margarita tasted like a strawberry margarita. The chicken wings were good too (not sure why they're considered spanish). The nachos con queso was good too. My only question: why do the Germans think that vegetables belong in tortilla chips and tacos? There were carrot slices in my chips!

vienna hotel, trip pics, and silly signs

Here is a link so you can see my facebook picture collections: click here for our fancy hotel room pics, click here for our Slovenia and Austria in general pics (lots of castles and rooftops), and click here for updated silly signs.

I forgot a few things

Other things I look forward to that didn't make the top 10 list:
a. soft water--my hair is looking rather frazzled
b. the clothes dryer--then my clothes will be soft before i put them on and wear them for a few hours
c. TV in English, on a screen bigger than about 4x6 inches
d. cashiers that talk to you and ask if you found everything
e. Tillamook Mudslide icecream
f. drinking fountains
g. free public toilets

Top 10 things

When I get back to Portland, I look forward to:
10. Panda Express (orange chicken)
9. Mazatlan Mexican (strawberry daquiris and enchiladas)
8. A seemingly endless supply of dark chocolate M&Ms
7. My house
6. Driving my car whenever I want, wherever I want
5. Shopping at normal grocery stores
4. Church
3. Sewing
2. Playing games with friends
1. seeing Meg and Lauri and Mladen and Keith and Stephanie and Mike and Nicki and David and Aurea and Rawdon and Kathleen and Colin and Julian and Monica and Emma and Jeff and Alex and Brad and Darsy and MB/DA and Ward and a prego Jennifer and...everybody...

there's a piano in my hotel room

Solska Pot apparently means "school crossing" in Slovenian.

no kidding! a baby grand in my room. The last time we were told our room had been upgraded, it was a sad story: we were above a bar in a very hot room. This time it looks and feels too good to be true. But we're in a room facing into the back, about the 4th or 5th floor (they call it the 2nd floor, but you enter, then reception is one floor up, then the mezzanine, then floor one, then floor 2. I think). Today we are in Vienna. The last 2 days we were in Graz, where there was no internet. Actually, you could use the machine in the hotel lobby, cost 1 euro for 10 minutes. At 9 minutes and 53 seconds I still hadn't connected to my email. Got my euro back!
Here, also, is a pic of the dragons we saw in Ljubljana (a tshirt there said loob-lah-nuh)

Ljubljana

We've been in Ljubljana for 3 days now. We've had fun here. We drove over to Trieste, Italy, yesterday. Today we roamed around the town and took the funicular to the castle in the middle of town. I'll inclue here a picture of one of the dragons we have seen around town. Dragons seem to be the mascots of Ljubljana. Tomorrow we go to Graz, Austria. If you get bored today, try typing Ljubljana. It's hard. I think fingers are used to stretching out to the aeiou instead of typing a thousand consonants in a row. Some fun towns we've seen: Uggl and Egg. Also, a street named Duh. Oh, whoops, I don't have dragon pics on my laptop yet, so instead I will show you some funny signs we've seen.You can't really have any sort of fun at the lake. You're not even allowed to pet snails!

slap savica

Slap means waterfall, I think, and Savica is the name of the falls that feed Lake Bohinj. 9 km bike ride each direction (that's 5.4 miles each way) and a short hike. Very pretty. More later.

Austria

We're on vacation again. This time it's Austria and Slovenia. It's been a beautiful trip so far. Warm weather and dry. Except on the Grossglockner Road, but that's cuz it was so high in elevation. Here are a few pictures I took in Innsbruck. The dragons were in a royal garden near a playground. And I was glad to see that both men and women are allowed to cross the road there. Apparently, tho, only if they are dressed up. And I'm not sure what they are supposed to do between 6 am and 10:30 am. It's hard to post pictures in a hotel lobby, so I'll get more up in a few days, or whenever we actually have internet access in our room. Right now there are three women and a man staring at Rob and I. I think they're speaking Slovenian, cuz it doesn't sound like German.

Proof!

When I see a sign or hear an announcer and I don't know what it means (ie, it's in German or some other language), I tell Rob it means that there are bears around, and you better watch out. He always laughs and doesn't believe me. Now I have proof. When we were at the bank today, withdrawing money for our vacation, it was right there on the screen: Bearbeitet. Pronounced in German, it says, "bear-bite-it." See? You do have to watch out for the bears. We knew someone was taking a 1% bite out of every purchase we make (I'd show you our bank statements, but, um, well, you know) and now there is proof. It's the bears.

Dishwasher Salt, or, An Ironing Board on my Head

Yesterday I spent about 4 hours taking trains and walking to find an ironing board, an ice chest, and bandaids. I needed bandaids for my toes that got rubbed raw when I finally wore my cute new black shoes, on which I had to replace the button a few weeks ago. I needed an ironing board because one of the legs on the board that came with the apartment went left when the rest went right, and leaning the ironing board against the wall just doesn't work all that well. And we wanted an ice chest for our upcoming vacation. I found the ironing board and ice chest, but couldn't carry them both home, so I didn't get either, and instead today we went to get them when Rob got off work. We took the train to the train to the walk to the store. By the time we were heading home, it started to rain. So, after we got off the train near our apartment Rob began carrying the ironing board over his head. I wasn't so lucky, because the ice chest really isn't big enough to cover me. So Rob shared the ironing board. I'm sure we looked pretty weird walking down the street but we were dry!

Today the little red light on the dishwasher got to me. It said, "Salz." I know that means salt. The dishwasher was asking for salt. It has been asking for salt for a week or two, and today was the day I decided to find the salt. I found the specialsalz in the dishwasher section of the local store. I opened the place in the bottom of the dishwasher that said salt in 4 languages. Then I didn't know how much to put in. So I got Rob to get the manual down (stored above the fridge). I couldn't read it. Rob could read some words, but didn't get the gist of it. I typed the information into google translator and got this:
"Door open, remove basket. 2nd Cap stocks of the salt container counterclockwise untwist. 3rd Only for initial start-up: Salt tank fill with water (about 0.5 l). 4th With delivered to funnel opening of the stock container stuck. Special salt due to funnel in the reservoir to fill. Assets depending on the version grain approximately 1.0 - 1.5 kg. Tank with special salt not overfill.

The filling of the water runs Spezialsalzes ousted from the salt tank in the bottom of the Spülraums. This is fine, because this water at the start of the next Spülprogramms off. 5th Opening the stock container of salt remains clean. 6th Cap in a clockwise direction until it reaches zudrehen otherwise special salt into the dishwater. Troubled glasses could occur as a result. 7th If you do not immediately after your Salzeinfüllen the dishes, you should see the program run Vorspülen. this will übergelaufenes salt water and salt grains off. Depending on the grain it may take a few hours until the salt is dissolved in water and salt control display again goes off. The setting of the Wasserenthärters and thus the salt consumption are dependent on the local water hardness."

This was fine, but I was still a little puzzled about what to do, so I opened Babelfish and translated again. This time I got this:
"The water displaced when filling in the special salt runs from the salt storage vessel into the ground of the Spülraums. This is harmless, since this water is evacuated with the start of the next rinse cycle. 5. opening of the storage vessel of salt remainders clean. 6. Cover cap in the clockwise direction to a complete stop otherwise arrives special salt closes in the rinse water. Cloudy glasses could be the result. 7. If you immediately after the salt filling in your table-ware to rinse should not let you run the program Vorspülen. thus overcrowded seawater and salt grains are rinsed out. Depending upon granulation it can take some hours, until the salt dissolved in the water and the control display salt expires again. The attitude of the water softener and thus salt consumption depend on the local water hardness."

I decided to pour in about .75 liters of the salt. I'll find out what attitude it has when I run it.

My Eyes were Wellin'

Today I had to go to the market before lunch, because I had no lunch in the apartment. A few days ago we talked to Meg and Lauri on the phone. Meg mentioned that she had sent a package. So every day when I go out, my heart starts pounding a bit when I walk past our mailbox. I peek into the slot to see if there is anything there. Today there was! A blue card with lots of German words on it. I have no idea what it said, except at the top, where it said addressee: Mom and Dad. I knew what it meant. Our package had arrived. But where was it? I determined that as soon as I got home with my cheese spread (lunch) I would open up my laptop and google translate the German.
On my way to the market, I saw a yellow bike, and a woman pedalling it. It was about two blocks from our apartment. On it was a big yellow bag with the post office symbol. I thought, aha! Mail is delivered by bike. And I continued on to the market.
On my way home, the pedaler of the yellow bike was stopped at a building right in front of me, so I said, "Excuse me, do you speak English?" and she shook her head, no. Then I pulled the blue card out of my purse and asked, "How?" She said, "Moment." She walked away with some letters in her hand, about 50 feet (sorry, I don't do meters yet), and stopped at a big green bin that I had thought was a trashcan. She jingled her keys, then reached in and walked back to me. Handed me a package from Meg!!! I recognized her handwriting immediately and tears sprang to my eyes.
How did that happen? The timing, the location, whoa! I quickly said thanks and sprinted home to open the package. Oohed over the paper punch for scrapbooking, ahhed over the book for Rob, and drooled over the Dagoba organic chocolate bar. Then I remembered the cheese and pork in my purse and put it away.
Thanks Meg, you made my day!

Silly Signs updated

I like to take pictures of funny signs and store names. To see my collection so far, click here.

Cover your eyes

Today we decided it was time to go to the Englischer Garten. It's a big, big park just to the east of the city center. The weather was beautiful so we decided to ride our bikes. The garden has a big Chinese pavillion in it, and seated in the pavillion, several stories up, was an oompa band. You know, the typical German band that plays polka like music. So, English garden, Japanese structure, German band. Hmm. There are tons of paths, some just for walking and some for biking. You can generally tell the difference because of signs like these.

We rode for awhile, up near a lake with paddle boats and lots of geese and other water fowl. Then we saw this other view. If you haven't seen female buns before, you may not want to scroll down. But really. You may not have heard of Veggietales before, but there is a silly song about a ceboo in it. I'm not sure what a ceboo is, but the song ends with questions, like, "did the sick ceboo get better? Did the sad ceboo get happy?" So questions like that were flowing through my mind: Did the girl know her buns were so exposed? Did her boyfriend notice when he walked up? Was he embarrassed for her, or did he enjoy the view so much that he said nothing? Does she always dress like that? To protect the innocent, I won't tell you who I was biking with. But he asked, as you might, "was she even wearing underwear?" So here now is the picture. Eek!

Anyhow, we rode around for awhile longer and then headed home. I also took pics of pretty buildings, which I will post somewhere soon.

Water Chestnuts

Today, being Saturday, meant that it was shopping day. Our wishlist was simple: a can of water chestnuts and a lightbulb. Also, return the charger that we bought for the dead cell phone. We got on the Ubahn, went three stops, and transferred to the next train for one stop. Our destination was Marienplatz, which is the shopping district in the center of Munich. It was extremely crowded because it's a tourist destination. We've learned that it's really good to hold hands going through places like that. People tend to go around you then instead of through you. Anyhow, our first stop was Karstadt. It's sort of a mishmash of little shops. When you go in there's a candy shop on the left, and bedding on the right. Towards the back is a cell phone store and some stationary. A few weeks ago, we discovered the great downstairs secret: They've got foods that people from other countries seem to like. So we got our water chestnuts. Why did want them, anyhow? For cashew chicken. Last time Rob made cashew chicken he used celery for the crunchy part. It was okay, but not great. So now we are set. We bought 2 cans!
Next stop, Saturn. No, not the planet. Saturn is larger than a Best Buy but smaller than a Frys. We showed the receipt for the phone charger at the door. A woman stamped it and sent us upstairs. From there we went to the service desk. They said to take the charger and receipt to a person in a blue shirt. The first person in a blue shirt said to take it to exactly the department in which we bought the charger. Finally, we found an available blue-shirted person there. He took the charger from us and stamped the back of our receipt. We filled out our address and such, and then he stamped it again and filled out some other blanks. Finally, we were told to take the receipt back downstairs to the cashier (kasse) where we would get our refund. We walked past a lightbulb display on the way there and got our lightbulb. Also we saw an indoor/outdoor thermometer gadget. So we bought those, got our refund, and crossed that off our list.
We had also heard of a toy store near the end of Marienplatz. It was just past a McDonalds near a big fountain. We found it and headed downstairs, where we heard there were games. Wow! There sure were! We looked for one called "The Struggle for Rome" but didn't find it. We did however find a new expansion for Settlers, called Traders and Barbarians. Looks good. Also got a game for Keith (yes Keith, it has to do with...s oh wait, i can't tell you.)
Success!

another inspiration by Meg

Today I sat on my bed all day.

This is a sentence that Meg wrote in her school journal in kindergarten. It applies to me today. It rained a lot and instead of going for a bike ride we decided to stay in. So far, all day. And it's almost 5 pm.

How I live

Here is a link to views of our real house, our apartment when Rob first moved in, and our apartment now. just click here.

Today I opened my first bag of dark chocolate m&ms. Rob brought me 4 bags from Colorado! Yum. He also bought a new cell phone because his old one really was dead. So you can once again call me on it if you really want to spend a lot of money. Since Rob was jet lagged from his trip, he slept in some, and then we went to the big grocery store I discovered last weekend. We bought 44 Euros worth of groceries at one time! Probably a record. See, the good thing is, Rob and I DROVE to the store, so we could stock up. Both tomorrow (friday) and sunday the stores will be closed. Tomorrow is some sort of Catholic holiday and a lot of people have the day off. Including Rob, not because he's Catholic but because his company observes the holiday here. (sorry Portland TQS's)