Germany
Hey all!
Just got back to Glasgow from Germany. It was beautiful on Lake Konstanz (Bodensee). The lake is 40 miles long and 2 miles wide and it touches Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The town that they are staying in is called Langenargen, but it sounds like Lang-in-oggin when the Germans say it. We took a day trip to Austria on a boat, then took a gondola to the top of a mountain, then a train home. It was a long hot sticky day, but we ate yummy pizza at the end which made it all OK! I spent 4 days with my sister and brother (Dad and Andi happened to be there too). The weather was fantastic. I got sunburned, but it settled into a nice golden tan. We went to the swimming pool nearly everyday (svimbat as they call it, I'm spelling it phonetically of course). We ate organic strawberries and this yummy seed bread that was covered in sunflower seeds with butter and homemade jam and honey, and lots cheese and cold meats. The day we went on our boat trip we had brunch in the big hall and everyone seemed fine, but just as we were finishing our museli and yoghurt Tom began to vomit copious amounts of half digested sour breakfast all over Andi and himself and the floor. Luckily Dad knows the word 'Spew' in German and told the lady who runs everything. The house that Andi has rented for the summer is in this little village run by the Catholic church - Old people groups, handicapped groups, and children of different ages with their families come for a few weeks, it's not really religious, but there are meditation circles and communal meals. Dad calls the woman that runs it Frau Hitler because she is so strict and anal about everything, like clearing the plates in a certain order and not doing this and doing that. By all accounts they think Andi and Dad are pretty weird because they don't eat the food in the dining hall and they don't follow the rules and join in all the activities. Hannah and Tom were both delights. I love the way they are little sponges and I could perceive a distinct improvement in Tom's German over the four days, by the end of the summer he will not be speaking English at all! Hannah and I shared the sofa bed. She kept asking if next time I would bring Michael. I tried to explain that Michael had hurt me very badly and that when that happens sometimes people can't be together anymore. She asked me how he hurt me and I said that he said things that were mean and did some things that were mean. By the end of the weekend she was convinced that maybe Michael would be nice and make things better and then he could come visit next time. She is also starting to ask about sex and I tried to explain that it was something a boy and girl of the same age (much older) do together and that they can't be related, but then I revised and said that sometimes girls have sex with girls and boys have sex with boys but mostly it was a thing that people of the opposite sex do together. She also has it in her head that not wearing underwear is 'sexy'. I have no idea how a 3.5 year old would arrive at this perception, but she has nonetheless! She also wanted me to send her a play fridge for her birthday, but I said it was too heavy to send to Germany. Then she wanted a bracelet, a necklace and dangly clip-on earrings and I had to send them to Germany, even tho they arrive back in the US the day after her birthday in August. Kids are so crazy!
Things I LOVE today:
parsnip crisps: laugh if you will, but they are almost as yummy as sweet potato chips. And you can get them at Pret a Manger
rhubarb yoghurt: as you've probably noticed, neither yoghurt or parsnip crisps are Atkins, I have failed, mainly because I was nauseous and I've decided healthy lo-cal and hi-exercise is the best way because it changes your lifestyle and eating habits for good and you can sustain it a lot longer, so here's to behaving myself
Grey skies of Glasgow: basically because I forgot to wash my face this morning, so I have on my anti-aging night cream and not my SPF 15 day cream, so my skin is super sensitive to sunlight, but lucky me, I live in Glasgow and the sun never shines, so damage is minimal!
Fake tan: I'm going to get one before I go home. They make you look thinner and you look better in white! Why, oh, why are all of my loves so narcissistic and shallow or food? I am such a cow!
Batman Begins: I love the fact that Katie Holmes was the only American in a film about a city that is so quintessentially American. But it was damn entertaining, I especially loved the hilariously gruff voice Mr Bale put on when he was in his bat costume.
Christian Bale: English/Welsh depending on who you talk to
Michael Caine: Cockney Londoner
Laim Neeson: Scottish
Gary Oldman: English
Cillian Murphy: Irish (Republic of) - and the man with the most gorgeous blue eyes ever, if you get a chance to watch Disco Pigs (not for the faint hearted), he is so mega-intense it's totally captivating (but he is a bit scary, a little too good as obsessive and slightly autistic Pig, I cannot exactly diagnose his bizarre personality disorder, but Pig and Runt have a most unusual brand of closeness. I witnessed something like this only once when I was 12 and staying at a state park campground on the S.C. coast and there were was a girl and boy who had a relationship akin to the one in the movie, which made me vaguely uncomfortable and like I was had stumbled in on something unsavoury and lewd despite being presented with no concrete proof of any vile acts). of course he's good in 28 Days Later, Girl with the Pearl Earring, and Intermission too, but Disco Pigs was the first thing I saw him in and I was spell-bound. He's newly married though, drat, but I guess the implausibility of our meeting and falling in love was always fairly apparent and I do prefer real people even if they most of them can't act particularly well.
QUESTION: I am planning to have a birthday party in October or November (I know my birthday is in August, but I haven't had a party since I was 13, which means I missed 16, 18 and 21, so I've decided that 23 is going to be a big one). The question is should I have a 'black and white' theme or a 'James Bond' theme? I would like the black and white to be dressy, like men in penguin suits and girls in LBDs, but Hilary wants to come as Cruella DeVille because she has the costume from her skating competitions. I just don't know. What do you think?
Just got back to Glasgow from Germany. It was beautiful on Lake Konstanz (Bodensee). The lake is 40 miles long and 2 miles wide and it touches Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The town that they are staying in is called Langenargen, but it sounds like Lang-in-oggin when the Germans say it. We took a day trip to Austria on a boat, then took a gondola to the top of a mountain, then a train home. It was a long hot sticky day, but we ate yummy pizza at the end which made it all OK! I spent 4 days with my sister and brother (Dad and Andi happened to be there too). The weather was fantastic. I got sunburned, but it settled into a nice golden tan. We went to the swimming pool nearly everyday (svimbat as they call it, I'm spelling it phonetically of course). We ate organic strawberries and this yummy seed bread that was covered in sunflower seeds with butter and homemade jam and honey, and lots cheese and cold meats. The day we went on our boat trip we had brunch in the big hall and everyone seemed fine, but just as we were finishing our museli and yoghurt Tom began to vomit copious amounts of half digested sour breakfast all over Andi and himself and the floor. Luckily Dad knows the word 'Spew' in German and told the lady who runs everything. The house that Andi has rented for the summer is in this little village run by the Catholic church - Old people groups, handicapped groups, and children of different ages with their families come for a few weeks, it's not really religious, but there are meditation circles and communal meals. Dad calls the woman that runs it Frau Hitler because she is so strict and anal about everything, like clearing the plates in a certain order and not doing this and doing that. By all accounts they think Andi and Dad are pretty weird because they don't eat the food in the dining hall and they don't follow the rules and join in all the activities. Hannah and Tom were both delights. I love the way they are little sponges and I could perceive a distinct improvement in Tom's German over the four days, by the end of the summer he will not be speaking English at all! Hannah and I shared the sofa bed. She kept asking if next time I would bring Michael. I tried to explain that Michael had hurt me very badly and that when that happens sometimes people can't be together anymore. She asked me how he hurt me and I said that he said things that were mean and did some things that were mean. By the end of the weekend she was convinced that maybe Michael would be nice and make things better and then he could come visit next time. She is also starting to ask about sex and I tried to explain that it was something a boy and girl of the same age (much older) do together and that they can't be related, but then I revised and said that sometimes girls have sex with girls and boys have sex with boys but mostly it was a thing that people of the opposite sex do together. She also has it in her head that not wearing underwear is 'sexy'. I have no idea how a 3.5 year old would arrive at this perception, but she has nonetheless! She also wanted me to send her a play fridge for her birthday, but I said it was too heavy to send to Germany. Then she wanted a bracelet, a necklace and dangly clip-on earrings and I had to send them to Germany, even tho they arrive back in the US the day after her birthday in August. Kids are so crazy!
Things I LOVE today:
parsnip crisps: laugh if you will, but they are almost as yummy as sweet potato chips. And you can get them at Pret a Manger
rhubarb yoghurt: as you've probably noticed, neither yoghurt or parsnip crisps are Atkins, I have failed, mainly because I was nauseous and I've decided healthy lo-cal and hi-exercise is the best way because it changes your lifestyle and eating habits for good and you can sustain it a lot longer, so here's to behaving myself
Grey skies of Glasgow: basically because I forgot to wash my face this morning, so I have on my anti-aging night cream and not my SPF 15 day cream, so my skin is super sensitive to sunlight, but lucky me, I live in Glasgow and the sun never shines, so damage is minimal!
Fake tan: I'm going to get one before I go home. They make you look thinner and you look better in white! Why, oh, why are all of my loves so narcissistic and shallow or food? I am such a cow!
Batman Begins: I love the fact that Katie Holmes was the only American in a film about a city that is so quintessentially American. But it was damn entertaining, I especially loved the hilariously gruff voice Mr Bale put on when he was in his bat costume.
Christian Bale: English/Welsh depending on who you talk to
Michael Caine: Cockney Londoner
Laim Neeson: Scottish
Gary Oldman: English
Cillian Murphy: Irish (Republic of) - and the man with the most gorgeous blue eyes ever, if you get a chance to watch Disco Pigs (not for the faint hearted), he is so mega-intense it's totally captivating (but he is a bit scary, a little too good as obsessive and slightly autistic Pig, I cannot exactly diagnose his bizarre personality disorder, but Pig and Runt have a most unusual brand of closeness. I witnessed something like this only once when I was 12 and staying at a state park campground on the S.C. coast and there were was a girl and boy who had a relationship akin to the one in the movie, which made me vaguely uncomfortable and like I was had stumbled in on something unsavoury and lewd despite being presented with no concrete proof of any vile acts). of course he's good in 28 Days Later, Girl with the Pearl Earring, and Intermission too, but Disco Pigs was the first thing I saw him in and I was spell-bound. He's newly married though, drat, but I guess the implausibility of our meeting and falling in love was always fairly apparent and I do prefer real people even if they most of them can't act particularly well.
QUESTION: I am planning to have a birthday party in October or November (I know my birthday is in August, but I haven't had a party since I was 13, which means I missed 16, 18 and 21, so I've decided that 23 is going to be a big one). The question is should I have a 'black and white' theme or a 'James Bond' theme? I would like the black and white to be dressy, like men in penguin suits and girls in LBDs, but Hilary wants to come as Cruella DeVille because she has the costume from her skating competitions. I just don't know. What do you think?
posted by Sarah Donahue at 11:21 AM
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