Tuesday, September 25, 2007

ANZAC Biscuits


ANZAC Biscuits
Originally uploaded by heliospheric
Comfort cooking can be dangerous - fun - but dangerous. These biscuits were only in the house for 1 day. Then I insisted that Richard take them to work with him to distribute to work colleagues.

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Reading Material


Moving to a country where you don't speak, read or understand the language is a bit like being a child again. In some ways it is liberating, and in others it is frustrating.

In an attempt to build on and reinforce the German we absorbed in the past month, we trotted off to the book shop to get some reading material that was at 'our level'.

I'm pleased to announce that 'our level' is roughly that of a 7 year old, although 10 pages into my book, I'm beginning to wish I'd picked something much simpler....like 'Miffy at the Seaside'.

So it is 'Ich bin hier bloß die Katze' for me. I'm pretty sure this is going to take me longer to read than 'A Fringe of Leaves' by Patrick White, which currently holds the record as my slowest read yet, at just over 6 months.

Language acquisition is slow, and I am in awe of those people who have a head for languages. I wish I was one of them. But for now, I'm firmly in language Kindergarten.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Haus Frau Disaster #2


Note to self: Turn on the light while sorting the washing

So, it was early, and I wanted to get a load of washing on before German lessons, and I rummaged through the laundry basket to put a load together ready to take down to the cellar where the washing machine lives, and unwittingly included my favourite black cardigan (or Unsworth*, as I like to call them).

I threw the clothes into the machine and mindlessly selected a 60 degree wash.

The result - a shrinky dink Unsworth.

Please note, I am a proper scientist and have included a mobile phone in the photo for scale. That cardigan would be lucky to fit a 2 year old.

I loved that Unsworth - it was lovingly made by the good people of China from extra fine Australian Merino wool.

* Unsworth - named in honour of Barrie Unsworth the former NSW Premier who had a penchant for wearing cardigans.

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Help! I'm drowning in verbs!

Yes, it has begun. The inevitable, the slow, and the excruciatingly painful journey that is learning to speak German.

The 'Intensive German Course' started last week. Originally, we were in a class of 8, but after the test to see how much German we all knew, we were a class of 3. The others were obviously way more advanced than us, so were promoted to the smart class. This is a great thing - but exhausting. Some days I think my head may explode.

Richard has been complaining that his brain is full, and has been forced to delete some information in order to make room for all the new stuff. Fortunately, he has started with the folder in his brain labelled 'Song lyrics from the 80s'.

Here's hoping that by the end of the course, we will be intense Germans.