Sunday

Beautiful weather. But it's too late and I lack the energy to climb any hills, and I have a hard time wandering around without a goal. Xenia and In are both studying, and I should be too, but it seems a crime to stay in when its so nice, and I'm terrible at studying outdoors. Thinking about trying anyway. Normally the wind and the flies and all the little things get on my nerves, but it probably can't be any worse than my wohnheim.

Got home yesterday from the 'okay' trip to Berlin. I should be in Dresden today but I can't be too sad it didn't work out - the extra time has felt good. I did my laundry (a HUGE load of it, and accidentally bought a dryer when I meant to buy a washer, and someone else stole my paid-for-dryer (no one ever uses the dryers here) before my clothes were clean. I bought a very few groceries (crawdads, garlic bread, a few packets of ramen), and gave my shelves a good cleaning. Surprisingly after being gone for two weeks the potatoes from the very beginning of the semester were STILL good, as were the lemons from a few weeks ago, etc. BUT, I found moths and their nasty larvae and eggs in my rice, so I made one last batch (washing very well, and confirming that the rice was very thoroughly infested with little baby moths) and then tossed the rest along with the crisp-breads and the Smacks breakfast cereal. Then I checked the cocoa and the spices and the seaweed, which were all fine, and the sesame seeds, which were a little infested but I just poured it all out into a shallow bowl and picked the little bits of web out. I warned all of my roommates to be on the lookout for nasty little creepy crawlies as well, but so far everyone else seems to be safe. I wiped down my cabinets and washed the outsides of the spice jars etc just because I felt vaguely dirty. I sort of feel sick about how much food I just threw out, but you don't want to mess around with these moth infestations, especially when you live with 7 roommates.

I rescued my bike. Two weeks ago the lock got jammed outside of the International Office and I didn't really know who to go to or what to buy to fix it, was wondering if it was even worth the effort with so little time in the semester but I couldn't just abandon it after everything we've been through, so I decided to go get it today, if it was still there, and carry it home at the very least - from there I could ask the dorm bicycle mentor for help, or take it by bus to a bike shop, or... well, I'd have options. It was still there, and I tried the lock again - still stuck. But for some reason I'd decided to bring a solution of 2 parts warm water to 1 part laundry soap along, and I poured it over the lock and tried again. This time, it worked like a charm. ^^ I'm pretty much a bike expert now, between this and wrestling the chain back on after someone wrecked my bike up pretty good trying to steal it from the wohnheim.

It bothers me that my roommates and their friends smoke in the kitchen, that my nextdoor neighbors doorbell is always ringing and ringing and sometimes they're accidentally calling me instead, that there always seems to be some huge dish in the oven all day at 200 degrees, so that if I just want to cook a bit of pizza or bread it's awkward, that the sound of Arabic music throughout the wohnheim can be oppressive at times, that Nezhla's mother has moved in to Hanenah's old room for the remainder of the semester, semi-illegally. A weekend visit, a week, even? Great, I'd be happy for them! But three months is way too long, even if I'm only here for one of them. I don't know how I feel about a grown woman who doesn't speak English or German sharing my shower and bathroom and kitchen with me... it just seems vaguely inappropriate. It bothers me that most of my roommates are here longer than me and therefore have their own fridges and freezers in their room, but still take the best parts of the shared fridge and freezer and are always spilling over their sections into mine. I can't even open the freezer without bulk meat and ice creams falling out on my head, and I have to take 100 things out to get my little bag of peas out of the back, and then place it all gingerly back in.

I was so happy to get home from Berlin yesterday, really felt like coming back to Bonn was coming home, love having my things around me, the privacy of my room, the familiar smells etc. But it occurs to me that I'm starting to feel ready to take things to the next level. I've still got a full year left of dorm living. Two if I work in Reslife my senior year, which I'm strongly considering (it's just such good money, and it's not really that bad, and I'm decently good at it). But I'm starting to see the appeal of an apartment of one's own, just as I could never ever go back to Freshman year and sharing my ROOM.