Quick Post

Here's something I wrote yesterday but the internet connection was a mess and so I wasn't able to post it.

It's really late, but I'm going to at least write a short post about what happened today.
As I said we went to Cologne where we first spent some time at a bookstore. I have to get a new book for next weekend. I can't possibly make a 2-and-more hour train ride without anything to read besides the good but difficult Vanity Fair. I'm thinking 'Our Lady of the Forest' might be next, but I'm not sure yet.
Then we walked all the way to the little boardgame-shop near Barbarossaplatz, which really wasn't so far away, only it was really cold. Strange weather here again, it's incredibly misty all the time and it makes the world seem a little strange and unreal. I was marvelling over the strange dark blue sky early in the evening. We spent a lot of time there pondering over which game we would purchase if any. After quite some time just hanging around, picking games and looking at them, sometimes opening the boxes to look inside we finally decided to let the people there help us. We watched a guy from the shop explaining a game to another guy from the shop. Obviously they have this 'system' where they explain games to each other, in case a customer wants to know something about it. If I ever go to university again and it will be in Cologne and I need some extra money, I would love to have a job there. Definitely. The game itself sounded very cool, still a bit weird. Short summary: You have to at first place as many of your people in Pompeji as you can and once the volcano erupts you have to get them out as soon as possible. It's definitely on our wish list now.
So I had this guy explain 'Jambo' to me and also asked to hear short ratings of other games I've been wanting to buy, but we finally decided on Jambo, which is a nice light two-player-game. We played it already and although it has a lot of luck it seems to have enough strategy as well to be fun and not stupid.
After that we walked to a small mexican fast-food place and had burrito wraps. Mine was something with chicken and a supposedly creole sauce. I can't really tell if it was creole because I never actually had something with creole in it, but it was tasty and I won't complain.

We then took the train back home where I had my father get us from the station and take us to their place. Pi and I had decided that we wouldn't go to Jörg's birthday, but would come by my parents for an hour or so and have the evening just for us. I would have loved to go to that party later, but definitely not today. I am so stressed out at the moment that I can't think of something better than just a weekend with no social obligations. I plan to call Jörg (if I can find out his number) and tell him we're sorry and maybe make some plans for some other time.
Anyway, it was nice that we went to my parents for the late afternoon. Later my grandparents came and then Renilda, Vera and Herlinde arrived. We had some early dinner and talked and basically had a nice time. I told my grandmother there was a tv-documentary on December 24th about Christmas in a special region in Lithuania (Memelland) which is where she comes from and I think she was really happy that I told her. Also I promised Renilda to make a list of books I would recommend. She has this monthly book-club meeting with a few other women where they talk about a book they have read and she thinks I might have some recommendations for her, so one of the next times she can suggest a book. I definitely recommend The Time-Traveler's Wife, but I don't know what else I could recommend. Not because I don't know some books I think are amazing, but because I think my taste of books is kind of strange. There's 'Set This House In Order' which I think is great, but the multiple personality thing and the really weird setting isn't everybody's thing I guess. I also think that 'Life of Pi' was great, but that also has a really strange story, so I'm not sure if that's a good recommendation for a women's book-club. I will browse my bookshelves some more and make a list.
(By the way: Jamie, they already read 'The Lovely Bones', so I can't recommend that.)
At 7:30 pm we had my mother drive us to the supermarket. We got something to eat for tomorrow and then headed home. I was so tired by then I thought I was going to fall asleep immediately, though of course I didn't.Here's a short summary of the few things we did then:Cleaned the apartment a little and put the groceries where they belong.Played our first game of Jambo and liked it. Pi won, as usual, but it was really close.Watched a little bit of TV and now Pi is still in the living room and I am writing.That's it.

I want to run tomorrow and I would like to do it when it's not dark, so we can actually run in some forest which according to the map is really close and might provide good running possibilities. I hope I (or we) can bring myself to it.

Current mood: Tired and exhausted but still happy since I didn't waste my day today. I alwas get a good feeling when I can look back on a day and actually say that I did something.
Listening to: She Floats by Vanessa Carlton (which has a really strange instrumental/choir part and I'm not sure yet what to make of it)