As I am typing in the kitchen, I see the foggy expansion from the big panels of windows that were installed in front of me. It is already ten in the morning, and the fog that had sure to have procured before seven in the morning has yet dispersed.
I know that I cannot be here for long. Next Friday will be our block test, and I still have some studies to do.
I have to finish this before lunch.
The Sunday Fog
I woke up with my eyes half-closed this morning, shivering in the heavy blankets and covers. My phone rang violently, urging me to get up from the bed. I wonder what was so urgent. I rubbed my eyes until the view outside the window came clear to me. In a frantic single swoop I grabbed my two jackets and rushed outside - It was still so cold that I shivered. I figured that it was simply because I just woke up. But I couldn't resist the call from the fog, making it more difficult to see behind the almost non-existent films. I walked on the road until I left the school grounds, through a tunnel and to a league of old exquisite buildings. A dog whose leash was yet to be tied barked rather aggressively and then simply started charging at me. I stood there like a statue, staring at it out of curiosity, wondering what it would do. I guess the dog also got perplexed, and stopped before it could bound into me.
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| Misty |
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| Mystery |
The owner said her apologies at me, who smiled and said that it wasn't a big problem for me and continued on. I ended up at the rails, and took a very beautiful picture before I get back to the warmth of the student apartment.
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| And rails. |
The Food of the Week
In this weeks culinary session, I have many tasty dishes to introduce. I have to save time, so let's just dive in!
I have been thinking about this dish for quite a long time already, to be honest, and it wasn't until this week that I actually put this idea into practice.
I marinated some minced pork with some diced mushroom and made cabbage rolls.
In Taiwan, my mom has never made such thing, but the minced meat filling felt like home.
The cabbage sure does taste quite different from the ones in Taiwan, and the leaves were a lot thicker and harder. Maybe I can do it when I get back in Taiwan again.
The second dish would be my very first Indian curry. Last week, I went to an Indian store with Johannes and Abhidha. Always intrigued by the way my Indian friends make some of the best curry I have ever eaten from scratch, I felt compelled to try it out on my own. I got all the necessary ingredients and brought them onto the kitchen counter. I was both glad and insecure that I was with other people in the kitchen. Glad that I would get some helpful advice in curry making, but insecure because I really didn't want to make a fool of myself. Then, Harish, my savior, came to the kitchen. He gave me instructions as to when to put in the spice and when to put in my mushrooms and the cream (it was a champignon curry), and the results were surprisingly good! It was spicy, savory, and had the distinct taste of curry. Maybe a touch too much coriander, but the next time I know what to do. I made enough curry for dinner that day, the lunch in the following day (it went into sandwiches) and then the dinner as fried rice. Starting from my ten years of age, I have been a fanatic lover of curry, and this good result made me want to dance.
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| One the second day, I used the remaining to make some curry fried rice. |
Before the last dish get its spotlight, there is some pretext to it: Yesterday, the family members on my mother's side gathered together for some celebration and a family get-together. Mom sent me some of the food pictures they had in the restaurant. I got really jealous, so jealous that I figured that I had to make something special for myself as well. My gears for food started turning, and I told myself to hurry up my studying so that I would be able to hit the markets and get some extra ingredients for my extravagant-and-utterly-out-of-context dinner.
At five thirty I got back to the dorm with two big bags on both sides, containing things that Svitlana also needed. Without a recipe, I started making the dough, only looking for the texture I imagined. (Svitlana said that I was "verrückt", which was the German word for "crazy")
The dough turned out way better than I thought, and the small tart shells I got in the end was rewarding. When the shells were left in the oven to bake, I made the filling with a can of tuna, tomatoes, and some spices. I chopped up some potatoes into thin slices and bathed them with herbs and butter.
After hours of work and waiting and considering the next step, I got a whole tray of small treats: two sets of tarts with different fillings, four stacks of potato slices, and an egg in a bacon bowl (this was Johannes' idea, who was, at the moment, back home for some community hunt.)
Of course there are more to talk about, but since the three dishes of quota have been spent, I have to move on.
Anxiété - Pomme
Bonjour tout le monde!
Aujourd'hui je suis ici pour conseiller des chansons que j'aime et je veux aussi les traduire.
Pomme est l'une de mes chanteurs préférées. Son vrai nom est Claire Pommet, mais devant les cameras elle est simplement Pomme. Je l'ai découvert il y a trois ans, et sa voix et son genre de musique me plaisent beaucoup.
En premier November elle a sorti son nouveau album qui s'appelle "Les failles". Sa voix est vraiment spécial et quand je l'écoute, j'ai des frissons très souvent. Clair et si pur, je veux vraiment acheter cet album.
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| I just love the design. |
Anxiété est aussi une chanson dans l'album, et aujourd'hui je veux faire un peu de traduction.
C'est une chanson qui parle de l'anxiété, mais c'est aussi une histoire à ce sujet racontée dans les yeux de l'anxiété lui-même. Ça marche comme ça:
Je suis celle qu'on ne voit pas
Je suis celle qu'on n'entend pas
Je suis cachée au bord des larmes
Je suis la reine des drames
Quand tu veux dormir je viens pour t'embrasser
Si tu veux courir je rampe à tes côtés
Tu apprends, tu apprendras, je sens ton coeur
Tu comprends, sur comprendras, comment t'y faire
Maintenant j'essaie de la traduire:
I am someone that no one sees
I am someone that no one hears
I am hidden on the precipice of tears
I am the queen of dramas
When you are falling asleep, I would come over to give you a kiss
When you are running, I would crawl at your side
You will learn, you will learn that I feel your heart
You will know, you will know how to get used to it
Cette chanson est pour moi très poétique et on peut voir comment l'anxiété nous attaque.
Avant de sorti d'album, Pomme a nous dit que c'est un album de chanson très personnel, et on peut voir pourquoi.
À la semaine prochaine!
Weekly Contacts
幾乎每天都會打電話回台灣。
有時是打電話跟媽媽聊聊近況，順便問一下做菜的一些建議。媽媽正好在Sophie跟Aiden家的時候也會開啟視訊通話陪小朋友們玩一下。Sophie很喜歡玩手機上的濾鏡還有特效，又因為最近正好是萬聖節前後，各種妖魔鬼怪、又是吐血、又是掉眼睛的特效特別多，Sophie總是玩不膩，一個一個點開「表演」給我看。
除了媽媽之外，最常打電話的對象就是Cathy還有Angela了。Candy已經對我的囉唆感到厭煩了都不太想接我電話。但是我不怪他們罵我囉唆啦，畢竟那是事實。
昨天出門買菜，發現Jay還在線上，就打過去，例行性的話家常。Jay跟我本來就不太聊得起來，但是因為他睡不著、我整趟路又頗無聊的，他就赤他的個、我買我的東西，直到我買完回家，也是蠻有趣的。
還有打電話給Henry。他還在準備日文系的期中考，在不知情的情況下打過去其實有點不好意思，但還是跟他聊了一下。雖然頗尷尬的，但是能夠講到話我覺得也可以了。
在這邊還是會想家，能夠打電話、有網路通訊真是太好了。
Math Tutoring
In fünf Tagen haben wir die Prüfung. Bei mir ist alles anstrengend, um für die Prüfung vorzubereiten. Na klar habe ich meine Freunde, mit denen ich mit studieren kann, aber ich habe immer Angst davor, dass ich irgendwie eine Katastrophe bei der Prüfung machen werde. Ein Tag sind Mathieu und Pasquale zu mir gekommen und haben mir gefragt, ob ich Ihnen ein bisschen über die Mathematik helfen konnte. Natürlich habe ich mit "Ja" geantwortet, und am nächsten Tag haben wir uns in meiner Küche getroffen.
In den Vorlesungen lernen wir jetzt, was wir auf Englisch "differentiation" nennen. Das ich aber nicht so schwer, aber du muss einfach neue Konzepte und Formulare lernen.
Ich finde es interessant, um jemandem etwas zu lernen. Du musst sehr geduldig sein, außer muss du dich gut erklären. Ich weiß nicht, ob ich ein guter Lehrer bin, aber ich möchte einer sein.
Matthieu hat mir gesagt, dass er verstanden hat und ich habe ihm ähnliche Fragen gegeben.
Gestern hat er mir die Antworten gesendet. Sie waren... nicht so gut. Fünf von fünf Fragen sind falsch. Sei positiv! Das habe ich zu mir gesagt. Wir haben noch zwei Tage und wir können das zusammen besser machen.
End
Okay, I am sorry that I have postponed this until Tuesday, but somehow with all the things swirling around my head it didn't really occur to me that the time actually went by so fast. I'll try to be punctual next time.
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| Extra: Self-made banana chips. |
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| Group studies in the library. |
Sincerely,
Hugo
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