Cake, Lucky, Lake

The other day I tried to go about making a cake for Hanna’s (the youngest daughter) birthday. This would be a very easy task back home however cooking in a German kitchen posed for a bit of a problem. For starters all the ingredients about the house we obviously labeled in German, second, in Germany they cook by weight not with measuring cups, i.e 1200g of flour instead of 1 cup flour, this means that the only measurement cups they had were very cheap and were not labeled so I have to decided whether or not one of the cups was ¼ or 1/3 it was a tad confusing. Lastly their ovens temperatures are measured in Calcus not Fahrenheit, however this was easily converted with the use of google. As I went about baking the cake I was hoping that everything would come out alright as I have to add vanilla sugar instead of vanilla extract and I added Bak Puder hoping it was baking power. In the end it did turn out fine, however making the pizza for the birthday meal as well was another baking challenge I had to face the following day. I am slowly finding my way around the kitchen but having to read ingredients and instructions in German is still no easy feat.

On a separate note, the family dog Lucky has shown his extream dis-interest in me a few times now, once nipping/ biting my on the boob, and a second by nipping/biting my hand and finnaly yesturday as I was coming back from a walk yesturday Lucky started barking like crazy and, well, scared the hell out of me. At this point Sonja and Rolf knew they had to do something as I am beginning to not feel so safe around the dog. Sonja is worried I am going to leave because of Lucky, but I would only do so if the dog were to bite me again. Until then I have been instructed to give the dog treats and tell him to go outside when I am trying to clean the house, this is a fine solution for now but once it starts to get colder and the dog has to be in the house Im not too sure what we will do. In the mean time I have had a splendid time trying to explain to some of the less English speaking people in the family where I got bite as they were not home when the first incounter happened. After trying to say it in the most polite way possible and having them not understand at all, it resolved in me somewhat grabbing my chest and saying “ya, here”. It was a tad awkward! Ahahaha

Again on a totally separate note, I got to explore the town on Ingolstadt a little more the other day! After my german lesson,I borrowed a bike and found my way to a little man-made lake tucked behind some biking/running paths. It was so splendid! (I got to bike past the Danube river which was quite lovely as well.) The little lake I arrived at was an old lake that has no real beach but people line their towels and chairs on the grass surrounding the lake. This is a small little spot that only people living in Ingolstadt really know about, so I was very pleased to be in on the secret. After claiming a spot with my towel I went for a swim and then laid in the sun reading my book. I tried not to get too distracted by the MANY Speedos sported by the both young and fit, and the old and not so fit men. How very European!
Oh my what an experience this whole thing is bringing me and I haven’t even been gone a month.

today: stick shift, ice cream, post cards

love j