Ich lerne Deutsch!

as in "I'm learning German!"

That's right, after living in Germany for almost a year I have finally gotten enrolled in a German class! I really want to come away from this experience at least knowing a lot more about the language than I do now. The class is 6 weeks long, meeting twice per week. While the class is just an introduction to the language, it should still be worth it because I don't even know how to count in German! This is necessary for shopping at the Bacheries I love to much! I am also tired of having to point to what I want or hold up my fingers for how many! I really want to be able to do more.

I guess we'll see how it goes, but with the first class down it is looking pretty good so far.

The sentence of the day for our first class was, "ScheiB wetter heute!" Which translates to, "Shitty weather today!" Gotta be a good sign that they are teaching us curse words on the first day!

Spargel

We cooked our Spargel, aka White Asparagus, that we bought at the Trier Marketplatz last night. There is a lot more detail that goes into this type of Asparagus than one realizes. First of all are the considerations to take when purchasing it. You want to make sure you are buying straight, thick stalks. Mainly because Spargel has to be peeled before cooking, so you want to make sure that the peeling will be easier and you will have substantial volume still left over. You also want to make sure the Asparagus is fully white. Some look a little purple, but those are considered inadequate. You especially want to make sure that they are fresh, because apparently Spargel goes bad within 2 days of harvesting! The stalks should be a little soft when pinched, and when you pinch the end, a little bit of water should come out. That's how you know that they are good.

Next, comes the cooking. The most significant step is the peeling. I had no idea, but when I researched cooking the Spargel this is what all the websites said. You then boil the Asparagus for about 6-7 minutes so that it softens, but isn't mushy. Spargel is traditionally served with Hollandaise Sauce, so that is another thing you have to make. Wow, who knew there was so much involved!

Peeling the Spargel.

The Spargel boiling, next to my homemade Hollandaise sauce!

Dinner; YUM!! We had the Spargel with Hollandaise Sauce, Baked Potato, and Buffalo Steak. All were wonderful!!! I meant to take a picture before I started eating, but I got excited and forgot. :) The Spargel turned out great! Soft, but not mushy, and a little sweeter than Green Asparagus. We will definitely be buying more in the future!

You can call me Professor Roth...

I have a new job! I have just started teaching online courses for UMUC-Europe!! Right now I am in my 3rd week of teaching Biology 101. It is really different and a lot of work, especially since this is my first time teaching the course, but I really enjoy it. Right now I am doing most things as I go since I wasn't really assigned my class until last minute and couldn't do much pre-work, so I have quite a few long evenings each week (Sunday nights especially since they're right before the start of the new week). But things are going pretty good overall and I think my classes will be a lot easier in the future since I will have all the class material created by then and will also have some experience under my belt. I hope to eventually branch out into higher level Biologies and possibly face-to-face classes too, but right now I am focusing on giving my best to my first course.

Oh, and I don't make the students call me Professor Roth. Mrs. Roth, Ma'am, or any other way is fine with me. :)

Spring is Officially Here!

Today we went to Trier for the afternoon. It was spure of the moment, but the day was just so gorgeous we decided we wanted to go walk around the Marketplatz. I also wanted to get some fresh flowers since it's been since about November since I've gotten some from Trier.

Enjoying the afternoon at a Sidwalk Eis Cafe. That's an Ice Cream Cafe. Love them!!

The most elaborate street performer I think I have ever seen in my life! He is a fountain with working water!!

Fresh fruit and veggies. Germany is known for it's White Asparagus, or "Spargel", so we got some as well as some blood oranges and tomatoes. We're going to try to cook the asparagus on the grill tomorrow.

Fresh flowers!! I got 2o beautiful white Tulips for 8E!

I heart London

We decided to go back to London last weekend to celebrate Phillip's Birthday! Our friends Rhiannon and Drew joined us too since Drew's Birthday was just a week before Phillip's. Rhiannon had been to London before, but hadn't seen too many of the sights and it was Drew's first time there, so we acted as tour guides. It was a lot of fun!! I just love going to London because there is always so much to do, and it's just a 1 hour plane ride for us. Can't beat it!

Buckingham Palace

The Prince Edward's Theater where we went to see the musical Jersey Boys! Told the story of the music group Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. AMAZING!!! I would totally go see it again!!


Tower Bridge

Big Ben and Parliament with Westminster Abbey in the background. We tried to go in Westminster Abbey since it was closed the last time we came to London, and wouldn't you know it was closed AGAIN. Someday...


Our group on the London Eye. We took a Champagne Flight. Lots of fun! We got to skip the que and then also had much fewer people on our flight since it was supposed to be more private.

Can't wait to go back again!!

The Clackers

We are experiencing another fun little German tradition, The Clackers. Over Easter, between Good Friday and Easter morning the church bells do not ring as an act of mourning Jesus' crucification. So intsead the town's children walk around and clack their nosie makers when the bells should be ringing. Mainly they come around at 6:30am, noon, and 6:30 pm. Such a neat tradition!