Cold kriegen
halbes Mass Wasser, tissues, german dictionary -equipment for cold wranglingThis past week was incredible, sunny, warm -the exact opposite from last years weather. Molly and Chad must have brought the good weather. I tried to explain to them that this just isn’t normal for this time of year (so I’ve heard and experienced in my short time in Munich). I don’t think they believed me, stating that their weather in Oregon frequently spawned mist, rain, wind, cold. Why is it always a competition over who has the best or worst? Why can’t it be, that’s just how it is?
But the dreariness has returned and to spice it up I have a full blown cold courtesy of Alex’s boss. I went to the store and bought a chicken and soup veggies (Suppengrün), which consisted of parsely, carrots, leeks, & a piece of celery root ball (they don’t eat the stalk here), and proceeded to cook up my weapon of cold pounding destruction.
I missed class because I didn’t want to share what’s making my nose sore. No, you can’t have it, either. I’m not in a sharing mood. But I did find some music I’m gaga over, which I am willing to share. She’s called Kaki King. Enjoy.
Needless to say, I’m a bit hindered to finish my Provence synapsis. Hopefully, I’ll get to it before all the details escape me 
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AOK Insurance, Buttah, and Bubbles in my Flan
So what are the perks to being a student in a German university? Health Insurance, apparently. I took a walk down Landsbergerstaße to the AOK (Allgemeine Ortskrankenkasse) and signed up for the government-based student insurance. Or so I thought.
At the moment I have Klemmer insurance for visitors taking German as a foreign language, which covers medical emergencies other than a toothache or GYN stuff. The government-based student insurance from AOK is about 50 Euro a month and better than the insurance I had in Florida for about $70 a month, but paid by my employer. German “staatlich” insurance covers everything (except for reading glasses and composite teeth fillings) and there is no cap for what it costs to stay well. My Florida BCBS insurance had a million dollar lifetime cap for everything…easy to reach with the common illnesses/accidents these days. I had to buy supplemental insurance to cover a rogue cancer or unexpected hospital bills…ugh, stress, another 100 bucks a month.
So get me connected with the good stuff that those 50% German taxes pay for, ASAP! Only the kind people of AOK didn’t understand me. According to Alex, they filled out an exempt form for the insurance which would have meant that I could never again get into government-based insurance. He had them rip the piece of paper and I must return to AOK today with the correct form. I should have asked questions, the foreigner genius strikes again.
parkay?? nein, buttah dishon another note more and more people are all of a sudden able to make our party this weekend. Um? Great!?! We need more beer!
At least, now I don’t have to worry about refrigerator butter; I finally have a petite, ceramic butter dish. Ja, big deal you say! But I love my buttah (ooh and bacon!) and there is nothing like a smooth spread of fatty goodness. Okay…sorry I had to share.
tiny bubblesSo another question? (Thanks to those who responded to the drill Q) Why are there bubbles in my flan? I suspect it has something to do with the egg white, but I made a flan with virtually no bubbles before but I can’t duplicate those results. It tastes alright. But German grocery stores don’t carry Vanilla extract. I had to use Vanille Zucker. It taste like artifical sweetener and fills the room with a funky vanilla fabreeze scent. Gross. Maybe I’ll have luck at the Asian stores. They seem to have the stuff you typically find at home.
