kodak 400tx on minox 35gt
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101 things in 1001 days – done!
so the second edition of my 101 things in 1001 days list ran out yesterday, and i managed to do… 58% of it! i know, it doesn’t sound like much, but still, it was quite an improvement up from 40% on the previous one. and wow… has it been 1001 days already?!
this time, the list was far more doable, with a lot less crazy-wishful-thinking travel plans, but it did include a fair amount of multiple items (read X books, try X things) which might have been a mistake. many of them ended up neaaaarly done… but missing an item or two in the end. bummer!
having done this twice now, i still think it’s nice to have goals and a list to work on, step by step. it gives life a certain direction, something to aim for. these past few years i’ve certainly discovered more unesco sites, funky sodas and strange vegetables than i would have otherwise! :D
and now, time to come up with another one, for the next 1001 days! any suggestions?
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salmiakki ice-cream
we’re in moomin-land for some days, so the next posts will feature a lot of finnish things! it’s not our first time in the country, but we were eager for an excuse to come back, review some of the things we loved the first time round and explore some more.
when i started looking for interesting things to do on this second trip, something popped up consistently… salmiakki ice-cream! :) salmiakki (salty liquorice with a side of ammonium chloride) is an acquired taste if there ever was one. for a candy, it tastes very “uncandy-like”… i don’t particularly like it, and yet, once i open a package, i can’t seem to stop myself from reaching for another piece every once in a while. so the premise of salmiakki ice-cream was intriguing…
today, we saw an ice-cream stand in the market, and naturally we had to give the salmiakki a go. the color was fantastic! the ice-cream itself tasted sweeter than the actual candy to me, which was a pleasant surprise. i quite liked it, though the portion was rather big and by the end of it i was a bit sick… perfect example of “sensory-specific satiety”, my science of gastronomy teacher would say!
bonus: this video of japanese people tasting salmiakki for the first time is quite funny! have you ever tried it? :)
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analogue wednesday #3
kodak 400tx on minox 35gt
after a year of camera failures and mishaps, one after the next, the boy got me a minox 35gt for my birthday. it’s a tiny thing that fits into a pocket, and one month in, i can safely say it is a-ma-zing. whereas my minolta or paulo’s canon seemed to shudder from the lack of light, the minox goes boldly forward, daring and defiant, taunting me… it’s a thing of beauty.
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fertig!
i started studying german a few months after arriving in berlin, in november 2011 – and last week, i finally finished school. it’s been an intensive year of learning, with classes 3 hours per day, every single day… but i’ve made it! my german isn’t that great yet, but i understand what people say, and i can make myself understood in most situations. it feels… fantastic! :D
last week i did the testdaf (the german toefl), for which i had been preparing for a month now. i didn’t “need” to do it, but i think deep inside (like with chinese) i wanted some sort of closure, a way of proving that i’d actually done it. the test is long but after all the intensive training we got at school, it felt almost… easy! the results will be out in six weeks, so i guess we’ll see then! :)
oh, by the way, if you’re thinking of coming to berlin and learning german, i can recommend my school, die deutSCHule.de! i found it rather by accident, but it turned out to be a great school, not too expensive and with friendly teachers. thumbs up!
so, that makes it 5 languages now – or more like 4.5, since my chinese isn’t doing so great these days. i wonder if i’ll be able to squeeze in a few more… i’d love to learn proper spanish! oh, and korean too! and arabic! hum… this might be a problem… how many languages can one aspire to properly learn, i wonder?