Football Game

By football I mean soccer, of course!

Last night we gathered at Martin’s sister’s place in Cologne to watch the game between FC Bayern and FC Chelsea, aka Munich vs. London.

I’m no sports reporter, but it was a good game! Munich lost by 1 point (or something). It was a really close match throughout.

I was confused who I would cheer for. Do I cheer for Munich because my boyfriend is German and I live in Germany? Or for London because of Canada’s old colonial ties?

What a tough choice!

In the end, I decided to be anti-nationalistic and cheer for neither team. I like to think of myself as an individualist, so I cheered only for the individual men who I found the best looking. Regardless of team or country, because attractiveness is not bound by which team you play for, or which country you’re from.

But then I found it hard to decipher which ones were the hottest. Do I cheer for the conventionally attractive, of which there were many? Or the ones whose “personality” reached out through the screen. There was one guy from the London team who wore a thin headband. That, was HOT. A man who is not afraid to show his feminine side is always a plus in my books, but how does he fare against the VERY good looking German goalie?

So then I cheered for everyone. I’m friendly that way.

Too Wound Up

I have been calming down about this publishing stuff, because really it doesn’t matter.

My research team has been working on the manuscript with me, and we are getting ready to submit it sometime this week. I was really stressed out because I found a mistake in my work (!), which was really embarrassing and upsetting to me personally. I thought I had disappointed my whole team, didn’t see how any of my work was publishable, and basically just got really dramatic about it.

I am super sensitive about my work. Don’t ask me why. It’s not like a book of soliloquies or anything, but rather a scientific report.  The mistake I found was a misinterpretation of the research (about something REALLY STUPID), and although it doesn’t change anything by simply deleting the 2 sentences, it was one of those sections that (I felt) made my paper interesting.

My gf, who I’ve been lamenting to about this, says to stop it. That I am getting way too carried away, that it was just a little mistake, and that scientific reports are not supposed to be interesting anyway. She hands me a tissue while she says this, because I have started crying.

Yep. That has been what I’ve been up to!

But, it is all behind me now. Seriously! I don’t care what happens anymore, and will leave the rest up to my team. Instead, I am going to Düsseldorf now to meet up with a bunch of fun girls. Also, tomorrow is a holiday and Martin has the day off!! FUN!

 

Vegan Baking

Mmm, I’m baking a batch of orange-sour cherry-walnut muffins and the smells are wafting in the air. I substituted cranberries for sour cherries because they are cheaper here, and I bake a batch or 2 every week. Not the same flavour, I also make choco-raspberry, choco-coffee, and looking to try some of the other recipes once I hunt down the ingredients.

This vegan baking thing is going well. I enjoy it so much, and it is so gratifying to eat food that I’ve made from scratch. Also because when I am craving baked goods, I get to satisfy the craving since I have them on hand. Before my cravings would go unfulfilled because EVERY baked good in the bakery/store has milk and eggs in it. Boo.

I thought vegan baking would yield not as nice stuff, but turns out, the stuff I am baking is just as fluffy, just as moist, and super tasty. You don’t need to put animal products into everything, it’s just the structure of the food system and all the subsidies the dairy and egg industry get. It is CHEAP to buy eggs and milk. But there is an enormous cost to that subsidy, one that is borne by the animals, the environment, and tax payers who need to pay to clean up the environment (since the industry does not bear this cost – they just reap all the financial benefits). I do not agree with it, hence why I am now vegan and not just vegetarian.

And as cheap as milk and eggs are to buy, they can’t beat the even cheaper price tag of vegan baking (and cooking!). Using baking powder, baking soda, applesauce, and apple cider vinegar in vegan baking – those are hardly costly ingredients.

My muffins are done!! Here they are:

The original recipe is from Post Punk Kitchen.

Happy Mother’s Day!

I almost forgot today was Mother’s Day, with all this pre-publishing stuff swimming around me and distracting me from what is really important in life.

This is not to say that I forgot my Mom, just that I (almost) forgot today specifically was Mother’s Day.

I had sent my Mom a Mother’s Day card early, and wrote some very mushy stuff to her in the card.

I also communicate with my Mom every single day, multiple times a day (no joke!).

In short, I love my Mom.

By far the hardest part to living abroad is being away from my Mom.

I hope she has a fantastic day today and always.

Alles Gute zum Muttertag, Mom!! Love you lots <3

From,

Your favourite daughter

Trying not to be too stressed out

Things have been intense here with school.  I’m getting ready to submit my papers for publication, and it is a lot of work, not to mention a huge emotional rollercoaster.

I need to not take things so hard, but I keep getting caught up and stressing myself out unnecessarily. I knew being a grad student would be tough, especially for a non-academic-y person like me. But I didn’t think I would get this far either, which is why I am putting so much pressure on myself.

I will keep you posted on whether my work gets published or not. Fingers crossed.

On a more fun note, I started my new German classes in Düsseldorf and I love it. The thing is, I don’t think I’m going to learn much German, because almost everyone in the class speaks English fluently. We all speak in English before/during/after class.

It’s like Chinese school all over again!

When I was learning German here in Duisburg, no one else in my class could speak English. Some people said they could, but really they couldn’t. So we would converse only in German together, and even now we talk on the phone and hang out and speak only in German. It’s nuts, but it happens.

But in Düsseldorf, during the break of my first German class, I immediately went up to a girl and started with the German. She reminded me so much of someone I know and I am chatty so I wanted to tell her all about it in broken Deutsch. lol. She looked at me startled, asked me (in German) whether I wanted to go out for coffee with her, and we left the class.

That’s when the English broke out and she told me I scared her by speaking to her in German. She said no one else in the class does that and that she found it to be intense.

I am intense in grad school and in German class. Who knew!!

Hamburg ist meine Lieblingstadt!

We got back from Hamburg today. It’s only a 3.5 hour drive away and was a wonderful trip. I’m so glad Martin let me tag along with him! It was my first time really getting to know Hamburg. I’ve been twice before but only for short shopping trips with Martin’s sisters.

This time, I took advantage of my open schedule + extended time. Everyday while Martin went to work early, I would wake up late (!), have breakfast at the hotel, and then commute into the city to spend the day exploring. It was BLISS. Martin and his coworker were afraid that I would be bored being alone all day, but when we reconvened at dinner after the first day, they saw how happy I was and stopped worrying!

Of course they didn’t have to worry. I am a city girl and I lovelovelove Hamburg. I did not complain one bit when Martin had to extend his trip by an extra day. Hamburg is exactly the type of city I’d wish to live in. It’s cosmopolitan, sophisticated, but also down to earth. There is so much to do and see but it doesn’t feel as rushed as NYC. It actually reminds me a lot of Chicago.

I spent a lot of time at the Harbour and the old Speicherstadt (storage district). I had a day pass so rode the ferry for the full loop (took an hour) and enjoyed the views of the city. I ate at good Asian restaurants (hard to find here!), went to a tax museum (who knew something like this existed?!), and just wandered around to my heart’s content. I had really good luck with just stumbling upon interesting things.

I totally soaked it up for all it was worth. Now, how to get to live in Hamburg? Hmmm…

Survived my first German wedding!

Martin and I have been travelling a lot these days. We were at his parents’ place for Easter weekend, and last weekend we also went back to attend his cousin’s wedding. Here is a picture of us at the reception:

It was so much fun! And also my first German wedding. The big difference is that most German (and French) weddings are more casual/semi-formal and they have different wedding games. One game I saw was when the bride and groom was presented with a big banner with a painted heart on it. They had to cut the heart out with tiny scissors and then step through it together.

I was afraid there would be no vegan food, but it turned out that there was more than I could eat and it was SOOOO delicious. Couldn’t eat the cake though, which I’m sure was also delicious (Germans really know how to make cakes/pastries!).

Tomorrow we’re off to Hamburg for a few days. Martin has a work trip and guess who’s finally tagging along!!

Hope you’ve been well.

Do something good for FREE

Hi Friends!

If you’ve ever wanted to be a Kiva lender but just haven’t gotten around to it, this is the time to do it!

Click Here: www.kiva.org/invitedby/jisk

There is a free $25 trial now so all you need to do is sign up and pick someone you want to lend to. The $25 is being sponsored by the Founder of LinkedIn. Which reminds me, I need to update my LinkedIn.

It’s really fun being a Kiva lender. If you don’t know what it is, it’s a community of people lending small amounts of money to entrepreneurs (usually in developing countries) who have difficulty getting a loan. This helps the entrepreneur make a living which helps to alleviate poverty.

All the previous loans I’ve made through Kiva have been repaid. The last one is 66% repaid but is on track to being repaid in full. Every few months you get an email updating you on the progress of the loan. It’s also fun to browse the business profiles to see which business you want to support with your free $25!

Please sign up for a new account and take advantage of this $25 offer. I almost want to re-sign up myself, because it’s really a lot of fun. But I don’t want to take $25 away from a potential newbie to Kiva, who I’m sure would like being part of the community. It’s a win-win situation, with no skin off your back and lots of potential for something really positive.

My Mom signed up and so soon will be whole family. Martin also!

HAVE FUN!

3 days!

Should be when Martin comes home from India. Hopefully, fingers crossed.

I haven’t heard much from him these past few days because he flew to a different part of India and doesn’t have consistent Internet access there.

Martin is staying in rural India, and doing his job. Which according to him, involves waiting around a lot. He is an Engineer but his business card says “Expert”, kekeke. And he is really good at what he does. The company he works for has clients all over the world, and Martin goes to visit clients to program the system that his business card says he’s an Expert on.

His business trips are demanding. He typically works 12 hour days, 6 days a week, and in the evenings he socializes with the client and/or the other people who have flown in specifically to work on the project. It’s an international crowd, although mainly European.

We email or Skype everyday, if Martin can get Internet. We are used to this long distance communication, but it isn’t fun.

I miss him like crazy. This was his longest business trip yet (4 weeks total) and it feels so long.

The weather in Germany has gotten amazing these past few weeks too. So it’s time for Martin to come home to enjoy it with me!

A question of research

Martin left for India 2 weeks ago, and will be there another 2 weeks or more. This is his longest work trip yet, and I miss him!

We considered bringing me along, and no doubt I wanted to go so badly. But I had too many deadlines to meet in March, and India just wasn’t in the cards for me. *sobs*

So now I am here by myself, and it’s pretty lonely.  At the same time, I have been SO productive so I guess the timing is right.

As of last Friday, my 3rd semester is now officially over!!! I now have a bit of free time, sort of. I have to start preparing myself for my thesis. My aim is to defend in early 2013, so I need to hustle. A lot of my friends are aiming for a Summer or Autumn defense, and have already started on their projects. Eeek! But I am not as focussed so best I give myself more time.

Although I also can’t give myself too much time, because then I’ll fall out of it and won’t want to do it anymore. To me, academia is like an exercise in how to deal with extreme boredom. I learn a lot too, but I’m also capable of learning things in a non-boring way when outside of school. Just sayin’.

Anyway I don’t actually have a thesis topic yet, but before I go trying to frame out my own question,  I’m going to look for companies who have existing projects. This is like looking for a job but not all of them are paid. It also feels like I’m selling out a bit, since I am open to having a company dictate my research. But, realistically I also need to pay the billz. I can’t really monetize studying some research question that no one gives a fig about. And working with a company will at the very least, help me network in a place where I know no one. So, I am searching for a job-thesis and am pretty excited about it too. This is not to say that a project will fall into my lap, because it’s really hard to find . But I will try and see. If not, then I will figure something else out on my own.

I’ve just applied to one project for a topic I had thought of doing before I started this program. So fingers crossed that I’ll get it. I should find out soon!