R.I.POn Sunday morning i woke to find my Paul Frank Jennie Bomb specs snapped in half. I have a habit of falling asleep with my glasses on but i recall many mornings waking up with them still sitting comfortably on my face.
But not this time around.
Wedged underneath the blanket, she lay lifeless. She was one month shy of five years.
I tried various super glues and even went out and bought a glue specifically for plastic and cost me 6 Euro. It stuck for about half an hour and then when i tilted my head forward, it snapped.
But i'm gonna check out Apollo-Optiker down the road and see if they can salvage her. If not, perhaps they can use my old lenses and i'll just look for an affordable new frame. Glasses here are generally quite expensive in Germany and can cost about 300 Euro.
***
So what's been happening the last one and half weeks?There is an EHEC bacteria outbreak in Germany. They're saying raw food like cucumber, salad, tomatoes and beansprouts are infected. However, the source has yet to be found.
"Officials just announced that tests on sprouts from the organic farm they thought was to blame came back negative". [source]
Weird.
Majority of those infected are in Hamburg, although there has been several found cases throughout Germany and surrounding countries. Those numbers marked in red are the number of infected in Germany and those in black are the number of people who have died because of this nasty bacteria.
So until the WHO says it's 100% safe to eat those suspected vegetables, i'm refusing to eat them.
***
As for the weather, it's been ridiculously hot [for German standards]. I'm talking 34˚C in the shade, warm air and clear blue skies. I contemplated bringing up the standing fans from the cellar but woke up this morning to rain and a major drop in temperature. It's already noon, the sun is nowhere to be seen and it's only 17˚C.
A few weeks back, J's 8-year old Audi went in for a check-up. It turns out the brake pads have worn down and the small crack in the windshield - thanks to a flyaway pebble on the ground, is not safe and therefore the windshield needs to be replaced.
All in all, it'll cost about 1,300 Euro to fix. Money, that obviously is not available at the moment.
J thought about selling the car all together but J's father insisted that he didn't. We're going to see if we can find another mechanic and get another quotation.
So knowing that the car isn't exactly roadworthy, i woke up on Saturday, hours before J was supposed to go on a road trip with an awful gut feeling. I couldn't stop crying for some reason.
The plan was to drive to his grandmother's place which is about 4 hours away, then check out a few old peoples' homes and the next day on the way back, pick up his summer wheels from our old landlords' cellar.
He needed to rent a car with a bigger boot in order to carry 4 extra wheels. And ended up renting a Ford Focus which costed 140 Euro for two days.
That was when i decided last minute to accompany him. I figured Luna and Yoshi are capable of staying one night alone, so why not.
Are we there yet!?However, i did feel kind of spewy the whole way there and decided to crawl to the back and lay down.
For anyone thinking of purchasing or renting a Ford Focus, i say, DON'T. Unless of course you don't mind getting car sick and you enjoy feeling every bump and turn.
HOTNESS!!!But then again, i don't think it helped that i threw up several times the night before and was incredibly nauseous the morning i got into the car.
No, i'm not pregnant. I blame indigestion and those Knorr Instant fried noodles.
Finally after 4 hours we arrived and as usual, J's grandmother had set up the dining table with an assortment of cake and freshly brewed coffee.
Just in time for Kaffee und Kuchen. Yummeh!
We then went to check out an old people's home. J's grandmother is showing early signs of dementia and Alzheimer's disease, so before it gets too late the family is trying to persuade her that living alone may not be the best option.
After we were done, Oma wanted to visit her husband's grave. He's been gone for thirty-one years but she apparently visits him every two days to water the flowers and clear away the dead leaves.
I can't say graveyards are my favorite places to be at. At the beginning i even contemplated waiting in the car whilst J and her did what they had to do but ended up going along with them. I helped water the plot and J's grandfathers' brothers' grave too.
***
The next day we went to go see another old peoples' home and visited his mothers' new cafe. She recently signed a one year leas and is now co-owner. She has no experience running a restaurant but she says she knows how to cook.
Let's hope everything works out and she can make a small profit.
Catching the last few rays in Oma's garden before the huge storm arrived.
31 + 88 + 31A group photo before J and i got back into the car so we can make our long 6-hour journey back home.
There was an 11 km long traffic jam on the highway, so for the first half the trip J drove inland and that added another hour to the journey.
Words of Advice : Don't eat butter cookies if you're feeling car sick.
On that note, i'll have to leave you. It's 2 pm already and i've got a bunch of errands to attend to before making my way to yoga class this evening.
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