That is the light fixture in our kitchen. Apparently there is some kind of short circuit in the electrical system in our apartment, one that involves said light fixture, as well as all the other overhead lights, and all the outlets in the apartment except two in the bedroom. (Thankfully the hot water heater, bathroom light and stove still work. Also the phone and modem!) Our landlady does not speak English and our German (especially mine) isn't good enough to clearly explain what exactly is and is not working, so she asked a friend of hers to stop by to look at things. Turns out her friend is a 7-foot tall man named Lars (very nice, speaks excellent English) who proceeded to dismantle the light fixture in the kitchen (see above), which he had installed. He couldn't figure out what the problem was, but the wiring is obviously incredibly old (insulated with cloth that's so old it's crispy) so an electrician is coming tomorrow. I'm hoping the problem can be fixed without ripping into the ceiling, but I'm not holding my breath. My job tonight is to eat the stuff in the fridge that might go bad in the next 24 hours - yogurt and leftover Romano beans for dinner!
In more positive news, the weather has been beautiful the past two days, almost warm even. I was walking home from Zoli's building yesterday when I saw these mushrooms growing on a stump.
I find it amazing that you can find these in the middle of a city of 1.75 million people. They were gone when I went past the spot today - I don't know of they are edible and were harvested or just too appealing a target.Also, I baked my first cake here! (Hausgemacht Kuchen? Selbstgemacht Kuchen? I'm not sure which is right.) Just a butter cake with plums and cinnamon sugar, but it was tasty. I should probably eat more of it tonight to keep it from spoiling. Right?
7 comments:
Schöner Kuchen! We had some apple cake here at S&B in good ol' S Norman St, while knitting and watching the second Presidential debate. Miss you guys!
yay! you're baking! your new apartment looks so cozy and homey--a great way to settle in to a new place. miss you two.
Ack, I hope you get your schmelectricity back soon.
I would like to request a post on German responses to the global economic meltdown - are you hearing about it? I guess maybe it's hard to get German news in English.
Mmm, Pflaumenkuchen. Lecker!
Your being-forced-to-describe-short-circuit-in-foreign-language problem happened to me when I used a hairdryer in our hotel in Tunis. Funny how you never learn these practical things in language classes. Though I bet you're finding Fussgängerzone more useful than expected...
Viel Glück mit dem Strom!
A 7-foot tall "Lars"? Classic. Come across any techno-nihilists yet? :) We miss you guys. Just for fun, Jessica and I decided to find out how much a plane ticket would cost to visit you guys: $332 dollars!... then we clicked on the fare details and realized that the price did not include an additional $500 worth of fees and taxes. Ouch! We may have to save up before visiting you guys :).
Schmectricity? Even the title is food related. Schmecken. Just don't lick those wires.
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