A late Thanksgiving update
I think I need to find a different intro other than "this has to be short" becuase whenever I say that, my posts are never short. I know I am late for last weeks Thursday update and I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving or celebrated/spent the day doing something enjoyable. We spent last week in Dortmond, Cat's hometown visiting Cat's parents, where my Internet was less than reliable- I couldn't connect on my laptop since no one remembered the WIFI password and the netbook that was available for use was unbelievably slow.
"Vacation" is not an appropriate term for the week since I probably slept less that week than in my entire stay her. Conny and I shared a room since the house was small, I shared a room with Conny during our Bavarian vacation and except for waking up at 7 am for a bottle and then going back to sleep for 2 hours until 9 she didn't make a peep otherwise. That was not the case this time, every night for AN ENTIRE WEEK she would wake up every hour crying, fussy, upset.. just in general not happy. I am a situational light sleeper.. if I am home I can and will sleep through any phone call or text message, unless I am specifically waiting for one. Since I had Conny in my room, I slept very light, and every time she rolled too much or made any noise my eyes were wide open. Also despite going to be early (around 11 pm from being exhausted) I could not fall asleep, by the time I would start to drift off (around 1 am) Conny would start crying... and so that was the dance we did all week- we'd go to bed, Conny would already be asleep, I would try to fall asleep, Conny would wake up crying at 1:30, then again 2, then 3something, then 4, most nights after 4 I would be unable to fall asleep since she would just cry almost nonstop. It was horrible, as much as I love Conny I was ready to lose it. I am not looking forward to that aspect of having my own children.
The week went by too fast in some aspects and too slow in others.. Cat's parents live in a big city so we had plans to get some Christmas shopping done, I am in need of winter boots, etc.. we ended up not getting any shopping done.. we went out one day and Clarissa got sick (not sure how much of it was sick and how much was crankiness) so we went home, then a few days later she got a rash so it was off to the Pediatrican's office. I didn't get any time to myself, except for when I was cooking and even then it wasn't ideal. Cat was watching the kids while I cooked, but the (well meaning) grandparents came in to the kitchen to try to talk to me (read: tell me how to cook a turkey) when all I wanted to do was listen to my ipod and cook. So instead I would have to stop my music and listen to them debate with me how 5 hours was too long to cook a Turkey... or they would just sit there but then I couldn't be rude and ignore them/listen to music so I would have to try to make polite conversation. I think by Thursday everyone was just tired of everyone, the house was small (although not as small as I had thought) but definitely not childproof with very expensive furniture [ex: 800 euro rugs and 8,000 euro sofa..]. As much as I like "Oma" (grandma) and "Opa" (grandpa), I feel that they are the type of grandparents that would rather love their grandchildren from afar, like talk to them on the phone every day and send gifts, brag about them etc.. after the novelty wore off it seemed a bit forced and even Cat was getting upset. I think it had to do with the fact that it was a small house and we didn't go anywhere.. yay cabin fever.
Oh another thing, Cat's mom is a certified hypnotist, which is cool. She has her own practice and has a wide arrange of clients (she is even coming up to Hamburg this weekend to help a popular transvestite with some trauma or something). Anyways, she does past lives, and that is something I am interested in- I believe that in a way people have lived before and it would be amazing to know if it was possible in a way to 'reach the unconscious' in that way. She said she would hypnotize me as a thank you for helping Cat out during the hard times as well as a birthday present for me. We got all ready, comfortable clothes, soothing music, etc.. except it didn't work T_T. I was afraid that was going to happen to me, I once had a friend (who knew had to do hypnosis) attempt to hypnotize me and I couldn't. I think it's related to that fact that I just can't relax enough, ever. My brain is always going. Guided imagery doesn't work with me (visualize yourself on a beach, the wind is lapping your hair... etc) I've tried it a million times with different people, techniques and it doesn't work on me becuase no matter how vivid my imagination is in other aspects of my life, I still know that no matter how hard I "picture" the beach, I'm still sitting in a classroom with 20 other people, etc.. Oma tried three different times with three different techniques and every time she would begin "no you are in a state to talk to me.." and I would answer "I think I'm still here" D: She said that for some reason people between the ages of 20-25 are very guarded with their unconscious and their unconscious protects them from finding out information about things past. She tried to make me feel better by telling me she's had plenty people (my age) come in and try to get past life readings and be unable to get hypnotized. I feel bad becuase I feel like I wasted her time, I did feel relaxed (more so than I have ever felt with visualization) but I have felt more relaxed with massages. I feel bad, both becuase I feel like I wasted Oma's time and becuase I really want to know what my past life was like! Oh well she was at least able to tell me something about the reoccurring dream I have had for the better part of my life- it's usually a different situation each time, and its the only time I am only half aware I am dreaming (I tend to be a lucid dreamer for 90% of my dreams). I am talking or eating and then I realize I have a lose tooth, then the next thing I know I am spitting out my teeth by the handful and there is blood on my hands and I can feel the holes in my mouth and every time I am terrified "these aren't my baby teeth! They aren't going to grow back! Is this a dream? I think it's a dream but I'm not sure.. Oh my god my teeth, please let it be a dream" She told me that it had something to do with the fact that I am afraid of losing my power. She didn't say anymore than that so I am left to figure it out on my own.
On the Thanksgiving front, the cooking was perfect! Nothing burned and the best part? I DIDN'T MEASURE ANYTHING. Usually my measuring is shoddy at best "ehh, that looks like a cup give or take half" and my food always turns out. I love that I can just throw things together and have them work out, I don't like measuring and I feel it takes away from the creativity of food and cooking.
Now, for the fun! Picture Dump!
I went to the store and picked up supplies, I think I spent more money than I had planned but it was worth it to be able to share an American/Family tradition with my new family in Germany. Notice the red shopping basket? In Europe you have to bring your own bags/baskets to take your groceries home or else you have to buy every bag you use- what a good idea to help cut down on trash, what do you think?
If you read my facebook status then you know that this guy still had the head skin attached and two soulless eye holes staring at me while I washed and dried him. I ended up cutting it off, but I felt horrible! I felt like an executioner even if in my mind I knew he was already dead.
We joked that this was a "multi culti" Thanksgiving: A French Turkey, cooked in Germany, in the American tradition/style, by a Chilean haha. Not only did it turn out beautiful, but it was juicy as well (even the dry breast meat-- my secret!) I made a butter pale ale baste and made sure to pour more juice on it every 20 minutes, before that I washed it inside and out and coated the inside and outside with salt and pepper. The stuffing was homemade: dried baguette with celery, green onions, salami sausage, parsley, butter and chicken broth cooked inside the turkey.
The table! Oma set the table and I'm excited at how cute it turned out, I only wish I had put the casserole in a bowl instead of the cooking tin, but it was too runny- my only debacle. Cream of Mushroom soup isn't available here in Europe (the only cream soup that is known is cream of asparagus) and so I used a creamy Pfefferling soup- Chanterelle in English, the flavour was approximately the same, but it was a bit runny- I apologized profusely but no one seemed to mind and in fact there were no left overs! I made the mashed potatos by hand with cream and butter (in fact have never made instant mashed potatos..) the gravy was made from the turkey juices and some binding sauce- usually I make gravy old school with flour and water but it was getting late so I decided to cut time. I also made a Chilean salad- tomato with onion and parsely-- my most favorite salad in the world that my mom always makes me, and while my salad was good it still wasn't my mom's.. why is that? something about mom's cooking I guess. I also made some dessert with a recipe from Cat but I forgot to take pictures, they were delicious. It was a mixture of Quark (a "cheese-thing" not known in America, cream, yogurt, berries and amaretto cookies- it was delicious.
Also I apologize for the picture quality, they are from my phone since I didn't have a real camera on me. So, there you go guys, a really long post. Now, as I fed your minds with my creative writing, please feed my ego with the little button down below :P