Bubble Dishes

Have I ever told you why this blog is called Bubble Dishes? No? Well, circle 'round and listen up. When I started this blog in August 2010 (shucks, I totally didn't do a "happy one year blog-iversary to myself" post in August!) I was in serious need of some sort of creative outlet. I had gotten so swept up in the events of my life that summer, and I realized that I was in dire need of a place to think out loud. Yes, yes, I know... that's what friends are for. But that's not the only thing friends are for, and friends deserve some respite from their roles as listeners sometimes. It's important to me to be able, as best I can, to lift myself up by my own boot straps and not wear down the people in my life... having fun is of utmost importance, always! (Though it must be noted that my friends and family are spectacular listeners and fun-havers, and I appreciate them MUCHO!) So, after a particularly lovely day in my life (see blog post numero uno), I started this here little blog. But what to call it?!

Maybe the hardest thing a person will ever do online is name a blog. All the good names are taken! Seriously, you have to get pretty stinkin' creative. Unless you have been blessed with an incredibly abnormal name (did you get beat up as a kid for it?) or you have a particular mastery of words, your chosen blog name will most assuredly already be taken. It didn't take long for me to realize that any name that made any sense to anyone else was going to be nearly impossible to obtain. So, I thought about what in my life is a sweet memory. What are things I do that make me smile, even though they're really nothing to smile about? I strive to see the small things in life from which I can derive happiness... and then it hit me.

Bubble dishes!

When I was small, I would help my mom with bubble dishes. You know, after a home cooked meal, the pots and pans haven't washed themselves. So what do you do? You put a stopper in the sink, pour in some soap, and turn on the warm water. And what do you get? That's right! A sink full of bubbles! And what do you put in that sink? This dishes! My mom calling them "bubble dishes" was so much more alluring and fun than what they actually were: dirty dishes that needed the grime scrubbed off of them. But wouldn't it be great if we always tried to look at things that way? Even the grimiest days can have a little spark of fun in them. So I went with it. "Bubble Dishes it shall be!", I thought. And it was so.

And last night after dinner when I was staring at my stack of dishes to be washed (like always because I don't have a dishwasher), I had to smile and plunge straight into that sink full of bubble dishes.

love always <3

Mainz, while it was still warm

I still haven't really figured out what this building is. But it's cool.

Chagall window - St. Stephan Kirche

Roman ruins: spotted!

I don't even know, but it was a cool view

Some grapes hanging out that managed to escape harvest season

Bridge from Mainz across the Rhein River into Hessen

"Baaarges, I would like to go with you, I would like to sail the... Rhein River blue?"

More Roman ruins! And a train station! And modern buildings! This place has it all.

aaaand now it's rainy and cold. I'm told it will be like this here for the next... well, forever, it sounds like. But you know, that means that Christmas markets are right around the corner (kind of), so I'm just going to stay really excited about that. Also, I'm really reeeeaaalllyyyy wishing I'd packed any of my fantastic boots that I normally wear in Fall and Winter. What exactly made me think packing high heels was a great idea and leaving the boots was genius?

Oh yeah, good news. Well, good news for me personally. More specifically good news for my hair. I bought a hair dryer. It only took me forever to do that. Maybe I'll start looking normal and put-together-ish now. But probably not. In other news, real quick, Starbucks here doesn't do the Pumpkin Spice latte, so for all of my people in the US of A, please drink one for me and love every Autumn-y sip of it. Dankeschön.

Schönes Wochenende!

Guten Morgen!

When I was 13, my friend Katie and I went off to summer camp for two weeks in Minnesota. This wasn't your average summer camp though. Oh no. We ate rolls with Nutella for breakfast because the Müsli tasted like icky grown up food. We sang songs about... well, I don't really know since they were all in German. One was about an elephant in a spider's web though. I do remember We went and visited the neighboring Norwegian summer camp, and we attempted playing poker with gummy bears as chips with our cabin mates. Yes, we went to German language summer camp! We learned words and phrases like "Veranstaltungstunde" and "Ich möchte fünf Mark, bitte" (I'd like 5 German Marks ($) please). With this DM5 everyday, I could purchase delectable ice cream, gummy bears, or whatever German junk food cuisine my little heart was set on. The counselors speak nothing but German, so it's kind of like a language immersion deal, except that the other few hundred kids around you are speaking English. So, you know. We also tried our hand at yodeling. Now that I'm in Germany, I wish I had put more effort into the yodeling seminar. I think that's something that could come in handy. Then if I ever get into trouble here, I could yodel for help!

So life here isn't really like German summer camp was. I mean, I can totally go get fresh rolls everyday, and I could buy a jar of Nutella except for that I'd eat the whole thing and then the fact that I don't have the metabolism of a 13 year old anymore would surface in a way that I don't want to see. I seem to have plenty of Freizeit (free time) but there are no choices that someone else has arranged on behalf of my happiness... like a canoeing trip (ok there were leaches like WOAH in that lake, so I didn't canoe anyway), pottery hour, or hide and go seek at night oh GOSH that was so fun. At least as Europe slowly slips into recession, my exchange rate is getting a little better.

This is turning into quite the ramble of a post. I guess I'm just celebrating my new found internet access! Let's all cheers to that real fast. Now, I'm going to continue with my free time and sip my freshly pressed coffee out of my oversized Mainzel Männchen mug and appreciate the fact that today I woke up on my own accord and not to camp counselors giggling, singing, and yelling into the cabin window... "GUTEN MORGEN HAUS LINZ!!!" And then proceeding to sing Britney Spears songs until our entire cabin was awake. No no, this morning I am choosing to listen to German radio, which for me as a non-native speaker (and I use the term speaker lightly here) is really kind of a lot like a morning greeting of the same manner, actually. Ich möchte... genau was ich habe.

Guten Morgen, Welt!

Acquired:

Hi long lost readers/loves,

I've been MIA because I've been in the wild process of moving. Again. But this time it's a really good move to Mainz, Germany! And I'll permanently have internet starting Wednesday. This is big news, guys. Big news.

In my new place, I've inherited a variety of objects.

Acquired:
-A hilarious assortment of mugs including one giant mug with the "Mainzer Männer" on it, I found out yesterday.
-One very large table with a sticker on it that says, "Miguel Aguirre Pascual Universidad Complutense de Madrid". I plan to leave it on there mostly because, like the person who left it there, I can't get it off of the table.
-2 mirrors that I know came originally from IKEA because I had the same exact 2 mirrors in DC before I moved. Hello, little piece of home. In DC I accidentally shattered one of the mirrors though, so it's nice to have 2 functional mirrors again.
-A hotel-style black radio. I have tuned it to a German station and am amazed that I can understand the DJs. Thanks, Carl Duisberg Centrum!
-900 million fitted sheets
-A microwave. Ancient, but coveted! The microwave isn't such a big thing here in Europe. But I have one, suckers!
-3 cans of diced tomatoes. Ok.
-A Lufthansa pillow. That's right, fellow American travelers, there are still airlines that exist that provide comforts to their customers and make your flight an enjoyable experience. I know! I was amazed at this, too! I already took the pillow from my Lufthansa flight though, so the extra one can be used with the sleeping bag I've inherited.
-This might not seem important, but I have a shower curtain. Unfortunately, I have a very small shower, and I wasn't clear thinking enough to make sure that the curtain stayed in the shower with me and didnt drift outside of the base of the shower while the water was on. My first attempt at using the shower created Lake Elisabeth in my bathroom. Live and learn, folks. And what I've learned was that clean up is hard with no supplies on hand.

So, overall, all is well here. I saw St. Stephens church here yesterday- a building blessed to have Chagall windows. The sun was out, and the whole church inside shines a beautiful blue through the calming stained glass. Really quite something. I'll be seeing you more often around here now.

Love always, me.