after the first day of sunbathing on the balcony (complete with tanning oil and swimming togs!) i mistakenly thought it was warm enough to wear flip-flops and a summer skirt to a birthday get-together, a decision i regretted all afternoon and evening as my legs a toes froze. what a disappointment!
occassionally i feel settled here, and even think my german is pretty good. today's kaffee und kuchen party reminded me of the opposite. my semi-joke explaining a cat's erratic behavior as a symptom of menopause was lost when i didn't know the german word for menopause and said menopowza, germanizing the english word (it usually works with medical vocab). no one understood and i ended up explaining what menopause is to the whole group of people who i don't know well. yep, my face was bright red. now i know it's- die Wechseljahre. don't think i'll forget that one soon.