Finally – the wait lifted off my shoulders

 Books, Daily Life, Travel  1 Response »
Jun 172013
 

Finally!

That is the word currently vibrating through my head.

I’ve been in autopilot for the past couple of months trying to get everything done that needed to get done. And this morning, I finally got to check the last box on my imaginary check list! Over the past month I have:

  1. Completed my bachelor thesis and thereby earned my bachelor’s diploma in Computer Science.
  2. Packed the entirety of my possessions into boxes so that they can be moved to my new apartment.
  3. Worked at getting my papers together so I could apply to renew my visa to remain in Germany (I’ll be getting my Master’s in the fall).
  4. Worked (at my job).

I had my appointment to renew my visa this morning and therefore could check off that last box on my TODO list. Unfortunately, they couldn’t renew my visa for my Master’s yet because I am not yet “accepted” to the University as a Master’s student (I don’t have my certificate of enrollment yet). The man at the Ausländersbehörde was very nice, however, and he extended my visa until the end of September so that I can get all of the paper’s together. *!WHEW!* That will not be an issue any more.

In any case, that milestone marked the official beginning of my vacation! And I am desperately in need of a vacation. I don’t think I have really taken a break since the end of last August. Even when I have had a couple of weeks off, I’ve usually spent it working. So I’m REALLY looking forward to this. A LOT.

Tomorrow, I am kicking off my vacation with a 22 hour trip. Stressful right? But I am fully aware the success of this trip will hinge on one thing: if “War and Peace” is really as good as everyone says it is. Because, as of 7:30 tomorrow morning, I am not only beginning a 22 hour trip, I am beginning the book by Leo Tolstoy that is apparently one of the best books written in any language ever. We’ll see if it is as entertaining as everyone says. I have high hopes. Of course, I can’t seem to find anybody that I actually know who has actually read the book. Then again, I’m not sure the people I asked have ever read Les Miserables, The Count of Monte Cristo, David Copperfield or any of the other great classics that I have read and loved. They probably even consider Lord of the Rings to be too long, and that’s one of the most epic books ever written. So, undeterred by my friends’ opinions about the correlation between the length of a book and how interesting it is, I remain extremely hopeful as to the quality of the read. I also intend to read “Crime and Punishment” by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, but that will be on the return flight.

I intend to have a great time and to fully reboot over the next four weeks. I can’t wait to see my family and friends, and I am especially excited to meet my new niece!

And I intend to have a great time playing around with my new Lenovo ThinkPad x230, which is already waiting for me in the states. 4GB Ram and a 3.2 GHz processor! I am going to have fun!

 Posted by joy at 11:15

Nerd vs Nerd

 Daily Life  5 Responses »
May 072013
 

iluvnerds

I wrote a long post a couple of years ago explaining my definitions of terms such as “nerd”, “geek”, “dork”, and “freak”. Much to my utter chagrin, my use of the terms have not yet caught on. I am therefore restating my opinion and will hopefully have better luck at brainwashing the majority of people into agreeing with it. I am a nerd. I study computer science at the University of Düsseldorf and some day hope to get a job as a software developer. But I have a problem. I often, while talking about my friends in the university and at work, refer to them as nerds. This is under no circumstances an insult.

I use the term nerd to describe people who are passionate about learning. You know that person. They do their homework for fun, bring up the trivia the learned in Chemistry into conversation, and spend a good majority of their time reading books or blogs or SOMETHING that can teach them something new about the world in which they live. When the word nerd slips out of my mouth it refers to someone who is smart, and not only smart, but someone who applies themselves in all aspects of the academic world not because they have to, but because they want to. It’s a compliment. Seriously. A major compliment. If I call you a nerd, that is one of the nicest and most respectful things that can exit my mouth regarding you.

Unfortunately for me, I live in Germany. The word “nerd” in Germany has an overwhelmingly negative connotation. I’m not exactly sure what the exact connotation of the German word “nerd” entails, so if any of my German friends want to chip in and comment, that would be great. Usually, when I am talking to my nerdy friends, I have to either preface my conversation with the short explanation that I have given above, or I have to explain retrospectively that I meant no offense. *SIGH* Maybe in 20 years, the term a la Joy will have caught on. Until then, I have no choice but to continue in my choice of words. After all, I’m not going to begin referring to myself as “Computerfreak”. The English connotation for “freak” is not one with which I would choose to be associated.

 Posted by joy at 10:00

Mealime – Cooking for one

 Cooking  2 Responses »
Apr 202013
 

rsz_veggies

I was reading Lifehacker this past week and stumbled upon this article. I thought it was interesting, even thought I don’t actually eat take out food on a regular basis. But the author of the article is one of the co-founders of Mealime, and because they were offering three months of free meal planning for Lifehacker readers, I signed right up! The idea behind Mealime is to send out a list of shopping ingredients and six recipes that are optimized one person every Saturday. Each recipe is intended to cook exactly twice as much as you need. Then you can take half of it to work/uni with you the next day. Their website design is gorgeous (which is a huge plus for me. Not sure if I would ever sign up for a program with bad website design. We are after all in the year 2013). And their recipes look pretty decent as well. I received my first recipes this morning, and I am looking forward to trying them out. I  also liked the link to their blog post from this week which described how to use up some of those leftovers that you really don’t want to eat.

The Mealime plan costs $120-180 annually (depending if you pay monthly, quarterly, or biannually). But they also have a free plan that will send you two recipes weekly without having to sign up for a paying account. It seems like a good deal to me. Personally, I don’t actually have $15 extra a month because I am an impoverished student. Then again, I eat something every day in the university cafeteria for approximately 2 euros a day, so I tend to eat something small in the evening (veggie soup, eggs, granola, a sandwich, etc.). Therefore the free plan will probably be fine for me because I won’t use more than two recipes a week.  That should be enough to spice up my diet considerably.

 Posted by joy at 15:48

Student

 Comics & Doodles  1 Response »
Apr 052013
 

rsz_1student

 

Remixed from this image.

 Posted by joy at 13:20

And That’s A Wrap!

 Daily Life  3 Responses »
Mar 312013
 

Well, I have completed my self-given March Challenge: To post something on my blog everyday for a month.

My top posts from this month were:

  1. Why do Germans obsessively open their windows?
  2. Best German Candy
  3. Curly Hair

In addition to blogging, this month I also began my bachelor thesis, worked approximately 15 hours a week, started learning Spanish and Russian, visited London, read a bunch of books, and lost a kilogram (around 2lbs). It’s been a busy month, and want to thank any of you guys who have actually read all of these posts. I do intend to continue posting during April, but I will not be posting that regularly. I simply have nothing else to say.

 Posted by joy at 10:00  Tagged with: ,

To Read: Classical Literature

 Books  No Responses »
Mar 302013
 

rsz_oldbook

I’m finished with my list of books that I have to read before I am allowed to buy any more books on Kindle. I just finished Wuthering Heights on my trip to London (those 7 hours were not completely wasted), so that list is officially done! Here is a new list of classics that sound interesting to me, and that I intend to read at some point in my life. I am not making any promises about the Kindle books. I’ve decided to severely limit my purchases from the Kindle store because I spend way too much of my money there. I hope my resolve holds, especially because I currently am longing to read all of the historical fiction novels by Eva Ibbotson. I’m allowing myself to buy some books on Kindle, but I am going to try to limit my spending to around 10 Euros (roughly three books). In any case, hopefully these books will fulfill my need for books.

  1. Silas Marner by George Eliot
  2. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
  3. The Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred Lord Tennyson
  4. Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott
  5. Middlemarch by George Eliot
  6. Lady Audley’s Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
  7. Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
  8. The Cantebury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
  9. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
  10. Beowulf
  11. Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
  12. The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
  13. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
  14. A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift
  15. Kim by Rudyard Kipling
  16. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
  17. Treasure Island by Robert Lewis Stevenson
  18. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
  19. Moby Dick by Herman Melville
  20. The Pied Piper of Hamelin by Robert Browning
  21. Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
  22. Villette by Charlotte Bronte
  23. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
  24. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Lewis Stevenson
  25. Troilus and Criseyde by Geoffrey Chaucer
  26. The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe
  27. The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
  28. Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne
  29. The Odyssey by Homer
  30. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass

I’ve found most of these books either referenced in literature that I love, on Goodreads, or on the most popular lists that the Gutenberg Project produces. If you have any ideas, please let me know. I am always ready for good book ideas. And if anybody can recommend any good classic German literature, I am also very interested. Maybe I should try to read Thomas Mann…or Goethe.

 Posted by joy at 10:00  Tagged with: , , ,

Community Supported Agriculture

 Daily Life  2 Responses »
Mar 292013
 

fruitBasket

I’ve been trying to force myself to eat more fruits and vegetables (it’s my New Year’s Resolution). One of the ideas that I’ve been considering is joining a CSA (in German soldarishe Wirtschaft) and having a box of fresh fruits and vegetables sent to my apartment every week. Does anyone have any experience with this? I think I can get a box of fruits and veggies for about 10 Euros a week. I’ve found this site here that says they offer delivery to Düsseldorf. I just hope that they offer delivery on a day and at a time where I can be at home to receive the box. I certainly hope they do, because it would not only force me to eat more produce, but it would also save my back from having to haul several pounds of vegetables home every week.

 Posted by joy at 10:00  Tagged with:

Moleskine

 Daily Life  2 Responses »
Mar 282013
 

I am happy to welcome the newest member to my little family. My niece? Nope. (But she’s due any day now which is totally exciting!).  I decided this past month that I am going to make the decision to spend less money than I actually earn. Isn’t that a revolutionary idea? So I’ve made a pretty strict budget (No more Kindle books. =(. Except for the free ones). I’ve decided to start my budget in the beginning of April. So in the grand tradition of “I’m starting a diet tomorrow and therefore I will eat this chocolate cake today”, I christened my decision to spend less money by buying an absolutely adorable Moleskine weekly planner to help me record everything that I spend.

 

Ñ

I absolutely love it! It is adorable and will fit in my small purse without any problem at all. It also has some really cool pages, like a page with a table for measurements and conversions (although they left our the conversion for kg=lb, which I thought was a bit odd). It even has 10cm ruler! And the cherry on top of the delicious icing is the little pocket in the back of the notebook to contain any loose pieces of paper (I’m thinking maybe receipts?). In any case, I’ve had my little planner for approximately 30 minutes, and I love it already!

 Posted by joy at 10:00

Free Food Icons

 Comics & Doodles  2 Responses »
Mar 272013
 

I have been throwing the idea around recently of making a html cookbook. I’m not particularly good at design, so it’ll probably look horrible if I ever get around to making it (so if anyone knows any good html templates for recipes, please please please let me know!). But today I was trying to make a html template for a recipe, and I realized that it would be really nice to add an icon to the header. There are some food icons available for free, but I wasn’t able to find a complete set for all the different kinds of food, so I decided to try my hand at making some myself. I only spent a couple hours working on them, and they aren’t that great, but I thought I would share what I came up with with all of you.
If you like them, you are free to download them here. I’ve made both the original svg files and the generated png files available. Feel free to use them or change them as much as you want. You can also give me feedback if there is any way that I can make them better.iconSet

Creative Commons License
Food Icons by www.thejoyofgermany.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

 

 Posted by joy at 10:00  Tagged with: , , , , ,

Recipe: Carrot Soup

 Cooking  1 Response »
Mar 262013
 

I just made a really delicious carrot soup and thought that I should share the recipe.

rsz_carrot

Ingredients

  • 5 carrots (10-15 cm long)
  • 2 potatoes (5-7 cm wide)
  • 1 small onion (4 cm)
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • Powdered soup base
  • Small amount of olive oil
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  1. Dice the onion and cut the garlic after smashing it with the side of your knife. Sauté them in olive oil at the bottom of your pot about three minutes before you are ready to start the soup.
  2. Boil water in a water cooker. Pour a tiny bit of the water into a mug and add your powdered soup base. Stir until it dissolves. Add this cup, and the rest of the water from the water cooker to your pot. (I probably add between 1.5 to 2 liters total).
  3. Dice your carrots and potatoes. Add them to the pot of boiling water.
  4. Wait around 10 minutes, or until the potatoes and carrots are soft.
  5. Turn off the heat, and puree the soup using a hand mixer. This will produce around 3-4 good size bowls of soup. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Note: This is the basic method for making any kind of vegetable soup. You can mix and match veggies and add as many or as few veggies as you need. The method stays the same. Adding potatoes make the soup thicker. You can also leave out the last step with the hand mixer.

 Posted by joy at 10:00
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