Museum Collegue Party

This should be brief, because it was a brief party. But, we had a small fest for all of the museum employees Wednesday evening. It was potluck, except everyone brought their own meat to grill.

Grilling is a weird concept in Germany, because they have a tendency to say "BBQ" but I have to point out, they don't use bbq sauce, so you can't really call it that. They usually don't season the meat at all, and if it is, its done at the butcher's and tastes awful. And apparently there's only one kind of marinade besides awful, and its orange. My Dad once told me a joke about how in Heaven, the French would be the cooks, etc., and if it was Hell, the English would be the cooks (sorry if I misremembered, Dad), but I think if it was really hell, the German's would be the cooks.

I actually injured my jaw a few weeks ago and it was then sore for over a week. Why and how? I was chewing a steak. I love my host families, but that really can't grill worth anything. But maybe I'm spoiled with the expertise of my family and friends.

Anyways, the Hausmeister built a big fire. Too big, he actually had to start spraying the nearby tree with water so the branches wouldn't catch on fire. But it eventually calmed down and they put a giant grill over the pit. Slowly everyone came bearing dishes doused with vinegar. Really, I don't understand...they must not have taste buds or something. Every salad and potato salad is doused with vinegar and that's their salad dressing. And you can't have salad without it; its already on there. I don't eat salad anyway, but if I did, I still wouldn't eat this stuff. I feel like throwing up sometimes when I smell their salad dressing.

I baked my second batch of cookies the night before, they turned out much better. I don't' like cooking with metric, though. I had to leave before anyone even tried them, but apparently they were very good. Her Paul, the Hausmeister, told me he ate five or six. There were still leftovers this morning, so I brought them home with me.

Since I didn't feel like bringing meat to grill, I just ate the rest of my lunch. I had a craving for real rice (the stuff my families eat is like Uncle Ben's, which is shit) and had luckily the day before come across a Chinese restaurant that had take out. A "Happy Box" its actually called and is quite cheap. You can imagine my happiness. But I just got some fried rice, which is #3 on my fried rice list. It was a full order, so I couldn't eat it all in one sitting. The chicken was just on top, so I ate it all first. And then one of the ladies asked if I was eating popcorn...I'm not sure how you confuse the two, but OK.

But as I ate at the fest, everyone was like, "What are you eating?" I thought it was easier to just tell them that I'd had a stomach ache earlier in the day and that rice is good for your stomach (BRAT diet!) than I didn't feel like bringing meat to grill. Matthias frowned and asked if I was a vegetarian. I laughed. Then I said I'd already eaten all the meat. He ate three steaks personally. He also came wearing this ridiculous sun glasses, which I then pickpocketed and wore for almost five minutes before anyone noticed. Sadly I have no picture.

Turns out more than half of the staff smokes. Its sad. Especially since the cigarette boxes all say, "Smoking can kill you." Most of them were courtesy enough to direct their smoke away from the food, though. It really makes me pity them all. What's worse, though, is seeing the mothers on the streets pushing their prams smoking. That kid will forever have a weakened respiratory system, thanks to mom. That's really one of the stupidest things you can do as a mom, aside from drinking/drugging while pregnant and not breast feeding your baby. Anyways...

I guess the party was good. People were kind of late, so I read some Russian literature. Promise I'm not obsessed. Then I left early, cuz that's when my host family picked me up to drive me to the trainstation. But tha's another story.