This week, I shall mostly be stitching

I was cross stitching a wedding sampler kit for my pen friend, who is getting married at the beginning of June. But then I messed up the picture to the extent that I’m not sure I’ll have enough thread to complete it. Fail!! And, of course, the thread the kit uses is not Anchor – the only kind I can buy here – and ordering extra would take too long. So I turned to my trusty magazines. I am now stitching this:

Here’s where I’ve got to:

Cross stitch cake so far…

I’ve a long way to go, as you can see. I will also be adding the names and date.

With just over a week to go before  I have to get this in the post, I’m going to be spending all my spare minutes frantically trying to get it done. So if I don’t manage to update my blog regularly, that’s where I am…

Caaaake

Yesterday, we were invited to the post-wedding celebration barbecue of one of Jan’s colleagues (the couple actually got married almost a year ago). I was told I could bake a cake if I liked, so I decided to find something new, but fairly easy to make.

I chose this from BBC Good Food: Blueberry Soured Cream Cake with Cheesecake Frosting

The batter was fairly easy to make. Place most of the ingredients in a bowl and stir until combind. Add the eggs and ssour cream and stir more then stir in half the blueberries, saving the other half to decorate.

After baking, the cake looked like this:

It sunk a little in the middle (should have baked it for longer!) but not too badly.

Here it is the next morning, after removal of the baking paper:

It had sunk even more and also now had a ring around it where I turned it upside down on a plate to remove the paper. Ooops! Good job there was still icing and decoration to come…

Aaah, much better! Here’s a view from the top:

I also made brownies as a back up – I know my brownies recipe always works! I even experimented this time, mixing the plain chocolate with a little orange chocolate and adding the juice of one orange. The verdict: Delicious, but I could have added slightly more orange. Jan’s colleagues have begged me to send in brownies to work with him soon , so I’ll count that as a success!

The blueberry cake tasted good – not too sweet, and it was cooked through despite the sinking in the middle issue. It didn’t disappear as quickly as the brownies, but with two entire tables of cakes to choose from that’s not really surprising! And by the end of the party, it, too, had been demolished. Success all round! Now to decide what my next brownies experiment will be. The addition of some ginger, perhaps?…

Munich

It’s been a while since I last wrote a post for my 30 German Towns before 30 series, and with only 3 months to go until my birthday I really need to get a move on! Today, it’s Munich’s turn.

Marienplatz with the Old Town hall and Mariensäule (Mary’s Column)

The very first time I went to Munich was for Oktoberfest during my year abroad. Not knowing whether we would ever come back to Germany, Oktoberfest seemed like a must do. Unfortunately, I have zero photos of that day thanks to my dad’s girlfriend managing to delete ALL the photos from the first half of my year abroad from her computer. I only have those few photos that fit on my (at the time very small) memory card. My dad tried to make it up to me after the fact by buying me a memory card with room for over 1,000 pictures, but by then the damage was done. So no photos of ginormous beers, I’m afraid.

I went to Munich again in 2010 with Jan and a friend of ours, this time for a football match. We had plenty of time to walk around Munich before the football started, and this time there was no loss of photos! All the pictures in this post are from that occasion.

Part of the new town hall

I’m sure most people will have heard of Munich, so I’ll keep my description of it brief. It’s the capital of and largest city in the state of Bavaria. Basically every stereotype people have of Germans (Lederhosen-wearing, huge beer-drinking, sausage eaters ring a bell?) comes from Bavaria. Almost nobody in any other state own Lederhosen (guys) or a Dirndl (girls). The part about the big beers is true for some places outside of Bavaria… but not all. Rheinland-Pfalz, for example, is more of a wine region.

More of the new town hall

Munich is a big city (population 1,378,176 in 2011!), which means a lot of traffic and a lot of people! But it is also beautiful – at least the old town is – I once had to go to the Neue Messe (exhibition centre) as part of a seminar and that area is not particularly nice!

Munich is, of course, famous for its beer (hello… it’s the home of Oktoberfest!) and there are any number of breweries and beer gardens to choose from. Here’s a photo of the Löwenbräu brewery:

Löwenbräukeller

Löwenbräu literally means “lion’s brew”.

The Viktualienmarkt is a daily food market and square in the centre of Munich. Apart from the usual market wares (such as fruit, vegetables and flowers) there are stands selling gourmet foods and one with freshly pressed fruit juices. Delicious! The maypole on the Viktualienmarkt features the Bavarian colours – blue and white.

The football stadium in Munich is the Allianz Arena, home of the famous Bayern München. On that particular day, the match being played there was an international one – Germany vs. Argentina.

Allianz Arena

Apparantly, if FC Bayern München are playing, the arena is lit up in red, while for 1860 München it’s blue. As you can see, we got a sort of yellowish white colour.

I even managed to get a photo of someone from my own team – Jonás Gutiérrez, an Argentine national, plays for Newcastle United in the Premier League. He’s the one with the long hair.

Gutiérrez

With only a day to spare (and part of that being taken up with football) I didn’t get to spend as much time in Munich as I would have liked. And, of course, on Oktoberfest day I spent all my time in a tent drinking rather large beers, but what I’ve seen of Munich I liked. I definitely want to go back some day and check out all the things I missed… For example, the Englischer Garten is one of the world’s largest urban public parks and is supposed to be fantastic.

For some much better photos of Munich, check out Alex’s of Ifs, Ands and Butts post on touring Munich by bike.

Pfingsten Friday letters

This weekend is Pfingstwochenende, or Pentecost weekend, which makes Monday Pfingstmontag (Whit Monday) and therefore the third of May’s four public holidays. YAY for long weekends!

An Irish postbox (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Dear boyfriend. Thank you for bringing me chocolates back from Belgium. They look very tasty… but how am I supposed to eat the one shaped like a hedgehog without feeling cruel?

Dear British Forces Brats group. I can see myself become obsessed with you! Sooo many people who have shared my experiences! It had never occurred to me that the army lifestyle could be to blame for any of my personality traits (although it’s obvious, when you think about it!)

Dear cake I have to bake tonight. Please work out! I need you for a post-wedding celebration barbecue thingy tomorrow (where I will probably know nobody!!) and there won’t be time for a second try.

Dear weather. Please be kind! A barbecue where I know nobody other than my boyfriend will be bad enough without getting soaked as well!

Dear Bonnie Tyler. Good luck in the Eurovision Song Contest! I hope we get home from this barbecue thing in time for me to watch you!

Happy weekend everyone! (And happy long weekend to those in Germany.)

Something to think about…

*I apologise in advance for the length of this post. And I will totally understand if you decide not to read it! Come back tomorrow for a more “regular” post*

There was no post yesterday for the simple reason that, after coming in from work and sitting down on the sofa, I wa unable to summon up the energy to get back up and turn on the computer. The theatre on Monday night followed by quiz on Tuesday meant two very short nights… I’m loving having friends but the whole social life thing is exhausting!

Anyway, I said there was something I wanted to post this week once I had more time and could give my attention to it properly. This is that post.

Once again, I was reading some posts in the “British Armed Forces Brats” group that I’m a member of on Facebook (see Saturday’s post if you don’t know what I’m talking about).

One person mentioned that, a few years back, he had been “in a very bad way with the relationship/communication issues many of us seem to experience.” Looking around for fellow brats who had had similar experiences, he found himself on the (American) Forces Brats Wikipedia page, where there is a section on mental and emotional issues linked to the typical forces upbringing. One of the conditions listed was Avoidant Personality Disorder, which he provided a link to. Here is the link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avoidant_personality_disorder

I am not going to say that I have this disorder… obviously only a trained professional can do that. But many aspects of the condition sounded exactly like me.
Wikipedia says:

People with avoidant personality disorder often consider themselves to be socially inept or personally unappealing and avoid social interaction for fear of being ridiculed, humiliated, rejected, or disliked. Avoidant personality disorder is usually first noticed in early adulthood. Childhood emotional neglect and peer group rejection (e.g. bullying) are both associated with an increased risk for the development of AvPD.

People who have been reading for a while may recognise me in that paragraph… particularly the part on being socially inept (how many times have I mentioned my lack of social skills and inability to act like a normal human being on here? Not enough times to get the key words onto my tag cloud, but often enough, I think…).

The World Health Organization says Avoidant Personality Disorder is characterised by at least four of the following, which I would like to comment on:

1. Persistent and pervasive feelings of tension and apprehension;
   I’m not sure this one applies to me. At least I don’t think feel particularly tense when not in a social situation.
2. Belief that one is socially inept, personally unappealing, or inferior to others;
   I’m pretty sure I actually am socially inept – it’s not just a feeling. Personally unappealing… not all the time, and in every way (there are things I actually like about myself!) but yes. I don’t think I feel inferior to others though…
3. Excessive preoccupation with being criticized or rejected in social situations;
   YES! I have been known to plan out what I’m going to say to make sure there’s no chance of me being judged negatively for it. The better I know people (and the more sure I am they like me), the less I do this.
4. Unwillingness to become involved with people unless certain of being liked;
   “But what if they don’t like me?” is a phrase Jan has heard me say many times…
5. Restrictions in lifestyle because of need to have physical security;
   Other than tendency to try and avoid social events where I know literally nobody (which I’m not sure is even meant here), I don’t think this applies to me. I’m always looking for new experiences and I don’t feel like my lifestyle has been restricted in any way.  
6. Avoidance of social or occupational activities that involve significant interpersonal contact because of fear of criticism, disapproval, or rejection.
   Associated features may include hypersensitivity to rejection and criticism
   Definitely!! I’ve got a lot better at this over the years, but I’m still not a fan of attending social events with people I’m not already convinced actually like me! I worry about saying the wrong thing and being criticised or laughed at… years of being told you’re “weird” or that people “never actually liked you” will do that, I suppose.

The American Psychiatric Association has a similar list, but two things in particular struck a chord with me:

- Is unwilling to get involved with people unless certain of being liked
- Is unusually reluctant to take personal risk or to engage in any new activities because they may prove embarrassing

YES and YES! I love trying new things, but only certain new things… the kind that I’m pretty sure won’t lead to any embarrassment for me. Unless I can do them with my friends and only my friends. People I’m already sure like me are allowed to laugh at me Although even once someobody likes me, I am afraid I might do something wrong or stupid and end up alienating them…

This post probably makes me sound like a very unhappy person. Actually, at the moment, after having very few friends in Germany for a long time, I now have a group of people who I am reasonably sure actually like me (and don’t just hang around with me becasue I’m Jan’s girlfriend) and who I can spend time with without my usual fears about social situations coming up.

So why am I posting this if things are so good? Because, after years of believing I was just odd, knowing that there are other people out there from the same type of background who have the same kind of confused, illogical feelings as I do is a huge relief! And knowing there’s an actual disorder with characteristics that describe me perfectly (seriously… I could have written the Wikepedia article!) make me feel like I’m not just a freak. I wouldn’t go so far as to say I actually have avoidant personality disorder – I do still attend social events and usually even manage to force myself to speak to people (while praying that I don’t say the wrong thing!). But knowing that such a thing even exists at least gives me a point of reference, and a possible place to start with trying to overcome my issues. As the title of the post says, it’s something for me to think about. And I feel like I’ve made some kind of breakthrough!

Trivia tuesday

There is something I want to post about this week, but today I don’t have time to do it justice, so in honour of tonight being quiz night, here’s some Tuesday trivia for you.

• The romance novelist Barbara Cartland was the step-grandmother of Diana, Pricess of Wales. Cartland’s daughter, Raine, married Diana’s father, the Eighth Earl Of Spencer.
• The firefly is not actually a fly, but a beetle.
• Gandhi was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize five times but never won it. The closest he came was in 1948, when he was nominated a few days before he died. The prize committed decided not to honour him post humously, but instead didn’t award the prize that year, stating that there were “No suitable living persons”.
• In Sweden, in 1979, a number of people called in sick to work with a case of “being homosexual,” in protest of homosexuality being classified as an illness. Within a few months, Sweden became one of only very few countries at that time to declassify homosexuality as an illness.
• Air Force One is the official air traffic control call sign of a United States Air Force aircraft carrying the President of the United States. This means, when the president is not there, the plane is no longer Air Force One.
• California’s vehicle licence plates have been manufactured at Folsam State Prison since the 1930s. That’s the same prison as in the Johnny Cash song “Folsam Prison Blues”.
• Suzanne Collins, author of the best-selling Hunger Games trilogy, worked as a writer for the television show “Clarissa Explains It All”.
• Melissa Joan Hart, who played Clarissa in the aforementioned TV series, went on to play Sabrina in Sabrina the Teenage Witch.
• Kevin Clash, who provides the voice of Elmo on Sesame Street, also played Baby Sinclair in the Sitcom Dinosaurs.
• Albert Einstein was offered the presidency of Israel in 1952 but turned it down, stating “I am deeply moved by the offer from our State of Israel, and at once saddened and ashamed that I cannot accept it.

That’s ten facts… enough for one day, I think. Need to save some for next time

Awesome Internet find

I came across this site this morning thanks to Facebook and I HAD to share it with you all as soon as possible.

It changes whatever you write to cats.

To get your own writing turned into cats go here: http://nekofont.upat.jp/

The website is Japanese, but there’s a button at the top right to switch to English. Now go forth and create cat writing!