I said yes to the collocation and I’m SUPER excited about having a place to live. Now if only my letter would arrive from the consulate so I’ll know that I’ll get there on time.

I started cooking for my parents this week (not sure if I can keep it up every day—I don’t have that many ideas). The first night I made grated beets:

Purple

and yellow

with parsley in. Only I didn’t take a picture of the finished product, apologies.

Any ideas what to do with the remaining beets? I have one purple and two yellow.

Tonight it’s Mark Bittman’s lamb curry which I really like:

(Not a great picture.)

We’ve been to see the bats twice and have missed them both times:

But that’s where they come out. There are only about 8,000, not 300,000 like in Austin. That’s the San Antonio Museum of Art in the background (the old Lone Star brewery building).

And here is a picture of me and one of my favorite people:

Otto did not pose very well there so he is not at his cutest. I think he looks a little squished. Perhaps I was squishing him.

the only drawback is it’s on the edge of town, so, about 4.5 km from the center. But it looks like there’s a bus that runs till after midnight most days and there’s a supermarket right there so I think that really might be fine. And the people (aged 21, 23, and 24) seem cool and eager to have a foreigner. The rent is cheap, the house is big, it has an oven and a laundry machine and the dining/living room is actually a big sun room. The bedroom looks like it has built-in bookshelves so all I’d need is a bed and maybe a desk and dresser.

I hesitate because my original plan was to reserve at a foyer for two weeks so that I could actually go visit places. This way I don’t think I’ll pay the deposit till I get there anyway, so if it’s terrible I can change my mind. And also it means that I could move in pretty quickly, maybe spend two nights in a hotel instead of a week or two in a foyer, which is very tempting.

But the real advantage to me seems that the people are friendly and interested. I was specifically trying to avoid people who just wanted a place to crash and not actual roommates to talk to.

Also the rent is pretty darn cheap (172 euros + charges).

Any thoughts?

This is hilarious, and makes me want some fried green beans.

Sarkozy collapsed due to “heat and overwork.”

(Couldn’t help myself.)

Gave up Catfish for Boris and Otto who like us more anyway. I gave them haircuts today because it’s so much nicer to pet Boris before he turns into a wiry-haired polar bear.

(Not actually Boris.)

This is my hopeful schedule starting Monday:
9 am: Wake up, eat breakfast, work out, shower
10:15 am-noon: Work on masters report
Noon: Eat lunch, dawdle
1 pm: Decide what to cook for dinner, go to HEB for ingredients, cook

with possible time in there for playing with the dogs.

The kitty (whose name is Catfish) has come to visit us every day.

We play with him and cuddle him and pick him up and then sometimes dangle him in the air.

(Okay, it was just that once.)

Tomorrow we go home and it’s time to start seriously writing the masters report.

and realized that my IM screen name (cestsibelle) is incorrect. But cestsibeau just doesn’t have the same ring to it. So I can’t decide if I should change it to something else.

Where I am till Wednesday:

A kitty came over to explore:

We need to see him closer up: