The other day, someone asked me if the decreasing frequency of my blog entries correlates with an increasing fun level. I had to say no--as much as my fun level is increasing despite intensifying Sally-related drama in my neck of the woods, I really do intend to keep this blog updated several times a week. This week, however, was an exception due to a) thinking I had to read for my seminar and furiously skimming Spanish readings only to find out that only one other person in the class had done the reading; b) realizing that applications for grad school are due sooner than I thought (December 1st is fast approaching--2 months until my birthday on the 5th); and c) the cold I caught from Sabrina which has left me feeling like a huge virus. I'm feeling better, thanks in no small part to the high-in-codeine cold medicine I procured from the pharmacy, but I'm at the gross drippy stage.
This week, after much nagging, Sally bought Steffie and I wardrobes. (Yeah, my life is THAT exciting). She also followed through on the dishwasher, which would be great except for the small fact that we only have four plastic plates, four bowls, one pot, and one frying pan. Sally has promised that she will buy real plates soon, but she keeps talking about buying a wok. I'm not one to demolish castles in the sky, but she rarely cooks (she eats cold things...lox, canned asparagus and oysters) and I think that plates and bowls should take precedence over a wok. I wouldn't complain if Sally hadn't promised Steffie and I that we would have a completely furnished, completely equipped apartment within a matter of days (she even told Steffie via e-mail that our apartment had central heating---ha).
At least Sally provides fodder for conversation--Sabrina, who moved into an apartment two blocks away from ours, loves to hear our daily updates. We have a Polish Erasmus named Marta staying with us for a few days while she looks for an apartment. I am fine with people staying with us, but she arrived at 7 this morning and Sally decided to have a very loud conversation with her in the kitchen for an hour after her arrival [at our apartment meeting last week, we agreed not to make loud noise until 10 a.m.], then she (Sally) decided that she wanted to work on her "tables" for the living room (she is cutting up the box our dishwasher came in and placing rotten cushions on top of them--when I first saw that she was keeping the dishwasher box, I thought about how much fun it was to play in big boxes when I was three and felt a twinge of nostalgia; however, I soon realized that she fully intended on creating furniture out of the box). Recycling and do-it-yourself projects are great, but Martha Stewart she is not--in a mean way, it is kind of amusing to watch her at work...but that's beside the point (I know, I'm a horrible person). At 8:30 in the morning she started cutting the boxes with a handsaw and then had the audacity to send Steffie and I a rather curt e-mail that translated to "Marta did not sleep well on the train so do not make loud noises." I did not make loud noises...I made my normal morning-routine noises; but for the rest of the day I remained in a kind of sour mood because she interrupted my sleep unnecessarily (she woke up Steffie as well) AND she was wearing a canary-yellow velour jumpsuit as she pranced around the apartment. It appears that, so far the only person who is violating the guidelines we agreed upon as an apartment is Sally...
It's not all bad around here. Steffie and I get along very well and we hung out some this weekend--Friday night, Steffie and Sabrina and I met up with Karen (the American) and Kasia to see Vicky Cristina Barcelona (the Spanish title: Vicky Cristina Barcelona); I was still one of the only people who awkwardly laughed during the gun scene.
Speaking of which...as my conversation with my sister earlier this evening revealed, I am desperately out of touch with American pop culture. I mean, I didn't watch cool shows back home (Brooke Knows Best, I Love the New Millenium, and My Super Sweet Sixteen) were on my summer evening lineup, but here it's even worse. Since only some of the watching-TV-online sites work in Spain, my television viewing has gotten even worse. I am now fully caught up on Degrassi: The Next Generation and even started to watch some of the original Degrassi until I realized that the plot lines were the same as the new one, only with '80s hair and clothing. When I mentioned that I can watch Family Ties to my sister and heard her reaction, that's when I knew that things were pretty bad. So, if you know of something that works in, say, Europe, please let me know...because people are asking me what happens on Lost because I'm an American and the episodes are released in English before they are released in Polish.
Until next time...which will be sooner rather than later. Tomorrow night we are having an apartment meeting to discuss a few things.
