The life without the French girls

...is actually not that bad. In my little two-room flat I’ve got now quite a bit of extra space and have also made it a bit more comfortable there. The atmosphere in the yard is also a lot more relaxed. The neighbours are more likely to talk to me and are also with each other livelier. Georgette – the girl that lives with the landlady (Matya) – is laughing a lot more often and is doing crazy stuff (especially when Matya isn’t at home).The food is still largely the same; just that now it’s cooked by Georgette and not anymore by a member of the association. Of course I am helping. Every now and then there is also something special offered. Yesterday evening, for example, we had corn mash with a spicy sauce, which was rather yummy though. Today we had fish. The other day I had the opportunity to taste soja cheese (which is pretty much what we call tofu) and then also tasted the local nougat. Once we had something similar to a pumpkin (looks pretty much like it, is also big and orange inside, just that there are no seeds and it has a lot more fibres). It’s eaten hot and testes rather sweet. It was though rather difficult to serve due to the fibres. Over here they tend to just bite bits off or rib them off, as cutting is almost impossible. I was lacking experience however, so that Georgette had to help me out a lot. It was really delicious.

I’ve also got to know a few more people now, so that I can go out every now and then, instead of hanging just around the house after work … in general I must say there are quite a few people who asked me to become their pen pal (even complete strangers that just approached me on the street; though very nicely); but they are so many I could not possibly write to all of them. If there is someone out there, who really likes writing letters or e-mails, there are a lot of people here who would be more than happy to get to know you, just let me know…