Cycling, Home Cookery, and Indolence on the Day Before Studies

It's the first day of the university semester... but I have no classes scheduled for Mondays! So instead I spent the day as I wished, on unscheduled things.

Breakfast was coffee and orange juice; and I did half a page of Greek and read the Guardian headlines, and then read a book for fun, and tidied my room.

Then I cycled off to a charity to drop off donations that have been in my room for a while. Although I was daydreaming and therefore cycled the wrong way at first, a detour on a quiet Monday morning to the Zoologischer Garten area wasn't bad. But I reflected yet again that Berlin is far behind in the springtime vegetation cycle compared to Strasbourg, where the horse chestnut leaves had already spread greenly and amply and the first lilacs were blossoming!

After that, Ge. prepared porridge with an apple cut into it, and that was our lunch.

Grocery-shopping, as well as laundry, took up more of the morning. The Turkish supermarket was bustling, either due to the time of day or due to people being antsy to have food ready for iftar. (It's the month of Ramadan and, as always, many neighbours are celebrating it.)

Then I went off to volunteer for about an hour, sorting clothes donations. It was pretty quiet, but also easy to become absorbed.

It wasn't the most cheerful weather, but it was still possible I suppose to find aesthetic enjoyment even when there wasn't the rare sunny interval.

For example, I enjoyed cycling behind a mother and her toddler as I got closer to the apartment. There's a wonder-filled Age of Curiosity that young children go through that I like very much, and this toddler was in the middle of it. Her head encased in an extraterrestrial-green helmet was wobbling a little with the motion of the bicycle, as she was not yet old and strong enough to hold it steady as she sat behind her mother. But she swivelled her gaze back and forth, then poked out a finger like a delighted, pleasant little dictator and chirped something to her mother when she found something she liked (I think she spotted the bright gold blossoms on a maple tree).

When I returned to the building, Ge. was returning from a 'wild goose chase' to get our sewing machine repaired. The shop wasn't able to order the required spare part.

In the late afternoon I prepared a lunch of green asparagus with fried eggs, then — from Yasmin Khan's Ripe Figs cookbook — dinner: red bell pepper-and-walnut dip (muhammara), flatbread (lavash) that I did not bother making from scratch, and Greek greens (horta). For dessert, I had bought a mixed salted and roasted nut mix of pistachios, cashews, hazelnuts, and almonds; and sweetened chestnuts. And Ge. had bought tiramisu. It all tasted delicious and I reflected happily that sometimes putting forward effort into spoiling one's self really works. And J. prepared chicory coffee for after the meal.

I'll need to wake up very early tomorrow morning. But in the meantime I may research my World War I story further, or write up an account of the journey to Strasbourg, or do something lazy!