The New Semester and Spring

The dentist's visit I mentioned last time had a happy sequel: I went for a check-up, three cavities were discovered and filled. Per the doctor, I didn't need anesthetic; I was less convinced when one cavity twinged. Nevertheless, it was a quick and easy process for me (not sure about the dentist and his assistant). By the time I walked out the office door again, the puffy cheek and other symptoms of the infection that have been haunting me since December had miraculously disappeared.

In general I've progressed from struggling to even hold a bird-dog yoga pose in early December, to being able to do high-intensity exercise like 'burpees' again. Even the intervening months of needing to stick to gentle exercise like ballet had benefits: I've unexpectedly improved in ballet. So all's well that ends well?

In consequence I feel fit as a fiddle, and ready for university classes on Monday:

It's my second semester of learning Spanish as a major with Modern Greek as a minor.

I'm not sure how interesting these details are:

The recommended courses include Spanish literature, language, and linguistics classes, and Modern Greek seminars.

Most of the Greek seminars will likely be done per video call, so I will be able to sleep late instead of rushing off to campus.

If it can be squished in between my other classes, I will also audit a journalism/media studies lecture.

That said, Allgemeine Berufsvorbereitung (career preparation) courses are theoretically meant to be done now, too. But I'm putting them off because my schedule is already full.

I've also applied for an office cleaning mini-job in the neighbourhood that would require 4 hours of work per week. But so far there has been no reply to my email.

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Fortunately, my Detrumpification programme has become cheaper since the 47th president called off the tariffs above 10% for all countries except China.

I've:

1. bought (before the high tariffs ended)

a) gruyère cheese and chocolate from Switzerland
b) butter from Ireland

2. mended 6 socks & 1 turtleneck sweater

3. watched TedX videos about racial justice

4. regularly watched the PBS News Hour and Radio Free Asia videos on YouTube, as well as an Associated Press livestream of Senator Cory Booker's marathon speech against federal US policy

5. shopped at a zero-waste shop

6. read a memoir written by a 'DREAMer' (i.e. a second-generation U.S. immigrant).

What's missing, admittedly, is more patriotic support for Canada's economy.

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Lastly, I've finished my grand Beethoven sonata playing project — only leaving out a funeral march because of superstition.

And spring is turning into summer: deep yellow Oregon grape blossoms scented a side street with a fragrance like honey. Trees are largely green around the nearest church. And the sun was so intense that I uncharacteristically remembered to apply sunscreen before going to the street market to buy vegetables.

A Picaresque Shopping Adventure, and Springtime

It's been a reasonably boring few days: the weather was sometimes overcast and dim.

I've mostly stayed at home. On Monday I had a dentist's appointment, which was mildly dramatic for the dental hygienist insofar as apparently there was a lot of bleeding.

On Thursday I was walking to the Musikinstrumentenmuseum to give myself a treat, after being a little apartment-bound during a lingering cold, when I had a wild adventure.

A lady in the street asked if I'd pay for some milk for her children, and we turned back to a chain store. She and her children ended up loading baskets full of merchandise, despite my attempt to tell her that my debit card has a daily limit. I became more and more exhausted the more they added to the cart, because I pretty much never spend more than 50€ on one shopping trip. The merchandise turned out to be over €300 once the cashier rang it up. Even though the lady put back €163 worth of stuff, my debit card was still declined. The cashier and her colleague, fed up, suggested just returning everything to the shelves. But they were really kind when I offered to help out with sorting the merchandise back in and they saw that I was genuinely sorry for the trouble.

The lady in the street, having asked to sit down outside a café further along the street, then asked for the €10 I had along in cash, which I forked over. She also suggested that I could bring her more money the next day. Since I was no longer convinced that she was in genuine need (inter alia, the mop bucket, powdered milk and diapers were amongst the first things she gave back to the cashier) I had no intention of doing so. Nor was I even sure if my debit card would work.

But her 'offer' did make me worry that I can't walk around that area again, for the foreseeable future, without being asked for my savings.

So I went home, without the museum excursion, short the last 10€ in my wallet, worried that my debit card was locked for good, and kind of scared to go outside again. I knew that by staying inside the next days that I was punishing myself for no reason, but did so anyway...

Anyway, the experience would make an entertaining short story. But as it was my real life, after two years of unemployment and rigid budgeting, and it reminds me vaguely of shopping trips with my parents when I was small where I constantly felt guilty for wanting things, the humour in it was somewhat wasted on me.

It's good that the next dentist's appointment was scheduled for next week, because yesterday my simmering tooth infection flared up. Kind of heaping on the misery.

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Fortunately, however, yesterday was also the first day to sign up for classes in the upcoming university semester. I signed up online for all the required lectures and seminars, which instilled peace of mind. Already in March, when I'd cobbled together a tentative schedule, it had also been a relief to see that I have no classes earlier than 8:30 a.m.

Also, my blood pressure's still doing well.

Besides I'm making progress in my nerdy project to play the first of two Beethoven sonata volumes from cover to cover. (The second volume I'd already played from cover to cover around 2022, so after the first volume my work is done.)

Lastly, I've ended my self-imposed spending ban, and when I bought groceries today, my debit card worked! And as I walked around, I took in the blue sky, tender green spring leaves, daffodils, forsythia blossoms, violets, and eccentric 'Zum Verschenken' offerings along the sidewalks, and these things made me happy.