post-Dresden (ha. pun.)

Hello my friends. I'm taking a few minutes before I head to school to provide a bit of an update, or at least a bit of something for you to read.
I'm finishing my coffee (having a cup and a half this morning, since I have to be in so early) and have already eaten toast and jam. Bill's computer (mine doesn't connect to the wireless here, so is basically useless) seems to have caught a bit of a virus. This is probably because in our desperation for American television, Bill tried to download some random player that would facilitate viewing The Wire on a particular streaming site. I think the virus protection we had at BC has probably expired, and Bill's computer already has enough trouble with everyday functions, so I'm not sure what we'll do.

Speaking of jam, we got new jam yesterday in the Czech Republic. Not nice, local jam. Just cheap jam from a discount grocery store. Everything is cheaper there, so many Germans, at least in the south, cross the border every couple of weeks to fill gas cans, buy beer, wine and other random crap. And the Lehms wanted to take us on a driving tour of the region, which turned out to be sitting in the car for 4.5 hours, with a few stops to pick up cheap Czech goods. So we bought a case of beer and a bottle of olive oil and some jam and paper towels. Since we were there.

Dresden was nice. We were visiting a couple of friends Bill made in the Fulbright program, and it was just lovely to spend the weekend with Americans. Such an unexpected relief to have everything you say, every joke made, easily understood. One difficulty was that Grant, the kid we were to stay with, lives a 40 minute train ride from Dresden. And the trains stop running around midnight. And Grant and Bill (and me, I guess) wanted to go out and drink and dance in the city. So we did as Grant frequently does, which is stay out until the trains start running again at 5am. Needless to say, I didn't fare too well. Ended up falling asleep in the booth of the last bar of the night. And was not the friendliest person on the trip home. But we slept until the afternoon on Saturday, which was needed.

Unfortunately, when we woke up, what I thought was Bill's hangover turned out to be more serious and he spent the day throwing up. We think it was a bad doner. So Grant and Liz and I went to the grocery store and bought stuff to make dinner, and I got stuff for grilled cheese to feed Bill (he'll always find a way to get grilled cheese down, barfing or not). And we watched a lot of American tv on Grant's computer (Always Sunny, Law and Order, Extras). And it was lovely. And Bill felt well enough to eat some dinner, and then a whole bunch of leftovers, plus more than one grilled cheese, for lunch the next day. So it all worked out.

And now I must go get dressed. But I'm still waiting for some one-pot dinner ideas. And some indication that it isn't just my mum and Becca reading my blog. Helllooooo?