My week: May 15 ed.

Work was all-consuming again since our project will conclude mostly by the end of the month. Years ago, I lived to work; at one point, I had seven jobs and worked 6-7 days a week. Now that I work to live and enjoy life, I don't mind working a bit extra on the project but I'll be more than happy when it's finished. Even though I don't work a lot extra, by the time I get home, I have no "oomph" left and don't feel like doing much of anything.

My German learning has scaled back as I haven't had the extra energy to attend the group tandem meetings or meet with tandem partner #2. I also haven't been studying on my own at home and I can see how quickly my fluency and recall diminishes without consistent practice. This makes me wonder if I'll ever get to a point where my skills will be strong enough that I don't have to try so much. How many years did it take you, readers? The other issue is that my brain feels worn out. I have so many details from work, travel plans, and personal details to manage. By the time I coordinate all those details, I feel as if my brain can't handle anything extra.

Friend/tandem partner #1 and I enjoyed dinner at Safari, an Eritrean restaurant and my favorite in town. (Seriously, this place is delicious and fresh. I have been meaning for years to write a review of it. If you're in Kaiserslautern, stop by.) My friend loves spicy food and asked for extra spices. J, the waiter, didn't disappoint; he brought out a serving platter with salt, some sort of green spice (which reminds me of a chutney with a slightly pickle-y taste), a type of curry powder, and some hot chili pepper paste. My friend said that even the pepper paste was a bit hot for her but that didn't stop her from using quite a bit of it. I enjoyed the other two more and definitely have a plan to ask for them the next time I visit. Yay for being able to eat spicier food now!

On Saturday morning, I peeled myself out of bed before the tush-crack of dawn, picked up A, and headed to Frankfurt Hahn for a trip to Sofia, Bulgaria. That deserves its own post, which I unfortunately have a habit of mentioning but never get around to writing. I hope to say more about it, but for now let's just say that we had a great time, ate fantastic vegetarian food (including CORN that was NOT on pizza or in a salad! Yay!), enjoyed a fantastic tour, and soaked in the art and architecture.