Sunset

November 30, 2009 | Good-bye November Sun!

So, I was doing some research, and possibly snails can self-fertilize although it is rare? I should have known. This means the search for the snail's partner is off. :/ I wonder if the progeny would mate with each other. That must be a very messed up population, genetically.

I wanted a sunset picture to go with your sunrise picture, but I kind of fail at life. Also, the sun disappears before the nice sunset can be seen.

There's new building in this picture! You probably won't notice it. Well, it was under construction the last time I took a picture of it. It's a building for the 32nd Street School. One day, a few weeks ago, I passed the building and looked up, and it was as if the building had sprouted over night.

Sunrise

November 30 | Sunrise over the Keleti

I realized this morning that we get a cool urban sunrise from the living room window, and that I wake up early enough to see it. The window overlooks the Keleti train station, hence "over the Keleti". Ironically, Keleti means East in Hungarian, which is consistent with the idea of sunrise, but this is a South window. I had to look quiet a bit to the left, but could see the sun nevertheless.

This post is my last in November. You will have one still, on your evening of the 30, my morning of December 1st. For you it means that when you log in to post, it will be a few hours less than three weeks before I am scheduled to arrive back in Seattle.

P.S. this is the 222th post.

Snail

November 29, 2009 | Snail parent

So far, I only see one grown up snail at a time. But my biology background tells me there must be another thing involved! I wonder if the baby snails are alive. If I find another snail with a different shell pattern, I will let you know. :)

Pooh

November 29

I went to a bookstore yesterday, and found this by mistake. It's Winnie the Pooh. In German. Why German? Well, maybe I'll learn German some day. But it's pretty with pictures, much like the Russian one at home. Except that one is old and has more stories.

Altoids

November 28, 2009 | It's like a trick with cups, but with mint cases!

Each container contains something different. The newest box contains mints. Want to guess which one? :D

I narrowly almost missed my flight today...well, probably by a few minutes. I think I was the last person to board. You know the underground tram/subway/car thingy? I almost missed that leading up to going to my gate. But I made it in time. I would have taken a picture of LAX, but it isn't really that interesting on a small scale.

I still want to go home.

Banana

November 28 | Ping Chinese Restaurant on Moscow Square

I completely lost track of time with this translation. Fortunately, I finished, but it took me three full days. Not fun. At least I might have improved my Hungarian. Now it's layout time, which I will do tomorrow. And supplies for binding. Then printing and binding during RFM and C&P on Monday (there's no other time since the school is closed on weekends).

Anyway, the fancy dessert suggests that I went to another Chinese restaurant. Yep. I couldn't celebrate Thanksgiving properly, and I was hungry, so I went back here. It's called a banana split, and it's asymmetric. There are three different ice cream scoops inside. For maximum enjoyment, start from the right end. For me, the chocolate end. I like to end with vanilla.

(By the way, this photo was accidentally cropped to 2048px, exactly twice the standard size that I post. Yay me.)

Shiny

November 27, 2009 Piano

Here is a preview of the piano in my house. Unfortunately, the piano is in the corner of a room, holding stuff. It lives next to a vacuum cleaner. It's like we abandoned a very large toy. A very pretty, very expensive toy. I was going to play it today, but I got distracted by other expensive toys...(TV. grrr).

Packs

November 27

The yogurtometer idea stopped working yesterday with the arrival of the 4-pack of yogurts. Actually, my roommate brought me these because I was sick. But I don't want to break them apart.

You can also see the banana yogurt. It was good. It will be gone soon, but not before at least one of the cherry yogurts. Both the banana and the mixed berry will be gone no sooner than two of the cherry yogurts, unless I buy more, which is unlikely, given that I would still have the 3 cherry yogurts. This is called biasing the coin in favor of variety.

Legless

November 26, 2009 | Turkey!

My dad had already removed a leg before I had a chance to take a picture...Anyway, this resembles the end result of the presidential turkeys that were pardoned yesterday. Except those turkeys probably would have looked prettier. Our turkey was a little on the browned side, but, great news, the turkey was not dry! Probably because it was undercooked instead...

Due to an unforunate association made during stats by my professor, when I think of turkeys, I now also think of Tukey tests...

Project

November 26

I did work on my project today. A few more lines into Of Mice and Men, I came upon this awkward moment that I meet whenever I work on projects that I design: continue with this? Or do something easier instead?

I chose the latter, and hopefully will have time to translate a large enough part of Pushkin's Metel' (Snowstorm), a short story - I'm familiar with it and have the Russian original in hand for anytime I get stuck.

Turkey

November 25, 2009 One of the presidential turkeys

So, this turkey (either Carolina or Courage) was pardoned by the President. And now, the bird and friend shall go live somewhere for the rest of his/her life, possibly at Disneyland? I don't really understand. I wonder what the selection process to pardon a turkey is. Does this mean the White House will not be having turkey for dinner? Or just not these turkeys? Also, I wonder if the birds experience ear-popping on the plane. Is it painful? Does the same go for small dogs and children, of which I saw many at the airport?

Turkeys are kind of cute. Makes me feel bad for the one that will be baking in the oven tomorrow.

Cans

November 25

The fever is going down very slowly. Can't promise anything. It might jump back up.

I got fruits in cans! Also, grapefruit juice. Idiot. The juice will sit unopened until the fever drops permanently. (Seriously, out of all the juices that they have here, why grapefruit?)

Revisited

November 24, 2009 | Doghouse revisited

I passed by the dog today, and it was decorated! It's like a million times cuter! Oooooo, I should have seen if those tires were well stuck. (What would I do with spare rubber tires?...) I was very amused by the tires, and the front part of the doghouse. I also really like the cursive. And the shingles.

H1N1

November 25

Not fun. I should probably drink more water. I want those ice cream and fruits from two days ago.

Roommates

November 23, 2009 | My two roommates!

They have been practicing winking all night. I do not know what brought that about.

Tiffany wants to be best friends with you. I just thought you should be warned. Also, they googled our blog, so now we have more potential followers. Hello!

Nikolaus

November 22 | Koblenz Hbf

This is to remind us that on Sunday, I missed my bus back from Luxembourg. This is in the Koblenz station, where most things were closed, at least when I got there. There was no WiFi, only a few paid ugly terminals. But my train was 2.5 hours late, which is about how much time I had to spend in there.

They do have these small St. Nicholas displays in train stations in Germany. Kind of cute, I think.

Hbf is the abbreviation for haupbahnhof (main railway station).

Conquest

November 22, 2009 | Fireworks to celebrate pre-USC/UCLA football game...it's a big deal

So for few years now, our school has this big event called "Conquest", and they invite a relatively popular band and a relatively popular comedian to come to our school. They bring in a ferris wheel and food stands and random things. Why? I'm not too sure. I think the only real objective is to celebrate the fact that sometime in the near future that follows, USC plays UCLA. Kind of silly, but it does give the freshmen something to be excited about.

Chinese

November 21 | Chinese restaurant in Ettelbrück

Those chocolates look amazing!

Luxembourg was a trip of missed buses and lost places. Missed buses will come in the next post. I arrived in Ettelbrück for no reason whatsoever. Actually, I was anticipating hiking over there, but I couldn't find the right hiking trail. So I took a bus, became frustrated at having to connect, etc. I finally got there and found a Chinese restaurant. I walked in, if only to forget that I am anywhere in Europe not where I lately got used to being.

Chinese restaurants are cheaper than most. For 21 Euros I got a soup, salad, little meat thing on a stick and egg roll (I think), the main dish, and this dessert. It was called "ice cream with Chinese fruits", hence the title. It's tiny, but it was good.

After, I became immediately frustrated at not being able to locate the train station. And on the next day I came back to Ettelbrück, wanting to take a picture of the restaurant. I couldn't find it.

Seashells

November 22, 2009 | Marine life themed chocolates! Yum!

They're so pretty!

So, I was sharing chocolates with my two friends, and I had the exact same conversation with them at separate times.

Friend: Which one do you not like?
Me: They're all the same!
Friend: Which one do you not want?
Me (with friend 2): I just had this exact same conversation with Lynn.

Igor, I hope you are getting home safely. Stop missing your buses. You are making me worry. :/ Talk to you soon.

Clementines

November 21

Today was fail! :( Completely. Up to the point of walking back 7 km because the buses stopped running, and I couldn't call a night bus because my phone didn't work. That means I couldn't call you either, and this place doesn't have free WiFi, so I didn't have Internet either. At this rate, I'm due to missing my train back tomorrow. Pity, since there are so many places I wanted to see...

Anyway, I forgot my provisions when I left this morning, and had to go to a local grocery store. There I bought these clementines, and they still have leaves on them. That's really cute! I don't think I've ever seen leaves on clementines before.

Chocolates

November 20, 2009 Christmas = Chocolates

So, I was in a seasonal section of Target, and chocolate was every where! I bought the Ghirardelli for Sandra because we love the peppermint bark edition. Everyone loves Andes mints. And I bought a box of Guylian, the sea themed chocolates! If I don't eat too many this weekend, I'm going to share with my lab on Monday. :) There are 22. So, hopefully, I don't eat too many...hehehehehehehehehe.

oh no! I already have a post titled "chocolates"!...oh well.

Statue

November 20 | Luxembourg City

This is a statue in Luxembourg city center. Any idea what it could be?

I had to pay for Internet, second time a hostel didn't have free WiFi somewhere. (First was in Switzerland, but at least that one was priced reasonably.)

And just to put it somewhere: the duration of last week's trip to Munich, from Budapest-Keleti departure to arrival Budapest-Keleti, was exactly 83 hours, 42 minutes, and 38 seconds.

Clinging

November 19, 2009 | Baby snails???

Outside my apartment, I've seen a snail or two. While I was walking to the building, as I do nearly everyday, I noticed these dots. So, for the first time during my time here, I came up close. I think they're snails! Curious.

Tickets

November 19

It took me about an hour and a half to buy train tickets yesterday. Here they are, and I am taking off with them in just a few hours. Each ticket is for one train, except the white one, which is for 4 trains (2 there and 2 back). The yellow tickets have train and seat reservations, the white ticket does not. It's going to be a long ride with lots of connections (you can count just how many). Fortunately, all of the connections are either in the morning or in the evening, none in the middle of the night.

Talk to you from Luxembourg!

Doghouse

November 18, 2009 | George Tirebiter in a house

Part of an annual tradition for USC is protecting the mascots during the week before the USC-UCLA rivalry football game to prevent UCLA from vandalizing our mascots. Last year, as I think they do most years, the mascots were just heavily duct-taped. I haven't looked at Tommy Trojan, but I found the dog placed in a house-like structure (with no windows or doors! poor dog). The dog is our old mascot. It's cuter. :)

Cellar

November 18 | Budapest, VII, Rozsa ut. 39

My camera was out of batteries, so I used a housemate's. This is a vegan restaurant that my apartment went to today. (Special, since my apartment hardly ever goes somewhere together. My fault, probably...) Anyway, it's in the basement level of a building in the center, looking like a cellar. Maybe it was a cellar some time, and turned into a restaurant later.

I got fried cheese (wanted to try that for a while). Then I realized that vegan ≠ vegetarian. Food was fun, but I don't think I like fake cheese.

There's a present for you on the navigation bar on the right. What do you think?

Pomelo

November 17, 2009 | Sitting on a plate

Okay, I get pretty excited about this fruit. It's fun to eat! The pulp of pomelo is crunchy...in a way. And you have to peel the layer thingy to eat it. I guess sometimes it is a time impediment. But other than that, it's fun! It's not super sour or bitter like grapefruit. It's kind of sweet.

Tripod

November 17

I got a tripod today! Not a super one, but it works, and panning is smooth (for now).

Also, that wall is unusually spotless. Good as a background.

Instant

November 17, 2009 | Instant tea mix

I hope you find this picture interesting. I'm so exhausted right now. It is nearly 4AM, and I was starting to fall asleep a little while driving. Baaaadddd idea. We meant to go to one place, but it was closed; so, we (meaning I) drove to another place, on the beach, over 40 minutes away. Our new location at a beach in Malibu was quite nice. The sky was terrific and clear. It was freezing though, even with all of us huddled together. Well, I wanted to take a picture at night, but I don't know how, and I'm pretty sure it's impossible on my camera. So, unfortunately, you'll have to live with just this: one of the instant teas that I have. I have a large variety of instant drinks (teas, coffee, ovaltine); I'm not sure why. Anyway, I was wondering that is Russian on my tea packet. The box from which it came has Chinese characters on it. Thus, I was confused because the individual packets do not have Chinese on them.

Signals

November 15 | Corner of Zweibrückenstrasse and Thierschstrasse, Munich

I found these funny. They're tram signals. And I can't read them. There's also car signals. Weird, that they're all in one bunch.

When looking up the street corner, I realized that someone has taken a better picture of this ^{[external link]}. I'm jealous...

Catalina

November 15, 2009 | The dock

Hmmm, from here, you can't see the laboratory/classroom building, the dorms, the apartments, the dining hall, etc. But it's a nice view. And at the very end is where the little passenger ferry boat thing dropped us off. To the left is where the wet suits, kayaks, and life vests reside, as well as other water activity gear for snorkeling or scuba diving. There's hyperbaric chamber in one of the buildings, and a helipad between this road and the walkway down to the docks. I know I was only here for two days, but I'm so excited to spend next semester here. This morning, I think I heard and saw quails scurrying about on the ground! Oh, kayaking went well; we saw harbor seals and pelicans and other birds. I'm so exhausted though. I wish you could be here with me. It is really awesome (but that could be because I have been to few awesome places).

I'm kind of sea sick right now, and I feel like I'm still moving a bit. Maybe I'll go to sleep early tonight.

Bach

November 15 | Karl Square, Munich

I looked through pictures of today to post but didn't find anything, and I looked through pictures of yesterday, but there was so much that I couldn't pick one, so I'm doing something original.

Sunset is around 4:30. Taking pictures becomes difficult at around 5:30. The train leaves at around 11:30. How did I pass the remaining time? I had dinner, walked out, and heard these people. So I stood and watched for some time. I had other ways to pass time, too, for example, waiting for this video to upload (it never finished).

Baby

November 14, 2009 | Sea hares and a snail

This is part of the touch tank which is filled with random critters (such as small sharks, a lobster, sea urchin, starfish of many varieties, blue banded gobi, something weird looking, spiral something snail, sea cumber, other stuff, etc!). The trip has been pretty awesome. We went snorkeling, which I fail at; I drank the water accidentally several times. It was pretty fun seeing all the fish. Pretty scary for me, too. But it was cute seeing a school of small fish swim by my face. Apparently, there were lobsters and rays, but I was too busy trying to breath and calm down to notice...There was a scavenger hunt after dinner which was fun. And afterwards, some of us went up a trail to a place where we could see the mainland. But being far away enough, we had a great view of the stars without much light pollution. The Milky Way stretched overhead very obviously. I literally could not find stars that I can usually recognize because all the stars were so bright. Unfortunately, I did not see any meteors of the Leonid meteor shower, and I guess I'll have to wait until Tuesday-ish. Tomorrow, we go kayaking. I'm so excited for next semester!

Ugly

November 14 | Marienplatz, Munich

From Wikipedia:

Today the Marienplatz is dominated by the New Ugly Hall (Neues Rathaus) on the north side. The Glockenspiel in the tower of the new ugly hall was inspired by these tournaments, and draws millions of tourists a year. The New Ugly Hall was built 1867 - 1909 in Flanders gothic style; its facade, over 300 feet in length, features strikingly elaborate stone ornamentation. Its 260-foot tower with carillon is, with the nearby St. Peter's Church and the twin towers of the Cathedral, one of the most distinctive features of the ugly skyline.

This is the center of the city. And this is approximately where I stopped my 7-hour-long intuition-and-map-guided walking tour of the city. (Actually, I kept going to some church and to some park, and then to them musicians town. [I ate at a restaurant on Mozartstrasse, which was the wrong street, since I intended to take Schubertstrasse and end up on Beethovenplatz.] But by that time it was already dark and hard to take pictures of anything, and I was tired, so I returned to the station.)

Seriously, who'd build a city hall like this?

P.S. Ok, I like it for a change. But I'm glad I don't have to walk by one of these every day.

Cookies

November 13, 2009 | Chocolate Chip Cookies!

This is the first time this semester that I have baked homemade cookies! Totally weird because I baked many times last semester. They have mini chocolate chips in them, and the cookies are mini-er than most normal cookies. With this batch, I got a little impatient and stuck more cookie dough than I should have. Thus, ended up with multiple cookies in what looked like the cytokinesis stage/binary fission.

Neuschweinstein

November 13 | Schwangau, Germany

Look where I've been today!

So, I took the 8:19 train (because I almost missed the 7:52 train and they ended up arriving at exactly the same time). The original plan was to take the bus from Füssen to Hohenschwangau and see the two castles: Neuschweinstein and Hohenschwangau. But upon arriving in Füssen, I realized that I'd much rather take a hike through the forest. I did that, but first stumbled upon a third castle, right in Füssen. That castle took the most of my time, since it slowly transitioned into Füssen's city center with all it's bakeries. I went to one.

All in all, by the time I got to N., it was already 3:30, and the sun already set a hill behither. Still, I went where I could in N., then to the bridge with a view of N., then up hill past "extreme danger, stay on trail" signs - I'm certain there was a trail where I went - for an even better view of N.

I might go back there and finish my hiking. If I have time.

Aisle

November 12, 2009 | Food Aisle

This aisle is filled with Asian instant noodles galore!! :) :) Not good to be reliant on them. I went to the Asian grocery store, 99 Ranch Market, to buy Asian things (packaged dumplings, yay!). I really want green tea mochi ice cream...Gosh, I'm especially hungry this moment.

Lectures

November 12 | College International

My train for München leaves in just over an hour. This is snacks for before our special lecture today.

Supplies

November 11, 2009 | Pencil Pouch!

I'm very excited about my pencil pouch! Though, ironically, I am currently without pencil. My friend borrowed it, and I don't know what happened to it aftwerwards. :( :( :( Me and that pencil had a 3+ year relationship. Oh well. I love highlighters! Also, new this year is the four-color pen. I love it, except I'm worried about running out of one color before the others. :/ Remember when I followed you to the bookstore so that you could buy all those supplies? Hehe. That was fun.

Books

November 11

This is my bookshelf right now. Apart from the math books, you can see an English-Hungarian-English dictionary and two books in Hungarian. The fat one is a collection of translated prose of Pushkin. See if you can guess what the thin one is without consulting a translator.

The thin one is for me to read now and translate back to English as a project for Hungarian. The Pushkin is to read when I return home. To continue studying, or at least retain, the Hungarian that I learned here.

ZHS

November 10, 2009 | Zumberge Hall of Sciences (ZHS)

Hmmm...indirectly, I suppose, this is a building of both physics and biology. Maybe at one point, more physics took place here. I think this is where they hide geobiology and the Earthquake Center. Biology labs are also in this building. It's across the way from the non-human biology building where I work. Well, no, that's not true. Across from ZHS is the School of Accounting, and the research biology labs are next to that. IMO, the bio buildings >>> business buildings. I haven't been in the business-related ones really, but I'm sure bio wins with all the non-standard floor labeling and cycad trees.

Fruits

November 10

I got tickets to München, and a reservation at a very nice hostel. Yay! I feel much better now that this weekend is decided (still hoping on the next two) and am celebrating with a Persimmon.

I haven't tried it yet. It looks ripe. We'll see.

Notes

November 9, 2009 | Writing Sample

Hahahahahahahahahahahaha. This is how I write when I can't stay awake and keep my eyes open. It's sad when I try to rewrite a word, but nod-off halfway through. I'm drinking coffee before my shift at the hospital. It's embarrassing to fall asleep in a room of fewer than ten people.

Blocks

October 9 | Hungarian Language Class

We had an exercise today: to describe (in Hungarian) the structure of blocks for the partner to recreate. These two, it seems, were having a lot of fun with the assignment. See for yourself: try to describe that thing, whatever it is. In English. Bonus points if you can do it in any other language.

Quad

November 8, 2009 | View of McCarthy Quad from Leavey Library

Self-explanatory. Dirty window. Grass, buildings, trees. Need I say more? I went to the library today. I did problems that I had already done. Today was not so good in terms of production. :(

Starters

November 8 | Old City, Bratislava

I eventually found my way to Bratislava's Old City (center) after crossing two bridges once and one bridge twice, and walking through parks, a university campus, etc. When I got there I began to look for dinner and found this restaurant.

It was closed on weekends, unfortunately. Look at the list of appetizers!

Imports

November 7, 2009 | A car

This is from a few days ago. :( But I was amused to find this car with a European license plate on the front. I was going to take a different picture today because I had gone out, but of course, I had a camera fail. My batteries died, and I was about to catch my bus. My friends and I went to a very dark Caribbean restaurant. Food was good, I guess. I liked taking the bus-interesting setting. It has been a while.

Guests

November 7-8 | Matthew's room

We had two guests over today: Matthew's old friend who is studying in Prague, and his friend who lives in Hungary. (Matthew is in the middle.) They were somewhat drunk when I came back from the game night (which was really cool) and we had this photoshoot. They are currently getting more drunk, and I've moved to my room for the night.

This is actually my first time at set-ups. I'm not very good at controlling shadows right now, this one has quite a few. But it's a good start, don't you think?

Cages

November 6, 2009 | McCarthy Quad

Doesn't that look fun? It's a metal cage for humans! And the humans rotate in it! I'm assuming the cages rotate on their individual axes. I think something was going on today. I'm not sure what though. In a few weeks, we'll have a ferris wheel for a night! I love ferris wheels!

I change my mind. It doesn't look very turnable.

Matreshki

November 6 | Some shop in central Budapest

I tried unsuccessfully to get new shoes today. Meanwhile, I stopped at a gift shop. These gift shops often mix Hungarian and Russian crafts, one store went as far as have boxes depicting Saint Basil's Cathedral with the inscription "Москва" (Moscow).

There's an interesting Matreshka combination. Russian names are in Russian. From left to right: Gorbachev, Castro, Berlusconi, Merkel, Bush, Saddam Hussein, Che, Stalin, Castro, Obama, Saddam, Bin Laden, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Stalin, Medvedev, Medvedev.

NOM

November 5, 2009 | NOM NOM truck

This is the NOM NOM TRUCK. It sells Vietnamese sandwiches, and tacos with Vietnamese-ness inside. It has a cute face. ^.^ I think it would make a cute Transformer. RAWR. OM NOM NOM NOM.