1. Was at MIL's and it rained cats and dogs and I was so afraid it'd rain because I had hung my work shirt outside because I needed it dry quickly. Came home and found that it hadn't rained in our area despite the fact that our place was within a 3 km radius of her place. WOOOHOOOOO!!!!
2. Was sharing my thoughts on how a double standard on women was unfair and hubby was really thoughtful. :-D
3. The heat wave has temporarily stopped and it's nice to have some cooler days in between. It's around 11'C at the moment.
4. Had a good time at a coworker's graduation party (my first invitation ever to a graduation party that doesn't involve my husband's family). This is what I wore for the party (notice the blown-up raindrop photo on the wall?)
5. Had a great time and lots of laugh at BIL's birthday party. 6. The weather was great the day after the parties at 30'C and I took these photos:
I've been busy this holiday week with spring cleaning, a car trip, and garden cleaning that I haven't had time/energy to blog or blog-hop. Last Monday was the first summery day here. The temperature was 21'C, so I decided to go on a bike ride because I also needed to buy some groceries. Here are some photos I took. The grass in the photos aren't green yet, but they are green now. :-) In less than just a week there are so many buds already showing up here and there and the green grass just makes it clearer that summer is here, though the nights can still be pretty cold.
Sign of summer: sandals! :-D It felt nice to ride my bike without having to wear any jacket ha ha ha ha...Btw, those sandals are kiddies' size (that's why they're decorated - size 35). Cheaper than adult sandals LOL!!! :-D And yes, in the fourth picture you can still see some ice in the river, though it's melted away now.
That day I also saw two ducks in the river, so here are two photos...In the second photo, the duck was staring at me LOL! :-D I love the track it leaves behind, don't you? :-D
I spent two days cleaning the windows and changing the curtains ha ha ha ha ha...also did more exercise, which was good, too, though I overdid it twice, so some days it was hard to get up and move (my legs were especially sore) LOL!!! I've taken more photos ever since Monday, but I'm going to share them later.
We went to the nearest beach in Keszthely a few times. We went swimming there twice. I had known that there was a free beach, but it was farther away and because it was mostly hot there, we didn't really feel like walking all the way there.
The first time we went to the beach, we were just looking around. To my delight, I found so many swans and ducks roaming freely in the shallow water. Here are a few pics outside the beach area (to get inside, you have to pay 920 HUF/person or € 3.4 if I remember correctly):
A pic of us with the swans and ducks:
Another view of the lake from the other side of the walkway:
This is the walkway...
This is the duck food machine:
Feeding the swans and ducks on a different day he he...'coz I just HAD to try the machine HA HA HA HA HA HA...
At the end of the walkway there is this cafe, but we never ate anything there. The end of this walkway is also used for tourists' boats.
Here's one example of the tourist boat and no, we didn't ride on it 'coz we had no time (this kind of boat leaves a few times a day and sometimes for certain boats, they only leave during the evening before sunset):
Here's a video clip of the area outside the beach. Over at the back there is a stage for performers and a few days before St. Stephen's Day on August 20th, there were lots of food and wine stalls as well as a stage for bands. There is also a shady park in the area.
Here's another video of the swans and ducks fighting for food!!!
Balaton lake is really safe for kids because of the shallowness. One has to walk SOOOO far away from the beach to be able to reach more depth. One funny incident happened the first time we went to the beach. Even though there was a tourist info office right next to the beach pay booths, but because we had been there once before and the young men spoke more German than English, I was reluctant to go there and ask again.
The beach pay booths were manned by two older women who obviously didn't speak English. I just raised 2 fingers to pay for our tickets but then after we got in, I realized that I wanted to hire a locker so that we could both swim together without worrying about our money or mobile phones, so we went back to the pay booth and I said to her, "Locker?"
She stared at me with a blank look on her face. I resorted to using body language. I made a box in the air with two hands, then I pretended to put a key in the middle of the box with one hand and then turn the key around. She got it right away!
She gave me a receipt for that and then wrote "18.30" (had to pay 1,300 HUF for that or around €4,8 - a sum that I thought was rather hefty for a key!) and she said some Hungarian words and then she held up a 1,000 forint bill while pointing towards the "18.30" again. I just assumed that if we didn't return the key after 18.30, that meant we would have to pay 1,000 HUF more, but I knew that we wouldn't be staying that long anyway, so we went in and put our important stuff in the locker after paying for two sun chairs.
That first swimming day wasn't as hot as the second one. The temperature was 23'C and the water temperature was 22'C. The second time we went swimming there, the temperature was 33'C whereas the water temperature was 30'C.
Here's the view of inside the beach. Apparently after 6 pm, they opened all the doors so that people could get inside for free (but then most of the people stopped swimming at 6 pm or at the latest at 6.30 pm anyway).
A short video clip of the beach area. Lots of food stalls and beach bars and there was also a small swimming pool somewhere in the area, farther away from where we were sunbathing.
When we returned the locker key, the woman checked the key number in the receipt book and then she returned the 1,000 HUF to me. Ohhhhhh!!! So renting the locker didn't cost THAT much after all, but probably they kept the 1,000 HUF just in case we didn't return the key on time or something.
Here are some more photos in the beach area, just to show you different angles and how shallow the water really is...the first pic is just sunbathing pic hi hi...and we'd always hide under the shade once we got too hot (the second swimming day, though, it was too hot to sunbathe directly under the sun, so we put our sun chairs in the shade). THANK GOD for the shady trees!!! :-D
Nothing much happening here. Work, enjoying free time, work, enjoying free time he he...The other day I cooked frozen duck from scratch. In the past, the frozen ducks I had bought had already been spicy, so I only had to put them in the oven. This time, though, I had to think of what to do with it. A recipe I found mentioned using some lemon juice, salt, and pepper, but I wanted it to be more spicy. Good thing I had this package of Bak Kut Teh spice mix, so I boiled some water with the spice mix and pour it all over the duck and shove the baking pan into the oven along with the "broth". I also added sliced garlic and onion all over and inside the duck.
I baked the duck at 160'C for about two and a half hours - in between I turned the duck around and around. The last 20 minutes, though, I took out almost all of the broth so that the duck could get a bit crispy on the outside and I turned the heat into 200'C. I should've probably let it sit there for a little longer, 'coz it wasn't too crispy yet, but it didn't matter 'coz I took out all the skin anyway 'coz R2 wouldn't want to eat skin or fat he he he...
And while trying to prepare the duck, I accidentally burnt my arm (it touched the oven) and cut my finger. Even in my workplace I sometimes bump into things accidentally and R2 keeps on worrying about me. Oh well...at least they are only minor "accidents". I've never really hurt myself so badly he he he...
I'm TRULY looking forward to this evening 'coz we're going to do a movie marathon tonight. We haven't been watching any movies in a LONG time. Due to my work schedule, we've only been able to watch TV series and we still have to catch up on them. So we have more than 10 movies to watch (the first we're going to watch tonight is Inception) besides the TV series. YAHOOOOOOO!!! Usually today is the day when R2 plays computer games with his buddies until morning, but now he's going to spend HOURS with me HE HE HE HE HE...YEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSS!!!!! ;-D
Other than that, I've been doing fine. Been sneezing the past few days, but I hope it's nothing serious. Today I cooked beef teriyaki. Haven't eaten it yet, but I can't wait to eat it with chili sauce HO HO HO HO...Take care, people, and have a blessed weekend!
2. Beautiful wintery pinkish sky (two days in a row) with a half moon hanging SO LOW above the horizon (it looked SO huge) when I rode my bike to work. Too bad I didn't have time to take a pic of it, but it was just AMAZING.
3. My trusted bike (which is perfect for my height). Without it I wouldn't have been able to do many things in a practical way.
4. Discounts, discounts, discounts for food products!
5. Belgian chocolate with lovely fillings (would have never tried 'em if one customer hadn't told me how delicious they were). Mmmmmhhh...
6. My homemade roast duck tasted HEAVENLY and we had mint-chocolate ice-cream and strawberries for dessert. Yum yum...
7. A friend has sent me a package filled with Indo goodies, so I can't wait to get it 'coz it's filled wish some stuff I haven't even eaten in a LONG time. WOOOHHHOOO!!! THANK GOD for angels on earth!
8. Hubby for warming up my legs and body at night and for scratching my back whenever I need it. :-D
9. I've ordered the light therapy lamp and I'm waiting for it to arrive. ;-D
10. Hubby greeting me at night with hugs and kisses whenever I have an evening shift. :-D
11. SAUNA is one of the GREATEST inventions EVER, esp. for a place like Finland HUE HE HE HE HE HE...
Yeah, I've been so lazy in uploading the rest of the video clips of our holiday in Crete he he he...but here are some of them. They're all about animalllllssss...
First video clip is about fish eating bread. While we were eating out in one of the seaside restos in Hersonissos area, some other people threw bread to the sea and these fish came quickly to get some he he he...
The third video clip was taken in Aqua World (The Animal Rescue Centre) in Hersonissos, Crete. It's VERY short 'coz we ran out of space, but you can see it moving clearly. :-D
1. Hearing news about the full-time Finnish course starting February 4th until July 10th and the possibility of getting some money as a full-time student (don't know yet how much I can get, but IF I can save enough to buy a plane ticket to Indonesia, then I may be coming home at the end of this year!!!)
2. VERY tender duck. YUM, YUM!!! Never tasted duck that tender even though the duck was obviously HUGE (the ones I had in Indonesia were so small compared to this one).
3. Hubby didn't complain when he had to go back to the kitchen to turn off the light as I had forgotten to do so. I said to him that I was already warm under the blanket, so I didn't want to go to the kitchen. You're SO WONDERFUL, Hubby!!!! ;-D
4. Planting my eyes right above his so that all we could see was each other's blurry eyes and then giggled together HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...
5. Hubby getting me some yoghurt as he was about to get some while we were watching a movie, so I didn't have to get up and get it myself. I felt like a princess HA HA HA HA HA...
6. Watching a full moon above the apartment building across the street. Very beautiful!!!
