7 quick takes, of course

Well I'm a day behind with the Friday quick takes, but I'm not too bothered by that.

- 1 -

Here satsumas are basically the color of lemons. They are also nearly as sour as lemons, or maybe I just got one that wasn't quite ripe?

- 2 -

I love rain pants SO much. In my Liebster award post I said that my most cherished possession was my wedding rings. Well. My rain pants handily take second place. Actually it is probably the combo of rain jacket + rain pants, so we'll say my rain gear is second.

Thursday morning I had an amazing bicycle commute in a steady, moderate rainfall. I don't know what it is about riding in the rain while wearing proper gear, but it is just so good!

- 3 -

Speaking of bicycle commute, I think I already mentioned that I was back on my bike this week. I had stopped riding during the winter because I didn't want to fall on ice, so I am really quite glad the snow and ice are all melted. Bicycle commute is so much faster than walking, and so much more fun than riding the bus.

- 4 -

At my hotel in Vienna there was a complimentary breakfast, which included little packets of nutella (like little packets of jam, only nutella). Unfortunately, most days I was eating sandwiches for lunch so I never was in the mood for toast for breakfast. I've kept the thought in my mind though, so I just had some toast with nutella for lunch. Yum.

- 5 -

Sometimes I have to eat foods that seem fancy (nutella toast is completely fancy in my book, probably because I toasted my bread on the stove with a bit of olive oil (who needs toasters?)) because otherwise I feel too much like I am living like a bachelor? I think this is the problem with living in a different country from my husband. The only good example I can think of right now is eating a bowl of cereal for dinner. I am pretty sure that is a thing a bachelor would do.

- 6 -

I got called on for my expertise in the English language again yesterday. Pretty much, my coworkers all speak perfect English, so if they are sometimes looking for a word, then it is a word that I can't even come up with. Yesterday's question: what would you call the points of a triangle or a square? "Hmmm, good question... maybe just points? As opposed to the edges, right? Hmmm.. OH how about corners? Yeah I think I'd say the edges and the corners!" Phew, passed the test. Almost had to make him walk up a flight of stairs to consult the real English language expert who is from England.

- 7 -

Here is a thing that I much prefer about American English though. We never use the expression "half eight" when referring to a time. In England you say "half eight" and (I'm pretty sure) it means half past eight. In Swedish you say "halv åtta" which translates to "half eight" but it means half to eight, or 7:30. So confusing. Let's just always use clarifiers here people.

Fun fact: I typed halv åtta into google translate just to make sure I was getting the spelling correct, and the translation? Half past seven. Google is SO smart.

Weird fact: I was proofreading this post and noticed that one of the half's was written as have. How did that happen??

Clementine

Today I got a clementine from the fruit bowl in the office. The fruit bowl is a fantastic feature that I keep meaning to mention.

My clementine was really quite sour and it reminded me of that time I found a lemon in a fruit bowl at a conference and I ate it. Then I remembered I blogged about it here.

So that's that.

The Lemon

I recently attended a conference in Fairbanks, Alaska. It was pretty awesome, probably the best conference I've been to.

Sometimes during the morning break between talks there would be a large bowl of fruit next to the coffee station. One day I found a bright yellow lemon trying to blend in with the apples, oranges, and pears. I went back in several minutes later, and the fruit was slowly being eaten, but still the lemon remained. I knew the lemon had to be mine, so I snatched it up before I thought better of the idea.



Then I ate the lemon like an orange.



Yum!