Zig Zag

We had a few lazy days of nothing but grocery shopping and leisurely walks, due to high winds and colder temperatures mixed with rain. I've been practicing my French, but I'm a little frustrated. I can figure out the written word for the most part, but my pronunciation sucks because Spanish is different in that department. Here's to more practicing.

Our dishwasher is broken. I forgot how much I despise hand washing dishes :/

I've cooked a few dinners at home now, and we always prepare breakfast and lunch here. Last night's dinner was paprika chicken and caprese salad. It appears that all the preseasoned meats only have paprika. I guess that paprika is a big thing, as there are even paprika-flavored Lay's. Eh, the chicken was just okay. I will say that the produce here is FANTASTIC. It is beautiful, full of flavor, and priced about the same as Cleveland produce. Except tomatoes. They're super inexpensive and so nice.

Strawberries aren't supposed to be the size of your hand. Gorgeous.

I noticed that Europeans have the same frustration with breakfast cereal as Americans: the sugary crap is cheap, healthy is expensive. 

One night we had Chinese delivered from a restaurant down the street (mediocre at best), and one night we had takeaway Indian from a  place called Royal Bengal (pretty darn good). We even got a free beer with the Indian food because it was over €20. 

I'm still getting used to how trash is sorted here. The agency explained it horribly wrong, so I got "scolded" by the building owner. Apparently "paper" also refers to cardboard, among other types of paper. Anything "paper" has to get schlepped on to a bus or driven in a car about a half mile away to be dealt with. Annoying. There are two separate bins in our tiny trash can: one for bio waste (food scraps - smells great after two days) and one for typical trash. Additionally, I am to use a blue bag for certain types of recyclables: aluminum and water bottle or milk container plastic. Any glass or mixed plastic (like yogurt containers) has to get schlepped as well. So here's to creating as little waste as we can.

Today Boo and I walked 2.3 km (1.4 miles) to an indoor playground called Zig Zag. Pretty cool place, which is affiliated with The Little Gym:

Indoor "racing track"

There was a soft basketball court, numerous slides, ball pits, gymnastics rings, and zip lines. Plenty of climbing for energetic Boo, and parents were able to crawl through as well. A+ for unlimited time for €11. I could have even had beer, wine, or champagne as I watched Boo play!

While there, I heard a little boy speaking English with an American accent and started talking to his father. Dad Alessandro is Italian and works in banking here. Son Elliot just turned 5 and he and Boo got along great. Turns out Alessandro's wife is from Wisconsin and is a lawyer! We exchanged numbers for a future play date, plus, I really want to meet the mom. 

The trip back home was predictably filled with whining once my Fitbit alerted me that I had taken 12,000 steps, which isn't even close to counting all the climbing Boo did. I stopped at a little shop and picked up some blackberries to eat while we took a break. Boo promptly devoured them all, despite having eaten a decent-sized lunch at Zig Zag.

As I think the picture makes clear, Boo was exhausted (we were there 2.5 hours), and I still had to coax her another 20 minutes of walking. We sang a few songs and finally made it through all the complaining. She then decided to have a very loud meltdown because I rode in the elevator with her, and that meant her booty was getting a nap, like it or not. Ten minutes later, she was passed out, and now I'm enjoying some sparkling mineral water with a lemon slice (new fave), since it's a little early to crack a beer. John went to work an hour away today so I'm now awaiting his arrival while I watch Teen Mom 2, which is, sadly, the only thing in English on TV. Maybe I will crack a beer...