Market day

Hurrah! Our internet is up once again! Hopefully this time for good. Or else. No idea who I'd speak to since most people at T-Mobil only speak German ("Spricht hier jemand Englisch?" = "Does anyone here speak English?" "Nein, blah blah blah blah something else in Deutsch" Click. Dial tone.) Anyway, enough with the bad.

Today is Friday! My favorite day. As stated in the previous post, the boys and I go out nearly every morning to explore and shop for the days needs (produce, bread and such). The shops are lovely, and I have a few favorites where they know me already and are either kind to my stumbling attempts at Deutsch, or else speak quite good English themselves, which makes things pretty easy. But on Friday, market trucks pull into this hidden square in town to create a Markt Platz with fresh seafood, produce, sausages, cold cuts, bread, and a huge selection of cheeses. They look like large delivery trucks, but one side is missing, and in it's place is a deli counter. (Well, except for the produce cart, which is actually a cart. The egg cart is a cart as well.) I'm not sure if the prices are any better here than at the little shops or the big grocery store, but it thrills me to no end to walk through this doorway of building into an open air market that magically appears every week. This week we loaded up on the produce that we'll need for the weekend (which feels strange to do, since we usually shop for the day only, but stores are only open half-day on Saturday, and most not at all on Sunday.)

There is a produce cart that pulls up behind some buildings right across the street from us Wednesday-Saturday. Yesterday we picked up some grapes that tasted of flowers from there, then some warm pretzels from the bakery, and picked out two kinds of cheese -- one spicy and the other sharp (no idea what the names were, but they tasted good to Andrew and I, so we got 100 grams of each). When we got home and spread it all out on the table for lunch, I had the most wonderful sense of well being and good fortune of living a very good life.

For those of you who care about such matters, I hope to have Greg take a picture of my ever growing belly tomorrow, and will post it soon. Here is a baby update from fitpregnancy.com:

Your baby is about 4 to 4 1/2 inches and about 1 3/4 of an ounce. If you could see your baby's face, you might be able to see her wince and grimace, because her facial muscles are developing and flexing. All of her tiny organs, nerves, and muscles are starting to function. The intestines have moved farther into the baby's body; her liver begins to secrete bile, which will later aid in the digestion of fats; and her pancreas begins to produce insulin, a hormone which turns sugar into energy.

After the market, we stopped at a bakery to pick up a baguette. Just like my mom did for us when we were little, I found myself tearing off hunks to give to the boys as we walked towards home. Here, they are sitting on a bench (one of the many situated along the streets everywhere -- just for sitting, no other purpose) in front of the Persian rug shop where we will probably make a few purchases soon.