Hallo,
life has been, as always, very interesting and busy. We are now officially done classes (as of yesterday at 11:45 am, for me.) and, more importantly… I AM DONE ALL MY ESSAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! EVERY LAST ONE! Ohmygosh. I am so happy. I finished last Sunday at about 12:20 am. It was great. Simply wonderful. What a load off. That last one was about 25 pages and I just sat and typed and typed and then… I typed some more. And finally it was done. Just… done. Definately not perfect (I don’t think it is anyway… but who knows, since my prof keeps refusing to e-mail me back about it. Great.) but it is done. And so long as I pass, I am a happy camper =)
So, what have I been doing with my newfound freedom? Excellent question. I got an idea. Actually, I got this idea way before I got any free time. It went like this.
“There was an earthquake in Haiti. Thousands and thousands of people and animals are injured, without food, and without a home. I bet vegan baked goods will help solve those problems.”
So….. I had a bake sale! An entirely vegan, organic bake sale which took place in my building. =) It was just yesterday (officially, though I am still going to sell some more today) and it raised over 258 Euros thus far! The money will be going to three different causes:
1. The Christian Veterinary Mission
2. Food for Life
3. Stoves for refugees in Darfur (I know Darfur is in Africa… but they really need some help. And, I don’t want them to be forgotten just because they havn’t had a dramatic natural disaster there. They’ve got lots to deal with as is…)
The first organisation, I am not entirely sold on, to be honest. This is just because there website is a little disorganized when it comes to the whole Haiti issue, and because they promote people keeping animals for farming, which can be really unsustainable and a huge problem as time goes on (here is an article with a better explanation: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/court_and_social/article756623.ece ). but otherwise I think they are a good organisation that has been really active in helping deal with the situation. The animals are so often forgotten in these sorts of scenarios (well… actually… in almost every scenario) and that should not be. I think it’s basically just because they cannot speak (human language. Unless it is some talented bird we’re talking about…) and because they do not look like humans (which is a pretty weak argument! I’ve met plenty of people who hardly look human. (Haha!)). Anyway. I think society has some thinking to do.
Food for Life is a great organisation! They distribute vegan food to people in emergency situations as there’s not much point in distributing food that causes other disasters while trying to clean up more visible, publicized ones. There’s another one to think about!
Stoves for Darfur. Well, initally, this was going to be a Haiti-exclusive bake sale. But I have been a bit involved in trying to help out with Stand- an organisation that is working on aiding the victims of the Darfur crisis. One of my floor mates came back from the library late while I was hanging up my laundry and made a comment after seeing one of my posters advertising about the bakesale for Haiti about people forgetting about Africa (although he really knows nothing about the situation in Darfur. And I’d like to see him hold a bake sale for anything. … other than Fußball. =P !) Anyway, I really did not want to forget about Darfur any longer, and people should know more about it, so I decided to have another jar available for people to add their donations to (people got to decide how much they wanted to give). Anyway. Stoves. Stoves are very, very important for the refugees. This is because without a source of cooking heat, the women would have to leave their refugee camps to get firewood. The men cannot leave the camps because they will get killed by the Janjaweed if they do. So, the women leave and will not get killed, but they get raped.
Hopefully what is made from the bake sale will help.
It was supposed to run from 3pm to 5 pm yesterday in my commons room, but people were either not home or were too lazy to come by so, after dropping off some baking at my professor’s house with Alicia, we went door to door throughout the building with trays of what I baked. I am so incredibly thankful for her help- I think I would have made about 2 Euros otherwise! (Well… maybe a bit more…) So we did that for about 3 hours and… ta da! We sold lots!
But there is still so much to sell! I’m off to do that now.
Otherwise…. what have I been up to…
Oh, okay, my friend Vlad (not Alicia’s neighbour, another Vlad) took me on a tour of his chemistry lab! It was so so so cool! (I AM SUCH A NERD.) All these tubes and equations and liquid nitrogen… neato. AND a beautiful view of the city- luckily we went on a clear and sunny day- now it is snowing. Yeup. Lotso white stuff…
Very exciting news: I have found not only decent, but the most amazing vegan, organic raw ice cream ever. And it is here in not-even-one-vegan-restaurant- Freiburg. I know. And I was completely not expecting it! I was on a tram and missed my intended stop, but I thought, “Okay, God. What’s your plan?” and just kept going. I found this little store at the very end of the line and… there it was: Booja-Booja ice cream. I almost had a heart attack right then and there (which would be almost impossible for me, considering I take in no unncessary cholesterol. Thanks, veganism.) Anyway… I couldn’t get it right then because I still had errands to run, but I went back the next day and bought 2 (VERY EXPENSIVE BUT WORTH IT) tubs. Ginger and Maple Pecan. Yum yum =) … thanks, God.
Other equally, if not more, exciting news: my mum is coming to visit!!!!!!!! I am so excited!!!!! She arrives on Tuesday in Basel, Switzerland, where we will stay for a night, then go to Freiburg to look around (a lot of what we see will be new for me, too, unless we just hang out in my communal kitchen and behind my laptop.) and then it is off to see the family in Singhofen! I cannot wait. This is what was motivating me the whole time I was writing my essays- just get them done to be free by the time mum gets here! AND ENJOY LIFE! I cannot wait. =) !!!!!!!!!
Aaaaaaand whatelse…
time to bike home! In the snow! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!!!
gemmer
