My first "Bagel&Deli" bagel

236/365 Wednesday, 08/24/2011

This yummy bagel was consumed by little ol' me when I went to lunch with my department colleague (my co-German-teaching co-Vap=Visiting prof)  on this Wednesday. We almost walked past the Bagel&Deli, but we turned around to give it a go...

This place is great! It has a mellow 70's vibe and a crazy long menu! Very nice steamed bagels with all sorts of different toppings--can't wait to go back!!

What's for dinner? Polenta!!

235/365 Tuesday, 08/23/2011
Super easy and pretty tasty dinner: two slices of polenta topped with your favorite spaghetti sauce, Italian seasoning and lots of mozzarella cheese...broiled for about 5 minutes in the oven...yum!

First day of the Fall 2011 Semester!!

234/365 Monday, 08/22/2011
So the firist day of the semester finally arrived--and along with it the reliable and very fast shuttle service between Campus and my apartment. I decided to take a shot of the interior of the bus. The first day (and week now) went well and I'm settling into a routine of going in everyday except on the weekend. I teach every day but only one class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On Friday I teach all three of my classes, which is a bit strange, but I think it will be OK. It looks like next semester I'm going to have Wednesdays off--which will be nice. This first week was still very hot here. Walking between buildings and waiting for the bus in my teaching clothes was sometimes a tad uncomfortable. I'm hoping for cooler weather soon. 

233/365 Sunday, 08/21/2011

My last day before school started was peaceful and uneventful. Here's a picture of a happy George. (and a rather grubby carpet--I may have to cover it with something!

232/365 Saturday, 08/20/2011

Today was the first day of a nice quiet weekend -- the calm before the beginning of the semester. I probably did laundry and at some point (I think it was Sunday though) I'm sure I went to Kroger. This is a picture of my desk here in the apartment. (which of course has a picture of Hansi on it). 

231/365 Friday 08/19/2011

It was so hot that walking was a bit of a chore this week. I forced myself to "take the long way home" on Friday, because it was my last "free" Friday before the semester started. I took a picture of these flowers that were outside a church along the main street here: High St. before heading into Starbucks to grab a cool drink for the rest of the walk to Kroger and then home. 

230/365 Thursday, 08/18/2011

Towards the end of the week the streets of Oxford started to get more lively due to the influx of new and then returning students. I have heard that about 16 000 students attend Miami, which of course has a large (economic etc.) impact on Oxford, which is actually quite small at least in terms of non-student population. Wikipedia tells us that of the 21,943 people that were counted in Oxford during the 2000 census, 15,726 were students. Wow that means Oxford is actually smaller than Albion! (But the two are just so different in terms of atmosphere and ambiance and of course decent places to eat!) 

229/2011 Wednesday, 08/17/2011

A fun day! New faculty orientation in the morning and then I helped me new colleague in German move into her cute little house. (It so happens we know each other). It was hot, but we had a very nice lunch at a lovely sandwich place that I will definitely go back to. 

228/2011 Tuesday, 08/16/2011

Sometimes the computer's own camera comes on and I somehow manage to take a picture of myself. This is what happened here....

227/365 Monday, 08/15/2011

On this day (that now on Thursday the 25th of August seems very long ago...) I attended the library orientation for new faculty at Miami University. It was fun and informative.

226/365 Sunday 08/14/2011

In an effort to eat my fill of veggies I like to have a salad as my first course, before whatever it is I am eating for dinner. Here is a picture of the salad before the olives and mushrooms are added plus the dressing.

225/365 Saturday, 08/13/2011

Georgie is slowly getting accustomed to his new home. Here he is pretending to sharpen his non-existant claws on one of my Poäng chairs...

Irvin Hall, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio

224/365 Friday, 08/12/2011
This is a picture of Irvin Hall--the languages building at Miami U. I'll be spending quite a bit of time here I think!

223/365 Thursday, 08/11/2011

This is just a shot of one of four coasters I bought a while back at "The Sharehouse" in Ann Arbor- a big ramshackle thrift store where one can find many treasures for cheap cheap cheap--these cost a dollar and they work very well in my new place. 

222/365 Wednesday, 08/10/2011

This was the first day I tried out my new routine of getting up fairly early and going into the office to work on course prep for most of the day. I felt kind of out of it though and because I thought I forgot something I cam home fairly early in the afternoon. I took some pictures inside the apartment --this is of my new IKEA expedit bookshelf/TV stand. As you can see I severely limited the number of books I brought with me...Some of these are textbooks. The rest are recreational reading--a somewhat eclectic assortment as is my way...we'll see how much reading I get done here. (I'm hoping more than at home). 

221/365 Tuesday, 08/09/2011

This is a picture of George--I lifted the blanket/duvet under which he spends a lot of his time these days. This was the first day that we were both on our own--Bill left after breakfast. I think George really noticed his absence--and that made him anxious. He is better now, e.g. he stays out from under the blanket for a while in the morning. But basically he has become rather nocturnal--he wanders about at night and sleeps during the day--I'm calling him my vampre-kitty...

220/365 Monday, 08/08/2011

This the view from my Miami office window. I like it. I like the office too. I'll probably be spending quite a bit of time here. 

The things you learn...

So...one thing I'm noticing since living on my awesome ownsome is how some everyday products are really expensive...like toothpaste and laundry detergent...and so I was happy to find that the dollar tree store next to my apartment carries loads of 1$ toothpastes....that is until I read this informative post on Dollar Store "deals and duds"...(scroll down for the duds, including toothpaste!) hmmm guess I'll stick to the Kroger (or Walgreens or CVS) for it after all...

219/365 Sunday, 08/07/2011

Today was the day we took George with us back to my apartment in Oxford. Since we wanted to drive all the way through without stopping for a meal, we drove to Jackson for a big breakfast at our favorite breakfast place: Roxy's. This is their toilets sign, and since I thought it was funny (as did Bill) it became the pic of the day...Everything went well but true to his scaredy-cat ways George is still spending most of his time under the duvet that is on my bed. (It's Thursday now, so it hasn't been that long yet).  In the evenings I force him out from under the bed and chase him into the living/dining area and close the bedroom door behind him so he cannot run straight back. He complains but he does eventually calm down enough to wolf down some food. He likes to sit under the new orange IKEA blanket I got for him. during the night when everything is dark and quiet he takes care of business (kitty-litter business that is). I'm hoping he'll come out of his shell more eventually. It just takes time. 

218/365 Saturday, 08/06/2011

This is an attempt at an artistic shot. I was rushed though because this is in the bank drive-thru lane and a big red pickup truck drove in to block my review..

217/365 Friday 08/05/2011

This lovely black and white kitty belongs to my neighbor's brother, who is staying with her. His name is "Sneakers" and since I was back home I took over looking after him and their four other kitties, since they were both away. The wooden structure behind him is a ladder that leads to his very own "penthouse" that Lou (=the neighbor's brother) built for him. What a lucky kitty!!

The Railroad crossing in Edgerton, OH & some musings on Moon Pies etc...

216/365 Thursday, 08/04/2011
As I mentioned in the blog post for Wednesday, we decided I would accompany Bill back home so I could help with the second trip back down with my stuff, plus George the cat. The drive is a very pleasant one along back roads and through small towns. During the first part of the trip many of the towns we drove through were having garage sales along the road we were travelling. (Ohio State Route. 49). I would have loved to stop at a couple of them to look over their wares, but Bill wanted to get home and I guess I did too.

Since we had had a big breakfast in Oxford, we didn't stop for a real lunch, but just bought a snack at a gas station: Bill opted for an ice cream Snickers bar (they're good!) and I, in a fit of nostalgia went for a double- decker Moon Pie, which I enjoyed despite the numerous poisonous ingredients it consists of. My nostalgia of course was for the Australian equivalent of the Moon Pie: the Wagon Wheel, which I recall as being larger and thinner than the Moon Pie (=more like a wheel) and sometimes also containing an extra layer of jam. Here's a funny commercial for them from 1989 (I was long gone from Oz).

215/365 Wednesday, 08/03/2011

This is a picture of the IKEA restaurant area, fairly early on Wednesday morning. We decided to eat a bit more breakfast before commencing the looking and shopping spree.We always have fun at IKEA and today was no exception. It IS tiring though. I noticed more IKEA-newbies at this store, who stood around wondering how to go about getting the things they want--they apparently had overlooked the little pencil and paper dispencers that one uses to write down the item name/number plus where the item is in the warehouse area. Sometimes you heard people say things like: "They're going to have to order that..." 

We made it through the showroom, marketplace and warehouse area in about 3.5 or 4 hours--after which we  paid for everything loaded up the car and went back inside to get our fill of cheap Swedish meatballs and a piece of chocolate overload cake for lunch.  My excuse for eating more than usual is that I have not been sleeping all that well-I regularly get up from about 3am-5am and so lose a coupe of hours of rest--hence chocolate cake must come to the rescue. (We split a piece). 

Then we moseyed on home in our trusty civic and Bill immediately set to putting all the pieces together. I continued getting settled and cleaning the apartment. We had decided that instead of Bill coming back and having to re-load the car and George all by himself I would accompany him back to Albion the next day, in order to offer moral etc. support for the trip back to Oxford with George and the rest of my stuff. (which will take place on Sunday). 

I thought I would have more to do, but since most of my clothes etc are coming on this next trip I didn't have that much to do yet - I had already taken care of work-related tasks such as getting an ID and showing my employment documentation. So as I write this I am back at my old desk, for a short while longer at least. 

Once we go back I'm sure I'll want to get cracking on course-preparation -- it will be Miami's first semester using a new e-learning system that I need to figure out how to use, plus there is all the usual prepping/planning necessary before classes start. I have seen my office and it is quite nice--it might be a bit noisy since it is directly opposite a door to the stairs. 

214/365 Tuesday, 08/02/2011 Miami University

Here is a more appropriate picture commemorating the move to Oxford--this is the entrance to the University. We walked around the campus after enjoying a delicious  "Jäger-Schnitzel" (Hunter's schnitzel) at Oxford's German restaurant- the Steinkeller. Bill and I also celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary today. 

213/365: Monday, 08/01/2011

Ok so I know this is kind of a strange random shot, considering it's the first one taken in Oxford...but I simply couldn't resist this somewhat night-mare inducing monkey I spotted in what will be "my" supermarket--the Kroger next to my apartment complex.