Internet

We are having some internet issues, so if we are not posting/emailing/keeping in touch, please excuse us. Our wireless wasn't working when we got here & AIB is trying to straighten it out. The owners of the apartment live in South Africa, so it's been difficult to reach them and have them set up a new password for the whole system. We've been working on internet sticks, which are pretty cool, but not so reliable. Matt and I have been watching Madmen on Netflix at night. (Laurie, you were right. We're hooked!) Without internet, it's either watching the pool playing channel (just like National Lampoon's European Vacation, the channel exists), CNN or more reading. So, Matt finished The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho & is now reading, Eggs to Lay, Chickens to Hatch, by Chris Van Wyk. I finished Water for Elephants (loved it) and am now reading The Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson. This book is fascinating. I don't think it is just because I grew up in and adore Chicago. The World's Fair of 1893 was such a gigantic event that really did change the world view of Chicago and the U.S. Plus, there was a murder on the loose and that always spices things up.

I would be so much smarter if I didn't have the internet to keep me busy.

Oh yeah, the strangest thing I've heard myself say (so far):

While discussing my lack of a clothes dryer (whining to an unsympathetic German), I said, "no, we're not worried at all about our clothes shrinking in the dryer. They have little tags on them that tell us if they're already pre-shrunk." Wow, spoiled American.