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Post by rikita on Feb 12, 2022 11:33:15 GMT
i think here the fourth one is also only for people in risk groups, so far ...
yesterday, i got emails telling us we have to quarantine - four days after we did our pcr test and a day and a half after the pcr result was there. so, let's say someone really clueless who didn't know or doesn't realize the exact rules of a quarantine, they'd have still been walking around until now ... the email itself is some long text and some brochures. and a list where you can fill in your contacts to inform them, but since the people with who we were on the trip know we have it, and most of them have it, too (and i don't know and thus can't inform the people who were on the same train home just before a. and i tested positive), i suppose i don't need to fill those in ...
the plan is to get another test on monday, to see if we are fine again. i still have a bit of a throat ache that comes and goes, and feel a bit tired, but the latter could also just be from being at home all day. agnes also says that she isn't feeling good, sometimes, but i think it might be from being a bit restless and bored ... today, at last, she decided to give reading books another try, so that is an occupation that neither involves a screen nor making a huge mess - wish me luck that it keeps her interest for a while ...
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Post by rikita on Feb 12, 2022 11:25:06 GMT
The final scene of the movie finally validates everything. since i am not going to watch the movie but that sentence got me a bit curious - can you say how that last scene validates everything/what happens in that last scene? (it's my problem in general, i like watching movie trailers, but at the same time, i usually want to know how it ends but on the other hand, don't have the time to watch most of the movies/my curiosity is not quite enough for that. really, i'd like to see the trailer and have someone tell me what happens in the end ... )
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Post by rikita on Feb 10, 2022 14:12:59 GMT
thanks ... i called the doctor and got sick leave for today and tomorrow - i feel a bit guilty, as i am feeling alright and could continue working from home, as i did the previous days, but at the same time, getting some rest and having some time to read to agnes (and to encourage her to do some school work) is good ...
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Post by rikita on Feb 9, 2022 22:15:17 GMT
finally got our pcr results - positive, as expected, but other than a bit of a throatache and tiredness for me, and moodiness and slight throatache for agnes, we are fine - guess we are lucky, a lot of other people i speak to who had it recently were much more sick ... agnes is just sad, because she can't visit her dad this weekend ...
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Post by rikita on Feb 6, 2022 18:39:58 GMT
had to cook for 19 people, recently. made tortillas (well, i didn't make them, i bought them and just warmed them), and a sauce from kidney beans, corn, tomatoes and other things, and some quinoa, and some fried soy granulate, and some sour cream, and some plain corn (for the kids), and some cheese ... it was too much, we still had a lot of leftovers the next day ...
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Post by rikita on Feb 6, 2022 18:31:00 GMT
well, we got covid cases in the group with which we spent last week in switzerland, and upon return a. and i tested positive, too. feeling fine so far, though (and waiting for our pcr results) - only slightly dizzy in my case, and a throat ache, but i had that throat ache for over a week, already - and had several negative tests after it started, so it might just be a regular throat ache (or these other tests were wrong - or the test yesterday was wrong - but as that one was at an official test center, we are now quarantined until our pcr results - and since Agnes was positive, too, i suppose it is more likely that we have indeed got it) ...
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Post by rikita on Feb 6, 2022 18:24:31 GMT
Lately watched a few movies on Netflix because they are about to disappear from there - so I watched Heidi (the 2015 version - actually watched it twice, once just me, once with Agnes and a few other kids while sitting in a snowed in house in Switzerland - and actually Agnes' and my bedroom was right under the roof and called the hayloft - fun was trying to understand the parts in Swiss German ...), and Wonder, and Joker.
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Post by rikita on Jan 28, 2022 21:42:18 GMT
yes, i like fantasy, or at least some kinds, like harry potter ...
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Post by rikita on Jan 27, 2022 22:45:46 GMT
a. and i recently read the first book of the "how to train your dragon" series, which is quite different from the movies, we are also continuing in "school of magical animals" (about to start book 11 or 12 or something like that), and now are continuing the sixth harry potter book, from which we did take a lengthy break right in the middle, because she got more interested in "school of magical animals" (which i guess is also more age appropriate), but she wanted to return to it now.
as for reading without agnes ... well, just an article in a magazine now and then ...
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Post by rikita on Jan 27, 2022 22:37:23 GMT
What they have said about the basic surgical masks is that they offer excellent protection to stop you from spreading disease to other people but almost no protection for you not to be infected by other people. The stiffer N95 masks (called FFP2 in Europe) offer protection both ways. I confess that I still just wear a surgical mask. ffp2 is the most common one here, in a lot of places it used to be or still is required, so i have gotten used to them. i wear a surgical mask occasionally (like at work when i go to the kitchen to make tea, as there are only very few people in my office anyway), but in any more crowded place, i feel better with an ffp2 and try to make sure it fits very tigthly (that also helps against the glasses fogging up) ... recently i bougth some ffp2 masks that have flowers or other patterns on them, so they don't even have to be plain white anymore ...
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Post by rikita on Jan 19, 2022 21:54:57 GMT
Bixa all I would like to add is that the times when "normality" is broken and stressful feelings come into play when you're young - it only makes one stronger and builds character. Bad times are there to makes us even stronger in later life. As adult parents we know the hardships we have suffered and we also know it made us tough! i can't fully agree with that. hardship can make us stronger, if we have the proper support to get through it well. so there are many kids that will be fine, because their families or friends or teachers help them make sense of things, help them cope with difficulties etc. but there are children less lucky, for who the interruption in schooling and a disruption of their normal social life will have long-lasting negative effects. not only in this situation now, but also in many other hardships in the past ... i think what makes us stronger is how we see our parents cope, how we can get through things, that we are not alone - not the hardship itself.
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Post by rikita on Jan 19, 2022 21:48:02 GMT
but my son -- who alerted his work after testing positive, according to their protocol -- was told to come on in to work. they told him to come to work??? is that even legal?
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Post by rikita on Jan 15, 2022 0:28:45 GMT
ah, and on monday, i will do what i haven't done since i was a teenager, i think: i will go see a movie in the theater a second time. it's a's birthday, and she asked to see "encanto" again, with her friends (well, she'd even more have liked to see "paw patrol" again, but that one is not in the theaters anymore).
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Post by rikita on Jan 15, 2022 0:24:32 GMT
Was a while ago, but i think i didn't post about it yet ...
Schule der magischen Tiere (school of magical animals) is a very popular book series in Germany, Agnes loves it (we are in book 11 or 12 now) ... And earlier this year, a movie came out. Of course as usual they changed the story a bit, partly in places that didn't make sense ... And of course they made the kids older and put some pop-songs into the movie, and tried to make it more appealing to older kids, though the books are more for 8 or 9 year olds ... But it was still alright, and of course Agnes and her cousins liked it ...
It's about a school class, who gets a new teacher - and that teacher's brother owns the "magical pet shop", and matches the children with their friend for life - a magical animal that can speak and understand human language and will only be recognized as a living animal by those who are in on the secret. In the movie, the first two kids get their animals. But also, there is a thief at the school, and one of the kids is accused of being the thief, so they have to figure out who has really been stealing things.
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Post by rikita on Dec 25, 2021 23:07:06 GMT
I was 95% certain that I would despise The Matrix Resurrections. Well, that's 2 and a half hours of my life that have been stolen from me. i know someone who worked on that movie. should i tell her?
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Post by rikita on Dec 25, 2021 23:06:18 GMT
I went to see Disney's Encanto today to neutralise some of the venom from other films I have seen recently. It was sickenly sweet of course, but that's not always a bad thing. And of course Disney needed to get some more diversity points. i enjoyed it and agnes declared it one of her favourite movies. of course it is sweet, as it is a disney movie, but i thought not too much, and i found the music enjoyable and also, as is getting more common with newer disney movies, while there is a love story, it is not of the main character and isn't really all that important, the women are the ones doing most of the hero-stuff ... and the main character is not as unnaturally thin as in older disney movies ... well, i guess mainly i just like bright, colourful animation movies...
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Post by rikita on Nov 28, 2021 22:04:23 GMT
i had a flu shot the year i was pregnant, else i don't think i ever had one. been thinking about getting one this year, but so far haven't ...
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Post by rikita on Nov 26, 2021 21:33:53 GMT
got an offer for a booster through work - biontec again, and it is only four months since my second vaccination, so wondering a bit if it is too soon, but i signed up for it ... from what i heard on the news, the booster shots are as badly organized as the vaccinations were all along here, so it might be difficult to get an appointment on my own ...
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Post by rikita on Nov 24, 2021 21:51:43 GMT
bixa - mercimek ciorbasi? (well, ciorbasi is soup, i think, like the romanian "ciorba")
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Post by rikita on Nov 23, 2021 21:26:45 GMT
bixa - it's a turkish sausage. i buy a vegan "copy" though, which of course tastes a bit different, but also nice. it's the spicing i like ...
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Post by rikita on Nov 22, 2021 20:25:39 GMT
as for today's dinner, a's friend visited, and somehow when other kids visit i notice how our food at home is pretty limited (mainly due to no time for shopping - i only go to the organic food store, then, so we don't have meat, since that shop is vegetarian) ... so, we had tortillas, which a. eats with melted cheese, and i had mushrooms, some chickpeas in tomato sauce and melted cheese on it, but the friend had them plain and then said they taste boring. of the things we had, he chose peanut butter and vegan sucuk, and insisted putting both on the same tortilla. after two bites he claimed he was full (i thought it was a bit of a waste, especially that sucuk is expensive) ... i also had a can of gulash soup that someone once gave me - he liked that ...
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Post by rikita on Nov 22, 2021 20:22:03 GMT
could be - it was a ready-made mixture where i was just supposed to add yeast, so the amount of flour was set - but maybe the package of yeast they had in mind was smaller than the one i used - or maybe it was indeed the kneading ... might try the mixture again and vary that a bit ...
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Post by rikita on Nov 21, 2021 18:44:44 GMT
baked rye bread today. it turned out strange - crumbling to pieces whenever i try to cut it ... still had some of it for dinner, with tomato butter my sister in law had given me, and vegan sucuk ... and for dessert, a slice (well, several crumbled pieces) of bread with honey.
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Post by rikita on Nov 18, 2021 21:20:07 GMT
well, good thing i have no interest in disney cruise lines - there are no vaccinations available for children under 12 here, yet ...
as for the boosters, i guess time will tell if they are necessary every six months, ever year, or not at all, in the long run ...
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Post by rikita on Nov 15, 2021 22:59:16 GMT
from what i read, it might be (but is not clear, either, i suppose) that if vaccinated, you might be similarly infectious, but not for as long a time. so, infectious only for a couple of days. no idea if that is true ...
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Post by rikita on Nov 13, 2021 21:55:40 GMT
only met one person so far that i know is going to get a booster. she works as a teacher for children in the oncological unit of a hospital. wonder if my sister in law, who is a nurse and had her vaccination more than half a year ago, is getting a booster soon, too. most other people i know had their vaccination less than half a year ago ...
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Post by rikita on Nov 13, 2021 21:52:45 GMT
In the EU, the situation is currently considered critical in 10 countries: Belgium, Poland, Netherlands, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, Greece, Hungary and Slovenia. Strange bedfellows considering how differently each of these countries has handled vaccinations and sanitary protocols. Three countries are considered to be in "moderate" alert: France, Portugal and Cyprus. this is by incidence or by how the government considers it? since germany is very high above france etc., almost the same incidence as poland, i wonder that level it is considered ...
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Post by rikita on Nov 10, 2021 22:50:44 GMT
went swimming today, so afterwards we went out for unhealthy food again (since we did all that sport, that is alright, isn't it?) - a. had currywurst and fries, and i had a cheese steak sandwich.
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Post by rikita on Nov 10, 2021 22:48:47 GMT
i got a warning on the contact tracing app twice in recent days - strangely though each time saying the contact took place on october 28th (so, 11 days ago at the time of the first warning). called the number they give there, and they said that if i have no symptoms so far, i am fine (still took a test to make sure) ... but well, what is the use of a warning that much later? btw, a colleague got a warning, too, for the same day, but she got it right the next day - as we were at the same conference that day, i guess that is where the contact took place ...
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Post by rikita on Nov 7, 2021 1:23:58 GMT
yes. we have 11 C max during daytime now, so it's too cold for outdoors pools ... otherwise, they tend to be more kid friendly ...
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