pants under your pants

Well how about this: I've got a B-Permit. It lets you stay in the country. My teacher thinks it's a little silly for me to be so excited about receiving it, but after being reprimanded in person by Ms. You Do Not Care About The Rules (I know, it was a difficult moment), I spent some long minutes (maybe 25? 20?) considering, with a darkness in my soul, what I would do if they kicked me out of the country. Where would I go? Shame would prevent me from returning to the Bay Area right away. Would I go live with my mom? What would I do in Austin? Get a job at a food cart? Sell hush puppies in a paper cone? I envisioned deep mortification extending into the bleary, unknown future.
And then they called my number, and a very nice fellow told me that Ms.YDNCATR had actually granted me a B-Permit, and that everything was in order. Basically I'm allowed to stay in the country for a year, then in order to renew it all I have to do is have my school fill out a form and send it in. Maybe he found my earnest concern amusing. I would have, certainly.

the illustrious.

Sometimes it seems like all I do is run around on various errands, then come home and take obscenely long naps. Yesterday's was 2 hours. Good lord, I'm like an old person. (Is this getting boring yet? Yes? I'm sorry.)

Here's an interesting tidbit for you foodies out there. Switzerland does not sell soup in cans. At all. Instead, they have these little packets:

I went to get soup because my roommate has been sick the past couple days, and I thought she might like something warm. I bought these, but thought: there must be something better than this. No split peas were to be found (Céline hadn't even heard of them: "You mean they are peas, but in half?"), but I did come across a can of lentils, and in less than 30 minutes had cooked up a tasty little soup, with onion, carrots, and potatoes. I tried taking pictures of it but you know those things don't photograph well. Mushy and brown.

Here's a picture of some sunlight on my wall from yesterday. (Just for you, Mom.) The snow didn't last long; not long after those pictures were taken, it had stopped falling from the sky, and had begun melting. Within an hour or so the sun was out, and while I wouldn't call it warm, it definitely wasn't as cold.

I'm even better prepared for the weather since I've started using Maggie's trick of wearing pants under your pants. What a lifesaver.