Fresh Bread...A Swim...And a Large Intestine!

Friday is an exciting day for me as soon as I wake up.  The yeast starter I've been faithfully feeding for the past week is alive and ready, and I celebrate by preparing one of my favorite loaves, buckwheat cinnamon-raisin.  The bread rises beautifully and I'd like to think I'm done with instant yeast forever.  I think the smell of fresh bread baking in the morning, especially a sweet bread like that, is enough to put anyone in a lasting good mood.  

Since I shelled out the money for a fitness card, I decide to stop being lazy and finally go to the pool.  At home, I've been trying to swim since last fall, but the inconvenient Free Swim hours prevented me from establishing any sort of routine.  Here, I don't know if the Free Swim hours are more convenient, but I certainly have more Free Time to work around them.  There are two pools to go to, each on the outskirts of the city.  It's about 3.5km (according to Google Maps) to the pool I go to, a nice ride despite the strong winds.  The pool is part of a bigger sportscomplex, presumably privately owned and in partnership with the University.  The locker room is one giant co-ed area (with some gender-marked spots), and the pool can be roughly described as the same.  Though there are no lane markings, I realize soon enough (ok, I admit, I got reprimanded by some Dutch kid) that the right side is for lap-swimmers.  Somehow, I seem to be swimming always against traffic so that I am in constant danger of running into another swimmer, but perhaps the Dutch like to break up the monotony of swimming laps with a little bit of chaos.  In any case, I do a respectable if not overly ambitious 50 laps and call it a night.  About halfway through, I remember that I'm a former competitive swimmer and that this shouldn't be difficult - and, in fact, it becomes much easier and more enjoyable after this thought.  On the ride home, which is as equally pleasant (and windy) as the way there, I realize that for all my complaints, I could ride to the pool at Busch or Douglass in just as much time.  The popularity of biking here has really changed my entire mentality on transportation - and is slowly eliminating any excuses I have to be lazy back home.  

In other news, to those of you curious about my play auditions last Sunday...I am happy to announce that I will proudly play the role of Large Intestine in our upcoming production, Blood Enemies!   I also know the people playing Small Intestine and Right Kidney - we actually all read together at the audition, so I suppose they liked our chemistry.  I have yet to obtain a copy of the entire script, but from the scene's I've read I can promise it's as absurd as it sounds.  Set inside a man's body as he is being rushed to the hospital (drunk driving accident, I think), the organs are trying to figure out what is wrong - and determine their chances for survival.  Needless to say, I am extremely excited, not just to be on stage again, but also to finally interact with some Dutch students, who are running the production end of the show.  We should start rehearsal next week - I'll keep you posted (and let you know if we survive!).