Jaap, Cucumber-In-A-Bag, And Spa Night

Tonight, we are celebrating the end of our Experimental Developmental Psychopathology lectures with Jaap van der Meere, Elizabeth's MASH hubby. (If you haven't heard of MASH, read this - we volunteer to do the game for any of you!) The class was an interesting change from our UNCA courses, because it had a rather narrow focus; Jaap mainly discussed the research into ADHD he was currently working on. And, even though the lectures are over, we still have to write a final "manuscript." Jaap (this is pronounced "yahhp") has clarified, however, that the initial requirements of "8 pages due in 4 weeks" really could be 6 or 10 pages, due in 2 or 7 weeks. Direct quote: "I will not be sitting at home in Holland with a stopwatch and calendar at my computer, waiting for your manuscript! If it takes you a little extra time, ohhkay. Now, not six months, but you get the idea."

If you call us on Skype, we will gladly do impressions of Jaap for you, because his character cannot completely come through in text. Upon further research, a.k.a. da Goooogle, we have discovered that in addition to being a cognitive psychology researcher, Jaap is a jazz saxophonist. You can watch and hear him playing on YouTube here. Baller.*

After Experimental Developmental Psychopathology class let out, we went to lunch, then another class, then we went to the Prisma, our local Wal-Mart equivalent. We have obviously been Wal-Mart deprived, because we had wayyy too much fun in the store, from playing with dragonfruit to pushing the cart sideways (they have swivel wheels on the front and back AND FISHTAIL LIKE CRAZY). Besides terrorizing the general store population and buying groceries, we also stumbled upon some facial masks and decided that we would have Spa Night. Elizabeth also bought a cucumber for both our eyes and eating. Interestingly, cucumbers here come in plastic airtight packages. Cucumber-in-a-bag. Whole fish come like this too sometimes. Or, alternatively, you can choose your own fish and put it in your own clear plastic bag, which you then swing on top of all your groceries, across your toddler's lap, or over your shoulder. We are not Finnish enough to attempt this yet (actually Jaime doesn't really want to eat the fish and Elizabeth doesn't really want to cook it).

So after dinner, we busted out our relaxing music, chopped our cucumber, and opened our individual face mask packets - which turned out to contain actual masks. Not goo, or cream, but a baby-wipe-slash-towelette mask. We are now relaxed and rejuvenated.

      

*Baller:
(noun)
1. One who exhibits a consistent proficency at-, or exuberant love for the game of basketball.
2. One whose person has been fully and successfully established in numerous social circles
3. One whose status in society has been earned by one's possession of "game" (that is, proficiency at the game of life)
(adjective)
1. Exhibiting those qualitites of a baller; not limited to the description of a person, 'baller' may be used to describe any place, thing or situation.