Wednesday, February 17

Myriam and Sarah were kind enough to invite Matt and me to a small party they were planning. Where were they were planning to hold it? At our apartment, of course.

The party was set for 8:00 on Wednesday night. At 7:00, I arrived home with plans to clean up the place a bit before people arrived. To build up some energy for the cleanup operation, however, I first stretched out on my bed for a short rest. Unfortunately, my rest was cut short by a mad pounding at the window. A glance at my watch told me it was already 8:10. The place was still a mess. After unlocking the door and letting in Alena, I rushed around trying to clean up the place last minute. The others arrived a few minutes later.

Having slept too long, I still needed to walk over to the Goethe Institut to pick up my laundry. So I put on my coat and left. When I returned with my laundry, everyone was sitting around our little table playing "spoons." I sat down and joined in.

They had to teach me the rules, which kept changing whenever Jason felt the urge to give us "more information" about the rules. In short: everyone is dealt four cards. The dealer repeatedly and quickly picks up cards from the deck and discards them to the right. The next player picks up discarded cards from the left and discards cards to the right. The discarded cards keep going around the table, until someone is able to collect four of a kind. The first person to get four of a kind grabs a spoon. Then everyone else tries to grab a spoon. Because there is one less spoon on the table than people around the table, one person doesn't get one. This spoonless loser has to drink a shot of vodka.