Make Amends With Your Face!

I've been using the "Oil Cleansing Method" for a couple weeks now. And my face has never been happier with me!


It's a lot easier than it sounds, but the first step to "OCM" (as the internet calls it) is getting over the idea of putting oil on your face. Now, do this with me: put your oil removing wipes and oil-free makeup remover in a cupboard where you cannot see them and think really hard about science.

Yes, Science.

Your face is covered with skin. Skin is, just like your stomach or your brain, an organ. And how it keeps doing what it needs to do (keep the bad stuff out, keep the good stuff in, and look pretty while doing it) is by being well hydrated (hey, that sounds a lot like me)! And hydration for skin = oil.

Oily =/= dirty.

There are 5 really easy steps to replacing the dirty, used oil of the day with clean oil to keep your face healthy and hydrated!

1. Prep. Get your hair up out of your face, find a clean washcloth and the oils of your choice.
• Don't wash your face, or even take your makeup off! The oil will take care of that for you.
2. Mix. Mix the oils of your choice in the palm of your hand to warm them up.
• I will give you a list of very excellent websites very soon that will help you decide what proportions and oil types are for you, based on what kind of skin you have. That's part of the greatness—this process is highly personalized.
• I personally use a 'very little' amount of castor oil, for nitty gritty cleaning, and 'more' extra virgin olive oil for making my face happy. These are the two most common oils.
3. Massage. Massage your oil mix into your face, using happy, relaxing, circular motions.
• Don't be harsh or mean! The whole point of this process is that I am beginning the long road to forgiveness for all the nonsense I've put my face through.
• I bet you think putting oil on your face will feel really gross—just try it, and prove yourself wrong! It feels like it's supposed to be there, because it is.
4. Steam. Get your washcloth really hot, ring it out really well, hold it to your face, and relax.
• This is the part where you can tell if the blogger is an existentialist or not, but there's truth here. Both relaxation and heat are really good at getting pores to open up, and that's when all the bad stuff can get out.
• I let the washcloth sit under running hot water while I'm massaging so it gets really hot, then I hold it against my forehead and closed eyes until it cools. Then I get it hot again, and hold against my chin and lower half of my face until it cools. I do it as many times as I want because it feels so nice!
• Once you're done steaming, gently wipe extra oil from your face. Don't forget the crevices if your nose, your eyelids, underneath your chin, etc. 
5. Moisturize. Remove the oil from your face and, while it's still damp, put a tiny bit back.
• Depending on your mix choices, and whether you have naturally dry skin, and whether your skin has adjusted yet, you may want to do this one extra thing.
• While your face is still damp from the steaming, put one or two small drops of extra virgin olive oil (the happy one, remember) onto your clean hands, and rub that into your face. That'll keep that tight, dry feeling at bay.

I do this every night, but I'm 19. Many bloggers only do this every other night, depending on their faces, and how much makeup they wear, and a bunch of other factors. The point is, you don't have to do anything else for your face, and you don't have to do it morning and night. 

Lots of people say they'd try this, but they just don't have the time. It can take 30 minutes, but it doesn't have to. It takes me maybe 10 minutes at night and zero time in the mornings. I will do anything to wake up 10 minutes later, wouldn't you?

If you're an avid oil-stripper, your face may be producing extra oils to keep up with you, and when you switch to OCM, your face will take a few days to notice. A lot of people experience an adjustment period. If you decide to try this, you must do it for a month before passing judgment, because in a month, your face will have time to go through its whole process.

If you're not intrigued yet, my 16-year-old sister tried this last night. This morning I got this text:

"My face feels happy."

There you have it. Make your face happy, too.


~ Lauren Margaret


P.S. 
As promised, a list of very excellent websites:

• The Oil Cleansing Method
• Nitty Gritty on the Oil Cleansing Method by Crunchy Betty (face genius)
• OCM—The Oil Cleansing Method (great source for choosing your oils)

"German"

About five minutes ago I figured out why Germans are called Germans in English, thanks to a fun little game called MooT. 

In German, the people are called Deutsche and the country, logically, is called Deutschland, land of the Germans. So where do we get off calling them Germans?

German derives from Latin germanus, meaning "closely related". Also the source of the word germane, meaning "that which is relevant to the current subject." Another similar Latin word is the proper noun Germanus, which is where the Romans got off calling those barbarians to the north Germans, because, as a tribe, they were very closely related.

Cheers.

It's Quite a Lovely Place, I'll Tell You That.

"I prefer painting peoples' eyes to cathedrals, for there is something in the eyes that is not in the cathedral." - Vincent van Gogh

Berliner Dom, Berlin 

But I prefer painting people's eyes to cathedrals, for there is something in the eyes that is not in the cathedral, however solemn and imposing the latter may be - a human soul, be it that of a poor beggar or of a streetwalker, is more interesting to me.

Steven. the only photo I have of someone just looking. I should get more.

Medieval Art - Totentanz

Original Totentanz

Recreation of what it may have looked like

The Totentanz (dance of the dead) was painted over 22 meters of wall inside the Marienkirche circa 1484. In the Dance (the name means Dance of the Dead), the dead and the living alternate.
The figures represent positions in life, such as King, Bishop, peasant, baker, et cetera, and not individuals. This is because God didn't create us to be individuals, but rather He sent us to Earth to play certain roles in His plan.
No matter a man's position in life, we all die.

Classicism

Art and Architecture with Dr. McFarland is this: Look at the building/painting. What era is it from? What was important to people in this time? What was the artist trying to say? Is the artist important, or the patron? Where did its ideas come from? and so forth. I've been doing all right, although sometimes I bemoan my long lost ability to look at a building and think, "PRETTY!". Now all I can think is, "Wow, they really botched the neo-classic in this. It looks much more historicist." and other such boring things. Which makes me sound too big for my britches.

First we have the Pergamon, a greek temple. Its ruins were found, dug up by Turkish workers, then shipped to this museum in Berlin built especially to hold it - the Pergamon Museum. See, you're standing in the middle looking at all the outside walls. They're facing in instead of out. 

Greek architecture was all about human proportions. They believed man to be the greatest creation and everything, from their government to their gods to their buildings, reflects that. The fresco on this building shows all the gods in a great battle against giants. 

For all Greece's greatness, they never got past post and lentil columns, technologically. What they did do is figure out how to curve columns out to make them look straight from a distance.

So this is the original Market Gate from Rome. It was excavated and moved to this museum in Berlin. Rome really admired Greek columns, and worked them into their architecture a lot. What they added was the arch that could support weight by using a center keystone.

Then Rome conquered Europe, and brought its technology with it. This medieval church in Eisenach shows 'romanesque' arches in the windows, for example.

This is Wartburg Castle, where Luther translated the New Testament while being hidden by the Prince Elector of Thuringia. The huge section on the left is original romanesque, while the other parts are later additions.

These Wartburg arches are exactly the same proportions as the ones in the Market Gate.

This column supporting the massive ceiling beams is completely original - from the 1100's.

The romanesque building style reigned throughout the Dark Ages, when hardly any technological advancement in any field was made.


Up next: Gothic.

the Marienkirche shows the progression from
romanesque to gothic from top to bottom

Bacon Economy

Project No Heat Curls: A Success!

Taking it out... (that's a bobby pin in my mouth)

Right after I took the headband out:

After I combed it out a little bit (I combed it around my hand to keep the curls)

Four hours later, still going strong! (and it's pretty windy outside. not very humid, though.)

Thanks for humoring me during this little experiment of mine. Hopefully you'll be reading something educational from me soon!

Well, this part lasted a whole day...

I decided to wear it up for a couple reasons.
1) Surprisingly, it looked good. And went well with my outfit. :)
2) I thought it might rain, and that would stop the curls cold.
3) My hair was still damp from being rolled up all night, and from what I read it wouldn't work if you took it out wet. Which is tricky, because it has to be wet when you put it up. Damp, at least.

Denglisch Moment.

Just now, I was sitting in the kitchen, alone, eating a piece of Quarkstrudel my host had left out. Yum.
(google it. i forgot to take a picture!)
About 30 seconds after the washing machine turned off, she walked into the kitchen. I thought, "Wow, that was good timing!" and then realized to my dismay that I had no clue how to say that in German. Luckily, my dictionary was already in the kitchen from when I used it yesterday to make sure the tea I wanted to try was all right, so I grabbed it and 'hit after' (nachschlag, looked up) time. This is what I found.

time [taɪm] n Zeit m; ... ... ... you -d that well das hast du gut getimt; ... ... ....

So I said to my host (I'm a quick nachschlager), das hast du gut getimmt! (like, gətɪmt or Tim like the name).
And she just looked at me like, What?

So I started babble-explaining. Anyone who's lived in a foreign country knows what I mean.
"You know, you came in at the same time that the washer stopped and I don't know how to say that you came in at a good time." (in german, of course. I'm no slacker.)
So she took my dictionary from me, and after a minute, started laughing.
"Ge-time-t! haha. getimmt sagt kein Mensch." (no one says it that way)

Let me wrap up what's happened so far. I read, with my german phonetics training, the entry from the dictionary. She corrected me because you actually say it exactly like the English word. That, my friends, is what the Germans call Denglisch. A completely English word, plus German grammar, equals a German word.

This is real, people. It's in the dictionary.

So now you know how to tell someone they had good timing in German—and don't forget to say it in a heavy American accent, so they'll actually understand you!

I dunno if this is going to work...

P.S. If you're having RSS feed trouble, the link changed to http://feeds.feedburner.com/ACultureOfOne. Let me know if you have any questions (or would like to know what an RSS feed is)

A Collection of Film

The best part of the Berlin Zoo was how active all the animals were! Here are some clips from my favorites.

Background music: Russian Field by Skazka

This video is a smattering of videos I've taken since I arrived, in no particular order.

And last but definitely not least, here's a guided tour of the Mietskaserne I now live in. "Mietskaserne" means rented barracks, and is a (used to be) negative term for the kind of apartment buildings all over Berlin. During the population boom during the industrial era, in the worst cases 2,000 people could be living in a building similar to mine. My building in particular doesn't have a history like that. In fact, because it's so close to Tempelhof, it was often occupied by air force officers.

as you may have noticed, I'm also experimenting with various internet video platforms.

My Head May or May Not Explode

Berlin has been an absolute whirlwind. This has only just now occured to me, as I sit here in my room, flipping through the 966 photos and over 30 videos I’ve taken in the past… how long have I been here?

Exactly two weeks.                It feels like years.                 And years.

Typical day breakdown:

9:30 — meet at the Neue Wache

(the new guardhouse, built by Carl Friedrich Schinkel)

Neue Wache on Unter den Linden: neo-classical

10:00-11:30 — Observe and analyse history through art and architecture

(in two weeks we’ve gone from antiquity through neo-classical to romantic/realist/impressionist etc. movements of the 1800s)

13:15-17:45 — Classes at the Goethe Institut  [ˈgøːtə ɪnstiˈtuːt]

(45 minute break altogether)

19:00 — Either Home Evening, Institute (at church), group dinners, buying groceries, or going home and doing the reading for mornings, or homework for Goethe

Fridays we have the mornings ‘off’, but there’s always some paid for (read: tuition) activity, and I’d like my money’s worth.

The first weekend, we spend Saturday in Potsdam appreciating the grandeur that is Frederick the Great’s roccoco.

(I despise roccoco.)

The second weekend (this one), we spent Friday evening until late Sunday in Dresden. I may do another post on Dresden very soon, because it is lovely.

Dresden Opera and Museum

Some of you may have seen on Facebook that I accidentally slept for twenty hours last Sunday—is anyone surprised, now that you know what I’ve been up to all month?

I feel like this a lot. (oh yeah, there's a zoo.)

A Happy Family

This is my (old) host family! I never got them to sit down for a picture when I lived there, so I said they absolutely had to this time. Everyone grew up so much! Anna-Lena is married (her husband is in this picture) and has a baby! And all my brothers are so much bigger! They were really excited to see me, which was nice because I could barely get them to hug me when I left. haha. I guess they didn't realize how awesome I am until I left.

Relapse Five: I'm back!!

Oh hey, Bonn. It's just me, back again. I look different, but so do you! The Gummibär store moved from the big one right by the Hole to back by the Musik shop, for example. At least it still exists. I mean, if Bonn quits eating gummibears, Haribo's in trouble. Just sayin'.
I've changed more, though. Especially if you count from when I was first here, back in fall of 2008. Three years! I was 16 years old, and felt ancient. Now I'm 19 and feel young. But I also have Hindsight on my side, and guess what. I was younger when I was 16. This time I'll do much better. I've also lost quite a bit of weight, and have come better prepared for the all-over-the-place weather of Germany. Plus I have fancy, non-white shoes (thanks mom!). So if I don't open my mouth, I blend right in. I hope, anyway.
I could probably muster a more in-depth comparison, but... not right now. Sorry, those who read for educational content! :)

The flight from Chicago to Frankfurt was only hypothetically up and down. Up, because the couple I sat by were super nice, friendly, and polite. Not only did they happily move even though there were both sleeping to let me out, the man offered his hand to help me stand. And we survived the line to customs (so long!) together. Down because I had the worst time sleeping. Up because I got to see Ireland and England from the air - the clouds parted just in time! It was lovely. Maybe that's where I'll head next.

Here's a picture of all my stuff (sans actual suitcase) on the trainride to Bonn.

This one's of the street my hostel is on.

This is the same street, from my dorm room.

And here's my dorm, from my bunk! (I think I'm moving to a bottom one tonight, but I haven't decided yet.)

Here's good old Bonn! This is the Beethoven statue - you probably don't remember from that one music class, that he was born right here in Bonn.

And this is Bonn's Altes Rathaus (old city hall) ... and its American neighbor :/)

I'm going to enjoy these free days in Bonn to their absolute fullest, because once Berlin hits, I'll have homework, hosting, fraternizing, and researching to shuffle. Phew!

Liebe Grüße,

Lauren Margaret

(Anya shoutout!)

Homeostasis Reached. Next Stop, ... ?

My recent forced absence from Facebook (I deactivated my account due to addiction:/) has led to talking-to-the-internet withdrawals. I like having things to say, and I like saying them in a place where people can see them. I mean, I keep a journal. But this is different. That's just way too much like talking to myself and we already know how close to insane I am!

So, I have revisited my blog. Hello blog, nice to see you. 

Well, it's the second semester of college and I am both technically and emotionally no longer a freshman.
My floormates were gathered in the floor lounge to discuss who was moving out and which beds were going to be empty at the start of the new semester. The list of people moving out included me, for which my roommates (and even I, a little) were very sad. When it was mentioned that we would probably be getting some new students i.e. people who waited a semester or graduated high school early, one girl exclaimed, "Wait - we're getting new freshmen? Ugh!" 
But we are all still freshmen. So what's the difference? The difference is, I don't think I've ever grown up so quickly as I did last semester, Germany excluded. The first semester of college will kick your trash if you don't kick it back and nothing can make you stronger, if you let it. Or a freshman can just ride the current until finals week—and then they can grow up REALLY fast, if you know what I mean.
So even though I'm in my first year, I no longer feel like a freshman. I've started my major, I've moved off campus and have my own kitchen, and I haven't needed a map to find anything in ages. I'm an asset to any class I'm in, and I write pretty dang good papers. Usually. 
Another way that I'm no longer a freshman is that, last semester I took a test to earn back-credits of German. The test is mostly for return missionaries to give them credit for their language learned abroad. I wasn't gone for 2 years and I had no crash-course MTC or handbook, but I still wrestled 12 credits of A and 4 credits of A- out if that little test. Hah! Anyway, now the registrar says I'm a sophomore. So that's legit.

I love my major. 

I really do. This semester I have two classes that are related to linguistics, Intro to Linguistics and Phonetics of German. And I love what I'm learning in both of these classes. We get to delve deeply into what makes up a word, and do fun things like draw syntax trees and label morphological units. I have a scientific mind and love to look at things logically, but I really hate math. I really do. There's nothing I can do to make it make more sense to me. Linguistics, on the other hand, is definitely a science, but instead of numbers I get to play with sounds and spelling and sentences.

Like today for example, we talked about ambiguous sentences. 

"One morning, I shot an elephant in my pajamas. I don't know where he got them."

This is a joke based off an ambiguity.  The mind groups words together in a way that is subconscious and natural, at least for a native speaker. But is the prepositional phrase [in my pajamas] modifying [an elephant] or saying something about the verb, in that the subject was the one wearing the pajamas? Logic tells us that the subject was the wearer, as we all know elephants don't wear pajamas. 

As I don't know of any other linguists who read my blog, I probably lost you all a whole paragraph ago. Suffice it to say that I love my major. 

Also, I've decided to take one introductory language class a semester until I graduate. Or more.

So far the languages on my To Do list are:

• Malay
• Persian
• Navajo
• Turkish
• Thai
• Swedish
• Italian

I know. I'm nuts. But that's what we linguists do, and anyway they say the second language is the hardest and I've already got three! So there it is. 

This morning I woke up to snow and donned a coat that was too thin to wear in November, when it was 20º warmer. It was perfectly sufficient and I was quite warm by the time I got to class (although the hill's probably to blame for that). 

I guess my point is, we humans may like our homeostasis but part of that means that we can adjust to anything. I really like it here and I know I'm doing the right thing with my life.

I'm not saying I don't still want to move to New York, or Germany, or Turkey, or Jerusalem. 

*mischievous grin*

P.S. I'm so excited for Beth to come soon! We're going to have a marvelous rampaging-good time.


P.P.S. PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS MY 50th POST. WIN.