Lemon Cake and That Damn Gummy Bear Song

One of the fantastic things about Slow Travel is that we get to live a (semi-normal) life in whatever city we're calling home at the moment. Brenna mentioned, in a recent post, how our current Krakow apartment has started to feel like home. What our family does at home is cook, and this morning Eleanor and I finally got around to baking the lemon cake mix in our cupboard. We bought it several days ago and then realized we didn't have a pan. Brenna brought one back from the mall yesterday. I had to work for a while on translating the directions on the cake package, even though it included pictures of the important bits -- a mixer... three eggs... Nevertheless, I'm pretty proud of my effort. I have found that online Polish to English translators are spotty at best, and I also had to use an online virtual Polish keyboard, since my keyboard doesn't have all the cool little curls and swoops for some of the Polish letters. Here's what I finally got for step two:

"REARRANGE READY MASS FOR OILED FAT and about DIMENSION (MEASUREMENTS) DUMPED (SPILLED OUT) OK MAK PODŁUŻNEJ FOREMKI."

Of course it's obvious that this means, "Pour the dough into a greased and sprinkled with flour long baking pan." Well, it was obvious after I noticed the directions written in English posted on the side of the package.  Hey! - They were tucked in a fold!

So now, about the Gummy Bear song. When we moved into the apartment I found one of those god-awful-annoying McDonald's Happy Meal Gummy Bear song toys. Evidently the previous inhabitants left it behind. I WONDER WHY??? When I saw it, I tossed in the very back of a very high shelf -- I should have known my kids would sense its presence. Now I'm baking lemon cake for breakfast and listening to the Gummy Bear song for the 27th 28th time. It's home -- noisy, noisy home.

Comments

[Yo Lama]

That song HAS to be funnier in Polish!

[Melody]

Could it be a heretofore-undiscovered psychiatric condition that compelled me to click the play button even though I felt fairly certain (particularly with your commentary,) that there was no good reason to get that song in my head? Truly!

How glad I am to know I'm not the only one who would have gone to great lengths to translate something I had the translation for, right at my fingertips. No judgment from this direction, Bob... And I'll bet it was a happy cake...and twice as good for all the effort! (Including the effort it takes to get this song dislodged from the brain.) Cheers!

PS: Your blog is super-educational. It has never once occurred to me that there would even be such a thing as an online virtual Polish keyboard. Brilliant!

[Paul]

Mmmmmmmm. Lemon.

[Jan]

You guys blow me away. I don't have time to read all your wonderful blogs, but when I do it is truly astonishing what you are experiencing, not to mention how well you all express yourselves!!! When I am feeling tired and cannot work anymore, I often will open your latest missive and enjoy. It always refreshes me and cheers me up. I LOVE you guys!

[Lauri]

Okay, truly the kids' favorite post! LOL And I know why it was so annoying to you...you didn't have the video to go with the song while you were baking the lemon cake, right?!!!! Hey, just so you know we did the same thing on translation from Spanish when we opened a new board game here...then found the English directions a few days later. I know we should know Spanish living here anyway, but maybe we need to start traveling for the excuse to learn! : )

[Kim]

I don't know.... I'm really liking the gummy bear song. Why is it so darn hard not to click?

[claudia]

wow, you're right. That is an annoying gummy bear song

[Karen B.]

The song might not be as bad as that video! 28 times for that song is definitely not as bad as listening to the Meow, meow, meow, meow jingle for cat food sung by a 7-year-old and a 10-year-old about 40 times over the past four days while we were camping! Actually, it was probably not 40, but at times it seemed like it.