Let It Snow, Let It Snow

Monday, November 29th

After sleeping for nine hours, I woke up to a glorious sight. Almost five inches of snow outside my window! It had been snowing all night. I opened my window and got a big handful of it – I’m not ashamed to admit that I love to eat snow. It reminds me of being a kid. :)

 
On Monday morning I ventured into the city to get some snow boots and to chill at San Francisco Coffee Company since our Internet is off until we get it password protected. It continued to snow the entire time that I was out and on my way home, I ventured through the city purely for photographic purposes.

Marienplatz and the Christkindlmarkt on a snowy Monday

A child on a sled and the Frauenkirche turm in the distance

Chai tea latte and a blueberry muffin to fight the cold, snowy morning 

Temple of Diana

Sunset outside my window – Monday evening

On Monday evening the girls went on a play date with their friend so I had a few extra hours until I had to start making dinner. Mondays we eat salmon – nothing too out of the ordinary from last week. This time, however, I made noodles instead of rice and sautéed zucchini in olive oil.  It was delicious, if I do say so myself. After dinner I met up with Jessica, Tiago, and Frances at Tollwood and ventured through the markets again. I don’t know why (because I’d already eaten dinner) but I had a ginormous polish sausage from a polish stand at the back of the festival and it was delicious. But, of course, I couldn’t eat it all. It tasted like an old favorite – Costco polish dogs – but about twice as big and twice as good. I made it home to call California and have a good chat with an old friend – Christina the Candle Lady, I love you! And…. then I went to bed. Exciting, isn’t it?

Tuesday, November 30th

I woke up to the same snow all over the place – nothing new but it hadn’t disappeared overnight like snow often tends to do. The sun was out though so I took it upon myself to enjoy the day and went for a long walk through the snow in the English Gardens. I swear, these gardens are beautiful no matter what time of the year.

 
When I came home I accidentally (okay, that’s a lie…) fell asleep for about an hour. I don’t know why I was so tired but I just laid in my bed and crashed. By the time I woke up, I realized I hadn’t eaten all day so I had lunch and watched more Desperate Housewives. And then when the girls came home, I had to help the Frau prepare for a dinner party she was throwing that evening. I set the girls down in front of cartoons and cut carrots and cucumbers and blah blah blah and then made the girls mini pizzas for dinner. They did their homework (which is really helpful for me, I’m getting good at first grade German!) and then we went upstairs so the Frau could get the kitchen ready for her party. I painted their fingernails – Barbie pink for Vee and teal for Eenie, Christmas red for me. Then we read about five books and took our sweet time. By the time we finished, both of the girls had droopy eyelids and they were asleep a half an hour later when I checked on them. And while the Frau and her friends watched Sex and the City 2 downstairs, I stayed in for “babysitting” purposes and eventually went to bed.

Wednesday, December 1st

Welcome to December. It’s amazing how fast time goes by. On the 15th, I’ll have been in Munich for six months. Crazy! It’s hard to believe that it’s halfway over. This part went by so fast – it’s probably not going to slow down now. Hopefully I can enjoy every minute of it!

Wednesday opened with the start of our advent calendars. The Frau bought all three of us calendars and this morning was our first day, our first piece of chocolate. The girls had their breakfast and went off to school and I did my laundry and got ready to meet Eric in the city. I needed to get my train ticket, phone credit, and a hat. Which took me through four different stores and poor Eric, dragging along behind me. He’s good company, that boy! Around 12 he ran off to go to his classes and I wandered back through the stores to settle on a hat that I wanted to buy. It started snowing and didn’t stop for the rest of the day.

The rest of the day was pretty unenventful. I went out to dinner with Helen at Pizza Hut and then we ventured to the youth hostels for a few beers and that always turns into an adventure. Played pool with an Irish and a Brit and stayed out way too late.

Night shot

Thursday, December 2nd

I spent most of the day inside to compensate for my late night. And also because the snow sucks and it’s such an effort to go out in it. I did my usual au pair duties (which isn’t much, to be honest) and somewhere around 2 pm I laid down for a nap and was woken up three hours later by the Frau and was seriously confused. She wanted to know if I wanted to help the girls make a snow man (it was dark so, no) but I honestly thought it was the next morning and she must have thought I was crazy with the looks I was giving her. I was initially confused as to why she wanted to know if I wanted to make a snow man at 5 in the morning. Of course, I figured it out eventually but the level of my disorientation was a bit alarming. I wonder how long I would have slept if she hadn’t woken me up!

On Thursday night I went out with the girls for drinks at the youth hostels and we ran into some pretty interesting travelers and met up with one of our friends from the night before. It’s not necessary for me to go into detail on the adventures of the night – let’s just say that, at some point, I managed to get a babysitting job while I was drunk from an English guy who has a young wife and a baby and I met a pink-haired Israelian girl (who may or may not be a lesbian) and who bought me a bunch of drinks at Euros. Go me!

Friday, December 3rd

Another lazy day. I’m getting really good at these. In the end, we’ll see just how much winter weight I put on. I slept for most of the morning after I did my au pair morning. Then I watched more Desperate Housewives, cleaned my room (boring), and just relaxed. I didn’t have to work until nearly 6:30 pm so I spent most of the afternoon video chatting with a dear friend who is currently in the Philippines (seven hours ahead!) and then made dinner for the kids, fishsticks and veggies. Yum?

In the evening I met up with the usual gang at Wirthaus zur Brez’n on Leopoldstrasse and had some delicious German food and good beer. Then we ventured to Peaches for another Super Zombie and a few beers and then I turned in early, sometime around 11:30ish and then fell asleep watching DH. My life is really exciting sometimes, isn’t it? Haha.