Saint Nicholas and His Book of Sins, Moulin Rouge and an Elephant Love Medley, Karaoke Nights, Munich’s Incessant Snowfall, and Boring Student Loan Crap

Monday, December 6th

Today is a holiday here in Germany. Happy St. Nicholas day! Apparently, St. Nicholas is the patron saint of children. I never knew that! On the eve of December 6th, he goes around to all of the houses with a book of sins and if the kids have been good, he leaves them goodies – if they’ve been bad, they get twigs. But no one really leaves twigs because that would just be mean. Instead, kids (and au pairs!) all over Germany wake up to a plate (or boot) full of candy, nuts, oranges, and other goodies. Which was not so good for me because I heard the girls awake and downstairs at 6:35 am – ten minutes before I was even supposed to be down the and almost a half an hour before they usually wake up. But I guess it was all okay because I got some goodies myself – they were on the stairs when I came home from my trip to Chiemsee.

Where’s a nutcracker when you need one?

Monday was an altogether unproductive day. But what else is new? It rained all day and let’s face it, nobody wants to go out in that. Especially when there’s still snow outside which has most likely turned into ice and that’s not a good combination. I did finish season 5 of Desperate Housewives though. Too bad I already know who Mike marries. I organized and cleaned my room – put my summer clothes into my suitcase and stashed it away. Washed my bras. Haha. Organized my desk and found all of my unwritten postcards that still need to be sent out into the world.I have a postcard from Starnberger See that I still haven’t sent out and I went there in June. Geez! I didn’t really have much on my agenda today, otherwise.

The girls returned around 4 and I helped with their homework – math and reading. I made dinner around 6 – ravioli with salmon and sautéed zucchini. After dinner I got them ready for bed which is always an orchestrated event. They don’t go down quietly and they always seem to be at their silliest right after they’re in their beds. I read them some Christmas books and tried to get them to settle down but Vee just kept trying to ask me question in German and laughing when I couldn’t answer them. Silly girls. I really need to get into a language course.

After the girls were down, I settled in for the night with Moulin Rouge (which only reminded me of the time that Harry and I busted out the entire Elephant Love Medley at the Seehaus biergarden back in September and embarrassed all of our friends).

Moulin Rouge - Elephant Love Medley - MyVideo

Tuesday, December 7th

I should have written it down earlier because now I can’t remember what I did on Tuesday. Obviously nothing important. What I do know is that I made calls to all of my student loan lenders and got the applications for my deferments. Economic hardship for the win!

In the evening I ventured out to Shamrocks to meet my friends for karaoke. Which is always a good time. I chose not to drink that night and bought a Coke instead but in the end, I think Nathan felt bad for me that I was surrounded by ridiculously loud and obnoxious drunk people so he bought me a beer. Cheers, mate!

Benji, Laura, Bria, Helen, Catherine, and Fio

Catherine and I singing “Naive” by The Kooks  

Wednesday, December 8th

Lauren came by in the morning to visit me, I can’t remember what for, I think just to hang out, and she stayed for an hour or so. We gossiped and gabbed and then she left again and I ventured out into the city to see Jess. It was strangely warm and so most of the snow melted and had pretty much all the way disappeared by late afternoon. Jess and I worked on our loan deferments together at the coffee shop and then I headed home to ready myself for the evening. The girls were at their grandparents for most of Wednesday evening so I didn’t have to work and was able to go out early with some friends. We started at Marienplatz and worked our way down Leopoldstrasse until we ended up at Peaches where we had a Super Zombie and stole some free popcorn for the UBahn ride to our favorite hostel bars. I stayed up waaaaaaay past my bedtime but had a good time playing pool with friends and drinking delicious German brew.

Me, Jess, and Wing and our Super Zombie

Thursday, December 9th

The snow came back overnight and it was cold outside but the sun was out for most of the morning. By the time I headed to the girls school to pick them up for their recorder lessons, it was freezing outside. I had to walk most of the way to get to the school and then we had to walk to the building where they have their lessons. And while one twin did her lesson, the other came with me. Vee didn’t want to go sit in a warm cafe so we stayed outside and took pictures of the snow. Crazy kid. We were frozen! On our way back to switch twins, we came across a little Chihuahua mix dog who was lost and was shivering cold and frozen. He had a doggie sweater on but my heart broke for the poor little guy. He wouldn’t come to me so I couldn't’ do anything for him but I just wanted to hug him and make him warm again. I hope he found his mama!

Schneekind!

Let it snow…

The  snow outside the house

I had to babysit the girls that night and right before their mom left for the art gallery she was going to, the poor kids really did me in. They were super, extra bratty and weren’t listening to me at all. They were taking their baths but Eenie had the shower and Vee had the tub. Vee wanted the shower but I told her that she didn’t need to use both of them and that she could have the shower the next time. Of course, she doesn’t like to hear the word no so she started whining at Eenie to hurry up and finish so they could ‘switch.’ I told her to stop but she kept doing it. I kept telling her to stop and so then she started crying for her mom. Who wasn’t responding because she was the shower somewhere else in the house. Eventually Vee started screaming and yelling for her mom and I told her to knock it off about ten times before she just started hysterically crying. I told both of them that they needed to get out of the shower/tub but neither of them would listen to me. Vee just cried and screamed for her mom and Eenie just told me, “No. I do it with mommy.” So I just let the water out of Vee’s bath and asked her to get one more time but she stayed in and cried until her mom was finally able to respond. Then her mom yelled right back at her and the whole ordeal sounded extremely more dramatic in German. It was ridiculous. Then they were both crying as they got dressed and dried their hair. These children are insufferable sometimes. Jeez. Fortunately, it gave them a bit of a head start on bedtime because they wore themselves out. They were asleep by 7:15 and personally, I think these kids oversleep. They get about 12 hours of sleep every night. I really wish I’d retained anything that I learned in my child development classes. Ha.

Friday, December 10th

Another slow day, which is fine with me seeing as a blizzard is pretty much on its way through Munich. Snow, snow, snow. It’s ridiculous. I’m over it already. Sigh. I spent the morning catching up on blogs, cleaning, and my student loan deferment applications. I just have to write up a letter of my economic hardship status and then send them off (hopefully by fax) and I will be done! Loan payments deferred. Hopefully. The whole process has been kind of annoying. Necessary, of course, but still annoying. I have three different loan companies to answer to so I had to do the same thing three different ways. One of the companies allowed me to fax the information over but for the other two, I needed to send them by mail. I had to make copies of my au pair contract and write a letter describing my work load, contract hours, and income source and hope that they believe all of this, because, to be honest, saying that I work for a private employer and that I get paid cash in hand sounds kind of shady. So, cross your fingers and wish me luck! And because my life is so interesting… I took a picture of even the most minute detail.

Taking care of business!

I took all of this business to the post office near Munchner Freiheit and of course, something had to be wrong with it. German post is so weird. The envelopes that you use have to be a certain size or your letters cost 6 EUR or more to send. I wanted to send my applications in straight, simple letter sized envelopes (as pictured) but I didn’t want to spend 12 EUR to do that. So I had to go to the retail section, pick out envelopes that are the right size – about the size of a greeting card – and open the package, fold my applications into a fat, bunch of ugliness – stuff them into the tiny little envelopes and then bring them to the postal worker for send off. Between the two letters and the package of envelopes, I paid 7 EUR. Which is still saving me 5 EUR for something else later on. Hopefully ACS and the Department of Education don’t mind the bad packaging. I’ll blame it on the Germans this time.

Back at home, I made chocolate chip cookies for the girls and waited for them to come home from their Christmas music performance. I had wanted to go but didn’t come back from the post office in time. The rest of the evening was spent with the kids – the Frau went out again that evening. Eenie, Vee, and I watched Peter Pan and ate cookies and I put them to bed just before nine. My Friday night was spent perusing Facebook, stalking blogs, and reading. I am, essentially, the most interesting person on the face of the Earth. Officially. ;)

Thanksgivingless November, Munich’s “American” Mall, Chic European Style, A Fancy Grand House Tour, and a Long Overdue Lazy Weekend

November is one of my favorite months. Not just because of my birthday but because something good always happens in November. Usually it’s just Thanksgiving which is my favorite holiday but since I don’t get to have Thanksgiving this year, I hoped for good things in other places. Like the girls autumn break from grundeschule and a subsequent break for me, too. My host family decided to take advantage of the vacation and went away for two weekends in a row with just a day at home in between. This allowed me the chance to have a bit of a vacation of my own; sleeping in, lazing about, doing nothing and everything all at once. After Halloween weekend, the family returned on Tuesday afternoon for a day at home before they left again for their condo in Kitzbühel, Austria.

We spent their day at home together and the girls and I started the day off right with a baking project. I attempted to make the homemade Oreos again and this time, they were even better than the first batch. I had two six year old minions helping me, who mixed and kneaded the dough for me which is, to be honest, the most time consuming part of the whole recipe. After that they didn’t really do much else. I set them in the oven, I labored over the difficult task of flipping the cookies over halfway through (The tinfoil kept getting stuck to the cookies. It was a mess!), and I put the creme filling in between the cookies once they were done baking. And then we ate them! They were delicious, I’ll say that much. Soft and gooey and sugary deliciousness. That is a huge difference between America and everywhere else in the world. We love our sugar. Eenie didn’t even want to finish licking the crème filling off of the spoon – she said it was too sugary!

After baking, the four of us went to the mall at Olympia Einkaufzentrum to get the girls some new clothes for winter. I’d never been to the OEZ mall yet so I was actually looking forward to it. I thought that it would be completely different from an American mall but it’s exactly the same! Shops side by side, a food court, tables and chairs in the the middle, people everywhere. I don’t know what I was expecting but it was basically identical to the states, only not as big and elaborate as some of the malls can be.

We started off at ZARA and began our search for new pants for the twins. It is amazing how stylish and chic the style is here in Europe, even for the kids. I felt so out of place in my jeans and t-shirt, rocking a fleece jacket, and my Uggs. All of the displays for kids clothing were so European chic – flowery scarves, skinny jeans, pea coats in all colors, sweater dresses, ankle boots, etc, etc. While the twins were trying on courderoy, I found myself browsing through the baby clothes, coveting sweet little pinafore dresses and adorable baby pea coats for my 5-month-old niece, Madisyn. I wanted to send a little European flare to my little sweetie back in Montana. I didn’t end up buying anything but trust me, the desire was strong!

How cute is this outfit?!
Madisyn would be smashing!

Anyway, it’s safe to say that I am in love with kids clothes in Europe – so much so that I might even consider coming all the way over here someday when I’m a mom, just to buy all this super cute stuff! After ZARA we wandered in H&M which was, as usual, a mad house, but we found some super cute sweatshirts and pants for the girls amidst all of the equally as cute and fashionable clothes. I was officially jealous of their new clothes.

After the mall the Frau took us to their “new” house so that I could get a tour. They’re moving next fall into a house down the street where the girls’ father grew up. His parents lived there for some time and now it’s empty and they’re remodeling it so they can move into the house next fall. It’s MASSIVE. It was built in 1890 and is absolutely gorgeous. it’s got 4 floors and has wood floors and brick walls and way too many rooms. There is an entire separate apartment on the very top floor and the room which they’ve designated for their future au pair is just below the apartment, kind of in between the third and fourth floor. The house has a massive front and back yard and the whole property is surrounded by an extra tall brick wall. It’s absolutely gorgeous and I’m jealous that I don’t get to live there. There is a lot of work to be done until it’s finished – walls to be taken out, rooms to remodel – but it’s going to be beautiful when it’s done. Hopefully I’ll be able to come back and visit them in the coming years and see it in its finished state!

The family left again early Thursday afternoon and so I had the day to myself. I originally had plans to go out with a friend that night but he canceled due to seasonal ills so I decided to take the day for myself instead. I went grocery shopping and then restocked my bathroom toiletries with new lotions and body wash and what not. I was running low and had been putting it off. I did laundry all day and tried my hand at baking banana bread. It was a success and I am officially a master. I watched a disc or two of Desperate Housewives over the course of the day – I am obsessed with this show - and I made myself an elaborate lunch and dinner just because I could. I took a deliciously (I like this adjective, obviously) wonderful shower and used all of my new bath products. In the end, it made for a wonderful day of rejuvenation, productivity, and me-time. I enjoyed it. Maybe a little too much. Because I did it again on Friday, too.

I went out with friends that evening and we met at a new bar we’ve discovered called Cafe Trachten-Vogl. It’s definitely a new favorite – it’s got kind of a cozy 1970’s vibe to it and it’s got a lot of comfy couches and chairs and just a really mellow, indie ambiance. We had a beer and then moved on. Jessica and I had brought along our own concoction of rum and Coke so we were definitely buzzing. We left our friends behind and spent the rest of the night wandering the streets looking for new bars (and boys, of course) and ended up dancing with 7 or 8 Irish men at a Kultfabrik club. After they rudely ditched us, Jess and I decided to leave and randomly ran into two friends that Eric and I had met during our trip to Regensburg. Ondřej (pronounced like Andre, kind of) is from Czech Republic and Nikola is from Bulgaria (but Eric and I fondly refer to him as Victor Krum). They had a friend from France with them so the three boys accompanied Jess and I to the train station and kept us company as we traveled home. It was good seeing them again and hopefully we can all go out together again while we’re all here at the same time.

Saturday was lazy again. (I swear, there’s something in the water…) I laid around for most of the morning, taking advantage of being able to sleep in, and watched even more Desperate Housewives. Eventually Eric came by and brought Glühwein, which is a seasonal wine here in Germany that comes out around Christmas time. It’s hot wine and it’s actually pretty good! But it made me so ridiculously tired. Eric and I started watching a movie and I passed out for the last hour or so of the film. I couldn’t stay awake! After the movie, I got ready to go out again and met Fio and Nathan at Cafe Trachten-Vogl. We didn’t stay out for long because we were all ridiculously tired so I made it home by 10:30.

Sunday has been much of the same. Slept in, read my book – I just started reading The Last Symbol. I hope to meet up with friends at some point during the day. I’ve been feeling kind of remorseful that I let this weekend be so unproductive but maybe it’s just what I needed. Unfortunately, it’s getting much colder here in Munich so I can only imagine that there’s going to be a lot more of staying in and being lazy but I’m going to try to do everything that I can to fight that. I’ll get back into jogging in the mornings – I definitely let that slip past me. Hopefully I’ll get out and travel a bit more. Maybe Berlin or Milan. Thanksgiving is coming up in a few weeks and I can imagine that will make me sad, seeing as I won’t be with my family for the first time in my life. I usually visit my sister-cousin, Christy, and her kids and so it will be hard being away from them this year. I will survive but it’s going to be a long end to autumn. Winter is on it’s way in – the trees are almost completely bare now – and the colors of fall are dissipating. Before long it will be snowing and Munich will be beginning to look a lot like Christmas. I think I’m ready for this.

Gorgeous Munich sunset outside my window – Thursday night