Bang! Just a Bunch of Bullet Points

Recently, worthy content for this blog has been neglected (sort of) and my life, as of late, has become a series of bullet points:

• My camera is still out of commission and is worse off than it was when I first spoke of it’s misfortune. Now I fear that it is completely screwed and that it will no longer be of service to me. Sad face but hey, lesson learned. The really hard way.

• The weather in Munich is shaping up. It is showing signs of spring and temperatures are up in the 40’s (some 50 degree days last week!) and the sun has made a few appearances, too. Unfortunately, there has also been rain and blustery cold but no more snow. For that, I am eternally grateful.

• I went to the Munich Readery on Thursday and got myself a new book. I was in dire need of some new material – I’ve been doing crossword puzzles before bed for almost two months. Finally something to read – I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb. So far, so good. It’s almost 900 pages and is, thus far, a bit slow but I love the author (She’s Come Undone!!!!) so we’ll see if it shapes up to be a winner in the end.

 

• Things in the au pair household have been pretty monochromatic. Nothing very exciting to speak of. I bought the girls a small Valentine’s Day present – little unicorn toys that change color in the water – just to let them know that I think of them and love them. We also made a special present for their mom for V Day. (Well, I thought of it, funded it, and put it together. Haha.) I got a double sided picture frame and put two pictures of them in either side and the girls made her each a homemade Valentine’s Day card. I’ll put them all on the table before breakfast in the morning. Just a nice little holiday treat for everyone. Except me. Haha.

• Last week Fionualla bought the two of us plane tickets to Cologne for March 11-14th. We’re missing carnival, unfortunately, and that’s entirely my fault for mixing up my vacation time but it will be nice to get out and go somewhere new anyway. She has a friend from home who lives there so we get free accommodation and have a built-in tour guide. It will be good!

• German beer has made this past week/weekend a crazy one. It all started on Tuesday night where I managed to belt out a pretty awesome rendition of Shania Twain’s Any Man of Mine at the karaoke bar and then on Thursday, we had a wild night at a local ToyTown meet-up that was serving free shots of Jaegermeister with every beer purchased. That never ends well, as we’ve experienced twice before at this same bar. Haha. On Friday night, we said goodbye to Eric who has left Munich for a few months and had a delicious leaving dinner at a great Croatian restaurant here in Munich called, Opatija. I called it an early night and went home but caught up with my crazy friends on Saturday night. A family friend was in town so Oma Kathe brought him into Munich so he could meet my friends and hang out. His family is kind of like my surrogate family so we got along really fast and had a great night out with my friends. I’m planning on going to Garmisch next weekend to visit them again. I also got to see some old friends, Helena and Zainab, who were in town visiting from England. I didn’t see very much of them - we all had our own things going on - but it was good to see them again, even for the little bit that we were together. Now I’m looking forward to slowing down a little bit this week to re-evaluate my alcohol tolerance levels and practice some much needed self control. Haha.

 

• I still have a lot of things left to do/document on my “52 Things in Munich” list. This will resume shortly! I’ve been kind of busy/lazy/uninspired lately so I will get back on it!

• Happy Valentine’s Day!

Lazy Mondays, Desperate Housewives Obsession, A Promise of Snow, Miscommunications, and a Tollwood Double Shot (Nov. 22 – 24)

Monday – I woke up at 6:30 and carried on with my regular morning routine, which usually consists of emptying the dishwasher, making the girls school snack, eating breakfast, and trying not to lose my cool over a child’s dramatic daily tantrum. This happens every morning. Give or take. I cleaned up after the girls weekend mess – I hope they learn how to clean up after themselves someday, for their futures sake, anyway. I didn’t do much of anything else after that. I read my book – I’ve started reading Summer Sisters again (for the 12th time, I swear…). I watched two discs of Desperate Housewives over the course of the day. I’m obsessed with this show. I can’t believe I never gave it a chance. I’m halfway through the 4th season and I cried when I saw the tornado episode. I know that Lynette’s family would survive but the emotion of her discovery that they were buried under the rubble was jarring. I ached for them as if they were my own. I started writing some post cards but only got through one and a half out of 12. One for my grandma and half of one for my mom. I “worked” which means that I made dinner (salmon grilled over butter, white rice, green peas, and lemon butter sauce), played board games with Eenie and Vee, and wandered around aimlessly trying to get the girls to get ready for bed but they don’t listen to me so I had little purpose or desire to be there at that particular moment. I then cuddled warm in my bed and fell asleep to another episode of DH. Uneventful Monday, to say the least.

My new favorite ladies!

Tuesday –  Followed my usual morning routine and then I read my book for most of the morning.  Jessica came over around 11, after she’d braved the crowds at H&M’s one-day only Lanvin sale. She tried to convince me to join her but when I don’t have any money, shopping is the last thing that I want to do (and in Europe, trust me, this sucks because the clothes and the shoes are amazing and I can’t buy any of them). I get cranky and irritated and the crowds start to piss me off. I couldn’t convince her of this and she begged and begged but I did not relent. I opted to get out of the house today anyway. Sans shopping, of course, and in spite of the weather which is getting colder and colder everyday – and Jessica and I ventured into the city for aimless wandering. We managed to go to Tenglemann (grocer) to see if we could find some variety of turkey for our Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday. We found some small birds (baby turkey, duck, and goose) but they’re all incredibly expensive and we’re thinking we may have to pass on that particular novelty of American tradition. After we met defeat, we wandered into a little eclectic store on Leopoldstrasse and oo’d and aww’d over their delightful Christmas displays and adorable ornaments. I love Christmas time for this reason. The stores turn into beautiful, Christmasy wonderlands with fun stuff to look at.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…

One postcard purchase later, we ventured down the street a ways to Karstadt (department store – kind of – with a bottom floor grocery store and food court) to get out of the cold and sit down and eat our homemade lunch but they kicked us out and so we ended up back on the UBahn and, eventually, at Odeonsplatz where we wandered into San Francisco Coffee Company and stayed for 2 1/2 hours. (By the way, I’ve never even seen a SFCC in the actual city of San Francisco.) We didn’t buy anything but instead took advantage of their comfortable chairs, free wireless and convenient bathrooms and we played Words With Friends (Jess is winning) and I read my book while I waited for her to find her words. At 3, I returned home to regroup before the twins came home at 4:15. During my walk home from the UBahn station, I encountered my first snow fall – which was, to be honest, pretty pathetic. It was kind of like a rain-snow hybrid and it melted as soon as it hit the ground or my outstretched (gloved) hands so I guess it’s not really snow but it was exciting and left me wondering if one of these mornings I will wake up to a winter wonderland outside my window.

Kind of like this (which are all photos of past winter wonderlands here in Munich):

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(Okay maybe I’m a little bit excited for the snow…)

Once the girls came home at about 4:30ish, I attempted to entertain them (and myself) for 3 1/2 hours. They were throwing tantrums right from the get-go – high pitched screaming, hysterical crying, hitting, and yelling – you know, the usual. I don’t know about what but it’s starting to really grate my nerves. We had dinner early – or they had dinner early, seeing as I wasn’t interested in dinner at 5 pm. Then we all kind of wandered around the house without purpose or direction. I don’t understand why they don’t just go off and play together – it can be very strange sometimes how they just wander around the house with no aim. Vee even talks to herself sometimes. Weird little kids… They took a bath for about 45 minutes and then got ready for bed. I read them two books and then was dismissed. The Frau is going out but not until 9 so going out to karaoke tonight (the usual Tuesday night event) would have been rather pointless. I tried to watch Sex and the City 2 but I quickly realized how ridiculously stupid that movie actually is (for the second time…) and I fell asleep instead.

Wednesday – Repeat of the morning routine and just a few frustrations. Miscommunications or something between me and my host-mom about some laundry business. Because I had to use the drying rack which had all of the cloth placemats on them, I opted to bring all of the placemats upstairs to put them away in the kitchen. I left them on the kitchen table and intended to put them away after breakfast but when she came into the kitchen she immediately questioned me about why they were there and then very rudely stated that they were not ironed and that we’re not using them anymore so they need to go back downstairs. And then suggested that I iron them. Well, ironing placemats isn’t part of my job (sorry!) and I don’t appreciate being criticized after I’ve tried to be helpful  so I just nodded and agreed, “Okay, okay. Yeah. Okay.” I put the placemats downstairs in a nice and neat pile, un-ironed and tried not to be too angry about the exchange. I’ve gotten to the point where I just concede and nod to whatever she’s saying when things like this come up. I used to smile and nod but even that’s getting to be hard to do. I think it’s just a cultural thing, to be honest. Or a clashing of personalities or lost expectations. I really don’t know. I honestly don’t think that she means to come across as rude – at least I hope she doesn’t – but it’s very hard for me to keep high spirits when I feel as if I’m constantly doing things wrong, especially five months later. It happens more than I’d like to admit and it’s a huge part of why I’m starting to resent this job. But alas, I will suck it up. In the end, I do get to leave so I’ll chin up and manage. I know that I should try to talk to her about it but I’m terrified. I hate confrontation and who knows how it will end so… I probably won’t and will just hope for the best.

After all of this, I did my laundry and cleaned my bathroom – took out my garbage – took a shower. I went into town around 9:45 to meet Helen for the morning. She and I are both in a similar situation – we’ve been working with children so long that we’re in dire need for a new perspective but neither of us can really come out of it. So we spent the morning venting and complaining and getting it all out. Sometimes that’s just what you have to do. We both agreed that we’re tired but that we’re starting to take it out on the kids and it’s not, in the least bit, fair to them so I hope that the two of us can get some kind of clarity. I really do love having this experience, don’t get me wrong. I didn’t expect it to be sunshine and roses all the time but I just wish that it wasn’t so taxing on my emotions. I am so stressed out and with everything else that I’m dealing with, this resentment and frustration certainly doesn’t help. All I can do is hope that Christmas brings glad tidings of joy… and stuff.

Anyway, after Helen went off to work, I tried to go to Tollwood (winter folk festival) but it wasn’t really… open. Even though it’s supposed to have started today – it definitely wasn’t so I just wandered around the streets of Munich until I stumbled onto an UBahn station at Sendlinger Tor. I was approached by some Mormons (one of them from California) and they tried to get me to tour their church and then invited me to a Thanksgiving feast on Saturday. I told them I was busy but thanked them kindly. I couldn’t really figure out what to do with myself so I took pictures of random wintry stuff and then headed back home where I finished my laundry, made lunch, and watched yet another episode of DH.

Random observation but whenever someone starts talking to me in German or whenever I am too overwhelmed to try to speak German myself I say, “Sprechen sie Englisch?” And no matter what, 98% of the time, the German person always says, “A little bit.” It’s cute because they always know more than they give themselves credit for.

Come late afternoon and I’m back with the girls and I’m still trying to figure out how to entertain them in a way that works for all of us. Today I went with a Thanksgiving theme, trying to explain to them how important the holiday is for me and why it’s so hard for me to be away from home and how they can help me feel better. I sat down with them and told them about Thanksgiving and how it’s all about celebrating the things in your life that you’re grateful for and I told them that I was very grateful to spend the year as their au pair, learning from them, loving them, and growing together. I gave them some coloring pages of turkeys and pilgrims and stuff and I asked if they could color me a picture for my wall so I would have reminders of my favorite holiday to keep close to me while I’m far away from home. Of course, they obliged. There’s nothing these little girls love more than coloring.

Not colored by a 6-year-old… but a 24-year-old. Ha.

In the evening I decided to give Tollwood another go and Eric and Helen joined me for the evening. We enjoyed ourselves as we sipped our glühwein and checked out all of the Tollwood vendors and did a bit of “window shopping.” There is so much cool stuff there. I can’t wait to get Christmas presents. Between Tollwood and the Christkindlmarkt, I’ll be set!

Hey, dad! It’s me and my  glühwein!

Book Review: The Lost Symbol

You know how I’m always saying that I’m really lazy and that I tend to stay inside a lot now that the cold weather has come in? Well, I’m not lying – that’s all true. But I don’t just sit around, I actually do things. Like obsessively watching any and every season of Sex and the City and Desperate Housewives that I can get my hands on. And I go on Facebook. Maybe too much. And I blog. Not often enough but you’re happy. Right? Well… I also read. A lot. I’ve read a million and a half books since I got here, or so it seems anyway, and just recently I finished (kind of…) reading The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown. My host-family are big fans of Dan Brown books and so I’ve read my fair share of Robert Langdon and non-Robert Langdon plots since I arrived here in June. I read Deception Point over the summer and I really liked that one – even if it was pretty much exactly the same type of story as all of the rest of Brown’s books.

Don’t get me wrong – I loved The DaVinci Code and Angels & Demons. They were great books. Especially the latter of the two. Historical page turners that I could hardly put down. They’re full of suspense and mystery and blah, blah. You get my point. But, needless to say, each book is fairly predictable. You know there’s going to be a good guy who is really a bad guy. And Langdon and his female-accomplice-of-the-moment are going to get out of every sticky situation they find themselves in… no matter what. Who cares if he gets locked inside of a fiberglass casket that is being filled with water? He’s going to die, right? Eh, probably not. And the giant 7 foot steroid beefed villain will definitely not be able to catch the 40-something female lab scientist even though they’re in an enclosed room surrounded by pitch black dark. It’s laughable at best but it doesn’t matter – you keep reading because it’s interesting. I knew what was going to happen halfway through the book and it turns out that I was right about 95% of it.

Like I did in the first two books, I found myself needing to Google most of the monuments and locations that Brown was writing about. Even though they’re in Washinton D.C. in this book, I had no idea what he was referencing. And getting up to Google something really throws off my reading vibes. So that was kind of annoying.

In the end, I finished the book… kind of. The villain was revealed as (surprise) someone important to almost all of the main characters and I found myself thinking, “Really, Dan Brown?” And of course, they all got off so easy and there wasn’t anything to clean up. As per Dan Brown usual. In fact, I didn’t really finish the book. I found out the villain's true identity and then read about 500 pages of boring blah-blah explanation before I thought, “I really don’t care what happens in the end. This is boring. The exciting part’s over, right?” And I suppose I’ll never be able to answer my own question if I don’t read those last twenty pages or so.

Unfortunately, I wouldn’t recommend this book. It’s not Brown’s best. In fact, I like Deception Point the best and it’s not even part of his Langdon legacy. Sorry, Tom Hanks, but I hope this book doesn’t get to the box office. But if it does, I’ll probably go see it anyway. I’m a sucker for a book-to-movie adaptation. Plus, I’d love to see how they translate this story’s crazy freak of a villain to the big screen.

Reading Rainbow

I’ve started a new book today. It is the 12th (?) book on the laundry list of books I’ve enjoyed (or will soon enjoy) since I arrived in Munich. (It might not be the twelfth book, actually – I’ve lost track.) It is a book that I’ve been wanting to read. And it’s received excellent reviews. I trust books with good reviews.

Excerpt from the first four paragraphs of the book, Little Bee, by Christopher Cleave:

Most days I wish I was a British pound coin instead of an African girl. Everyone would be pleased to see me coming. Maybe I would visit with you for the weekend and then suddenly, because I am fickle like that, I would visit the man from the corner shop instead – but you would not be sad because you would be eating a cinnamon bun, or drinking a cold Coca-Cola from the can, and you would never think of me again. We would be happy, like lovers who met on holiday and forgot each other’s names. 

A pound coin can go wherever it thinks it will be safest. It can cross desserts and oceans and leave the sound of gunfire and the bitter smell of burning thatch behind. When it feels warm and secure it will turn around and smile at you, the way my big sister Nkiruka use to smile at the men in our village in the short summer after she was a girl but before she was really a woman, and certainly before the evening my mother took her to a quiet place for a serious talk.

Of course a pound coin can be serious too. It can disguise itself as power, or property, and there is nothing more serious when you are a girl who has neither. You must try to catch the pound, and trap it in your pocket, so that it cannot reach a safe country unless it takes you with it. But a pound has all the tricks of a sorcerer. When pursued I have seen it shed its tail like a lizard so that you are left holding only pence. And when you finally to go seize it, the British pound can perform the greatest magic of all, and this is to transform itself into not one, but two, identical green American dollar bills. Your fingers will close on empty air, I am telling you.

How I would love to be a British pound. A pound is free to travel to safety, and we are free to watch it go. This is the human triumph. This is called globalization. A girl like me gets stopped at immigration, but a pound can leap the turnstiles, and dodge the tackles of those big men with their uniform caps, and jump straight into a waiting airport taxi. Where to, sir? Western civilization, my good man, and make it snappy. (Cleave, pp. 1-2)

Have you read this book? What did you think? And if you haven’t, doesn’t that excerpt make you want to devour this book? I am going to go do that right now.

Sleepy Samstag

It’s a happy Saturday evening in my little corner of the world – a beautiful sunshiney day in Munich. I’m relegated to the house tonight to play Mary Poppins as my host parents are going out for the evening. It’s good though because I had an incredibly long night filled with way too much bier drinking and a fair amount of embarrassing behavior and loss of volume control. Needless to say, I could use a night in. I fully intend on watching a movie once the girls are asleep – my host mom has The Men Who Stare At Goats downstairs so I want to see it, I heard it’s funny and it has a great cast. And I love Kevin Spacey. After the movie I think I’ll start a new book. Again. I’m really rolling right through them. Just read Jodi Piccoult’s latest novel, Handle With Care, and it was really good. It had a typical Piccoult ending which kind of pissed me off but she’s good at really throwing you off. It was like the ending to My Sister’s Keeper but less dramatic. Anyway, that’s what I’ll be doing with the rest of my Saturday.

This past week was very different for this au pair. I spent the whole week feeling like I actually have a job and a purpose. The girls’ schedule changed so they’re out of kindergarten and enjoying a few weeks of summer vacation. The family was originally supposed to be in Austria all week but they came back five days early. I spent Tuesday through Friday with the girls all day which is really new for me because before, I was only with them for one hour in the morning and most evenings. I’ve been pulling about 9 or 10 hour days this past week. We’ve been doing all kinds of stuff – going to playgrounds, bike rides, hide and seek, picnics. Through it all, I’ve bonded a lot with the girls which is good because I fall in love with them more every day. I mean, how could you not with faces like these?

  

Hopefully these next few weeks of super au pair duties won’t make me hate my job. I doubt that will happen because eventually, they will go back to school and I will be able to take day time naps again and feel useless once more. Ha.

Socially, things are great here in Munich. I’m making new friends all the time which is always a blessing. I have a little group of friends that I’ve made and we do most everything together. We’re all recent transplants to this great city so it’s nice to have a group of people who are all experiencing a new life at the same time. I love the friends that I’ve made who are already established here too because they’ve been able to show me around and make me feel comfortable, showing me all the good bars and other fun stuff. Usually we all just get together and drink bier because German social customs are so centered around that stuff. Seriously, you go to the English Gardens on a Saturday morning, around like 12 or so, and pretty much everyone you pass has a beer. There are drunk people riding around on these crazy 10-person bikes with bars in them. Germans do love their beer and I can’t say that I blame them! It’s some good stuff.

Someone close to me recently said that she’s worried about me becoming an alcoholic but I’d say that’s pretty unlikely. I only drink in social situations with my friends – I could never just sit at home alone and crack open a beer and enjoy it. Gross. Yes, I do stupid things like injure myself (repeatedly), miss the late night trains and walk home at 2 am, spend way too much money, and potentially jeopardize great friendships with melodramatic confessions of “love” and adoration but hey, c’est la vie. It’s a constant learning process about self control (which I never seem to learn from, go figure). At least I know that I’m a drunken idiot most of the time and I’m not in denial. Haha. Anyway, it all makes sense because I can just say that I’m getting ready for Oktoberfest which is is coming up soon. I’m glad that I proved to myself that I can not consume more than 2 liters of beer in one night without physical and emotional consequences. A lesson I’m happy to have learned before Oktoberfest and not during. Still – maybe I should work on my manners and my inside voice whilst drinking. Might save me some trouble down the line.

Earlier today I met some friends in the Englischer Gartens and we just laid out in the sun for half of the day. The sun’s come out in Munich again, thank God. Perfect send off for the impending end of summer. Right now I am watching Mama Mia with the twins – they love the music and sometimes sing along. So, it’s a quiet Saturday night around here. After this, we’re all going to bed. It’s a perfect night if you ask me.

Second-Hand Book Stores, Chess Playing Prodigies, and Future Plans

It rained all day on Tuesday. I wish that I had gone back to bed then. I love sleeping when it’s raining. I didn’t leave the house – seriously, it was pouring all day long. Beautiful though.

I had a good day with Vee on Tuesday. Eenie was in a bad mood, crying and whining. She put herself to bed while Vee and I played Solitaire. I taught both of the girls how to play and they’re really good at it! I have to help them a little but they learn fast. And now they can entertain themselves. How many five year olds do you know that can play Solitaire? I put Vee in the bath tub after that and she kind of entertained herself for a half an hour. I had to blow dry her hair afterwards and I kept telling her, “You’re hair is so beautiful and soft and shiny. You have the most beautiful hair in Munich.” And she kept brushing it and touching it. When we went into her bedroom to get her pajamas, she kept disappearing and I asked her, “Where are you going?” and she says, “In there to look at my hair.” And I watched her walk to the mirror and lovingly adore herself. Cutest damn thing. Ever. I’ve trained her well. Ha.

Wednesday was a fairly uneventful day. The sun was out for about five hours so I went outside into the city after I did some laundry. I located the Munich Readery which is this awesome second-hand English book store. They were having a sale, 25% off every book so, of course, I went crazy. My intention was to find some readers for the girls for their birthday but I walked out with so much more than that. 27 EUR worth, to be exact. Gah. Books are so worth it though. Plus, if I bring them back in for trade when I’m finished, I get store credit.

The UK version of HP & the Deathly Hallows.
I wanted to read this one before the movie released in November.
Plus, now I have the cool UK version.

I also bought a Jodi Piccoult that I haven’t read, Handle With Care, which is amazing because I thought I’d read them all by now. I also got an off-the-radar chick lit book about a girl who starts writing this blog and makes up a fake life and a fake boyfriend and everyone starts to think she’s real and wants to meet her but her life really sucks. Ha. Sounded good to me. I do love blogs. I also got The Phantom Tollbooth. Infinitely cool. I read this book when I was a kid and I loved it.

I’m trying to read it to the girls but I don’t know if they understand it. It’s a bit heavy, kind of over their head. It’s a play on American laziness, as far as I’ve gathered, and it tries to teach you to be productive and stuff. Haha. But… Eenie wanted me to keep reading it. Vee said, “I like it not,” and disappeared to go play with her trains. I’ll keep trying. I think Eenie just likes the pictures. If they don’t like it, I’ll just read it myself.

(It’s pouring rain right now. I love it.)

I’m almost finished reading The Time Traveler’s Wife which is an incredible book. I absolutely love it. It’s so much better than the movie and has so much more detail and conflict. I’ll want to watch the movie when I’m done reading it. I hear iTunes has rentals now…

Yesterday I played chess with Eenie. She pretty much beat me. Twice. The second game was a draw. She is a genius, I swear to God. She even knew strategy and understood how each piece moved and where to move them to get me. She kicks butt at Solitaire, too. Maybe we can all learn poker together. They’ll probably take me for all I’m worth. Which isn’t much these days. Haha.

The next couple of weeks will be interesting. The girls finish kinderhaus on the 13th and are released for a few weeks of summer vacation before they go to elementary school in September. The girls’ birthday is on Saturday and then their party is on Monday. Helen and I are both party planning so that should be interesting. I have about 8 billion cakes and chocolate muffins to make between Friday and Monday. I don’t like baking here for two reasons: 1) I can’t figure out the oven temperatures and usually burn everything and 2) I can’t read the directions. So, here’s to hoping that the Frau will translate. I’m going to Hamburg next weekend with Jessica and Clare. Should be fun! Jess works for BMW so she can rent cars for cheap. We’re getting a BMW convertible and going on a German road trip. Woo!  The family is going to be going to their house in Austria a lot in August so I’ll be home, alone for a good majority of the time. From August 14th until about August 20th, they’ll be in Austria so I have a whole week of nothingness. Which means that I really want to get out to Garmisch to see Kathe and go hikinig in the Alps and visit a quaint little German village. Must get started on those plans!

My foot has healed up, FINALLY. It’s scabbed over and will eventually even out to be just an ugly scar. But my ankle is all screwed up and it hurts to walk most of the time. I’m going to need to rehabilitate myself.

Right now I have a date with my bed (I love sleeping during the day, especially when it’s raining) and I fully intend to spend some good quality time with my blanket and pillow so I’m signing out. But enjoy some pictures from this weekend, when the weather was stellar:

Somewhere near the Isar river

Isar river and gorgeous blue skies

Busy city

Nues Rathaus – never gets old.