A Sacrificial Social Life, Our “Schnee Mann” Family, My First Ever Blog Giveaway! (Maybe…), and How to Make Someone’s Pants Fall Off By Magic

There is little to report in the world of this new German girl.

I didn’t budget very well for this last pay period so I’ve been without significant amounts of money for a few days. I bought a beer the other day with 50 and 20 cent coins. I bought a 1 EUR chicken burger at McDonald’s with ten 10 cent coins. I haven’t been buying a train ticket. I know, that’s unethical but what’s a girl to do? I get paid soon and I intend to learn my lesson next time. I’m holding myself back from buying unnecessary crap like spending 12 EUR on 4 beers in one evening. There is one unnecessary cost that I don’t need and certainly won’t miss:

1. Cover charges at bars and night clubs. I don’t even like to get down and dance unless I’m uninhibitedly drunk so that’s another nine to twelve euros on top of the cover. I can do this once a month. But anymore than that, ain’t happening.

Other than that, I just need to watch myself when buying food, and budgeting expenses (like phone credits, train tickets, and other necessities). I’m going to Berlin in February to see my friend, Alison, to Cologne in March for Carnival, and, if I’m smart with my money, to Paris in May. And I still have an entire week off at the end of April that I need to fill with cool and interesting travel ideas. So I fully intend to save my money for all of that. And it will be worth sacrificing a little bit of my social life for that. At least I think so!

On the au pair front, things have been going well. The family is great – the girls are still as cute as they ever were. There hasn’t been a lot of crying and tantrums which I am always grateful to report. We make macaroni and cheese about once a week, we color (thanks Christy for the Disney princess coloring book!), we play with Legos, read books, play Solitaire, Rummy, and Go Fish, we make chocolate muffins, we do homework, and now that the snow has come back to Munich, we make snow men.

It’s snowing like crazy today. Big, fat, fluffy, wet snow flakes. It’s never ending. The entire neighborhood is turning white. It’s never been this white before. I’m glad that the girls are at a ballet recital and I’m off for the night. I’m thinking I might hang out on my window seat with some pillows and a blanket and watch Ice Age 2 and do crossword puzzles. My life is amazing. I’m not being sarcastic either. It really is. :)

In blog news, I received an email last night from a woman who represents CSN Stores and she wants to sponsor a blog giveaway on my blog! She contacted me via a different blog that I write but I’m hoping that it will work for this one. It will be my first and since I have no idea how to do a blog giveaway, I hope I can figure it out and get it going. That would be really cool and would get me a lot of traffic and advertising. Not that I need it BUT there have been multiple instances where other girls who read my blog came to work in Munich or emailed me for information about doing it and I love that I can be a resource for them AND that I can meet new au pairs through my blog. I think that’s pretty damn cool. So I’ll keep you posted on the giveaway.

Also, I thought I’d share with you some of the keywords that I find through Google Analytics. These are search words that bring people to this blog. Commentary included.

how to make someone’s pants fall off by magic
Well, I really don’t know. I can’t imagine how my blog led you to the conclusion that it could help you but I do hope you found a solution, or at least, were able to book a ticket on the Hogwarts Express.

is it snowing in Munich now?
Why, yes… yes it is!

is Liberal Studies a waste of a degree?
That is open for interpretation. I have yet to use it so ask me in a few years.

Munich surprised me
Me too! But it was a pleasant surprise!

sweet German girl Jessica
She is a sweet German girl, isn’t she? Miss you, Jess!

the Lost Symbol last part boring
It was boring. I didn’t even finish reading it. I hope that my blog convinced you to do the same thing. Pretty sure we’re not missing much.

dirndl dreams
I do have dreams of my dirndl. Sigh. I can’t wait to wear it again…

meet housewives in Munich
How’s that one working out for you? Good, I hope.

Oh yeah. And please check out my music blog – The Music and the Hope. I’ve pimped it out here before but I just recently gave it a make-over and have been posting a lot of stuff so if you want some new music suggestions or just something to listen to, please visit. Danke!

Christkindlmarkt Overload, Crowded Trains, Jessica’s Leaving Weekend and the Last Maß Celebration, Snowman Fail, and a Shamrocks Styled Send Off

Sadly, this weekend marked the last of my friend Jessica’s time here in Munich. Jessica has been one of my my closest friends since arriving here in Munich and I would not have survived the culture shock and transition periods if she hadn’t been here, guiding me through the language and explaining things to me that I didn’t understand. She took me to the hospital at 3 in the morning when I sliced my foot open. She’s spent many a sleepless night with me, enjoying the Munich night life and running wild in the streets of this crazy German city. I was so blessed to be able to spend the whole weekend with her and have all of the time that I needed to spend with her before she left Munich to go back to Arkansas. That girl has my heart and I will never, ever forget the part she’s played in my life. That will always be with me when I think of my time in Munich!

The beginning of my weekend with Jess started with a Saturday trip to the Nürnberg (Nuremberg) for the Weihnachtsmarkt. It had been planned for a while so all we needed to do was just get everybody together and go. Only about 7 of us ended up going and that’s mostly because we chose to take the 9 A.M. train. Which was crowded, as usual. We got seats eventually and kept moving around until we were mostly together and arrived in Nürnberg around 11:30 ish. The weather was horrible and for most of the day we walked around in wet snow, slush, and rain and the freezing cold. The markets were wonderful, as usual, but not much different from those in Munich or anywhere else, really. It’s all for the experience, to be honest, and I had a wonderful day meeting new friends, wandering around a new city, and enjoying every minute of the day.

Vigil kept inside the St. Lorenz Kirche
   Nürnberg from the top of the Sinwellturm

Imperial castle and not part of King Ludwig’s castle craze apparently

Me, Joker, and Jess and our customary cup of Glühwein

I don’t know why but this guy in the center  just  made my shot super creepy

After we’d had enough of freezing cold feet and Christmas market crap, we jumped on the 5 o’clock train back to Munich. It was so crowded that most of us had to sit on the floor in the back of the train car. Half of the ride was spent being huddled underneath lederhosen clad Bavarian men and their beers. We made it home around 7 and all separated to get ready for a friends house warming party. Which was, as usual, a wild night. We stayed and Fabrice and Andre’s swanky new apartment until 4:30 in the morning before we trekked back to the train station in the cold, cold, cold morning air and then we all wandered back to Motorstrasse where I stayed the night with Jessica and the two of us stayed warm, cuddled up in her bed. :)

On Sunday, Jessica and I wandered into the English Gardens to check out the Christmasmarkt at the Chinese Tower. It was, as usual, jam packed with tourists and locals alike but it was cute and quaint, probably my favorite of the markets thus far.

Dashing through the snow…. in a two horse open sleigh…

St. Nicholas (but where’s his book of sins?!)

Lebekuchen (German gingerbread)

After the market, Jessica and I had dinner in town and ate at this delicious pizza/Italian restaurant called L’Osteria. The pizzas are HUGE and only about 8 EUR for the massive thing. We got half-pizzas instead and even still I couldn’t finish it. They were amazing though! After dinner Jess and I met our friend Daniel at our favorite spot – Jaegers Youth Hostel – so that Jessica could enjoy her last Maß in Munich. It turned into a ridiculously crazy, dramatic, over the top kind of night but that’s just how Jess and I like it to be. I had so much fun – even if the night didn’t end up so nice for me (stupid boy!) – and Jessica and I made it home to my bed where we slept for all of three hours. Haha. Great end to the weekend if you ask me!

    Me & Jess

Jessica’s last Maß!

This deserves a minor mention but on Monday I tried to make a snowman with Vee and it was an epic fail. The snow that’s been blanketing Munich for the last three weeks is too powdery for snow man making so we ended up just making a huge pile of snow in the side of the yard. But we did try!

Sledding fail.

River behind the house – fading sunset in the snow. 

On Tuesday night Jessica had her leaving party and, unfortunately, I was babysitting so I missed most of it. I made it to the end, once everyone had convened at Shamrock’s for karoeke and I rolled into the bar around 11:20 pm. I managed two beers and a whole of drunk-friend babysitting but it was good to spend even a little bit of Jess’s last night with her. She had so much fun and you could feel how hard it was for her to leave. We’re definitely going to miss her around here!

I’m going to miss you, girl! See you soon!

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.