Hans im Glück Burger Grill, Mini Pizzas and Old Fashioned Cartoons, and A Last Minute Trip to the Chiemsee Weihnachtmarkt

Saturday, December 4th

I had a somewhat uneventful Saturday. Unless you count being entertained by your hungover, probably still drunk, and somewhat irritable Irish friend eventful. Then I had a very eventful Saturday! Haha. I kept the poor girl company while she moaned and groaned about the previous nights imbibing. We both had the hots for cheeseburgers so we found a new restaurant and ventured in that direction and were delighted to find that it was worth every penny. And the restaurant itself was really cool, great design!

I had the avocado burger. You know me. I love me some avocados!

Loved the trees on all the tables!

After lunch, Fio returned home to sleep off the rest of her hangover and I attempted to enjoy the Christkindlmarkt but I found that it was not fun and would definitely not be enjoyed. There were a million people walking in every which direction, pushing and being touristy and rude. I wasn’t down for that – I hate crowds – and so I just got on the train and went home. The markets will be better enjoyed on Wednesday mornings.  I was supposed to meet up with Jessica this day to make snowmen in the English Gardens (cool, I know!) but the girl is ridiculous when it comes to making plans and getting in contact with her. Haha. To make matters worse, she lost her phone and so I couldn’t get a hold of her. Instead of showing up at my house at 12 like we’d planned the night before, she came at 3 pm, while I was across town eating lunch with Fio. Silly Jessica. We tried to meet up with her again but lost her in the hustle and bustle of Marienplatz and that was the end of our attempts. Crazy girl!

Once I arrived home I had a few hours to spare before I had to babysit die kinder but, like always, I didn’t do much with my spare time. I chatted with a new friend, did some blogging (do I really even have any other hobbies?), and watched more Desperate Housewives. (You’d think that I would eventually run out of episodes to watch, wouldn’t you? Good thing there is still an entire season left for me to catch up on.) Around 8 I went downstairs to look after the girls as their parents went out to dinner. We made mini pizzas and stayed up late (for them, anyway) watching old cartoons. They passed out and were asleep by 9:15.

Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf, the big bad wolf? 

While all of my friends went out on the town again, I stayed in (for work purposes, of course) but it’s always nice to have a good excuse to stay in every once in a while. Money flies - I am horrible at saving (especially when a 44 EUR train ticket and 15 EUR phone credit take up a good chunk of it). When I was back in California, I was working three jobs and had enough money to get by, pay my rent, cover the bills, gas up my Stratus, and still entertain myself. It’s really hard to come down from those habits and I’m learning that the hard way with every pay period.

Sunday, December 5th

Originally I’d planned to go on the Erasmus trip to Nürnberg with Eric and Helen but Helen bailed on me and I figured that Eric could use a little trip without me. Ha. Last time we were attached at the hip - I’ll give the boy some space. Since a few of my friends were planning a trip to the Chiemsee Weihnachtsmarkt on the same day, I decided to go there with them instead and would save Nürnberg for the following weekend. Chiemsee is south of Munich, accessed by the train, and located on a little island. Incredibly quaint and absolutely adorable.

We took the Deutsche Bahn (trains) like we always do when we travel Bavaria and used a Bayern ticket which is 28 EUR for up to 5 people to share. I get to the central station (Hauptbahnhof) and run into Jess and Kymbat just before we met up with the others and was told that I would be able to jump onto someone’s Bayern ticket. But after we meet up with everyone and get on the train, we discover that  we have 17 people and 3 tickets – enough for 15 people. So myself and another girl would have to get our own Bayern ticket but pay 14 EUR each for it. Instead of the 5 something EUR paid by everyone else. So that sucked! They didn’t actually check it on the train ride there but we bought the ticket anyway once we arrived in Chiemsee and then had to pay another 9 EUR for the round trip travel ticket for the bus and the ferry out to the island. So there went an unexpected 23 EUR. But then Jess bought me a 3,50 EUR bratwurst mit semmel lunch so I guess I couldn’t complain too much. In the end, we split it up anyway and everyone gave us an extra Euro or two until it was all even.

Our trip to Chiemsee was ultimately a success. I didn’t even know what I was in for, seeing as it was such a last minute trip for me, but it turned out to be a good choice. We went to see one of King Ludwig’s castles (he has so many!), the Herrenchiemsee, and to get there we had to take a hike on this little wooded path and it was so pretty and serene. Jessica and I made it even more fun by using the soles of our shoes as ice skates until I fell on my ass on the cold, hard snow packed ground. But it was funny and I didn’t land on my camera so all is well! When we got to the castle we immediately started a giant snowball fight which was fun because I’ve been wanting to do it since it started snowing. I definitely lost but we got the boys a few good ones, don’t worry!

Yours, truly.

Jessica and Kymbat on the way to Herrenchiemsee

Herrenchiemsee

The island that this castle is located on is different from the island where the Weihnachtmarkt is located. That’s because the two islands are meant for men - “herren” or gentleman’s island – and women - “frauen” or the lady’s island.  There is also a nunnery on the lady’s island and the markets are known as the Frauenchiemsee Christkindlmarkts. Interesting little fact for you about the Chiemsee islands. :)

While at the Weihnachtmarkts (aka Christkindlmarkt) we drank the customary mulled wine (aka glühwein), ate pommes frites (which were surprisingly, hard to find), spent at least 10 minutes every half an hour trying to get our group together, took a million and a half pictures, and enjoyed new friends, warm clothes, and good German culture.

Chiemsee

Most of the group, at the see side.
(Thanks, Ana for the picture!) 

We found a fire!

 

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.

Dankeschön, You Lovely Germans. DANKESCHÖN.

Well, now I really want to stay here in Germany.

The mail man needed me to sign for a package but when I asked him if he spoke English, he scowled at me and asked, “You live here? In Germany?” I responded yes and he says, “And you don’t speak German? That’s terrible.”

Stupid jerk. But I guess it’s just the same for all of the stupid Americans who argue against the immigrants living in the United States and not being able to speak or understand anything other than Spanish. You don’t see me going up to the ESL children that I worked with in California classrooms saying, “You live in America and you don’t speak English? You’re a disgrace. That’s horrible.”

I’m not living here forever and our charming mail man has given me a reason to be happy to leave.

Thank you, VERY MUCH.

An International Thanksgiving, Sun and Snow, and Munich’s Christkindlmarkt

Thursday, November 25th

Happy Thanksgiving!

The holiday is finally upon us. Well, okay… not really. But for those of you in the States, it most certainly is. Here in Germany, it’s just another day. It is, however, the first time in all 24 years of my life that I haven’t been with my family. And what a painful feeling it was to miss them so much. I’ve been homesick here but nothing compared to the ache that I felt on Thursday. I was tempted to just stay away from Facebook all day because every single status update had to do with family and delicious food and the warm fuzzy feeling that overcomes you after you’ve gorged yourself on wonderful Thanksgiving food. And the status updates about the leftover Turkey sandwiches? I was dying. That’s one of my favorite parts about Thanksgiving – turkey sandwiches with gravy and mashed potatoes smashed between a Hawaiian king roll. YUM. More than anything, I missed the tradition of being with my sister-cousin Christy and her four crazy boys. Since I was 16, I’ve been going to her house for Thanksgiving (give or take a few years) and I spend an entire week in good spirits with some of my favorite crazy kids and their ultra-super-cool mom. We watch Elf and decorate their Christmas tree. We spend all day making food. Last year I made chocolate cream pies and they were GOOD. Fortunately, we’re going to have Thanksgiving in July, just for me. This is why I love my sister-cousin. She is amazing. I pretty much just missed my entire family – even my little brother who I haven’t seen over Thanksgiving in years. My mom, my dad, my step-mom, my grandma, my aunt Debbie and her delicious food, my cousins, my step-sister, my niece. I wish I could have celebrated Thanksgiving with everyone but I couldn’t be in five places at once – especially when I’m in one place 500 million miles away!

I should comment, however, that of all of the things that I am grateful for – the opportunity to be in Germany right now is one of them. I know I complain and that my life isn’t always a bucket of sunshine but I really wouldn’t choose to be anywhere else. I am so thankful that I was given the chance to experience this and everything that’s led me here –  thankful for my parents who never gave me any limits or restrictions on what I could accomplish or who I could become, thankful for my self-determination to make something of myself - personally, academically, and spiritually -and thankful for the confidence that I had to know that I could do this year abroad. I will never forget this experience and already it has given me so much insight into who I am and who I will become later in my life. I am learning so much about how to grow and become a truly independent young woman and there is nothing that I cherish more than that. Germany is what I am thankful for this year and just the fact that I am here and that I did it. I surpassed all of the mediocrity that I thought defined me and proved that I am capable of doing great things and being one hundred percent, absolutely proud of myself. So, thank you to everyone who supported me as I made this journey and to everyone who is by my side here in Munich and aslo to those who patiently wait for me to come home and who give me every reason to know, without the shadow of a doubt, that I am loved. You are all wonderful and I am truly blessed to know each and every one of you.

For my lonely holiday, I got my mind off of my longing by going out with my darling Laura and meeting one of her friends, who – of course – became my friend as well. That’s one of the best parts about being here. I am constantly meeting new people and I love it! We had good conversation at a sweet little Italian restaurant near Sendlinger Tor and then wandered towards Karlsplatz in search of free cupcakes. We didn’t find them. I then headed home to get ready for a play date at the house. I spent two hours sitting in the girls play room with the other family’s pregnant nanny where I drew pictures with Eenie and talked a lot of business (for her, anyway) about her soon-to-be-born baby. I made dinner for the eight of us (spaghetti bolognese and salad with tomatoes, gurken [aka cucumbers], and mozarella) and was surprised to find that it spread between all eight of us. Around seven I got the girls ready for bed, read them two books, played make-believe with Eenie and her multitude of stuffed horses, and then was dismissed for the evening. I joined Eric, Helen, Paul, and Michael at the UBahn and we ventured into the city for a night with ToyTown – which is ever the interesting event. Then I came home to discover that I’d left my window open and it was freezing cold. Oops.

Friday, November 26th

I woke up to snow! Snow that actually sticks to the ground! It was a wonderful sight to behold – I forgot how lovely snow is when it’s falling down and it definitely made me a bit nostalgic for my childhood winters in Montana. But only a bit. I’m sure I’ll be tired of it come January or February when it suffocates the city and refuses to go away.

Snow outside the house at 7:30 am

Friday was fairly uneventful concerning my au pair responsibilities. The family left for their condo in Kitzbühel, Austria around one and so I was free from the afternoon on. I met up with Laura and Eric and we wandered through the city looking for the cheapest copy of Desperate Housewives season 5, since the Frau gave me money to buy it for her (and for me, of course!). It continued snowing for most of the day and I thoroughly enjoyed running around in it as the big, fluffy snowflakes fell all over the place. I had friends over that evening for pizza and wine – good friends and good company.

Saturday, November 27th

It didn’t snow overnight so I didn’t wake up to any new snow but Friday’s snowfall stuck around. For the most part. I had a lazy morning and had some friends over to watch Desperate Housewives and other various films. We were cooking for our International Thanksgiving at Ana’s house that evening so we made use of the kitchen and the oven for most of the day. I baked banana bread – the most delicious banana bread you will ever eat – and also made candied yams with baked marshmallow topping and some delicious mashed potatoes. In the afternoon we decided to get out and go for a walk in the English Gardens and enjoy the beautiful sunshiney day. Laura, Helen, Benji, and I walked through the gardens for a wonderful thirty minute adventure and it was glorious.

On Saturday evening we ventured out into the city with our arms full of Thanksgiving food and made our way to Ana’s apartment off Max-Weber-Platz. Our International Thanksgiving was perfect from start to finish. Ana and Candace managed to cook a delicious brown turkey. We had all of the traditional staples like mashed potatoes, yams, corn, Pillsbury biscuits, and even a delicious stuffing. We didn’t have any pumpkin pie though – that was a bummer – but we had other wonderful desserts many which were from different countries, like Portugal and China. A lot of our meal came from different countries so it was definitely an international feast. And oh yes, there was wine. Bottles and bottles of wine. And glühwein, of course! By the time the food was done and I was ready to load my plate, I was flushed and every bit tipsy. It was a high spirited Thanksgiving feast and the food was delicious. I was so happy. I couldn’t have asked for a better Thanksgiving-away-from-home!

Bob, the delicious turkey!

  Glühwein!

Me and Wing – about to enjoy our feast!

Me and our lovely Thanksgiving buffet!

Sunday, November 28th

It was another lazy day. I consumed even more Desperate Housewives episodes and cleaned up from the weekend – all of that baking and kitchen cooking took its toll. Helen and Laura spent most of the morning and afternoon hanging out, watching TV with me and in the afternoon, Eric came over with some piano music and entertained us with his lovely piano playing. He is really good! The boy is full of tricks. In the late afternoon, Helen, Eric, and I ventured to Marienplatz to check out the Christkindlmarkt. I hadn’t been yet so I was very excited to go. It was beautiful and delightfully Christmasy but it was freezing cold and I started to lose feeling in my legs and fingers so we all turned in early and went back to our respective houses. But I look forward to exploring it again! It’s going to be in Munich until Christmas Eve.

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!

Boring Technical Stuff

Testing, testing…. 1 2 3.

Just trying to configure my Facebook fan page.

This will be deleted.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Chaaaanges

I’m starting something new with this blog in an attempt to keep myself on task with updating more frequently. I don’t want to miss out on anything – from the boring, busy au pair stuff to the cool travel/European-adventure stuff. I end up writing these monstrous long posts in which I attempt to cover way too much stuff that I was too lazy to write about when (or near to when) it was happening. With this new “system” I hope you’ll get a more detailed look into my au pair experience and you can see that even though I’m living through this cool life experience – it has just as many normal and sometimes boring days as it does its adventures. So expect some new and (hopefully) exciting variety around this blog over the next few days!

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.