A Final Weekend at Fruhlingsfest, Late Nights, Impending Endings, Employment Prospects, and the Joy of Being an Au Pair

This past weekend I went for a second round at Fruhlingsfest and I had so much fun. Beer festivals are one of the things that I will miss the most about Munich. And there are a lot of things that I will miss but beer festivals are definitely up there at the top of the list. I like it much better than Oktoberfest because there are less people and more available tables, faster service, etc etc. We had a table right up front, center stage to the band that played all night long. We danced and sang along and had a merry time, right up until they closed and kicked us all out. And I practiced great self control. It was my pay day and I only bought two beers. Instead of five like I did the previous weekend. After the festival, a few of us braved the rain and decided to go clubbing. We ended up at Cord, a club that plays some great indie music and even though I paid 6 EUR for the cover, I only stayed about an hour or so before I left to catch the last train home. I was ridiculously tired from all of the dancing that I had been doing that day. I made it home by 2:30, soaking wet and cold, took a long, late night bath, and then went to bed close to 4 am. The night before that, I'd stayed up until about the same time, drunk off of Friday the 13th festivities and two or so bottles of wine. Last night, on Sunday, I stayed out with friends at a shisha bar until 2 a.m. I definitely need to make this week one of early nights and catch up a bit. I'm starting to feel ill from only sleeping 4 to 5 hours every night. Personal challenge accepted! Unless I have plans (aka Shamrock's karaoke) I will be in bed at 10:30 and lights out by 11 most nights this week. Haha. We'll see how well this goes!

Happy German girl at the festival!

They had these lit up while they played “Ring of Fire” by Johnny Cash

Full Monty show on the Augustiner stage!

Q62, Shisha bar!

Paul taught me this trick and Cris tagged me in this photo. Thanks Cris!

Yesterday (the 15th) was the one-month mark to the end of my au pair contract. On June 15th, I am officially done being an au pair and I will be set free for five final says in Munich, unemployed and with approximately 225 EUR in hand. My friends and I have planned an epic going away slash birthday party for a collective few of us and that happens two days before I board my plane back to California. It will be a great party and I'll probably have a few drunken cries through most of it. I don't have a lot of pocket money (thanks Rome!) for the remainder of my time here so I'm limited in what I can do for the rest of my time here but I'm hoping to go to Berlin in June to visit my friend Alison and then she'll come to Munich and visit me here. It'll be good to see her before I leave, too, since she's become my best friend from the days working as a camp counselor. I have a lot of things to organize, too, as far as packing is concerned. I want to get rid of a lot of it - so many of my clothes got ruined by the damn washer and dryer and the shitty hard water in Germany so I'm going to throw most of them away. It still feels like I'll never get it all home again. Ah! I can't believe I have to leave this place... it feels impossible. It reminds me of the quote from Eat, Pray, Love:

“The only thing more unthinkable than leaving was staying;
the only thing more impossible than staying was leaving.”

I want to go home – God, do I want that. I miss my mom and I want to meet the dog that she bought to fill the void in her heart after I left. I don’t want to live with this family anymore – or any family, for that matter. I want to spent five hours in Target. I want to take peoples of people in Wal-Mart. I want to buy crossaints and muffins and pizza at Costco. I want to go to all my favorite college bars with my friends from home. I want to lay on the beach for eight hour straight. I want to see my nephews and my sister, Christy. I want to visit my family in Montana. I want to sit down and tell my grandma all about my year abroad. I want to drive around in my car for hours and hours and turn the music up really loud and roll all the windows down. I want to get my hair cut and colored and get a manicure and pedicure and have my eyebrows waxed. I want to have a wallet full of American bills and I want to pay tax again and use my debit card everywhere I go. I want to be a California girl again.

But I want to be a German girl, too. I want to stay in Munich. I want everyone that I love in Munich to stay here too. I want to sit at a shisha bar for six hours and laugh and gossip and take pictures. I want to go to beer festivals every season and dance to music that I can’t understand but love anyway. I want to spend every sunny Saturday in the English Gardens drinking beer and catching a Frisbee and singing along to Florian’s ukulele. I want to sing karaoke at Shamrock’s every Tuesday night. I want to eat Bavarian food and have sausages and leberkase available to me on every corner. I want to buy Bayern tickets and take trains to random German towns all over Bavaria. I want to drink Augustiner every day. I want to be German forever.

I’m completely torn between the two places. In the end, I am going home, that is just the way that it is and I am okay with that. but I am going to miss Munich so much. Not only will I miss all of the wonderful friends that I’ve made here but I’m going to miss the city and the culture, the food, the memories that I had while I was living here. Hell, I might even miss the kids. Haha. It’s all coming to end so much faster than I would like. I am going to be so sad to leave here. It really does feel impossible.

But, the good news is that I have a job lined up at home that I am 98% decided upon. Between the eight families that have contacted me about working for them, only two of them have really done any follow through. I’ve been discussing offers and options, back and forth, between both of them and I think that I am decided on the one that I want. They’ve offered me the better package and the most information concerning schedules, salaries, benefits, expectations, etc, etc. Plus, the one that I want is more reasonable as far as finances are concerned and it gives me more room to rebuild my life and get back on my feet. Also, it would mean that I would be living with my mom in Morro Bay and that I wouldn’t be going back to Monterey. I’ve been thinking about living there and in the end it’s more practical for me to live with my mom for the next phase of my life and then I can work towards moving back to Monterey with better financial results. Anyway, the job is great and if I decide to take it, I’ll give more details about it but for now, we’ll just leave it in a state of indecision. I should know by the end of the week what choice I will make once they give me official offers or employment that I can either turn down or accept. I will let you know, dear readers!

Speaking of being a nanny (or something of the sort), I had a lot of fun with the girls this past Friday while I was babysitting. We went to a playground after they came home from school and we played in the sunshine and put flowers in our hair. I’ve been teaching myself how to braid so I invented this whole new hairstyle on the spot and the girls each ended up with a super cool head of hair. Au pair Hezzah for the win!

My little cuties

An Ode to the Englischer Garten, German Churches, Good Friends, and the Eventual End of an Epic Adventure

It’s hard to believe that winter ever existed here in Munich. I’ve almost forgotten what it was like to brave the cold, snowy weather for nearly four months time. The weather, since early April, has been absolutely beautiful. It’s been warm, sometimes even hot, and the skies have been an endless blue. There have been a few rainy days but not many and even then, they are accompanied by thunderstorms and how can I complain about that? I love thunderstorms. One thing about spring that I don’t like – hay fever. Boo to sneezing and itchy, red eyes!

With this glorious weather, I’ve been able to spend a lot of time in the English Gardens, too, which, if you will remember, is my favorite place in Munich. I’ll find any and every excuse to ride my bike through there and lucky for me, I’ve had a lot of them lately because I couldn’t afford to buy a train ticket for May. So I’ve been riding my bike everywhere and I usually will use the EG as a peaceful passage between home and the city center. This, of course, is wonderful because of all of the beautiful trees and pathways and things to look at. I am still in awe of this park – I love it so much.

I wish I could live here forever.

I’ve also been spending a lot of time with my friends at the EG, too. We’ll meet up on sunny Saturdays or even during the week if we’re available and we just lay out in the sun with books, guitars, beer, what have you. Sometimes I just take a book and go lay out by myself in the north end of the Gardens near my house. It’s ridiculously quiet and unpopulated and it kind of makes you feel small and insignificant in a really fantastic kind of way. I love it. Another thing that recently made me feel small and insignificant but with a grand gesture – the church at Ludwig Maximillian University. It was stunning. I hadn’t been into a church in Munich since the winter so it was extremely humbling to be reminded on their beauty and majesty.

I’ve been walking by this church for eleven months now and I don’t know WHY it never occurred to me to walk in. But last week, as I was waiting to meet Jennie, I thought, “What the hell?” and just wandered inside. A strange kind of fear came over me as I walked in, almost as if I were terrified of the massiveness of the church it self. A calm settled over me and I just stared in awe, completely transfixed. The church was so beautiful. Also, I’ve gotten into the habit of lighting candles for my mom whenever I walk into one. Thinking of you, ma!

I’ve been mentioning her a lot lately and yes, Jennie, is back in Munich! I first met her during our epic 22-hour trip to Neuschwanstein that she managed to narrowly escape. She went back to Canada in early September to finish law school and now she is back in Munich after eight months. It’s been nice having her back – I can’t wait until we start cooking and having fancy dinner parties at her sweet apartment. And all of the conversations! The two of us could talk all day long. And it’s good to have the girl back purely for her love for karaoke! She’s a karaoke fiend and that is always appreciated around these parts with how often we go to the karaoke bar. Also back to Munich after nearly three months of being away, is my darling Eric who I missed ever so much. Of course, all the regular cast members are still around and I’m loving every minute of my life here because of it. I have such wonderful friends – new and old – and I have been so blessed this year to have them!  And you want to know something really cool? Tiago is coming to visit me in California, less than a week after I get home! He’s one of my best friends here and it’s obvious that he can’t live without me. Haha. So I’m looking forward to showing him the sunny side of America and introducing him to my friends back home – which will be a weird transition. How do I blend one totally different part of my life with another? Of course, it’s effortless but I just can’t wrap my mind around it. Weird!

Me and Tiago at a Studentstadt party, last Wednesday

I’ve been working a lot this spring – which I may have already mentioned – and although it can be frustrating for my social schedule, it’s still nice to be home every once in a while. I’ve been reading a lot and have made it through three or four books in the last month or two. I’ve challenged myself to read 25 books this year, before my 25th birthday and so far I’m at 20% progress. I’ve also been able to catch up on my blogs (thank God!) and do a little bit of job searching back home… which has been a huge success thus far but more on that later. ;) Also, I sleep a lot, spend a lot of time outside, Facebook more than I should, and spend more time with the girls that I care for (which isn’t always nice but we all have our bad days, right?). Hopefully I get to make the most of these last five weeks and that my host-mom and I don’t butt heads too much. It would definitely make for an interesting last few weeks if I had to stay in 4 to 5 nights every week. There’s not very much time left!

The reality is that I leave Munich for California on June 20th. I finish my au pair contract exactly five weeks from today. Five weeks ago from today, I was planning my trip to Rome with Brenna and was just getting over the excitement of Starkbierfest. That feels as if it were just days behind me – not five weeks. It’s hard to imagine that in two months I will be in California again. I can’t imagine going back to my old life. Of course, it will be different but I feel like I’ve changed so much, like I won’t fit inside of California anymore, like every part of me will just want to bust free and come back here. Ah, it’s going to be a hard transition, I won’t expect it to be easy. But, for now, I will enjoy every minute that it presented to me here and I will not think too much about what lies ahead on the other side of the world. It’s not a bad thing to go home but it’s not easy to walk away from this year abroad either. I am looking forward to being with my friends and family again but I know that I will ache for Munich and it will take a long time to stop missing the life that I lived here.

But, alas… the show must go on.

I Have Not Forgotten About You–Resuming Life in Munich and the Daze of Spring

With all this talk of my Italian vacation, my life in Munich has kind of been overshadowed and I haven’t really been giving it much justice, have I? I am down to seven weeks here and the thought of that blows my mind. I have been having a horrible time balancing it out, too. I want to be home but I want to be here. I can’t keep myself from being in both places and, for a while there, the homesickness was eating me alive and turning me into an emotional mess. I think I’ve pushed past it though, I’m feeling better and more balanced. I’m not missing the days of vacation and I have so much to look forward to over the next few months and so things are good. All is well with this German girl. :)

The last week went easy on me, where both work and my social life were concerned. The girls were not in school so they had the week off and I was pleasantly surprised to find that I didn’t have to work until 3 pm everyday of the week. We watched a lot of movies (Nana is absolutely terrified of Tangled, next time I will let her watch it in German to take the edge off), played a lot of Angry Birds (the six year olds have surpassed me on the levels), and ate a lot of pasta (what else is new?). The weather was beautiful so my friends and I spent a lot of time out in the sun either at the English Gardens or BBQing at the Isar. Munich in the spring is absolutely stunning – the trees have all turned green and are flourishing with the rain and sunshine. Lilacs are blooming (my favorite!!), birds are singing, the sun is shining. Everyone here is happy!

Down at the Isar with friends

Sunset on the Isar

Bruno Mars in Munich?!?!?

Lilacs in a Bavarian approved vase

A little bit of home has found its way to Germany, too – my good friend, Christina, who I used to work for in Monterey, has come to Germany to visit her mom, Kathe, who I have mentioned before in this blog. I went to Garmisch this past weekend to visit her and had such a relaxing weekend full of family, food, and much needed relaxation. I will make a separate post about the weekend, of course, but for now, let’s just say it was incredibly wonderful to see her and even though I had to say hello and goodbye to a piece of home, I was grateful to have her here! Hopefully I get to see her again before she leaves.

On that note, darling Jennie is returning to Munich today! If you haven’t read her blog, Too Hard to Find a URL, go do it. She’s witty and intelligent and Canadian so obviously she’s worth knowing. I met her last summer, here in Munich, and she’s returning now for an internship at a law firm here in Munich so I’m excited to have her back here while I enjoy my last few weeks in Munich. I am going to meet her at her new apartment in a few hours, too! Fresh off the airplane!

Now that Easter vacation is over, it’s back to regular scheduled programming. The girls are back in school, the Frau is filling up her spring social calendar, I am back to being overworked, and life goes on. For seven more weeks (to the day), I will live my German life to the fullest possible extent. Frühlingsfest commenced on Friday so I hope to take advantage of that soon (but more on that later!) and it is now officially May! This time last year I was polishing off my Capstone project and presentation, preparing for graduation, leaving most of my jobs, and getting ready to move out of my apartment. It’s hard to believe that a year has gone by since then or that I’m even this close to the end of my experience here in Germany. Sometimes, especially now with the spring weather and the nostalgic scents of the season, it feels like I just got here. Hopefully, I can make the best of my remaining time and leave Munich with a heavy but happy heart.

Munich’s Spring Make-Over, Adventures in the English Gardens, Starkbierfest, Vacation Dreams, and Shameless Self-Promotion

Remember when I used to be really good about writing updates about my life? Those were the days. Ha. I promise you that I’ve been thinking about it – there just hasn’t been a lot of doing. I have so much to catch up so I hope that I can do it justice. This may be a fairly long update but I have a feeling that you won’t mind. :)

The best thing about my life in Munich right now is that SPRING IS HERE. And I don’t mean like, maybe spring is kind of deciding to show up… the season has done a full on, head first somersault into spring and it’s absolutely GORGEOUS. The trees started turning green sometime late last week and there’s no stopping them now. I imagine that sometime next week, Munich will be bathed completely in green and we will be in business. The weather has been absolutely breathtaking as of late – high 60’s, low 70’s for temperatures, blue skies, sunshine, cloudless afternoons. Lately I’ve been spending my days in the English Gardens, laying out in the sun with friends, picnicking, listening to music, and thoroughly enjoying the new season. I’ve gotten a few sunburns already – two or three – and as painful as they are, it’s always nice when you can say you got your first sunburn of the season in late March!

Here’s some pictures from our lay outs in the English Gardens that I graciously stole from my friends Facebooks and some that I stole from myself. Spring! Yay!

(Not So) New German Girl: Nine Months Down, Three to Go

March 20th marked the nine month “anniversary” of my arrival to Munich. And on this date, last year, March 28, 2010 I started this blog – Diary of An American Au Pair slash New German Girl. It’s been one year since that first post and nine months since I first arrived and guess what? I’m not so new anymore!

How can I explain to you just how much my life has changed over the last nine months? You’ve been reading this blog (I hope) so you have an idea of how far I’ve come and the things that I’ve seen but how could I really explain it to you in words? I’m not even so sure that I can do that for myself. What I do know, is that the girl that I was when I left California is not the same girl that will return in June. I have changed, my life has changed, and my eyes are wide open. I may not have seen very much of the world but what I have here – I absolutely love and to be quite honest, I wouldn’t ask for a do-over even if you paid me.

The months leading up to my German adventure were busy, busy, busy. Of course I had Germany on my mind but I was so preoccupied. I was trying to finish my Capstone and was looking forward to my college graduation. I was organizing all of my material possessions, moving out of my apartment, walking away from my numerous jobs and co-workers, saying good bye to friends and loved ones, and preparing myself for the unknown. When I first arrived, after nearly 13 hours of travel with swollen feet and a weary smile, it didn’t feel that different. I couldn’t understand how to get through the airport, not because of the language – everything was written in both English and Deutsch – but because Franz Joseph Strauss airport is a ridiculous mess of signs and signals and moving sidewalks. Eventually, I found a taxi in some shady back corner and I gave my address to the driver and although he barely understood me – I was hopeless back then – he managed to finally understand and we were driving away. My adventure was right in front of me. It was about to begin.

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!

I Get Paid to Do Stuff Like This (Part 2)

I shouldn’t have to explain why my job is so great. I’ll let the pictures do the talking on this one. Also, it should be noted that when I was in the 1st grade I pretty much won every coloring contest that Mrs. Miller threw at me. I mean, I’m not bragging or anything but…. skills like that really shouldn’t be wasted.

Out of Town… Er, Country… I Mean, Continent

I feel like an asshole. I had no idea that there was a shooting in Arizona until about ten minutes ago. To be fair, I was never the type of girl to know all of the news or keep up to date on CNN in the first place – even when I was in America. Whenever I had a morning class in college or had to work the morning shifts for whatever job I had at the time, I always got ready while watching either the local news station or the Today show. That is about the extent of my news watching prowess. And no, I don’t watch the Colbert Report or the Daily Show either. In fact, the most regular “news” that I got on a consistent basis came from the Weekend Update on SNL. Jokes aside, at least I knew what was going on in my own country thanks to the radio, local news channels, and, most often, Facebook status updates. Being stuck in Germany has its downsides, I guess, but really, do I have a worthy excuse? Not really. I could have been proactive. I could subscribe to news feeds from American papers or news channels. I could actually watch CNN, the only English language channel that I have available to me. But I don’t. And now I just feel like an asshole and know that it’s my own fault.

It’s funny because moments like this constantly make me realize how much I take for granted living in America. Not that Germany is completely lost on news stories – I’m sure they’ve covered the shooting here somewhere but I just don’t watch it because I don’t understand the language and I can’t read German. From this point on, I promise myself that I will be more proactive about knowing what’s going on in the world. I feel like an idiot and I don’t like that. And when I get home, I fully intend to pay more attention to this kind of stuff.

In other news, life is back to normal in the world of this au pair. The family is back from their 2 1/2 week vacation, the girls are back to school, and the world spins madly on. I’ve been outside about three times in the last three days. I went on a super duper walk when it was snowing the other day and then I went outside two more times to get my mail. Ha. It’s cold, I don’t have any money, I don’t have a train ticket, and I started reading Jane Eyre the other day which has sufficiently sucked me in. Pretty much everyday at about 1:30 pm, I lay in bed intent on reading and then I end up falling asleep until about 4. My bad. I get paid on Friday so I fully intend on 1) having money, 2) buying a train ticket, 3) seeing my friends before cabin fever sets in, and 4) eating something that definitely isn’t kid friendly. Because I’m getting tired of kid friendly stuff. Spaghetti, rice, cucumbers. Damn. It’s boring! And when it gets warmer (who knows when that will be) I also intend on running again. Which usually only lasts me for a week or two before I get bored. I will force myself to do my Berlitz language course though. I still haven’t made it past lesson 4. Ha.

So, for now, this au pair is a self-proclaimed hermit.

Hrmph.

Six Months In: A Proper Update of The Experience Thus Far

I have officially been in Germany for six months. I am halfway finished with this crazy adventure and it’s hard to believe that there’s still half of the experience left to explore. It feels like it’s all gone by so fast and before I can even comprehend what has transpired, I feel like it will be all over and I’ll be on that 10 AM flight back to California. The last six months of my life have been incredible and I wouldn’t trade this experience for any other. I hope that the next six months will be just as amazing.

I sometimes find myself thinking back on my first few days here, and even the days before arriving in Munich, and it feels so far away. It was all so surreal – I couldn’t believe that I had actually done it or that any of it was even real. As long as I’d been alive, I’d never saw myself as the girl who got to go to Europe to live this big fancy adventure in a foreign place. I always believed that my life was average, mediocre, uneventful. It turns out that your life will be this way if you don’t do something to change it. When I was 17, I was that girl who thought she wasn’t smart enough to go to college but then I took a chance and tried and six years later, I graduated cum laude from a four year university. This decision worked the same way. I thought I was just going to be another college graduate, out there swimming in a sea of indecision, but I thought, “You know what? Not yet.” And I did something about it. I researched, I followed through, I paid attention. And now, I’m here, living one of the greatest adventures of my life.

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.