Sometimes things work out in the weirdest way...

Okay, I still haven't been in any sort of headspace over the last few days to write about last weekend at all, but I have to tell you what's happened today.

First of all, I should say that the trip was cancelled because the guy who was driving got sick, and then there was another guy who got in a car accident the other week and so... now no one's going. It has been snowing in Munich lots and lots but that's not the reason.

Then I should say that Olivier is an absolute godsend! On Thursday he made me quiche (oh, yeah!) and we were going to go to Karaoke, but we started playing crib and... well, I'm sure you all know what happens when you start playing crib - it doesn't stop! So we spent the whole night playing crib and not going to Karaoke. That's okay because we went last night and had a great time. I, personally, had such a great time, that I have no voice today, which sucks because our plan was to find a New Year's Eve Karaoke Party and sing the night away. Whatever, having no voice has never stopped me in the past! Anyways, we found a NYEKP but weren't sure if we were supposed to buy tickets or what, so I took a nap and considered calling them to ask.

While I was napping, I got a text message from Geli (see Franz Ferdinand post) and she said (get this) that some of her friends were planning a Karaoke party and wanted to know if I wanted to join her. So I called her and I guess that her ski trip got cancelled, too and she just found out yesterday. So she is staying Munich and wasn't sure what I was up to and now, just like that, Olivier and I are going to this Karaoke party with Geli.

Don't get me wrong, I knew that things would work out, I just didn't think they'd work out this well...

Not much to say

Well, the truth is that there are tons of things to say, but I can't say them. Not right now, at least. I'm too... sad, maybe?

I was in a good mood today because I talked to Ashley last night. I called her and we talked for, like, two hours. It was awesome. Then today was a really weird day full of not doing very much. And no one was online all day. And I was very lonely. And if any of my neighbours are home, they are probably going to shoot me if I play BNL's Brian Wilson one more time.

Then someone did come online. And I was happy. And it was Eddy. And the ski trip is cancelled. And I'm not going to Austria anymore. And I don't know what I'll do. And I'm... disappointed, maybe?

Poop.

I wish...

If I had a rubber ball that was really, REALLY bouncy, I'd feel a lot better more of the time.

Merry Christmas!!

Okay, this is going to be really short because I have to leave for the train station in 3 hours and I just got home, but I want to wish everyone a merry Christmas! I will be back on Sunday or Monday and will fill you all in then. Love you all.

Days like these... I hate'em

Today was a rotten day. A rotten, rotten day. I woke up at 7:30 and had to pee so bad. I wandered off to the bathroom with my eyes closed so that I didn't wake up more than I had to; this is not very difficult because my room is only fourteen square metres. I finished up, put my head under the tap to get a drink of water because I had morning pasties and got back into bed. I realised that I was actually feeling quite refreshed and hoped that I wouldn't fall back into a deep sleep before my alarm rang at 8:15, but I love lying in bed so much that I wasn't about to get out of it any sooner than I had to. When the alarm rang I was tempted to just get up and start the day, but decided that I had actually set the alarm for 8:12 for the explicit purpose of hitting snooze twice. I should mention here that my class didn't start until 1:00, but I am trying to turn over a new leaf by getting up at 8(ish) everyday and exercising; the first phase is training myself to get up, then I will try the exercising part. So, I hit snooze. And had a little dream before the next alarm rang. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. When everything was said and done, I got out of bed at 11:00. Not happy.

Today is Wednesday. Wednesday is the day where I see that TA that I have a crush on so I always try to look nice on Wednesdays. Today is an especially big Wednesday because I don't think that everyone who normally comes to the Uebung will be there, seeing as how it is the last week before the break. I turn on my curling iron so that it can heat up while I shower. I get in the shower. I shower. I get out of the shower. I don't know what to wear. I decide to air dry and make lunch. You know, yesterday before lunch I washed all the dishes, so how is it possible that every single dish in the whole place is dirty? I start cutting up some veggies (still naked) and get some meat cooking, then I take the towel off my head and brush out my hair. I go over to the curling iron. It's not hot. That's odd. Then I realise that it's broken. I almost cry, but hold it together. I try a different outlet. Still nothing. I'm sure it's broken and I'm sad because it's the best curling iron ever, and it's from Canada and I only recently found out that it's dual voltage and was just enjoying it again. It was like a second honeymoon with this old girl and then she just died on me! That's okay, I'll find something else to do with my hair. Crap, better get back to cooking lunch or it will burn.

It's now 12:10. I am sitting at my desk, naked, eating spaghetti, watching Gilmore Girls and whining to Nicole and Olivier over MSN about what a shitty morning it's been. I finish eating and put on some pants. I decide that I have to do something with my hair so I put it in a muffin. Frizzy. I take it out of the muffin, grab my blow dryer, straighten only the front and put it back into a muffin. I find a shirt and put that on. That messes up the muffin and I have to redo it. I am finally ready to go and I head off. At least I get to see that TA today. I get to the lecture and sit next to the friend I have in that class. Her name is Dijana. She says that someone is checking to see if the prof is even here today. He isn't; class is cancelled. So now I have two hours before the Uebung. Dijana is going home, and isn't coming back; it's not worth it. I realize that, if I thought there were going to be only a few people there before, there certainly would be even less now that the lecture (which is directly before the Uebung) was cancelled.

Canadian Bari would take this opportunity to impress and talk to Hot TA. That's because Canadian Bari is smart and funny and quick. German Bari is awkward. That's it. That sums me up: awkward. So I went home and watched my new favorite soap opera. Then Nicole and I went to the store. I came home, ate dinner and then headed off to work. I had a very strenuous evening because Dario was busting my chops right from the get go about correcting the homework assignments that were handed in because they wanted to email them back out tomorrow before the holidays start. But when I got there Oksana was correcting someone's work and there were two other people waiting to be corrected, so I sat down with one of them despite what he had to say.

I finished up with the girl and got to work on the homework assignments. The last homework assignment was an easy one to correct; it was a letter of introduction. In this one, the student reads a short article on apartheid in South Africa and then writes a short paper on their opinion on the matter. This is really hard to mark. Sometimes the person writes something that is really unclear and you have to guess the proper word that they wanted to use, but you know that it could be one of four words and each word would give it a completely different meaning. It's really hard when they aren't there to ask what they mean. It's really strenuous, actually.

Afterwards Dario, Oksana, Christian and I all headed off to Tollwood again. I love Tollwood and was thrilled that that's where we were going! So, we got there and met one of their friends who was named Christina (I think) and spend the next hour standing out in the cold and drinking Gluehwein, Gluehbier and hot chocolate (by the way, Nicole, I tried those Langos things: they're okay) before heading into the main pavillion tent to look around. It ended up okay. But I bought some mittens and a little bag thing and was too downtrodden to bargain. Whatever, I don't feel ripped off, and I guess that's what matters.

I hope that tomorrow is a better day. It should be. Nicole and I are going to take the Christkindltram (Christmas tram) around the city and then, in the evening, we are going to a concert with Olivier and a friend of his from France who is coming for Christmas. He seems pretty certain that she and I will hit it off, so I am excited. The band is called Gogol Bordello and, from the two songs I've heard, they sound like a cross between Polish folk music and Ska. Kind of like Ska with a squeeze box instead of a saxophone. We'll have to see, though, because I really have only heard the two songs. Okay, I should head to bed now, I have a big day tomorrow! I leave you with a picture that I took of Tollwood the first time I went. I apologize that it's a little blurry, but what you are looking at is a large sculpture right near the entrance. Apparently, there is a new sculpture every year.

I need an intervention

On one hand, I should be stopped. On the other – I don’t wanna be!! Look what I bought yesterday:

My language course went really well and then I met up with Katie and we went to Tollwood (the huge Fringe-esque market). And that’s where I bought the buckle; I also bought some new earrings, but they are really quite boring. They’re just rings with a silver ball in them, but they are to replace my orbitals since I lost the silver ball, like two years ago! Then we ate perogies and a huge Polish sausage. Then we cracked jokes for the rest of the evening every time one of us burped because Polish sausages come back to visit over and over and over! I love Tollwood. I could spend hours and hours and thousands of dollars there. I think that it has replaced Shopper’s Drug Mart as my favorite place to shop! There’s one problem: it closes on Friday. It’s just a seasonal thing. Oh, well. That’s probably for the best.

That’s pretty much it. Did laundry this morning. There was a dryer free, which is awesome. I love socks that fit!! I can’t believe that it is already Dec. 20!! Katie leaves today. I’m excited because she’s going to bring me back stuff, but I’m sad because she’s good to have around! When she was in Portugal for a week it was tough, but now she’s going to be gone for two and a half weeks!! Whatever, not worth stressing about. She’ll have fun and I’m excited for her. Okay, well, I have to go fetch those clothes from the dryer, laters!

Let's try posting daily

Well, I don't have much time before I have to head off to my language class, but I thought I'd post something quick so we don't end up with what happened last week!

Yesterday Nicole and I went over to Katie's place to help her pack since she leaves tomorrow. We ate one of the pecan logs that mom sent me and I wrapped the stuff I'm sending back with Katie. Three bites of that pecan log and I was literally vibrating! I love pecan logs. Then I came home and called my parents. I should mention that I usually call them on Sunday nights, it's nice to have that every week. And Nicole recently set me up with this awesome phone card thing and now it's super cheap! Anyways, when I talked to mom she asked how many pecan logs I got in the package. I said, "Two." She said, "That's funny, I sent six." So, apparently, four of my pecan logs got confiscated by Deutsche Post. How odd.

Today I had my two morning classes and then went to the Christmas Market at Marienplatz. I'm going to be really sad when this season is over because it's so nice there. I should interject here for anyone *cough*Nicole*Katie*cough* who has heard me complain about the Christmas Market at Marienplatz: It was very nice at noon on a Monday. (I am occasionally very vocal and emphatic about not going to said market, but that's always on a Friday or Saturday.) Then I ate a donair. I love donairs, but I realized that I was getting a little too into eating them, so I stopped. You know the post from Dec. 6 where I talked about eating a really oniony donair and then getting stopped and asking for directions? That was the last time I ate one. That's almost two weeks!! Awesome.

I have had, emotionally, the weirdest couple of days. This might be homesickness, or the fact that Christmas is less than a week away, or (let's face it) it might just be hormones. Either way, I have been a varitable rollercoaster. I alternate between dancing around my room singing quietly along to my music (I have had to learn how to quietly sing along because the rooms aren't exactly sound proof - but I make up for it by enthusiastically dancing around) to just sitting down on the bed in silence and then taking a nap (yeah, I know, you're all really surprised that I would nap, right?!). I don't cry, though. How unlike me.

Anyways, I don't want to end it on that note. Truthfully, I am in a good place and I can't wait for classes to end! I am definitely going skiing in Austria for Sylvester with my buddy Eddy, who I haven't seen in, like, four years and I stole a bunch of music from Katie. Things, on the whole, are good. Okay, time to leave now. Where'd I put my pants...?

I can't believe I almost forgot about this!!

Wrestling. Wrestling, wrestling, WRESTLING!!! Olivier found me wrestling!! He has a few TV stations that I don't have and one of his stations plays Smackdown on Thursday nights. And he said that I am allowed to go over and watch!! Oh yeah!!!

On playing crib and other activities

Okay, let’s start with Tuesday: Tuesday was a pretty good day. I got up fairly early and Katie and I went to get our monthly money from the place where we get our monthly money. We decided to walk home and on the way we stopped in at Karstadt (big department store) and I found myself a couple of scarves that I really like. The scarf thing is so funny. Europeans love scarves. And if you go to Europe, you’ll start loving scarves, too. I don’t know why that is, it just is. We also stopped at the bank to deposit the cash. I need to explain the German deposit system at the ATM. It’s fantastic. Well, fantastically novel. You don’t put the cash into an envelope at all; a little door opens up and you drop the money into it. The door then shuts and the machine counts what you have. It reports it’s findings on the screen (like, 2x100=200 and 5x50=250 so, you’ve deposited 450) and you confirm that it counted correctly. I find it absolutely hilarious. Also, on this topic, I have spoken to several Americans and they have no idea what I’m talking about. Apparently, you can’t deposit cash into ATM’s in the States. That’s weird if you ask me, or surprising at the very least.

Okay, back on topic. So then I went home to wait for the package that I had arranged to have delivered. They said it would come some time between noon and 5 o’clock so I prepared to sit around and wait. Turns out that the package came just after one, and I was so excited that the Deutsche Post guy probably thought I was crazy! The first thing I did was run to the computer and MSN Nicole and Katie with the word “PACKAGES!!! PACKAGES!!! PACKAGES!!!” This is especially funny because I’m not sure why referred to the package in the plural, but I did. Then, a few days later, my mom sent me an email asking something and commenting about the package and the subject line in the email was “Packages!!!” Also in the plural and also with three exclamation points, proving once again that I am my mom’s mini-me.

The package looked pretty beat up; the brown paper that was on the outside was covered with Deutsche post tape and I thought, “Wow, this really took a beating!” But after I took off the outer wrap and realized that the box was taped up with this same tape underneath the brown wrap, I read the tape and it said something to the affect of “This box was opened by Deutsche Post for customs purposes,” and I realized that they had actually opened it up and looked through it, then taped back up again. There were really weird about it, though. Here’s what I got:

1. A card from my mom that is so cute. I haven’t read the inside yet, because I’m waiting till Christmas, but on the envelope it has the words “Extra Postage Required” and my mom wrote “Yeah! No Kidding” underneath it. I laughed and laughed. The customs people opened up this card to see what was inside.


2. My ski pants. This is important because I’m going skiing for New Year’s.


3. A couple DVD’s and a CD I’d asked for.


4. A couple pecan logs because I love them!


5. A few cans of stuff that I love at home and can’t get here. (This was weird because they didn’t confiscate them, but we kind of thought that we weren’t allowed to import them. Oh, well. If they didn’t confiscate it, then it’s not illegal!)


6. A box of Toffifee (also a Christmas tradition). This is really funny because, for one, even though the box was sealed by the manufacturer, the customs people sliced it open to see what was inside. That’s just weird if you ask me. The other funny thing about this is that I am in the country where they make Toffifee. It is so cheap here! I can get a box of 15 for less than one Euro, yet I’m sure mom probably spent several dollars on the box in Canada and then paid to have it shipped here! I was going to send some home for Christmas, but mom sent me some! It’s funny, but also really sweet because there are some Christmas traditions that you just have to have; Toffifee is one of those traditions.


7. Several wrapped packages that I am waiting for Christmas to open. Customs didn’t open any of these.


8. A CRIB BOARD!!!

I think that’s it. It was awesome to get. I love packages from home! If anyone wants to send me a package, I’d totally be down with that!!

I think that the rest of Tuesday was pretty uneventful. Katie and I went to the Christmas party for the language lab and anyone who has anything to do with the language lab, but we only stayed for a little bit.

Wednesday was a pretty regular day, but then in the evening Katie and I went with a friend from the language lab to one of the markets around town. I’m not sure if I should call it a Christmas market or not. It’s a really big version of the sort of little shops they’d have at the Fringe, except that it isn’t the same things over and over again. It’s just lots of little booths with awesomely interesting stuff. Anyways, I have 2 favorite parts from the evening: 1. This guy had these puppets that were awesome. I don’t know what to call it, but if you saw it you’d be like, “I’ve seen those before. I didn’t think they were that impressive.” But this guy was incredible! He could do things with this little marionette-esque toy that were so adorable! So I bought one. It was only 7€ and I hope to learn how to do what this guy does. I was completely enthralled by his mad-puppet-skills. 2. Katie and I found a food stand that sells Polish food. What’s so exciting about that? Perogies!!! I didn’t realize how much I loved perogies until I couldn’t have them. They are a little different than Ukrainian perogies, but it was close enough to fill the void. Anyways, as Katie and I were walking along eating these I was suddenly like, “Can I eat this styrofoamy container they came in?” (don’t ask why I thought this because I have no idea myself) and I snapped off a piece and ate it. Sure enough, the little bowl-thingy was made out of something similar to those foamy ice cream cones. So then I cracked a bunch of jokes about “And then I ate the bowl!!” and laughed myself silly. I crack me up.

Thursday I went to class in the morning and then Katie and I headed to Wal-Mart. She had to buy a very large pot for her floor’s Christmas party. She couldn’t tell me what it was for, all she knew was that they were making some kind of special drink in it. So, the afternoon went on and the two of us met up with this guy named Richard because we are going to work on a project for the university (again, this is good because I feel like I’m overpayed and underworked). Basically they are overhauling all of their materials for foreign students, so they are starting with English and then will translate it to all the other languages after that. I’m pretty excited to help out. So, Katie had to work in the language lab and then she swung by and grabbed me and we headed off to the party. Turns out that the pot was for a Feuerzangenbowle, which I should have known, but I was obviously not thinking clearly. A Feuerzangenbowle is a very popular German Christmas tradition. Basically, you heat up some wine and add cut up fruit (oranges and lemons) and some spices. Then you need a special holder for a special cone made of sugar (I think this holder is called the Feuerzange) and you saturate the sugar with a very strong rum and then light it on fire. The fire melts the sugar and it drips down into the wine concoction, and you keep pouring rum on the sugar to keep it aflame until all the sugar is gone. I have heard about it before, but this is really the first time I’ve seen one done. It was really neat.

Friday Nicole, Katie and I took the train to Nuremberg to go to the Christmas market there. We had heard so much about it that we just had to go. It was about a 3 hour train ride each way and the round trip was 27€, so that was a pretty good price. The thing is that it was raining in Nuremberg. Not snowing, raining. But it wasn’t bad, so we headed off in the direction of the market. Well, I gotta be honest, I wasn’t super impressed. There was nothing there that I couldn’t get here in Munich at a Christmas market. And the rain got worse. Lots worse. It ended up hailing and everything. It was brutal. Whatever, we came home and all agreed that we were unimpressed, but glad we went and it was fun taking a real train instead of just the trains around the city.

Then in the evening we went to… (are you ready for this?)… A KARAOKE BAR!!! I was going to arrange a Karaoke party, but decided that I better scope out the joint first. I don’t want to go sending a bunch of emails and SMS’s just to have everyone show up and find out that the selection stinks, the host sucks and the system blows. So Nicole, Katie and I headed out. It was awesome!! So now I have to plan a Karaoke party for sometime in January. We only stayed for a little while to read the list and hear the system. Nicole and I each sang one song and then we left. The other girls headed home, but I headed off to go to a party at some bar near the Ostbahnhof (east train station). It ended up being a real comedy of errors getting there and meeting people and on and on. Bottom line was that I got there and stayed for maybe an hour and a half before I was like, “This DJ is possibly the worst DJ I have ever heard, and I have made my required appearance. I’m outta here!” You want to know how bad this guy was? At one point, after playing several techno-ish songs in a row, he played Don McLean’s American Pie. Now, I love this song, really, nothing against the song, but he played at a dance club. And that is my point. I’ve never been to DJ school, but I just imagine that breaks some sort of rule. It worked out really well that I left when I did because I caught the very last train home! And, let me tell you, it’s no cheap taxi ride from the Ostbahnhof to home!

Then, yesterday, I spent most of the day messing around in my room. I absolutely had to clean the place up and I still hadn’t decorated my Christmas tree (*hee hee*) even though I said I’d do it on the tenth. So, in amongst my dancing around, cleaning up and drinking, I was having a conversation with Olivier. He ended up inviting us over and said he’d make us crepes! So, after much SMSing, Nicole and I decided to take him up on the offer, but Katie wanted to get ready for heading back to Canada (which she does on Tuesday). We made it to his place with relative ease and a fair amount of fun (see, I had been drinking rye all afternoon at this point) and then had to walk up the five flights of stairs. Ugh. That was tough. Olivier – every day, really? Anyways, I brought my newly received crib board and Nicole and I started playing while Olivier started on the crepes. We didn’t make it too far into the game before we started helping too, and then some of Olivier’s roommates came and joined and we all ate crepes together. Shortly after dinner Nicole left and I played crib with Olivier and his roommate, Dijana. I ended up staying there very, very late and caught the train home this morning after they had all started running again. Very, very late.

So, that was my week. Sorry this is one long post instead of several short ones, but I was really lazy and pretty busy all week. There are classes this week, and then it’s vacation until the ninth of January. Even the language lab is closed, so I don’t even have to work. I love Christmas time! Oh, I should also mention that the last post was number 50. I'm pretty proud of that.

Nothing fits like wet denim!!!

I want to talk about the concert, but I warn you, this'll be long.

It was awesome! I met Geli and her friends at a Christmas market (one of many here in Munich) to have some Glühwein before we headed off to the concert. Their names were Ron and Heidi. We got to the concert and got in a line up for the coat check. Is that weird? That there was a coat check, I mean. Anyways, we made it to the front of the line in a relatively short time and then we grabbed a beer. I had gotten an SMS from Nicole and Olivier, while we were on the way to the show, telling me where they were standing in relation to the stage: right up front, to the right, and I wanted to go find them. So Geli and I finished up our beers, arranged to meet Ron and Heidi in that spot after the concert and headed into the crowd. We got pretty near the stage and then hit a dead end. There were these people sitting on the ground waiting for the show to start and we couldn't really get around them, so we just stood and waited for the openers (The Rakes). During the second song of The Rakes' set I saw Nicole and Olivier just a little bit ahead of us, so we pushed our way through the crowd to them, where I just danced and danced for the rest of the set.

I would like to take this opportunity to fully agree with Hannah: I hate how indie kids don't dance!! You're at a freaking show!! There's a freaking band on the freaking stage playing their freaking hearts out and you politely applaud at the end of each song??!! Are you kidding?! The music is in me!! I couldn't NOT dance if I wanted to!!! AAARRRGGGHHH!!!!

*Ahem* Sorry, I'll continue now. After The Rakes' set I decided that I had better use the facilities, so I headed off through the crowd. When I was done I figured I'd go look at the merch table to see what they had. I had made the comment to Geli earlier that I hadn't seen the merch table and she said that it was at the back. I went to the back. It wasn't there. But there was beer there, and I have been explaining in recent posts how much I like the beer here, so I bought myself one. I turned 90 degrees to the right and headed off in search of the merch table; I followed the wall all the way to the left hand side of the stage (like, I went all along the back wall and then down the side of the hall). Oh, I should mention here that this place is kind of like the Agricom, it's a completely wide open room with no chairs at all. The bands that play at the Shaw Conference Centre are the bands that would play at the Zenith, but it reminds me more of the Agricom than the Shaw.

Anyways, without having found the merchandise table, but content because I had a nice cold beer, and pretty certain that Franz Ferdinand would be coming on any time now, I decided to try and get back to my spot, which I knew would be difficult because we were so close. I was on the very left hand side of the crowd and about halfway through the really dense part of it. I considered going all the way around to the right and then cutting through (because they were closer to the right) but I figured that might be slow going because no one really wants to let you in front of them. I eventually decided that the best way was to, essentially, cut sideways through the crowd and just kind of get a little closer up every time. I found myself getting way too far to the right without getting any closer up. So I tried to head back towards the left with the same tactic. I got a little closer to the stage, but not nearly enough and had now hit an odd situation where I wanted to go straight forward, but no one was really into moving. And I still had three quarters of a beer. I eventually just stood there and drank my beer, deciding that I would wait until the band started and then push my way up. As I got down to one quarter of the beer I decided that was a rotton idea and that I really wanted to be with my friends when the show started! So I pushed my way straight right (like I wanted to get out - people are always willing to let you out) and then cut the diagonal line that I was hoping for. Olivier fortunately saw me as I was about 10' away; I say "fortunately" because people are more willing to let you through when someone is waving at you, they look like a dick if they don't.

Okay, so I got there just in time because the show started very shortly after. As they were coming out Olivier says to me, "Okay, guess the first song - it's tradition!" I thought about it for a quick second and then was like, "Well, uuuhhh, it'll be something from the new album, and something kind of fast.... This Boy!! Yeah, This Boy!!" (it's getting really loud now, and I have no idea if Olivier can even hear me) (but then I waffled), "No, maybe not! Maybe it would be something from the first album! Yeah, something from the first album!!" I'm retarded. No band would open up a tour for their second album with a song from their first! Whatever, the point is that they started up with This Boy and I was really happy that I called it, but I waffled, too. Oh well, I still say that, for the record, I totally called it. The rest is pretty much history; after a song or two Olivier asked if I wanted to head into the crazy part of the pit and I almost proposed marriage. We spent almost the rest of the concert there, which is really unusal for me - even as much as I love the pit! It's nice to have someone there to keep you safe and not being crushed and there were times where I was like, "I gotta get out of here!" But then I'd look over and see that Olivier was still into it, so I'd just clear myself some room, take a deep breath and then keep jumping and dancing. It was awesome!!

We ended up staying in the pit until about the second last song were we took a break, but then headed back into the ruckus for the encore. After the band left the stage we found Nicole and Geli again. Nicole was pretty much where we left her, and it turns out that she stayed there pretty much the whole time. Olivier and I were absolutely soaked with sweat (most of which, I have to admit, probably wasn't ours) and we headed off to the back of the hall. Wow, nothing fits better than wet denim, eh?! Believe me when I say that every single stitch of fabric that I was wearing was soaking. So Geli and I head off to find Ron and Heidi and ended up losing Nicole and Olivier in the process. I wanted to head to the coat check for several reasons:
1. I was very, very wet and they had opened all the doors in the place, so I was getting cold.
2. I kept the coat check ticket in my back pocket. My jeans got very wet and I got pushed around a lot. Also, every now and again I'd stick my finger in my back pocket to make sure I hadn't lost the thing. So this little piece of paper had turned itself into about 100 even littler pieces of paper. I pull a handful of this wet confetti out and find the number 11. Then the number 68. Then I find the top half of a 7. Then (*phew*)the bottom half. I finally decide that the original number was 11768 and, fortunately, Geli had number 11767, so I knew I was right. At any rate, I couldn't very well put this "paper" (trust me, the quotes are necessary) back in my pocket, so I made a fist and never opened my hand again.

The problem was that the line for the coat check was huge!! We waited in line for almost an hour!! As we were waiting, I finally saw the merch table! Turns out that, after I got distracted by the beer, if I had turned 90 degrees left instead of 90 degrees right, I would have been looking straight at it! I considered leaving the line long enough to get a shirt, but we were kind of in the middle of a crowd and it might be hard to get back, besides, I had my fist clenched tightly around what was left of my coat check number and thought it would be a difficult transaction with only one hand. Anyways, when we got to the front, the guy made fun of me for "murdering" the ticket, but found the coat anyway because it was only one number after Geli's. As we walked away I was like, "I want to stop by the merch table." Guess what. Yup, it was closed. I looked at the guy and I'm like, "What do you mean, 'It's closed'?" "It's closed, they're packing up, but you can still buy posters over there." So I did. It's better than nothing, but I'm pretty choked. Whatever. Anyways.

That was pretty much it. Nicole and Olivier had left long ago, so we headed off to the train and came home. It was a pretty long walk considering that even my undies were wet, but I made it! I have to write about today, now, but that took so long that I have to go to bed. So you'll get today tomorrow.

It's HERE!!!

So, my mom sent me a package last Monday and it's here!! In Munich!! Unfortunately, they tried to deliver it today while I was in class. So, I get home and find the slip on my door (which was an awesome surprise because I had just checked my mailbox for one and was quite disappointed that it was empty). I read it over to find out how to get the package out of the packstation that is in front of the building. See, both Katie and Nicole have gotten packages, and both Katie and Nicole retrieved their packages from the packstation. Nicole had an account there, but I'm pretty sure that Katie didn't. I just assumed that, if you weren't home, the postman would put the package in the packstation and you could pick it up at your leisure. Yeah... that's not what the instructions said. They said that I had 3 options: Call them and they would gladly deliver it tomorrow, free of charge, during a time that is better for me; Call them and they would gladly deliver it today, for a fee of course; or Pick it up myself. I took a look at the map they gave and realised that the DHL Express Post Office is quite far away, and not directly on a train line, so I didn't want to spend the time trying to get there tomorrow. But I really didn't want to call the number. I thought about it. I finally decided that, if DHL here is anything like DHL at home, I would get an automated system and would only have to talk to a person if I kept hitting zero over and over and over again! So I called.

Started off okay. Automated system. Good. Press 3. Okay. Press 1. Sure thing. "We are now connecting you to one of our customer service representatives." Pardon me? I don't want to talk to anyone! I considered hanging up, but decided that I could fudge my way through this. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't die or suffer much physical pain if I couldn't get my point across to these people; and, besides, I could always hang up. Okay, enough beating around the bush, the point is that I spoke to someone and arranged to have the package dropped off tomorrow! It wasn't too hard, either! (It was a little hard, though, because I had no idea what the verb for "deliver" is, and so I kind of just trailed off everytime I was supposed to say it. Hell, it's DHL, they know that I want them to drop the package off!) Yeah!! So now I will get my package tomorrow!! Mom said that she wrapped up a couple little things in there, so I will have real Christmas presents!!

Let's see, what else is new...? Oh, okay, Chris and Diana came back to town before they head out back to Canada. We went to the Hofbrauehaus and had some beers with some people they met at their hostel. Then I came home and had dinner with Katie and when Katie left I watched Happy Gilmore on TV. I ended up drinking a litre and a half of Diet Coke before bed. No big deal, right? Wrong! Let's just say that I went to bed at 1:00 and I still remember 4:30. Well, lesson learned, I guess. I've never had that problem before, but I'm sure that's why I was up so late. It might not have even been so bad, except that I had a class at 8:00 this morning, so I really only got about 2 hours of sleep. The funny thing is that I really don't feel that bad, and (get this) I didn't even fall asleep in my 10:00 class. First time in 3 weeks that I haven't! Right on! Here's hoping that I don't power out at the FRANZ FERDINAND CONCERT TONIGHT!!!!!! So excited!! I actually should take a shower and get ready now. Ciao!

Sorry, sorry

I’m sorry that I have been so lazy over the past few days, everyone. I don’t know if I mentioned it, but I’m sick… again. A few short weeks ago I made the comment that I never get really sick: I just get kind of sick for a really long time. So you can imagine how surprised I was when I made a complete recovery after only about 10-14 days! Well, then I was healthy for a week or so, and now I’m sick again. It started on Sunday or Monday where I woke up with a sore throat and it has gotten worse everyday. It probably also doesn’t help that, as soon as I started feeling better, I stopped taking the vitamins. And the fact that I can’t stop drinking alcohol. I can’t help it! I love the beer here and there is Glühwein everywhere I look because it’s Christmas. Booze!! Okay, so the point is that I’m sick again and the only thing I can really do to combat this is to sleep. Because if there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s sleeping*! So I went to bed on Thursday night at 1:00 in the morning and woke up at 1:45 in the afternoon on Friday; so I feel better now! Not 100%, but I do feel better.

Other things that are new:

1. Katie is back! I really missed her. We are all so crass together and I really missed that this week.


2. Katie and I did start marking some of the assignments in the language lab, so now I don’t feel so guilty for taking so much money from the University. We are also going to sit down and brainstorm for the conversation course (Hey, Elizabeth! Any help here would be appreciated.), and we got an email that some department is looking for native speakers to help them translate something; it would make me feel so much better.


3. Nicole and I went to a party at the Canadian Consulate on Thursday night. That was a lot of fun. I was surprised, because I wasn’t sure what to expect, but they served us chili (Oh, yeah! You know how much I love chili!) and lots and lots of wine. I also won a booby prize. I think it’s a booby prize. It’s a very nice-looking book, but I’m pretty sure it’s a book about the value of coins that are going to be in an auction in Frankfurt. And when I say “going to be” I mean “were in 1988.”


4. I have gotten a bunch of stuff in the Advent’s Calendar; some Schoko-Bons, a Happy Hippo and a Riegel. I get another egg tomorrow!


5. Only 2 more days to Franz Ferdinand!! I am so excited. I found out that another friend of ours, Olivier, is going too. Oh! And Nicole ended up procuring a ticket today, so we’re all going together! I am so happy to have met Olivier; we have really similar tastes in music, so he is exposing me to all sorts of European music that we don’t get exposed to, as well as some Quebec stuff that I’ve never heard of before. That reminds me: all of you music fans out there (Hannah, Mike [Nick, Kirk do you read this too?]: I’m talking to you!) please email me music! Even if it’s just one song at a time, I need new music! If you’re playing a song and you’re like, “I love this song,” SEND IT TO ME!! I want to hear it!!


6. I bought something new. I love it. I bought it at one of the markets around here yesterday:

Sorry Mom, I know that you hate it, but you have no say in the matter. Hey, everyone, the jaw is on a hinge so it moves. Awesome.

Well, I guess that’s all for now. I’ll think about writing something tomorrow, but we’ll have to see how it goes. Sundays are for procrastinating, after all, so I might not get around to it.

What's up wit dat?

Okay, so… What happens in early March that makes it so that everyone conceives then?  What am I talking about?  Today is Nicole’s birthday!!  Happy Birthday Nicole!!  The good part about this one is that she’s here, so I don’t actually miss out on it!  

Today is St. Nicolas Day.  I’m a little pissed because I screwed it up.  I had heard all about how, if you put you put your shoes in front of your door, St. Nicolas will come around and fill them with treats (unless you’ve been bad, then he fills them with coal), but I didn’t know if you do that on the night of the fifth to the sixth, or the sixth to the seventh?  I guess the question is, if the sixth is St. Nicolas Day, are you celebrating the fact that he came, or the fact that he will come?  Yeah, they celebrate the fact that he came.  So I didn’t put out my shoes and they didn’t get filled by the people in the house who were acting as Nicolas.  But Nicole is so sweet that she came to fill my shoes, and since I didn’t leave any, she left her own shoe and filled it.  That’s amazing. Especially on her birthday!

Something pretty funny just happened to me.  I went out to get a donair.  First of all, when I got there the lady was like, “The usual?”  That is so freakin’ hilarious!!  I don’t think I’ve ever been anywhere where they knew my “usual.”  Awesome.  So I ate and left and as I was on the way home a car pulled over onto the sidewalk in front of me.  Really they do this all the time, so that wasn’t the issue, and it wasn’t that I was freaked out by it, either.  He was pretty far up and I was just kind of laughing about how funny Germans are but as I passed by he got out of the car with a map and called me over.  And I’m thinking like, “Great, I don’t have a clue where anything in this city is, and he’s about to ask me for directions!”  

The absolute truth of the matter is that I know about 10 streets in this whole city by name.  There are others, but I don’t really know them, or how to get there – especially not by car.  So, I am just dreading what this guy is going to say to me because I know I won’t be able to help.  Well, he comes up and asks me if I know how to get to Schellingstraβe.  That’s one of the streets I know!!  Can you believe that??!!  I even looked at the map to make sure that there isn’t two Schellingstraβes.  Nope!!  So I was able to give him directions.  My German wasn’t great, but it was at least understandable enough that I saw that he turned correctly at the first street I told him to turn at, so I’m satisfied.  I got him on the right track; if he had to pull over somewhere else and ask for more directions, that’s not my problem.  The other funny part of the situation was that the lady at the donair place has started putting so many onions on my donairs.  Holy crap!  I think she put on an entire half onion today.  Soon she’s just going to start serving me an entire onion on the side and I can eat it like an apple as I go along.  So I was almost shooting flames as I was talking this guy.  Oh, well, that’s what he gets for stopping someone who has just walked out of a donair shop.

I got another Kinder Surprise egg in my advent’s calendar today.  It’s a little elf stamp.  He’s cute, I’m satisfied; and I didn’t have to put it entirely together, but I had to put his head on his body, which is better than getting a toy that requires no assembly at all.  I’m kind of upset, though, I was hoping to get some Schoko-bons.  Ugh.  Time to get ready to go to class.

Birthday #2

I don’t have a whole lot to say today. I did absolutely nothing yesterday; it was great!! I watched The Simpsons in German the other day and Lisa said “shit.” It always surprises me when they swear on TV, but it wasn’t even that she said “scheisse” (because the Germans will say that at the dinner table) it was actually the English words “oh shit!” This country is so sneaky!!

In my advent’s calendar, yesterday, I got a Kinder Happy Hippo. Here is a treat that we need in Canada! These things are as tasty as they are adorable. Here’s a picture, along with the toy I got in the Überrashungs Egg I got the day before. Today was just a Riegel (little chocolate bar), but, hey, chocolate is chocolate. I’m not complaining!!


Life is actually pretty boring these days. Weekends aren’t bad, but the weeks take forever. Katie is in Portugal right now; she ran the marathon in Lisbon there yesterday and I’m still waiting for an email to find out how she did. I hope that she finds an internet café soon! Hey! Here’s an example of how exciting life my life is: I went downstairs about 40min ago to get the laundry I had washed and, for the first time in 2 months, there was a dryer free. I am so excited!! My socks are actually going to fit properly!! See, the excitement never stops here in Munich!

Well, I need to wish my other best friend a very Happy Birthday. Happy Birthday Mike! Sorry, there’s no card on the way. I’m terrible for things like that, but I did remember all on my own!!

Smoking hot in public

I thought of 2 more:

Public displays of affection run rampant here!!  Every single time I ride public transport of any kind, it seems, I have to watch people making out.  It’s constant and no age group is immune.  Literally.  And this isn’t just after the bar on the weekend – it’s all the time!  On my way to school.  On my way home from school!  It never ends!!  It’s nauseating.  

The other thing is the smoking issue.  I remember from the last time I was here how many cigarette machines there are everywhere (they are even on residential streets sometimes), but I don’t remember it being this bad.  I have seen people standing under No Smoking signs and light up a cigarette!  It’s insane.

Today was a very special day for me.  I got a Kinder Surprise from my advent calendar.  Here they are called Kinder Überraschung.  It was a little monster in a little car that I got to put together, which are my favorite kind, so I was pretty happy.  I also went to Nicole’s and we ate pizza and poutine.  We made the poutine by going down to the pub downstairs and getting fries, then making some gravy (just from a Maggi powder) and used grated gouda.  It was still super awesome.  Sometimes you just don’t realize how much you’ll miss something until you don’t have it as an option.  All in all it was a very good, albeit lazy, day.

Bocci? Really?

I just turned on the TV while I'm eating my lunch and they are showing Bocci ball. Bocci. I am speechless.

I love Franz Ferdinand

Today is a sad day because it is the first thing I’ve “missed.” What do I mean, you ask? Today is my best friend’s birthday and I’m not there to celebrate with her. This is the first real thing that I’ve missed. I guess that I missed Thanksgiving, but since Thanksgiving at the Pulles house consists of the five of us (and any significant others) eating a really fantastic meal and… well, that’s all, I didn’t really mind that I missed it. Then again, now that I am typing that I really, really want some turkey with gravy and cheese sauce. Crap. Okay! Back to the point, today is Ashley’s birthday and I really just wish I were at home so we could celebrate together, but I’m not and that’s sad. Happy Birthday, sweetie!

On a happier note, I met a bunch of new people this week through a guy in my German course. I met them all on Thursday and then I went out again with them last night. Anyways, a couple of the girls and I were talking on Wednesday about music and Munich and I mentioned that Franz Ferdinand is coming, but I was pissed because I don’t have tickets. And Geli (one of the girls) was like, “Do you really want to go? Because I actually have an extra ticket and I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with it.” Holy. Crap. So, she brought the ticket yesterday so that I know it’s for real and now I am going to the Franz Ferdinand concert on December 12!! (Mad props go out to my buddy Mike, who was the one who first introduced them to me!) Yeah!!

I might have also made some plans for the period of time where I was supposed to be alone, so I am super excited about that. Especially since these plans might be skiing in Austria! Well, I guess that the plans technically are skiing in Austria, the “might be” comes in because they aren’t solidified yet. See everyone, you don’t need to worry about Bari!

And, lastly, I got to open up the first couple of doors on my super-duper advent’s calendar. Yesterday I got 2 Schoko-bons (little chocolate eggs with the Kinder white chocolate and hazelnuts inside) and today I got a Kinder Riegel (little chocolate bar with white chocolate inside). I love Kinder chocolate, it’s so good.