What a weekend!

Okay, where to start… I will try and keep this short because I don’t want to spend a lot of time when people are just going to complain about too much reading.

I wrote the test on Thursday. All I can really say about it is: at least it’s over now. Then I spent Thursday afternoon putzing around and getting ready for the concert that Olivier and I were going to in the evening. The band was called The Test Icicles and I had heard two of their songs, thanks to Olivier, ahead of time. I really liked what I heard, but they were their two singles. All I can really say about them is that they obviously don’t like what the producers did to those songs. Or they don’t like how most people have only heard those two songs. Or they’re just douchebags. The band is comprised of 3 members, who rotate between singing or playing the guitars or manning the keyboard: 3 members, 2 guitars, 1 keyboard, no drums or bass at all.

I really liked what they were playing and when they got to their 2 most popular songs, I was ecstatic! Here’s the thing: the singer went to the back of the stage, sat on a case, put his chin on his fist, and sang the song like a little kid who was being punished. I thought it was so childish. Again, I don’t know for sure what his problem is, but I know that I paid 14 € to get into the show, as did everyone else in the bar (which was a fair number) and I was pretty pissed that he acted that way. After those 2 songs were done, they did one or 2 more, then they just started jamming. It’s kind of hard to explain what I mean by that, but they seemed to just each be playing their own instrument without really caring what the other 2 members were doing. At first I was kind of like, “what the hell is this?” but by the end, I really got to liking it. Then they finished suddenly and left the stage. No encore, no nothing.
Friday was a rush, trying to get everything done and cleaned and ready for Elizabeth. I went and picked her up from the train station and we went straight from there to the supermarket to pick up a couple food items for us, and some other stuff for a wine and cheese party that Nicole was throwing that night. Then we came home and I made Elizabeth Käsespätzle, which has become one of my favourite dishes here. Then we mucked around with the computer for a while and headed downstairs to Nicole’s party. The party was a big success with lots of food and wine and people. After the party ended Olivier and Martin (also from France, I think I mentioned him before) came up to play crib with Elizabeth and me. We got to bed somewhere around 4:00 or 4:30.

Surprisingly, though, we were up at 10:00, and were showered, dressed, breakfasted, and out of the house by 11:00. I took her on a walking tower of pretty much the only part of the city that I know: from the University through Odeonsplatz and into Marienplatz and the Vikutalienmarkt. After that we went shopping and discovered (well, I rediscovered) the joy that is H&M’s change rooms. Then we went to C&A and both found pants for 19€! Score! Then we picked up a donair on the way home and spent the rest of the afternoon puttering in my room, watching some stuff on the computer and making her a CD.

The plan for after dinner was to go to this bar that I saw last Sunday called “Canadian Lounge.” When I saw it, I almost crapped my pants. I had visions of a real Canadian-type lounge where we could go in, watch Team Canada on the TVs that they would surely have, order poutine and a Crown Royal (what?! I can dream, can’t I?), and play crib with my friends. Yeah… we got there and it was like a martini bar crossed with a restaurant. How disappointing. We ended up heading back towards the Studentenstadt and going to this place nearby that we kept saying we should go to, called Kati’s. It wasn’t bad, but it’s really small and the ventilation isn’t very good so Nicole, who has been battling a sinus thingy, had to leave because she found it too smoky, but Katie, Elizabeth, Olivier and I stayed. Then Oksana (co-worker from the speech lab) and her boyfriend, Carsten, showed up and we sat around, ate Käsespätzle, watched Olympic figure skating, and played crib for a few hours.

Elizabeth and Olivier and I headed back to my place with thoughts of poutine dancing in our heads, but, alas, the kitchen in the bar downstairs was already closed. So we sat and chatted for a bit before I took Olivier to the train at about 1:00. In spite of the fact that we were in bed, definitely by 2:00, we both slept until 10:00 again. Actually, I think it was 10:30… and I really don’t know if Elizabeth was asleep that whole time or not – I only know that I was! Then we did the same thing as the previous day, except for the breakfast part, and were out the door by about 11:30.

We started off at the Hofbräuhaus to drink beer at noon and eat traditional Bavarian food. We left at about 1:00 and went to the Alte Pinakothek (old art gallery) and stayed there until 4:00, which was exactly our plan, when I took her to the train station so that she could head home again. It was a short, but full weekend, and I hope she enjoyed herself as much as I enjoyed having her here! The rest of the day has been pretty mundane. I came home and tried, without a lot of success, to put things back in order here in my little room. Katie and Elaine came over and we ate bruschetta, ordered pizza and watched The Score on TV (and I use the term “watched” very loosely). We just kind of chatted and every so often I’d explain to the two of them what was going on in the movie. Now I’ve just been fiddling around with the computer and trying to get everything together for a care package that I am giving to Olivier since I am leaving for Dresden on Tuesday and he is heading home to France before I get back again. That’s pretty much it. I will hopefully find enough time tomorrow to post my plans for the next couple of months so you can all be in the loop of what’s going on with me. Laters!