Deutsche Märchen ♥

As ever, Im starting this when I have other things I seriously need to be doing. Most of the time, this means sleeping but this time, I've already decided to completely surpass this most wonderful yet time-consuming of activities and pack/walk/sit into the night in preparation for the ridiculous amount of travelling time I have on the way to my incoming INCREDIBLE holiday to Spain. SO EXCITED :)))

Anyway......things have been happening left, right, centre style and I've once again not

done them justice by committing them to webpage. This is something of a travesty, as my

memory is such a terrible contraption these days that I'm sure to have forgotten some of the

most important details, instead plumping for generalisations and diluted recollections. So, right about now then. I'm sat in my newly moved-around room (sweet), the lighting is set just the way I like (fairy), and Bombay Bicycle Club are doing their pretty thing background-wise. I've had some rather excellent news recently, in that I have my first TEFL teaching position in the city. It's well paid and the school is really well known, so I'm rather stoked to use a completely American turn of phrase that I'd never say in real life/ever. I'm also pleased that I've not had to resort to streetwalking for extra money haha, and as it's only an hour and a half a week I can also look into other subsiduary occupations. There may also (everything crossed here) be potential for extra evening classes. I'm looking into pursuing some work experience that could turn out to be rather important to my future plans. If anything, I've become a lot more determined to spend my time positively, instead of just sleeping in and going for a daily cycle.... :p

Other good stuff, some of those people I'm lucky enough to call friends have decided to grace me with their presence! I am really, really looking forward to showing people around, am currently toying with possible itineraries and feel like I have some of the knowledge now to show them a good time. Here's hoping.......

Other than that, I went for a few super-fun nights out, which again I am well aware I keep omitting. Well, it seems all so very trivial to be writing about which places I drank beer in when I could be talking about something cultural?? Maybe this is just my pretentious gene making itself known however. I would have thought it would be happy with a re-read of Dorian Gray, apparently not...

Anyway, firstly we revisited Cord, which I think is my favourite club here so far. Every time I've been, the music has really been spot-on, and we can't argue with that, now, can we. I also regraced the glass-strewn floor of Neuraum, which was much better the second time round, I even managed to have a rather large dancing session in-between avoiding shards of ex-cup. If only the phantom glass-breaker would stop his/her assault on the floor the place might even be upgraded from "passably fun" to "really quite good"...however he or she is rather too good at fulfilling his/her Official Glassbreaker title to stop anytime soon I fear. High Heel Carnage :(

As for other activities I also went for a lovely little afternoon chill out in the park one Sunday. The weather was so pretty, we all brought food and sat and cooked it on a friend's tiny BBQ, whilst just chatting about...well, everything, really. Good times, good company :)

Ten thousand years later....

So, now times have changed somewhat and I am currently camped in Alicante airport awaiting my flight back to Memmingen, the airport most in the arse-end of nowhere, anywhere in the world, ever. It is currently 9.10pm, and my flight is at 6.35 tomorrow morning. If only flights weren't just every 3 days, and I could have left when my friends did, this morning - but never mind - in fact, I have my own bank of benches, my netbook, a ridiculous amount of reading material, a pillow, a can of beer, a blanket and all the people-watching fodder (including a maximus amount of arguing sunburnt chavs) I could ever imagine, so things are looking pretty good right now. Ask me that in 8 hours however... :p (nb. the beer so kindly donated by my friend X's Mum is to be saved until I'm just about to get on the plane, HATE FLYNG)

This week has been just what I needed. I really haven't been doing a whole lot apart from topping up my tan, or in fact bringing it back from the abyss that it was in before. Going on holiday to someone's house is always a difficult one, in fact I think both me and my wonderful hostess X ;) found it difficult to relax at first...but once I got into that headspace, things were great and I can feel already that transferring back to a less lying-down based existence is going to be tough tough tough. I hope she found the same conclusion to the week that I did. I am, however, yet again determined to drag myself back to ultimate fitness, as I failed by a hairs-breadth in preparation for this getaway and have so many clothes that "only just" don't fit...I will succeed! (And now have to, as I've written it down...if you know me even a little I can't stand empty blah words of things that people are just never going to do...I refuse to be one of those people heh :p)

We went for a night out in Benidorm, which was not nearly as bad as it sounds. We sacked off the foreigners section and all the people who are paid to get you into their clubs (seriously, it got kinda scary at one point, so persistent!) and ended up in the Spanish bit - much more fun, much better music and of course, a beach just across the way which was how we ended our night...get all dressed up and then kick off your heels and swim in the sea in your pants, perfect :)

Other highlights, we went and walked around the old part of Altea which was just beautiful. A lovely little churchyard and tiny winding alleyways with trinket shops open till 11, and caiparinhas to die for. Acee :) and, we rented a pedalo with it's own slide. The loveliest view and only €12 for the hour - certainly worth losing my brand-new sunglasses in the sea for ;)

OK, so I've now been at this for a little while and my batt is running more than a bit low, I'm also trying my hardest to mix things up a bit on this most epic of waits. This means that I'm off to read Company magazine (good GOD I've missed my crappy British glossies habit), followed by the unedited version of Anne Frank's Diary that I stole from my friend X. I guess I'll probably then try to sleep for a couple hours, due to a) me being back at work as soon as I land and b) it being the leaving do of someone I'm very sorry to see go that night. It's then Oktoberfest. Cheers life, for throwing a whole bunch of stuff at me in one go...x

Ps, Re; fitness comment. Taking into account Oktoberfest I am rather le worried about Copius Amounts Of Beer to Increasing Waistline ratio. Here goes, I'll keep you posted :/

x

So Friday the week before last saw a fair few things, mainly the end of my camp career for this year plus the arrival of my Mum and sister for a few days. The second week at camp was a lot more difficult than the first in that I had a group that just refused to listen no matter how loud I shouted, in English or German, and this resulted in a rather balls-dropping-esque voice for most of the next week :( ...However I guess it's still experience and, eventually money though I have yet to see any of it. A strongly worded email is currently winging its way to the camp owner...god I love writing a good shitty letter. So cathartic :)

It turned out that when my family arrived they pretty much did the one thing I told them not to do and went to the travel ticket office for some nice advice. Although said advice was really not so nice at all, and they ended up paying €50(!) for a three day travel card. I'm sure these people are targeted or something as EVERY single time I go to the DB (German train people) travel office/helpdesk they try to sell me a more expensive ticket than the one I need. Fuckerzzzzzfrheqt...but anyway, this lead to us really seeing the whatever out of the city, in no particular order and in only three days we went to...

Ammersee - lovely lake with nearby hotchpotch house and fantastical ice cream...

Fasanerie again - once more for schwimming galore :)

Dachau - concentration camp this time as opposed to the beer festival....which my Mum thought had actually been held in the camp..."Well that's a bit disrespectful" haha...

Eis Cafe-ing - as ice cream cafes are a rather unknown phenonenon in the UK (they are EVERYWERE here) we spent 12 euros on an Ice Cream sundae the size of my head and ate it in about 2 minutes flat...

Cycle Path-ing - we hired bikes, which my Mum fell off and neither me or my sister could help her up as we were laughing too much...she then crashed 3 more times, worst. cyclist. ever...

Chinese Tower - of course we did the obligatory trip here and drank a nice pint of cold beer :)

Toy Museum - cutest thing ever, it lives in Marienplatz and if you have an hour and 3 Euros I really recommend it. Loads of toys from through the years, it was truly magical :)

In conclusion it was lovely having them here, and as I'm so tired I know there are a thousand and three things I have forgotten to mention... but after many episodes of Bully Beatdown, soon enough it was time for them to go, and when I put them on the train I felt a little :( ... This lead to a Facebook status that got everyone thinking I was genuinely unhappy haha. Sorry to disappoint you but only the opposite is true these days ;)...in fact, before I swiftly move on from speaking about Facebook outside of Facebook (definitely in my top 5 of social faux pases) I would like to officially retract that little colon/open bracket combo and file it away with "things that I have done that have got me too much attention" - more on this file later, but the evening Mum and Ma left was spent in really good company, and I was so horribly tired that I pretty much passed out afterwards with a warm floaty feeling in my stomach that my quota of girl chat had been comfortably reached :)

The next day, I went for a cycle at about 9pm, spoke to various friends who happened to be nearby, and went down to Thalkirchen for a beer. This is the main area of the Isar that people have little barbeques in, it's deceptively close to my house (about 10 mins by bike) and ever since I walked along this path in my first few weeks here I wanted to sit there and watch the sunset with a group of the very best. When I arrived, it was pretty much dark already, but the company was nice and the talk was funny. This (obviously) entailed then caving into peer pressure and joining in town for a drink, which ended up being muchos late and not massively drunken, but I was pretty much out in a pair of leggings with no covering - something again which is most certainly on the social faux pas list. I had also jumped in the river to cool off after a cycle, so my clothes were wet through and it looked rather like I'd had an accident on bottom and was in a wet t-shirt competition on top. I also woke up covered in croissant crumbs but, I guess it really doesn't matter when you're not trying to impress anyone right?! And on the upside, I didn't get hit on by any random horny travellers (unfortunately a staple happening @ hostel bars) which I must say did put a spring in my step :)

The weekdays after that were pretty uneventful, apart from I was working in the day and working out to the max in my time off. I am determined to be beach-ready in time for Spain in about 3 weeks, and I've been working out upto about 2 hours some days. Which when written down sounds utterly ridiculous, but it's more a case of really enjoying myself and forgetting the time rather than obligation. Really! If only the fat kid I was 10 years ago could meet me now haha, I'd have a few stern words to impart... :p

Friday a friend of mine came back to Germany for a fleeting night, before swanning off to Austria with her aupair family. So, we went for a late night hot chocolate around 9 in the Fraunhoferstr area, which still continues to be my favourite place here. Although originally pegged as an hour or so, another friend arrived and we were there till well gone 11. It was lovely :) and then I went over to someone else's house where a bunch of people were chilling with Mean Girls, again. I happily watched it for the second time in about 3 weeks and also happily accepted the offer of a bed when the rain started trying to knock down buildings. Thank you kind people!

Saturday afternoon saw me sat in a tepee with the dad and the eldest girl, speaking to an Indian descendent, who was firstly one of the most interesting human beings I have ever encountered and secondly had such an beautiful tepee! It was so warm and cosy, and this man lives there in the week to work, returning at weekends to his real house. In between trying to mentally translate what he was saying in French (I'd say I got about 80% which I was rather chuffed with) I did actually begin to nod off as it was just the right temperature and the seat (which he'd made himself) was too comfortable :) it's moments like that, when I meet someone truly interesting that I make a mental note to better myself in whichever way I can. It disturbs me a little that most of my stories from here involve beer in some way, and as a result I'm considering taking a beer holiday...but I'm not 100% quite yet. I've given up drinking successfully before on two occasions, for about 6 months each time, but doing this in a culture based on beer I'm guessing will be rather difficult. I'm still on the fence...

The night before we'd been out to this club called Neuraum, which was OK but there was glass all over the floor and it was HUGE so I seemed to just be walking around a lot trying to find people (unsuccessfully, see: glass and beer). I did that thing I do when I realise how tired I am, and can't stop thinking of a nice comfy bed...in that I just left. I really can't be convinced once that thought arrives, yeah yeah whatever I prefer a nice lie down and a cup of coffee and a book. So sue me :p

As for yesterday, I made serious inroads to Project UBahn, which had been left by the wayside a little of late. As a result I now only have to go to one more location, and then I'll have seen the end of every line haha. Anything to pass the time, and on a more serious note I'd been spending so little time alone recently that it was so nice just to watch the scenery go by, listen to the old iPod (a Reuben renaissance, if you're interested) and simply think to oneself. I'd been feeling a little claustrophobic for reasons that continued to be unknown to me...until I earmarked that few hours to spend some quality Bethy Time and all that just lifted :) I then headed up to Olympiapark to play some incredibly unsuccessful mini golf, climb a hill and view the city (such a great panoramic viewpoint, I will be returning...) and then sit in a shisha bar wrapped in a blanket until I could work up the guts to cast off my blanketty coccoon and steel off into the night.

As for now, I'm feeling a little ill after so many late nights, I slept so badly last night and am becoming something of a night owl again. I need a morning job so this doesn't happen completely, I have worked so hard on my sleeping pattern in the past, and refuse for it to all go downhill just cause I like procrastinating. So I'm going to make a decaf coffee, wrap up in various blankets and rewatch as much of Spaced as I can, as I'm not needed so much today. Heaven...

:)

x

Other things then, as camp is busy, and fun and muchos hard but mainly worthwhile, but I don't particularly want to talk about it a lot as all I do every day is be there. I am currently indulging in playing the Sonos ridiculously loud whilst I can, and bopping around in my underwear/towel/etc haha most days. I'm currently having a mini renaissance of all the heavy stuff I used to listen to backalong 3 years or so, Poison The Well...Every Time I Die...Beecher and so on...I have mainly (completely) fallen into the acoustic/pretty music world these days but I must say there's something utterly satisfying about hearing metal played on Bose surround-sound speakers. The sound just goes right through you, awesome ^_^ ...apart from that I re-read the most beautiful thing I have ever read about two days ago, if I can find it somewhere around I'll quote it at the end...and I'm also enjoying the general fitness that's coming my way after all this working out, and have become once more steely in my determinedness to get back to my former fit self. Sometimes having an Iron Will actually does benefit oneself, and in just two weeks I've noticed a marked change and I'd say I only have another half stone to go - plus of course muchos toning which makes the most difference. I feel so much better in general, but know that contentedness is more a state of mind so am trying to surround myself with things that make me the very happiest also. Starting with some of my family who are the lucky Friday visitees :)))

After a really tough week at camp on Friday, me and the other counsellors went for a night out which made me really quite ill come Saturday morning. Don't get me wrong, I like a good pint of cider and I'm so rarely sick, however I didn't have time for a proper dinner (schoolboy error) and knowing people who work in the bars you tend to go to sometimes gets you free shots which don't mix with beer too well. I completely blame that terrible/amazing SHOTS SHOTS song that seemed to always bring shots my way when it was played (funnily enough)...which was about 367 times that night. Argh! However, I didn't do as badly as my poor camp colleague who was escorted home by the Polizei...

Saturday I went to a friend's house for a dinner party (yeah I know, I'z well kultured innit), she had cooked an awesome vegetable curry - it's nice to meet other vegetarians and know you'll be catered for ;). We then (yes, really but I only had one beer) went for a drink at the single best bar I've been here since I arrived! It was this dingy little backstreet place called X - too cool for a mere word name and it was really like someone's house, but with better furniture and darker lighting. I guess I'm just a sucker for fairy lights and foosball tables though, whatev. I will be returning!

I'm sure there's something else...oh! Dachau, which was the next day on Sunday. I headed there after a meeting for the camps, feeling a little stressed from last-minute changes and in need of a chill out with some good faces. Apart from a tagalong in the form of the single WORST individual I have ever met (sample quote..."I feel like I'm being checked out by so many chicks right now"...no he wasn't being funny, sarcastic or charming) this particular objective was achieved, and a lovely time (I hope) was had by all. Dachau Volksfest itself was a warm-up beer festival for the impending madness of Oktoberfest which I can now NOT WAIT for. Let me just put here that I have never felt more like I was in Germany than at the moment I walked through the door to this Bavarian-flag bedecked marquee, 80% of attendees were in Tracht (lederhosen etc) and there were massive wide women carrying 15 tankards of beer each in these really impressive tower constructions that weren't stuck together(!). We danced to the terrible music, did the actions (or tried), got up on our benches and danced our little faces off. It was the nicest end to a rather ridiculous weekend, and once we'd sacked the American tosser off things were definitely a 9 on the Scale of Awesome Things....(the scale goes up to ten, if you care :p)

RIGHT so this now marks the third day I've been attempting to write this, but have mainly been being distracted by writing letters (watch your letterboxes) and watching films as well, of course, as jumping aboard the Workout train. To be quite honest I'm sick of staring at this page, and need to eat some dinner. I found the Dorian Gray quote after much searching, and must admit that this passage is pretty much perfection in writing as far as I'm concerned. I am becoming a Wilde girl through and through.

Until next time...x

♥