So, its 00.08....09 and i really shouldnt be starting this, i had not a whole lot of sleeps last night and today has been pack-ed. Early tomorrow i am going to attempt not to oversleep for Deutschkurs. Again. However, i just read a catch up blog of a very dear friend of mine (you know who you are...) and it made me feel all kinds of happy, I feel really energised and like I should really try and transfer that happy feeling to anyone else who fancies catching up on the German Saga of Me. If there are any of you about, that is.. :p
Once again here we go...
The last week or so has been fantastically heiss. The weather simply beat beat beat down from the cloudless sky for well over a week, and whenever I logged into Facebook to see a complaint about the British rain the meaner part of myself did a little "ha!". Just like that. This does mean, of course, that I spent a lot of time away from the computer as sitting at it felt like a complete waste. Plus, it was simply too hot to do anything apart from sit, and even that made one perspire (in an attractive feminine way obviously), so I thought I might as well take advantage and get a little brown. And the result, scatman achieved - via slightly pink and some rather obvious white patches. I'm not at the place of popping down the nude bit of the English Garden quite yet!
Evenings generally saw things cooling down and me getting out and about in the forest, I went cycling every single day last week and am starting to remember the gym-bunny tendencies I had at one time in my life. (I was so tempted to write "backalong" then...then realised i would actually sound like Farmer Giles). One Sunday, a group of us decamped to the English Garden (non nude bit) to sit, listen to the drummers that seem to be there ALL THE TIME (seriously...it must be their job) and complete verious German homeworks. I'm finding myself in these last two weeks or so a lot more happy to converse with people in German - today I was admiring the umbrella of the eldest girl's piano teacher (which is AMAZING! all musical notes and scales incidentally) and found out she's Russian...I also chat with the cleaner and like it when Gemma's boyfriend (or anyone as a matter of fact) corrects my German. I'm learning things every day :)
With regards to this week, the weather has colded down rather too much, so i've hermited somewhat more than I'd like. Apart, of course, for a trip to Zorneding where one of the girls I've met lives - this is kind of the reason for me sleeping rather too little last night as I only just caught the last u-bahn home after realising its BLOODY AGES AWAY...however, it was uber nice to have girly chats and a change of scenery, watch Amelie for the first time in an age, and try to remember the theme to Ground Force (unsuccessfully) - so definitely worth the effort!
Harry-Potter wise, I finished the last book on the train back from "the Ding" yesterday, after four weeks solid reading. I am now distraught with what to do with my life, and am looking for other children's fads to go through. My money's on Twilight haha, though other contenders are...who am I kidding I actually have no idea about what's cool with kids these days?! Over here they like Pippi Longstocking, who is rather too goofy and ginger to be at all popular in the UK. Going back to the HP thing though, I am completely in agreement with those who say it gets better as it goes on, I actually found myself caring about the characters and what happened to them, when to start with I kinda disliked them all. Quite a feat...this means I am now on a mission to see all the films, and in the meantime I will fill my time completing my collection of pictures of immature German street names...coming to a Facebook near you soon...
Right, this is the point where I'm off as I've realised I've done two things, twice, that I hate more than life itself...a) mention/talk about the weather and b) discuss Facebook in real life. NOT COOL :/ in fact, in addition to that and while we're on the subject...current hatred : people who go for nights out and feel the need to drunkenly update their status every 3.762 minutes...srsly, have a pint and actually speak to your friends, mmkay!
Off to buy the first Twilight book rightabout.....now. x
About Me
A little update before I forget any of the details, the last few days have been all different kinds of fun :) I am currently sat in the living room of the house I stay in, watching the DVD extras for the (quite frankly terrible) film 27 Dresses. I already fell asleep wathing it earlier in the week and so, consumed by the thought that I should really see it through, I popped it on whilst eating dinner tonight. I really shouldn't have bothered...
Anyhow, this week has seen the family go away for a while (as I think I mentioned but can't be bothered to check...) and so, initially pegged by me as a time to explore further afield, I actually still felt that I hadnt seen enough of the main city, plus found myself a little thin on the ground with cash whilst refusing to go into the little amount I have saved. Also, the sun has been shining x loads and I really want to know where things actually are, instead of just the Tram/UBahn stop. This means I've been donning my most comfortable of footwear and exploring zu füß, piecing together all the parts of the city into a mental map-type thing. I've also sort-of accidentally started this new project whereby I go the end of each UBahn line, just to see what it's like there...so far, Ive found a place that is pretty much exactly like the street my own UBahn stop is on (time-warpXcore) and visited the Munich version of some blocky soviet-y creepy-man-infested hole. It takes all sorts, after all...
Saturday saw an impromptu night out that involved (in no particular order) donations from a house clearance sale (including lovely hats), drunk americans x 4, shoulder-beards, horrendously rude german rap songs and people who knew all the words, as well as heads in recycling bins from certain members of the team :p - all in all a bunch of fun, and once again I found myself letting myself into the house as it was getting light. Woops :p
By the time Sunday arrived in my world, it was somewhere near 2 o'clock, and even though I was tired I felt pretty ok - nothing a couple shots of espresso couldn't fix. Although this was later than I wanted to be up, I knew that I still had plenty of time to have a wander, and was in no rush anyway due to it being Sunday and everything being closed. I decided to continue on my mission to see the end of each UBahn and ended up on a bench in Arabellapark, writing reply letters to those I'd received. The sun was shining still, and even though the area was somewhat grey and tower-blockish there was something really nicely done about it, there were plenty of people milling about and chatting, as well as a nice leisurely flowing fountain, so all was well at that moment... :) I had a write in my travel journal, caught the UBahn back to Isartor, and this is where my favouite part of the day happened in that I took a leisurely walk by the River Isar and just drank in the atmosphere. There were people everywhere, just sitting in groups and having picnics, students studying, old men in deck chairs, grebs sharing a spliff, dog walkers, people cycling and jogging and talking excitedly...it was just great, and my favourite bit by far was that it was a little bit run-down, so felt more like a meadow that everyone had just accidentally flopped down in together - rather than a government-owned public space. The sun was just about to go down, which is hands down my favourite part of the day anyway, and I was just...well.... happy being there :)
Monday I didnt't realise was a public holday yet again, they sure do love an excuse to close stuff here! This means I spent pretty much all day trying to find an open post office so I could send my written post and packaged packages. After a bit (possibly longer than it should have taken to realise) I gave up, catching the tram to the English Garden (in fact just by this monument) to sit about chatting with various people. I had a little sit, had a little lie down and some beer and was re-reminded of how crap I am at frisbee and why I never play it. Henceforth said afternoon evolved into yet another impromptu night out which started with an AMAZING (if a little spicy) burrito, went via a shared 5 litre bucket of rum, and ended in a coaster war which I'm ashamed to say was entirely my fault. Eh, whatev Trev, in the moment I was totally Gambit in my own X-Men fantasy. Put it this way though, I felt the same the next morning as that time I got everyone to write on Hanny at one of the West Avenue parties. Good Clean Fun, but just a little mean to the poor person being written on/sleeping people/bar-cleaners...woops :/ and as I once again found myself cycling home at stupid o'clock I decided to have a little listen to my iPod to break up the journey. Horror! It had run out of battery...this therefore resulted in me having a nice little (ie. quite loud) sing song to myself as nobody was around...think I might have disturbed/worried/scared a few 5am drunks however. Never mind, it made me happy!
Tuesday I had a few people round to the house in the evening and we had a rather scrummy barbeque, not much else to tell apart from I had a lovely time. I pretty much spent the rest of the day in the forest, flopped down on a piece of grass and continuing to read Harry Potter which is morphing from something I looked upon with complete disdain to something of a page-turner...
Which brings me to today, in that I really wanted to get out of the city for a bit so headed right to the end of the S6 to Tutzing (hard to find the beachy bit but worth it when I did, otherwise a little dull) and Starnberg (lovely and lots to do but by the time I got there everything was closed...I see a recurring theme here not sure about you :p). Both of these were on the coast of the Starnberger See and it was just so nice to be near the coast again, even if it was the coast to an inland and not actual sea. There were all these little huts on the boardwalk that reminded me of the ones at Dunster Beach, some of them were just covered boat moorings but some had been converted into shops and/or restaurants, and I suspected holiday homes for posh people for the summer. Pretty but I bet they cost a bomb... :(
Anyway, christ it's 2am and due to the fact I can't seem to turn the heating off bloody boiling. I am to retire to my quarters in the basement where it will hopefully be cooler...but before I do I urge you all to read some of these as they really are fascinating.
Ciao....x
a busy few days that i will endeavour to put into words...
first things first, sunday! completely perfect. i can't put it another way...i was just in one of my own-company moods (which people who i've lived with surely know about :p) and this just suited a day exploring by myself, foot to street, on and on until i got to wherever i fancied being. i went here there and everywhere, accompanied by the very best sounds, and after having become used to all the things that i see on an everyday basis my eyes were opened once more to all the strange little charming things that are around...if you have the botheredness to seek them out. the sun was even shining, i've realised this effects my mood quite a lot more than i originally thought but in short, i love being here right now. even the rain and subsequent storm which soaked me on the way home didn't phase...so now for some details, :)
i started off by going out to the nymphemburg palace which was just so much better than any of the pictures make it out...a bit like a german national trust property. pretty easy to find despite the appaling mapping of the tram system here (more on that another day) and when i got there, the gardens were free so i had a wander around, had a sit down and caught up on my postcard writing. there were all these cherry blossoms everywhere and they kept landing in my hair, there was this completely filmic feeling about the whole place which was only ruined by a russian couple sitting on my bench and looking over my shoulder at what i was writing. erm, rude! at this point i thought it wise to move on, people looking at my words unnanounced really gets to me so i saved the inside of the castle for another day (when people come to visit perhaps.. hint ;) ) and made my way back to the tram stop. it then came to my attention that the nympemburg\gern neighbourhoods nearby were really quite swish (and mentioned in my guidebook as worth seeing) so i took a slight detour and saw all the beautiful old houses and tree lined avenues, enjoying not really having to be anywhere.
as the book had been so helpful i decided to consult it again, and sat by the river looking at where to go next. as i'm on a major budget until i get work alongside the aupairing (i'm also trying to save) i wanted things that were free and so i looked at other areas to wander around. There were two areas that stood out from the book's description, Glockenbachviertel and Haidhausing, and luckily they were both on the journey back to my house so I stopped off at one and then the other. Glockenbackviertel was just amazing, all these tiny tree lined roads and streetside cafes (on-pavement seating is really a weakness of mine) alongside lots of interesting shops, boutiques and art galleries. pretty much like munich's northern quarter if you've ever been to manchester, but a lot more european than that. unfortunately, however, as it was sunday everything was closed. germany kinda shuts down on a sunday which is rather le gay, so all of this was more a mental note of where to return on real days. perhaps that made it all the more exciting, the thought that i can actually go back to these places... :)
anyway, then i moved on to Haidhausing (although on the net it says Haidhausen??) which initially i hadn't been so impressed with, perhaps as i'd liked the other place so much. But after a little while of nosing around i found this really pretty park, all these kids were playing football and there were some skating ramps and a basketball court...it was just such a nice atmosphere and there was this tiny outside cafe with red polka dot seats and recliners. i fell in love with it! even the rowdy german tramps seemed like a completely appropriate piece of the jigsaw. i then chanced upon a guitar shop, which was open...shock, and had a caravan shaped guitar which made me smile though i'm not entirely sure why. i am continually finding myself wanting one however. the more time i spent in this area the more i liked it, the book said it was munich's french quarter which i really started to see the longer i wandered around.
by this point it was about half 5 and, in my mind i had planned to head home about this time....the only problem with this was that i really didn't want to yet, and having bought a day ticket it was valid until 6 the next morning (a godsend if youre off on a long night out!). this took me to my favourite part of the day, taking a detour up to gieslastraße and having a wander around the english garden. words can not describe this place! it's simply magical. fair enough, i took the tourist route and ended up paying nearly 5 euros for a pint (!) but it was oh-so-completely worth it. the english garden, anyway, is pretty much like munich's central park and the place i ended up was just massive! it's the chinesischer turm and looks a little like this...
...ok this is it looking a little apocolyptic but on a sunny sunday it was still as striking. There was a german brass band on one of the floors and seats and seats and seats choc full of people, the advertisements for it say it's the largest beer garden here, but not having seen every beer garden i can't endorse that too much :p anyway, i sat here for about an hour, bought a pint and wrote yet more postcards, wrote again in the travel journal i carry about with me, and just existed. it was just the nicest atmosphere, everyone was smiling and laughing, the music was great and there were so many different languages floating about. it just felt really timeless i guess :)
which brings me to this week, again kinda quiet so far, but a lot nicer weather which has resulted in me getting out and exercising pretty much every day. sabine, the mother even said i look really healthy at the moment which is such an inspiration to get right back into the fitness lark. i forgot how much i missed it... :) other than that though, i've started german classes (easy so far but actually interesting to go over the basics...) and opened a bank account, which entailed me and the bank lady and a translator..(!) also, free bank accounts don't really exist over here so every 3 months they take 15 euros from me, for nothing!!! cheers germany...
ok, again i have written far much more than i intended, the rest of this week sees work as normal today but thurs\fri is a public holiday and the family will be going away for a couple days. this means i can explore a whole lot (more castles please) and have a massive house to myself...kinda good but kinda scary... maybe i'll finally pluck up the courage to have a go on their piano, who knows...
x