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
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
Some more wee tales to tell...not too much mind as firstly, I really can't get away from the feeling that all this is incredibly self-indulgent...and secondly, not a whole lot has happened but i don't want to be in the place whereby I have a billion things to remember. My memory is bad enough at the best of times, let alone when i have to remember stuff :(
This morning the family went away for a couple of days, their grandma has just got good news re: some tests and its Feiertag (general bank-holiday esque thing) which means no German school for me! ...Until tomorrow ha. This means I am for the first time in the house by myself. This presents an oppurtunity to play music loudly (done) have a bath (not done...yet) dye my hair (about to do) and work out to my little heart's content (whilst dye develops). Reading-wise, old Holmes has really got me back into being the bookworm I naturally am, therefore I have finally bitten the bullet and started the Harry Potter series. A book and a half down, I have to say they're alright, but i honestly can't see what that amount of fuss was about. Ho hum. Something to pass the time...
Today I decided to go out to the Olympiapark, which was as grand as all the pictures make out...also there's apolcalypse type music on the site I've just realised! Unfortunately this wasn't playing, though I really wish it was... The atmosphere here was really nice though, what with it being a public holiday, lots of families milling about, and after wandering around for a while talking panoramic photos I decided to go up the massive tower thing (the name of which escapes me)... possibly a great idea for a day when it was clear and sunny...however it was foggy and so all i could see was cloud. Woop! Still, only a small entrance fee so nothing to stop me going back :) also I found a Sea-Life Centre and BMW World - but what with the date there were huge queues for both! So I decided to make a mental note of those too, and go back some other time.
It was at this point that I noticed a rather large concentration of Boy-Scouts...well, Person-Scouts really as there were girls, old men, little kids, everyone, all with these checkered neck ties on...maybe it was a cult, i don't know...but anyway, I walked a little further and found this little festival going on, the band who were playing were great! So I stayed and watched for a while, took some more panoramics and then had a browse around the stalls - nice but not so fun when it started to drizzle. It was then made again a little less nice by the large amounts of religious leaflets being thrust in my face - not really sure how the Scout thing is run here but perhaps it's slightly more Christian than at home. Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with religion (or cults), believe what you like...but what I completely do have a problem with is people not just enjoying their beliefs (religious\otherwise) without trying to preach it to others. Seriously, I absolutely can't stand it! Just piss off and let everyone be what they want to be, thx...
At this point I decided to get out of there before I got mad, and happily\accidentally managed to solve the great Superdrug problem by discovering Müller, this sort-of Superdrug-come-Wilkinsons with Health Food section. My heart leapt when I saw it! And I stocked up on miscellaneous things such as contact lens solution, concealer, rice cakes coated in yoghurt...yawn...
The most entertaining part of the day, however, came with the arrival of hobo-saga part three, in which a middle-aged woman (stinking of beer) sat down and started rabbiting on to me about...well i'm not entirely sure. What is it about my face that says "Hi!!! Tramps Welcome. Please bore me with all your stories"...? But by the by, I told her that I was English and didn't really understand. She looked at me disgustedly, said "Don't you even understand German?", to which I replied "I understand a bit, but not too much..." - at which point she pointedly picked up her four pack and moved elsewhere, as if the thought of sitting with me any longer filled her with disgust. Nice!
With that little oddity I'm out, hair to dye and thighs to shrink with that pouty blonde cow Tracy Anderson (I'd totally sack her off if her exercise programme didn't work :p)
Yup x
ps. anyone who wants to buy me this is quite welcome... ;)