Frohe Weihnachten von München

Merry Christmas from Munich! I sincerely hope everyone had a wonderful festive season, and is still hopefully enjoying some time off. We had a mixed bag here, mostly because I had to work both Monday and Friday on either side of Christmas. As for Christmas itself, we had a lovely time.

Before I get to the big day itself, I want to share a handful of things I did in the lead up to Xmas. Firstly, at work, we prepared for a huge event - our Eltern AdventCafe afternoon. Basically our mini Christmas concert for the parents. Unfortunately, work has been undergoing some major renovations and the new main activity room was not ready in time. So we squeezed 14 children onto the stage (our circle carpet at the front of the room) and about 30 adults onto the window ledge and chairs in our regular classroom so they could watch our beautiful children sing and dance their hearts out.

Of course, this was the chance for me to be in my element and show off my skills as an arty farty teacher. First I choreographed a rock dance to the tune Run Run Rudolf. I then created matching costumes which had each child's hand and foot print on it. This image shows an incomplete one when I brought all 14 shirts home with me to iron the paint in. I then sat and sewed a pom pom nose onto each and glued google eyes on as well. My reindeer shirts to go with my reindeer dance!!!




I also created a beautiful gift for each family. Every day for about 3 weeks leading up to the AdventsCafe, I created one image for a calendar. I went through a real phase of handprints this year and so every single month in the calendar had an image made with a handprint. Some of my personal favourites were the Easter Bunny for April, the Caterpillar for May, the pretzel (for Oktoberfest) for September, and St Martin for November. The parents loved the end result!

My colleague Cassandra also made a Christmas bauble with handprint snowmen on them as the other gift.





So then the day of the big concert arrived, and we were busy practicing in our room... until the fire alarm went off! Now this was an experience and a half for me. Unlike Australia where we practice fire and lock down drills every term, I had not yet been briefed on the process of evacuation. Luckily, its not too difficult to figure out when an alarm goes off, you either lock yourself in, or you get yourself out. I figured out pretty quickly that we were getting out! So we got the kids to make a snake, holding hands, then went to make our way outside. As soon as I opened the classroom door, it was evident what had happened. The smell of smoke hit our nostrils instantly, but it was mixed with a somewhat sweet smell. Looking up the corridor towards the kids kitchen, one of my colleagues was standing in front of the oven. Apparently trying to make Christmas cookies isn't always the best idea! But we still knew to evacuate the building, making our nearest exit down through the garden.

However, for the first time ever, I couldn't help but dislike the rule of 'just get out'. We took absolutely nothing with us. This included our jackets and shoes! So we were standing outside our building, in about -2degrees, in just slippers and our inside clothes. I don't know who was colder, the kids or me! We ended up cuddling together as a huge group to stay warm! Then 5 fire trucks turned up! Yes, 5! We stood and waved at the friendly firemen and then cheered when they turned off the alarm... while walking through a kindergarten with axes! Either way, the alarm was finally off (dear god it was loud) and we could resume our dance practice!

So in the afternoon, all the parents took their spots in the classroom while we got the students ready in a private room. When we walked it, we received all the necessary coos and awws. We performed 2 songs, Schneeflöcken & Tannenbaum, then came my dance. Sadly, as cute as they were, they were all suffering a bit of stage fright and their dance was not nearly as energetic as it had been in practice. This was most recognisable when we got to the move for the 'Rock and Roll electric guitar!' In practice, you would have thought I had 14 members of Kiss in the room, all throwing their hair about, swinging their arms and some even falling to their knees! Well, perhaps not all 14, but nearly all. However come performance time, it looked more like the Monkeys, standing still and barely strumming. But most parents promised me that at home, they had seen more than enough of their child's true rock star shining through with repeated performances with their electric guitar! However, at the end of the performance, all 14 finished with a perfect 'Tadahhhhhh!' which of course made the parents coo and awww all over again!

After the performance, the parents milled and we all ate far too much food. We (the three teachers) were given many gifts and eventually all that was left was the clean up once the parents had left. The next day I attended my staff Christmas party which was in itself a real hoot. The company organised a huge event, with over 120 staff attending. They had decorated an amazing function hall, we received a 4 course dinner, and a present from our boss. Then we danced the night away!




So after a huge week, I must admit, the following week at work was subdued. The teachers sat back a fair bit and let the kids play, and we were lucky to have a special Christmas elf performing arts show visit us. My youngest was sitting on my lap during this performance and half way through, he decided to lay back, but did so as if he was lying on the beach. Hands behind head, elbows out, as if he was sunning himself, but unfortunately, my body was his beach towel! My colleagues who saw this were doubled over in silent giggles as he even let out a sigh as he leaned back... priceless!

I also decided to make Christmas wish lists with the kids, written on a chimney with Santa's legs kicking out the top. The parents loved these, but particularly loved seeing what their kids wanted, as most of them were still shopping! One student did however ask for an elephant, and another asked for a Ferrari. Not sure if they will get their wish granted!



We also decided to get the kids out of the kindergarten (clothed appropriately this time) and so we took them to the Chriskindlemarkt in Marienplatz. We saw lots of Christmas trees for sale, and we also took the children to see the Christmas Window at the big shopping center (think Myers or DJ's) Galeria Kaufhof. Their eyes lit up and they stood gazing in this window for over half an hour. Absolutely mesmerised! We finished by purchasing each and every child a nutella crepe. I will say this is not something I would voluntarily choose to do again. Nutella as a rule is sticky and goes a few places. Hot melty nutella is 100 times worse. Nutella ended up on parts of faces I didn't know it was possible to get it to while eating, and it also ended up on alot of their ski jackets, and all over the security shields we make them wear on outings. It was a mess. Baby wipes got a good work out that day!

However the best bit was trying to keep all the kids in one spot while we ate the crepes. I think my skills as an English teacher in a foreign country while on an outing were noted by many people that day. I had just been given my crepe (Camembert and cranberry - yumm!) and another student handed me hers to hold while she got some water, when another student decided to start wandering off while eating. I had no free hands, so I stuck my right leg out and slowly coaxed said child back to the pack while hopping on my left, all the while speaking English to remind the children to stay with the group. Suddenly from behind I hear laughter, and I turn to see a young couple watching me, and they start clapping! But hey - I didn't drop my crepe!

My first taste of eggnog!

So at the end of that day, I was truly exhausted. Who would think that a 2 hour excursion with kids could wear you out so much! But it was freezing so I think everyone was really happy to get back to the warmth of the Kindergarten. Most the kids slept well that afternoon!

So now I suppose I should probably get onto things other than work. Saturday before Christmas, I invited some of my colleagues over and we enjoyed a lovely Christmas meal. We also agreed to each bring something from our home country (as it was my fellow English speakers from work). My wonderful mum sent me a parcel full of Tim Tams and Mint Slice which I shared with my friends. Claire from England brought Apple Crumble (really yummy!), and Jenn from America made Eggnog! It was so exciting to finally taste eggnog. Something I have wanted to do for many years.


 So feeling really sluggish on Sunday (after a bit too much eggnog me thinks...) these same colleagues suggested we meet at the local Christmas markets for a drink of Glühwein. Of course, being the last weekend that the markets were on, we went and thoroughly enjoyed said Glühwein (with a shot of Amaretto!). Michael and I then had our last Christmas Market experience on Monday night, each devouring 2 crepes (one savoury, one sweet), and doing our final Christmas shopping before heading home to hibernate for three days.

I say hibernate because from midday on Christmas Eve, everything ceases to operate. Nothing is open again until the 27th. So we stayed inside, enjoying our food, movies and a puzzle! We got up extra early on Christmas day, not to exchange gifts, but to skype our families back home in Australia.

I leave you with a handful of photos of our puzzle time, Christmas day with our tiny tree, and the BBC special breaking news report that Santa had left the North Pole (being tracked by satellites!) that came through at about 2pm on Christmas Eve. He was already in Australia!

Early times on the puzzle front. 

 Santa tracker!










.... and Christmas Day!

Puzzle progress....




.... and finished!!!




The last photo is taken outside our local supermarket, advertising the fireworks that can be purchased. The sale started yesterday and all last night we heard crackers going off every 5 minutes. I'm somewhat pleased this is an illegal practice in Australia!







Sadly after hibernation, I had to return to work on Friday. That was difficult! And tomorrow I have to work again, the only teacher in my room (only 5 students so not soo bad). But then come Tuesday morning, Michael and I are off on Euro Trip #6 - Switzerland for New Years! Yay! A whole week of holiday! Cannot wait! I promise a fantastic blog and photo post in the New Year! Until then, I hope everyone has a great celebration to welcome the new year. As they say here -  Einen guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr!

Euro Trip #5 - Kühtai, Austria

This holiday was a particularly special one. Friday, the day we started this holiday, was Michael's brother's 24th birthday. The last day of the holiday was our 2 year wedding anniversary! So we decided to get out of town for a special weekend of celebration and fun. We went Skiing!

Friday I got up super early and headed to work which in itself was a special day. It was Nikolaus. This involved quite a few new experiences for me. Firstly, Nikolaus is a saint whom visits the children and tells them (from his special book where he has written notes about every single child - because he sees everything) one good thing they have done, and one thing they need to work on. It was really well done, and the children were amazed to know that Nikolaus knew what they needed to work on! That caused more of a shock than the positive comment! They students were then given a nut which for our students, sadly, was not what they were expecting. They wanted a present from Nikolaus. However, earlier that morning, we had all scrubbed our boots clean and left them outside the door to the classroom. Turns out that Nikolaus likes clean boots, and he rewarded the students by hiding a small present inside their boots! They presents were all completely edible I might add, in each bag was a mandarin, an apple, a lebkuchen, another nut and a chocolate.

However, I must also share with you the fact that Nikolaus came in wearing his saintly robes... with no trousers under neath. I nearly died laughing when he sat down on his 'throne' to address the students, as there was a large thigh high split on each side of the gown, which exposed some very hairy leg and his calf high socks and loafers! Other than that he was pretty authentic, but my colleagues and I could not look at him without giggling! It was also somewhat difficult to find a good angle from which to take the photos of the children!

The other notable element of this day was, shortly before Nikolaus's arrival, we were sitting in the classroom, singing christmas carols when over the kids heads, looking out the window, it started to snow all of a sudden. It was so magical! I could not believe how it just started falling (heavily) as we were singing. Sooooo different to an Australian Christmas, that is for sure!

So then at 4pm, the real fun started, as I stood and waited in the cold for my lift to arrive. Michael and Tom ended up finishing packing the car and leaving our apartment at 4.15, as I stood waiting in fresh falling snow. Once they picked me up we got on the Autobahn and started the journey to Austria. This was a little hairy as at one stage, we were driving through what can only be described as a blizzard. The snow was swirling and we were driving head first into it. The wind was pushing the car sideways at times. We took shelter behind a large truck for part of it and slowed right down, but there were still some crazy drivers flying along in the fast lane. The best bit though was watching it through the sun roof! The snow just flying overhead!

We stopped along the way and ate dinner at an Auto Grill, a small buffet diner on the side of the autobahn. We've been to some that are built over the top of the Autobahns and we were disappointed that this was not one of those. After that we had a short but winding drive to our final destination - Kühtai.

When we got into our accommodation we were really happy. Kühtai was a tiny ski town, with one road through the centre, and hotel driveways were the only entrances off the main road. So from our bedroom window we could see only snow and lit up hotels (when we arrived at 8:30pm). So we had high hopes for the morning. When we woke up, all we could see was white, there was snow everywhere, just outside our window and then we could see the chair lifts already in action on the slopes of the hill opposite our hotel! It was fantastic.

So we hurried ourselves along, got ready and went to pick up our ski gear from the local hire shop. After all that had been sorted (with comically well matched ski boots for all three outfits), we collected our lift passes and made our way to the ski school. We had booked a private lesson for all three of us as we weren't sure how much help we each needed. Well, we knew I needed the most help for sure. But as it turned out, Tom was more than confident enough and he took off, leaving Michael and I with Barbara. She was lovely and had both of us up and moving on skis in no time. Now for Michael and I, it had been 8 years since our last ski experience. And we had mixed emotions last time.

Michael had really loved it, and had been quite a natural when it came to skiing AND snowboarding. I on the other hand was in agony. This was prior to both my hip surgeries and thus, had no strength in my hips and could not stop myself at all. My tactic for stopping was to aim for Michael and crash into him, thus I would stop moving. If  I was lucky he would catch me and I wouldn't hurt myself so badly! So it was like the sun emerging from the clouds coupled with heralding music when I was told to do the plough/magic v stop for the first time this time. NO PAIN! And I could actually do it! I could actually stop! No more crashing into Michael for this ski bunny!

So we started to gradually make more and more moves, taking our starting point further and further up the hill, eventually going from the top of the first ski lift! Michael unfortunately was not nearly as comfortable this time as he was in New Zealand 8 years ago, and he fell over several times. His turning was just not working for him, and thus, shortly before wrapping up for the morning, he fell quite spectacularly, catching his ski beneath him, and twisting his knee. The poor thing, you could see he was in pain. It was the first time all morning I didn't laugh at his fall. And worst of all, stuck on the side of a mountain on skis, I could not quickly get to him to help. Luckily Babara did.

But he did get back up and we did continue to ski for a little longer. By the end of our two hour lesson, we were both feeling more confident (alot more confident in my case), and I had only fallen over twice! And they were tiny baby falls! So I was very proud. We made our way back to our chalet where we met up with Tom and we had some lunch. After lunch, Tom and Michael made their way out again and I took it nice and easy! Secretly, I was still finishing off Michael's anniversary present and needed the time alone in the chalet to get it done. I did this while watching several episodes of the Big Bang Theory!

When the boys returned, they were cold and wet as it had been snowing outside all day, and Tom had taken Michael up to the top of a high chair lift. Due to the altitude and the snow, their goggles iced up and Michael felt uncomfortable on some of the steep slopes (between his bad goggle vision, bung knee and lack of practice) so he decided to butt ski instead! This resulted in some great video footage as Tom had Michael's GoPro attached to his ski pole. But once they had returned, I cooked a huge meal of pasta before Tom decided to head out for night skiing, which ended up not being held due to pre season. So Tom was disappointed. But we were all excited for day two.


I will include some more photos of day 1 first. This was our hotel. the AlpineLodges Kühtai.





And this is Tom having slipped over in his ski boots on his way down the slope from the hotel!

Heading towards the skiing area.

Michael on the magic carpet - watch for the green pants!

No one you know in this shot - but I couldn't stop watching the little kids flying along in formation!

Ok - here is Michael again, trying to show off through the slalom.

Tom joined him suddenly!

This was Tom heading back up on the chair lift.

Me playing with snowflakes that were falling.(click on the photo and make it larger, the snowflake I caught is really cute but only visible when big)

Note the green pants making a spectacular tumble!

But don't worry - he made it!

And so did Tom - showering me with snow!











Day 2 involved alot of the same, except Michael's knee hurt too much for him to ski, so he just came along and took photos of me! And pulled me along by my ski poles to help me practice my stopping manoeuvre. But I must say that we woke to the most glorious sunny day!

The view from our balcony early in the morning!

The boys nearly ready to go.

Finally some photos of me on the slopes! I felt very dressed for the part!

So clearly I was still a little shaky, but I was able to put my skis on, travel up the magic carpet, and steer myself back to the bottom! Proud of me!

So then, after another day on the slopes, we decided to head out for dinner. This is Tom and I in the Chalet lobby, ready to go out for dinner, waiting for Michael to collect the camera!

Making our way down the snow covered slippery driveway... This is the tree that was directly in front of our bedroom window so our chalet is somewhere up behind that tree.

We went to a local restaurant that is ranked number 1 in Kühtai. Just happened to be at the end of the driveway from our chalet!

The restaurant was filled with lots of kookie things, it was somewhat describable as a hunting lodge, but with a twist. The card playing creatures up in the rafters was the first hint.

Tom thoroughly enjoyed his schnitzel.

I had a wheelbarrow for dinner...

 And Michael ate from the wild meat menu, with two types of deer and wild pig on his plate. We all agreed Michael got the best meal of the night.

.











A couple of last photos of the restaurant itself. Clearly they liked their cows!






Day 3 started as per the previous - with absolutely stunning weather! The sun was just peaking over the mountains in front of our chalet as we awoke. So we got ourselves all geared up and made our way out for what was to be our last day on the slopes.

 Michael getting himself booted up for the day. Yes he did overcome his painful knee to make it back out for a few hours in the morning.






And see what I mean about an absolutely beautiful day!

In the afternoon, Michael's knee was too weak to continue on skis, so we followed Tom on foot to take lots of photos, and just have some fun in the snow!

We headed up one of the bigger ski lifts - the Kaiserbahn. It was one of the few we could go up as passengers, and return the same way.

At the top, Tom wanted to get going....

but he stuck around to throw a snowball or two first!

I am absolutely hopeless at making a snow ball stick so I just threw powder in the air instead!

With our 2nd anniversary only hours away, Tom very kindly took this photo of us. Not a bad backdrop for ones anniversary!

I loved this little kid - not only could she ski 100x better than me, but she also had the coolest jacket, with a policeman penguin on the back!

It was FREEZING at the top of the ski lift. We are talking about -12 degrees!

So Tom finally got on his way to do a run down the mountain. We agreed to meet him again down the bottom and waved goodbye.



Tom was going.....
 

....going....

...going.... gone!

Then Ninja Michael threw snowballs at me!

I thought it would be cool to climb to the top of the rise next to the ski lift, and see down the other side of the mountain.

I never made it to the top.

I fell through the snow so deep, I was up to my hips.

 This was me trying to get back out of my hip deep hole. Unfortunately my legs were quite stuck...

 So this was the end result. From here I freed my legs and rolled down the hill! Meanwhile, Michael couldn't stop laughing!

 But I did take the time to make a snow angel!!!

.... which Michael said I ruined by using my hands to help myself up...

So he decided to have a go too. 

... and then needed my help to get up so he didn't ruin his 'perfect' snow angel!

He looked like a big kid needing to be picked up! Or a mummy...?

We then realised that Tom would be well and truly at the bottom by now, so we made our way back down the ski lift, passing Tom on the way. 

When we got down the bottom, we started walking and Tom skied up to us, once again, doing his best to shower us with snow!

Despite my earlier snow sink, this post has been pretty devoid of clutz moments. Surprisingly I hardly fell over while skiing, so I'm sure that it will come as no surprise that my bigger and better falls came while standing on my own two feet.

I'm only posting one fall photo but trust me when I say that Michael captured plenty. The walk back to the hotel consisted of so many snow stacks, that clearly I am deserving of my blog name. 

 So one minute I was up.... the next....

Yes, I really did fall face first into the snow.

This was the end of our time in the snow! I went out with a bang!

 
So once we had returned our ski gear, and had warm showers, we made our way down the mountain to the nearest major township from Kühtai, away from Innsbruck. We couldn't find much that was open as it was a Monday night, but we came across a completely empty Italian place. Turned out to be absolutely amazing food. We all travelled home stuffed!

And making our way back to our chalet for our last night, we had to stop for a shot of the town sign.









For our last day of holiday, we awoke, dressed, breakfasted, packed and checked out. After shoving everything in the car, we made our way back down the mountain, this time heading for Innsbruck.

Leaving Kühtai.

The famous Golden Roof in Innsbruck.... not nearly as spectacular as we were expecting. 

Tom and I admiring the incredibly fast moving river at the Innsbruck bridge. 

Innsbruck certainly was a stunning town for the fact that it was surrounded by snow capped mountains. 

 We were watching this narrow street from the end of the bridge, admiring the cars that were willing to drive up there... then we witnessed a bus do the same thing.


So we walked up and watched another bus enter the lane from above, and got out of the way quickly as it made its way up towards the bend on which we were standing.

 We headed back in towards town, via one of the many christmas markets. This particular one seemed more commercial than the others we had seen, but it didn't stop both Tom and I from purchasing something.

We were also in awe of the centre piece of this market. The Swarovski crystal tree. This tree is 13.5m tall, contains 90,000 crystals inside the tree and another 25,000 on the tip, another 15,000 crystals on the frame of the tree itself, 190 LED lights and 148m2 of glass. It weighs 18 tonnes. It was stunning!

We couldn't stop looking at it, and I don't think the photos do it justice. However I wish I could see this lit up at night!

We stopped for a quick lunch at another christmas market before taking the 'Nordkette' up one of the mountains. It was a funicular. A train like vehicle that had a very interesting structure, that separated the cars as we climbed up the mountain, splitting the levels... hard to explain, but cool to ride in!

Tom and I clearly enjoying the trip up!

The view from the top was amazing!

There is the Nordkette, about to make its downhill trip.

See what I mean about mountains all around!

We stayed up here for coffee and cake (we made Tom try a traditional Austrian Sache Torte) before heading back down. Then it was time to sadly make our way back to Munich. 

The drive back to Munich was still quite lovely, with little roadside gems like this castle to see as we drove around corners. A new surprise lay around nearly every corner.







Sadly, this was the close of our awesome trip. When we got back to Munich, we ate dinner before Michael delivered Tom to the train station where he was to catch the night train back to Paris. We had such a good time with Tom and were so thankful that he was able to spend some time with us. We now look forward to other family and friends visiting soon.