Bobbing along...

I suppose I have decided to jump online and blog tonight for a few reasons. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that Michael is out for a somewhat networking dinner with friends (aka: I'm lonely), or the fact that I promised Michael I was going to use my quiet night at home alone to study (assignment due in a week! eep!). But mainly, I just realised that I've been playing radio silence since we got back from Sweden - over a month ago.

So I thought I should provide a few updates. What exactly has been going on in the land of bretzeln und bier? Hmmmm, lets backtrack to just after Sweden.

February 28 - FASCHING
Fasching is the equivalent of Carnivale here in Germany. It is an absolutely massive party, bigger than I could comprehend. The day that marks 6 weeks till Easter is the traditional day for celebration (March 4 this year) but of course the kindergarten held its own celebrations. But it is a chance for everyone to let their hair down, dress up and have fun and eat lots of sweets before Lent commences.

At the kindergarten, we certainly did our best to keep up with tradition. We at LOTS of krapfen - jam donuts - the special Faschings sweet treat. We ate mini bretzeln off strings without using our hands. There were costumes galore and lots of singing and dancing. I sat back this day (not on the dressing up side of things, trust me, I dressed up!) and played the role of the photographer. I did indulge in a krapfen or two... but instead of dancing and singing, I took hundreds of photos. Of course being of the children, I cannot share many, but I'll do my best!

Can you guess what I was?

Does it help when I say this:

Beee daaaa, Beee daaaaa, Beee daaaaa!

                   or

Teeee heeee heee - Bottom!

Yes, that's right, I was a minion from the 'Despicable Me' franchise! Just call me Dave!





And this is me with my class!

This was the table full of Krapfen - half already missing! And my GBF (German Best Friend) Cassandra serving them up!

Two of my amazing friends here in Munich - Cassandra and Lisa!

And some of my colleagues. I strangely enough feel like I belong here - like I blend in!










So that was Fasching.

March I must admit was quite uneventful. I had to hunker down and do some study for my masters, I had several Saturdays taken up with work commitments (yes - all day Saturday staff meetings suck!) and we had some drastic weather changes. 2 weeks ago we were thoroughly enjoying 21 degrees, glorious sunshine and summer dresses! Within 2 days we were at 1 degree, and snow! It was insane just how quickly it changed. And talking of change, the length of daylight hours has made a spectacular change. Now the sun rises by 7am, and sets at 8pm! 13 glorious hours of beautiful sun and its just going to get longer! 

The most interesting thing I can share though would have to be my cat dreams incident. One night, after taking a few days off work with a bug, I had a strange dream, and the next thing I knew Michael was shaking me awake, claiming I had scratched him. Apparently I had taken my hand, placed it on his tummy and then pulled with my nails quite fiercely. Luckily no damage done. 

However, the following night, strange dreams persisted, and I do remember stirring in the middle of the night, but going straight back to sleep, unaware of what made me wake. Got up the next morning with my alarm, made my regular morning pot of tea, started getting myself ready for work. Walked into the bathroom and saw my reflection in the mirror. There, on my forehead was a rather lengthy gash. Quite deep too. As I write this, over two weeks after the incident in question, I am still sporting a rather obvious scar! Apparently I had been having cat dreams again, and had taken to my own face this time. Thank goodness the dreams stopped after that, and thank goodness I was able to cover the worst of the damage with my fringe for a few weeks!

But the last thing I suppose I can explain of recent times would be the Starkbierfest. This literally means Strong Beer Festival.   During the period of lent, the monks would fast during the daylight hours, and therefore required something that would provide enough sustenance during the day. So they brewed extra strong beer with enough carbohydrates to keep them going. So during lent, certain breweries open their beer gardens and sell their special starkbier brews. We attended one such festival at the Paulaner brewery and had a lovely time. It was another of those beautiful 20+ degree weekends, sunshine and just the perfect day to go to a beer garden with friends. We went with two of my colleagues and their partners. We started at 11am, by purchasing some food (schweinshaxe, obazda, giant bretzel and a frühstucks platter), and of course some bier. Michael had a maß (1L) of starkbier, while I had a radler (still 1L) which is half bier, half lemonade. The starkbier is so strong that 1 maß is the equivalent of 8 standard drinks. I was drinking half that quantity mixed with lemonade, and it still took me a full 2 hours to drink the whole cup!

Having said all that, it was very tasty and enjoyable. Especially the schweinshaxe - amazing crackling! I think Michael and I are truely becoming German now as this just felt like the perfect way to spend our Sunday!




















Well, I suppose that is all I have to explain currently. In less than 2 weeks we are off to Paris for the Easter long weekend, and very much looking forward to the break. We've only been to Paris fleetingly over 2 years ago, about 36 hours all up, so of course we have a long list of things to see this time, but also looking forward to doing Disneyland too! If my pictures of Fasching didn't confirm it, clearly, I am just a huge kid!