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It seemed like a good idea at the time
Jun. 10th, 2009
Dec. 2nd, 2007
09:06 am - Where to buy scotch flavoured condoms, beer schnapps and Omas mustard in bavaria.......
After a week at work that can best be described as emotionally challenging, I had the good fortune to spend a lovely day in nurenberg with quite possible two of the coolest people on the planet. A work mate invited me to come out and spend the day with him and his girlfriend at the Christmas market in their town, apparently the most famous Christmas markets in all of germany. I wasn’t expecting too much – last year everyone talked up the munich market, and though the gluewine and atmospheare is great, as far as shopping goes it wasn’t that increadible. Most things were from china- not the hand crafts or unique local delicacies I had expected. Still I was really looking forward to a day out with these two as they are totally excellent -and both readheads.
I met magnus at the train station at 6:45am – yes I was awake, dressed, and functional at 6:45 on a Saturday morning. We headed out on the train to Nurenberg and after about an hour we found ourselves in nurenberg, greeted by his girlfriend Myrika.
On our walk to the market she pointed out the different churches and other local points of intrest. What struck me most about the city was the blend of old and new architecture styles. The colors of the day were also breath takeing – though Myrika says the Perfect weather for the Christmas markets is a light dusting of snow, the rainy weather made the stonework that dominates the streets and churches come alive. The market its self was actually excellent- there were hand made things and they had a section of the market devoted to the twin cities of Nurenburg with stalls selling crafts and delicacies from cities in Scotland, France, Ukraine, Turkey, Italy, and the USA. They also have a childrens area away from the consumer chaos with rides for the kids – there is a gorgeous carousel and I cant help but think what a lovely thing this must be for families. We stopped for a mid morning snack of pepperment, chased by sausages on a roll and gluewine(which tasted all the better for the rainy cold weather), and continued on our city tour up to the castle. It is at this point where I will make note that nurenburgh has one flaw – like most of Europe it was build on a hill and is made mostly of stairs- im not blameing nurenburg or people that settled there, I understand that at onetime this hill top local was perfect for defense but still its kinda slippery when wet and I was grateful I wore sensible foot wear. After the castle we went on to some of Nurnburgs specialty shops – the beer store where you can purchase – and I am not making this up: Beer Schnapps, The Mustard Store, and finally the wool shop (Tolle Wolle – Weinmarkt 10) where I showed tremendous self restraint. The yarn store was increadile – they had every kind of Noro imaginable (including sock yarn if im not mistaken), in addition to some hand dyes I have never seen before. The owner of the shop did an excellent job making it a cozy place, it felt like I was visiting someones grandmas house, and there was even a little sheep dog who would lick your hand and let you pet him if you approached him but stayed away from those he could tell were not dog people. All in all I think I spent about an hour petting the dog/yarn and would have to say this store is reason enough to move to Nurenberg or at least take another day trip.
After the yarn we stopped for lunch at a cosy place located in the old post office, packed with English speaking tourists. The food was good and again I am amazed at how excellent food tastes after a walk in rainy cold- if I am ever brave enough to cook for others I am going to make them wander around outside for a while in the winter first.
The day finished up with a stroll around the new town – including the redlight district – and a stop in at Myrikas local where we had Pints – yes Pints!!!!!!- of cider. Myrika did a bit of English in school, but learned most of it at her local from …. Irish and Scottish people, which if you hear her speak is AMAZING as she speaks near perfect completely comprehensible English. I am convinced the “language learning” part of the brain and the “remembering the plots of McGuiver episodes/80s song lyrics” part of the brain overlap thus explaing Europeans ability to function fluently in my language, whilst I struggule clumsily like a 3 year old in theirs.
On the train ride home I actually found my self doing envelope calculations trying to figure out how long my commute to work would be/how much it would cost to move to nurenberg. Munich may love me but I love Nurnberg.
Nov. 25th, 2007
10:50 pm - project gemutlichkite....with a name like that how could it fail?
Work group moral has been at low ever since they posted signs in the bathroom about proper toilet ettiquet. I had hoped rather than belived this was a bottoming out phase, to be followed by general group teaming together, this however was not the case and additional sings about milk in the common fridge as well as dishes left in the sink which “could be tracked back to original owner” written in capital letters soon followed. I do think we have hit bottom though with an email that went around last week stateing that 12 voluntolds are required to set up/organize/clean and arrange the Christmas party and should persons not come forward to do so christmas would be cancled. Im not really religious, but i do like the idea of a holiday when people at least try to be kind to one another, and there is no way i will sit back and let my christmas be ruined by a lame work environment. My initial plan to sneek in early the morning of dec 6 th and leave little chocolate santas on everyones desk seems like too small a gesture, and so with the help of one other collegue who has managed to retain a shread of his original humanity we have undertaken “project gemutlickite”- and this is how I find myself sewing 50+ adventkalandars out of remainder scrap fabric. The first 10 were fun but the last 13 were a bit of a pain, hopefully I will be done soon. Im planning on including 24 sweets as well as little personal notes with a compliment or a photo of a nice memory like the ones from Oktoberfest or group skitrip ect. The plan is to leave them on peoples lab doors so on Monday when they come to work it’s a surprise. I hope it all pans out, oh well enough with the typing back to the sewing......
Nov. 17th, 2007
03:50 pm - I spent my 27th birthday like a rockstar…in rehab.
I was sick the weekend before, spent the day sleeping and am still on the mend. Nothing is worse than being alone, sick, half way around the world from your mom and getting older all on the same day. My friends and coworkers were really sweet and helped me find open drugstores and offered to go to the doc with me or pick up prescriptions. The worst part of it was not being able to go for birthday drinks with them and so I’ve decided I am going to celebrate it at a more convenient time. Maybe after Christmas/New Years so as not to conflict with holiday festivities. This may sound a bit strange but people have been doing it for thousands of years – think about it, there is no way Jesus was a Capricorn.
Nov. 10th, 2007
10:35 pm - auslanders
I was coming home late on thurday night and had stopped off to grab a quick kebab. When I got on the train I thought it kind of odd that ½ of the car was cramed full but the other half just had 8 men spread out comfortably, so after ensuring there were no strange fluids on the seats (Life lesion 389:fluids on public transport are always to be avoided)I took a seat near them. Moments after sitting down I realized my mistake but was beyond the point of caring- I have been in the lab over 13 hrs and was not going to let these guys push me around. I have lived in munich for over a year and have been bullied by a much better class of person. they made a loud snide remarks in german and they mumbled something, looked at me and laughed, the people on the other side of the train looked shocked/afraid and a little bit worried yet stayed back like deer caught in headlights - so as the lads were waiting for some reply I decided to ask them where in England they were from. They were shocked that i was able to tell they were english, and asked how i knew. I said i knew because germans know how to conduct themselves in public and had far better manners – it was like a verbal knee in the groin. The lads were deflated and well mannered till i got off the train. But the best part of the whole inncedent was when one of the posh munich ladies, dressed head to toe in prada, (who, were those Englishmen not on the train, would have been leering at me for having the audacity to eat a donner on the train- whilst simultaneously repressing a shudder at revulsion over my choice of footwear) gave me an ever so tiny botox repressed corner mouth smile and head nod.
Nov. 4th, 2007
10:46 pm
Well between Christmas knitting, my Halloween party and buying a sewing machine (IKEA ROCKS!!!!) I have been bad with the blogage – to make up for it I include photos of the party!!! Good time was had by all, didn’t run out of beer (thank goodness I got an extra case) or spirits(like this is even possible), and no one lost a limb.
Ok so as for the pixalage…
Joe and maria hadn’t been to my flat before and I think they thought I was kidding about the leather door, wall of mirrors, full bar and round bed. Maria asked how I could live in this flat – I counter with how could I not live in this flat.
Andy as a vampire – when andy gets full tenure as a prof at the age of 31, I am going to send this photo to his gradstudents (it will totally brighten their day…). When he wins the nobel prize im going to sell it back to him for a small fortune – or tickets to the ceremony…
Arri and Silvia in the kitchen – Arri is dress in my Munchner Kindle costume- which I made the night before at 1am…. But it looks ok in the photo.Arri and Silvia in the kitchen – Arri is dress in my Munchner Kindle costume- which I made the night before at 1am…. But it looks ok in the photo.
Magnus and his girlfriend also did a bang up job dressing up.
Ok so I guess that is all for now, best get back to knitting,sewing or sleep, hope everyone had an excellent Halloween
Oct. 16th, 2007
07:53 am - me talk pretty one day...
Well its been over a year, and much to my shock I have failed to learn german by osmosis. I for one blame germans for there mastery of English, and my general slackassedness.
And though I have the names of train stops on the U6, the cakes at Kafer, wiessen song lyrics and about 450 odd words down – I am unable to use these words in scentences that are even remotely close to comprehensible. I was working on the language tapes and memorizing “Key Phrases” in an attempt to communicate – but it leaves people I talk to with the impression I actually understand german…which if followed by a rapid fire german response, followed by me smiling, nodding and backing away slowly (he smiling and nodding is never a good idea when you don’t understand something, and especially bad at a bar when talking to a stranger…)
So yesterday I went to german class, took the placement test, and was forced to admit I may have to learn some rules of grammar/spelling (which is particularly hard seeing as ive never really been an English grammar/spelling rule learner, which could be particularly difficult what with the extra german letters)
Me talk pretty one day…
Oh and on on unrelated note im having a Halloween party – also kinda fun/funny (but like a clown, not like a dead clown)- send me an email and i can send you an invite/address info ect….
Oct. 12th, 2007
02:25 pm - My wiessn report
So i havent been blogging for a while due to octoberfest induced distraction- bad blogger no cookies...funny cause of the lime and violet ref and the web cookies........any how here is my random ramblings from journal entires which try to outline what i got upto (my drunken spelling is almost indecipherable- wish the same could be said for random messages i leave in peoples phone machines, i wish my handy had a breathalizer to stop me from randomly calling people when drunk, but thats a story for another post.....)
September 22
drunken knitting on trian, met wicked cool indie yarn dyers, wandered streets with ms b at 2 am looking to buy a train ticket and trying not to make her laugh too much as we both had to pee.
September 23
First day of Octoberfest for me – i was hungover but the pros play with pain. so glad i went – my work group gradually deteriorated into “i love you ” “no i love you more”’s. very gemutlich- work would be so pleasant if collegues were drunk all the time.
September 27
My friend came in from ireland for a visit – first stop HackerPshorr. It was full so we hung out in the beer garden hand had a supper of obatza (that stuff is freekin awsome).
September 29
My first full day at Octoberfest. Ended up smushed against tyrolian mankitten and 400 of my closest new friends waiting for the doors on the pshorr tent to open. have you ever noticed when your standing really close to someone how much taller than you they are? I have this self deluded self image where i think im about 2 m tall, seriously. its not till i get up close to someone i notice im 1.67 m. Luckily we got in thru a side door, friends who i had arranged to meet there wernt so lucky- i felt guilty the whole day, but was distracted by the coolest economists. Evil gnomes hammering in the back of my head were the karmic retrobution i deserved for choosing pshorr tent over friends.
October 1
My friend had to go home so we had a weisswurst breakfast, followed by a beer in the Augustina Tent. After she left for the airport (slightly tipsy – which is a tradition we have – she comes for a visit and hit a bar or club before take off – in london i took her to www.thechurch.co.uk, ok there were no strippers at octoberfest but the optic socks should have more than made up for the lack of strippers) I caught up with a mankitten and his most excellent friends (south tyrolians rock) at the Braurosel tent. They had a table near the bandstand, which was most excellent, and as the day went on more interesting people came and went. In the morning there was a pack of american backpackers, some how we got to talking about knitting and it turns out she carries her knitting with her everywhere too and so we ended up knitting at octoberfest...it was super fun only now my scarf smells like octoberfest and is so full of mistakes progress made has to be frogged and started again.
later on in the evening after the knitting was put away a pack of itallians came and joined our table. Turns out they are a group of friends who make the trip up every year, they were super fun (though the 4 mass i had had before meeting them may have helped) and after about 20 min i felt like they were already honorary mankittens. I however forgot to explain the whole mankitten thing to them, and had also assumed they were probably gay due to the wearing of fitted black tshirts and man purse ownership so when one of them was getting needy for attention (ie closing my cell when im trying to text someone), i responded as i usually do by random stroking, only i was a bit drunk and went for the upper inner thigh. the usual response of the mankitten to this is shock/fear, and slow retreat, however with drunken police officers from napoli the response is somewhat different. not bad, just very, very different.
October 2nd
took really hot shower trying to wash off the octoberfest/shame/italian police officer, went to the gym, vowed to never go to octoberfest ever again.
October 3
Arrange to go for coffee with friend, ended up at the lowenbrau tent, dancing on benches not entirely sure how i got there....am such a sucker for peer pressure, Mankittens came and acted very responsible, they are lovely if ever so grown up. We ended up at a table with some enginerds who asked why i came to germany for grad school, its weird but after saying the “german science rarh rah rah ” so many times i just couldnt bring my self to do it again so since he was mid beer sip, and i couldnt resist the chance at a laugh (a weekness i know) i told him i was here to have lots of casual sex with random forigen men, at which point he snorted beer out his nose while simultaneously choking then quickly provided me with his mobile/work phone number/email.
Ocober 4th
went to wiessen after work with workmate, and thought i was able to keep my hands out of his lap, i fear i may have sexually harassed him in an attempt to tell an inappropriate joke (he didnt know what a belly button was, and after a mass i thought it was totally acceptable to lift his shirt and show him, then when he got all shy and “i need to go to the gym” (trust me he did not), nor did the german banker who i told the joke to next.
October 5th
My last day of octoberfest was spent at a table with one of my grown up friends. we ended up at a table with incredibly good looking german girls who were actually really cool. About once every few years i wonder what it would be like to be really really good looking as opposed to being a good conversationalist...anyhow after an evening with these girls i was grateful for my normalness. You’d think exceptionally cool or good looking guys would hit on good looking cool girls, but no – they get the freeks and minors. These poor girls spent the evening fending off advances from “OcTONIfest”- a group of not so nice itallian men in their 40s-50s, who really wanted to dance, and 16 year old boys who just sat on the bench beside them mooched thier beer and begged for a kiss on the cheek before they left (i though one of them was going to cry when the girl gave him an air kiss from far away). After we finished up at the tent, we tried to meet up with some friends at a bar called “Drie Turm”, where the bouncer denyed yours truly entry....ok so maybe being rediculusly good looking would have helped there – though i propbably still would have been wearing my saskatchewan science fair T-shirt, sneekers and hornrimmed glasses so maybe i woulndt have gotten in anyway. I was pretty upset about it (ive never been denyed entry to a club before) and so went to schwabinger 7 followed by Podium where i proceded to drink gin and tonics and knit till 4 am.
Sep. 21st, 2007
07:43 pm - how much clevage is appropriate for work functions
Only 1 more sleep till Octoberfest, and i am faced with quite possibly one of the most pressing dilemas of the wies’n season – to trachen mode or not to trachen mode....
Obvioulsy ill be dusting off the dirndle when i go out with gay men and knitters and mankittens(as those prevoulsy mentioned will not be distracted by dirndl induced clevage (german enginerds are brilliant, where dirndl induced clevage came from i do not know but its pretty impressive) )– but im not sure if it is appropriate for work functions. Though im not sure i fully understand european clevage display function, In north america it serves as a bit of an invitation where as in Europe I think it means something different. a girl at work told me about how her boyfriend told her the first time he saw her in a dirndle that he thought about getting married...i thought this a bit strange as most north american boys would be too distracted by the loss of blood flow from the brain, and at best would say something like “id hit that”...but i suppose european guys are different...or at least clever enough to lie.
Sep. 16th, 2007
02:59 pm - the best part about going away is comming home
So I was in italy this past week for a conference/summer school. I learned a ton of stuff about organometallics, catalysis, Europe and myself. Specifically:
1) duch boys are cute – I want one for my birthday and/or Christmas
2) I am not itallian ☹- Ok though this is probably pretty obvious to everyone else, but I always held out a secret hope that I would fit in italy slightly better than I do in germany. In my defence there are several traits that I felt would assist me in blending: I am loud (or at least louder than germans), I like to touch, I like to coffee, total chaos if fine with me (I don’t even own a wrist watch and I think schedules are a bit over rated), my parents are artists and I am a few inches away from being tall…ok Im short. Though all signs point to me totally fitting with the meditaranian mentality – reality, reared its ugly head when I found the packs of Italians at the conference to be a bit too loud/touchy and unordered (yes, I am the pot calling the kettle black) and though I am all for random men I have just met hitting on me (full on eye contact/random petting), I generally prefer this to be after I have had a few drinks and not in between the first and second pasta course 30 min after I have sat down to dinner.
3) the best part about going away was coming home- The night I got back I met up with the mankittens. The only thing better than a Mankitten is 3 all together- think a puppie vs puppies in a basket. We went to play pool and have a few beers. The tricky thing about drinking beer while playing pool is you have to keep putting your glass down and all the glasses look alike. Needless to say I ended up drinking everyone elses beer by mistake – while simultaneously accusing them of steeling my beer….if I wasn’t me im pretty sure I wouldn’t hang out with myself…the mankittens are highly tolerant- I heart them. Anyhow I got all caught up with the mankittens - one of them is headed to france for a month with work, the other is interviewing for jobs (he was excited that one of the places hes interviewing at has a kindergarden on site (how hot is that?)) and the third was busy fending off advances from the waitress…my boys are all grown up – im so proud of them….
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