Milestone

Dear Family and Friends,
This week marks a major milestone in my Bavarian-European lifestyle experience. Plainly put: I proudly say within the past week I have biked more than 100 kilometers.

New York, Munich, London

Just put Meggie on a plane to London for a work of week (so cultured), after a successfully perfect time with her and DVC. Crazy year for these two. Now I'm just hoping the royal arrives wonderfully early.

speedy update

Ok so I suck at blogging and keeping people updated. And for those of you who know me we already knew this right? But I’m always aiming to get better and for those of you who really know me you know I’m a (slow) work in progress. With that said, my friends Laura, Leah and I have been loving this website called Thought Catalog. It’s basically a collection of blogs from people in their twenties and weekly they shed light on things funny to people in their twenties. Many of the blogs are conducted in lists. And after Laura’s blog of “lists” (if you haven’t read it you should, she is brilliant), I have been inspired to update my blog in list form, bringing you up to date on the happenings in my German life. So now a much over due list, from oldest to most recent… 1. Laura sings in mass -My friend Laura is an insanely gifted singer. She studied Vocal Performance at Chapman and has joined a choir here in Munich. She invited me to come listen to her sing for Sunday mass in Peterskirche. You can walk to the top of the tower of Peterskirche and its nicknamed Alter Peter. Being the oldest church in Munich (built in the 13th century), Alter Peter is totally one of the most important churches in Munich, located right in Marienplatz so I was stoked to go. And I’m not Catholic, but I do live in the Holy Roman Empire so I thought it would be an experience. The process of the Catholic mass was like watching a play, and Laura was totally important during the process I was so impressed, with her going back and forth with the priest. 2. Mom and Meg visit -Mommy and Meg came to visit during mom’s spring break. During this time I was staying in Neuhaus with my host family, where they have a vacation home. Mom and Meg stayed in Bad Tölz, which is about 25 minutes away from Neuhaus but it worked out great and it was such a relaxing week. When I had to be with the kids, mom and Meg hung around cute little Tölz and spent time with old friends. One afternoon we took the cable car but Wendelstein Mountain, which is very close to Neuhaus. I think it’s about 1800 meters high, and the view from the top is insane with a panoramic view of the Alps. 3. Easter Day in Salzburg -Mommy and Meggie left the Saturday before Easter, and after goodbyes and many tears I had Saturday evening and Sunday to relax. Sunday morning I got up and took the train to Salzburg. It’s a quick trip (for changing countries), only about an hour and a half. You can easily sleep, read or sightsee on the train so it’s really a pleasant ride. Laura and I arrived within about 10 minutes of each other, pretty amazing considering she was coming from Vienna. The train systems are amazing. Laura had done her research so straight away we headed to mass at the Salzburger Dom Cathedral, to get holy with the cardinal. The rest of the day was spent romping around sweet little Salzburg. 4. Family Dunn visit -If anything on the list deserves a separate entry it would be the Dunns epic visit. I have to admit, I was nervous. I did not know what to expect and I wanted everything to go perfectly. But it ended up going much better than I had ever expected. Only one time when there was ketchup near the fries did we have actual stress. In about 10 days a lot got done, and luckily I was able to be in good part of it. On Saturday we drove to Garmisch for the day to visit Linderhoff Castle, the Winter Olympic grounds, and a walk through the town. 5. Fruhlings Fest -Germans can drink, and Germans can party. This we already know. So yet another festival is upon us. First Oktoberfest, then Starkbierfest and now it’s Fruhlings Fest. (Fruhlings means spring auf Deutsch.) It’s a mini Oktoberfest, held in the small place at Theresienwiese. And its wonderful and that’s about it. Daniel, Laura and I went the other night. Each had a mass and split a whole chicken in the Hippodrom beer tent, probably the most popular beer tent during Oktoberfest. 6. Weather -The weather has taken a turn for gorgeous. And the Englishgartens are flocked with half naked people in the sunshine, and suddenly I feel more at home. There has been sunbathing, volleyball, and Frisbee at a constant rate since the sun has shown its beautiful self.

backyard play

gregor (3 soon to be 4 in may) and i have been playing a lot of fussball in the backyard lately because the weather has been great, and gregor i have come to find out is super athletic. and has energy to spare (so i often take him to the garden to expend the energy much like you might run a dog, in the most loving sense possible) we usually start by trying to pass the ball through each other's legs. we started to get pretty good so he told me to back up and kick it as hard i could through his legs. no problem kid... i passed it as hard as i could to him, and just before the ball got to him it must have hit a bump or something because it bounced right up and hit him in his boy parts as he was spread eagle. to my surprise, no tears. instead he busted out in laughter, "leigh leigh you hit my visi visi!" (although probably an overshare, 'visi visi' is what the boys use to refer to their man parts.)

Paula and the terrible twos

It’s not terrible, but rather sassy. When I first arrived Paula didn’t really speak. She could understand pretty much everything in English, and German of course because she had 5 people constantly talking at her in German. On her 2nd birthday, on December 1st, Paula decided she would change things up. It was like she learned 50 new words over night (English included). Lately she repeats everything I say, and a lot of what Gregor and Julius say. Since Gregor and Julius attend English kindergarten they subconsciously speak only English to each other – it’s pretty amazing, and rather funny to hear them converse. Paula has now joined the conversation, and can now say phrases she hears all the time.
She can say, “Please push me on the swing.”
“Cheese, please.”
“Ya, funny!”
And thanks to me she can say, ”Happy girl!” “You silly goose.” and can sing “Down by the Bay.” She even called Anna (her mother) a ‘silly goose’ the other day in the kitchen when Anna dropped something!
Naturally she knows how to scold in German as well, because only when we need to speak very fast or get a point across do we speak in German. So she often says, “Hör auf!” or “So geht’s nicht!” But my 2 favorite Paula phrases are, “Leigh, Leigh immer noch weh tan!” Which (in terrible German grammar means, “it’s still hurting!”) and “Nur ein bissi.” Which means (in German Kinder talk) “just a little bit” when she is begging for sweets or more food.
Paula is now attending a "Kinder Gruppe" in a close by Montessori preschool once a week on Wednesdays. Every time I ask her, "How was Kindergruppe? What did you do?" She says, "Pretzi essen!"

Sick day

Hey Deutschers, we need to talk.
You're brilliant, obviously. World renown for your inventions and quality products: BMW, Gutenberg's press, X-ray, Siemens... you catch my drift, right?
However, there's a problem: I'm sick. I need the drugs. Tea and honey are not going to cut it. Because tea and honey will not reduce my fever, allieve my monthly girl issues, lessen my hangover headache or temporarily stop my nose from running.

I ain't never had too much fun...

Too much fun, whats that mean? Its like too much money, there's no such girl. Its like a girl too pretty, with too much class, being too lucky or a car too fast.

Leonhardi

Nov. 7th, 2011:
Long story short, another Bavarian festival (oh but the story is so much longer than that). Leonhardi is a procession in honor of the holy horse and livestock patron,Saint Leonhard. Hundreds of decorated horse-drawn carriages carry people adorned in traditional Bavarian clothing through the town and then to the top of the hill where the church (St. Leonhard’s chapel) is. The most famous Leonhardi “ride” takes place in the one and only Bad Tölz. Breakfast consisted of weisswurst and weissbier. I was told I need to eat as much weisswurst as I could because “I needed a good bottom layer.” Then with Maria, and friends, we hiked to the top of the hill to the chapel. After the being in the meadow for a couple of hours, the festival and carriages winds back to down to the city center where celebrations continue long into the day and night.

success!

julius and i have been practicing his biking. we live next to pasinger stadtpark so there is lots of room to practice. today was only our 3rd go at it, and he said "let go, let go!" i skeptically let go and he was able to bike all by himself! generally he has an awesome sense of humor so when he crashes (which he only did twice), he just starts cracking up. at first he looked like a drunk driver but each time he was able to go straighter and longer distance! it was so cute! he was so excited. after he got really stable, i said lets go home to mom and show her. the whole family came out to the street to watch julius bike! and as he showed off his new skills, the entire family ran down the street with him cheering (and preventing him from running into any mercedes and bmws that line our street). it was such a joyous moment for the "our" family! they were not only proud of julius, but me too!

enjoy it!

drawing inspiration from walt disney classics!


Enjoy It!

Why cry about bad weather? Enjoy it!
Each moment is a treasure, enjoy it!
We are travelers on life’s highway, enjoy the trip
Each lovely twist and byway, each bump and dip

If there’s a complication, enjoy it!
You’ve got imagination, employ it!
And you’ll see roses in the snow,
Joie de vivre will make them grow,
Voila, that’s life, enjoy it!

Since I must do the cooking, I’ll enjoy it!
This humble tree smells gorgeous, you’ll enjoy it!
Hurricane comes your way, enjoy the breeze
Your stranded in the jungle? Enjoy the trees!

If there’s a complication, enjoy it!
You’ve got imagination, employ it!
This world’s a cornucopia,
Why it could be, Utopia?
Voila, that’s right, enjoy it!

Why cry about bad weather? Enjoy it!
Each moment is a treasure, enjoy it!
We are travelers on life’s highway, enjoy the trip
Each lovely twist and byway, each bump and dip

If there’s a complication, enjoy it!
You’ve got imagination, employ it!
And you’ll see roses in the snow,
Joie de vivre will make them grow,
Voila, that’s life, enjoy it!