I'm thankful for...

Although Thanksgiving has technically come and gone, I still want to give thanks for...well...things I'm thankful for! So here goes, in no particular order:

*Music-it has soothed me many times. It has amped me up many times. I love the Germany playlist that Jen and I have made-it's random and fantastic.

*Big down blankets (aka cotton candy blanket)-kept me warm on the chilly European nights.

*Blue skies-I miss them. I hate cloudy, dreary days.

*German food-goddamn, it's good. So rich and filling. Real butter, spatzle, sausage. Mmm.

*My mom-she has been incredibly supportive of me throughout this whole process. She's taking care of my babies while I'm bouncing around Europe, and keeps me stocked up on American goodies we can't get here. Hells yeah!

*My babies-Whiskey, Pica and Sushi are the best group of pets ever. They are (seriously) what I miss the most about Vegas. I can email or skype everyone else, but not them :(

*European men-so much different than American men, who suck. A lot. I love foreigners.

*Germans-nowhere near as image conscious as the Americans, and very accepting of a variety of people. There's no pretense here, and they accept you for who you are, not what designer you wear or how you go about your life. So very refreshing.

*Dryers-very useful. I don't know why they aren't standard in every home.

*German beer-yeah, I said it. It has made me appreciate beer. Mmm, Augustiner!

*Oktoberfest-it's just brilliant. I think my other blogs have covered that.

*Free tours-gotta love what helps you learn more! I'm enjoying learning history :)

*Scarves, hats and gloves-wind sucks. They help. 'Nuff said.

*My friends-they mean a lot to me. I have a great group of friends, and I'm glad to know I can go back to them in Vegas. I just hope they accept the new version of me :)

*Straube-holy god, they're awesome. Apparently they're called honey crullers back in the states. They had better be the same in the US!!

Well, that's all I can think of for now. There are more things, but those are what come to mind at this point. Thanks, everyone!

I admit it

Yeah, yeah, yeah...I really haven't been blogging lately because I'm getting stressed out.

What could I possibly be stressed about, you ask? I'm living an awesome life in Europe, no job to worry about, I go out and party when I want, sleep til noon...it's great, I agree.

But that's the problem. I've got a great thing going on here, and I'm terrified about going back to Vegas. I'm worried about having no job and no money, no health insurance, no car, all of that. And that I could easily deal with-worse has happened-but my main worry is my friends.

Which may sound silly, but it's a worry. I've changed as a person over the last few months, and I'm sure some of my friends have changed since I left also. I had a dream that I went back to Vegas and went to my old job to visit the people there....but they were all too busy and didn't have time for me. That, of course, is very sad. I'm sure it won't be as drastic as that, but still. It's a concern.

I'm also worried about coming back here and getting a job and starting over again. I'm worried about making friends and reestablishing myself here. I worry about a million little things.

But...well...fuck it. I have 3 weeks left in Europe, only 1 of which is in Munich. I have a lot I want to do still, but I'll do it when I come back. And I will come back. I took a leap of faith once, I can do it again.

I just don't want to pack lol!

By the way...

Olympiaberg is made up of rubble from the bombings Munich received during WWII. And now it's a pretty green hill.

Cool, huh?

The most beautiful spot in Munich

Olympiaberg is gorgeous. I went to Olympiapark on Friday to feed my duck friends, but they had drained the lake, so no duckies :(

So I decided to finally go up the little hill there, called Olympiaberg. It goes up to a height of 170+ feet and offers a beautiful view. And it was a beautiful day, too, so I could see for miles. And I saw the Alps! First time seeing them from Munich!

It was so nice and peaceful up there, and there was a 360 degree view. Olympiapark is one of my favorite spots in Munich :)
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Getting there...and back again

I've been slacking on doing this damn blog, so here it is, quick and dirty...

Ride sharing is awesome. I went to Berlin, round trip, for 55€. And I met some good people. Hot ass Berliner sitting next to me on the way there, hot ass Bavarian driving on the way back.

The Hbf in Berlin is frigging crazy-it's huge!!! And it had a lot of cool stuff in it. I had to wait there for an hour for Jen because her train got delayed. Based on what I learned on the city tour, I think they found an unexploded WWII bomb-apparently that's quite common there.

The dude who gave me a ride back, Benjamin, was super cool and was a wealth of information. He told me that we were driving on the first Autobahn built ("the idea of a very famous German, you may have heard of him...Adolf Hitler?" LOL!). We hit 220 kmph (about 138 mph) on that bad boy-we made fantastic time. He also told me a lot about what is good and bad about Berlin, helped interpret the news for me and introduced me to some new music. He was awesome.

That's about that...I would never, ever ride share in the states, but in Europe it's a fantastic alternative. With gas being over $7 a gallon there, it's a damn good idea. And they're more environmentally conscious, so they do it for these nice, tree-huggin' reasons. And it's a good way to meet people and have someone to jibba jabba with on a long, boring ride.

Oh, almost forgot!! After stopping for gas, we saw this super drunk guy stumbling around. He was holding his crotch like he had to pee, but was too drunk to. His friend came and grabbed him, then about 40 feet further down the road we saw him again. With his pants down. And his underwear pulled down. Full moon, baby. His friends were having to support his plastered ass, and pull his undies up for him. That's what friends are for!

Mauerfall 2009

Was really cool, even though we got there late. And we weren't late because we were slacking, but late because we had done the tour earlier and were feeling pretty beat up by the time we got back to the hostel. After hours in the rain, and a stinky, sweaty, man-filled night (haha), we were exhausted.

The festivities started at 1930, but we didn't get there til 2100. Which means we missed most of it :( but we got to see the fireworks, which was cool.

After all was said and done, people were up against the barriers by Brandenburg gate, and since neither Jen nor I had even stepped foot in West Berlin yet, we wanted to cross the wall. However the crapload of (hot) cops weren't allowing it. How fitting! 20 years to the day later, and we were in East Berlin with a big crowd chanting, asking to cross the boundary line to get into West Berlin. I don't think I've ever been part of a demonstration before, but that was one!

Best part of the evening...standing at the barriers, chanting...some little lady comes up and asks me if I'd jump over the barriers with her and make a run for it. Just like 20 years ago. I had to say no lol!

Touring Berlin

Berlin is an awesome city. I really didn't know that I'd like it as much as I did. Even just getting there, the people were friendlier (not to say that Müncheners aren't friendly, but Berliners are more outgoing). And it seemed that more of them spoke English, which is good. And...their Deutsch? So much easier to understand than the Bavarians. I never realized how exaggerated their accent really is.

We got there Sunday night, and settled into our hostel. That was stinky man fog night.

On Monday, which just *happened* to be the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall coming down (a different blog), we did a free city tour. Which was awesome. Totally awesome. The guide, Louis (aka the British giant), was hilarious and very informative.

We started near Brandenburg Gate, then moved on to visit the Holocaust Memorial (also a different blog). We went to the Reichstag, Luftwaffe HQ, the area above Hitler's bunker, the death strip, the Wall itself, Checkpoint Charlie and a ton of other places. I learned a lot about the history of the city, WWI and WWII, the Third Reich and what came after. It was an excellent use of 4 hours. But it was insanely cold and rainy that day. I was thoroughly chilled by the time we got back to the hostel. And my pants were soaked to the knee :(

That night we went to the Mauerfall celebrations. Again, a different blog.

On Tuesday we did a couple of the free things our guide recommended in the city-namely, going to the East Side Gallery (the remaining portion of the Berlin Wall that has been painted by a number of international artists) and the Holocaust Museum (both different blogs).

Another thing I have to mention...the men. Oh sweet god, the men. I saw so many good looking, young guys I can't even believe it. Munich has hot guys, but also a lot of oldies. More young guys in Berlin for sure. And they're a little cooler- I actually saw guys with tattoos! Damn, I love Germany!!

Soooo...I'm considering moving to Berlin now lol :)

The pictures: the first was at the end of our tour, a palace where we sat on the steps and heard the story of the Mauerfall (the fall of the Wall). The second is a huge mural at Luftwaffe HQ showing how super duper cool socialism was in East Berlin-look at how happy those people are! Dancing! Parades! Revelry! Lol :) The third is Checkpoint Charlie, or rather, what stands there now. Basically now it's an American soldier looking over East Berlin and on the other side, a Russian soldier looking over West Berlin. There were TV crews doing interviews there when we walked past. I had to resist the urge to wave and say "hi, mom!" to the cameras. But I might be a celebrity in Norway now, who knows. The fourth picture is a Trabbi, a shitty East German car. People would wait for years to get one of these sexy little machines. The last picture is the underground memorial near Humboldt University to commemorate the burning of 20,000 books by students by unacceptable authors. Yes, by students, not soldiers. Eek.

Randomness in Berlin

Picture by picture...

1st one...Jen showing off her giant skills and long limbs by grabbing pretzels off of my backpack from the top bunk. Go, giantess, go!

2nd one...this dumb bitch in our room got a Reiseplan (travel plan) to get from the Hbf to the station by our hostel. That's elementary. Usually you get those on the long distance trains, not to go around inside the city. They provide maps for that purpose. Yes, we snooped a tiny bit, but it was sitting right on her bed. Still...dumb. And lazy.

3rd one...the walking signals in East Berlin all have hats on, because they were put up to show the industrious Communists going to work with their hats on. They are only like that in East Berlin-in West Berlin, the signals look normal, no hats. It's cute.

4th one...the tiny little shoes of one of our roommates. Made to look even smaller by Jen's giant feet. Again, go, giantess, go!

5th one...double fisting Berliner beers. I am pure class. The Kindl was bitter, but I drank it like a champ. The Pilsner was Jen's (I didn't drink both), and hers was tastier. Beer is better in Bavaria, though.

Berliner Mauer

"He who wants the world to remain as it is doesn't want it to remain at all" Erich Fried

"Many small people who in many small places do many small things that can alter the face of the world"

"Freiheit statt Angst" (Freedom, not Fear)

The Berlin Wall stood for 161 km from 1961 until November 9, 1989. After the fall of the Wall, artists came from around the world to paint memorials on it. Above are some great quotes from the wall and some pictures of what little remains.

Holocaust Memorial

Passed the Holocaust Memorial (or Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe) while on our city tour, and decided to go back to the museum on Tuesday.

The memorial itself is quite stark, and doesn't look like much, but our guide, who was awesome, explained about what the artist wanted it to mean, and why that location and all.

It's in the center of the financial, business and government districts, so that with one glabce, they can be reminded about what happens when too much power is put in one persons hands.

The blocks are uneven, so that you're eyes are constantly unsettled, and the ground is uneven so that when yu walk through it, you get disoriented a little bit.

The meaning of the blocks themselves are up for interpretation. I personally felt they represented the bunkers the Holocaust victims were kept in, and that their layout is meant to be creepy (never know what's around the corner until too late, can't see the sky, easily lost) and incredibly claustrophobic, like the feeling the victims had. But that's just me...

The museum itself was quite intense. I had been to one in London previously, but it still affects you deeply to go. It moves from hard numbers and facts, almost told like a photojournal, into personal letters written by various people sent to the death camps. I can't even imagine having to write letters like those-it was very disturbing. How do you tell your family that you're going to die and that you'll never see them again? How do you tell a loved one that you're sorry you can't ever give them another hug? How do write something like that? Absolutely heartbreaking.

I think everyone should visit a Holocaust Memorial at some point in their lives. It has a lasting affect. And I think it's very good that Germany did that here-they accept their past, and don't shy away from it. Although you can be arrested for doing the Nazi salute or drawing the swastika or many other things.

All in all, an excellent experience. Difficult, sad, terrifying, but well worth it.

Awkward!!!

So, none of our couchsurfers came through for us, so we had to stay at a hostel on Sunday night. Which, no problem, but...

We were in a mixed dorm. Which, no problem. Met a giant named Sven from Seattle in there. He was cool. Then we wentout for food and movies, and went back to our room...

Which now was full of men. It was us 2 and 6 men sharing a room.

And the room STANK. STANK!!! I love men, as does Jen, but this was like the dirty essence of men. Farts and feet and butt hair. It was so foul. And it was warm and moist, like a sauna full of boiled men. So damn gross.

I passed out pretty easily but Jen ended up going to play pool at 2 because of the man stank. She said when she walked back in the room around 5 and there was actually a man made fog. Literally, man made. She had to crack a window.

I have been marinating in man. Time to start my day now.

The giant party aka the freak show

That's right...the giant party (grosseleute.de). Jen found it online and got super excited, so we rearranged Berlin plans and got tickets.

Saturday night came, and in our usual style, we were running 2 hours late. We had to get titivated! I wore my maxi dress, and Jen had a back and white patterned party dress, striped black tights and brown heels. It was cold out there, requiring tights. She had silver ballet flats on for a while too-there were much needed costume changes.

Anyways, we get to Ostbahnhof and I swear we walked for hours, past Kultfabrik and all the clubs there trying to find this place. Finally, finally...we find it. The Brickhouse. Oh yeah.

It was a freak show. Freak. Show. The women outnumbered the men in a big way. And the women were mutants-well over 6 feet tall. The tallest guy was probably close to 7 feet tall, if not more. At one point 2 giants had a conversation over my head, gesturing and all. I came up to the lowest rib of the tallest one. He was super skinny, too...like 7 feet, 100 lbs. Freak. Show.

But my stumpy self and Jen, now no longer a giantess even though she towers over me, had a good time. We had to dance on a ledge so I could stop craning my neck all night. Then a giantess jumped up there too and reminded everyone that we were dwarves. Bitch. And I was smelling armpit the whole time, too.

We got home late then had to get up early for Berlin....more to come.

Also, Jen took the pics that night, so nothing to upload at this time. They'll be on facebook first, then I'll add some on here.

Berlin update

So, we definitely are going to the Giant Man party on Saturday (yay!) and then Berlin on Sunday.

I'm ridesharing up to Berlin with a guy named Michael for 30€...I sent him a text and he called me back, in German, of course, but he spoke enough English and I spoke enough German to make plans. It'll be about a 5 hour drive.

Jen and I will be staying until Wednesday, then coming home. I'll start arranging rides for that tomorrow. We have to plan couchsurfing tomorrow. It'll be awesome to see the Berlin Wall celebrations, and to see Berlin anyways. And the attractive Berliners, but that's just an added bonus lol!

In other news...I got embarrassed at the post office today by having to open my care package in front of everyone (which had 2 bras in it). The poor guy behind the counter was embarrassed, too, but he was nice about it. Cause then he had to charge me import tax on them. Oof.

I'll write more about the Giant Man party on Sunday. Bis dann!

Catch-up

I know it's been a few days since I blogged, so here's the updates.

I haven't actually done much other than some planning. Obviously.

Tomorrow-lunch with Jen and Natalie, followed by shopping and maybe, weather permitting, by a walk around a really cool cemetery near Sendlinger Tor.

Friday-possible trip to Geretsried. I might have to break a heart *sigh*

Saturday-possible Grosseleute party... It's for giants!!! But shorter people are allowed in too, we just have to pay more. Hot German giants-OMG!!! We were going to go to Berlin that day, but now we'll go on...

Sunday-going to Berlin :) it's about a 5 hour drive, but I can ride share up there for 25-30€, which is really good.

Monday-is the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall being torn down, and there's a lot of celebrations around town. Should be very cool.

Tuesday-heading back to Munich, ride share again.

At some point in the next few weeks, we might go to Garmish or possibly Salzburg. I haven't given up on Prague either, but time and money is getting short.

November 26-Thanksgiving and Jess's birthday. I miss both :( Thanksgiving away from family and friends will be strange. Natalie (another American living here) and I are going to have our own little American Thanksgiving :)

December 1st-Amsterdam. I'm using part of my original ticket to go there, then I just need to find a way back to Munich.

Sometime after December 4th-Dublin. Dates are still tentative.

December 11th-Frankfurt. It'll be weird saying goodbye to Jen after all this time! But I want to see Frankfurt, and that's where my flight leaves from on...

December 13th, 1200 (CET-Central European Time)-Heading back to Vegas.

December 13th, 1230 (PST)-Vegas. Yeah. I'm glad to see my family and friends, but I'm already really sad to leave here. So...yeah. That's all I can say about that for now.

But...

December 13th, approx 1300-lunch with Mom at Macayo's...I miss Mexican food and bottomless Cokes!

I broke the seal!!

The German laughing seal, that is.

At Tengelmann's earlier, while getting some stuff from the deli, I actually made the deli guy laugh and smile-whoa!

First I wanted corned beef (I'm worried, but hey, we'll see)...

Then I wanted Irish cheddar...

Finally I wanted some kaiserbrotchen (rolls)...

I felt he was getting a little bothered by my constant requests (and bad accent), so I smiled and said "und.....(big pause like I was thinking about what else to ask him for) das ist alles! (and...that's all!) and he actually laughed and smiled at me..."Alles? Gut!"

Timing is everything!

They're a hard people to joke with...it's a breakthrough!

Halloween

Oh my god, Halloween was a blast here! Halloween is pretty much an American invention, and has only filtered to Germany a little bit, but it has made its' way across the ocean.

At first I was going to dress as a day of the dead sugar skull thingy, but then Jen and I had some last minute inspiration...so we decide to dress as representatives of our countries :)

Which means I was the Statue of Liberty and Jen was a lumberjack lol!

We went out shopping on Saturday to a couple secondhand stores, where I found some satin sheets to wear and Jen found some suspenders and a toque. Then back to the apartment for durums and die Simpsons, then we started getting ready.

And pre-gaming (aka vorsaufen) with Stroh....a note about Stroh is needed...Jen had told me about a bad experience with Stroh before, and it is an 80% (160 proof!!!) Austrian liquor. And it is potent. Oh boy, is it potent. I had brought a bottle back with me from Austria, and we finished it. We were drunk before even leaving the house.

So we got all dressed up (including epic eye makeup for me and chest hair for Jen) and stumbled down to the Irish bar. We were the evenings entertainment on the U-Bahn, as we were the only ones in costume, and well, we're loud and silly anyways.

So we get to the bar, which is packed, so we decide to bounce next door to the Australian bar. And there, no bullshit, we started the party. We started dancing and pretty soon we had a group of people dancing with us. Started with another girl, then a guy, then more started in. We had a ton of fun!

We went upstairs to cool down (it was HOT in there!) and I then got serenaded by 2 German guys trying to sing the Star Spangled Banner, albeit to the tune of Amazing Grace. Then we went home. It was a lot of fun :)

We brought Halloween to Munich :)

Happy Halloween!