The chaos has yet to settle. It seems to be one thing after another! Living in Munich still seems to be a dusty haze with no end in sight. Although, Rolf and I are having fun exploring the city and finding places to dance and eat and shop! I've always enjoyed grocery shopping for some reason and I really love it here. Just like in Thailand, there are many street vendors that sell fresh fruits, all kinds of breads, and wieners!!! Even though everything in Deutschland is outrageously expensive (at least with my US dollar), the groceries are relatively cheap. Just another reason for me to love grocery shopping.

Germans are generally very healthy eaters, minus the excessive beer consumption. All the foods in the grocer are fresh and the bananas look like normal bananas...You may wonder..What does a "normal" banana look like? Well, I can tell you what it doesn't look like and that's exactly how they look in the States. Well above average in size, bright yellow, and the picture of genetically engineered agriculture. I can taste the difference here. There isn't half of the store dedicated to frozen food items; in fact, they seem to be pretty hard to find. Not like I have been looking....People here go food shopping bi-weekly if not daily for fresh food items. I think I like that better than stock-up-for-Y2K, Costco style shopping. On Saturdays everything has to be cleared out of the store, because here NOTHING is open on Sundays. It can be something inconvenient, but I appreciate the intention behind it. I think that American culture could benefit from less stores being open around the clock. People need to rest!

I have yet to really become a German eater....Stereotypically speaking...I don't drink beer with every meal and I don't accompany my beer with bratwurst...It's not really like that here...Sure, people drink beer at the crack of dawn, but there is more Italian food and Greek food more than I see "German" food. The Backerai is what really gets me. The bread and the sweet rolls and the pretzels and, ok you get the idea. I have officially replaced my daily Starbucks with a Krapfen. It's a little bit more messy than a latte though. Imagine me walking around the city with white powder sugar and purple custard covering every bit my face except for my eyes. If you have any idea now about what exactly a Krapfen is...... Did I mention that we love the Greek restaurant around the corner from our apartment?

One thing that contradicts my statement about Germans being generally healthy is the fact that a large population are smokers. People can live their lives however they want and maybe I sound very American for my opinion of people who smoke...BUT, I have to breathe too! During my break at my language class, dozens of people cluster right outside the door to puff. I get caught up in cloud of smoke when I try to find my way to the Krapfen stand. Sure, I can hold me breath and it's not that big of a deal, but then when I return from my bakery ecstasy I am confronted with a massacare of cigarette buds. What gives them the right to litter just because they are smokers? This is a question I ask.

Another thing about Germans which is stereotypically attributed to them is the fact that they love to complain....i.e. my last paragraph.....It's true and I think it's funny. Now that I can understand a fair amount of German words, I can hear people as I go through my day complaining about their cat, the weather, the subway, the stale Krapfen......If there is something to talk about, then there is surely something to complain about.

I had expected Germans to be as organized as I had been led to believe. It's true that Germans are very punctual and concerned about time and it being wasted and lost and not spent efficiently.....Although, I'm beginning to think that the supposed "order" in their culture is a facade. I was dicussing this with the Slavic nun in my language class. Here it is: Things are organized in a very particular fashion and when the smallest of the smallest things go wrong or just waiver from the directed course, all hell breaks loose. That is when Germans become everything but orderly and organized. Things only work and will only work the way they were made to work. Whether or not there might be another way that is better is beside the point. The organization that Germans feel the need to have is almost a disadvantage. There are four pens. They are all different colors. The black pen is what is used by your average German. The red pen, the green pen, and the blue pen are just there to take up space and are not considered as potential writing tools because only the black pen is meant to be used in all occassions. The black pen runs out of ink. (This is the part where Germans fall apart) Since the black pen is the only one that is designated to be used for every purpose and it is now dry of ink, there is nothing that can be done and no other options could be employed. The black pen was the only option. How about the other three pens????? That wasn't in the original organizational plan....So das ist kaputt! And then everyone is left complaining about the black pen that failed the system. This is the analogy that I have for Germans and their cultural tendancy for organization ( or that which they believe is such )

So that is my cultural impression rant....Hope it makes sense to you and you don't take my personal opinion for face value :)

I signed up for another month of intensive classes. I'm officially an A1 level German speaker, reader, and writer now. I go to class for 3 hours per day, 5 days per week. I have to say, even after successfully completing my BA degree, I have never studied so hard. I honestly feel as though my head might just explode and litter the street with a butchered foreign language. They are not lying when they call this course "intensive"....I have even been dreaming in German! I love every second of it though. Today, I had a full one hour conversation in entirely Deutsch. Sure, it probably sounded like nails down a chalkboard in terms of grammar, but I can make myself understood and I'm surprised by how much information actually found its way into my brain. But, like I said, I enrolled for another month long course and I have every intention to keep at it until I reach a fluent level. This is an investment in my education!

Rolf will not be going to Italy (yay! ) The project did not materialize for several reasons and so he is working on a project for Greece and it so far has held priority at the office and has been very demanding. He comes home late, but this is what he wanted and even though he complains, I know he loves it.

That is the update for now...I will end now before this gets too long and everyone decides to stop reading this blog because of its unnecessary length. Chao!

Muenchen!

I really had expected the month of January to be exceptionally hectic....But, I didn't realize that the chaos would only intensify and bleed into the month of February, too. Life has been busy for Rolf and I here on KleinStr. We complain and groan, but I think we both love every bit of the frenzy. That's just who we are. It really hasn't been all that long since I last wrote an entry, but it feels like years have passed in between then and now. I'm not sure where to begin with the storytelling.....

I have been on a crash course of integration in the last couple of weeks. I'm learning all the subways stops and what places are best for fresh fruit, shortcuts through tunnels and how to park in a city where there is virtually no parking available. I'm driving.....The nicest car I have ever been in before....An Audi A8....Look it up....It's freaking sweet. The list of features are more than I can name and I get to pack kiddos in it! Car seats, too! Every Audi A8 needs car seats, right?! I drive all over the city picking the kids up and taking them to their different activities. Already I'm becoming very familiar with the city and Rolf has admitted his envy. Just the other day, he accidentlly took the wrong train and ended up losing about 2 hours of time trying to get back to where he started only to miss the appointment he was trying to make. Besides learning city routes, I have started my German language intensive course! I didn't realize how much I miss being school and taking notes....I love to take notes. I've been soaking up as much as possible and trying to keep my mind clean of negative thoughts like: This is so hard or why the hell aren't there rules for plural nouns?.......I like the heavy load of information and I'm surprised at how well I'm doing, considering my last classroom setting attempt at learning a language. I took 3 years of French and I can only remember how difficult it was for me! I realize how important it is to have a fresh perspective on things. Rolf and I are essentially settled here in our apartment. We bought the things that we needed and replaced the God-awful toilet seat, we figured out how to work the damn laundry machine, and found out where the trash goes....We had several bags sitting the apartment for a few days because we couldn't find the community trash bins.....We found places to get our hair cut and discovered a great restaurant around the corner that we are becoming regulars at. We had our first weekend together this past weekend and used the opportunity to explore the city and party! The club scene is outrageous here.....Bars and clubs don't close until the last person leaves. We were out until 5am and took a Mercedes taxicab home....All the taxis here are Mercedes.....What we view in America as luxury, is just plain normal Jane here. The Italian designers, the posh cars, leather and fur. It's just a part of the culture. I'm not sure if I mentioned the culture shock in previous blogs that I have experienced quite surprisingly, but that has pretty much subsided. German people are a unique type......Some people I run into are very receptive, while others are simply not. It's not that they are trying to be rude, but Germans have a different approach to strangers and how they view time. That is, there is never enough of it, so there certainly is no time to acknowledge the existence of strangers strolling, rather racing past. I have met some of my neighbors who are very friendly and immediatley wanted to have Rolf and I over for drinks. Once Rolf and I get the chance to check out the salsa scene here, I imagine we will be able to make friends very easily.

Rolf and I have not only been getting settled into the new apartment and our jobs, but also organzing our personal life. We have begun training for our half marathon in Sweden and I have begun to "deal" with running in 20C degree weather and snow. Actually, the snow has not been around for about a week now. It's still very cold, but the sun is out and that makes running at 6am in the dark a bit easier. If it was up to me, I would not be sticking to a training schedule, but Rolf has been quite diligent and motivating. We are music lovers and we will see our first concert in Deutschland this Sunday....Shinedown....They're an American band...Maybe you're familiar. We went last night to see a movie....Yes, I know, boring.....BUT, they serve beer in the theaters! That is German, no? Das bier ist gut!