Sadie ist der Hammer!

After watching 3 or 4 episodes of Germany’s equivalent of American Idol, Deutschland sucht den Superstar, Julie and I began to wonder why certain people were being equated to hammers.  It seemed that being called a hammer was a good thing based on the performances we watched (Yeah, great performance….you are the ‘hammer’!), but we still were not really sure what it meant.  After looking into it a bit more we found out it is the equivalent of “you are awesome” or “you are the bomb” in German. 

We now have the phrase deeply imprinted in our brains after this weekend.  To back track a bit - we had the dogs shaved two weeks ago at the dog salon across the street to prepare for summer.  Apparently the people here prefer the shorter hair because we’ve noticed that since the haircut, the girls get a lot more attention than normal.  Normally, we only get asked about the dogs once a month or so.  However, with their new haircuts someone stops us every 5 minutes to ask which breed they are (mostly Sadie), or simply remark ‘aww… süß’ (aww…. sweet). 

To bring this blog full circle: we were walking through Nymphenburg park this weekend and the dogs were attracting a lot of attention.  At least 5 people stopped us to ask about the dogs during our 15-minute loop through the park.  We even had people talk about the dogs in Spanish at one point (¡Mira! ¡Mira!).  But nothing can beat the one guy we saw pass by on a bicycle, loop around to chase us down, and proclaim that Sadie is ‘der Hammer’!

We always knew we had amazing dogs, but we didn’t realize Sadie was as good as the semi-finalists we watch on reality TV.  But I don’t know if Sadie likes all of the attention.  She started wearing sunglasses this week to disguise herself from the paparazzi.

P.S.  For those wondering about poor Rita – before the haircut, she was always the more popular pup in Germany.  Her time will come again.  Plus she won't cooperate for a sunglasses photo shoot.

Our little corner of Germany

As I lost the television tonight to the UEFA Champions League match (Bayern vs. some lesser team), I figured I would take the time to write about our little neighborhood. And for the record – Thursday night the television is all mine. That is when Germany’s Next Top Model with Heidi Klum is on.

As the winter turns into spring and the sun stays out later, Noah and I have been exploring our little neck of the woods even more so. While we aren’t in the heart of Munich city center (though it is just a 10 min train ride from our station / or 3.5 miles from our front door), we do live in an area that strikes a perfect balance with a few popular tourist places as well as charming residential and park areas.

In prior posts we have mentioned our neighbor, Schloss Nymphenburg (a 5 minute walk NW). We are still waiting for their welcome wagon to show up at our door with a key to the castle. Five minutes to our SE, we run into Hirschgarten. This is where Munich’s THE WORLD’s largest biergarten is, with seating for over 8,000 people. It is also a large park, with an area where deer and other deer-like creatures live.

A photo of Nymphenburg because I don't have one of Hirschgarten

We find ourselves in the park often when the weather is nice. It is a good place to let the dogs off the leash and watch them run around. The other weekend we even took our own lunch and the puppies to the biergarten. For those of you not familiar with the biergarten process, you can typically bring your own food but you must buy a drink from them.

So future guests to our Wohnung (or ‘casa’ for folks more familiar with Spanish), while we don’t live across the street from Marienplatz, our little corner of Munich is still pretty bitchin’. And with that, I’ll leave you with a few pictures of the area we live in.

Our backyard

Down the street



Around the corner

 

Nymphenburg park

Amalienburg

Großer See in Nymphenburg park

Löwe

I am the Paparazzi (sort of)

The weather is finally starting to warm up, and by that I mean it is hovering around the freezing point (versus dipping well below it).

While walking the dogs in the park the other day, we spotted this lovely gem. I apologize for my bigfoot style of photography, but I didn’t want to be creepier than I already was.

These are two men clothed in matching fur from head to toe. I am currently trying to convince Noah that we need to get identical matching winter outfits for ourselves. And of course the dogs too.

It’s only been 1 month??

Today marks the 1 month anniversary of when we landed in Munich to begin our new lives. I find it hard to believe that we have only been here that long – it feels like we’ve been here much longer. I think that is a good thing – we have settled into a routine and are adjusting well to living in Europe.

Even more, I have been surviving my first winter. With lows reaching -18 Celsius, and highs only -9 Celsius, I have been putting my winter gear to the test.

The upside of the freezing cold: getting to walk around ON the Nymphenburg canal with Noah and the dogs. With the canal frozen over, residents gather on the ice to skate, play hockey, curling (?) and like us, just walk along it. We mostly walked along the edge to avoid getting in the way of the skaters and players, and even the dogs tolerated the ice. Though Sadie would hop up on the bank of the canal, and eventually refused to get back on the ice. At this point we figured it was time to head back. 

View from the bridge



People used their regular shoes to mark the hockey goals

This pretty much sums up Sadie's attitude towards the ice

Family photo op in the ice, can you find Rita? (Sadie would not cooperate, see above)

View with the castle to my back

Back to Work :(

My first week on the job at Roche Diagnostics went kind of as I expected it:  not good or bad, just kind of an uncomfortable and clueless feeling most of the time.  I guess this is probably how most new jobs begin, but everything felt exacerbated because of my insufficient German skills.  Everyone can speak English, but business and social interactions are all in German.  This is a good thing (although difficult) because I will learn the language much faster, especially since I sit near some very talkative females who keep me posted on the latest news from Hollywood.  My co-workers are very friendly, I am excited about the project I have been assigned to (sparing you the technical details for now), and the facilities and equipment is all very nice.

There was one particularly funny/surprising moment this week.  I was sitting in a group meeting presentation about some of the latest lab results (yep in German, I could only understand about 25%).  Towards the end of the meeting the presenter clicks a link to a web video and all of the sudden we are watching an ad for the Houston Rodeo.  Everyone starts cracking up at the sight of men riding bulls and chasing cows.  It was really funny to see how humorous this was to them.  This goes on for about 20 seconds and then we are watching a Houston ABC 13 eyewitness news clip (I even recognized the anchors!).  The story was about a new Stem Cell treatment that was used to relieve an injured pig of arthritis at the Houston Zoo.  What a small world- Houston making news and laughs all the way in Penzberg, Germany.

Winter is in full swing here in Germany.   There is lots of snow (for us) and cold weather lately (2-20 ° F, all week and the next).  Here are some photos from some of our recent journeys out in the cold – check out Rita’s frozen fur in the fourth picture. 

Our first Abenteuer!

After a week and a half of non-stop shopping, building furniture, cleaning, laundry, and other boring things, we decided that we needed to spend the weekend before I started working doing something fun.

Saturday we kept it close to home and decided to explore Schloss Nymphenburg and the surrounding park. All I could think about was how much our dogs will enjoy walks in this park once they arrive (SATURDAY!!!!!).

Sunday we ventured out further (two trains, a bus, and a tram) to see the Walchensee in Upper Bavaria (which we learned, is actually south Bavaria.... Upper is the fact that it an upper elevation). Once we got off the bus, we took the tram – the Herzogstandbahn – up to the top of the mountains. Apparently this is a popular ski area, because everyone was skiing/snow-shoeing (but not snowboarding) around us – we were some of the only ones there to just walk around.

We walked along the mountain on a snow covered trail about 10 minutes where we found the Herzogstandhaus - aka the restaurant. Must be one of the cheapest restaurants in a ski area – only about €27 for both of us for lunch and a drink. After we realized we couldn’t walk around anywhere else (because they only shovelled the path to the restaurant, and there was probably 4 feet of snow), we headed down the mountain and walked along the Walchensee.

Here are some of our pictures from the weekend to make you want to visit us. And you can always click on a photo to enlarge it.

Schloss Nymphenburg:

Walchensee Trip:

 

Herzogstandbahn heading down, Walchensee in the background

 

Noah playing with snow



Me jumping into Noah's artsy photo

Walchensee

 


Also Walchensee from 'See' level



Remnants of Noah skipping rocks.... as usual



And Our Journey Begins :)

My turn to update the blog! And you might want to settle in (or just scan it for pictures) as this will be a long post covering our first few days in Munich. Also, I am writing this entry Sunday night (4.12) without knowing when exactly I will post this. I can’t believe that with all 16 wi-fi networks our computer can pick up around our apartment, every single one has a password! The nerve of the Germans! Anyways…

We flew out Thursday morning at 8am Arizona time and landed at 7am (an entire hour early) in Munich the following day. The flights went well - though Noah and I have never seen this before on a plane. Yes, this guy is sitting in his seat with his feet straight up, no shoes on. It lasted long enough to make it super creepy. I should be glad he didn’t sit behind me.

We met Noah’s aunt Ellen and made our way to our new apartment carrying our 4 checked bags and 4 carry on bags, for a total of 957 pounds of luggage (or at least it felt like that). I think Noah was ready to curse me for bringing so much, even if he refuses to admit it.

After a direct train ride to our train stop, Laim, and a 10 minute walk that felt like 45 minutes with all our bags, we finally arrived to our new apartment! We live above a dentist, and the entire 2^nd floor is our apartment. There are two apartments above us – so three all together. I feel bad for those folks, as there is no elevator. Here is a photo of me pointing to our living room window.

Thanks to Ellen, we arrived to an apartment that was livable. We knew people took the kitchen with them in Germany, but didn’t realize they took every light fixture as well. Thanks to the multitude of lamps Ellen left, we weren’t in the dark at night. We also had a bed to sleep in, plates and silverware and a small kitchen table, her patio furniture in the living room, and a place to hang our clothes. We don’t know how we would have done it without all of her help.

After a quick trip to the teeny tiny grocery store where we grabbed a few things so we wouldn’t starve, Noah whipped up our first dinner – Spaetzle, salad, and… wait for it… DR. PEPPER! It’s not easy to find, but I found it. I made Noah stop eating so we could capture this epic moment in our lives – the moment where we are both completely jet lagged, exhausted, looking like crap, and eating our first dinner in our first apartment in Munich! You’re welcome Noah.

After going to bed at 7pm, we woke up bright and early 6am Saturday. Noah’s friend from high school (he was a foreign exchange student), Jörn, came down from Schwabisch Hall to visit us. Little did he know he was in for a day of shopping and working in our apartment. He has one luxury we don’t – a car! We went to a giant store – Vmarkt – about the size of a Wal-mart. I had no idea there were stores that big here. We stocked up on ceiling lights, trash cans, a mirror, a microwave, and some dog bones. The dog bones were the most important; I need Sadie and Rita to know I was thinking about them. ;)

After a lunch break, we got back to the apartment and Jörn and Noah got to work hanging lights. As I write this, we have light in the living room, kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom. We still have the hallway, the toilet, guest room, and storage room to go. And by ‘we’, I mean Noah. Here is one before/after picture.

After a fancy dinner of PBJ’s, we fell asleep Saturday night dinner at 8pm. We are party animals.

Today we met up with Ellen and went to one of the numerous Christmas Markets in town. This one is called Tollwood – it is all eco-friendly items and food. It had food and booths from all over the world. We had Polish food for lunch, German Glühwein to drink, and a crepe to top it all off.

I even made a saguaro sighting!

Here is Noah and Ellen standing in front of a recycled flower statue with solar panels.

After Ellen dropped us back off at home and we took a break to rest our feet, we decided to explore the area around our apartment. We walked over to the train tracks, found a McDonalds for those days we want to feel like fatty Americans, and found a few places to walk the dogs.

As we made our way back home, we stumbled upon this little ole thing (Schloss Nymphenburg) just a few blocks away.

After feeling in awe of our new lives, we headed home. We passed by a pizza place, and decided to use our wonderful German skills to order dinner. As we sat to wait for our pizza, Noah says he thinks we just ordered two, not one. It turns out they have a special Sundays - buy one get one free. We think Noah’s wonderful German made them believe we knew what we were doing, so they didn’t try to get out of giving us the free pizza. At least that is what we are telling ourselves.

After the past three days, this place is beginning to feel like home. And pretty soon it will be – exactly 1 month from today we leave Houston with a one-way ticket. We definitely realize how lucky we are, even with Noah not realizing to look when someone is taking his picture. :)