Munich

I went down to Munich, on a train journey that lasted nine hours. If you ever do have to make a nine hour train journey, I highly recommend travelling by ICE (Inter City Express). The seats all come with their own individual pillow, and the interior looks a bit like a cross between a private jet and a space ship- all flashing lights, smooth automatic doors, chrome and wood. I was able to sleep my way through a few of the hours, spent a long time looking out of the window, ate, read, and amazingly didn't get too bored. That didn't mean I wasn't greatful to eventually get to Munich though!

It was really good to see Hayley, her Munich friends, and some of the many Leeds lot spending their year in Germany. We had a meal, went to Hofbrauhaus, a famous beer hall, then spent the evening in an entirely sensible way for someone who'd been up since six and had a nine hour journey- we went out to a club, and didn't get back until the trams started running again in the morning. Apparently that's a typical Munich night, and I was there to see what life in Munich was like...

After a long lie in, and some good bacon sandwiches (bacon is one of those ingredients that only appears in German shops very infrequently), we went out to see the Olympiapark, which had good views across Munich from the top of a hill. The Alps were even visible in the background. It's amazing what a difference in temperature there was, I was walking around in just a jumper, whereas in Stralsund I can't remember the last time I left the house without wearing my coat, hat, scarf and gloves.

We also saw the English Garden, a massive park in the centre of Munich, which has a river which has a current big enough for surfing on. It was quite surreal seeing someone wearing a wetsuit and flippers, carrying a surfboard, just walking through the park alongside all the families and other people who were out enjoying the weather.

In the evening, we had pizza, then went ice skating with a group of Hayley's friends at the outdoor ice rink. Ice skating always seems like such a good idea, until you get onto the ice and remember that you can't actually skate very well, and you've just paid for two hours clinging to the railing and being overtaken by small kids going backwards. It was fun though, and then we recovered in a beer hall afterwards.

On Sunday, we went out to the outskirts of Munich, to a lake called Starnberger See, which was very pretty. The Alps were visible in the background, the lake was calm, the weather was nice, and although there were loads of people there, it still felt quiet and peaceful there.

Basically, full marks to Munich, it's a really nice city. One weekend is definitely not enough time to do everything there, so at some point (probably not this year, there's only so many times I can face a 9 hour journey, and there are other corners of Germany I haven't been to yet) I will be heading back!

The Wonderful World of Frühstücksangebote

I can't quite believe this blog has gone on so long without mentioning Frühstücksangebote! It means breakfast-offers, and when I'm with the Mecklenburg people, it's what we do on Sundays. Due to the fact that there isn't a lot else to do... A German style breakfast is bread rolls, meat, cheese and jam, so we find a bakery with a good offer on (that hopefully also offers 'schwarzer Tee' (black tea) too) and enjoy the bakery atmosphere. We have so far sampled Frühstück in Hamburg and Berlin, but due to being in an unfamiliar city, and having to go to the first bakery we found, which didn't always have a good offer, they did not live up to the Frühstücksangebote in the Lila Nordback Bäckerei in Rostock, or the französische Frühstück Grace and I found in a bakery in Stralsund- basically the same as a German one, but with croissants!

Last week Daniela and I were in a cafe that offered two whole pages worth of Frühstücksangebote, including a 'make your own breakfast' where you ordered exactly what you wanted, piece by piece. Also, it's offered all day everyday, from what I understood from the menu, which is pretty cool- Frühstücksangebote are usually a Sunday only deal. I am SO excited for when all the MV people come to Stralsund and we go to test it out!

Of course, this is only a weekend thing, my usual breakfast still consists of muesli and tea, though what is starting to emerge from our weekend Frühstücks is that I no longer consider cheese and meat as a strange breakfast. I don't think I will ever reach the 'curry for breakfast is okay' stage, but it is true that my opinions have been altered. When the University department claimed we'd change during our year abroad, I don't think they really had breakfast habits in mind...

This was mainly written for all the people who accused me of being obsessed with Frühstück. Why not live up to your stereotypes?

I would like to dedicate this post to Georgina, the cheese-crazed alcoholic, for appreciating my Frühstücking needs.

Swine Flu Update!

So, for any of you who didn't know, the Germans like to shake hands. They shake hands with everybody. It is considered impolite not to shake someone's hand, the first time you see them in the morning, which means when someone first arrives in a room, they will go round and shake everyones hands to greet them, even if the room is full. Even young people shake hands, right down to all the kids at the school. I hope the staff don't think I'm rude for not immediately thinking to offer my hand. And if I start shaking your hand when I'm back, it's only because I've got used to the German way, I'm not trying to conclude a business deal with you.

Anyway, due to the risk of swine flu, all the hand shaking is being cut back a bit. The kids at school have had lessons where we all practised how to wash our hands the proper way, and were expressly told that they weren't allowed to shake hands to say hi or bye anymore. I feel slightly smug, due to the fact that when I first got here, I had conversations with people at home, about the amount of hand shaking, and whether it led to diseases being spread more rapidly. Turns out I could in fact be a health minister. Not that it makes much difference, the children tend to ignore the new rules. It's very nice being greeted by a long line of children who want to hug me or shake my hands on the way into school, and I appear to still be swine flu free at the moment, but maybe I should be trying to keep them back!

Compared to the other language assistants in my area, my school is fairly laid back (or I'm just more oblivious to the teachers' panic) but at the weekend I managed to clear a space in a crowd just by blowing my nose. Which is good to note, as the Germans don't always seem to understand the concept of personal space- I did not enjoy being shunted in the knees by an old ladies shopping trolley at the supermarket. At least now I know I just have to cough, and I'll probably clear a space right to the front of the queue!

Open day, police input and rollerskates.

Last weekend, I went into school on Saturday morning, to help with the open day for the school. It mostly involved me playing memory with 6 year olds, while the teacher answered the parents' questions, and tried to convince them to send their child to the school. It somehow made me feel good that open days in Germany are exactly the same as open days in England- before it started, everyone was busy washing the tables, cleaning everything, dusting things that probably hadn't been dusted since last open day, and then when the children were there, all the classrooms were full of games and puzzles and activities which I have never seen any of the classes actually use. (Though to give credit to one of the year one teachers, she used a lot of them in one of her lessons the next week.)

In other news, I got stopped by the police on my way to school one day this week. Don't worry, it's not as bad as it sounds. I was cycling along, when someone called from a car 'Guten Morgen!' I looked round, thinking maybe someone was asking for directions or something, and saw a police car. I know it's illegal to drive without lights in Germany, I didn't think they'd be stopping me for that, as it was daylight, but I thought maybe they do random checks. I wasn't worried though, as I'd got them fixed a few days before. However, the policeman didn't say anything about that, just called me something -it sounded like Geistfahrer, but I'm not sure...- and told me I should be on the right. As I was on the right, and on a cycle path, I wasn't really sure what he meant. At the corner before the place they stopped me, there is quite a difficult corner- the pavement is narrow, and it's hard to see what's coming- and I had actually passed someone on the left, just because of the way we'd both come round the corner. I wondered if maybe the policeman had seen me do that, and was just reminding me I should be on the right. So I moved my bike to the very right hand side of the cycle path, and got ready to set off again, but the policeman told me No! and that I shouldn't go any further, and I worked out he was telling me to cross the road. Is it the rule that cyclists have to cycle in the direction of the traffic, even when they are on the pavement? If it is, there are not many Germans that actually follow that rule, and that's unusual when it comes to Germans and road rules. After having done some research on the internet, I think it's something that depends on the situation, usually you are meant to stay on the right pavement, but if there is no pavement on one side of the road, or there is a cycle path on the other side, then you can go on the pavement against the direction of the traffic. I'm very confused by the whole thing really, but at least I managed an encounter with the German police, without getting shot! (Again, don't worry, it really wasn't as bad as all that...)

And lastly, the other day I saw someone, dressed normally (for German standards) on his way somewhere, using roller blades as a method of transport. Not skating like skaters in England, who do tricks and so on, but just using them to get from A to B. Why not, I suppose. Logically, as long as you remember to bring another pair of shoes, it might even make more sense than a bike- you don't have to worry about finding a place to put them, you can use an umbrella as you skate, and so on and so on, but it still looked a bit weird.

Just a few random observations and stories for you there.

Tschüss!

It's Snowing!

As an English person, this is just too exciting not to write about. It's snowing, and I mean proper snowing. This would definitely be a snow day in England. The fact that most Germans probably haven't let it affect their day, and the Russian international students probably wouldn't even classify it as proper snow, is not important at the moment, let me be excited about how it looks like a blizzard!

I've just got back from outside, I went to rescue my bike and put it in the cellar, but I got distracted and now there is a little snowman sitting on the compost bin. It wouldn't have felt like real snow if I hadn't been out to stomp around in it.

And I had to test out the German coat. Yes, I am now the (proud?) owner of one German winter coat. I have to say, I am beginning to be convinced... It was toasty warm in the snow, and I was dry when I got back inside, and on my way to school in the mornings I almost don't notice the cold.

I worked up the courage to go coat shopping on Monday, it was tipping it down all day and it was freezing, so I went into town and tried on a large variety of winter coats. Most of them were your standard German raincoat, with varying degrees of ugliness and making-me-look-like-a-square effects. I didn't go for any of those. There were a couple that were almost nice, quite long, and a bit fitted, but the saddest thing is that I didn't actually go for one of those as they just weren't practical enough! (The one I have bought has a removable inner layer, so it's effectively a fleece, a raincoat and a thick jacket- three coats in one.) I'm hoping that this coat will last me years, even if only just to save me from having to go sensible coat shopping again.

So, I've got the bike, the coat, the ability to choose things based purely on practicality and efficiency... what else do I need, and where do I apply for German citizenship?!

Happiest German Word of the Week Award

The results are in:

The word for lightbulb, Glühbirne, translates literally into English as glowing-pear. A lightbulb is pear shaped, it glows. How logical, and how much more artistic than the English word!