It's Complicated...

(photo courtesy of Amie)

This lovely painting looked down upon Peter, Judith, Amie, and I as we ate a wonderful dinner last night. As Judith said, "Wow! That painting is very complicated!"

For Mike: a free thing update. Today, we got a free round of after-dinner drinks at an Italian restaurant, a free chocolate profiterole at the same restaurant, and also a free X-acto knife and wallpaper smoother at a department store. Judith said she never gets so many presents as when we're with her! I'm glad my free thing mojo works in Europe, too!

Up for this weekend: hitting the town with (German) Michaela and her friends. She has promised to show me "the Munich nightlife". I can't wait!!

What I've Been Eating, for Mom

--Italian food. Peter and Judith love it, and there are lots of good Italian restaurants because Munich is only about an hour and change from the Italian border.
--yogurt. European yogurt is the BEST (but definitely not fat-free!).
--currywurst: a sausage (kind of like a kielbasa flavor) covered in ketchup and sprinkled with curry powder.
--kasespaetzle (there should be an umlaut on the a, but I can't figure out how to do it): like macaroni and cheese, but with spaetzle instead of noodles, and topped with roasted/fried onions. SO GOOD.
--krapfen: don't call them a doughnut (we're not sure why this is a big deal), but they are pretty much like jelly doughnuts, except a little bread-ier and with better jam inside (usually apricot).
--German Mexican food, which actually was not bad at all!
--roasted chestnuts from a street stand
--the ubiquitous German soft pretzels
--gluhwein (hot spiced red wine) and gingerbread
--a really good zucchini and mustard cream soup topped with smoked salmon
--some interesting salads
--apple strudel in vanilla sauce: Oh my God. This is one of the best things I have eaten in my whole life. I could have drunk the vanilla sauce with a straw.

I swear I am going to weigh about 400 lbs. when I get back. Amie and I are already wondering when we'll have to get new pants.

Apparently, there are no washcloths in Germany.

Just sayin'. Amie and I totally mystified Peter and Judith when we described what we wanted to buy.

On another topic, I had my first day of school, and it was awesome.

Besos!!

Yay for the internet!!

So, after being accidentally disconnected from the world for several days, I have internet again! Yay!!

And what a crazy few days it has been. We've had to do lots of weird administrative stuff, like register with the city of Munich (apparently everyone has to do this, even German citizens who move from one city to another). We also learned that German bike lanes are on the sidewalk, and you should NEVER EVER stand in them, because you will almost be killed. In the U.S., bicycle riders are in danger from people in cars; in Munich, pedestrians are in danger from bicycle riders! Amie and I are wondering how long it will be before one of us gets hit by a bike. Anyone want to bet?

In other news, I found a generic version of Mini Dickmann (yum! and cheap!!). Mario Gomez has been in Qatar, so no sightings, but I've located several dumpsters in preparation. Judith (Peter's wife) has invited me to go to a sports bar and watch this weekend's Bayern Munich match with her. I am so excited!! She is *really* into it. And, perhaps most importantly, Amie and I introduced Peter to his first tequila shot ever. We ate at a German/Mexican restaurant (which was surprisingly good! WAY better than the Austrian/Mexican food I've had), and the owner of the restaurant sent over a free round of tequila shots for us! (Note to Mike: free thing alert!!) I took a moment to marvel how I was doing tequila shots in Germany with a man who has to be at least 70. It was awesome.

Oh! There are also surfers in Munich! There's a huge park called the Englischer Garten, which is in the middle of the city and even larger than Central Park. There's a little river that runs through it, and at a certain point, it goes over a bunch of rocks and makes waves. Surfers actually come out and surf the constant wave of the river! It's totally different than ocean surfing, but SO COOL to watch. Peter and Judith showed this to us on Saturday, and Amie and I thought it was so fun that we went back out on Sunday to watch the surfers again. Amie took a video, which maybe she will let me post. Apparently there was a documentary made about the Munich surfers a few years ago...got to check this out!

To Lindy: football news, please! I've been disconnected from the internet and could use a brief synopsis.

Also discovered an awesome marzipan-flavored liquor. Definitely going to bring a bottle of that back.

Hope you are all doing well! Miss you!!
xoxo
kate

Thoughts on Munich, part 1

- I love flying to Europe because I always sit next to the most interesting people. (When I flew to Austria, I sat next to a Norwegian man who told me that the Norwegian government ate the reindeer from the movie "Prancer".) Today I sat next to Christian, an Austrian gunsmith. Yes, the dude is a craftsman who makes guns. He said that he thought it was a stereotypical profession for a European. I was like, what??? He was fun, though. We had a long conversation about Native American reservations and policy because he'd just visited a reservation while in the U.S., and then we both laughed about the fact that there was something called "Humperdinck" on the plane's music selection. He offered me the piece of cheddar cheese from his snack plate because he knows Americans like it and he was worried that it would be difficult to find in Bavaria, and expressed his love of Nature Valley granola bars (also on the snack plate).

-I watched "The Town" on the plane, unfortunately 24 hours too late to be useful at trivia on Tuesday night. I also wanted to watch the Bundesliga program, but I fell asleep.

-Wine is still free on Lufthansa international flights! I was a good panda and only had one glass, but the lady ahead of me seriously drank like 7 glasses. I think she was a nervous flyer. Lufthansa also hands out warm hand towels a lot. Christian felt that the frequency of warm towels was ridiculous.

-We drove past the Bayern Munich stadium on the way from the airport!! It was very impressive. Franz (who asked to be called Peter, and hence will be referred to as such) suggested that I write a letter to the club explaining my limited stay in Germany to try and get tickets, as all the games are sold out for months. I think I'm going to try it.

-The bungalow is super cute, and fully equipped, including a fruit basket and post-it notes. So I'm not starving, despite the state holiday. And I have sheets and towels and toilet paper and even an iron! Plus we got complimentary messenger bags from Ludwig-Maximilians University.

-And, I already ate a krapfen!! We went to a bakery for pastry and coffee, and I picked out a krapfen. It was very delicious. The bakery also had some kind of cookie (?) that appeared to have a marzipan pig in a bathtub on it. I might have to try one of those next time.

-There are at least 4 bakeries within a 5 minute walk of the bungalow. This is so bad for my health.

-The city slogan of Munich is, "Munich loves you." I think I'm going to like it here.

Besooooooooos!

Hallo!

This is my first test post for Jezst mit grossen Pandas! In less than one month from now, I will be living in Munich, studying at Ludwig-Maximilians University. Scary! Exciting! I'm hoping it will be a like a cross of "Eat, Pray, Love" (the book, not the movie) and "Under the Tuscan Sun" (the movie more than the book)--but likely it will be something else I can't even imagine right now. The program directors promise "life-changing," so that's what I signed up for.

Here's the tentative plan:
January 6, 2011: arrive in Deutschland
January -- late April: live in Munich, with occasional side trips
late April--mid-May: Italy and Spain. Not sure in which order, or how long in each place yet.
May 18, 2011: return to die Vereinigten Staaten

Between now and then, I've got to finish  my semester, get ready for my trip, and celebrate the holidays, so there's a lot to do. Catch you on the flip side!