River Surfers?

So, Leslie and I had decided to take a stroll through the Englisher Garten the other day and we came across part of the Isar River. As we came around this large area of trees, we noticed a couple of guys in full wet suits paddling down stream...on surfboards. Wait a minute, I thought surfing only exsisted in the ocean, not small rivers. Well it was pretty amazing. About three or four of these guys were taking turns jumping off the side of the bank into what looked like intense white water. If you were a brave soul and had some amazing balance, you could surf a constent wave all day long. This urban sport is definitely not for the weak.

I start next week....just kidding, "Charlie don't surf!"

When all else fails...hitchhike!

Today was a quite perfect day in the city of Munich. After days of torrential downpours, which ultimately flooded the Zorneding train station and left us stranded in the hotel, we were determined to get into the city. Sundays in Munich are notoriously low-key because all of the shops and most of the restaurants across the city close.

With this in mind, we set out with the dog from Marienplatz and trekked about a mile or so toward the Englischer Garten, one of the largest urban parks in the world. It's picturesque in every sense of the word, as one can enjoy the sights of the Isar River, rolling meadows, secluded hiking trails, horseback riders, grazing sheep, beer gardens, and nude sunbathers of course! There's something for everyone, indeed! We walked several miles into the park and had worked up quite the appetite by the time we reached the Chinese Turum and surrounding beer garden. Now keep in mind that, as we've been living in a hotel with no kitchen since we arrived, we've pretty much met our annual quota of deli-sliced chicken sandwiches, nutella, and grapes. We mixed it up today with a pork knuckle (that was ALL Scott), a bratwurst, some potato salad, a pretzel, and a cool 2 liters of Hoffbrau.

By the time we made it back to the S-Bahn station and headed for home, we'd walked at least 6 miles and were ready to call it a day. However, if there’s one thing I’ve learned over the past 3 weeks in our new home, it’s to never assume anything when it comes to how things work in Germany. About five stations prior to our train stop, an announcement was made that our train and all future trains were now terminating at this stop in Haar. Apparently there was an incident on the railway up ahead and we'd have to make other arrangements. Easier said than done on a Sunday evening at 7pm when bus service has been halted until Monday and we're a good 15 miles from our hotel. We seriously considered walking the 15 miles home and probably would've if we hadn't already walked all day and if we weren't within an hour and a half of sunset. So, up the thumbs went!

(Now, as a side note, this is actually my second international hitchhiking experience. Back in 2005, a friend and I hitchhiked across St. John in the US Virgin Islands on the way back from some geology fieldwork in the salt ponds. I'm still stunned that we caught a ride because we had hacksaws, rubber mallets, conduit pipes, and 2x4's strapped to our backpacks and I'm almost certain we looked like serial killers. At least on this trip, I wasn't garnished with could-be weapons and absolutely covered in mud.)

Nonetheless, within 10 minutes of deciding to hitch it, we'd convinced a fellow stranded passenger to let us tag along with her when her husband arrived. They were apparently headed right by our hotel on their way home and dropped us off at our front door, refusing our money and honking as they drove away. While hitchhiking is not necessarily my preferred mode of transportation, I must admit that we signed up for an adventure and so far, an adventure is definitely what we’ve gotten!

Bier > Wasser

I've made two pretty funny (at least to me) observations regarding the importance of beer in Germany in the past few days. Here goes:

I got online recently to check the opening hours of our favorite grocery spot, Viktualenmarkt. It's a fantastic 5-acre, open-air market near city center selling produce, olives, pastries, meat, cheese, flowers, etc. In bold letters under the market operating hours, reads a somewhat apologetic statement that while the market itself opens at 8:00 every morning, the beer garden doesn't open until 9AM. Well, that just blows my plans right out of the water!! No liters of Hoffbrau for me until 9AM?!? Who do these people think they are?

Secondly, I was skimming the local paper this morning and came across an article about how the federal police were investigating claims of passenger abuse on a recent high-speed regional train. We've had unusually hot weather here in Germany and apparently several of the long-distance trains experienced air-conditioning malfunctions over the weekend. The heat became so intense that passengers began breaking out train windows to get fresh air and 9 people were eventually admitted to the hospital for heat-related issues. The article mentioned that DB (Deutsch Bahn) officials had admitted to halting all buffet service onboard due to the heat but had supplied passengers with emergency provisions, which included crackers, water (vasa), and beer. Now, folks, there's something to be said for a country that considers beer an emergency provision!

The universal language of 'dog'

A couple days ago, Scott and I headed into Munich city with the lamb to run a few errands. We stopped off at Deutsche Bank in Marienplatz and Scott ran inside to the ATM while the lamb and I waited on the front steps. Opposite from us, stood a burqa-clad Islamic woman with a sweet little pre-school aged girl. She seemed very interested in lamb and eventually drug her mother over to us to to say hi and give a pet. A few seconds later she ran around the corner and came back with three or four other little ones who also wanted to get in on the puppy action. Before I knew it, not only did I have at least ten little ones clambering for a chance to touch lamb, but I also had now four or five burqa-clad women with their iPhones whipped out taking photos and video of all this. The best came when Scott emerged from the bank and looked down, jaw dropped, to see me laughing hysterically in the midst of all this chaos. We managed to disrupt foot traffic on one of the busiest sidewalks in all of Munich and, despite the language and cultural barrier between us, that may always be one of my favorite moments in our new home.

Sprechen Sie Englisch?

It is amazing the trouble one must go to in a foreign country to accomplish the simplest of tasks when one doesn't speak the native language. Scott and I have really struggled with learning German due to a combination of working & schooling full-time prior to the move and then devoting any extra time to the task of moving itself. Add to this that we are both conversational (I wouldn't go so far as to say fluent, though) in Spanish and, thus, everytime I attempt to formulate a German sentence, three or four spanish words inevitably get thrown into the mix. What a jumbled up bunch of gibberish we can produce!! I don't want to give the impression, though, that I'm pompous enough to think that everyone in the world should be expected to speak my native tongue. However, every once in awhile, it would be so nice to not have to think so hard about everything that comes out of my mouth.

Regardless, here we are in Deutschland with the proper vocabulary to order a bier, ask for directions, and ask "Sprechen Sie englisch?" Other phrases and vocab have been easy to pick up just by listening to the way locals greet each other, by translating word by word various newspaper articles, and by listening to German TV whenever possible. We are indeed catching on but we have a long way to go!

I spent an hour and a half on the Amazon website (all in German) trying to decipher which type of dogfood we should buy for the lamb and then another fifteen minutes figuring out the proper way to enter our German address and billing info so that it actually got to us (By the way, it's incredibly difficult to find decent dog food here. I've yet to find an actual pet store even with Google's help.) It's taken me four days to get my hands on oil-free facial moisturizer, too. Things that require zero thought in your native country become monumental when you're out of your element (and, in my case, too stuborn to ask for help because I know fighting through it myself will be the quickest way to learn).

I've come to depend on several websites devoted to native English-speakers now living in Germany and I came across the following little story, which hit way too close to home:

"My integration course teacher told us about one of her former students. The guy's wife gave him a shopping list to pick up on the way home. After wandering around the store for awhile, he couldn't figure out where to find chicken. He picked up an egg, went to an employee and said 'wo ist mama?' She laughed and took him to the chicken and said 'I dont know if it is mama oder papa but here you go.'"

So with that, I'm off to look for apartments and meet with landlords who I'm sure speak very little English. Ahhh, here we go again!

Newlywed/Newly-Nomadic

First of all, my apologies for a 6-week hiatus on blogging. We've crammed a lot into that time and I've barely been able to form a cohesive thought (much less put one on paper). This is my account of the last 6 weeks and be forewarned, it's wordy.

Our May 30th wedding on Sanibel Island, FL, seems now like something that took place years ago. It was a perfect affair with many friends and family there to celebrate with us, and that many more celebrating in spirit. I can't say enough about how perfect it all was. The eerily calm moments when my mom was helping me get the dress on were some that I'll always cherish. Most certainly, I'll never, ever forget the expression on my dad's face when he saw me in my wedding gown for the first time. I'll also never forget standing at the beginning of the aisle (sandy path through the dunes) a mere 60 seconds before walking down to meet Scott and suddenly realizing that I had no idea where our rings were. Ooops! Thank goodness for my quick-witted dad and close friend/bridesmaid, Jenny, who burned a trail back to the cottage and found them just in time! The best, of course, was slipping that ring on my best friend's hand. He was just as handsome and cute as the first day we met and we couldn't have asked for a better day.

Fast forward a few weeks to June 15th, and we've managed to liquidate a 1000 sq ft of furniture and other belongings in the first city I called "home" since I left my true "home" in Tennessee. This was a particularly hard goodbye for me. Leaving behind our home, our beach, our friends, and perhaps most difficult, our little brother Dorian & his family. Dorian and I have been "matched" through Big Brothers Big Sisters since August of 2004 and we've spent several hours a week together ever since. Scott joined our match back in 2008 so that we technically became a "big couple" to Dorian. In reality, we're all just family and it's really hard to say goodbye (in this case "see you later") to family. Thank goodness for Skype and Facebook!

On June 15th, we managed to get everything we owned into a rented dodge minivan and my Hyundai and we headed north to Tennessee. It was an emotional drive out of town for me but the adventure ahead made it somewhat easier.

A day and a half later we arrived home in Tennessee. It's always good to come home to the country. It was our dog, Kaya's (henceforth known as 'the lamb') first experience outside of a city and she had a ball running across the yard unleashed. We couldn't keep her out of the pool, either, which came as quite a suprise. Time with family was sweet but, as always, too short. We spent time supporting my dad in his campaign for Humphreys County Executive, shopped with my mom, and drank a LOT of sweet tea. It doesn't get much better than that!

On June 30th, we said tearful goodbyes and made our way to the Nashville Airport with all the essentials for our European life crammed into four pieces of luggage. It was liberating, overwhelming, exciting, and scary as hell...all at the same time. Lucky for us, we've got friends in high places (literally). The mother of my best friend, Amy, is a flight attendant for Delta and we were greeted onboard with champagne and the goodie bags from first class (a big deal when faced with a 9 hour flight). Husband, wife, and lamb landed safely in Munich, Germany, at 8:20 am local time and the adventure officially began. I'll close this (winded) blog at this point just by saying that Germany is beautiful. It's everything I expected and so much more. Details to come soon on falling in love with one of the most beautiful places in the world. In the immortal words of the Grateful Dead, "What a long, strange trip it's been."