Schneekirche

I am so grateful to the wife of a colleague who researched and found the "Snow Church."  The pictures on the internet are unbelievable (www.schneekirche.de), but to see it in person....wow.  THEN to realize this is the 100th anniversary of the original church which is the only reason why it was built this winter...wow.  What a great opportunity!

The drive was, of course, beautiful as are all extended drives in Germany.  As we entered the Bavarian forest, the snow became deeper and the trees became whiter.  Kind of reminds me of the crazy guy on TV who paints perfect pictures.  I can never remember his name....you know who I am talking about....the guy with the monotone voice who is a little on the weird side with the poofy orange hair.  Its like someone took the time to make sure every leaf on every branch had the perfect amount of snow to amount to a beautiful painting.

Ten of us embarked on this excursion.  Two cars.  This was also the first time I had ever driven on the autobahn.  That was a trip.  I got the car up to 180 km/h (the max because it has snow "shoes" on so driving any faster is dangerous.)  I passed a few people so I felt like a big shot. =)

Anyways, we arrived in the city whose name I can neither remember nor pronounce... Mitterfirmiansreut. Right on the border of the Czech Republic.  We were in dire need of a restroom.  One of the boys decided to brag a little and did as Germans do...turn the snow yellow.  The REST of us had to venture off with crossed legs to find die toiletten.

After a big sigh of relief, we mustered again and set off to find the church.  The snow banks were incredibly high so we just had to stop for some photo ops and satisfy our inner tourist urge...oooh ooh me next....cheeeeeeeese....

It looks awful cold, but in reality, it was quite pleasant.  I say that in relative terms.  It has been right around -10C since we arrived 2 weeks ago so with the current temps hovering around 0C, it truly felt like a heat wave.  On we went...

The ticket booth.  5 Euro to view the church.  On the way up the steep hill to the church, there were several snow sculptures...

Alas, behind the immense fog and breath of panting Americans, it appeared...

We were brilliant and conned 2 interpreters to accompany us on this trip.  Talking to a guide lingering around the church, we discovered this church was not constructed every year.  This was solely done as a recreation of the original snow church from 100 years ago.  (I'm sure it also said this on the information display as well as the website, but I know as much German as a 2 year old so I had no clue.)

The entire structure is built only of ice and snow except for the "steeple" which has a wood frame for support.  The inside was awe-inspiring and the impact it would have at night can only be fathomed...

Very neat church.  Very neat experience.  They also sold Gluhwein at a small stand outside of the church.  We all stood around watching the other visitors come and go, basking in the whole experience.

GPS's are great.  MORE than great.  How did people ever survive without them??  Apparently mine was set to avoid highways and we were not aware of this so we ended up going through the middle of Passau.  That was pretty awesome.  I was actually grateful we went an abstract way home to be able to see this picturesque city.  I was busy trying to drive but a colleague managed to snap some pictures.  I'll have to steal them and post.

All in all, it was truly a wonderful day.  I am trying to really "live it up" while I am here.  The snow church was only 2 hours away and we were home by dinner.  The drive itself is worth a trip to nowhere.  To have good company and a unique experience to boot, just makes it that much better.


Sidenote about the whole peeing outdoors thing:  I'm totally serious.  Almost every time I go somewhere, there is a guy on the side of the road letting it fly in the breeze.  Even on the road from Munich on our very first day, SHABAM! Not even trying to be discreet or hiding behind a car door.  Woah.  Ok.  So for as much as I am trying to be German as I live here, I think I'll still use the toilet and be just a tad American.  =)    (No pun intended for specific readers....)   lololol

Today.

Today, I went to wipe my mouth and my lips froze to my jacket.

Today, I rode my bike home from work in a blizzard.

Today, I cooked bratworst and potatoes for dinner.

Today, there was about 30 minutes where I couldn't tell if I still had thighs or not.

Today, I dressed like a redneck to a stammtisch and jammed to some country music in my apartment.

Today, I almost cried at work because I came across a picture of Thomas in my iPod.

Today, I realized I love Germany.

Today, I realized I love the challenges of my job.

Today, I enjoyed having a full conversation with my German teacher in Spanish.

Today, I enjoyed the laughs with my coworkers and their spouses.

Today, I realized Blackberries are a completely inferior form of technology compared to iPhones.

I am one Hot Mess

I have made a right square fool of myself the past few days.  Yesterday I was nervous because I had to ride my bike alone all the way to my office.  Mind you, that was only my second day and my first impression of finding my way to the very back of the plant was like a rat trying to find a morsel of cheese in Texas.  ALSO keep in mind it has been like -57F in the mornings so by the time I get ANYWHERE I can't tell I have thighs anymore between them being completely frozen solid.  Its a weird feeling when you get off a bike and your legs are burning from a workout yet frozen from the ambient temperature.  So anyways, I was trying to get in the gate and apparently I was using the wrong place to badge in or something.  Well the gate guard was probably calling me an idiot in German - I didn't understand. Probably a good thing.  My reply "Um I'm American.  I don't know.  Uh. Help."  She looked at me cross-eyed, mumbled 500 more German words and then ran to grab another guard.  She walked over and showed me what I was doing wrong and I'm sure had a jolly time making fun of me the rest of the day.  Needless to say, I did navigate my way through Texas and found the office.  OH - I almost forgot, so before I even got to the ever-complicated badge in place, I wasn't exactly sure what lane I should be in so I crossed in front of this poor car like 59 times trying to get out of his way.  Such a dork.

For some reason I am also having problems going to restaurants.  Besides the whole swiss cheese episode,  there is this one Backerai that has it in for me.  I went with a coworker's spouse one time and wanted to order a cappuccino while she bought some cakes.  She rattled off 196 words (why do they say so many words for simple things) and of course I had no clue.  After standing there with a blank redneck stare, I figured out what she was saying.  Or so I thought.  After about 5 min of standing there looking foolish, I realized I had to sit down and order, can't order from the counter.  Well, today I tried to go back to this same bakery for lunch and ran into the same friggin problem.  Then I could understand they were talking about me and Englisch and Americans, etc etc.  I wanted to tell them, just wait until there are 70+ of us here!!!  =)


I realize I stick out like a sore thumb.  Doesn't bother me.  I don't really do anything to stop myself from sticking out either.  Yet.  I'll be Germanized soon enough I reckon.
 
#1  I am driving the only Jaguar in town.
#2  My scarf and matching beanie have huge multi-colored balls on the top that scream Amerikanerin
#3  I've been sporting some cammo attire
#4  I have mastered the "huh" look


Side note: my butt better be buns of steel after riding a flippin bike everywhere for a year and a half.  Watch out info-mercials.

Side note #2:  I am getting really annoyed with myself that I hear German, but my thoughts are in Spanish so I speak half German and half Spanish.  Its actually getting worse the more German I learn.  =/   Kudos to multi-lingual folks who can keep it straight!!

Adios  Servus!!

Die Alpen

Oh.  My.  Goodness.  It should be a requirement for ALL ex-pats to take a drive to the Alps.  It was about an hour and a half drive and simply unbelievable.  Three of us took the excursion with the intent to go snow tubing.

We stopped along the way and took some pictures but it is SO hard to convey the sheer beauty of the scenery.  As the Alps finally came into view, all of us just froze in awe.

Once we made it to the destination, it was a little city in the middle of no where on the mountain.  We parked the car and walked around.  Lots of little shops, restaurants and of course, ski shops.  I needed some snow boots and the 2 guys I was with needed ski pants so we went to three or four different stores.  I had a bit of sticker shock though - 100 euros for a pair of snow boots - no thank you!  They were $10 at Walmart before I left, but I had already shipped my crate and I was afraid of how much room would be in my suitcases.  Good thing I didn't buy them because I couldn't have fit one more Qtip into any one of my four bags.  Needless to say, I really didn't want to play in the snow with regular tennis shoes for fear of my feet getting wet.  We all agreed to just look around and wait to snow tube next time around.  It was a very cute little town so we took some time to walk around the block and look around.  Lots of little shops and restaurants.  We decided to stop for a coffee and a bite to eat.  Our waitress spoke little English - make that NO English.  She didn't even understand my redneck German believe it or not!  Needless to say, it was a struggle to get something ordered.  I ordered stilleswassa and received mineral water (those who know me well know I can't STAND anything carbonated.)  I made up for it with a cappuccino.  Then it came time to order food.  I have been trying to "live German" so I ordered something that sounded German.  One of my colleagues made the same guess at something to eat so we sat in anticipation of what we had actually ordered.

Here she comes.  Food in hand.  What does she bring.....

Yep.  A plate of Swiss cheese.  48 pieces of Swiss cheese with 2 pretzels sticking up.  No wonder she smiled with a "Silly Americans" grin.  And what did my colleague get on his plate?  Essentially, he received a plate full of 8 small hot dogs.  We laughed so hard.  I graciously traded 17 pieces of cheese for a hot dog.  Good times.  The worst part was that a couple sitting near by had gotten up from finishing their meal and as they left, the gentleman said "Enjoy your meal have a nice day."  WHAT?!?!?!  You just sat here and watched us hack the German language to pieces with our southern accents and you sat there and listened to me order a plate of cheese!!!  REALLY???  Regardless, we decided to redeem ourselves with some dessert.  I have been wanting to try and apple strudel but they were sold out.  My colleague ordered another apple dessert and man...it was friggin awesome.  I don't remember what it was called (I just realized I say that a lot).

By this time we had provided enough laughs for the entire restaurant so we decided it was time to leave this quaint little town.

We drove a little bit further up the mountain and stopped for a few photo ops:

Poor excuse for a Captain Morgan pose:

Point being, this was an incredible drive.  Well worth it to spend a day enjoying a drive with great company.  

Driving Miss Daisy's Grandmother

I drive like a grandma here.  No...more like a grandma's great grandmother.  Paranoia.  I  need to take some time to sit down and study some German road signage.  I drove 4 of us last night as we were trying to meet up for dinner at the Greek restaurant.  I think we circled Burghausen 4 times despite the GPS (yes, the GPS was set to English).  Luckily for the locals, the traffic was at a minimum that time of night.  I even had a police car behind me for a bit and I am sure he wondered why the heck this fancy car was going so freakin slow.  Didn't get pulled over though (I'm just good like that)  =)    Obviously we made it there safe, but I was thinking today when I drove around town again how silly my s l o w driving is.  It is rather intimidating though, to me at least.

Heading to a stammtish =)


Add on:
The best advice I received before I left was from my mother:  "Don't try to be American in Germany, BE GERMAN."  

Thus, tonight instead of ordering something known and comfortable, I dove right in and ordered the classic German dish (classic in regards to the American stereotype of Germans):  A Wiener Schnitzel!   I loved it.  Totally awesome.  Served with french fries so the whole dish was fried, but still yummy.  And better yet - German!  My boss' boss sat with us while we ate so he explained the different things that were served and answered questions on the proper way to eat the dish.  He taught us some German and we taught him some English.  (The dish was served with a small side of cranberries so he told us it is traditional for a meat to be served with a jam like that.)  Very cool.

I would attach a pic of the meal, but I can't figure out this flipping phone yet.


I also taught some southern prononciation to our interpreters...that was a lot of fun y'all!



Later Gators

Welcome to Germany!!

Luftansa was great!  Even in the back where we all sat, it was a great experience.  Each seat has a private TV screen with menus.  You could choose a movie, TV show, news or just music.  They handed out headphones free of charge.  Early in the flight they offered dinner.  We had a choice between chicken and mashed potatoes or spicy vegetarian pasta.  I had the chicken and it was blazing hot!  So much so that I had to blow on the meat for every bite.  Not bad for airplane food either!  Came with rice and a brownie.  Beer and wine was free, but I stuck with stilleswassa.  I watched a Harry Potter movie (because I am dorky like that) and then read a chapter of a book on my iPad.  I spent the last 5-6 hours attempting to sleep.  We were lucky in that the plane was half empty so there was no one sitting next to me.  I could sprawl out as much as I wanted to .... as much as you can across 2 seats on an airplane. =/  Needless to say, I sit here running on 1 hour of sleep.  The coolest thing was the screens that showed exactly where the plane was on a map, the altitude, speed, etc etc.  I loved that.

View from my seat as we were descending into Munich.  Snow on the ground...so pretty!

Getting through the airport wasn't bad at all.  We stuck together for the most part and made it through customs easily.  Finding the drivers was a challenge in itself, but thanks to well prepared colleagues, we finally found them.

The Munich airport:

Moving in was a great experience!  For those coming in the future, you have nothing to worry about with the apartments.  I am in a unique situation where I will actually be moving again in 2 weeks due to some renovations, but its no big deal.  I had the opportunity to meet my very sweet (future) landlord and I think it will be nothing but positive experiences.

As you can see, I'm trying really hard to fit in and not look SO American tonight lolol =)  Just wait until I get all of my cammo gear out!    bwahahahaha

My very first German beer was in a greek restaurant and I don't even remember what kind of beer it was.  FAIL.  Food and the beer were awesome though!  Taverna... something was the name of the place.

Below is a pic of my yummy gyro plate.  Served also with a salad.  It was awesome!

Not sure what else to say with such a tired mind on a very awesome day.  So thankful to be here.  SO thankful for this opportunity.  Thankful for new friends and thankful for the support of old friends.


Maybe more intelligent things to add to this tomorrow.  =)

Tschuss