Haircut

As scared as I was to go and get my hair done by a new stylist, my bangs were getting even scarier. Uneven and l-o-n-g! So, here's my "new" 'do. It's basically the same as before, but cleaned up and with a few chunky pieces in front.

And the German word for bangs: der Pony. How cute is that?

Next post: Paris

The Election

It's really weird. All of a sudden, US citizens are popular! The Germans are SO happy that Obama is president. I was congratulated twice today by strangers, whom, when they heard me speaking English, asked excitedly if I was from the states and then broke into a big smile and offered their kudos. Wow!

My friend, who is from Michigan, said she was up late last night so she could hear the results and told me that people all over were cheering and clapping. Nathan had colleagues offering their congratulations and Merissa had a student this morning who ran into class and shouted "We won!" She's German of course, so I'm not exactly sure....but whatever. It's so funny.

At least we're off to a good start with the Democrats, foreigners don't seem to hate us as much anymore. Hopefully it will ring true, but the Dems are in the hot seat now. Let's see if they can clean up this mess.

How to make German Brownies

To fully blossom into a Hausfrau, one needs to do some baking. And so Merissa and I decided to bake some brownies. German brownies. From a mix. A German mix!

First, we bought the mix.

Next, we read the directions. (Surprisingly, I'm actually better at "reading" German than speaking it)

"Oh dammit, we need a pan!"
"Wait, it comes with a pan!"
"It comes with a pan??"

Yes, it came with it's own cardboard pan in the mix box. Quite impressively German engineered too. Which....means it took us twice as long to assemble. Hehehe.

We were so excited, the apartment smelled of chocolate brownies, and we waited impatiently for them to cook, nevermind cooling. Then we tried them. As we exchanged confused and disappointed glances, we finally admitted the truth.
"These don't taste like brownies."
"They taste like unsweet cake."
"Yeah, bready-cake."

We were so disappointed. I vowed never to buy them again and then devoured an entire bag of gummi bears.

Pretty Fall

These pictures were taken by my sister, she's better at remembering to bring her camera out than I am. This place certainly has 4 seasons. And winter's next. Supposedly this Thursday will be our first snow.

2 steps forward, 1 step back

I think I made an appointment today over the phone.

I needed to make a doctor's appointment, so of course first I researched with our insurance company...yes this doctor takes our insurance...yes they speak fluent English, ok good.

I tried calling yesterday with Merissa around in case I needed to have her translate with the receptionist. She taught me a few phrases to use in case they didn't speak English, yet reassured me that they probably do anyway and I really shouldn't worry. Unfortunately they are closed on Wednesdays.

Fast forward to this morning, I had had an extra cup of coffee and blame that for my heightened confidence. I called again. Alone. Mer and Nate had gone to work, and I shortly regretted making the call.

Sprechen Sie Englisch? Nein, nein.

Oh crap. Now the rest is in German, but I'll just tell you in English. The words in italics were words in which I used English because I didn't know the German word.

"Do you speak German?'
"A little. Uh, yes, I'd like to make an appointment with one of the doctors"
"Do you have ----------?" (I have no idea what she said, I'm sweating and panicking at this point)
"What?"
"Do you have -------?"
"Uh, what is that word?"
"12:00 Monday 27?"
"Yes, ok, good."
"Name?"
"Shera York" (I spell it)
"Telephone number?" (and I gave it to her)

And that was it. But no confirmation or anything, just the end. Then I hung up, cried and called Nate. My poor husband. Always calming me down.

I think I have to go find this place tomorrow and see what transpired in that telephone "conversation". I will not be calling to make appointments for a while though. I'm going to walk into these places and employ facial expressions, hand gestures and other non verbal communication to my benefit. Learned my lesson.

Neuschwanstein

Today we went to Schloss Neuschwanstein, the fairy tale castle that Walt Disney based his logo on. Total tourist trap. But we couldn't have chosen a more perfect day, it was cool, clear and fall's colorful foliage was beautiful. Unfortunately, after we got home, Nate discovered that the camera was on the wrong setting, (set for night pictures from our trip to Zurich), so all of our photos are a little grainy. D'oh!

You probably don't want all the history, it's a bit lengthy, but we had a full tour of the castle and then went on a hike up in the hills to see some amazing views. The tour is a bit bare bones, only 35 minutes, and you are not allowed to take pictures inside the castle or go anywhere cool--like the spires of the tower. Still, it was really beautiful. And we've decided that King Ludwig was definitely a bit of an odd one.

**The unknown guy in one of the pics is Nicolai, one of Nate's work colleagues, who was visiting Munich.

I rock

Why? WELL! Because I had my first breakthrough, I ordered coffee beans from the Dallmayr, all in German! Yay me! I am becoming the brave, relaxed and fashionable (if I don't say so myself, more on that later) woman that I know I can be.

It went like this:

Me: "Grüss Gott, Ich hätte gern 500 gram von Ethiopian Crown bitte." (Good day, I'd like 500 grams of the Ethiopian Crown please.)

Cashier: "In die Bohnen oder der gemahlene?" (In whole beans or ground?)

Me (after a slight pause where I was trying to figure out what she asked): Uh, in die Bohnen, bitte" (Uh, in whole beans please)

Cashier: "Beutel?" (Bag?)

Me: Nein, danke. (No, thanks)

Cashier: Ok, Auf Wiedersehen (ok, goodbye)

Me: Auf Wiedersehen (goodbye)

I'm celebrating the little things, right? It's been a good week. This has been my happy song and I'm singing it now. "Leeetttt the sun shine....leettt the sun shine...the suuun shine in....."