Farewell Dinner with my family

Had a lovely dinner with my family in this cozy restaurant. The cook is a really sweet young guy and cooks everything nice and FRESH! Yummmmy!

He always offers different meals and writes the menu-of-the-day on this board! The waitress carries it to your table, lets you pick, and takes it away again :)

Other than that, I packed all day... leaving my aunt's house at 8 am to go to the airport!

Chillaxing :)

I seized the day today! Didn't do much beside enjoy the day and some laundry... perrrfect! PS.: Only two more nights in Germany.

Deutsch: Ich habe heute den Tag genutzt: ich habe den Tag genossen und ein wenig Wäsche gewaschen... peeerrfekt! PS.: Nur noch zwei Mal schlafen in Deutschland.

New Years Eve

Hmmm, Raclette with my family!

My cousin found a new friend today: a butterfly. It must have been hanging out inside for quite a while. It sat on my cousins hand for 4 hours. Seemed like it needed someone to cuddle!


!!! Happy New Year, everyone !!!

What I'll miss about Home: Kaiser Wilhelm

This is a picture of the statue of Kaiser Wilhelm I. It was build on top of a mountain by the Porta Westfalica, the entryway into Westphalia. Whenever I drive home I see the statue from the Autobahn and I know I'm home ♥

Stippgrütze.

Stippgrütze (shown here with sauerkraut and potatoes) is a typical meal for Westphalia, the region in which I was born. Today was actually the first time I ate it. Wikipedia says, Stippgrütze is "barley groats cooked in sausage juices (Wurstbrühe), which are enriched with pieces of meat, offal, such as heart, kidney or liver and seasoned with spices and salt". Errrrrr, I  think I didn't need to know all the details :-/

And to stay with the theme of Westphalian foods, I had a Wacholder with my grandma, too: Wacholder is a juniper schnapps and is also typical for the Westphalian region. Prost!

Edit: Apparently "scrapple" is the English/American word for Stippgrütze. Thank you to my friend who pointed it out!

Paderborn

I'm spending today and tomorrow in the town where I went to university: Paderborn, home of the Dreihasen-Fenster (three rabbit window). This is a hole cover in Paderborn, decorated with the famous window. Since I don't know if I'll be able to go online, I've borrowed this picture from my friend, the girl with the lime green shoes. (I'm the one with the pink shoes.)

Trying for some peace and quiet

Strolling through my home town's christkindl markt. Still trying to find some peace and quiet.

I thought doing my nails might calm me down a bit. This is China Glaze Emerald Sparkle. It's less forest green and more green-green irl... Just one more week before I fly across the ocean!!!

Quiet Second Day of Christmas

Spent a quiet day at home with my family today. This is my aunt, my cousin, and I playing The Amazing Labyrinth... and old favorite from when I was a child.

Relaxing with my cousin

Nice and relaxing evening with my cousin, two shishas, and five games of backgammon :)

Merry Christmas!

In Germany we celebrate Christmas mainly on Christmas eve. There is usually a family dinner and the gifts are exchanged. I had a lovely dinner with my family, we sang Christmas songs while my aunt played the saxophone, we prayed, we had good conversations, and then we exchanged gifts -- same procedure as every year :) Will I be here next year as well?

Hope you're having a great Christmas with your loved ones as well!

A terrible night and a road trip

This is my passport. It spent last night all packed up in a package checked in to be shipped to the US. Yes, my flight is only ten days from today and I put my passport in the packages I'm shipping. I realized last night after the post office had closed already. Needless to say, it wasn't an easy night. Without this passport I couldn't have boarded my flight and the US doesn't recognize emergency replacement passports for entry. That would have been around 1000 dollars wasted. Well, thanks to a lot of luck and my remembering the fact that it is indeed in the packages, I got to it in time and saved it! A big thank you to my friend who put up with my craziness last night when I wasn't sure if I was gonna be able retrieve it from the post office in time!

So all my packages have been sent off now and I am headed north to my home town for the holidays. Apparently the roads are terrible and it's a six hour ride (with nice weather and no traffic -- yeah right!). Wish me luck :)

What I'll miss about Munich: Seeing the Alps

Yesterday and today I got a chance to see the Alps again! It always makes me so happy :) They are around 100 miles south of Munich, so the weather has to be nice to be able to see them. What a lovely sight, isn't it? I will for sure miss it!

This is another nice one taken in the morning. It's always a breathtaking sight!

My last day at work

Wow, I cannot believe how time just flew by in the last couple of weeks, especially this last week. Today was my last day of work. I had to hand in my BMW employee pass. I had to say goodbye to lots of people. I had a bunch of "This will be the last time I'll ...." moments. It's been quite emotional, but also so hectic that I didn't get much time to think about it too much.

I have two more busy days, but then Christmas time will finally begin for me! On Thursday I will leave Munich for the time being. I'm spending the holidays with my family in the north of Germany and on January 3rd I'm flying to the US to start my big adventure! But right now I'm looking forward to some peace and quiet (hopefully heehee) with my family, yay!!!

What I'll miss about Munich: Dallmayr

This is a famous store for international delicatessen. It was founded in 1700 and has yummy chocolates, coffee, and all sorts of gift ideas.

I'll also miss old buildings like the Dallmayr building. (I grew up in a 120 year old building decorated similar to this one.)

Moving is still crazy, so I hope you'll excuse my boring posts for a couple more days!

Packing woes

Oooooh total chaos in here! Will post a pic later... although I'm sure you're glad to have nothing to do with the logistical nightmare that is moving across the ocean ;)

EDIT: Here you go:

This is a pic from before it got messy... eeek! So glad to be done with *most* of the packing/moving business.

Deutsch: Ooooh, hier herrscht gerade großes Chaos! Ich werde später ein Photo posten... obwohl ich mir sicher bin, dass ihr froh seid, nichts mit dem logistischen Chaos zu tun zu haben, das "Umzug über den Ozean" genannt wird ;)

Dieses Bild wurde aufgenommen BEVOR es richtig chaotisch geworden ist... aaaah! Ich bin so froh, mit *fast* allen Pack- und Umzugsarbeiten fertig zu sein.

Christmas Party

Oh nooo! I missed yesterday's post because the hotel was experiencing trouble with their internet connection :(

Yesterday was the day of my company's annual convention and christmas party (later in the evening). I got to stay in this lovely hotel for two nights.

This was the view from my room. The weather is going crazy right now in Germany... lots of snow, much more than usual for this time of the year. I'm glad we made it there and back safely! (It's a 4 hour drive from Munich.)

The Christmas party was in the evening. I had so much fun with my colleagues! It was a great way to celebrate Christmas time, the successful year for this company, my last couple of days with them, and my birthday as well :) This was the ceiling of the Jugendstil convention hall we were in.

PS.: I'm not showing you the pics of all of us engineers partying it up 'til 6 am ;)

Deutsch: Oooh nein! Ich habe es verpasst gestern zu posten, da das Hotel Internet-Verbindungsprobleme hatte :(

Gestern war das jährliche Mitarbeitertreffen meiner Firma und (später am Abend) unsere Weihnachtsfeier. Ich war für zwei Nächte in diesem schönen Hotel untergebracht.

Das war der Ausblick von meinem Zimmer aus. Das Wetter spielt in Deutschland zur Zeit verrückt... sehr viel Schnee, viel mehr als üblich für diese Jahreszeit. Ich bin froh, dass wir es heile hierher geschafft haben! (Es ist eine vierstündige Fahrt von München aus.)

Die Weihnachtsfeier fand am Abend statt. Meine Kollegen und ich hatten sehr viel Spaß! Es war super, dass wir die Weihnachtszeit, ein erfolgreiches Geschäftsjahr, meinen Abschied und auch meinen Geburtstag so feiern konnten :) Auf dem Photo sieht man die Decke der Jugenstil-Festhalle, in der wir gefeiert haben.

PS.: Die Photos von feiernden Ingenieuren um 6 Uhr morgens zeige ich hier nicht ;)

My first luxury vehicle: BMW 5 Series Touring!

Yep, it's my first very own BMW!

My colleagues gave it to me as a farewell gift. I kinda knew it was coming, but I was still very touched. Today is not my last day at work; I will still work next week, but a lot of my colleagues won't, so I've had to say goodbye to a bunch of them already. This move across the Atlanic Ocean is definitely bitter-sweet!

Anyway, Thank You, dear colleagues! I've learned a lot from you and I appreciate it so much. I will miss being a part of this team and wish you all the best!


Deutsch: Yep, es ist mein erster ganz eigener BMW!

Meine Kollegen haben ihn mir zum Abschied geschenkt. Ich hatte es zwar schon geahnt, aber ich war trotzdem sehr gerührt. Heute ist nicht mein letzter Tag auf der Arbeit; nächste Woche werde ich auch noch arbeiten, aber einige meiner Kollege nicht mehr, also musste ich mich schon von einigen verabschieden. Ich ziehe definitiv mit einem lachenden und einem weinenden Auge über den Atlantischen Ozean!

Wie auch immer... Dankeschön, liebe Kollegen! Ich habe viel von euch gelernt und ich weiß es sehr zu schätzen. Ich werde es vermissen Teil dieses Teams zu sein und wünsche euch alles Gute!

What I'll miss about Munich: Hiking

Having the alps just an hour's drive away really is a luxury. I didn't go hiking as often as I should have, but in the year I spent in Munich, I learned that hiking is wonderful. It was hazy on this day, but I still like this picture. Great memories!

There are tons of lakes, some of them huge, in the region between Munich and the alps. Lakes and mountains... it is gorgeous here!

Hi Mom! :)


Deutsch: Die Alpen nur eine Autostunde entfernt zu haben ist wirklich Luxus. Ich bin nicht so oft Wandern gegangen, wie ich gehofft hatte, aber in dem einen Jahr, das ich in München verbrachte habe, habe ich erfahren, dass Wandern wundervoll ist. An diesem Tag war es nebelig, aber ich mag das Bild trotzdem. Tolle Erinnerungen!

In der Region zwischen München und den Alpen liegen viele, viele, teilweise riesig große, Seen. Berge und Seen... es ist wunderschön hier!

Hallo Mama! :)

A Day in Sauna Paradise

I spent the day at Therme Erding. Lame picture, I know, but they don't really appreciate people taking photos inside the sauna areas ;) PS: It is a wonderful place!

Some trees on the train ride to Therme Erding.

Deutsch:Ich habe den heutigen Tag in der Therme Erding verbracht. Ein doofes Bild, ich weiß, aber sie mögen es irgendwie nicht, wenn man Photos im Sauna-Bereich macht ;) PS: Die Therme Erding (bzw. der Saunabereich) ist wundervoll!

Und ein paar Bäume, an denen wir mit dem Zug vorbei gefahren sind.

Keepsake from my first Bikram yoga studio

Today I forgot my camera at home, so you get a boring picture of the keepsake I bought from my yoga studio here in Munich. It's a red towel embellished with the studio's logo and it's awesome, because it's long enough to cover my yoga mat completely... no regular towel does! If you have no idea what Bikram yoga is you might wonder WHY one needs a towel for it anyway. Bikram yoga is a very specific sequence of Hatha yoga postures and it is practiced in a room heated to 105 °F. (You sweat like you've never sweated before, and now you can guess what the towel over your yoga is for.) The practice is very intense, both physically and mentally. I have seen amazing changes in myself, both physical and mental, within only two weeks and it just keeps getting better. Try it if you're interested! Most studios have very generous first-timer packages, for example: 10 day trial for 10 bucks or something similar.

Deutsch: Ich habe meine Kamera heute zuhause vergessen, also bekommt ihr ein langweiliges Photo von dem Andenken, dass ich in meinem Yoga Studio hier in München gekauft habe. Es ist ein rotes Handtuch, das mit dem Logo des Studios bestickt ist. Das Handtuch ist super, weil es lang genug ist, um die Yogamatte vollständig zu bedecken... normale Handtücher sind viel zu kurz! Wenn du noch nie von Bikram Yoga gehört hast, fragst du dich vielleicht, WARUM man überhaupt ein Handtuch dafür braucht. Bikram Yoga ist eine spezifische Abfolge bestimmter Hatha Yoga Stellungen, die in einem Raum praktiziert wird, der auf 40°C aufgeheizt ist. (Man schwitzt, wie man noch nie geschwitzt hat... und nun kannst du erraten, wofür das Handtuch über der Yogamatte gut ist.) Bikram Yoga ist ein Training, dass sehr intensiv ist -- sowohl körperlich als auch geistig. Ich habe nach bereits zwei Wochen unglaubliche Fortschritte festgestellt (körperlich und geistig) und es wird immer besser und besser. Probier es aus, wenn du Interesse hast. Die meisten Studios haben sehr großzügige Anfänger-Angebote, zum Beispiel 10 Probetage für 10 Euro.