My Life Lately

I have been totally MIA and it’s not because I’m ignoring you guys…I’m truly not. In fact I have over 50 blog posts in my drafts folder ready to go!Gotta get with it! I figured I’d catch you up to date on what’s been going on in my life lately and then we can go from there!

Where to begin…ahhh yes….Sweet sweet summertime. No, actually not sweet. I am MISERABLE in the summer. Give me a gloomy fall day and a snow storm ANY DAY of the year. I am not a summer person. This of course all happened once I moved to Germany. Where as you know Air Conditioning does not exist and strange large flesh eating bugs attack me when its the most humid out, constantly. Today it’s rainy and its a balmy 46 degrees. I have found my happy place!

I’ve mentioned this before but in Germany, several companies have a mandatory 2-3 week summer vacation. They shut down the company and everyone goes to Turkey…sometimes Greece or Croatia. Air tickets spike and Germans are EVERYWHERE. This summer Toblerone and I decided to keep it simple. After all, we do have a wedding to pay for in a year! We went to our favorite hotel in the alps, I turned another year older, and got quite a few things done around the house. I got some really lovely gifts from the husband and in-laws 🙂 And in true German fashion very practical gifts! More on this later!

Now I’m in the midst of throwing myself into little projects. I decided not to continue teaching English lessons through the school and instead will keep my private lessons and search for a more permanent job. Of course these little projects consist of changing my name finally on my social security card, my passport, and filing for the Toblerone to get a green card. Thankfully, the US Embassy here in Germany can help me with the majority of that. And the greatest part about dealing with the embassy…is I call…and its ALL in English. THANK YOU BABY JESUS! Its nice to talk to Americans once in a while!

Other projects are of course…PARTIES!!!!! A dear friend of mine is preggers and although she is due any day now, I’ve decided to throw her a baby shower! Germans don’t have baby showers. It’s quite the opposite due to superstitions. Friends and family bring you gifts well after the baby has arrived. But if it was me I’d want to be showered for a day! So, that’s happening this weekend. Then of course, the 3rd Annual Halloween Party is almost here! We’ve invited even more people than last year, I’m prepping for this and it just so happens to be on our 1 year wedding anniversary too! We have a fun costume that I can’t wait to show you guys!

In other giant news…we decided to completely start from scratch with our wedding. In fact, We changed the venue, cut the guest list down by 75%, we changed the style, and…changed the state! Things back in NY just started to feel complicated for us for some reason. Maybe was it too many people? Was it because everything is just way too expensive? Maybe…but I really think that we just felt like we were settling for something that isn’t 100% us. SO, going back to the old plans…we’re planning a very small and intimate wedding in Cape Cod, Mass. As you all know…we love us some Cape! That’s where we are doing it and already, it’s a thousand times easier. A HUGE weight has been lifted off my shoulders. We realize most people won’t be able to join us…even most family won’t but I had to start thinking about what we wanted. Just us. And the answer was really simple.

And last but not least…Oktoberfest!!! Off to Stuttgart to celebrate and looking forward to it! This year is special, I’ll be meeting a new American friend who is in the same situation as me. You know the story…fell in love with a Germ and moved here to be with him. Yeah..so the story goes! Anyways, that will be fun. I’ve decided this year I really need to put some more effort into making friends here that get me. Looking forward to that! 🙂

Still collecting ideas for 30 things before I’m 30. German recipes is at the moment the one in my head but give me some ideas!!!

More to come about all the fun! Thanks for sticking it out with me while I took a little break from the world! The truth is, I hit a little downward spiral of homesickness and just generally hating people so I figured it was best to keep my negativity off the blog space for a bit. That’s never good for business!!

Until next time, Readers!!! xoxoxoxo

Fruehlingsfest – A Drinktastic Time

We all know Oktoberfest is a blast and I’m so happy to know that there are not one but TWO festivals that celebrate crazy outfits, bad old school music, and giant beers. Oktoberfest is of course in October (smarty pants!) and Fruehling means Spring. So, naturally, this festival is held in the spring time. May specifically.

I was lucky enough this year to have my best friend and his parents visiting so we got a big table full of crazy foods, beers all around and lots of dancing! Plus, I got to wear my drindl again which always makes my day!

Until next time, Readers!!!! xoxoxoxoxo

The Latest Happenings

I may be signing off here for a week or more. I have visitors coming!!!!! I don’t plan on having any downtime to write the blog so I’ll get back to you all when I find a moment! So in the interim you can follow me on facebook here or on twitter here. I’ll try to update them with pictures and the like as I go along so to be apart of the experience – follow up!

So what’s on the plan? Well my best friend and his parents are coming to town (and I hear they are loaded with peanut butter and meds!) They are staying in a beautiful area near the Alps and I will be tagging along as their tour guide and translator (ahem…or so I hope!). The plan is to do the usual when you come to a European country – drink, eat, and castles! 🙂 Of course we’re going to try to fit lots of other things in there as well as hopefully making it to an old concentration camp. That’s something I’m really interested in doing as well.

We have the Spring Fest happening here in Germany which is exactly the same as Oktoberfest except it’s obviously not in October. Pretty excited to wear my Drindl again and feel the morning after pain in my hands of holding those huge beers! How many do you think I’ll be able to handle? At Oktoberfest, I went through 3 beers (the big ones called “Maß”) and I’m thinking this year I’ll edge towards 4 or 5. I’m Irish…what more do you want?! This year we got VIP tickets and our own table full of friends and fun! Really looking forward to it again. Greatest party I’ve ever been to! If you need a reminder of how awesome it was, check out how I survived Oktoberfest here.

The day they are leaving, Toblerone and I are headed to Berlin. Primary reason was to watch the final of our favorite soccer team, FC Bayern squash the rival, Dortmund. But it just so happens that his cousin is recently living in Berlin so we will stay for a long weekend and see the sights! Really excited about finally seeing Berlin. I hear there is a great currywurst museum. I’m down for that!

So, with that being said…I’ll be back in a few weeks for you guys! I’ll try to schedule some blogs but lord knows my hands will be deep in the toilet bowls scrubbing until they sparkle so we’ll see!

Until next time, Readers!!! xoxoxoxo

 

I Survived Oktoberfest

I’m not totally sure how to put this into words. So, I’m glad I kept it together enough to take pictures for you all! If anyone ever gets the chance to come to Germany at the end of September I HIGHLY reccomend that you stop and check out Oktoberfest. I also reccomend that you wear steel gloves. My hand is so sore from where the handle of the glass rested. Also, you should watch the movie Beerfest 8 times in a row and drink every time they do. It’s a GREAT drinking game and good practice for what is unveiled at this Oktoberfest!

Note: It took approximately 10 minutes pushing, pulling, situating those suckers until they were in my neck…yes, you asked. They were the highlight of the night…I’m sure you’ll see these on someone’s facebook/flickr account at some point. 

I have never seen so many people in one place having that much fun. No drama, just fun, drinking, singing. Germany, one bonus point to you for throwing the best party I’ve ever been to! So, we ended up going to Stuttgart, whereas the original Oktoberfest is in Munich. However, Stuttgart is a little smaller (although, I can’t imagine how large Munich is because the “smaller” Stuttgart was very large) and a lot closer.

We arrived at 3:00pm and went to our reserved table. We were with a group of about 20 or so people so it was pretty crazy. We get off the train and walk into an amusement park practically. There are all sorts of rides and little shops, games, etc. The beer “tents” were more like houses. They must take forever to build up. Then once inside, I was completely shocked. The band was playing and there were THOUSANDS of people smashing their giant mugs together and singing, swaying back and forth arm in arm, standing on the tables. Absolute nut-house! Of course majority of people are wearing the traditional clothing of lederhosen for men and dirndl for women. It felt like Halloween and everyone wore the same thing. All different colors and variations swamped the place. INCREDIBLE!

Note: Check that mother out!! That was number 1….number 2 and 3 did not make an appearance for the camera. 

I had a total of 3 Mass the whole night…Let’s do the math, shall we? 1 Mass is 1 liter of beer…3 Liters = 101.4 Ounces. Let’s face it…I’m amazing and could have kept going! No worries, my kittens, I wasn’t the least bit drunk. I’m Irish….these Germans have NOTHING on me! 🙂 However, I drank slowly and danced like crazy. Plus it’s like 8 million degrees inside the tent so you sweat it out anyway! 🙂

Note: The Toblerone and I 🙂 

Woke up the next morning, felt fantastic, and decided to head back to the festival. We walked around and went on a ride – the scariest one I could find. Had another beer and watched the parade which was so sweet. All different groups rolled by in traditional clothing, some dating back many many years. Hats, dresses, suits, everything! They had animals and cars, and guess what they passed out instead of candy? Yup, glasses of beer and wine. Why helllloooooo there, Heaven! 🙂

Note: Sorry for the blur – all pics were taken with iPhone. This guy is carrying at least 5 Mass in each hand. This is insane to me and I have arthiritis just looking at. 

I think this is a big trend now in the states or something, I keep seeing mustache items everywhere but they had the beard and mustache groups walking down. Not sure what any of that has to do with Oktoberfest other than it’s completely entertaining when you’ve been drinking in the hot sun. The first automobile (125 years old) made an appearance also.

Anywho, I survived my first Oktoberfest with only beer spilled on my dress and can’t WAIT to go back next year….and I think we may go again in the next two weeks 🙂 I just really need to verify that it was really that fun. Second or Third time is always a charm right?  Who’s with me?!? And better yet, they have the same time of festival again in the Spring. You don’t need to ask…already bought my ticket! BAM!

Note: Traditionally the beer was brought to the beer tents by horse and carriage, nowadays it’s by truck but they still do the whole show bit of it all in the parade.

Until next time, Readers!!! xoxoxoxoxo