Enjoying Bavarian Holidays: Exploring Munich

Well, here in Germany, Boxing Day is a national holiday. Everyone gets it off work, and all German businesses are closed. Good news for me: I get the day off. Bad news for me: Everything is closed...

I called my friend Khaliq (who is Muslim, and doesn't celebrate Christmas) and we decided to explore the city.

We had a grand old time! We walked by buildings that looked historic and took tons pictures. There are many very old and beautiful churches in Munich. Most of them were closed except for the main sanctuaries, but it was still very neat. They were beautifully painted and used lots of gold accents. It was very fun.

We walked around for several hours before we realized how hungry we were!! We started looking for something to eat but EVERYTHING was closed!! About an hour before we had seen a McDonalds that was open, so decided to head that way. Luckily on the way, Khaliq spotted a little Kebap shop that was opened. Kebaps have never tasted so good!! For those of you who don't know what  a kebap is... basically, they slow roast chicken all day so it's extra juicy. When you order it, they shave off enough in thin slices to make a sandwich. Then they add this yogurt sauce, spicy sauce, and whatever veggies they can find. Then they toast the bread (or tortilla) and you eat it. It is SO GOOD.

After lunch, we walked around the city more and kept running into statues of lions. So we decided to make a montage of lion shots.

At the end of the day, we found this Irish Pub.. called "the irish pub" and had end of the day drinks. I had BIONADE. It's this weird hippie soda that's all natural.. but pretty tasty. It was a very lovely day off!

Change can be very good.

Well bloggers. A lot has happened. I left my Cinderella position in Glashutten, Germany and have moved into a wonderful German/Italian family in the center of Munich. Let me tell you. Life is bliss. The family is wonderful.
She is Italian, and oh so elegant. She works at an italian bank during the day and spends time with her children at night.
He is German. Probably one of the nicest men I have ever met. He is very funny. He works for an American company. Doing... things.
Their kids: Sofia is two and half. She is very serious and does not like snow being thrown at her. She likes things neat and organized, and has been known to clean her plate with her napkin if the noodle sauce gets on the edge. Fillipo is six. He is very independent and lets me know he does not need an Au Pair...He likes to tell me this as he hands me his garbage, his backpack, and while I'm lacing up his shoes. He is a very good ice-skater.
Both children are very well-behaved and quite sweet. I have never been happier.

The German here has a very strong dialect. It is closer to Swiss German than in the North where Frankfurt was. It is called a Bavarian Dialect. I like it. My German is coming along quite nice.

I have experienced so much in the last week. St. Nikolaus, who is their version of Santa but he looks like the pope, came to a party and I got to see him. Christmas markets in Munich (so wonderful) and today I got to go to German farmers market. My host dad bought me a pretty apple that had the farmers logo carved into it:

We had a really fun time. Sofia is so adorable!

Love it here. Love the family. Love the kids. I'm a very happy girl.

Whats the opposite of "time is flying"?

Oh man. I cannot believe I have only been here a little over a week. I feel as if I have been part of this family forever. There is so much to write about.

The boys: They are 9 months, 3 and 4. They have an insane amount of energy. The oldest speaks to me in German and the middle in French. These are the phrases I hear all day "Das ist kaputt!" (This is broken) "ca fini!" (I have finished) Things the boys do could be a blog of its own.

The parents: The mother is french and she is very sweet. The father is German, and oh boy. Is he German. He likes to tell me about how great Germany is all the time. For example, I asked him how to work the washing machine. He tells me, "ah yes. This washing machine. It is German. It is the 'Mercedes Benz' of washing machines." He tells me about his dishwasher, shoes, dryer... etc. Everything is so great! We now have a joke... "now thats the power of german engineering".
He likes to say really funny things. For example. His wife was telling me about how a woman slipped on the ice and crashed into their parked car. He told me, "in germany, we still have the problem of women drivers". The wife scoffed and went on talking about the crash. Later he said, "in saudi arabi, they dont have this problem." "because of the ice," she said firmly. I looked at him apprehensively, "I think he means because they dont allow women to drive." She and I laughed.. but he never does!! Just looks so serious.

I have too much to say about this family. Not all of it is nice. I better keep it to myself.

Arrival in Europe

well all zero of my blog followers. I feel as if I have been living this life forever. and it has only been a few days. heres what has happened:

I arrived in Zurich and was greeted by two of my favorite swiss boys, Samuel and Adi. I was very excited to be in europe and even though i was coming from a 10 hour flight next to a huge, fat, croatian paparazi, the joy of being there was enough to keep me going. We met up with Phillip and they took me to a wintermarket, and there we had some lessons in each others languages. For instance. They explained to me the different between "kaufen" which means "I am buying" and "einkaufen", which means "I am buying". You see, the first one means " I am buying" and the second means " I am buying". German? ja. Its going to be a breeze. After this, I taught them an important english lessons, like how not to mispronounce the names of countries in africa, like Niger for an instance. Learning about other peoples cultures is fun.

Wonderful Sam hosted me at his house, and woke up at 5 to see me off... with my 100 lbs of luggage. I wish I was joking. I arrived the next day in Frankfurt. My lovely boss (for lack of a better word) Isabelle picked me up with the boys. Boy are they cute. We got to schlossborn at 10 am. This was my first day of work. I almost fell asleep while watching the boys. No rest in Germany. You can sleep when you are dead. I survived. But was so tired I couldn't keep my eyes open at the dinner table. Oh, did I  mention they had a dinner party for my welcoming? A classic french 5 course meal. Each one lasting 30 minutes. After the second course, I started to fall asleep. They kindly excused me from the table.


I need to take German classes. ASAP.

A (very) few thoughts of Germany

Well, I've been a Californian my entire life... minus a brief stint in Hawaii in 1992. Moral of the story is, a day is considered "cold" if my feet freeze when I wear flip-flops. "Hot", is anything above 75 degrees. Seasons are a foreign concept to me. On my last day here, November 30, it is a perfect 64 degrees, the sun is out, and there is not a cloud in the sky.
Weather report for Frankfurt: 30-40's all week.... raining everyday!! Oh boy. This is going to be a change!

On another note, if all german men don't look like this then I'm leaving:









This is my last day in America. Tomorrow I leave on my little German adventure. First stop: Switzerland. I'm excited to see my friends who I met traveling this summer. Pictures to follow.

Greatest Day Ever

Kennedy Jane Hulse
6lbs 9oz
Born 11/22/11 5:20 pm after 11 hours of labor
My sister, the all-star, made giving birth look like a cinch.
My niece is the most beautiful baby I've ever seen. She has my sisters lips, and dougs nose. A tiny bit of dougs hair.

She is in perfect health. Thanks be to God. He is good. Kennedy doesn't even know how lucky she is yet, to have two wonderful parents who love God and love her. What a little bundle of blessings!!

Joining the 20-10's.

Well, I remember when I "joined the 21st century" and got an email account... That seems like just yesterday. When I started traveling around the world, sending snail-mail updates became too expensive so email was the ideal way to communicate. Now, as connected as we are by social media, email is so 2000's. So here is my blog. To stay in touch, as I embark on my journey nach der Bundesrepublik Deutschland.