Trying to grow plants again

I have somewhat foolhardily invested in a plant that I know will die soon, but hyacinths are so pretty, and they smell so nice, and it was only €2, I just thought *what the hell!* 

 Complete with matching pot!

Also, since I moved my birthday orchid into Fabi's room, it's started budding like hell.

Look at it go!

So now that Alex has moved out, I've moved my other one into what is the new living room! 

I hope this bud grows out like it's cousin!

Americanised!!! :O

This is going to sound really weird, but for some bizarre reason, I had the urge to read Looking for Alibrandi. I don't know...maybe I just really wanted some non-Twilight teen angst If I were in Melbs, I could have just taken my own copy off the bookshelf but I'm not so I purchased it for my Kindle. It was pretty much as I remembered while reading it - oh! The dilemmas of struggling with final exams and future directions, first loves, trying to reconcile yourself with your surroundings when you attend a rich private school but you yourself come from a poor and migrant background....gosh, story of my life! :P But there was something niggling at me that something was not quite right. 


And towards the end, I finally figured it out. At one point, Josie mentions going shopping with Lee and looking at Gap and Abercrombie. This book was published in Australia and set in Sydney in the early 1990s....THERE WAS NO GAP OR ABERCROMBIE IN AUSTRALIA AT THAT TIME!!! And Ivy graduates valedictorian of the class - err, no. It's been a while since I read my book form but I'm pretty sure the title used in Australia is Dux. Thankfully Josie mostly refers to her Mum as *Mama*, *my mother*, or *Christina*. I don't think I could have handled it if it was changed to *Mom*. 

Starkbierfest - Take 4!

I have actually had a Take 2 and a Take 3 of Starkbierfest but for various reasons (forgetting my camera, being too drunk), there just haven't been many photos taken. But I have been the last two weekends - in fact my lab has had a new postdoc, Markus, since the beginning of this month and he said that when he thinks of me, I'm wearing a dirndl and drinking because whenever we talk about our weekends, I say "I was at Starkbier". Awesome. I maintained the reputation as an apron-wearing drunk by going to Starkbier at the Loewenbraukeller this past weekend! 

I think this is the same fella who sits at the Loewenbrau Festzelt at Oktoberfest!

To me, the initial feeling inside the Keller is more formal compared to Augustiner and Paulaner because we have proper tables and chairs as opposed to those benches.

With the dark, stark bier

For dinner, I had the speciality - roast ox! When I ordered it, the waiter gave me a strange look. I'm guessing not many small girls order it.

Mit meinen Hombres, Ruben y David...

and our Kellner (waiter)

And Ruben's friend Judith who comes from nothern Germany.

Bier wasn't the only drink on the menu. Also for sale was a drink called *Ficken*...which translate as *fuck*. We asked the waiter was it was supposed to be but he shrugged and said we should just try it. 

Lowenbrau is different from the others in that they run some competitions during Starbierzeit - one is a *Miss Starkbier-esque* competition where some girls come up, give a short spiel about themselves and ask for you to vote for them. Ruben said I should try due to the advantage of being completely exotic mixed with my Kinderdeutsch! Ha, no. But more interestingly, they have a competition where people compete to deadlift a 50kg (?) block of rock as high as they can! Ruben also said I should enter this competition! Challenge considered...until I saw the huge guys I'd be competing against :P

The rock!

Look how huge they are! My money was on number 11

Lifting...no good

lifting....such struggle!

He won with a lift of 60-something cm!

Also unlike the others, there was some Bavarian slapdancing from proper dancers, but the absolutely most bizarre one was the slap dance that involved woodchopping.

I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it

Eventually the formalities ended and we got more and more drunk. As with the last time, I discovered I'm much better at speaking German slightly toasted as I joined the table behind us which consisted of people in their 50s/60s and we made small talk about how I've been acclimatising to the Munich environment. A different band came onto the stage and the party kicked really kicked in so we went downstairs to join the masses.

The sweaty, shoeless band.

With tuba!

Clap, clap, clapping along!

Munich is a very popular location for bucks and hens nights...wonder why...

The buck was from the UK (natch)

The hen was from Munich I think, it was hard to hear in front of the band

And we all danced well into the night...or at least until 11:30 when they stopped serving bier. 

Reverse aging

A few months ago, I walked into H&M and started looking at a few racks of clothes when I suddenly realised I was looking at the children's sizes. I found this to be quite amusing but when I mentioned it on FB, the main comment were variations of "But did they fit?" upon which I said I didn't try them on. This weekend, I decided to try them on.


When I go out with Amy, one of our favourite games is asking people to guess how old I am. People usually go for the early 20s although it was with some amusement that others have said 18-19. Well, I can now say that, even with my boobs, I am in fact the same size as a 13 year old German girl. 

This t-shirt here!

And a picture of the tag as proof! 

In fact, I decided that 14+/170cm (the size in the above photo) is too large and so I ended up buying the shirt at size 12-14/164cm. Who breeds monster-sized children? Germans do! Also, I found a hair that was white at the end but black at the follicle. I really am reverse aging. 

Welcome back, Spring

Before I moved to Germany in the dead of Winter 2010, Prof. Whitington had a few words of encouragement for me. Despite being...I dunno...30 years my senior, he knew exactly how I was feeling because he himself had been in my shoes of being about to move to Germany in the Winter despite not knowing anyone or the language (hahaha, cos life's too short to learn German!). I can't remember his exact words, but it went along the lines of this...

The Winter there is horrible and you'll wonder how anything can live there.

But when Spring comes around

And the blossoms bloom

And you see the colours

It's a completely different and amazing.

He was right :D And on that topic, my tulips are poking out even more!

Poke poke poke!!!

Recently read

So it's been a while since I've written anything I've read about but I've recently read a couple of trilogies and I thought I'd comment on them.


First of all, The Hunger Games. These books registered in my subconscious at some point but being published in the PhuD pushing time (2008-2010) they were put on the backburner until Pooey recently asked if I'd read them. Boom-boom onto the kindle, and I can now say that yes I have! And I devoured all three of them within a week. Based vaguely on the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur, in a post-apocalyptic dystopian USA (now called Panem), the Capitol controls the outlying Districts by having each of the 12 areas draw two teenagers (Tributes) who are entered into The Hunger Games where they fight each other to the death in a wilderness arena. Why do they do this? The winner of the Games gets a luxurious home for life and their District gets more food/supplies. As much as people say the concept of the Games I kept thinking that it's quite similar to Survivor where we watched people eat rats and run weird obstacle courses for our entertainment. Hmmm. Anyway, I recommend them!


The other trilogy I read was Christopher Moore's Bloodsucking Fiends vampire series. Jodie is mugged on her way home from work one day...but wakes up a few days after the mugging underneath a dumpster. Turns out she's now a vampire and she acquires a minion, 19 yo aspiring author C. Thomas Flood (Tommy to his friends). But who is the vampire who made Jodie? And why is he stalking the streets of San Fran and leaving corpses near her?! In my opinion, this is a classic example of a trilogy getting worse and worse until the last installment completely sucked (pun not intended). Sometimes, laughing out loud by yourself is something that makes you realise how crazy awesome something is. The original Bloodsucking Fiends made me laugh out loud a lot. The second one (Bite Me) is alright but not as good as the first. The third one IS TERRIBLE. It is largely narrated by a 16 year old girl who wishes she was a vampire and who gave me the shits repeatedly. I don't know how to explain it without giving it away, but I don't want to encourage people to read it either...unless you really want to know why I hated it. Ugh. 


So in summary, Hunger Games - good! Bloodsucking Fiends - only first book good!

Welcoming another Aussie to Muenchen!

A couple of months of ago, I got a message from Amy saying that a friend of hers was moving to Muenchen for a few months, would I mind showing him around? To that I said, "Ja, kein Problem!"


And so on a gloriously sunny day, I met up with Hito and showed him around the Old City parts of Munich, from the river to the various Tors, and looked around a few shops. While advising him on buying lederhosen (not yet accomplished), I also took advantage of having company in a Tracht shop to buy a new dirndl.

Not the colours I was looking for (I was hoping to get a black one so I could get away with just changing the apron) but everyone says red suits me better. I agree!

During our conversation, he mentioned that, like me, he really missed eating Asian food. So we went to Takumi ramen to get some noodles in us! 

Hito is very amused that you can only buy weissbier in volumes of 500ml and up

My *small* kirin in comparison!

My gomoku ramen...it was a bit weird, I think I can cross it off the list for future eating.

I really wanted his Aussie/Jap assessment of the authenticity but alas, he'd picked up a cold since moving here and said we'd have to return for another trial. Dammit :P

Story of my life in Munich, not just St. Patrick's

Revel in the nerdiness of this song! REVEL IN IT!!!

Clap

Clap

Clap

Clap!

And drink responsibly, people ;)

Spring....here at last?!?!?

When Pooey lived in London, she used to complain to me that she felt sad during the Winters and that she suffered from Seasonal Affective Disorder. I pooh-poohed this but I will say that lately I've been feeling down, not helped by changes to my sleeping pattern (waking up around 4:30am) and being off my food enough that people had commented on it. It also reached a point that when I looked at myself in the mirror, I would actually think * wooh, you're looking pale today!* And for each day that I got hopeful that it was getting warmer and scouring patches of grass for the crocuses peeping through, another cold and cloudy day crushed my dreams.


But this week, after a long Winter, the temperature today managed to hit TWENTY-ONE DEGREES for the first time since...I don't know, October?! I managed to convince one of the other postdocs to get some Vitamin D with me by walking to the mensa and getting...THE FIRST ICE CREAM OF THE SEASON!!! We then sat on the balcony soaking up the sunshine into our pasty white skin. It was glorious and this bout of sunny weather is expected to last the entire weekend. It's forecast to rain on Monday with the temperature set to return to single-digit figures but hopefully this blast will keep me for a while and I'll keep out for when the leaves pop out :D

Movie review - The Artist

Winner of the 2011 Oscar for Best Picture, another thing he did when Gnoudesavanes swung by last month was tell me he wasn't particularly impressed with the film. I believe he said something about Jean Dujardin not being that great an actor and not caring about the fact they dance. Well, having watched it now with a number of co-workers, we would collectively like to tell him that The Artist was a highly enjoyable movie!


Starting in 1929, George Valentin (Dujardin) is a silent movie star at the top of his game - with his trusty dog (Uggie), he is capable of doing action, dramatic, romantic, and comic roles! At the opening of his latest movie, A Russian Affair, aspiring actress Peppy Miller (Berenice Bejo) is accidentally pushed into the circle where Valentin is being photographed by the press, thus getting herself into the next morning's papers. Furious with her stealing the limelight from their movie, the Kinescope studio boss (John Goodman) attempts to fire her, until Valentin intervenes, saving her career and we see Peppy's star rising. With the arrival of talkie pictures, the boss decides the studio will concentrate solely on talking movies, which Valentin dismisses as a fad and decides to invest his fortune in a silent film that he will write, direct, and act in himself...


What can I say? While I have read criticisms saying that The Artist is a gimmick run over 90 minutes - because it is a silent movie retelling the reversal of fortune of a silent movie star - I found the movie itself highly entertaining and the use of intertitles unobtrusive because everything that was happening could be told from the events on screen. If anything, this film showed that a coherent plot and comprehensible acting/body language, a complete story can be told!


Maybe it is necessary to know a little bit about the history of cinema and how while number of actors were able to make the transition to talkies (e.g. Garbo because her Swedish accent matched her mysterious persona), a number of actors who had voices discordant with their character types or foreigners with strong accents soon found themselves losing out. Another movie that shows this is Singin' in the Rain. And like Singin', The Artist works because it makes you feel for the leads and makes you want them to succeed against the odds. Given that we applauded and cheered as the movie ended, I'd say it was a job well done! 


And so, what's not to enjoy? One of the best movies I've seen for a while, although knowledge of the history of Hollywood film maybe a bit necessary!
8/10

Game of Thrones

After all the hype, after all the fandom, after all the recommendations and close to the release of the second season, I have finally finished watching Game of Thrones. A mediaeval fantasy series, I'm not particularly into this genre and after watching the first few episodes, I think I turned away because something known as Oktoberfest/Wiesn was taking place. And then, I just never went back because I got Band of Brothers and The Pacific. When Gnou came through recently, he was shocked that I hadn't finished watching GoT - quelle horreur!!! - and he demanded that we sit down together and watch as many episodes as possible until we got tired or drunk (we may have been drinking absinthe). I think after three episodes, defeat was conceded. Anyway, easy as it would have been to stop there and just read about what was going to happen on wikipedia or imdb, I figured I may as well watch the rest to get people off my back as to why I hadn't watched it. 


My thoughts? Not having read the books, I found the first few episodes  slow because it's basically introducing all the characters and locations. It definitely gets better later on as we see the political and personal games being played, and the complexity of the storylines becomes apparent. I'm not sure how much money HBO sunk into the production (apparently close to $5mill/ep), but the costumes, sets and CGI seem fairly convincing. However, all the money and costumes in the world wouldn't without the cast which is definitely the real strength of the show. Much has been said of Peter Dinklage's performance (well deserved Emmy and Golden Globe there), but Gnou rightly pointed out that even the kids are good - particularly Jack Gleeson as Prince Joffrey Baratheon. As he said (insert French accent here), "Ze Keed eez so good in 'eez role - 'ee really make you 'ate 'eem!"


My main criticism? Other than the slowness of the first few episodes, the show gained the nickname Boob of Boobs with good reason. In the book, does so much exposition occur with sex going on? Are there usually so many random moments of nudity? I think there's at least two sex scenes per episode. If there is one commendment for the nudity, it's that it's not just females - there is some p33n as well (if you consider that a good thing). Also, I found Nedd Stark annoying after a while *SPOILER* - If you know the heir to the throne is not the King's child and suspect the Queen and her brother had a role in trying to kill your child....WHY WOULD YOU LET THEM KEEP THEIR LIVES WITHOUT DISSEMINATING THE INFORMATION?!?!*END SPOILER*


So, GoT was pretty entertaining. While I haven't reached the same level of enthusiasm as the reviewers on imdb or even Gnou who said he gets excited when he hears the theme, I'm amused enough when I saw this Simpsons rip off of the GoT opening sequence

and to look forward to season two - coming out on April 1st. 

Killed this song at Karaoke on Friday night...

HAHAHAHAHAHA

Andres Iniesta and my husband Iker roam the streets asking for photos and autographs from randoms. 

Boyce Avenue

Pooey already wrote about these  guys and I think they should totally play at Pooey and Smee's wedding. HAHAHAHAHAHA

Cos there'll be no sunlight, if I lose you BAYBEH!!!! There'll be no clear skies, if I lose you BAYYYYBEHHH!!!!!

Garmisch-Partenkirchen

Amandine had sent me an excited email during the week - her firm was having their annual ski trip in Garmisch-Partenkirchen which is a mere 1.5 hour train ride from Munich! Would I like to join them for some scheefahren?! Alas, I was already booked for Starkbier (ouch!), but I would be able to come on Saturday evening once my hangover subsided and join them for dinner and perhaps crash overnight, do some sightseeing on Sunday, and then scum a lift back to Muenchen on their coach! And so I did!

Being Asian in a nightclub after dinner!

At dinner, the firm handed out some prizes to people for various 'achievements' on the slopes. This was one of them!

The next morning, we decided that we were too hungover and/or sore to go to the slopes so we did some sightseeing around the super-suess town that is G&P. 

Nestled as it is in the Bavarian Alps, it sure is pretty.

I think this might be the famous Wank mountain! I could be wrong though. 

Walking through the town, we all sighed at how *German* it looked with the whitewashed walls, sloped roofs, and dark wood panelling

kekeke

Argh! Just look at this haus!

More pretty...

...and more mountains!

We stopped for at some cafes for tea and lunch (I had a dampfnudel hehehe) but ultimately, my god this was such a hardcore weekend...I was glad to sleep on the coach ride back :D

Starkbierfest 2012 - Take 1

Strange, I didn't write last year about Starkbierzeit (Strong beer time) and the ensuing Starkbierfest (Strong beer festival). This was probably because I was really, really drunk and then hungover. Stephan, a real Muenchner, told me this story - Starkbier derives from the Middle Ages. The monks of Munich wondered whether beer counted as food and if they therefore had to give it up for Lent. To solve this question, they sent some barrels to Rome for the Pope to test. This being the olden times, when the Pope tasted the beer, it had spoiled and he went "Blech! Something this foul cannot be food!" And the monks rejoiced by breweing EVEN STRONGER  beer for that time of year! Hence, Lent = Strong beer time. And so, I dirndl'd up and joined Ruben and his colleagues at the Augustiner Keller to partake of the Augustinerstarkbier, Maximator. Phew, that name even sounds strong!


Ummm...I don't actually remember much of that night and the photos even show how chaotic it was...

Ruben with his booking

My first Maximator!

Mmmm, I really needed that halbhendl mit kartoffelsalat to go with the beer

Proof that I can hold 3 biers (well, 2.5) in one hand!

This photo is probably as blurry as my vision was....

Things I do remember that aren't chronicled with photos include sitting in a giant beer barrel and talking with some strangers in German (who complimented me - mit Bier kann ich Deutsch sprechen!), various bits of dancing, and a conga line through the basement. Things I don't remember include how I managed to get cuts on my hands. But what matters is that I got home safely to write this entry!