Work retreat

Every year, my lab goes on a work retreat to discuss various work issues. This year's issue is the mid-term review that's coming up later this month, and so we headed off into the depths of The Bayerischer Wald (Bavarian Forest) to sit and bond (as a team) and discuss work. Here's how it went...

On the way to the Forest!

Our accommodation

Wildlife near the accommodation

 

Discussing work outside our rooms

Testing out various pieces of rustic furniture for comfort levels

Discussing work in the spa

Discussing work around a campfire

But seriously, we did do a lot of work and I hope my projects will go up from here!

Movie review - Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

After not having seen a movie in the cinema since JANUARY (shock horror!) I decided to hit the 10:15 session of POTC4 mit Ruben y Eva because I'm hardcore. Also, it was the only session that was in English on a Sunday night. *cough*


Following the events of the original trilogy, Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) is in London to rescue his former first mate Gibbs from being hanged for piracy, who promptly informs Sparrow that the only reason he got caught is because an imposter is going around London advertising for people to join Jack Sparrow on a voyage. Jack is then arrested and taken to King George II who informs him that the Spanish have discovered the location of the Fountain of Youth and request that he join up with old foe Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush, now in the employ of the King) to stop the Spanish from claiming it. The request is gracefully declined, and Jack goes on to discover that the imposter is in fact old flame, Angelica (Penelope Cruz), who turns out to be the daughter of Blackbeard (Ian McShane) and they too are after the Fountain of Youth. Cue the adventure!


First of all, this movie is not a rehash of the other three and exchanging Keira Knightly for Penelope Cruz was the best decision they ever made! She actually had a real reason for wanting to be at sea and the tension between her and Jack was believable rather than vomit-inducing. And while the story is a bit sillier than usual, featuring not only the fountain of youth but zombie sailors, fire-breathing ships (trust me on this), and mermaids (Astrid Berges-Frisbey) who fall in love with strangely studley missionaries (Sam Clafin - seriously, when he took off his shirt, I was thinking *gratuitous hip dips!*), I did find it actually entertaining. 


My main criticism is that by wringing out as much of Capt'n Jack Sparrow's idiosyncrasies as possible, the movie is incredibly long. There were several points where I thought to myself *Okay, here's the bit where Jack stages an incredible getaway* *Here's where he runs around like a gay pirate*, *Here's we he makes/asks a convoluted statement about the events that are occuring*, and *here's yet another incredible getaway*. Or maybe I'm just getting tired of the entire schtick - I get what he does, it doesn't need to be constantly reinforced. The movie ended at 12:30am and I think a good 20 minutes could have been cut by not doing all those little thingies. On the other hand, fans of the movie might prefer that so much time was spent concentrating on Jack's thing. *shrug*. 


Actually, I will also say that I didn't like the mermaid/missionary plot point. That was really boring and the shirtlessness was totally gratuitous. 


Anyway, the movie was in my opinon bit too long but better than the last one. I'm aware that's not really a recommendation but it is. Sorta. I walked out on Monday morning pleasantly entertained and that's my feeling reflecting back on it.
6/10 

Tiger balm

I brought some Tiger Balm with me to Germs but instead of carrying that glass jar, I scooped it out and put it into one of those plastic jars you can use for hand luggage of fluids. I opened the jar yesterday to put some balm on an insect bite and found that the Tiger Balm had caused cracks to form in the plastic and to even go soft in the thinner parts of the wall.

And then I put it on my bite and tried not to think of the effect it had on a non-biological tissue.

Things You Eat When You're Alone - Vitalgebaeck

German discount supermarkets are awesome. As Chrish said when we reflected on the huge paycut we took when agreeing to move her from Aus to Germs, "Thank God for Lidl and Aldi!" Yesterday I went to Aldi with Juliane looking for food to make for dinner and snackies to take on the Schnitzmuehle, and I saw these:

Peanut and cashews held together with caramel!

They remind me of these peanut sticks that you could get in a Chinese grocery to be eaten for CNY but also of my almond and hazelnut cookies! Mmmm, I should make some batches of those. Anyway, I was well on my way to finishing the bag when Fabi came home and I offered him some. He was slightly surprised (horrified?) that I was enjoying them so much and refused the offer. Oh well, more for me!

Swedish Meatballs

I went on yet another trip to Ikea yesterday and found the time to have the Swedish meatballs and a Lingon berry Dryck. It meant I didn't get the €1 hotdog at the end but as I ate my meatballs, I reflected that I hadn't had them in years and therefore worth the wait.


Also, because we were there after 6pm and Ikea in German closes at 8pm (seriously, wtf), they were half price. Even more awesome. 

Burgerfest in Regensburg!

For this past weekend, I decided to make good on my promise to Jul's parents that I would return to their village and drink beers in their backyard (some things are international!) and Regensburg were having their annual Burgerfest. Now, as much as I would like to say that a Burgerfest means a festival of hanbaobaos, it's actually a town festival. But you know, there was still a lot of street festival foods!


Unfortunately, I didn't take photos of my pfannekuchen or my apfelkuchen (mmm, deep fried apple *gargle*) but I did remember to take photos of what is apparently the best gelateria in Regensburg and had the crowd inside to prove it!
  

Diba Chocolat Cafebar. Apparently their best one is a quark-fig flavour.

I decided to go for one scoop of saffron and a scoop of rose. They were both delicately flavoured and utterly delightful!

We two go OM NOM NOM!!!

Oh look, they turned the square outside of the Dom into a Biergarten!

Sitting by the banks of the river...

where I got to enjoy a cup of watermeleon wine punch. Mmmm...

Jul's parents have a really lovely garden where they grow a lot of their own vegetables and herbs. For mine and Asia's visit, they decided to throw a grillparty (bbq) for which we were joined by Jul's sister, her husband and their son!

Cute backyard

Der Grillmeister arbeitet. 

Jonas continues Germany's fussball dominance over Australia

He then took a break to show me some wild strawberries in the garden!

Delicious little things

Sushi Sano

I have craved many things since I moved here. Close to the top of this list are Asian food and seafood. Combine these two and you have me crying over not being able to eat sushi (amongst other things). I accept that one of the problems is due to Munich being a landlocked city with a not particularly large Japanese population. Luckily, there is a wonderful invention called *The Internet* and I used it to look up Asian restaurants here. Based on a suggestion on myasianmunich.com (apparently looking this up makes me a stereotype), I decided to go to Sushi Sano.


I took a look at the menu and was pleasantly pleased at the different raw seafoods available.

Jakobsmuschel?! YES PLEASE!!! (Scallops for the non German-readers)  

But then I started to panic - I was a hungry girl and one piece at €1 each? I'm someone who can eat at least 250g of sashimi and was one half of a small Asian duo who ended up paying $50 at a$2.50/plate (hai Poo!). After calming myself down, I decided to set myself a budget - how much would I be willing to pay vs. what I wanted to eat. And so I decided to get the following...

2x Tobiko, 2x Tako, 2x Jakobsmuschel

2x flounder (I thought it was squid :(), 2x Tuna, 2x salmon!

After eating these 12 pieces, I wouldn't say I was as stuffed as I can get when I'm eating this much sashimi, but I was comfortably if not outrightly pleasantly full. While the fish may not have had the slight crunchiness of superfresh raw fish, it definitely did not have the slightly sour taste of the not so fresh. This is a good thing. 


So, out of the three places I've had sushi/sashimi in Muenchen, Sushi Sano is near the top and will definitely will get a revisit!

The MEGA EPIC BIRTHDAY PARTY

When I told people I was going to Paris for my birthday, I had a few people asking "But are you going to have a party in Munich?" The answer to that was "Naturlich!" and more than just having a party for myself, upon discovering that our birthdays were quite close together, Juliane, Hero Thomas, and I decided to combine our parties to have a MEGA EPIC BIRTHDAY PARTY.

Because we three are nerds (Dr. Dr. and soon to be Dr.), we held the party, with the help of Trung, in the aptly named Nerds Bar in Glockenbachviertel, contacted all the beautiful, sexy nerds we knew, and then made them be their very best by requesting that men wear a suit and women be attired in a cocktail dress. And they didn't let us down. Here's some snaps.

Jul gets ready for the night

Shoed and dressed up for the night!

The bar fittingly had nerd glasses scattered around as decor. Needless to say, people played with them and we requested that everyone take a photo celebrating our nerdiness.

Some people ended up doing it really well!

Others pretty much looked normal

The men really got into different nerd poses.

And some women misinterpreted *nerd* and ended up on the *sexy* side

The bar also had a dentist's chair, which was surprisingly comfortable!

Although the sight of a dentist's drill still elicits a bit of concern.

I had started organising a present for Juliane when suddenly I was told to stop because Susi was organising a present for the two of us. We were a bit concerned - what kind of present would be suitable for both of us? It couldn't be a trip somewhere and we wouldn't be able to share Colin Firth...

 

Susi looks on with glee as we open our presents.

What?! You mean she gets Colin and I don't?!?

Woohoo! Thanks for the concert tickets!

Yep, so after missing out on the epic concert series in Melb, we'll now be going to see George Michael at the Olympiahalle. HOORAY!!!! :D

Anyway, here are some photos of the A-grade, top notch people of Munich having a good time. 

Very interesting theory, Mr. Bond...

Thumbs up!

Nice couple.

Another nice couple.

And another nice couple!

Planting one on the birthday boy

The Spaniards being too cool for school

Making a cha siu/jamon sandwich

So yes, thanks all those sexy nerds for really getting into the spirit and giving us an AWESOME BIRTHDAY. Also, I totally recommend Nerds as a party bar. 

Hell yes they do!