The Longest Weekend Ever

Well, I've just reached the end of the longest weekend ever. It really began last Wednesday night when we cooked tortellini for Markus and then went to and Irish pub. Just to clarify, it turns out that tortellini is the only thing that I really know how to cook.

Thursdays, I don't really have class. I just have a 15-30 minute meeting with Wiebke. Wiebke is this hilarious (in too many ways to describe) woman that teaches us how to improve our accents and pronounciations. I actually really enjoy it. We have to make a recording of ourselves reading a paragraph and give it to her. She then listens to it and makes criticisms, letting us know what to practice. If you could see me do an impression of Wiebke when she notices a blantant mistake, it would surely make you laugh...I guess most of you will have to wait awhile to see the Wiebke face...schade (that means 'too bad' or 'it's a shame' - I use this word alot).

Thursday night we stayed in and watched Meet Joe Black in German. The title when translated was Rendevous mit Joe Black. C'mon...that's not German! That's French. Anyway, it's really not a good movie, but it's good for my German and better than most of the German TV shows out there.

Friday we tried to open an account at the bank for Ingrid (I don't need one, thank God!). It was quite intimidating, even though the people are very nice, because 'bank terminology' is not my fortay - in English or German. Then we went to Schloss Schleissheim (see pictures below). Upon returning from the suburban castle, we thought about having a barbeque, but the weather through us a loop, so we decided against it. Instead, I made my famous (well, among the three of us) grilled ham and cheese sandwiches with my sandwich-maker. Yes, I do have a sandwich-maker, and yes, I do love it.

Saturday was spent wandering/exploring this wonderful city that I now call home. We finally found a serious Gelatto shop that will be staying open the entire year!!! Herr Soeder recommended it and they had some of the most exciting flavors ever! I would cross the globe for good Italian ice cream...I am still a serious gelatto afficianado. Then, we took like 14 different modes of public transportation to get ourselves to this HUGE American-style mall (minus the Gap and Victoria Secrets). It was totally packed...almost like American malls during Christmas season. I am frightened to think what this mall will be like during the holiday season. Since the stores are all closed on Sundays and Monday was a holiday, EVERYONE was out shopping on Saturday. We returned with plans of the barbeque again, but our plans were again foiled. So we ate at the restaurant right below my window - the Tribuehne. Leslie joined us for dinner and then we went and watched Findet Nemo (Finding Nemo - in German) in her room. She even had some Halloween candy! That was cool.

Sunday began our desperate search for Halloween costumes. Why did we wait until the last possible minute? Got me! But since all of the stores were closed, we got really desperate. We finally found a random store in Hauptbahnhof (the main train station) and bought a bunch of random junk. We (the three of us) dressed as 80's girls. It was hilarious. I'm still weeding through the pictures to find the least embarrassing one...so be patient. We went to a party - costumes required - in the room of one of the American girls that is in my program. On the elevator and walking through the halls, we just received the normal 'look at those weird Americans' stare. At least this time there was a reason to stare!

I ended up sleeping and doing homework Monday. I am really glad that they have a holiday here in super-catholic Bavaria. Going to school the day after Halloween is never fun. For dinner Monday, we were invited to Markus' house in Unterschleissheim (a suburb, not far from the castle previously mentioned). Markus is a friend of Tiffany's from many years ago and we met his sister a few weeks ago. They are both really cool Germans. Astrid, Markus' sister, is studying home economics (but it's more for the hospitality industry) in school. So she offered to cook us a Bavarian dinner. I love this girl! It turns out, she cooked for like 5 hours to prepare this meal. Wow! I had my first Knudeln...which is really difficult to explain, but it's a Bavarian speciality and it's quite unique. Then, there was a pork roast, potatoes, cabbage salad, carrots, some awesome gravy, more potatoes. It was by far the best meal that I've had in Germany! Then, we went down to the basement for drinks and dessert. I was really impressed by the hospitality of these people. It was almost old fashioned...but so sweet. Astrid made Tiramisu, which I love. It was overall a great evening, because we spoke only German for like 5 hours straight and got to eat great food. We are hoping to invite Astrid and Markus over for some American cooking...we're hoping to try something other than tortellini...but I just don't know.