Languages

Today we had an ex student who had been to Brazil come back and teach us Brazilian style dancing. She brought with her three men from Brazil who didn't speak a word of German or English; they said everything in Portuguese and then she translated it all to German. Somehow that was almost my favourite part, although I hated languages when I was younger I find them so fascinating now and it was fun to try and pick up on what they were saying before they were translated. They brought with them a drum, tambourine, accordion and a triangle and we all danced around in rhythm which was a nice way to end the week.

Me and Jorg have decided that we want to go to Italy for holiday this year, and will hopefully be booking in a few weeks! Because of this, I've decided to start learning a bit of Italian. I found an app on my phone where a parrot speaks to you in Italian which really does motivate you! I've been wanting to learn another language for a while and thought this would be the perfect opportunity. I'll keep you updated on our holiday plans, I don't want to say too much now as we haven't booked yet so things could change!  Where are you going on holiday this year?
Passa un buon fine settimana! :)

Friday

Today is Friday: time for the weekend!!
I did say in my last post that I was going to the gym on Wednesday which, ahem, I never did. I was particularly hungry that day and so instead of going to the gym I went food shopping and went home to cook for myself! Typical I know, but I promised myself that I would go on Friday instead... Which I did! It was a bit busier today (maybe from all the people who join in January?) but it's such a great feeling to be back in the gym and actually doing some exercise - if only making yourself go wasn't so hard!
Tomorrow I'm going to a night flohmarkt (literally translates to "fleamarket" but I can't remember what we call them in England?!). This is in a massive hall and everyone sells their clothes (this one is especially for clothes but you can get ones where you can sell furniture etc). It starts at 5pm till 3am! I've been to them before but this one is bigger so I'm excited to see how it is.
Have a good weekend and a good start to February!

Exercise!

On Monday I finally went back to swimming after a long Christmas holiday and then me being ill. I only learnt how to swim last summer and I have to go swimming every week for my course to become a swimming teacher, although I can safely say that I'm not planning on teaching people how to swim anytime soon!
Although I do hate having to swim every week (every Monday morning), and most Sundays I do indeed dread the swimming lesson, I have to say I'm quite a baby as once I'm in the water I actually enjoy the lesson. I also bought some swimming goggles at the weekend which make swimming so much more fun! I may look like a frog but I have no water in my eyes disturbing my swimming rhythm and making me blink all funny! I also forgot how much exercise swimming is, which is always a good workout.
Tomorrow I'm going back to the gym as I've decided that my cold/cough will never go away is slowly getting better so I may as well start getting my moneys worth and go to the gym again! Then its babysitting on Thursday and once again the weekend AND the 1st of February already!!! Time goes so quickly, I wonder if anyone's started their new years resolutions yet? I've managed to send 4 letters back to England which is a good start to mine: Write more letters to everyone who sends me them!
Have a good week!

The difference of friends

Today went quickly; popped into town to buy some swimming goggles and along the way found a new sports bag. Reduced to only 15 euros and its like a mini sports bag! (As I'm so short most sports bag look bigger than I do, so this one's perfect).

Afterwards me and Jorg went to Ikea with two of his friends - we don't have money to spend and have nothing to buy but I love looking around home stores anyway! And so we set off with his friends.
His friends are very nice, yet I can't help but feel the difference, and absence of my friends from back in England. In general sometimes I just miss being able to speak English and say whatever I want - in German I am fluent (minus the ongoing grammar mistakes) but if I want to tell an entire story or react quickly I have to translate it first in my head otherwise it most likely wont make sense just blurting it out.
Today I also felt a little left out just because I'm not quite so unhealthy - is that even possible?! As today all were smokers we were standing outside so they could smoke. I'm not a smoker as a) I have asthma and b) why are people actually buying things that kill you?! I don't mind people smoking when we're outside so I just stood there and waited for them to finish. Afterwards we went to Mcdonalds but I don't eat there as a) I'm vegetarian and b) I find nothing appealing about fast food chains so I just sat there and waited for them to finish.
I'm wondering if I was seen as the "oddball" for not taking part in these (unhealthy) activities? None of my friends in England smoke (apart from some "social smokers") and with my close friends we never go to Mcdonalds or any fast food chain as most of them never eat there either. I've found that in Germany basically everyone smokes, and I've seen the look of shock on people's faces when I say I don't smoke at all. I suppose I just miss the comfort of having my friends around me where it isn't awkward to say you don't smoke, and you don't like fast food, and the comfort/laziness to just speak your own language.
Don't worry though, I still love you Munich!

My week

A busy week, with three days of babysitting and still trying to recover from my cold/cough/headache/whatever the hell it is I have! But I'm feeling a lot better than last week and if my cough will go away I will be one happy bunny.
It's getting colder here and in the morning it started to heavily snow. I ate my breakfast, got changed and ran outside ready to have a merry walk to the bus stop in the snow. This unfortunately didn't happen as in the space of 15 minutes the thick snowflakes had indeed turned into rain. :(
Not sure what my plans are for this weekend but I might be going to the cinema (what else is there to do in this deceiving snow rain weather?!). I actually have no clue what films are on at the moment, any recommendations?
Happy weekend!

Aerobics Power Hour

In my course we have aerobics once a week where we learn all about how to teach an aerobics class. This week our teacher let us have the full experience of an aerobics hour (she's qualified to do Les Mill's Body Attack if any of you know it!). I've seen aerobics workout DVD's and also clips in old films, but I've never actually done one fully with a live teacher. It was crazy!
With up to date music (eg Diamonds by Rihanna) we stepped, squatted, kicked and punched our way through the hour - not forgetting the sit ups and press ups as well! The music is a remix and it's sped up so fast (I was expecting a more slower approach at the beginning that would get faster - I was wrong). What really amazed me was the energy of our teacher; how she managed to actually do the steps with us whilst shouting and cheering us on and not be out of breath/dying on the floor like the rest of us is beyond me! I don't think I've had any dance/sports teacher with as much energy as she gave us; I have a lot of respect for her that she teaches these classes weekly and I hope that at the end of the three years I can do it too!
What I really liked about this aerobics hour was that it was so fast it made you feel alive; I like my course but we do A LOT of talking in almost every class, and at the end of the day who doesn't want to jump around to crazy music after a long day of talking and listening?

Here's a video I found on youtube - an example of Les Mills Bodyattack class - different music and steps but very similar to what we did today!
And now to lie in my bed and wait for my muscles to be sore in the morning :)

A Pomegranate Post

Just to say that I've discovered how much I love pomegranates; even cutting them open and taking all the seeds out is fun and somehow therapeutic! I think I could actually just scrap chocolate and eat pomegranate seeds as they make such a good snack, in fact I just want to put pomegranate in everything! Which I've already started doing...

With yoghurt

With yoghurt and french toast hmmmm

The massacre of the pomegranate

Banana and pomegranate porridge

Cleaning day

Sunday is definitely the day for cleaning, washing clothes and being lazy; especially in Germany where no shops are open on a sunday, none. Before you ask: yes that is including food supermarkets, pharmacies, clothes shops, and even some restaurants too! Yes every Sunday!

Not a particular interesting day apart from that I did go with a friend to pick up some pizza to takeaway from an Italian restaurant, and a guy that worked there had a little hissy fit as they made the wrong pizza for us. (It was actually quite a big hissy fit: foot stamping, arm movements, and to end with stomping off in a huff shouting at his colleague that he can do it). At least the pizza was nice though!
I'm also wondering if this cold that I've had for two weeks will ever fully go away? I've cleaned and washed all sheets/clothes/rugs in my room to disinfect it in the hope that I'll be healthy again soon!

Breakfast at Cafe Glockenspiel

This morning me and Jorg miraculously managed to get up at 8 to go for breakfast. We didn't reserve and figured it would get busy as Cafe Glockenspiel is right in the centre of Munich but as it opens at 9am and we got there at 9:15, we managed to get a place (but only for one hour).
Cafe Glockenspiel is hidden right at the top of a building, directly opposite the town hall. If you're lucky (and if you reserve) you can get a seat right by the window that overlooks Marienplatz and the town hall.
The breakfast was amazing!

View of outside where we were sitting - a bit far away!

The town hall

Mine and Jorg's breakfast was almost the same, apart from I had more cheese and Jorg had meat and yoghurt with fruit pieces. We had a boiled egg, pineapple, melon, orange, grapes and a fruit that we had no clue what it was (but it was yummy!). Then a basket of bread rolls and bread between us, homemade jam, butter and LOTS of cheese. For each of us it was around 10 euros and really was a nice change than sitting at home eating porridge. I'll definitely go again and this time reserve a place in the hope of enjoying the view as well as the food.

Chocolate

I just ate a whole bar of chocolate..

And I don't regret it!

In other news I've had a good week and now have another babysitting family which I do during the week. Picking up two German children and taking them to their various classes whilst speaking English with them! I started yesterday and I'm going again today; so far I'm enjoying it, it would just help if it would stop raining!

One year post

Last weekend we discovered that me and Jorg have been together for one year! The actual "anniversary" was on Saturday, however we only realised this on Sunday (typical).
Just a little post  to say how happy I am and have been this whole year with him, and couldn't ask for anyone better :)

(even if he does look a LOT like Simon Pegg in this photo)

x

The Gym

In December I joined the gym.

I've never been to a gym before as I always thought there are always alternatives like running, or just doing press ups and sit ups in your room every night before you go to bed. I was wrong. There are so many different machines that train different muscles and you can actually feel which muscle is being trained! And it's actually quite fun. 

In December I managed to go once every week; I also have a gym buddy which really helps with the motivation. This month I'm recovering from a cold/cough/headache/everything but I'm hoping that next week I can start going again. I'm going to go at least once a week but I'm aiming for twice a week; I'm hoping my motivation will last the whole year, seeing as I'm paying for it!

The gym here (I go to Clever Fit) only costs 25 euros a month which is around 20 pounds, so nice and cheap compared to the prices I've heard around Windsor. I usually go in the weekdays around 3 and it's always nice and quiet which really is a plus. I'll keep you updated on how I do, the Gym can be quite daunting and scary at first (I literally couldn't get the hang of the cross trainer - when you move the feet, the arm handles move too, the first few times I held on for dear life). But after a couple of times it does become fun!

Wish me luck!

Alte Pinakothek und Pinakothek der Moderne

Last week whilst the rest of my course went skiing (I didn't go as I don't really have experience with downhill skiing, only cross country), we went to a few museums and galleries around Munich. The week started off with going to Museum der Mensch und Natur - which I've already been to and have written a blog post that you'll find here. The only thing different was a cool photography exhibition of nature and animals, taken by photographers around the world. The next day we went to see a dress rehearsal of the Bayerische Staats Ballett, which was a contemporary piece of Merce Cunninghams, more info about it here. It was amazing to watch the dress rehearsal and I had forgotten how strong and beautiful dancers are.
On the last day we started off at the Alte Pinakothek. This is an art gallery full of older period photos and is really worth a look if you have interest in Art. After we went to Pinakoethek der Moderne; just round the corner from Alte Pinakothek you can discover the more contemporary, abstract paintings placed in an open bright building. I appreciated both places but it's hard to say which one I liked better, as doing both in one day got me feeling tired physically and mentally. A great way to spend a week though; visiting touristy places that I otherwise wouldn't have had  the time to go to!

Me and a friend walking around in Pinakothek der Moderne

Happy new year!

Bit of a late post to be saying happy new year, but as I went home for 2 weeks for Christmas I haven't had the chance to update my blog!
Here are a few late Christmassy photos:

Galeria Kaufhof's window display at Marienplatz

Our Christmas lunch at Bode Schule

In England at home!

A little present I got - a tea box!

Not Christmassy.. but one of the best presents I've got from a Kinder Egg

I hope everyone had a good Christmas and New Year! What's everyones resolutions? I only have one and that's to write more letters to everyone in England (and I've already sent three!)

Larissa