Wo ist Frühlingzeit? (Where is spring time?)

Accurate depiction of January and February weather

View of Koenigsplatz from a run around the
neighborhood

It's been about 2 months since we've updated the blog for a number of reasons! The first being that January and February were not particularly eventful times for us. It was very cold fairly often, and so we didn't get out and do much- a common winter habit of the Münchners. It's hard to want to go tour an old castle when it's 20 degrees outside, let alone even make the walk to the grocery store. We watched a good bit of Netflix and soccer games on the weekend- We particularly enjoyed watching the Netflix series "The Crown" and we highly recommend it, as well as the FOX comedy, "New Girl." Just putting some recommendations out there..




February brought Joe's first ski trip! Neither of us had ever been skiing before this, and while Sarah still hasn't gone, Joe has set quite the benchmark for first skiing experiences. He went with his lab group to a place called Garmisch, which is south of Bavaria, in the Alps. THE ALPS.  Because Joe has a PhD now and is so "smort" (his family will understand that one), he decided he'd follow the advice of his lab mates and not take lessons, but instead get all the education he needed to ski from them in a short session right at the start of the day. Needless to say, he came home sore, tired, hungry, and glad he didn't get himself badly injured after realizing maybe lessons might have been a good idea after all. We've decided next season he'll use Sarah as an "excuse" to have to take lessons, so that he doesn't end up sliding down a mountain on his behind again.

One "Classroom" at the printing company

Meanwhile in February, Sarah was working. She taught 2 English classes, both 1 on 1 classes with high level students who needed to improve vocabulary. They were both successful and enjoyable. One involved traveling to a printing company to the East of Munich, as the company was paying for their employee to get the lessons. It was neat to see a bit of "corporate life" as well. She also began to substitute at the Munich International School in Starnberg, which is just south of Munich and located in a town that is on a large, scenic lake. After subbing her limited 3.5 days in the first week, and continuing to receive calls to see if she was available, we decided it might be better to switch to becoming a taxable employee for the month of March. It might seem like common sense to do so (more money, more time to meet people and interact, more experience, etc.), the tax and insurance system here is INSANE. It took most of February asking questions, reading various websites, asking more questions, a lengthy back-and-forth with the HR representative at MIS, and even more reading and trying to find people to answer specific questions, to finally, sort of understand what would need to happen as a result of switching to employee status.

One "perk" of commuting is the views...

We're both pretty excited we (eh, mostly Sarah) did all the research because she was given a long term sub position that she's working for all of March. It's a great position, she really enjoys it, and there is potential for it to turn into a longer term position for next school year. Who knows!

Not a perk of commuting: Massive
delays causing ridiculous human
traffic which backs up the
trains even more.

In February we also went to our first "all in German" entertainment- a show at a theater where Joe's brother's family gave us tickets to for Christmas. It was a comedy about an older lady who has to pick her new beau from, essentially, a pack of young, shirtless, male circus-esque performers. Each one had a solo act and the older lady came out in various costumes in between. There was laughter, there was audience participation, there was really good food, and there were some tense moments where we thought some of the acrobats were certainly going to fall. We understood enough of the German to get by, but not enough to get all the jokes. It was still funny, though! All in all it was a good night.

Practicing German prepositions...
not going so well at the moment.

Learning German is...going. Oder, "Es geht," auf Deutsch. We've got a bit more vocabulary and understanding of basic tenses, but our pronunciation is "Sehr Schlecht!" We think we are pronouncing things correctly, and then when we use them in conversation we get some pretty odd stares. So, Joe is taking classes through work now, and Sarah is still learning through the online classes but has plans with a few new friends to have a once a month "Tandem language partner" dinner in order to practice.




We've also planned our first big European travel adventure and we are taking a long weekend trip to Rome, Italy! We're extremely excited, although Joe is less excited to hear the barrage of Ancient Rome facts and Latin translations that Sarah will inevitably give on the trip. We're visiting a friend who will be there on their spring break, so that makes it even more of an adventure! The next post will likely feature a ton of pictures from the trip, so be on the lookout!

Here are a few more pictures we've taken in the last 2 months. Many are of donuts, or "Krapfen" in Bavaria, which are a big deal during the pre-lent season. They actually call it "krapfenzeit" or "donut time" and a lot of the flavors they make during this time are not available any other time of year. People go a little nuts over all the donuts, it's pretty amazing.

Sarah's finally learning some German recipes. This is the cake that nearly
everyone will bring into work for their birthdays, or so we've heard. It's an
apple cake with a shortbread crust, a creamy pudding center, and toasted almonds on top. 

People do love their dogs here.

Sometimes we come home to these notices
about work being done in the building,
which we have to traanslate and/or
figure out what exactly we are
supposed to do/responsible for.