it is already snowing here!

ambien dreams of european streets and masks and things

italy

Italian coffe!

farmer's market

i worked at the market all day, and it was pretty great. i'm not very good at german yet, but i met a lot of canadians, and i think my boss was happy that i could speak english with them. he thinks i'm a riot when i try to speak german. he gave me more bread and muscato grapes and the best cheese i've ever had. it's like parmigiana but better. i will not go hungry! the paycheck is small, but dependent on the day. i think i will try my hand at distilling wine at home, because i get lots of grapes that are about to turn, and i can't eat them all (and neither can my roommates!). 

Oktoberfest

Oktoberfest was crazy. It was like a UMass party, but with carnival rides and traditional German garb- Liederhosen and Drindls. One beer is equivalent in volume to three (try a half-lemonade, half-beer to keep up stamina and to not throw up!) and say goodbye to at least 50 euro (rides are expensive, but the rollercoaster was at least worth it). There will be lots of people passed out in the street by 4pm, and not just teens and 20year olds. Most of them, actually, were dads. There was this one girl around 18 yelling to people not to step on her "papa".. it would embarrass any American teen, but she stuck by him faithfully as he lay face down on the sidewalk. It's best not to get involved, because the medical teams are everywhere and they will find them quickly.

The beer tents were packed, and it was hard to find a place to sit in a big group, but once we splintered off into groups of three or four, it was easier to manage. I was with an American guy and a girl from Spain, and we went for the tent with the most music coming out of it, as well as one that let us go in with our backpacks (we brought sandwiches and water, which is a good idea because everything is expensive and it is an intense day to go through without snacking and drinking water) we met some really nice German guys who had stayed up all night at a party and then went straight to Oktoberfest. Crazy. I was ready to go by 7pm when our bus came for us. The pretzels there were enormous, and I wish I had one as I write this. I don't know how Germans stay so slim while eating and drinking the way they do. I guess they bike a lot.

We left Oktoberfest before getting more than tipsy, and made our way to the center of Munich. It was German Unity day, so inside Oktoberfest looked pretty much like the rest of the town. The streets were crowded with people and there was lots of traditional music and beer in almost every section of the square. We stopped to gather our bearings, and a little old German lady asked us if we needed help. She explained what a unique day it was, and that if we were lucky we could see the Munich council and parliament. We did, although our German wasn't good enough to understand their speeches. We stuck to the small side streets and sought out the typical German festival desert, a giant frosted cookie that you can wear around your neck for the day.

We watched the parades of people for awhile, and then headed back to Oktoberfest to meet up with the rest of the group from Konstanz. It was then that we noticed those who'd passed out, one man bloodied in front of a Toys 'R' Us.. it seemed wrong but I could see that he was being taken care of. Apparently parents make examples out of these people to their kids, because no one tried to conceal them.

conversions

Here is a really handy kitchen conversion sheet, because reading cooking instructions can sometimes be very tricky:

find original here