Days 4 & 5: Moosach and Munich

Yesterday I didn't do anything all that exciting. In the morning, Elke and I went to the Olympic mall to try to fulfill some very dire needs: communication and Star Wars Legos. I tried to get a SIM card for my iPhone, and that was unsuccessful. I finally got some postcards, but at 1 euro each, not many. For 2,29 eu I found a plug adapter, which I later sawed the extra plastic off of, so that I could use it for my battery charger. Note to the un-savvy European travelers: look at what you're going to be using the adapter for. Both my computer and my camera chargers say in fine print that it's for voltages between 100 and 240. No heavy electronic parts needed!

In the afternoon, we went to a dance recital for her daughter at a German senior center. It was cute, and I had a really good time.  
Ines looks a lot like I did when I was her age, and there's something comforting about knowing that she's just about as awkward and dweeby as I was, and everybody DOES love her tons and tons after all. P.S. The silent humor of the young children's dance recital knows no linguical barriers.

This morning's bread basket.
  I'm starting to get sick of bread. I love the taste and texture, but every night and morning about 1-2 hours after eating the bread-meal, I've been feeling really sick. I really hope this isn't Celiac's deciding that NOW is the opportune time to rear it's really really really ugly head.

  Some "Pillipino" statues from my aunt's house to keep you even more in line: Say no evil, See no evil, Hear no evil, TOUCH no evil?


Today, I finally explored Munchen on my own. Elke accompanied me downtown, and gave me a second whirlwind tour of the Marienplatz and told me all the places I needed to go, and then ran off to be home before kids came home. I didn't go to any of them. I just wandered where I wanted. It was nice. My feet hurt like grandsons of bitches. I think I have found, and crossed, the threshold of appropriateness for those spanish pink cowgirl boots.

My boss lived in Munich while he worked on his undergraduate degree. He told me that at Oktoberfest, what I needed to get was, "A liter of beer, a whole rotisserie chicken, and a huge pretzel." We didn't eat at Oktoberfest (known to locals as Weis'n), so today, I had lunch at a biergarten in the Englishcher Garten to make up for it. I wimped out: 0,5L radler (1/2 lemonade, 1/2 beer, sounds disgusting, I'm starting to love it), half a chicken, some blaukraut, and potatos. I always mix up strawberries (ertbeern, literally earth-berries) with potatoes (kartoffel), thankfully the server gave me what I wanted despite my inept German.
I would add a photo of this lavish meal, but apparently my computer will no longer read my memory card. Sigh.

I got somewhat lost trying to get from the S-bahn station to my family's house. I tried calling but dialed wrong, asked a woman bringing out her trash, stopped at a police station, and finally asked in a restaurant. A patron was able to help me out, and described it as, "the third stop light, yes, take a right. It is at a club." "A club?" I asked, excited that there may be dancing and drinking opportunities within walking distance of a safe haven. "Yes, where you can buy women." I don't know what that place sold- porn? prostitutes? drinks that rufie's can be slipped into? I found another, more familiar route to get back.

Tomorrow: on to Salzburg!

Phrase of the day:
Wir haben (people) durch de kakao geflagen (or something like that)
We drug (people) through the hot chololate today. - We talked about them in depth, and only some to their favor.