Yay! I managed to get to the right page in German!
Okay, it was luck, but still. Rob and I haven´t found his network password yet, so I´m writing to you all on his computer, instead of mine. It takes longer, too... I didn´t realize that the letters would be in different places on the keyboard. I should have, but I didn´t.
Today was my first full day in Munich, and it is a very interesting city. I had honestly done a pathetic amount of research before I got here, so I still couldn´t have said what it was I really wanted to see. Also, I slept until almost 11am here, which Rob and Sigi were teasing me about. :-) I wasn´t about to let jet lag steal another whole day from me though so I made my first foray into town with enough German to say "please", "thank you", and "where is tourist information?". Everything else was either gesturing to items or words I had asked Sigi to write down for me so that I would remember what I needed. Apparently, and not surprisingly, my accent is awful. Every time I asked directions the person I was talking to immediately switched to English without a question. Overall, everyone was very nice and very helpful. "Please" and "Thank you" got a good work-out too, because lunch and snacks were achieved by gesturing, holding up one finger, and saying "bitte" (please) followed by "danke" (thank you) once we´d gotten the right item and I´d paid. All in all, I managed a very pleasant 6 hours downtown nicely and got back just as Rob was getting up to go to his last night shift of this rotation. Which means I´ll have a guide for the next four days, which has us both thinking up clever ideas of places to go exploring. I´ll keep you all updated.
I also had some good new discoveries. At the market, I had honey-lemon flavored gummy bears, which may just become something I continue to pick up while I´m here. Also, you can still buy rasberries here, not the cheapest, but they come from Italy which is relatively close and so it´s not bad. Sigi really enjoys cheese. My first great thing of the day was when I came downstairs to a breakfast that included basically an entire cheeseboard with rolls. We had French brie, Italian camenbert, and Dutch gouda. I was very excited and she´s going to take me with her next week, if we manage to use some of it up. I´ve been looking forward to good cheese that wasn´t prohibitively expensive for about three months now. :-P Now we´ve been watching Criminal Intent in German and I´ve discovered that two of the actors don´t move their lips much and I am not a good lip reader.
Well, I think that´s a pretty good update of the day so I´ll be off. Hope things are going well in the states!
Auf Wiedersehen!
Today was my first full day in Munich, and it is a very interesting city. I had honestly done a pathetic amount of research before I got here, so I still couldn´t have said what it was I really wanted to see. Also, I slept until almost 11am here, which Rob and Sigi were teasing me about. :-) I wasn´t about to let jet lag steal another whole day from me though so I made my first foray into town with enough German to say "please", "thank you", and "where is tourist information?". Everything else was either gesturing to items or words I had asked Sigi to write down for me so that I would remember what I needed. Apparently, and not surprisingly, my accent is awful. Every time I asked directions the person I was talking to immediately switched to English without a question. Overall, everyone was very nice and very helpful. "Please" and "Thank you" got a good work-out too, because lunch and snacks were achieved by gesturing, holding up one finger, and saying "bitte" (please) followed by "danke" (thank you) once we´d gotten the right item and I´d paid. All in all, I managed a very pleasant 6 hours downtown nicely and got back just as Rob was getting up to go to his last night shift of this rotation. Which means I´ll have a guide for the next four days, which has us both thinking up clever ideas of places to go exploring. I´ll keep you all updated.
I also had some good new discoveries. At the market, I had honey-lemon flavored gummy bears, which may just become something I continue to pick up while I´m here. Also, you can still buy rasberries here, not the cheapest, but they come from Italy which is relatively close and so it´s not bad. Sigi really enjoys cheese. My first great thing of the day was when I came downstairs to a breakfast that included basically an entire cheeseboard with rolls. We had French brie, Italian camenbert, and Dutch gouda. I was very excited and she´s going to take me with her next week, if we manage to use some of it up. I´ve been looking forward to good cheese that wasn´t prohibitively expensive for about three months now. :-P Now we´ve been watching Criminal Intent in German and I´ve discovered that two of the actors don´t move their lips much and I am not a good lip reader.
Well, I think that´s a pretty good update of the day so I´ll be off. Hope things are going well in the states!
Auf Wiedersehen!