Repatriation, ha!

Life is fun in San Francisco. It's rather odd to be here again and know that I'm "just visiting". My sweetheart is here with me and I am so happy for that. It's fun to visit my homeland with someone who has never been here before - a bit of a twist on tourism. He's been taking pictures of EVERYTHING and causing me to see SF with a different perspective. Very cool. Perhaps a practice of being a tourist in my home city is one I could adopt. Every one else comes here on holiday, why not me too?

Gay Pride was this weekend in SF, and it was fun as ever! I miss the costume parties, the street fairs, and the unleashed creativity here when away. It's also fun to walk into a nightclub or party and run into people I haven't seen for a year or longer and pick up again without missing a beat.

All this does not mean repatriation, however. I am glad to have a new job waiting for me in Munich in August and my absentee ballot sorted here. All's that's left to do is to sort my stuff here - what do I want to toss/keep - and then enjoy the holiday! Yipee!

Decompression

Greetings from London! Beautiful city, beautiful people! I saw the sunrise this morning as I struggled with the rather stubborn key to my buddy's flat. Met a few of the neighbors too - saw the drama of a 5am fire alarm, shared a glass of wine on a scaffold, and partook in some rather bizzare conversations... I was amazed at how much activity was on the street between 4:30 and 7:10 am (yep, it really took that long to gain entry to the building) and by the sweetness of the people who saw me and offered help.

London is fantastic. It is in some ways a decompression chamber for me: I began my journeys here in September and now it is the gateway home. It's been a bit odd to be in English-speaking society once again. I had forgotten what it is like to be able to understand the conversations going on around me and read all the advertizing. Strange. The novelty is wearing off, however, and I miss the insulation and peace I have in Germany where I am not distracted by the conversations around me.

Bis Später

München, my adopted home, you have been so good to me! Thank you for a blissful seven months. Die Deutschen Leute sind wunderbar und Ich bin glücklich dass dies meine neue "hometown" ist. This beautiful city carries on despite everything from a meter of snow to an invasion of masses of football fans. I will miss the nude sunbathing, the biergartens, and the old ladies helping me untangle my knitting on the UBahn while they advise me that perhaps I should wear scarfs and not just make them. Goodbye to my wonderful mates, I can't wait to see you again in August! Knit lots, YO!

What'cha got there?

Ok, this is just a noticing kind of post. But I have to say it somewhere, so may as well broadcast on the net:

I have seen 50,000x more instances of public knuckle-deep digging in noses by adults since I've left SF than ever before! Yeow! It's incredible! I'm not talking about the standard scratch/wipe we often do to make sure all is clear. This is full-on, finger-in, nostril-bulging PICKING. The first was an otherwise well-dressed young woman in a museum in city A. Then there was the guy on train B excavating for the El Dorado. Most recently, a fan was digging deep with at least as much vigor as he was cheering for his team in the WM. Amazing. I don't mean to say that more picking happens here than back home, I guess we just save it for when we're in our cars and think no one else can see us.

By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea

The Cheimsee is sooooo pretty! My sweetie and I went with his mother to the Cheimsee (/kim/-/zee/) on Sunday and a more perfect day couldn't have been made for it! Summer has finally arrived here in Bavaria and all the hills are lush with green grass and flowers. The lake offers spectacular views of the Alps and islands with tiny villages and beautiful architecture. We took a ferry ride to the Fraueninsel and watched the sailboats and ducks. There was a very cool cemetary there too.

American girl revises her definition of "football"

I've been meaning to write this for days now... The World Cup is incredible! We went to watch the opening game with a crowd of 40 000 last Friday at the fan park set up at the Olympiazentrum (where the Olympics were held in '72). What is really cool here is that nearly every person I saw on Friday was celebrating not just a local team, but their country as well. It was rather interesting. In the States, we frequently see people sporting colors for a favorite team, but it's usually about the specific team, not the area or city the team represents. Maybe the closest we get to the kind of spirit I saw here is at college games, but even that is not quite the same. I don't know, but I think we might be missing out on something really great by not taking up pro-soccer back home with more vigor.

SUN!!!!!

Good morning!
The sun's out! The sun's out!
I'm going to go outside and play!!!

Report from plague-ville

Greetings,
This is my first blog ever - yippeee! My sweetie is sick in bed, and it seemed like a good time to explore the wonderful blogosphere. I hope he gets well soon. I hope I post something interesting soon.
:)=
C.