lucid in deutschland

– December 2011Posted in: Expat Life

Weihnachtsbaum, decorated branches, Baumkuchen

Ah, ehhem a year has come and gone. WOW! This year has been quite intense and to celebrate I have rewarded myself with a hefty cold and a mild case of burnout.

This puts some breaks on many of the tasks I wanted to complete: Christmas cards, cookies, shopping the Christmas markets, and not to mention, caroling and enjoying a few holiday parties.

C’est la vie, I read recently that “the body is your temple” and I guess I haven’t been treating it as such. The situation at work had been amazingly busy ever since the sold out ESME e.V. Winter Classic Concert on December 4th. The pressure is high and a sick day would be devastating for the team. Hopefully, we can all hang on until the 23rd of December. As soon as I recover from these head-aching, eye-popping coughing fits, it’s off to the “Wellnessbereich”; saunas have been a blessing to this Floridian. I’m debating a visit to a solarium, hmm.

To cheer things up, Alex bought us a tree; it’s the second one for us and a happy addition to the house along with the glow of candlelight. As my friend Kristin says, we’re “chilaxing”. I also had my first taste of industrially made Baumkuchen. I found a video of it made from scratch on youtube. I wonder if this version is better tasting than the one I have. Otherwise, it’s a neat concept to baking a literal tree “trunk” cake.

Well time to chilax to bed.. Stay warm and well, folks.

wånn da föhn kimmt

– October 2011Posted in: Travels

Winter is approaching like a flash flood. As soon as I came home last night from a calm 4-hour train ride, the winds began. All’s fair. We relished every beautiful, summery day in the month of September, both in Munich and in Croatia. I basked with my parents in Vienna’s balance of warm sun and cool breeze perfection this first week of October.

Normally, I’d be sad to relinquish the higher temperatures and days of shorter shadows–or any shadows for that matter– but this year, I do look forward to some hint of autumn, a blissfully, white winter and another chance to capture a glimpse of the Alps and the Munich surroundings during Föhn.

This photo was taken with my subcompact digital camera in early January of this year. Shamefully, it doesn’t do the view from the Highlight Towers justice. It’s just so rare to be able to see a seemingly infinite distance. I can almost image what the folks painting those dank, early 19th century Munich landscapes were viewing during a similar phenomenon–how everything felt so near and at the same time, come to realize how much more there is yet to explore.

The next you hear that a temperature inversion is in the Munich area, head to the highest point possible and ponder and enjoy the view.

mövenschiss

– June 2011Posted in: Travels

Hello from Kiel!

Sorry for neglecting this blog and withholding fascinating updates from you. To make up for some lost time, here is a very quick Heza re-cap:

retired from German university system as of yesterday,
fully employed at a trademark consulting firm as of the beginning of June,
volunteer/vice-chairwoman for a non-profit, multi-national music association in Munich as of February,
and now veteran drinker of mövenschiss!

It looks like it sounds but it is quite tasty. What is it? Seagull Poop. Just kidding! It is a generous spread of Meerrettich (horseradish) on a slice of salami (or pumpernickel) and a shot of Korn (corn schnapps). It is the signature shot at elmövenschiss. Their fish soup is fantastic and full of fresh seafood.