But who cares if you are a liar or not, this is my 400th published post, according to wordpress. Well I’m sure I teetered over this mark several times before but with the recent demotion of several entries of nonsensical blabbery I’m confident I have reached four hundred posts chronicling my life in Germany and related adventures. I can’t believe I reached the 400th post and yet there is so much more I have to understand and discover about this expat life. I still don’t know the significance of this marble monolith in my neighborhood. I keep waiting for monkeys and Richard Strauss’s Also sprach Zarathustra to echo from the sky.
I’ve decided to dedicate this post to my host city, Munich. She has given me so much to look back on and so much to look forward to. Even in the waning hours of winter, there is beauty at every angle.
In 400 posts I learned a new language yet I hardly ever write with it. It’s no longer a problem for me to interchange between English and German when speaking and reading, if I don’t get too disappointed how slow my comprehension for the deeper meaning is, it is getting better with each book. Why don’t I try to embarrass myself now?
Ich weiß, dass es viel zu viel Zeit gibt, wenn ich dumm herumsitze und genieße mein fremdes Leben überhaupt nicht. Es ist nicht, dass ich traurig bin sondern, dass ich nicht in Deutschland mein Beste bin. Schau diese Kommas an. Ich weiß nicht, ob sie richtig oder falsch sind und das macht mich entsetzt. Dann blöderweise verlange ich nach dem alteren Leben. Warum? Innerlich bin ich eine Jammerin! Wie die deutsche Sprache kann das Leben auch schwer sein. Das bedeutet aber nicht, dass wir die Freude nicht finden könnten, sogar wenn sie unter Schnee lag. Langweilig ist das Leben eben nicht und das bringt mir Spaß. Alle brauchen eine “weh mir!” Pause aber irgendwann ist die Pause zu Ende.
My favorite spots are along the Isar. I don’t get out much when it’s below minus 3 degrees Celsius. That is my limit and my nose starts to protest, not bad for a Floridian. On this day it was minus one and higher in the sun. Isn’t it pretty, even without a speck of green? I know that the Bringer of Spring can’t hold out forever. At some point in time he or she will have to get his/her natural tan on, make the sidewalks safe to bicycle and Rollerblade -paint this city green and pastel again.
Click below for more photos of Munich in late winter.
Congratulations on your 400th post AND learning to speak German. It has been one year for me and I haven’t progressed beyond Gross Gut and Danke. Isn’t that the swimming pool in your last photo. I hear it is beautiful. I’ll wait until springtime to visit it. Your photos are beautiful.
Wow, 400 posts. Congratulations. I enjoy your unique style of writing very much (and would enjoy it even more if English was my first language so I could understand all the little notes). Interchangig between English and German doesn´t change your style. It´s all Hezamarie. Congrats again. You got it!
Very cool. But what is a Jammerin?
I have reached a new place in my German language journey, although it’s not a good one: now I listen in German and respond in English. It seems to be working with my in-laws, at least.
This week I had two Elternstunde, one of which was 2 hours! (Unfair!. I decided I had reached a new plateau, where I can listen to German for hours and understand most of it, but am developing a fear of speaking it. And a headache from trying to read papers.
I hope in another year or two my girls think my accent is half as good as theirs:).
And looking forward to another 400 posts from you!
G, A Jammerin is a close cousin to a Grantlerin. Jammerin = female complainer.
And I concur with your last sentence.
Hi expatsagain , Yes, it is the Müller´sches Volksbad. The restaurant isn’t half bad either. Thanks!
@Ingo Haha, my unique style! I’m grateful you read and comment on my stuff in either language.
@G I wanted to try that with my in-laws but it just takes too long to hold a conversation in that fashion. Their style is fast, animated and has depth and I can understand it more and more when we stay in one language. It’s funny when I make them explain a difficult German word in German to me and then I tell them what I think they meant. I’m kind of a a running joke in the family. Just keep trying, you’ll get it!
Hey Harvey We don’t come by too many Münchener in either Munich nor the www, so this is a treat. I learned a new word: granteln = to be dour and critical. And then another: zwider = grumpy
I like the adjective form “grantig”. And my all-time favorite expression for a sourpuss is “Miesepeter” and its conceptual cousin “Miesepetrigkeit” – love those!
I’ll miss winter when it’s gone. Only five more days needed to make my quota of 30 days’ boarding for the winter! And three are already planned for a glacier on 01.May… looks within reach
Are you beginning to think of yourself as German yet? I wonder when that transition happens.