why i'm thinking of moving to Munich

-I understand that it's fairly easy for an American to get legal teaching work there
-I'd get to experience another new culture and begin to learn a new language
-The city is beautiful, peaceful, quiet and much less crowded and noisy than Madrid
-Southern Germany is my idea of paradise, maybe with exception of slightly too long winters
-The initial period of adjustment would most likely inspire writing, especially on the novel
-I'd get to do a little more travelling around Europe
-Crime is virtually non-existent there (no more having to be ultra-alert for pickpocketing!)
-Amazing food and drink
-I'm not allergic to Munich
-I'd get to postpone the decision of what to do with my life for another year

Salzburg

Salzburg was interesting. Here is this absolutely gorgeous town with views of the alps and other impressive mountains, with a wide, glacier-fed river flowing through it, with a quaint old town filled with baroque architecture, with an interesting history (was actually an independent state run by cardinals or bishops or some such until the late 1800's) and an impressive fortress...in other words, with a lot going for it as a tourist attraction just based on location, architecture and history...but the tourism industry seems to be based on Mozart (who was born in Salzburg but who spent very little of his life there) and The Sound of Music movie (which Germans and Austrians tend to despise*) rather than any of those other things.

Salzburg has TV stations in German (of course), French, Italian, Spanish and English. In addition, there are three TV stations that cater solely to tourists. Channel 30 plays The Sound of Music movie in English on a continuous loop with no commercials. A channel or two above that, you have a classical music concert that was held and filmed in Salzburg God knows how many years ago. And a channel or two above that you have a documentary on Mozart (in English) which has interesting & well-written narration and some very scary modern dance interpretations of a few of his key works.

Unfortunately I can't comment on Salzburg's restaurants or its cuisine because I was feeling very broke and opted to eat at the restaurant attached to my hotel and the cheapest thing on their menu was pasta, so that's what I ate. However, I have heard from a few other people (Kiwi Craig and a couple of my students) that the food in Salzburg is fabulous. Will have to make that a priority if I ever go back.

*Note: it was explained to us on the Sound of Music Tour that the reason Germans and Austrians hate the movie is because there was another movie made first, in German, called The von Trapp Family Singers (or similar), that was actually an accurate history of the family. When Hollywood moved in with The Sound of Music they traded accuracy for the Hollywood aesthetic (surprise!) and the Germans and Austrians were offended. Maria von Trapp, then living in Stowe Vermont, was also offended until they paid her $90,000 in exchange for a few endorsements of the movie and the tours, and then she was much more content. (Did you know that Maria von Trapp died at the age of 82 from kidney failure because she pretty much only ate cheese and never ate fruit or vegetables? When I got back to Madrid I bought two apples and a bag of carrots.)

To see the rest of my Salzburg photos, click on the title of this post or copy and paste this link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=33730&l=651c2&id=595126014

"The hills are alive with the sound of music..."

The tour guide sounded exactly like Jon Lovitz, but he was from Salzburg. Evidently he'd been told before that he sounds like Jon Lovitz because when I mentioned it he patted me on the back and said, "Yeah, yeah. I know. Thanks. I can't help the way I sound."

The family from Valencia whom I'd met earlier in the day at a café in Salzburg happened to be on my tour, and when we had free time in Monsee to wander around, they let me tag along with them. Both the daughters were gorgeous, in university, and nice enough to bring me into the fold for forty-five minutes while we toured the chapel, strolled the little streets and met their parents at a café to warm up before getting back on the bus.

The scenery was gorgous and the music enchanting, but I wished my mom had been with me. She would've appreciated the views and sung along with me on the bus. I think she really would've liked the tour and my enjoyment would have been increased as a result of hers.

To see the rest of my photos from the Sound of Music tour, click on the title of this blog entry or copy and paste this link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=33735&l=c838c&id=595126014

Fussen, Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau

Bavaria in a nutshell: mountains, rivers, lakes, woods, rolling hills, green fields, rapidly changing weather. Would be absolutely perfect if the winters were just a little shorter!

On Saturday the 15th Craig and I went on a day trip to Fussen and from there to the bus to Hohenschwangau, where two of King Ludwig's castles are. The countryside and the castles were amazing...though I have to admit I was too cheap to pay the entrance fee for the castles so we didn't actually go inside either of them. Nevertheless, the trip was worth it. They're spectactular from the outside AND we got to take a hike in the Bavarian hills because that's the only way to get up to Neuschwanstein.

The town of Fussen isn't much in itself, though it did have a very cute little shopping street, a nice view of the mountains and some decent food. If I were going to stay in that area, though, I would probably opt to stay in Hohenschwangau, which (if I'm not mistaken) is the name of the village nestled between the two castles. It's tiny but gorgeous, and one could do a lot of hiking from there.

To see the rest of my pictures from Fussen et al, click on the title of this post or copy and paste this link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=33727&l=fd282&id=595126014

Munich

I've come back from my travels with the Sound of Music soundtrack stuck in my head and a renewed appreciation for the Madrid metro system.

Observations of Munich: spacious, clean, quiet (compared to Madrid), with beautiful restaurants, lots of bike riding, good beer, delicious food, and some very handsome people. I felt very comfortable there.

For once I didn't have to worry about pickpocketing, which was a huge relief. I could really enjoy myself in public instead of having to be alert and vigilant all the time.

It seemed that everyone spoke English, which was lucky for me because I don't speak German. I'd like to speak German, though. I thought it a beautiful language...almost as beautiful as French.

The public transportation system in Munich is decent, but on the old side and very expensive. Just to get into town from the airport on the S-Bahn costs almost €9! Ouch!

Unfortunately I didn't actually get to meet any German people, aside from the shop clerks and food servers that is, but they seemed orderly and subdued but content. I got the impression that a German person's idea of a good time is taking a long walk along a river, as opposed to the Madrileño tradition of gossiping with neighbors or staying out all night drinking and dancing. The Germans seemed just as family-oriented as Madrileños, and they love their dogs too. The preponderance of tall, pale-faced people wearing dark colors was a stark contrast to the olive complexions and vibrant colors of Madrid.

On the day I returned to Munich from Salzburg I took a walk in the Englischgarten. It was very cold and snowing hard (though not sticking), but the weather didn't deter the joggers, dog walkers or baby strollers a jot. And as I meandered through the streets I caught several handsome young men smiling quietly at the snow as if surprised and delighted by it.

To see the rest of my Munich pictures, click on the title of this post or copy and paste this link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=33724&l=b8a37&id=595126014

i'm back!

Just wanted to let you know I've arrived back in Madrid safe and sound. Am too tired to write a proper blog entry tonight, but promise to write several before the weekend is up. Besitos!

Salzburg

This entry is being written from an Internet cafe attached to the Hauptbahnhof (main train station) in Salzburg.

Salzburg in a nutshell: beautiful, and COLD!!! It snowed last night! Luckily it didn´t snow on us during the Sound of Music tour. I have lots of pictures that I´m excited to share with you once I get back to Madrid.

I have to say that I think I am not the world´s best independent traveller. I prefer to have company, otherwise I don´t get out much and I become a little bored. Ah well. A lesson learned. Am still very glad for the experience.

Am taking the train in about half an hour back to Münich, where I´ll spend one more night before heading back to Madrid on Friday. Until then!

Germany Day 4

Today is COLD and RAINY. Originally thought I might take the train out of Munich again, see a lake or something, but in the end I just wasn't up for it. Instead I slept in, took my time waking up and getting ready, met Craig at his academy to go out to lunch, followed his co-worker to a different part of town where they had an Asian foods store (am going to make peanut curry for dinner), walked around, stopped at Starbucks for a mocha and was verbally accosted by a crazy German lady, walked around a little more, bought my train ticket to Salzburg and then came back to Craig's apartment where I'm drinking a beer, watching TV in German and snacking on cheese and meat.

It's strange, but I feel rather at home here. Meaning I'm comfortable and already mildly bored with the city (though I know I haven't even seen half of it yet), mainly because the architecture is not as varied and splendid as in Paris and because cold and rainy is not ideal weather for walking around in all day.

Tomorrow afternoon I head to Salzburg and I don't remember whether I'll have access to the Internet there so you might not hear from me again until Thursday or Friday. But will be sure to take pictures and notes so I can show and tell when I get back.

Germany Day 3

Stayed in Munich today. Slept in a bit, took our time drinking coffee and getting ready to go out, then took the U-Bahn to Marienplatz and walked around for several hours. Got tired around 4pm and came back to Craig's and watched the movie Wall Street, which I had never seen before and thought was okay, and then watched Beyond the Poseidon Adventure dubbed in German so I understood nothing except Sally Field's screams and it was highly entertaining.

Highlights of the day: breakfast for me was an absolutely amazing pastry that was basically a croissant-type base with some kind of lovely, heavy cream (somewhere between custard and whipped cream) with fresh strawberries piled on top. Yum! Walked through the Englischgarten, which didn't look anything like an English garden to me but was fantastic anyway as it was huge and quiet and ran next to the river. Very peaceful and reminded me of Portland because you can find big natural parks there too and you almost forget you're in a big city. Caught the end of the St. Paddy's Day festivities at Marienplatz when we returned around 3:30pm and there was music and lots of people in funny hats and a general air of community and festivity.

Good second day. Did lots of walking--perhaps even more than yesterday--so am feeling tired. Also have eaten a lot here because I like the food. Think I've probably eaten more here in three days than I eat in Madrid in a week. Maybe is not such a good idea to move to Germany after all. Would become fat in no time!

Germany Day 2

Had a lovely day. Began with breakfast at Craig's: herbed cream cheese type spread, slices of swiss cheese, fresh tomato on fresh whole-grain rolls. Yum!

Then took the U-Bahn (subway) downtown, got a weekly metro pass and two tickets to Fussen, jumped on train to Fussen, spent day wandering around town, eating lots of good food, hiking in the hills, seeing the outsides of impressive castles, then came back and watched the extended version of Something About Mary.

On the way back into Munich I began thinking that I like it in Germany much better than Madrid, and that I like Europe in general and that I'd like to learn German. Perhaps will look into teaching TEFL in Germany (or France?) next year. I know that is sad news at home, but also maybe it's just Madrid I'm done with and not Europe as a whole. Also Craig said it's not at all difficult to get teaching work in Munich and that they're so desperate for teachers they're even hiring Americans with no TEFL qualifications, and the thing about Germany is that they like everything to be above board so they give you a work permit. Anyway is just a thought at this point. Need to do some research.

Tomorrow we get to sleep in (yay!) and then will head downtown for the St. Paddy's Day parade and lots of beer drinking. Will go to the Hofbrau Haus (sp?), which is the most famous beer hall in Munich. Craig has said I must drink a whole huge beer, so we'll be there for at least 3 hours I'm sure. =*)

GERMANY

Safe arrival in Germany. Craig has Internet at his home so hopefully I can give you updates while I'm here, but for now just wanted to let you know I'm still alive. Also that I had a wonderful, wonderful dinner at a charming German restaurant. Yum! So far a good start to the trip.

Tomorrow headed to Fussen with Craig. Plan to see Ludwig castles from the outside at least. Perhaps take a little walk in the forest. Will keep you abreast of further developments.

travelling tomorrow

Well tomorrow's the day I fly out to Munich. I'll be staying with former TEFL classmate Craig, who is teaching English there and has an apartment in Munich proper. He has the weekend free, so he's agreed to show me around the town and maybe even take a day trip with me to Fussen or similar. When he goes back to work on Monday I'll probably do a couple of day trips on my own and explore Munich in the evening. On the 18th I'll head to Salzburg for two nights. Will book the Sound of Music Tour as soon as I arrive at my hotel. Then back to Munich on the 20th and fly back to Madrid on the afternoon of the 21st.

Am not feeling particularly enthusiastic at the moment, perhaps because I still have to get through three more classes today and I have not had a nap (so spoiled!) and I have to wake up early-ish tomorrow to get to the airport on time. Also the weather in Madrid is beautiful today and might even get up to 70 degrees, but in Munich it's only 45 degrees and raining. Sigh. Am sure my perspective will change when I get there. Anyway it usually feels good to go see someplace new, rain or no rain. Will just have to pack many layers.

I've been ordered by multiple students to take lots of pictures. Some want to see what the men look like, others want to see pictures of the towns and landscape so they can travel vicariously through me or better remember their own travels.

I'm not taking my computer with me and I don't know if I'll have access to the Internet while I'm away, so I might not post again until the 21st or 22nd. Until then!

the spanish plague

Now that I am emotionally and psychologically sound (well, as sound as I ever get) post Christmas visit home, my physical health has gone downhill. For the past two months I have had one symptom of illness after another appear and disappear, seemingly without cause. It's what Shannon has dubbed "the Spanish plague" and is something that many anglos seem to experience here: long periods of successive illnesses, one on the heels of another.

For the three weeks, for example, I've had itchy eyes and have been sneezing, which sounds like straight-forward allergies except that my throat has also been swollen and irritated during the week and then it mysteriously heals itself on the weekend only to inflame once again on Monday. What gives?? I suppose it could be coincidence, pollution levels, a new allergy symptom or just the remains of the last cold I had that maybe keeps trying to come back. Whatever it is, I'm certainly not comfortable.

Perhaps that is why I'm uncharacteristically unenthusiastic about leaving Spain's sun, blue skies and temperatures in the high 60's/low 70's for Germany's rain, clouds, and temperatures in the low 40's.

here comes the fly-by

I've chosen to stay home tonight while the roommates are out having tapas and drinks because, frankly, I'm burnt out on going out. But I feel restless. And I have the munchies. I feel like I should write something for someone, but I have no idea what I would write or to whom I would write it.

Last night I saw No Country for Old Men. Yes, it was a good movie, but I didn't like it. I wasn't in the proper mental space to see anything so disturbing, so lacking in hope or justice or redemption. You might say that it is like real life, and I can't argue with that, but I prefer movies that are a little more optimistic and a little less unsentimental. The movie left me in despair and fear, and the solitary walk to the metro from my friend's house had never seemed so sinister. Luckily there were a bunch of loud, drunk teenagers on the metro that annoyed the shit out of me so the shadow of fear had departed by the time I got home.

On a more positive note, I've been emailing with Carlos the Amateur Cyclist and he's asked me out on a date. Woohoo! In all honesty I don't expect it to go anywhere--I've despaired of finding true romance in Madrid--but at the very least the excitement and anticipation will keep me entertained for a couple weeks. And I suppose it's even possible that the date might be fun and lead to a second date.

a real-life prose poem

On Sunday afternoon I had coffee with a new friend, Leslie the poet from Philadelphia who is working on her Ph.D. in English Literature. She told me an intriguing story about a guy she knew in high school.

This guy (we'll call him Brian) was your stereotypical jock--not too smart, drank lots, dated lots--but Brian had a secret. One day an acquaintance of Leslie's came up to her and asked her an unusual question: has Brian ever stolen any of your underwear? Not knowing whether the information was to be used against her, Leslie refused to answer the question, but the truth was that yes, Brian had stolen a pair of her underwear.

Months later, Brian was caught stealing his friend's mom's underwear. Suddenly everyone was talking about how he'd stolen a pair of their underwear as well.

Time passed, the gossip died down, and then word spread that Brian had been arrested. An ex-girlfriend called the cops when she noticed his car parked across the street from her house. When the police arrived, they found Brian wearing a pair of the ex-girlfriend's underwear and masturbating.

This last image blew my mind when Leslie told me. The psychology involved in that...in actually wearing the ex's underwear WHILE parked across from her house. As though he were trying to somehow get closer to her than a conversation would allow, as though being in her underwear might help him get into her head, might provide a new level of intimacy. To me there's something beautiful in that image. Creepy, but also beautiful: a young man searching desperately for connection and closeness with women, restricted by cultural norms from developing the same kind of close relationships that women form with each other, finally resorting to desperate and pathetic strategies for achieving intimacy and being further ostracized for it.

And one final touch of drama: the reason Brian was on Leslie's mind was because she'd gotten news on her birthday, February 14th, that Brian had been found dead in his car that morning. He'd crashed his car into a tree and died on the day of love.

YES YES YES YES YES!!!

Hottie cylcing Spaniard from Saturday found my other blog and left me a comment! =*) I have emailed him and will keep you posted.

Yes We Can music video

You've probably already seen the Barak Obama "Yes We Can" music video, but I just heard about it this morning from my student and came home and watched it. I find it extremely powerful.

You can access the video by clicking on the title of this post or by copying and pasting the URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjXyqcx-mYY

2nd paid article

Just a quick FYI, they've posted my second article on the TtMadrid website. It's called "Teaching English in Madrid: Some Pros & Cons." Of course now that it's posted I notice a few typos and proofreading errors, but ah well. Hopefully the article is strong enough to withstand a few little errors.

The title of this blog entry is a link to it, or you can copy and paste this URL: http://www.ttmadrid.com/teaching-english-in-madrid-pros-cons.php

la cabra montesa

Went for a hike on Saturday with English friend Dave (a TtMadrid alum) and his Spanish friend Ricardo.

We met at Plaza de Castilla a little after 11am and took Ricardo's car to the countryside. We were supposed to be going somewhere called Revenga but the GPS system took us on a scenic route (avoiding freeways) to some little back street in Segovia, about 20km off track, and we had to keep stopping to ask for directions and it took us about 2.5 hours to get there when it should've taken us only an hour.

The good thing about male Spanish drivers: they are not shy about asking for directions. When they realize they are lost, they will stop anywhere and ask anyone for directions.

The bad thing about some Spanish drivers: road rage. Seriously, I thought we were going to rear-end the poor guy in front of us we were following so close. And Ricardo kept screaming, "Why are you braking, you useless piece of shit?!" (or something similar to that) as we came up on hair-pin curves and the guy in front of us slowed down to avoid driving right off the road. I really wanted to say something, but the thing about people with road rage in my experience is that telling them to calm down only seems to make them angrier, so I stayed silent.

When we finally got to the hiking spot, I just about jumped for joy. Not only was I super relieved to be released from the death-trap, but it was an absolutely gorgeous day and we were going to hike through a real forest with real trees and undergrowth and animals and everything. Hooray for nature walks!

The hike itself lasted about three hours, with breaks. It was very pretty and relatively uneventful. Three highlights, though.

Highlight one: We met some amateur cyclists about halfway through the trek and stopped to chat for a bit and compare maps. There were three of them, and two of them were quite cute. The one with the map who was doing most of the talking had a very nice, clear voice and I was stoked I could understand the majority of what he was saying. The second hottie and I started talking when his friends took off on their bikes to scout out the trail just up ahead. His name was Carlos and we shared a love of writing. I told him about my TtMadrid blog and he asked for the web address. Am hoping he leaves his email or something so I can ask him out on a date, though I'm not holding my breath.

Highlight two: Ricardo kept flirting with me the entire hike. While I appreciated the attention to an extent, after a while I got tired of it. He is not a bad looking man, he is single and in my age range, but the road rage and his occasional tendency to become mister-know-it-all and try to boss me around were major turn-offs. (Not that I am perfect either, but seeing my own faults in others is particularly annoying and repellant.)

Highlight three: Toward the end of the trek we ran into some bulls. Unfenced, and on our side of the river. They were large animals with very strong, pointy horns, and they looked particularly menacing because they would pause in chewing their cud to stare us down, as if trying to decide whether we were a threat that needed to be dealt with. We did our best to avoid them and in the end (when none of them charged us) we decided that they would probably not let aggressive toros graze on public hiking grounds, but it certainly was exciting there for a bit.

One other thing that was cool was that it was a good day for practicing Spanish. I basically spoke Spanish all day long because Ricardo didn't speak much English so Dave and I spoke with each other and with him in Spanish so he wouldn't feel left out, and I spoke Spanish with the cyclists too. Felt very accomplished.

The ride home was luckily a lot less nerve-wracking because we just took the freeway and there were no hair-pin curves or "slow" drivers to worry about. Ricardo left Dave and I at a northern metro stop, saying something about he and I getting together sometime. I made a non-commital response and said good-bye as fast as politeness would allow, glad to be out of the car and escaping unwanted attentions. The end.

Dave has promised to send me the photos that he took, and when that happens I will post one here.