The Little Moments in Life

Rathaus in MuenchenThe title is very misleading because one would assume that I’ll be sharing heart-warming anecdotes that have occurred in the past two months. Alas, being a very superficial person, I’ll actually be sharing slice-of-life moments with you that have tickled and delighted me on a very superficial level. Take my first little anecdote as an example:

#1: I went out for a beer with P (the British flatmate) sometime in September before we headed to a concert that was taking place in a church not too far away from our place (that concert was a disaster, by the way). We randomly walked into a cozy little place and even though the bar did not have beer from the tap (this is one of my few pet peeves with Berlin), we stayed because they had Augustiner beer. That was my first Augustiner since the summer of 2009 and I was extremely excited. What made the moment even better was that P mentioned that it was his favorite German beer without knowing that Augustiner has the indisputable reputation of brewing the best beer in all of Bavaria. Augustiner is so delicious, that the brewery does not spend even one Euro cent on advertisements. Yes, it is that good.

#2: I wore my Dirndl twice during the Halloween weekend.

#3: I found out that Daylight Savings Time in Germany was during the Halloween weekend. I love turning back the clock, even if it means having the sun set at 5 PM in Berlin (4:30 PM in December, yay!). To be fair: that thought didn’t cross my mind at the moment I found out while walking the streets of Berlin in a traditional Bavarian dress.

(Pictured above is Munich’s city hall taken from the top of St. Peter’s Church. You can see the Theatine Church in all of its Baroque glory in the background flashing its Baroque yellow at you.)

#4: I’ve gotten many compliments on my German. I’m always confused, a bit perplexed and skeptical about these compliments from time to time because I can never figure out if Germans are just surprised that people choose to speak German, or if they’re just surprised that Americans can speak German. Regardless of this, I am always extremely flattered when someone compliments me on one of my very few skills in life.

Lebkuchenherz(German gingerbread heart that is often sold at folks’ festivals and beer festivals such as Oktoberfest with messages, words or phrases written on them. “You are the woman I dream of.” I think the correct sentiment, however, is: “You are the woman of my dreams.”)

#5: There were two other girls who carpooled down to Munich in the same car as E and me. One of the girls needed to get to her hostel but wasn’t sure what the subway stop was called nor how to get there since it was so late (2 AM!). Our carpooling service took us to one of the subway stops and although the subway wasn’t running anymore, there were still a few people waiting for the night bus. The girl asked around and finally figured out which bus to take, but didn’t know where the bus stop was. Throughout this process, the girl kept complaining and muttering about how this would never happen in Berlin; the subways run all night even if you have to wait 20 minutes. Why would a city shut down its subway system just because it’s 2 AM!? The girl then asked one of three guys sitting nearby about the location of the bus stop and the guy politely told us that it must be across the street, although he wasn’t quite sure. The two other guys piped up suddenly and agreed with Guy #1, but insisted that if we couldn’t find it, that we should come back and they’d help us figure out where it is. As we crossed the street, the girl turned to us and said, “That would never happen in Berlin. People would just stare at you as if you were an idiot and either walk away or look away.” E and I smiled to ourselves. We sat with the girl for about 20 minutes while waiting for her bus. We chatted a bit and during this time and we found out that she was just starting her Bacehlor’s in Munich. She was visiting the city for only a few days to finalize her apartment details. However, she would remark every now and then, “I bet the bus isn’t going to even come. How could a city shut down its subway system and have the night buses still running promptly?”  E and I adamantly assured her that the bus would come. Furthermore, the bus would come on time. She scoffed at our reassurances each time. E checked her watch now and again and finally, announced that the bus should be arriving soon. Before the girl could scoff too much about E’s announcement, a bus came into our view. “Enjoy your time in Munich!” E and I smirked at her shocked face. Yeppppp…Welcome to Munich.

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