A Tired Tale

My week this past week was plagued with a bought of anti-social behavior and sleep deprivation. It was decided Monday night that we didn't have the energy to go to Croatia this weekend.

In my infinite wisdom, I decided to stay up late Monday night to read a book. BAD IDEA when you don't have an full time job and you have to wake up at 6am every morning because of it. The bad choice was only made worse when I did the same thing Tuesday night and Wednesday night. I recall a famous saying about insanity and making the same decision expecting different results. yep. what can I say. it's a problem and i need therapy.  But I did read 4 books this week. yay! and they were good, which makes it better. but then I was book hungover where I couldnt read anything else because my brain was still stuck in the book world.

Thursday we went to the B2Run 6k run because our company was going. It was colder than we thought and we ended up staying out later than expected. It was pretty fun though.

Friday was a little horrific as Lindsay and I received the news of the Denver shooting. Then our train back into Munich after work was delayed because of a dead body on the tracks. Needless to day, our day was a little depressing. My heart and prayers go out to the families of those who lost their lives or were injured in such a terrible act of depravity. Friday night, Lindsay and I went to get those amazing salads again, and we decided it was our new place, because the waitress remembered us and our orders. I got a No-jito (a mojito without the alcohol) and it was pretty cool. Since it was cold and rainy, we didnt want to walk around Munich anymore and decided to see what was playing at the English movie theatre. So we saw they were showing a "sneak peek" movie and wanted to know what it was. It turns out they are not allowed to tell us. We called three different times to obtain clues and hints that would lead us to deduce which movie would be playing. We decided it was either between the Batman movie or this creepy Frankenstein movie that is really a play that was filmed. So we decided to take our chances and go. We were next in line to buy our tickets and then they posted a "sold out" sign. bah humbug. So instead we went back home. #angst

 Saturday, I woke up at 6:30 am and only to look out the window at the continued overcast skies and cold weather and fought the urge to go back to sleep because I had planned to go to Salzburg, Austria. I hopped the 7:30 train to Salzburg and arrived 1.5 hours later. Nice quick train. yay. I made it in time for the 9:30 Fraulein Maria Bike Tour. It was pretty epic. One the bike tour was me, two families, and a Canadian girl, who had intense problems riding a bike. Oh Canada... enough said. The bike tour was good. but there wasn't as much inside scoop-ness as I was hoping for. 

 We saw a lot of the sites of the filming and I'm not blogging all the pics, just some of my faves. Like the Abbey gates :) The Nonnberg Abbey. We biked and sang The Sound of Music songs aloud. It was pretty epic with cheesiness. It was a little drizzly and the tour guide kept asking me if I wanted to buy a pancho. Nope. I'm good because this is not real rain. That's what I thought at least. I just used my scarf to wrap it over my hair when it was drizzling to prevent frizzing, but it was fine because it never really rained. Linda and I became photo friends so we took pics of each other. It was pretty convenient.

16 Going on 17 gazebo :

The (front of the) Von Trapp (movie) House 

The Mozart Bridge the kinds sang and danced over

The Do-Re-Mi stairs :)

I did all the main Salzburg things you have to do. I was super tired and after wandering the Salzburg Castle, I was walking out and saw a kid shooting a crossbow. I thought, "no. that's too cool for school" and decided I must do it too. I'm pretty good. I got 3 shots for 2 Euro. Sweet! I hit the target the first time and i hit the bull's eye twice! literally hitting the same spot two times. I'm not that good at shooting guns, but it turns out I'm pretty awesome and shooting crossbows.

Mozart's House

On Sunday I went to church and saw this girl in a really cute jacket, so I went to tell her. I said it twice and determined she must just speak German and after I thought that, the lady next to her said in Spanish, "me gusta su chaqueta" and I said "you speak Spanish!" and we started to chat in Spanish. After church we were chatting and the lady, Gloria, asked me what I was doing after church. I told her my plans included going home and taking a nap. She said if I didnt mind skipping my nap, that I was invited to her home for lunch. I accepted. I was really excited. Gloria is sooo nice and her cousin is 21 and her name in Meilyn. Gloria's husband is Spanish and he made a yummy Spanish tortilla with some spanish salad. Oh it was like a Spain flashback. So amazing.  They were so kind and welcoming to invite me home for lunch. I love latinos. Afterwards, her daughter and I went to the S-bahn together and she showed me how to get home because they're doing construction on the weekends so the S-bahn is pretty much messed up. I got home and ended up taking a 3 hour nap and slept through the Sunday night YSA dinner. sad day.

Shooting at the Salzburg Castle. I made 2 bulls eyes 

On Thursday it was my one year mark of being home off my mission. It was a time for refection. It's been quite a year. A year of miracles and blessing, but a year of adjustment and changing too. I'll be forever grateful. I would write more about it but i've been feeling a lot of writers block lately and cannot say anything really. maybe one day.

Quote of the week: "Sometimes a person doesn’t know what he’s made of until strangers try to tear it down." -Walter Kirn

Czech Me Out

Czech? Check!

Seriously, two jokes in one blog post? Y'all are so spoiled.  So Prague was WONDERFUL....after a bit of bad luck on Friday the 13th.

• So it started with me loosing my black cardigan on the metro to work. 
• Then I was searching for flights to England for the next week for work, and I found a flight that would connect in Amsterdam. So I would fly to England on Monday night and fly back Friday morning. Since I already have a flight to Amsterdam for that Friday night, I was thinking I could "miss" my connection in Amsterdam, work from there for the day and then take my already bought return flight to Munich at the end of the weekend in the Netherlands with the guys. I thought that was better than connecting in Amsterdam, flying into Munich around 2pm only to go back to the airport around 6pm for an 8pm flight back to Amsterdam. I okayed it with my boss and was wanted to call the airlines. Dumb KLM. I explained that I was not going to be taking my trip from Munich to Amesterdam but wanted to keep my return flight that Sunday night from Amsterdam to Munich. They would not let me. I was getting super upset and annoyed and was yelling at the person. It's a computer thing and cannot be overwritten by anyone "supposedly". Evil. 



Ticket for my bus (missed) and train to Prague

• After that, we left work to catch out bus to Prague. We got there 40 minutes early and wanted to confirm with someone we were in the right spot because our tickets were in German and that is one language we do not understand. We asked over 15 people, and there was no official ticket place to ask at the bus station, but no one was able to confirm to us we were in the right place. bah! So there was one bus place that was supposed to go to Prague 15 minutes before our bus was supposed to leave but no bus ever showed up. The time passed and the information on the bus time schedule disappeared but no bus ever showed up. We were pretty annoyed, and decided to go to Haufbahnhof to talk to someone. When we arrrived we saw a ticket machine and after debating between giving up our Prague adventure and still going, we bought train tickets to Prague that were almost the same price as our originally bought roundtrip tickets. Bah. 

Church of Our Lady Before Tyn

We got into Prague later than expected. We took a taxi (can I just say our taxi to the hostel/apartment was 680 Koruna but our taxi back to the train station on Sunday was not even 200 Koruna. Ripped off? Most def) It drops us off because the road ends and so we have to walk from building 15 to 9. Then this guy approaches us on the side walk saying, "are you going to number 9?" kinda hesitant, we respond "yes" and he said "oh good. I was just heading home for the night". If we had arrived one minute later we would not have had a place to stay. I think that's when our luck changed. We then walked around Old Town Square at night for a bit before going to bed.

Old Town Square

We woke up and when for breakfast pretty early and walked around a bit before going on our bike tour. Our hostel was like a private apartment. It was so cute and it was literally behind the Church of Our Lady Before Tyn and the Stone Bell House. We saw pretty much all the basic must-see things in Prague. It was GORGEOUS! We saw the Astrological Clock, which I think is a little over-rated. I'm pretty sure it wasn't one of the top clock performance I've seen.  Anyways, after the bike tour we went for a traditional Czech meal at a place that the hotel guy recommended off the main streets. Czech dumplings are AMAZING! We got all the main foods while we were there. Czech food is sooo yummy but really filling. We had the fruit dumplings which were good too. oh man. so good.

Charles Bridge (no we didn't plan to match)

svíčková na smetaně

Trdelníks

After lunch we went on a walking tour of the castle. Except we had a thing that said it was at 2 in front of the tourist office, but when we got there they said it was at 2:30 in front of the Czech Philharmonic building. Since we had about 30 minutes to spare, we just laid down on some grassy area along the Vltava River. It was so nice. But the weather got a little crazy on us. It kept on going from hot to cold to sunny to rainy. It was insane. The castle tour was good, we heard good stories, and we ended up at the Strahov Monastery, where (surprise, surprise) the monks make beer. I've been to so many monasteries here in Europe where the monks make beer. I'm starting to wonder if European monks do anything else. We also met these two sisters who were travelling together and it made me miss mi hermanita who is having an adventure of her own in New Zealand. <3

Then we walked to the John Lennon wall, which is a wall of people writing things...so of course I had to write something :)
10 life points to someone who can guess what I wrote.

Venid, sin miedo, sin temor,
mas con gozo andad.

Aunque cruel jornada ésta es,
Dios nos da Su bondad

It was great. Then we headed back to the hotel to drop of something Lindsay bought only to not be able to get back into our hotel. Seriously. So we called the guy, Donald, and he came to help us. We were turning the key the wrong way. No joke. So then we went to dinner. Another good Czech meal. We had the fried cheese. Literally it was a block of brie cheese that was fried. SOOOO GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!

View from Charles Bridge in the evening

We went home for a bit cuz I was exhausted then went out for a bit longer. We got home and I passed out. I was so tired and dehydrated.

On Sunday, we woke up and went to the same breakfast place. Still just as yummy. Fresh squeezed orange juice. Yes please! We went down to Wenceslas Square and the National Musuem to wander around. It was a lovely afternoon.Until it started to rain on our way home. Lindsay got a cheap umbrella which broke shortly after.

We went to the bus station early, and went to make sure were were in the right place. The information lady got super rude and attitude-y with us for asking. *sigh* Then we got to the bus and got our tickets checked and got on the bus. We decided to sit in the front of the double decker bus. We asked a lady nearby if the seats were free, and she informed us that the bus had reserved seating. We asked if she could look at our German tickets to tell us where we were supposed to sit. She looked at out ticket and told us we were on the wrong bus. Blast! We needed the bus in front of the bus we were currently on. ARGH! So we got out and told the driver that we were on the wrong bus and needed our luggage. We had to literally climb into the luggage compartment area and climb over suitcases and throw stuff around to find our suitcases. The luggage about 3 feet high. It was tiny. Lindsay found hers first and went to tell the other bus that I was on my way, but not there yet. I was starting to go into panic-mode. So what do I do in a panic? I paused, said a little prayer, and found my suitcase shortly afterwards. YAY! Prayers work! I got on the correct bus and shortly began a nice 3-hour nap on the bus. We were supposed to be dropped of at the Nuremberg bus station with a 10-minute window to get to the bus station to catch our bus, but instead, the bus driver made a stop at the train station. We had half an our to get fed and some water for the train back into Munich where we managed to catch it with plenty of time to spare and get into Munich around 10pm.  It was an epic adventure of twist and turns. 

A few parting comments:

• I miss USA customer service. We tried to get our feet eaten by little fish for 10 minutes, but they wouldn't let us. The lady was saying that only at 25 minutes would you get the whole relaxation aspect. Trust me, that conversation alone ruined any chance of 25 minutes relaxing me. Later, we went to get some hot chocolate and asked if we could get it in a cup to-go. They said no. So you're saying you can put coffee in a cup to-go but not the hot chocolate? Then add that to the KLM problem I had on Friday, and I was pretty annoyed. 
• Prague is way more touristy than I thought. EVERYONE spoke English. I also realized there is something nice about not having to understand/overhear other people's conversations when I'm in Germany. 
• I bought a super cute trendy jacket in Prague to replace my lost cardigan as a source of warmth. 
• I also ended up buying a direct flight from England to Munich, so I won't have to use KLM again or connect in Amsterdam. 

Yay for happy endings

Learning German

So Monday night at FHE (Family Home Evening) Jaime and I were trying to guess what the guys were saying in German. We guessed one sentence correctly. Then they decided to have a new conversation while Jamie and I "translated". It was an epic arguement over Oreos...but when it ended it turns out they were discussing the colors in a rainbow. (Not as cool as our interpretation).

Lindsay and I were practising our German on Tuesday. I felt super proud of myself and decided to send Lukas a note of a phrase I learned: "Viel Glück". His response, "Danke! Aber wofür?" So I felt clever because I made a sentence in German in my head without having to look it up and responded, "Für huete". Really, I felt like a genius for making a sentence in German all on my own...until he wrote back, "You mean 'heute'? Because huete means 'hats' and today I'm not wearing any! :) Where are you learning German?" Dang. #EpicFail.  But it's okay because I learned how to say 10 other words/phrases that day. WIN!

I booked tickets to Prague with Lindsay for this weekend on Tuesday.  WOOT!

my work family

Thursday we had a work party. Not just any work party...but a Par-tay (aka Summer Fest)! We went to our site in Memmingen, and there was a bus that was going to take us at 1:30, but I had a conference call at 2:30, which I had to do. In the end, I went with a co-worker whose name is Thorsten...like Thor! I was excited! We got there and I was put in a conference room. However, the music from the Summer Fest was coming through the windows and could be heard. It was pretty funny. So I said there was a party going on next door and put my phone on mute during the phone conference.

potato sack racing #epicfailjarrett

During the phone conference, Steve was saying, "Betsy, I think Natasha should come up for a few days to talk about XXX" and Besty said, "Yeah. Natasha, do you think you'll be able to go to England for a few days?" My response? "I think I can make it happen" My first thoughts? "YAY! I can buy more cookies! I have like 5 left! Woohoo!" Really, it's the simple things in life we have to appreciate. And if I can find a post office, maybe I'll mail some cookies and chocolate home for the fam, but more than likely everything will be closed before I get out of work.

Lindsay and I got 2nd place in the women's division

Friday, I left/dropped my black cardigan on U-Bahn on the way to work :( sad. Then we forgot to get my orange juice for breakfast. I'm hoping this is not a bad omen for our Prague weekend.




But a good thing is...it's payday! And we're planning a trip to Croatia next weekend. Life is good. Really. Cue Theme Song!!! 

life y la muerte

This had been a crazy past week. Truth.
First off, I woke up in a boy's bed on Saturday morning after a crazy night of dancing and drinking fruity drinks. (I spent about 2 days thinking about that opening line. Truth.)

This drink made me OD with sugar

Real Version of events: After shopping Friday afternoon after wook.  I went to a YSA dance in Rosenheim with some of my new English speaking friends from church. We were going to get back to Munich super late and some of the metros weren't working this past weekend and we all live super far apart, so one of the Erik's parents suggested me and Jaime (my new galpal who i just clicked with) sleep over. So we got in super late and Jamie and I slept in Erik's room and Erik slept in a different room. Then Erik's mom fed us fruit and croissants and yummy things for breakfast. Then Erik drove us to a metro station and I had to do the Walk of Shame...aka I didn't bring a change of clothes for the sleepover. It was a funny.



Then I went home showered and woke up Lindsay who gotten in this morning from a week in Italy. It was soooo lonely at work this week because her and Petra didn't come in at all. :( But we went and got Lindsay some groceries and then had a late lunch. It was the most amazing salad of my LIFE!  There was steak on top of my salad. More proof that God loves me.

After eating the most delicious salads of our lives, at a place across the street from our flat, we went to the Tollwood Festival in the Olympic Park. SOOOOO LEGIT!!!!!!!!!!!! Saryah would LOVE it. It's like a outdoor market with music and lots of food.

On Sunday, I was late for the metro to go to my bus, so I decided to take the next metro for the next bus. On that bus, a car hit the bus, so we were stuck waiting for the police, only for me to realize that my metro pass expired the day before. Dang. I didn't realize that what had happened because no one felt the bus get hit and there was no damage done. I saw a guy get off the bus, so after a few moments of building my courage, I asked if I could get off the bus. He didn't really speak English, but this lady nearby asked if I was going to church. I said yes, and she proceeded to translate for me and explain what was going. We ended up crossing the highway to get to a different bus station. We were luckily only 20 minutes late for church. Milagro. Then later that night Lindsay came with me and we went to the YSA Sunday dinner. One of the guys made food. And I found out there were the Colombian guys who were YSA! So I got to sit next to one of them and we were chatting in Spanish all night. I love speaking Spanish and we had a lot of fun, even though he told me Mexicans weren't Latinos. Puh-leez. 

So I was talking to my boss, Betsy, today to clarify one of my assignments; she was saying that she felt bad because I'm in the waiting phase of the project and as soon as I leave it's probably going to pick up quickly. I said jokingly, "well, if you need me, you can just ask Michael to extend my say so I skip my USA rotation" She responded, "would you really be okay with that?" I said yes. She said that it had been brought up before and it would be allowed if she needed me and she would keep me posted. I quickly told Lindsay and then said "dang...I would need a coat cuz it'll get cold" and she said "really?!? that's the big deal here?" So the good news is that I may be able to have a 6 month stay in Germany and go to Brazil from here. The bad news is I would not be able to do my USA visits to see everyone that I have already planned. But I'm trying not to take that talk seriously until they tell me officially. 

On a more somber note. 
Hoy recibí los noticias que una mujer muy especial en mi vida se falleció. Mi Mama Aguila, después una lucha contra leucemia por dos años. Me recordó una conversación que tuve con el presidente de mi misión después del fallecimiento de un miembro de mi familia dos años pasados. "Es los momentos como así cuando nuestros testimonios del plan de salvación son tan importante." Sé que voy a verla una otra vez. Sé que familias son eternas y hay vida después de esta vida. Sé que Jesucristo murió y se resucitó el tercer día para vencer la muerte para que podamos vivir una otra vez con Él. Yo sé que vive mi Señor y que el nos ama. Ella cambió mi vida y la ama para siempre. 

Esta es para ti, hermana:

1. Placentero nos es trabajar en la viña del gran Rey Jesús, y honroso nos es predicar a Su pueblo, Su ley y Su Luz. Por Su luz, por Su luz, placentero nos es trabajar. Por Su luz, por Su luz, moriremos en El sin pesar.

2. La palabra de Dios escuchad con ahínco, lealtad, y fervor. Para siempre jamás recordad Su pureza, verdad, y amor. Con amor, con amor, la palabra de Dios escuchad. Con amor, con amor, la bandera de Dios empuñad.

3. ¡Oh [hermana], adiós, pues, adiós! El momento de ir vino ya. Si guardamos la fe en el gran Dios, nos veremos aun más allá, Más allá, más allá, ¡Oh [hermana], adios, pues adios! Más allá, más allá, moraremos con Dios en amor. 

International Phone Calls

I've been making calls this week to get contact information for a project. It's been really interesting. I've noticed that when I'm speaking to non-native English speakers I speak louder. Because, obviously, if I speak louder they'll understand me.

I found a international calling cheat sheet, which has been saving my life during this time of making calls. It tells you what numbers to press before dialling the number you have (aka country codes and such). It's genius.

I talked to a funny Frenchman who as he was looking for a number was making a funny sound, and I wanted to laugh. He making the sound "bom, bom, bom, bom" in a nice little tune.

Another thing I've noticed. Calling California from Germany is never convenient. Really. We are never working at the same time. Sneaky California.

So I called this one place and the lady answered the call and I said, "I'm from blah blah blah and do you know who could help me with blah blah blah" and she said "no". I paused, a little confused because no one had told me no yet. So I said, "really?" because that's all I could think of. She said "where are you from again?" so I said the name of the company. She paused and then started to apologize explaining that she thought I was a junk call person and she feels horrible. I had to laugh, because I've been feeling like a telemarketer making all these calls. Plus, I've been a missionary, I've seen rude, and that didn't even phase me. Oh good times.

Also whenever I hear people say "Ipswich" or make a call to someone in Ipswich, I laugh to myself. All I can think of is Monty Python's Dead Parrot sketch. That's been my only Ipswich exposure, and it has made an impact. I love it.

Oh and the awkward phone calls are the best, where the people on the other end just seem really strange and sketchy. It makes me wonder what they are doing, because I imagine them having very shifty eyes. Plus, when things get really awkward, it makes me feel super uncomfortable and I want to run away. So I'm trying to be professional while trying to get off the phone ASAP because the phone vibes just keep getting more and more awkward!


Lessons Learned:

• Attitude does matter. 
• You choose to be offended. It doesn't matter what happens, you choose how you react. 

I threw a wish in the well, Don't ask me I'll never tell...

Personal Achievement for the week: I managed to fix my Excel so that I can open files in different windows and not have to compare side-to-side. WIN! I feel victorious.

Silly-Me Moment of the week: I was daydreaming on the S-baun this morning and missed my stop. So I had to wait 10 minutes for the train backwards to take me to town. Then I decided to walk to the office instead of wait 15 minutes for the bus. Once again, I should have just waited for the bus. I should have only been 10 minutes late to work, but I got lost and my smartphone maps wasn't working for a bit. Then it wouldn't find my office so I had to find it on google, which had the wrong address. So I showed up to work about 35 minutes late. Bah humbug.

I was at a meeting earlier last week in Surrey, and I told one of the guys that I wanted to learn how to golf, so they were trying to convince my boss that I needed to come back to England for more "training" next week so we could all play golf together. It was funny. Another funny moment, when they told us we were going to have BBQ and eat hamburgers on Tuesday night. LOL. They had little hamburger patties to eat, and that's it. No buns or toppings. It made me laugh. ButI flew back into Munich last Wednesday night. I was exhausted, but I did a load of laundry when I got in. Lindsay moved into the apartment building while I was away so we went to work together Thursday morning.  

Thursday was the Germany v. Italy game and Lindsay and I went with Petra (one of the HR girls at work) to see the game at the Olympic stadium. It was so cool. We kept seeing people with German Flags of their faces and were super jealous. Then miraculously, we got out of the metro and there was a stand with German stuff to buy. I saw the german flag face paint stick and we got it!!!! Seriously too cool for words! So we painted our faces and made Petra do it too. Then we got some brats as we waited for the game to start. Everyone was so excited. I loved it. Though it was super sad when Italy scored the first two goals in the first half. You could feel how tangible the sadness was. People literally cried. So we went back to our apartment that night sad and super tired because we got back so late.


So Friday, we were pretty tired. We were planning on doing a bike tour with Jarrett after work, but it didn't work out. We were too tired, which worked out fine because we got home late too. I had an international conference call that lasted over an hour. It was the longest conference call I've ever had. Crazy. But Friday night was nice and relaxing. Lindsay and I went to the restaurant next door to our apartment, we've decided we're going to become regulars where they know our names and  The food was good. The dessert, not so much. My German friend, David appeared towards dessert and was able to explain what a Flaming Cake was to us. (we're very curious people) For dessert, I got a strawberry shake for dessert...it was room temperature and watery...very interesting. Anyways, had a nice night in.

Saturday, Lindsay, Jarrett and I went to Lake Tegernsee. It was BEAUTIFUL!!! So Lindsay and I took the train in and Jarrett was supposed to meet us there. He showed up 2 hours later. Boys. Lindsay and I vetoed the 3-hour hike Jarrett wanted to do. IT WAS SOOO HOT! Anyways, we took a rented a little boat with an engine and Jarrett chauffeured Lindsay and I around the Lake. It was awesome because Lindsay put on music from her iPod and it was like theme music for our lives. It was unreal how perfect it was.  We then went swimming in the Lake because we were dying from the heat. (Off subject...I forgot my swimsuit at home in Texas because I was planning on getting a new one, but ran out of time to buy a new one so only have my lap-swimming suit. bad tan lines. #germanyproblems) So we were told there was a sandy beach to go to. False Doctrine. It was a rock beach. Lindsay and I forgot towels too. So we went in and swam. It was legit. On the way out, I slipped on a rock and fell. Now my ankle hurts when I walk. Dag yo. We then decided we wanted to go paragliding! So we went to the town over to do so, and by the time we got there, the tram that would take us to the top of the mountain was closed :/ On the drive back we found a private part of the lake. So we paid to go in, but they had lounge chairs! So we laid out some and it was glorious! Oh Mr. Sun, it is good to be friends again. (with sun block protection, of course) We then went to eat at a beer-garden which is famous in the town. We made friends with the Germans on our left and the fellow Texans on my right! Wutup! So legit. It was a perfect day. (minus my injury) but I'm so grateful for everyday of living the dream. I love it. 


p.s. the title for the blog is because the theme song for the day on saturday was Call Me Maybe. It kept on playing in the radio. It was the song we were listening to on Lindsay's iPod on the lake in the boat. Plus, it's been stuck in my head.