What have you been up to...?
Archive - Aug 2001 - Dec 2001
Friday 3rd August 2001 - Had drinks at work.
Saturday 4th August - My oldest brother turns 30!!! Happy birthday Kevin.
Sunday 5th August - It got to 24 C today - woohoo!!! Middle of winter my ass! I was out with Mark on the deck, sunbathing. It's as warm as Germany is, and they're in the middle of summer.
Thursday 9th August - Went to Una's for dinner.
Friday 10th August - Had drinks after work, then ended up at BBono for dinner.
Saturday 11th August - Worked today, and finished our Norton AntiVirus client rollout. Went to La Toque for dinner. After dinner, Donald and I went to Caesar's for their Kylie tribute night. Met up with Rob and Lance, and a great time was had by all.
Sunday 12th August - Went to the markets at the Rocks and bought a cool necklace thingy, then it was on to Darling Harbour for lunch (Cargo). I had Crocodile and Coconut pizza... yummo. The weather was perfect again today.. really warm for "winter". I'm going to miss Sydney. :( Went to La Premiere to see The Planet of the Apes.
Monday 13th August - Went to GPK for dinner.
Thursday 16th August - Record temperature for Sydney in August (27 C / 80 F) today. Yes folks, it is still supposed to be winter. Saw on the news that the middle of New Zealand is suffering under lots of snow.
Friday 17th August - Day off (time in lieu for last weekend, but still went to work for a couple of hours though). Went to the Lowenbrau restaurant with Donald, Mark, Donald's sister Raewyn, plus Melissa and Michelle.
Saturday 18th August - Dinner with Donald Mark, Clint and Raewyn at BBono.
Sunday 19th August - Went with Donald, Mark and Raewyn to see the movie "Along Came A Spider". Awesome movie, with some great plot twists. Go see it!
Tuesday 21st August - Last day at work before the Madonna trip. Tick tock.
Wednesday 22nd August - Got up really early to fly to New Zealand to visit Mum and Dad for the day. I flew business class which was really nice, but the flight left at 7am or so so it was too early to drink champagne, but I did anyway. They met me at the airport and whisked me up north for the day. It was great to see them again.
Thursday 23rd August - Flew to Los Angeles, then on to Detroit (via Dallas). The flight from Los Angeles was delayed by about half an hour, and i only had about half an hour stopover in Dallas, so I sprinted for the train between terminals and just got the right one. They were waiting at the gate for us all (there were a few people in the same position) ready to leave. I did make it on, but my luggage didn't. Got to Detroit at just about midnight feeling skanky, without any clothes. I called the insurance company, but they said that I could only claim if the luggage was missing for more than 12 hours. Jim met me at the airport and took me to his gracious home. Thanks Jim and Alex for putting me up!
Friday 24th August - My luggage turned up just before midday, so I was vary glad to have some clean clothes. Went wandering around Ann Arbor with Jim. Amanda came down from Canada and also stayed. Amanda's a nice person.
Saturday 25th August - Madonna performed in Detroit. Jim and I had 17th row tickets!!! What a way to spend my birthday! Madonna was amazing. So good that words cannot describe how happy I was when she finally appeared on stage. It didn't seem real. One of my life's ambitions was dealt with. VERY happy! (They filmed tonight's show just in case something bad happened tomorrow for the HBO one.) Rosie O'Donnell was there.
Sunday 26th August - Met Dave from the Madonna list at his hotel. Also met some other nice fans (Rob, Danny, etc..) We went out for a bite to eat then it was off the the big one - the final Madonna concert in Detroit. This concert was broadcast live on HBO in the US, and most other places. This is likely to be the one they release on DVD. Jim and I had great seats again.
Monday 27th August - After a nice lunch at Zingerman's with Jim, I flew from Detroit to Chicago, flying over Lake Michigan. Travis met me at the airport. Travis lives quite close to the centre of town, relatively speaking. Still seemed like it took ages to get there though. Thanks Travis, for letting me stay so long.
Tuesday 28th August - Went to GAP and bought some clothes (which I promptly sent off to Germany). Went to see "American Pie 2" - very funny ( even funnier than the first one). First concert in Chicago - we were 19th row! Met Matt who is another huge fan. He had to drive back that night, but plans were made for either a visit to the US or to Germany for one of us.
Wednesday 29th August - Last concert tonight - we were higher up so we could see an overview of everything that went on - something you don't get from right up the front. Met a fan called Paul and organized a dinner with him and Travis for the next night. Went up the Sears Tower. How cool.
Thursday 30th August - Went to see the movie "Summer Catch". Just a typical summer movie. Nothing terribly special about it. Then, dinner at this really nice steak restaurant.. can't remember the name though. It was just by GAP. Always wanted to do that! Went to GAP and invited the salesperson (who was also a Madonna fan!) out to dinner. Four is always better than three for dinner, don't you think? Found out that he lived halfway to the airport. I had an early flight to Los Angeles, so I ended up crashing at his place. Thanks Alex!
Friday 31st August - Set the alarm early and got to the airport on time (maybe a couple of minutes late), but there was a HUGE queue to check-in (for some reason, they told us to stand in the International line), and by the time I got to the counter, it was 15 minutes until the flight. The bitch at the counter who had just checked the previous guy in (18 minutes before the flight!) said that they don't accept baggage later than 30 minutes prior. I was checking in with this other girl who was going to Sydney (to save us both time). She said that she didn't want to break the rules and lose her job. We complained that she had just broken the rule for the Japanese guy, but she wouldn't relent. She took ages to um and ah, even though we couldn't afford the time. In the end, she said we weren't going to make it onto the flight because we were too late and we weren't allowed to travel without our bags (we certainly couldn't take them on board). With about 8 minutes to go, she said we had one hope, and that was to run to the gate at the other side of the airport. If she'd told us that earlier, it wouldn't have been a problem. But we RAN. With our bags. Passed the Japanese guy and made it with about one minute to spare. The friendly staff at the gate calmly checked us in and put our bags in the dumb waiter right outside the plane. (I must remember to call INS and get the evil lady at the first counter deported - she was foreign and obviously not happy to be there). Anyway, we got on board and actually saw our bags being loaded. After about half an hour, we hadn't taken off. The plane had electrical problems so we all had to get off. A big rush for nothing. In the end, we made it to LA about an hour late. Andrew met me at the airport. Went and had lunch at Club Babalu - a nice cafe in Santa Monica by where Andrew lives. I like Santa Monica - it's less formal than the Midwest. Not to say that I don't like the Midwest, of course! Had a nice dinner in a pedestrian mall. (Nice company and atmosphere, but the chicken was actually not that nice). Went to the beach to see a Pacific sunset - of course, in New Zealand the sun rises over the Pacific.
Saturday 1st September - Went to Hollywood to see a movie called "Jeepers Creepers" which was the most "refreshing" scary movie I've ever seen. Certainly groundbreaking. It deserves to do well, but it may not because it doesn't have a typical Hollywood ending. Went to West Hollywood and had lunch at some random cafe. Bought a "Nobody Knows I'm A Lesbian" t-shirt, as well as a "You're The Weakest Link - Goodbye!" one. Don't know when it'll be appropriate to wear the first one, but I got it anyway. One more quick trip to the mall to find an item I was looking for (didn't find it though) before driving to the airport bound for Auckland. Thanks for letting me stay and driving us around, Andrew.
Monday 3rd September - I had nothing to do the day I was supposed to arrive back in Sydney (too late to go into work) so I had planned a couple of side trips instead of going straight there. Landed at Auckland. Waited for a couple of hours. Hopped back on the plane and flew to Brisbane. Took ages to get my luggage and get cleared through immigration, so I *almost* missed my flight to Melbourne. Thinking that this wasn't such a good idea after all, I ran to the inter-terminal train. Made it though. Won't be doing that again! Anyway, I flew to Melbourne where I had a nice long shower in the lounge then it was back in Sydney (in seat 1A - business class). I don't normally fly business class, although I'd like to of course. I just had quite a few points to use up.
Tuesday 4th September - Back at work. Yay.
Friday 5th September - Last day at work. Gave a truly awful "speech" - if you could call it that. I hate getting all emotional when I've got something to say. What I said in a roundabout way was that I'll miss the people that work at MATP / News Ltd terribly when I'm overseas. They really made the job fun. I'm sure my replacement will do well though. The people at work started wearing these Glenn-Turner.com t-shirts. Very embarrassing, but fun. Went to Donovan's for a few drinks, including the very expensive and nice(!) bottle of Syrah (which I later found out was the French way of spelling Shiraz - no wonder I liked it so much) work gave me as a goodbye present. Then, it was off to The Pontoon Bar. Sort of remember getting home. I did fall asleep on the train though, and ended up about 6 stops (quite a way!) further than my destination. I ended up in Wahroonga rather than Chatswood.
Sunday 9th September - Went with Lance, Rob and Mark to the league (Parramatta Eels vs NZ Warriors). Needless to say, the Warriors lost (and by a record margin too!) On the way back, it started to rain, so we were all treated to spectacular black clouds and rainbows over the city. I got some great photos. Had dinner at the Commodore. Saw Rob and Lance's new apartment. They've got a great view of the city.
Monday 10th September - First day of unemployment. Went into the city and wandered around. Popped into HMV and got the new Kylie single. Posted off a whole lot of clothes to Germany and started packing in earnest. Said goodbye to Josh and met up with David Hanna from the mailing list - he's in town for about a week. He's a really nice guy.
Tuesday 11th September - Posted off some more stuff to Germany, then had lunch with Donovan and Kevin from work. I'm flying out tomorrow for Germany (will be there for about five years on and off).
Wednesday 12th September (Australian time)- Got woken up by Mark, who said that two planes had crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York, and a couple more had gone down. I didn't believe him. When I finally saw it all through my own eyes on TV, I sat glued there watching. Then it hit me. Shit! Kevin (my oldest brother) works less then 1 kilometre from there. I tried calling him, but couldn't get though. I tried calling Mum, but the phone was engaged for ages and ages. I just couldn't get through. I was really really worried. To make it worse, I was due to fly all the way from Australia to Germany at around midday, and I had to make a decision whether to fly myself or not. There was the possibility of more attacks anywhere in the world, and flying may not be safe. Plus, Heathrow was rumored to be closed. All this would be insignificant if Kevin, who I love and respect dearly was dead. I just didn't know. I kept on calling Mum and eventually got through. She said that she had an email from him saying he was OK and that he was getting out of there. But that was before the second plane had hit, and of course, the buildings had collapsed reducing everything around to rubble. I was glued to the TV set for so long that my packing for Germany suffered and I was vastly over the weight limit, and I was running late. I called Kevin Lopes from work and woke him up. After explaining the whole situation to him, he agreed to take me to the airport. Thanks Kevin! You saved my ass. I still could not contact the Kevin that mattered most though - it's all very well to send an email from work saying you're fine and getting out of the city, but if no-one can contact you after that, people are going to worry. I got to the airport and explained the situation to the check-in lady. I was almost in tears. She let the excess luggage go on. I didn't tell her about my also-overweight hand-luggage. Kevin Lopes and I had a bite to eat, then I departed Australia for the last time for who knows how long. I love living in Sydney and hope to live there again some day - this time near the ocean. All the passengers on the plane were nervous. The worst thing was when they showed the news during the flight, complete with a plane crashing into one of the towers. In Singapore, I wrote a couple of emails.... has anyone heard from Kevin?!
Thursday 13th September - By the time I got to London, it was confirmed that Kevin had made it out of the city. He saw the buildings collapse. In London, we all had to collect our bags (normally, they'd all go through to Munich) and re-check them in. Unfortunately, I had a five-hour layover and they weren't accepting bags for flights more than two hours before departure. I had to cart my bags around for three hours. When I finally did check-in, I had to re-explain the excess baggage thing. They asked if I had any sharp objects in my carry-on luggage - no sharp objects whatsoever were being allowed on flights. I had Simon's wine knife and my "fish" corkscrew (never leave home without a corkscrew!). My hand-luggage also need to be checked in. Finally arrived in Munich. Simon picked me up from the airport and took me to the hotel (we haven't got any furniture in the apartment yet - it's been ordered). The weather sucks here. Totally cloudy, and not that warm. We should have a computer soon, and the phone connection has already been ordered. It should only take two weeks, but I'm not holding my breath... I know what Deutsche Telekom (German Telecom - a monopoly) is like. Because we don't know the name of the previous tenant, they need to send out a technician. Their own system can't tell them who lived here prior to us, but they need to know before they can connect the phone. How ridiculous. Of course, it would be too much to ask for the technician to come within a reasonable time period. It takes two weeks! This must really be hurting the German economy. In Australia, you can pretty much get the phone connected the same day.
Friday 14th September - Went to an internet cafe to catch up on all my mails. I'll be calling that place home until the computer arrives. It's a pain in the ass to do anything worthwhile in internet cafes - especially as a lot of the important keys are in the wrong places on German keyboards - but it's better than nothing.
Saturday 15th September - Went into the local Telekom store to let them know the previous tenants name. They said that because we placed the phone order at a different shop, and they have no access to that data (!) they couldn't help me. That helps to partially explain their uselessness - they don't even have one place to store all their customer requests. Went to the store in the city where the original request was made. We gave the friendly, but powerless girl in the store the last tenant's name, but she said that it wouldn't do us any good, because the appointment (for next Friday) had already been made. If we cancelled the appointment, we'd have to rejoin the queue and the wait would actually be longer. It was better, we were told, to let the technician turn up for absolutely no reason. My efforts to politely point out the fact the this time could be used to help other people that were waiting to get a quicker phone connection were lost on the Deutsche Telekom employee. Yes, we were told... the technician would be coming on Friday and our phone will then be working. Saw the movie "AI".
Tuesday 18th September - I decided that I'd try and make some friends quickly here, otherwise I'd die of boredom, so I emailed a whole lot of Madonna fans that might live in or around Munich. Why Madonna-fans? If I wasn't a Madonna fan, it would be hard to go up to people and say... wanna go for a coffee, but you can just do that with a Madonna fan, and you'll generally hit it off immediately. It may sound obsessive, but it works. Madonna / Kylie / Tina Turner fans have always been the best friends, I've found. Whatever - you just need something decent in common.
Friday 21st September - The German Telekom technician should have come today (I waited at home during the entire two hour appointment time, but no-one came. Simon phoned up and asked what was going on. We were told that because a technician was no longer necessary, he didn't come. Thanks for letting us know! Deutsche Telekom - after totally screwing up two phone connection requests in two cities - you officially have the worst customer service of any company I have ever dealt with anywhere. I really hope that once competition is allowed in your industry, you really start to hurt badly. the phone, we were told, was working. No it wasn't. We'll have another look, they said. It should be working by Tuesday... I'll believe that when I see it. German bureaucracy wears you down so much and you feel so powerless. Every time you call up, you get a different story. You really need to get the name of everyone you talk to and call them back and hold them accountable. I'm not very happy at the moment.
Saturday 22nd September - First day of the Oktoberfest. We didn't go because everyone was scared of further terrorist attacks. They were even considering calling it off, but it is going ahead. Instead, we met Martin - a Madonna fan - and had a few drinks at The Blues Cafe. He's a really nice guy. We hit it off straight away.
Sunday 23rd September - Had some of Simon's work colleagues over for drinks. The entire fridge had to be optimised to hold as much beer as possible.
Monday 24th September - UPS attempted to deliver the computer (from Dell) today, but couldn't. That's bullsh*t, because I was at home when they tried to deliver it.
Tuesday 25th September - I was sitting in the apartment waiting for Deutsche Telekom to finally connect the phone (after only three weeks, no less!), and waiting for the out-of-date Pentium 4 to arrive (also after three weeks!), when my cellphone rang. Who could it have been? It was the nice lady from the job agency, who offered me the chance to apply for a position nestled nicely amongst the second and third levels. I was about to say something along the lines of "I wouldn't mind not working until January next year after my well-deserved vacation, thanks" when they mentioned the rates. I immediately said "Yes, put me forward". apparently, as a New Zealander, I can look for contract work and get a permit after starting work. Later on that day, the agency phoned back and said the guy was impressed and wanted to do a phone internet the next day. Of course, all of these conversations were over my cellphone because the phone was not working. The bureaucracy is simply unbelievable. Just when you think things couldn't get more difficult, they do. Simon called Deutsche Telekom to ask why the phone wasn't working. This morning, the story had changed again, and they said a technician was needed to fix the problem (whatever that may be). For about the 10th time, the entire sordid history was recounted to the polite, but powerless employee, and they said that the technician would be here today. Surprisingly, the guy actually turned up on time and connected a few wires in the basement. We have a landline!!!
Tuesday 25th September - Stayed home to make sure the computer could be delivered, but again, they couldn't deliver it. Simon called Dell to ask what was going on, and they said that they had neglected to put the apartment number on the packages. There are about 50 or so apartments in our block, so it was no wonder they couldn't deliver it. Still, they should have had Simon's cellphone number on the package in case of delivery difficulties. I guess not. I don't trust UPS at all, because they LOST (i.e.: one of their workers may have stolen) our last German PC. Anyway, Dell said they'd correct it for delivery tomorrow. I wonder how Dell actually manage to stay in business when they use courier companies like UPS. Ordinary people do not have the luxury of staying at home for three days to take delivery of a new PC, especially when they cannot even give you an approximate time of delivery.
Wednesday 26th September - I stayed home again to wait for the computer. Joy! Well, actually, no joy. They hadn't fixed the problem with the lack of apartment number. Simon called up and ask if we could collect it. They said "Sure, be at UPS between 6pm and 7pm tonight". They promised to call UPS and let them know we'd be coming. Simon asked if they were absolutely sure we could pick it up, and that there would be no problems (it's quite a way to the UPS depot), and he was assured that we'd have our computer tonight. simon left work early an we trekked all the way out to UPS, and of course they couldn't find the packages, because Dell had neglected to call UPS. We called UPS and told them that we were sick of the delays and that we wanted a refund. We were told to call back the next day. Totally unsatisfied with their response and total lack of customer service - what is the point of an employee being paid to answer the phone if she is not allowed to make any decisions!?! - we told Dell in no uncertain terms that the computer would be coming back to them anyway. We told the UPS lady to send it back. We went to a local computer store to buy parts to build our own PC, but got there a couple of minutes after they had closed.
Thursday 27th September - Simon explained the entire saga to Dell and asked for a refund. After being put through to about 4 people, the account manager agreed with us and we were shocked to be told that once the computer was back in Ireland, a refund would be forthcoming. I personally won't be buying a computer online again. It's just too much hassle. Buy the parts and build it yourself. That way, you don't have to wait for three weeks, for an overpriced, obsolete computer (if it turns up at all). Went with Martin to the Oktoberfest and went on a few rides. UPS tried to deliver the Dell PC again(!) while I was out. We went to the computer store (Litec computers - I'd recommend them fully: http://www.litec-computer.de) and ordered the parts to build a pretty grunty computer. Paid for the awesome Acer FP751 17" LCD monitor and took it home to lighten the load the next day.
Friday 28th September - Went back to the computer store and paid for the rest of the computer and took it home. The major specs are Athlon 1.4 GHz CPU, 512MB DDR-RAM, 60GB 7200 RPM HDD, 16x DVD. I had already bought my keyboard from Australia (whew!) and mouse, and my Hercules GeForce II Ultra 64, so the PC is the fastest you can get without wasting money buying overpriced Intel chips.
Wednesday 3rd October - Public holiday in Germany (not that it matters if I'm not working!).
Thursday 4th October - Destroyed the DVD drive by trying to upgrade the BIOS so that it would be region-free. Doesn't matter though, because Pioneer said that happens a lot to their drives, and it is still covered by warrantee. Went out and bought a CD burner to use instead. Had a few drinks with Rene (yet another Madonna fan). Had a few too many in fact. We got quite pissed (a few beers and a couple of bottles of wine), and didn't get any sleep until about 5am, after watching the Detroit Madonna concert on tape. Rene had to work the next day. I arrived back home like a zombie and tried to get some more sleep, but couldn't. I'm off the alcohol for a little while, methinks.
Friday 5th October - Still feeling seedy, I had coffee with Katja (another Madonna fan - she's really nice) at Cafe Blue. She suggested this place - it's only 5 minutes away from where I live, and it reminds me of a "normal" cafe back home. Very un-German. Found out that it is supposed to be a great place to have dinner. Dragged Simon, Joerg (down from Cologne for the Oktoberfest) and his friend Oliver there for dinner. I had the yummy Turkey strips in a cheese sauce... it was just like the Gorgonzola Chicken I used to always have when we went out to a particular pub/cafe at work in Sydney.
Saturday 6th October - Martin and I went to the monthly Munich CD fair. It sucked. I won't be going next month.
Sunday 7th October - Final day of the Oktoberfest. Simon and I went on the nastiest rollercoaster. Really threw us around. Almost passed out on the next one, too. The number of visitors this year slightly decreased to about 5.5 million, and people drank less compared to the years before: The only consumed about 4.8 million liters of beer. Which is still a lot!
Monday 8th October - The new Kylie album "Fever" is released. I've ordered a copy from http://www.hmv.com.au because the suckful German one doesn't have any bonus tracks. Until it arrives, I've downloaded a few tracks. It's got a very "now" sound, which means that it'll probably date quicker than the last one, but it's definitely a worthwhile purchase if you like dance music. She's changed a lot since the days of Locomotion! Currently, Kylie fever is hitting the UK, with her having simultaneous #1's with her album, single, video, and DVD, plus a part in the recent UK #1 movie Moulin Rouge.
Thursday 11th October - Kylie CD arrived today!
Friday 12th October - Updated website. Added a Munich page. Went out for a drink with Martin.
Saturday 13th October - Went out for breakfast with Rene and then went to the fantastic World of Wine store, and bought a nice bottle each of Pinot Noir and Shiraz. Might as well give French wine a go, although I'm not sure if anything can beat the Montrose Black Shiraz (Mudgee).
Sunday 14th October - Simon ran the Munich Marathon today, and finished with a respectable time, considering he has had a cold for the last week that effectively stopped his training.
Monday 15th October - Ordered a whole lot more furniture from IKEA (storage space!).
Saturday 20th October - Went to Garmisch-Partenkirchen for the weekend. The weather was supposed to be bad, but it was a lovely day when we got there. We went up the Zugspitze (the highest mountain in Germany @ 2964m). We went took a train to Elbsee and then an oversized gondola ride all the way to the very top (we started the gondola ride at 1000m and went up from there, over the Elbsee, past the top of the tree-line, and into the snow). It was an AMAZING ride and I would thoroughly recommend it. It's amazing that they've made the top of the mountain accessible to everyone. Up the top, there was a cafe/restaurant where we ordered some food and took it outside. It was so cold and the wind was so fierce that the food was cold in less than a minute. :( Took lots of photos, and went back inside. From the top of this mountain, you had a spectacular view over Germany one side side, and the Alps on the other. Apparently, you can see four countries from the Zugspitze, but, as they hadn't drawn any lines on the mountains to indicate borders, I couldn't tell if they were right. We then took another (smaller) gondola down to the ski field that had opened for the season that day. We played in the snow for a bit, then took a "cogwheel train" all the way back down again (in a seemingly endless tunnel through the mountain itself). That evening, we had a yummy dinner at the excellent La Bottega del Vino (Sonnenbergstr. 17, Partenkirchen - reservations essential!)
Sunday 21st October - Took the train back in Munich.
Tuesday 23rd October - Went to see Moulin Rouge (in German) with Simon and Katja. This film only opened here this week, even though it started in Australia in May.
Friday 26th October - Amy (another NZer) and I met in town and wandered around. IKEA phoned and said that the furniture would be here on Tuesday. Went to a store and touched a Windows XP box. Feels so good! LOL
Tuesday 30th October - IKEA furniture arrived today. Yay!
Wednesday 21st October - Had lunch with Marco.
Friday 2nd November - Went out for dinner and drinks with Simon, Amy, Peter and Frank.
Saturday 3rd November - Got a really comfy pair of ski boots for my snow-blades.
Tuesday 6th November - Went out for drinks with Rene.
Friday 9th November - Went out for dinner with some of Simon's work colleagues.
Sunday 11th November - Went out for brunch with Marco and Alex. The place was called Wirtshaus in der Au, and they were playing live jazz.
Monday 12th November - Had a drink with *another* Martin (how many Martins are there in Germany?). Plane crash in New York. Not having a TV here really sucks, but we're opposed to paying license fees (plus our place is too small for a decent TV). New Madonna album "GHV2" out today.
Wednesday 14th November - 9:30am - Went with Simon to the Notarin (very nice public notary woman) and officially became "life partners" under German law. I should now be able to get a residency and work permit - fingers crossed.
Saturday 17th November - Went with Simon to London for the weekend. We had dinner at Balin's Soho with my twin brother Warren, Nick and Caroline, Shane and (a different) Warren, David and Dorocia, Peta and her brother, Vince and Mark. Afterwards we went to see Alexis, who was working at the lovely Weststreet restaurant - and couldn't make it to dinner. It's scary the number of people we know in London. Had a really nice bottle of Chateauneuf de Pape. Stayed at the Hilton Green Park. Very nice!
Sunday 18th November - Wandered around town with David and Simon. Went and bought lots of olives and cheese at Harrod's. Simon left to go back to Munich (he has to work on Monday). Stayed with David and Dorocia.
Monday 19th November - Wandered around town with Vince and Mark for most of the day, taking photos as I went. Had dinner with Alex, Danny, and David.
Tuesday 20th November - Had an entree (Pigeon breast with shallots - yum!) with David and Dorocia while they had lunch at Ville, and then met Warren and had Fish and Chips (with peas). How exciting! Then I met Shane again, and then had dinner with Steve and Dan. All very complicated.
Wednesday 21st November - Had lunch with David (Carluccio's), and then coffee with Vince and Mark. Caught a late flight back in Munich.
Thursday 22nd November - Registered with the Munich City local government as a resident. All persons in Germany have seven days to register their whereabouts if they move in our out of an apartment. It's all very big brother, but they can throw you in jail if you don't register, so I did. Germans just accept it, which is strange considering their Nazi past. Would have been going with Simon to the Janet Jackson concert in Munich, if she hadn't cancelled (the entire European leg of the tour!). She said it was for "security concerns", but if the persistent rumors are to be believed, it was actually insufficient ticket sales. She'll sell 2 less next time around.
Friday 23rd November - Got a three-month temporary residency permit, allowing me to legally look for a job here.
Tuesday 27th November - Saw Harry Potter (in German) - wasn't as good as the hype would lead me to believe.
Friday 30th November - Went to Tollwood (winter festival) with Simon, Katja, and Martin.
Saturday 1st December - Went with Simon and Trevor to Lech, Austria for a week's skiing. Skied on the beginners' slope, and enjoyed it immensely.
Sunday 2nd December - Had a rest day, because I screwed my shin - must not have had my boots on properly. Went up to the top of the mountain and had lunch.
Monday 3rd December - Went skiing again. This time up much higher and - more importantly - steeper than I was used to . It was more icy than snowy, so I didn't enjoy it much.
Tuesday 4th December - Rest day.
Wednesday 5th December - Was snowing too hard to go skiing (lack of visibility) so I stopped after about an hour. Was on the beginners' slope again, and did have fun. As we went out to dinner, we stumbled upon something calls "Krampus", which is where adults dress up in monster costumes and run around scaring little kids.
Thursday 6th December - Went skiing again.
Friday 7th December - Snow was awesome today. Had the most fun out of all the days. I still stuck to the beginner's slope. Even though it wasn't as challenging as a 45 degree drop down an icy slope, I enjoyed myself and that's the main thing. Caught the train back to Munich.
Wednesday 12th December - Madonna chat online - met this really cool person from Melbourne called Karen. Might meet up on Friday. Had dinner with Anthony (another Madonna fan).
Thursday 13th December - We were planning to go clubbing, but the temperature suddenly sunk. Overnight, the temperature dipped as low as -15.4 C.
Friday 14th December - Today, we're expecting a high of -10 C. Met up with Karen and had lunch. Martin came over that evening.
Saturday 15th December - Went with Amy and Simon to Augsburg to visit Marco and do a bit of shopping.
Sunday 16th December - Martin and a friend of his came around and we watched some DVDs and drank Glühwein.
Monday 17th December - Got my "starter pack" of Euro coins. Cool. Can't use them until Jan 1st though.
Wednesday 19th December - Peta came and stayed with us. While she and Simon went shopping, I stayed home the whle day and translated my CV into German. Went out to dinner at the Paulaner Brauhaus.
Thursday 20th December - Went skiing with Simon and Peta to Bayrischzell. The snow was really nice (powder) and it made it really easy to turn on my short (90cm) skis. So much better than the comparatively icy conditions at Lech. Plus, this ski-field was only an hour an a half away from Munich. This is the most fun I've ever had skiing.
Saturday 22nd December - Went with Simon and Amy to see Lord Of The Rings. Go see this movie!!! It was filmed in New Zealand.
Monday 24th December - Shoppers everywhere. I've never seen anything like it. Maybe stores here in Germany should open on Christmas Day instead of closing at 12pm the day before.
Tuesday 25th December - Had a quiet Christmas dinner (turkey, roasted slowly in a fry-pan, because our apartment is so small there is no actual oven).
Thursday 27th December - Deutsche Telekom (sucks!) finally delivered our DSL gear. We ordered DSL in early September, and the line was connected in early November, but because they're using such a crappy system, they couldn't fit our apartment number on their address line, even though the used one line for each "Herr" (Mr), Simon, and Daniel. Without an apartment number, the package kept on getting sent back to them. How stupid. After calling them nearly every week, they finally figured it out on the THIRD attempt. Every time we called, they were really polite, but we had to explain the whole saga over again. Of course it would have been quicker to walk to Frankfurt and pick the stuff up ourselves, but when I asked, I was told (in German) "No, we're not allowed to let you pick up the stuff - it must be sent" etc. If you're in Germany and want quick internet access, I fully recommend their competition: "www.q-dsl.de". I got my amazon.com Windows XP Training Kit books today too (sent all the way from the US quicker than this shipment took to get from Frankfurt. When people say that Germans are efficient, what they should say is that Germans have so many rules and such crap, inflexible systems that everything is actually inefficient and slow.
Sunday 30th December - Katja came over for some Glühwein and to plan tomorrow night.
Monday 31st December 2001 - Having New Years celebrations at our place. Katja, Martin, simon, Peta and Amy all turned up. Since fireworks are pretty much illegal in New Zealand, I got some huge ones (the last ones in the store). :) Once again, for some strange reason, the stores all closed at one. Once again, for some strange reason, I left it too late to go shopping for tonight, so I had to stand in the check-out queue with stroppy Germans for about an hour. :(
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