New Things

On Saturday I went for a hair cut. Thought I'd try somewhere new so headed off to this hairdresser by Haubtbahnhof (central station) where they have a ton of hairdressers so you don't have to make an appointment, just show up.

Well, in my broken German I explained that I wanted the very smallest of haircuts, and basically she should just cut the back a bit and trim the front (trying to grow the hair a little). But the Romanian Wonder just got stuck in, and snip snip, and WHAT? oh man, the front is now short (I can see what she was going for, but it wasn't really what I wanted) and now I look like a Boy Mushroom playing dressup as a Matchstick. Yip, a matchstick. She blew my hair out into a circular thing on top of my head. hmmm...

The lovely other cannot understand why I would be so upset by HAIR (especially when I usually let them do what ever they want) but I was. It was blown all up and round and Jhb Poppie Like, and I just looked ridiculous. Thank goodness it was snowing hard and I had a beanie.

After my hair, and I calmed down a little, and I looked again, I realised it wasn't SO bad. Will just take a little getting used too. The good news is that New Hair like this generally calls for a slight adjustment in clothing to complete the New Look and a little more confidence (New Attitude). So maybe it's not such a bad thing. Cutting off the excess, moving forward in a similar, but slightly altered direction, with a little less 'weight' on my shoulders. Philosophical today, aren't I! :)

Another new thing... I cycled in the snow.

AND

I didn't fall! HOORAY!

We needed to go to the store for one of those Shops That Require Two Backpacks, and so, we cycled! Somewhat cautiously, but it was cycling none the less!

ALSO! And this one is big... we got a shoosher (aka hand held blender). Is this not the BEST, smoothie making, butternut soupy kind of news?

Skiing, Schnitzels, Snow and Surprises

I got a lovely surprise in the post yesterday! A Christmas parcel from my wonderful relatives in Canada!

Some Christmas bits (candles, TISSUES!, little decoration, gingerbread men), socks... such fluffy, warm socks! Lilac pashmina with little sequins. Those little snowmen are HAND warmers! Have you ever heard of something so amazing!? You push their bellies and they warm up to about 40 degrees, and then after you just put them in hot water to soften and you can use them again! And of course, hot chocolate (the cone shaped thing) WITH mini marshmellows and choc chips.

And what perfect timing too! After the snow-less weekend that Munich had, and the tiny bit of sun that managed to pierce through my coat as I cycled to the store on Sunday to buy flour (banana bread craving), I can confirm that the snow has returned.

It must have started at the early hours of yesterday morning, and has been plummeting down since. So it's back to stockings under jeans and walking to the train station. Sigh. The cycling was so nice.

I don't have fur around the hood of my coat (I thought this was silly until I realised it's purpose) but luckily I found a sweet little beanie in France that has a little peak to stop the snow from blinding me. I know what you're thinking, "Robyn, you're so fancy!" Well, I try :)

We went skiing in Zauchensee, Austria, this weekend. And as much as I was dreading the 6am wake up ON A SATURDAY, I did it. What fun! I was reunited with my original Learning-To-Ski buddies, the South African National Ski Team for short, and my confidence returned. That, and I took my ipod this time. (Doesn't music just make the biggest difference in you life?)

So off we went, on actual slopes. Away from the kiddies slopes. Hooray! Success! Until it got to 3pm and my belly was full (schnitzel :) ) and my legs were sore they wouldn't co-operate. And we were at the top of a very long, very bumpy slope. Well, we just had to keep going.

I'm not sure I have ever been so happy to get to the bottom, into my uggs and onto the bus.

I couldn't walk on Sunday. I really couldn't. But my lovely said 'hey, let's go for a swim at the olympic park,' and my curiosity seemed to win. (Hadn't been there before). I'm not sure if it was the beautiful sunset over the exhibition hall that we witnessed, or the promise of eat-as-much-as-you-can ribs at Chicco's after. Or the cocktails. But I did a few lengths, made it through dinner, and fell asleep long before The Snoring started. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

6 o'clock news

It has been brought to my attention that there has been no 6 o'clock news update in quite some time. And that is unacceptable. So, this Friday the 21 January at 6pm (CET) I give you, the 6 o'clock news.

(PLEASE READ IN A MONOTONE, SERIOUS, AFRIKAANS ACCENT - I am a serious journalist after all)

These are tonights top headlines.

After 6 months, I can finally confirm that I do, in fact, live in Munich.

How can I confirm this, you ask? Photographically, of course!

So you can now send me love letters without having to include a Care Of. Aren't I such a grown up?

Many people have been asking "Robyn, how are you going to deal with any stress and not-skipping-down-the-street-singing-show-tunes-ness that 2011 may bring?"

To which I reply, why, with carefully constructed coping mechanisms of course!

Carefully constructed by some French artisan (or chinese workshop) and big enough to hold just enough to soothe my soul (yes, that is my loosely clenched fist you can see inside the cup - to emphasize 'just enough') and exercise my bladder.

In other news, I will be re-attempting my Big Ski Comeback tomorrow morning at 6 o'clock. As you all know, I lost my gggutspa after being knocked down by a speeding lunatic and seeing the Big Open Spaces (also known as any ski slope steeper than the kiddy slopes). It would be good if not too many people came with their cameras to allow me to get a very posed shot showing some skills to impress you all with.

That's all for tonight folks, you have a great evening now.

Happy New Year!

Shocking to only be typing my first post of 2011 on the 16th of January, but it has taken me a solid week to get back into the German groove of things, because for New Years 2010 Robyn was not in Germany. Robyn was in France. SIGH.

Of course it would not have been right to set out on our journey without a chocolate croissant, I know, how very French of me. It was then an hour and a bit flight to PARIS! (YES, I breathed in some Parisian Airport Air!), a two hour train trip to Lyon, then an hour and a half-ish to Grenoble, where we reunited with our South African Team Members, and head off to, well, I don't even have words... just look where we stayed:

A worn down winding staircase, about a million trillion rooms, stone floors, old old windows, a tiny kitchen with the smokiest fireplace imaginable. (You could almost see the kitchen staff of way back when sitting there peeling veggies with a cloth bonnet and an apron).

Grenoble is such a beautiful place. (As is the rest of Europe). But it's in France, and it was just pretty and romantic. I also bought a new, very french-sophisticated-lady looking coat, which may, too, be influential in the formation of my opinion of Grenoble, but let's not dwell on that... LOOK!

This was were we stayed until New Years, when we attending an unbelievable little soiree in a town hall of sorts. It was basically a HUGE family reunion for Team Members Snyman 1, 2 and 3 (Afrikaans speaking French cousins included) and I felt incredibly lucky to be able to be a part of it all. (Thank you...)

We then took an hour and 20 minute bus ride to Les Deux Alpes, where the skiing began.

(Bearing in mind that this is on the 'baby slope' view-of-the-town side, and not the ALPES. The big mountainous valleys of snow because, you see, I, however brilliant I am in my mind, am not AMAAAAAZING, so I stuck to the baby slopes and just had fun. A LOT of fun.... ok, I'm a ski-poep. But I'll get there... Although, if any of us are honest, the best part is really the Apres Ski. You know, the part that comes after, when you're tired, and sore, and the alcohol warms you up and goes straight to your head. (Luckily there was a million step high staircase winding through the roads and up to our chalet to 'sober us up'. I, being one of the novice Ski Holiday Team Members, was at the back of the troop marching up. Yes, it was definitely due to my novice-ship, and in no way related to my incredibly low, embarrassingly so, fitness levels. Plus, we all know how I like to look at the stars and day(night) dream etc...

We had a birthday, and subsequent engagement (for which I must thank Team Members J and B for the party that followed that), soup, snow, tartiflette, racqulette, and more baguette, salami and cheese than I ever thought it possible to consume. And then more. We found two avo's worth their crazy price tag. I sampled my first Macaron (Heaven. Absolute heaven). We wined, and dined, and well, walked up stairs.

And then it was all over. I don't really know how it could have been over so fast, but it was, and then we had the loooooooong trip home, which wasn't nearly as adventurous as going there. We even had a night in a hotel in Paris! But arrived late, exhausted and very ready to go home to Germany, where the streets are familiar and we can (sort of) understand what people are saying.

But not to fear. My clothes are now all clean. My suitcase is now all empty, and I have rested my mind. So when we go on our next adventure I will be able to soak it all in. And there will be a next adventure. Soon.

So, happy new year!

I hope that your year is filled with adventures (the kinds that YOU like). Warm food in your belly, good people, and a wine glass that is always, always half full.