The music was not exactly to my taste. I found it rather angry, depressed and scary. The first 2 tracks seemed like they fell off the end of an x-files soundtrack because they were too scary!

My girlfriend was highly engaged throughout the first 3 songs… She said that she could feel almost every note in her teeth.

In my wildest nightmares I never though I would hear a piece with a clarinet that involved loud breathing in and out of a clarinet (titled: 32 breathes). It was something like Darth Vadar on a good day… You know, like if he worked out at a gym for a few days and stopped smoking.

Anjas father (Robert Delanoff) is a very talented composer and in all honesty, happened to have the best piece played on the day. Unlike the others which went down some kind of spooky, dark and depressing path, his actually came back out and into the light which gave it a nice contrast b/w the two.

So now I’ve had my share of exotic German musical culture… I’m glad that box is ticked.

Just wanted to let you know that I’m all good and I have like 5 blog posts all saved up for when I have more time.
For those that want to know what black hole I disappeared into, here it is:

- Had a break down with learning German (~Nov – end Feb)
- Went diving in Egypt in Jan
- Moved in with Anja Feb (officially)
- Got some ice skating and skiing in
- Went tobogganing on a plastic bag (and then on a real sled ’cause the kids felt sorry for us.. plan worked like a charm
- Booked trip to Australia with Anja (April 28th -> May 26th.. Start of May in Melb for ~10 days)
- Publicis ran out of Flash/Flex work -> working on Aussie clients and Vidza… (visa/contract still good till end 2010)
- Got a toaster!!!
- Fridge died… got a new Fridge
- Got a new bike pump and went for a nice ride around Munich and the Isar river

Also, went to a few birthday parties and events, lots of dinners and games.

Not doing as much Swing dancing as I would like, but it’s on the agenda for sure!
Also got back into learning German by translating mac magazines.
Saw Alice in Wonderland in 3D and English… not bad… not perfect, but worth it.

BTW, I’ve uploaded a couple of vids to picasa (more to come): http://picasaweb.google.com/pettetd/IphoneMovies

I’m working for Publicis Munich which is an international French country company that so happens to also be in Melbourne and Sydney. I eating German food, cooking, talking German, dancing German (?) and starting to get German humour.

I still have some furniture things to work out.. but all in all, things are coming along very nicely indeed.

Sometimes I foget that I’m in a non-english speaking country when my work is all US-EN programming and the business language is English… I just popped out for lunch and walked into a few shops as if I knew what I was doing.. Asking about bed sheets in DE was not so hard… asking about the difference b/w 3 types of condom packets became very tricky. I had a  good laugh though.

The cold has kicked in here as of last Friday. It’s a serious bad arse cold too… the European/Alpine cold. A lot of people are catching colds and sneazing.. but I think I’m reasonably safe as I’m probably the most prepared… despite the desperate need to buy a warm jacket… that shop in Melbourne was right (“going overseas, you need a jacket”).

I have been bad with keeping up with upates and blog posts lately.. a lot on my plate. I’ve still got to do my tax and send post cards back to Melbourne. I haven’t forgotten! I already have the stamps.

I’m now taking the plunge to speak full on DE and avoid EN as much as possible.. I have enough people around me to really test me, so this will be fun (order viel Spass).

Till next time… Ich muss mein Schnitzel essen!