Well, so far I’ve done it!

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!

Join the AFL team: http://kangaroos.aflg.de/new_roos/index.php (I can’t believe it!)

Browse the toytowngermany.com site for:

• cheap/FREE IKEA furniture.
• Social Events, dancing bike riding, sailing trips etc.
• News on Munich
• Info on gaining visas, tax, bureaucracy etc..

Go cook with random people: jumpingdinner.de

Oktoberfest (derrr)

Go to the alps and clime a mountain!

Surf on the river Isar!

Get lost in the Haupbahnhof or Karlsplatz shopping center/bahnhof

Swing/Salsa Dancing in Diana Temple at the Hofgarten (The Residences)

Hunt down good Almonds (Mandeln) and Australian Gold Sultanas (perhaps my biggest challenge yet!)

Go for a walk/ride through the parks/forests.

I’ve experienced nothing else that comes close to Oktoberfest.. It’s like a massive theme park with rides and kids stuff on one side, and about 10 beer tents (buildings) on the other side. I actually pictured more circus type tents with lots of grass.. but it was more like a massive plane hangers full of 1000s of Oktoberfestians. Some stereotypical things did happen… drunk annoying americans, drunk weird people, lots of cool drinking chants and plenty of lederhosen and dirndls.

I had 2 half chickens, 1 Maß (1L), 1 Radler, 2 Bretzeln and continued Swing dancing at Diana Temple in the Hofgarten without any problems.

Some photos below to give you an idea of what it’s like.

Schmeckt Gut (traditional Daniel clothing)

Which do you think would be best (both 1 year)???
I have until (at the latest) October 15th to lodge a working holiday visa application if I want to.

Working Visa:

• Pro – The company organises the Visa
• Con – I must find a job
• Pro – Quicker German uptake and better understanding of German business/social culture
• Pro – Looks good on CV
• Con – Work here is reasonably competitive and has long hours
• Pro – The standard here is much higher (I think) so I might learn a thing or two
• Pro – Easier to meet people and grow my network
• Con – Must work for the same company for a year?
• Pro – Might be easy to extend the working visa?

Working Holiday Visa

• Con – Max 90 days work per company
• Con – Not sure if I can work in my field of expertise
• Pro – More time to work on my own projects and business ventures
• Con – Difficult to balance earning AUD with spending EU… probably earning less than a FT job
• Con – Can only apply for once (would probably use it after the working visa ended anyway)
• Pro – I manage my time, therefore more trips to the snow or whatever!
• Con – It’s not guaranteed that I get it when I apply, unlike a work visa

Ahh… stressful stuff! Help anyone?

So far, the worst thing about Munich is trying to find an open supermarket or store on a Sunday (they’re all shut). Only the Haupbahnhof (main train station) had a few places open.

The best thing so far is probably the public transport. It’s so easy to catch the u-bahn or s-bahn anywhere and everywhere. I have a 60 euro monthly pass that lets me travel in the inner city zones which is perfect. All stations are well signed and most have timetable TV screens. The trains are as wide as Melbourne’s but faster and more often.

It’s really easy to get anywhere!

I think they have planned the lines to encourage changing trains. This might sound bad, but it means a single train doesn’t get full easily and chances are people get off at the main stations where people get on. All the lines are kind of U, L or S shaped. The underground is quite easy to find with probably 2-6 exits depending on the station.

Check out the (large) train map. (I am staying near the end of U3, Fürstenried West, 20-30 mins by train to the Haupbahnhof)

WOW!! Do we have dancing outdoors??
In the Hofgarten kann man Swing tanzen!!

The floor was perfect! Great for spinning, plenty of space, and the temple that we were in had great acoustics!

I turned up at 6 (1 hour late) and danced till they stopped the Swing music and put on the Salsa (9PM?)! Perhaps I should take up some more salsa classes… I met 2 girls that did salsa/flaminco dancing who gave me some tips. One of them (Ellen) was kind enough to show me a great Italian restaurant where I could catch up on my meat eating. Naturally, my meal came with potatoes (even if I didn’t order them!). Again, great conversation, good food and a good drink to end the day after a lot of walking, work and dancing.

It gives me great confidence to know that Germans constantly get stuff wrong… and everyone speaks and sounds different to each other.

A long standing question of mine is how to say “Ich” (I) which I recently found can be pronounced “ick”, “Itch”, “Ichhhh”. I always thought it was the last one, but the flat mates I’m staying with atm seem to think it can be any.

I’ve also found out the verb ‘to use’ is used differently depending on the object/context.. “I used the car” or “I have used it”… I have to clarify the difference, but I know the word comes out differently. Apparently “you just know it… I don’t know why it is like this but we just learn it” spoken by west German person downstairs.

Asking for a dance has given: “Darf Ich auf bitte” (may I up please) or “Darf Ich Sie bitten” (may I you please).
I’m a bit lost on that one.. perhaps I should use one of Seans recommended Deutsch compliments. How did it go again?

You can now click the link on the right column under Dans Links that will show you the phrases and words I’m learning in German (Dans German Phrases)

This is not a complete list, but something handy that I keep with me to practice. You may find it useful to.

I have a few people updating the 3rd column for me so that the Deutsch is sehr gut. If you want to update or suggest some phrases I should learn, please reply to this post.

I think this means something about finding a Munich girl in a Beer garden that’s single.. can anyone else offer a better translation?

I find it funny that all these ads are the same in diff countries…. except…

Would the equivalent be “Find Aussie girls down at the pub cooking you up a BBQ”

Perhaps: “Find single girls in the park frolicking in the nude”

I must say.. technology is grand!

I’ve been using the above tools with little difficulty. One may argue that Twitter is not needed and is made redundant by Facebook, but I disagree. Twitter is forced to be short and too the point. It also doesn’t mess around with sending hugs or invites to join the ninjas to fight the pirates. I see Twitter as mainly a one directional conversation focused on the here and now. Facebook has become diluted in it’s quality of useful information about your friends.

Anyway, I’ve set Twitter to be updated by my Blog, I’ve also set Twitter to update my Facebook. I have a minor issue at the moment getting Facebook to update my Twitter. Once this is complete, I can use any of my tools to do what I need to without anyone missing out. Facebook status updates (via Facebook) have now become redundant anyway for me since I can describe more on my blog (which gets sent to Facebook) or do a short update via Twitter.

I am now looking for a way to put my Twitter feed  and Facebook feed on my website (functionally easy, but have to consider the design).

Also, my iPhone is saving me heaps of time!

• PDF documents (german phrase books, maps)
• Images (photos of google maps, receipts, menus, train maps, fruit prices etc.)
• Voice recording (German pronunciation, shopping lists, easy note taking, live gigs etc.)
• Camera (nice to have one on holiday)
• Google Maps (can’t get lost now)
• Web connection (find anything anywhere!)
• ENG-GER Dictionary (LIFE SAVER)
• Twitter Apps (update social status quickly and easily)