Arriving in Munich
Well we’ve started to settle into Munich now, but I still think it’ll be a while before I’m anywhere near useful giving directions on the streets! I did manage to direct one person to Hauptbahnhof and was pretty proud, but that pride has since been destroyed by a couple of people asking where particular streets were and I’ve had no idea. When they hear the Australian accent I think they realize that I probably just got here.
The flight over was quite good – I even scored an exit row seat, so I was pretty happy about that! It all went very smoothly, all on time and no issues. As a result we got to the apartment 2 hours early (had a safety buffer built in for late flights etc.) but we could not be bothered taking our luggage anywhere else. We waited around for an hour, but luckily Nils from Mr Lodge came out of the apartment soon after that because he was early too. How German! We were taken though the apartment by Nils and he detailed scratches, marks and previous damage with what can only be described as a German amount of detail and precision. We bid farewell to him in the foyer and then went straight back up the apartment but couldn’t unlock the door. We were so out of it after the long flight and about 3 hours of sleep that we couldn’t figure out which way the locks went to unlock and why it wouldn’t open. We got it right eventually, the door shuts tight and is kind of jammed when it is shut, so you have to pull it back in for it to pop open inward (and get the lock combinations right too!) It was quite a challenge after such travels had pretty much destroyed our minds.
We settled in, and from there onward it’s been all beer gardens. I of course had to get back to Augustiner Keller to check that the beer was still good (and yes, it was) – it is still my number one favourite beer in the world! The weather has been very pleasant and sunny, so the beer gardens are thriving. Even taking a stroll through the English Gardens on Saturday resulted in a little break at the Chinese Tower beer garden with some pretzel, obatzda and kartoffelsalat. Weight will be gained with these kinds of habits, but luckily I don’t think this kind of thing is sustainable. I had a big bowl of salad yesterday and it was a very enjoyable break from the traditional German cuisine.
Ralf has given me the grand tour of the Sony office and it is all very relaxed. I am in the “music” room with other fellow Sony project workers. Hans is usually at the stereo laptop in the afternoon picking a good mix. I’m sitting with Thomas and Tibor in the ‘middle of the room’ set of desks. Ralf, Arthur and Steffen haven’t changed at all since my last trip and they’re still heaps of fun. I am quizzing Arthur everyday about German things. We have all been heading own somewhere different every day for lunch so I’ve had vegetable spaghetti from the Turkish place, red curry from the Thai place and some salad from the REWE supermarket downstairs.
Still speaking of food, last night I had an project ‘’launch dinner’’ with Hans, Ralf and Arthur at a place called ‘’Vinaiolo’’ conveniently about 1km from our apartment. It was a pretty fancy Italian restaurant and we had some very fine food, so when Hans was checking his mobile Ralf was joking that he was getting approval from the boss to see if Sony was going to pay the bill or bankroll the next bottle of wine.
As I’m writing to you from our apartment balcony on the second floor, there is a definite waft of cigarette smoke permeating from somewhere. You get that a lot in Europe in general, I’d say. There’s a ton of little differences like that compared to home. For example, I must be the only person who drinks still water in Munich – carbonated water is the norm here (once again a Euro thing). Ralf said, “if there are bubbles, then why would you not want bubbles?”
So this is my first full week in Germany and already there is a public holiday. Today is Ascension Day, which celebrates Christ going into the sky, and thus a day off. The church bells nearby have been ringing for hours. A lot of the people in the office are making it a four day weekend. Not me, I’ve got some work to do and will also spend the morning getting a residence permit.
The language barrier is still a bit daunting and Sarah had some fun times going to the supermarket yesterday. We know some phases in German but are too scared to use them out of fear that they fire back with follow up questions and we have no idea what is going on. It’s manageable to get by, but you do feel a bit stupid sometimes.