Girls next door

Neighbors door has a sign “McDonalds” which we believed was the office of the restaurant from downstairs... Nope.

The other day, two fairly young girls were going up the stairs carrying groceries. To my surprise they went into door next to ours which I believe makes them “girls next door”. Anyhow, I asked them whether they were McDonald’s heiresses. They are not, they are Azubi’s (=three year apprentices in a German professional education) from McDonalds downstairs. There are five of them that live next door. There is no more room for speculation what’s behind the door … Sadly.

Dork or not?

Last night after the movie we went to a bar with my colleagues. And I felt like I was from Mars. Anything I referred to, they did not know. Layer Cake, Snatch, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Clive Owen, X-Men, Wolverine, Grey’s Anatomy, digg.com, Fantasy Football, Google Page Rank. Is that because I spend two years in the U.S. or is that because I am a dork and pay attention to things that do not matter to “normal” people?

Is something wrong with me or is something wrong with them? According to NPR news podcast, people between 20 and 30 should be extremely tech savvy and extremely flexible. So I should be OK then, right? So it’s them. They are the ones who need a little help in terms of “today”. I feel like a Geisterfahrer (=motorist driving against the traffic on motorways) who believes that he is only one driving in the right direction.

Pierce who?

Something about a year ago I posted about Daniel Craig. This is the time when not many people knew him. Not LOTS of people know him. According to Google News page lots of people google him. Why is that? Because he is the new Bond, James Bond. I saw Casino Royal last night with my work colleagues whom by the way have never heard of Daniel before. It was amazing even though I had to endure him in Germanspeak.

(Spoiler alarm)

He is best Bond ever. Hard, cynic, scary and … in love. I thought the best scene of the movie is the shower scene. For people that have not seen the movie, it’s not a sex scene. Vesper Lynd has a break down and cries sitting down on the cold floor in the shower which seems to be going on for a while because she shivers. Tough James comes in and sits down with her. Kisses her hands. Warms her up. Hugs her. This is when Vesper and all the girls in the audience totally surrender.

Well of course there is the “coming out of the water in swimming gear” scene. Who needs Halle Berry if you have Daniel Craig's bod?

Sorry, Borat. My vote goes to Daniel this week.

So, we moved. Its niiiiice.

After 1.5 months of being crammed in one small room and having to share restroom and kitchen with ecologically correct German couple we are finally moving to our own place. The location of this place is quite peculiar. It is extremely centrally located in Altschwabing. To be exact, it is at Münchener Freiheit. There are many clubs, bars, subways … We liked it because just like New York does this place attract the rich, the poor, the tourists, the stylish and more importantly, the busy. It is close to English Garten which is similar to Central Park.

At this location, we hope that we can somehow cope with being in Munich after leaving New York.

(Yea, we now live on top of McDonalds, but also next to Starbucks and several luxury clothing stores and .... well three Döner stores)

Thank you, Borat!

I am from Kazakhstan. I love Borat. Because now when I meet people they all have heard of Kazakhstan. Before.... not so much. Even some of my friends could not keep the "stans" apart. Who cares if Borat misrepresents Kazakhstan. Movies are not supposed to show the real picture, they are supposed to entertain!

But I do have to say that I was extremely surprised of this movie's success in the theaters. This sign hung in Munich, shortly after the movie was released. People were lining up to see it. I am so proud of my country :)

High five!!!

From my limited US exposure I have to admit that some situations and speeches by Americans were just "on the money"... Anyways, did anyone get the joke about the National Anthem in Kazakhstani version after all these debates with Latin version of the U.S. National Anthem...???
(click here if you dont remember)

Devil wears Lederhosen

If you think that getting into a New York club is a pain, try getting into any beer tent on a weekend at Oktoberfest. There is absolutely no way. Nothing works: no bribing, no sweet talking, no crying, not even selling your soul. The only thing that works is getting into a tent at 9am and claiming a table. The beer is served at 11am. You drink a beer stein in app. 30 minutes and you usually cannot drink more than five without some serious consequences. I think we are all smart enough to figure out that by 3pm you are insanely drunk …

This sounds insane, right? It is. Me, Verena and one of my new colleague decided to be sneaky on Sat, Sep 22 and go at 11am which we thought was a reasonable time during Oktoberfest. Guess what, we were totally wrong, and it did not work, tents were too full already. We tried from 11am to 7pm while taking breaks in between and trying again. We could hear and smell and guess how great the party was inside, but we could not convince ANY doorman to get us in. Until some miracle worked... Miracle: some combination of Guenes the pretty Turkish girl in the pictures, her blond smiley co-worker with plunging neck line that already was in the tent and a Turkish bouncer.

The pictures that you see were taking within the following 3.5 hours. Tents close at 10:30pm and we HAD to catch up with other people that were there (since 9am). Amazingly enough, there were still standing.

>>> PICS here

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Pope in, me out.

Am going to visit Shawn and NY from September 9th until 11th. I have been now in Germany for two and half months and now so looking forward to going to NY for a couple of days to breath some dirty air and get all stressed out about the noise.

While am gone Pope will stop by Munich and have millions of people in the city. Too bad I will be missing the whole excitement of "German Pope".

Talent ? Fraud?

How would you like to have a Super Power? A Super Power that you did not get from a spider bite but one that you have got for by being in obnoxious and loud and funny and gross ? By taking drugs, turning on your friends, collecting tatoos, doing pretty much everything that you Mom told you not to do? And by doing this, you turn into a Superman that commands 50 000 people with a smile and a stupid joke. Girls offer you treesomes and guys beg you to take them on stage. How do you do it? I bet Robbie has no idea how it happened... Somewhere between another rehab and Europe looking for an Anti-Pop-Hero, Robbie reemerged as the Pop-Idol of our time from the ashes of his boygroup time... Thank you, Serendipity.

Why am I telling you all that? Well, I went and saw him on his current World Tour in Vienna this last weekend. ... I do not remember how the concert was, what the decoration was like, whether Robbie sang badly or well. Because we managed to be so CLOSE to the stage that I dont remember much of anything .... except being completely mesmerized.

We were really close. We saw everything, the Calvin Klein underwear, the sweat, the hairy chest, the hole in some rugged old jeans, the insecurity in the eyes when something flew on stage. But we also saw something I cannot describe that made us screaming and stretch our hands towards him. I wonder whether the effect that Elvis had on people of his time was stronger ...

Yea, I know he does not mean anything he says or does. I know he is shallow and rude. But there is something so fascinating about him and his demeanor (on stage). By some wild chance everything he does speaks to me and pretty much all the other twenty-something-year old in Europe. And yea, we realize that its all a show... Who cares, we want more!!!

HERE ARE SOME PICS