Project Garden

Was watching one of those shows in the television and they featured about Guerilla Gardening in Spain. Basically it is gardening in public spaces.. places that are normally left in the city..and a few people in Madrid I think decided to make use of the land and planted some vegetables.. This got me inspired to make a small vegetable patch in my garden. If this works I might turn out the rest of the space into a real vegetable garden. Well let's just see how this goes.. I am at the moment in Munich so there is nobody watering my plants and I just hope they are not dead yet especially those I was leaving to germinate..

 A treasure we found buried deep in the earth.. I wonder what this thing is? Just pure concrete!

 phew! this wasn't any easy work

 And some of the seeds I am trying to grow.. which me luck.. they are coriander, sweet basil, peppers and tomatoes.. when I left they were sprouting so I hope that continues.. and that it is not as warm as it is here there back home.

Weekend in Amsterdam

Had a chance to go to Amsterdam this weekend for a conference and in between some time to meet up with friends. I am amazed at how friendly people in the Netherlands are.. or maybe I am just a tourist and I just think so.

Luckily we could  stay at a friend's house in Utrecht, not really far from Amsterdam about 25 minutes with an Intercity train.

The conference was really inspiring and really motivating .. however also very frustrating at some point. In one of the lectures it was about the advantages of Montessori schools versus classical schooling. My colleague told the lecturer that she is very aware of the advantages of Montessori teaching but she just could not afford to send her son to a Montessori school because at least it remains to be an elitist school.The lecturer did not know what to say and just said I don't know...The lecturer was a representative to United Nations even... hmmm..

So much fun with C, D and S.. prost!

The one in the middle is my colleague S. and the other one is my friend C. who was  so nice to accomodate us at her lovely place in Utrecht

And here's another dear friend O. who I have not seen the last 5 years???! Goodness to think we are just about 400 kilometers away..hope to see him sooner next time .. count down starts now...

Sunshine weekend and chores galore

The sun has been smiling on us lately and it feels almost as if it's summer! Thank goodness winter is over! Everyone's just hoping now that this good weather stays - really stays till at least the start of Autumn. Anyway, despite the sun-shiny weather we are loaded with lots of chores! And I mean lots! The V is heading the task force to clean the house especially the basement and get rid of all our junk - or basically my junk! Goodness me - I cannot help myself - I am just a collector of all sorts. So while everyone is basking in the sun out there - you know where to find me. On top of that I decided to embark on a new project and that is project garden!

I decided to make a vegetable patch in our small garden and if this is successful - I will make a second one next year. Although very small it is not an easy work to dig and remove the grass on it. Whew! We did not have enough time last week so we will continue with this as well.

Due to this I have to turn down lots of activities - there are weekends when there are just too much invitations, when the weather's good, some people can't just help but have brunches and barbeques. Aside from that I will miss out on my monthly scrapbooking meeting.. oh well at least I have my little patch of earth to unleash my creative energies :)

Mom is coming to town

Finally! My mom got her most awaited visa and will be visiting us here really soon - well not that soon but in a month's time. The V. and I are very excited and are making lots of plans now what to do- Hopefully the weather stays this nice till summer so we could really do lots of trips around Germany and even visit neighboring countries.

Munich Part 2

One of the things I love about Munich was shopping and browsing through the little shops around town. The V. found us  a really charming hotel, centrally located and very quiet nevertheless. The name of the hotel is Das Hotel, in case you find yourselves in Munich - just 10 minutes walking distance to Marienplatz or 5 minutes away from the train station.

The room is so big and spacious - It is much bigger than  the first floor of my house (ok I have a small house). The hotel also offers whole day tea and cake- just help yourself. You can bring it in your room or enjoy it in the tea room which is so quaint and sweet. Lots of very good tea selection.

Just a few meters from the hotel, I found this really interesting shop - Apartment Shop Around the World - this is literally shopping around the world. You can imagine a small shop with so many colourful things from all over the world in it!  It took me a lot of ohs and aahhs.. if you are visiting Munich and don't really have to check all the great museums this is a must place to see!

Just click on the pictures to have a more detailed look into the stuff you see.

All those little corners and those little things -. they all have a story to tell and just waiting to be discovered.

Best of all - service is super friendly. The owner was just chatting with the customers - giving them all the time they want to touch everything! Of course we also had a little chat.. wish we have such a shop like this in Frankfurt.

 

Till next visit----
It seems I just sort of landed in all these nice places without really planning. I wanted to see one of the places in my travel guide when I saw this shop

Spices galore!!! Anything imaginable from all parts of the world.

The good thing about it is you could just take as much as you like as long as it is a minimum of 20 grams. I've cooked some of the spices there this week and they were oh so yummy! Will definitely check this out again - they also have a corner for sweet mixes (drinks, coffee flavouring etc. ) but did not even go to the sweet corner.. so tempting already this part of the shop.

This is the curry corner .. so difficult to choose which to get

Click on this picture to see what different kinds of curry you could find - you have the erotic curry, the sex curry and in between the maharaja wedding curry (",)

This is the salt corner . didn't know salt has so many colours from bright bright red to pink- gray - white and even black!

Of course there were various oils, jams and whatever your heart desires! I could have taken more pictures but the kind saleslady told me not to take so much - I really don't know why because what is the difference between 3 and 10 pictures? Nevertheless she was still friendly so I was happy with what I have. This is definitely a place to go in Munich as well - don't miss it. Beside the spice shop is the chocolate shop! I did not visit that one but judging from this one I think that is also one place to go, Schuhbeck's Spice Store very near Marienplatz (there are actually 2 of them but the bigger one a few blocks  from Marienplatz)

Trip to Munich part 1

I have been once in Munich 10 years ago but that is just a stop over on the way to Italy and to go beer  drinking in Oktoberfest. The experience was fun and memorable but it is something that you don't really need to do again unless you love to drink beer in the company of  hundred/thousands drunken tourists and Germans.

This time I got the chance to see more of the city and it is beautiful - the buildings are all so marvelous and it just have this sort of "big city" flair to it compared to Frankfurt. There were also lots of tourists despite the cold (and wet) February weather. Of course I have to check Marienplatz which is just part of visiting Munich and luckily it's 12 noon so I get to enjoy, see and hear the chimes from the old city hall's clock.

There's a whole show going on because under the clock there is a sort of balcony where you can see figures moving along with the chime. I think this took more than 10 minutes.

This is a zoom and you can see the king and queen with 2 other figures, I think 2 hunters and underneath some dancers.

Now in front of the king and queen some fighters on horses  and at the same time some  soldiers dancing and twirling. All of this accompanied with music from the bells. 

Hello World

As always - I have a number of posts in my mind to write about but nothing came out of it - obviously. Spring it seems is finally here - hurra! Just had our February break which was really nice and spent it in Munich - will post some pictures soon! What a beautiful city - I have never seen a city here in Germany with so many tourists in such a slow - non peak season! It's probably the most visited place in this country - on the way to Neuschwanstein - the famous castle where Disneyland is modelled after.

Today was a not so significant day but very touching and interesting with regards to my work - the class I have at the moment (since end of October)  has been handled by almost 4 teachers within a year so you could imagine how  that class is. Nevertheless - despite being seen as the wild bunch in our school - truly love the personalities I have in that class.

One of the kids (girl who has been almost in the class for almost 3 school year) came to me  just out of the blue (we were putting things for our snack  in the oven)

Girl - You know what Mrs. G, you are the best teacher ever!
Me: (trying to look very non-committal but indeed very pleased to this child's comment - sorry I am easy) why do you think so?
Girl - Because you are the only teacher who does so much with us - differnt work, adventures, projects, cooking  - LOTS of things! Mrs. So and so did just this,, Ms. so and so did nothing ......Mrs.....
Me: Thank you very much. I'm glad you're enjoying our class (beaming inside - truly the girl analyzed this and was not just trying to be a teacher's pet -haha!) 

Although I am a Montessori teacher - I try to include different things in my curriculum - things I've learned from the German system or things I remember from my own childhood and things from books of course.  I still have a lot to learn! But this comment really made my day! Not only because of the positive comment but the child can see my effort in bringing in different ways of learning to our class (the girl is by the way only 5 but very smart - already does multiplication and comprehension sheets in reading!)

Updates

It was supposed to be an exciting week at work. I am doing a project with the kids on the different continents and of course I started with Asia - I also got a lot of involvement from the parents. Unfortunately I got sick so was out since Wednesday ... so sad to miss the event and the food!!!... in the end I missed Indian, Chinese and Japanese day.. But had to stay at home - I could not even get out of bed . To make matters worst, I had to go to the doctor's and sit in the most uncomfortable chair for an hour and half with the worst headache and pain from all over! I hate these doctors appointments here - they tell you to come at a certain time but let you wait nevertheless for at least an hour!!!

So that was the start of my February - aside from that I have started the procedure for my Mom's trip - well there are a  lot of things to organize behind it but just gotten started with  getting an approved  inviation from the Aliens Department in our town. I even made a mistake when they asked for our mortgage.. and The V said this might affect the duration of the visa -they will be computing our earnings plus mortgage plus cost of living and costs of  having a guest!  Good thing The V was able to reach the woman who got my papers- Whew - I just hope my mom gets her visa and on time.

Happy Weekend

 How was your weekend? If you think I have been drinking the last few days - then you are absolutely wrong- was just goofing around in the store- in Germany we go to this big beverage market to get our bottled water and other drinks like cola or smirnoff's and I just happen to see this big bottle of vodka and the big bottle of beer right at the entrance, beside the recycling machine for disposable plastic bottles and tins - hmm how do you recycle this big bottle? re-use nd refill  it of  course -- The V. cannot resist but join in the fun as well. ---
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Updates

Just back to work and already tired - the winter months really seem to drag..(wish I could go somewhere warm for a holiday)  Can't wait for Spring to come especially I have something to look forward to. The V. and I decided to invite my mom over for Spring and early summer - she could stay up to 12 weeks (visa ). I just hope this would all push through - you'll just never know with all these visa requirements.

Aside from that life is as usual - The V. is happy with his new job and I am doing ok with my classroom. Finally gotten used to working with 3-6's again after a year and half school year with toddlers..Although sometimes they tend to be a bit naughty (and very loud) - this doesn't happen with the toddlers as they are all still innocent.

I am back with studying again - I have to get back to my routine though because I haven't really sat and looked at all my requirements - hopefully it will all be over this summer.

New Year Plans

The V. and I enjoyed our Christmas holiday being home most of the two weeks - there were just too much snow and aside from that we upgraded our home entertainment system... After many years of rejecting it - finally we decided to get a new television - and a flat screen at that. Also I got myself a nintendo wii :) to have a bit of an exercise using wii fit - so far so good actually. I really did not gain any extra pounds during the holiday binge.. (i was doing my wii fit exerice almost everyday at 40 minutes)

We spent the holiday with friends who got snowed in on Christmas Eve, they ended up sleeping here. It was so nice that in the morning we all had brunch together - I felt we were almost like family. We played a game, ate a lot and went to chuch even two times!  - traditional midnight mass with a brilliant choir and one from our church in the afternoon.

For New Year's we spent it at our friends' house - they live on the 11th floor overlooking the whole town and even up to Frankfurt! Before that we stuffed ourselves with a make your own sushi dinner. The fireworks lasted until almost 1 am - an hour! That have been lots of money! Thousands and thousands of Euro for sure! We even had breakfast again with our friends - since she's Japanese, it is a tradition to have breakfast together on the 1st day of the year (not sure if this applies to all or just her family). We ended up having breakfast/lunch together again.

Looking back at 2010

I was chatting with a friend and she told me about her new year's resolutions and it made me think if I should plan on doing some resolutions myself. The only problem is - I knew already what I should do (lose weight) which I don't even come close to ; update my blog often (which I always tell myself but can't seem to manage to)  These  are  aspirations not  resolutions and do not need the end of the year to be done.

So while just reading things in the net I came across this article Seven Questions to Ask About Last Year and I just so love the questions the author wrote about that I want to write it here as well. This blog has become the only source of my journal writing the last few years (again one of those failed resolutions) and I thought it would be a good way to document it through my blog.

Here goes:

1. If the last year were a movie of your life, what would the genre be?
I would have loved my movie to be a comedy musical but it was more of a drama. The V. was 2x out of jobs this year - we did not know what the future holds - what would happen to the mortgage, future plans, etc. before end of this year he got a new job - happy ending indeed, hopefully till ever after..

2. What were the two or three major themes that kept recurring?

• hoping for the best despite the uncertainties
• answered prayers

3. What did you accomplish this past year that you are the most proud of?

• passing my Montessori theory exams 
• good working relationship with clients and colleagues
• getting out of the crisis unscathed 
• finally was able to go home to see my family after 4 years! 

4.  What do you feel you should have been acknowledged for but weren’t?

• compensation from my hard work

5. What disappointments or regrets did you experience this past year?

• I failed to document more of my life in my blog (my only source of journalling at the moment)
• I could not keep up with some of my activities (book club, bible studies) and had been reading less 
• Disappointed with myself for not being fit or trying to at least do something about it 
• Not getting real compensation for my work and efforts
• and something too personal to share

6. What was missing from last year as you look back?

•   time spent on travel  
• time spent on leisure activities 
•  time spent with friends 

7. What were the major life-lessons you learned this past year?

• It really is hard to reach a goal and it means sacrifices (whole summer studying) but it's worth it (passed the exams!)
• You'll never know what tomorrow brings and you just have to be hopeful and keep the Faith
•  It is good to have some savings for the rainy days. The V. and I realised how  we were living and spending our money that we did not really have such a big problem during our financial worries. 

Whew, this took time than I thought. Tomprrow I shall write about things I am looking forward about 2011 - the dawn of a new decade-


 
 
 

Christmas Break

It's the first day of my Christmas break and I am so glad I need not go to work .. the streets are covered with lots of snow!!! Snow everywhere...unfortunately, it is the first day of my Christmas holiday and I am sick! I am very patient today and merely stayed in bed and drunk this nasty cough syrup! Yikes!

Anyway, thought I do some experiments at home and decided to do some cooking - in times like this I get a bit creative ;) - maybe it's all that snow giving you a feeling of being stucked somehow.

All snowed-in  and decided to make this meal for The V. and me - yummy.. stuffed Hokkaido baked in oven ;)

and my attempts of making a korean pancake - which turned out really yummy!

Christmas Baking

One of the common traditions here in Germany during Christmas is to bake Christmas cookies called "Weihnachtsplätzchen". My friend ( an authentic German) and I decided our own tradition as well and since the last 3 years, we managed to bake some Christmas cookies as well. And I could say every year we are getting better ;)

 Here's Anna looking very serious -- we are doing coconut meringue ..which turned out really the yummiest!!!!

 Anna and me looking really happy...

 This is a new recipe called orange-cardamon cookies,..so good ;)

 And whole wheat butter spiced cookies with lemon curd ...so good!

Enjoy!