Cockeli-DU

Title is the name of one German drinking-game we learned at Wednesday.

Crepes. Finnland - Alcohol nach Wohl (alcohol by your own choice) + Zucker

The picture is actually from Tollwood festival. Tollwood is happening two times a year, in the summer and in the winter. It´s a 30-day long festival and it´s for free - only some of the gigs are having acces fee, if there´s performing someone like Norah Jones, Pet Shop Boys, Michael Bolton etc. Music isn´t the only thing - there are lots of dance workshops, theater, different kind of performances, like circus... anything.

But about the Wednesday. I had such a great night - met charming people at the bar, waited S-bahn which wasn´t running because the renovation, strolled around for first to find working S-bahn -station and then just looking for a open bar.

So we found a way to Pimpernel, formerly gay- and lesbian bar which owner has changed and the bar has turned very straight-friendly. It´s open until 10 am!


So, home at 7 am after expensive taxi-drive and happily fall asleep after having so much fun and meetind such a great people.

And, waking up at 1.pm, noticing my black notebook is missing. It´s the one with all the details, all the contacts, all the memories I have been collecting about this summer. And I can´t say which taxi-firm it was.

Feeling a little bit sad about that fact.

But can´t feel too sad, because tomorrow I am going to Prague!

Kindergärtnerin

I visited in the Kindergarten last Monday - just because I was intrested how different it is from Finlands. The kindergarten teachers were pleased I wanted to come and invited me - not only for a visitor, one of the teachers had a day-off  - so I found myself actually working.

There are couple of big differences from Finland:

1.  There aren´t any age-groups. Three to six -year-olds are in the same group, so the older children learn to give a hand for the youngers when needed and if a kid doesn´t have any brothers or sisters, he/she can still experience what it feels like to be with older and younger kids. The children have still their own "pedagogic time" between 9-13 o´clock in age-groups, and in that time it is not allowed to bring them there or pick them up.
2. The Kindergartens are not established from cityes or towns. Different institutions, like Catolic church or Red Cross (like this one I visited) form them.
3. Only 3-6 year olds go to kindergarten, younger ones go to a "Krippe" (grip), if that exist near and there is space or them. Mothers usually stay home until kids turn to 3 years old.
4. Lunch is served for kids, but if they have any allergies or have some conviction, they must bring their own food. For example, my host-familys son have lactose intolerance, so he must bring his own food everyday with him.

Monday we celebrated one girls 5-year birthday and five to six years olds had their own "Rhytmik" -musical moment. All the children weren´t there, because it costs 25 euros for a year, having "rhytmik" in every monday. In Finland this wouldn´t exist - I mean, of course we have music "lessons"  too, but usually it´s not allowed to do anything you have to pay.

In Germany most people are big fans of Finlands school system - PISA results are high, elementary school takes 9 years, not 4 years, so children doesn´t have to focus on school so hardly in very early age in Finland.

But there is a special thing called "Hort", which we Finnnish people could learn a lot. Hort isn´t kindergarten, it´s for kids in the age of 7-10, and it´s like afternoon club after school for the kids whose both parents are working. So when the 7-years olds schoolday is over at 11pm but parents are doing 8-hour work day and maybe home at four-five pm, children can go to Hort to do their homework and play with other kids, maybe eating dinner. Here Hort is open daily at 10-18.30 o´clock and what´s more important, it´s open in school holidays too. Many parents in Finland found it hard that children have so long summer holiday, 2 and half months, and employers usually give holiday for o month only.

Why don´t we have Hort in Finland, too?

Breathe more, my darling. The air is fresh and there´s lots of it.

 

Balcony in the morning

My host-family haves friends everywhere around the Europe. When they asked me if I wanted to go to Northern Italy, "Südtirol", to see their familyfriends, for a little village St. Martin, just between the Alps, I couldn´t say anything else than "yes".

 

The mother of the family of living here moved away because she wanted to experience the world - and she studied in Salzburg and moved to Istanbul for a work - just like the mother of my host-family - and came back here were she was born. After seeing this pure, original thing, I truely understand why she wanted to come back.

 

 nevermind where I go, I will always have the countrygirls heart

We arrived there lately in Friday night and weren´t doing anything special at Saturday. Just going to the pool (It´s fine when you can see the mountains everywhere) and playing with the kids, little walking around and going for a original Italian pizzeria. But I wouldn´t even wanted to do anything else than breathe fresh air and keep on wondering.

At Sunday we went for a bunch up to the hill and enjoyed the wiew.

 

...and made a little walk.

 

Do you know the feeling you get when you have seen the real thing? 

Mountains were so high and big and... everything. I felt myself like a little girl with too big thoughts. 

I want will go there again.

Another after-weekend -post

It´s still +35 degrees outside - is this the third or fourth week? I can not remember anymore...

I love:
-laying at the beach
-having picnic in the Englisher Garten

you can swim in the river if lake is too far away!

-Jaeger´s   
-the fact that football wm is over - but it was fun though!

 free entry at Odeonsplatz 


-The amazing S- and U-bahn system here. Why don´t we have that in Finland, too? Yes, there´s a metro in Helsinki and surrounding area, but not any elsewhere.

-Sunday entry´s for 1 euro (normally 7 euros) at the Neue Pinakothek  and couple of other museums
  
- Surrounding area of the University - I found a street full of bookstores!
-Crazy, funny, extrovert, open people

I am waiting:
 - trips to Südtirol, which is a small village between the Alps in the northern Italy and Prag!
  -going to hairdresser for 9 euros
  - going to wach Sex and the City 2 auf Deutch
- lovely visitors from Finland! First my family, then great friends :)


I am also:
 -enjoying every moment

Dachau concentration camp

On Sunday we visited this Dauchau concentration camp.

Impressive, unforgettable, making every of us feeling sensitive.

 
The main building and museum

four persons were sleeping in only one bed


 Crematorium

 Only one people succesfully escaped


We first had tour and then had time to lootk more around but we only watched 22 minutes film in a cinema and - it was enough. Nodody of us wanted see more.

Shocking enough for make me thinking everything. Mostly why, why this happened. Why people coudn´t see how wrong it was. Feeling happy that part of history is over and feeling bad about so many suffering past - and how many people suffering still - not in the same way, but still.

You have know the history if you want to understand the future... and make it better.

Heute hier, morgen da, aber immer zu Hause.

Last week have been so hot weather that I don´t have nothing mutch to tell about - if it´s over +35 degrees I do not have energy for nothing more than hanging out at the beach.

But the weekend, yeah. Friday we started, of course, in Jaegers - well, international atmosphere, good friend working there and,  Happy Hour between 6pm and 10 pm  - 1 litre Helles-bier (1 big or two 0,5 litre pint) for three euros. After get to knowing some randoms and playing drinking games with our group we desided to go somewhere near Ostbahnhof just because it´s full of clubs. We got free stamps for KOI Kultfabrik -club and were being photographed for one big party -website of Germany, Partygaenger! Somewhere around three am. we wanted to go home - and that´s not the end of the story...

Yeah. Luckily one awesome au-pair -girl lives very near me and we have the same way home with the S-bahn. The way home should take only 20 minutes, but our´s took actually 3 and half hours. That´s because we had both fell asleep in the S-bahn and ended up at the airport.

So, of course there wasn´t rains coming on before 5.30 we had to wait for and hour and were at home at 6.30. You know the feeling, walking home with your heels and yesterdays make-up and people are doing sports? Uhh.

So, yeah. I actually had to work Saturday but luckily not before 1 pm.

Saturday there was big parade after Germany winning Argentina (of course we watched it in Jaeger´s and listened Don´t cry for me Argentina) and I felt so stupid not having camera with me. But I really will have it with me on Wednesday -going to watch Germany - Spain -game on the big screen on Olympiastadion. So, will take lots of photos then!

Zürich

I made a weekend-trip to Zürich in a good company of my host-family, or actually just with the mom and the kids. I took almost four hours to drive from Munich to Zürich, and the kids were turning impatient, but - I could have watch ages these mountains and other landscapes there were outside of the car.

We were invited to the house of the mothers half-sister, whose husband works for one big IT-company, moving once in three years to other place (they have been living for example in Greek, in Saudi-Arabia, now in Switzerland... wow).  It was nearly 8 pm. when we arrived, so we just ate dinner, took the kids sleeping and had nice conversations with wine and cheese.

Saturday I went to the tpwn, experience the atmosphere of money-smelling city (Zürich = zu rich = too rich). I didn´t have much time to find out before where I should go when I had only one day, but when noticing the coffee-museum by Johann Jacobs were closed for whole summer, I decided just do some walking around in the old-town and the famous Bahnhof-strasse, Fraumünster Church and the Kunsthaus - one of the largest and most famous art-museums of Europe.

The Bahnhofstrasse, the most expensive shopping street of Europe, wasn´t actually my favorite - I have seen these luxurious shops (Chanel, Dior, Lous Vuitton, Tiffany´s etc.) and done the window-shopping already in Munich and well, I am just not that interested about these over-priced things. I wish I will never be that rich that I can´t figure out other options to use 6250 frangs (4628,50 Euros)  than a Hermes bag.

But in the end of this street was lovely fleamarket! I found a cute scarf and found out the salepersons mother was from Finland. Weird and funny, talking Finnish with a stranger in the middle of Zürich!

                          local kids swimming at the pool

Fraumünster Church and the windows painted by  Marc Chagall is beautiful. Taking pictures was forbidden, of course.

The Kunsthaus was really worth for visiting. I spent 4 hours watching cool photographies, modern art, Marc Chagall, Pablo Picasso, old masters and other collections.  And an hour in the bookstore also - not bying anything, just wishing there were more space in my luckage and more money in my wallet, remembering my grandpas all the art-books he had and wondering how many of these books I could actually use in my future work in kindergarten.


In the evenig, beautiful wiew in the S-bahn alongside the Zürichsee -lake, and of course having problems with the tickets again. I am not sure, why I had bought the wrong ticket but luckily the conductor realised I was travelling first time there and I at least had bought some ticket and just told me how to buy the ticket and wished me to nice way home - I was so pleased not to be paying the 80 Swiss frangs (60 euros) penalty.

Another evening with good conversations and wine, love them. Sunday was just going to the beach with children and travelling back. Good people, good stuff. Yeah, Zürich was clean, beautiful and sunny, I loved the Kunsthaus, but... this time, it was the good people making a this trip good. Not the other stuff.