Heute ist Faschingsdienstag

Hello!

Everyone should be forewarned: this will be a longer blog post, mainly because of the pictures that are included.


It has been a very interesting week, starting really with before Valentine's Day. The Sunday before, I went to the little boy's birthday party, where I quickly became the villain that was out to capture the little children. I built a Lego dinosaur with the littlest girl and that was actually a lot of fun. I also went out to the store and bought a domino set for the children during the week. The little boy loved it the best, and I would have put a mini video of the toppling dominoes, but this post is already going to be way too long. In addition to the party and the dominoes, all three children and I also created little pom-pom bugs complete with decorations and antennae and little legs. Lastly, the two girls and I built snowmen. It was actually an involved little process, as the oldest girl wanted her snowman to be a very certain way, frustrating the littlest girl and making me decide to build my own snowman the way that I like it.

Coco Loco, which is the place where we went to for the birthday party. Yes, I did actually climb all over that structure, but no, I did not go on the trampoline, even though I could have.

RAWR! (His eyes light up red.)

This was so much fun to do. I think I will be picking up more dominoes for even more toppling fun.

This is my snowman...

...and this is the girls' snowman.

Pom-pom bugs. Mine is the one on the right.

And then, late Thursday, I got sick. I could feel it coming all week. I couldn't concentrate as well, I was losing energy, and then my throat started killing me. I tried everything to stop it: vitamin C, zinc, fruits, juice, tea, vegetables... but sometimes your body just needs to get sick. It's actually good for your body to be able to heal itself without the use of over-the-counter aids, but that's a whole other blog post. This was problematic mostly because the family was leaving on Saturday to go for a week long ski vacation, meaning my vacation was really a recovery time. Well, it didn't matter anyway because the host mother literally gave me a list of things to do. Like, a handwritten, front and back list. Ranging from ironing sheets, including fitted, to cleaning out the refrigerators. Yes, plural. So I decided to organize my time accordingly, and took as much of Saturday and Sunday off as possible. What I ended up having was a cold that should probably win an award for the most debilitating cold on the earth, as I craved sleep and rest like a drug. I'm still not 100%, but at about 90-93% so I'm alright.

And then there's food. I have a hard time cooking when the family's around, so I have created a list of meals to make while they're gone, preserve, and eat later. So far I have made the world's greatest looking chicken pot pie, and some very, very tasty cashew butter cups. I can't take any credit for the pot pie recipe, as I found it here, with a crust recipe that I did alter a bit from the same website, however, I can take 100% of the credit for my cashew butter cups, as I didn't find one anywhere online and they ended up being delicious. I also plan on making a personal variation of tortellini soup, plus Brussels Sprouts Hash and Amish White Bread as meals. I also found a very fun, new way to do breakfast eggs, Eggs on a Cloud, which also happens to be delicious. Something else worth mentioning is a cultural treat called "Schokoladenkuss" which translates to "chocolate kiss." Now, being organic, I had never tried one, but then I discovered a box called "Bio-Kuss." Organic cultural treat. I had to have it. When I had originally asked the mother what they were, she told me that the inside consistency was kind of like a meringue, but not really. I discovered it's like a really, really soft marshmallow! Pictures below.

Bio-Kuss!

Marshmallow goodness.

Egg in a cloud. Happy egg.

My little tub of cashew butter cups.

Detail. They may not look perfect, but they taste amazing.

The world's most beautiful chicken pot pie.

My dinner: slice of delicious pot pie.

Last night I went to the Bavarian National Theater to see a ballet called Dornröschen or Sleeping Beauty. I have one word to describe the experience: fabulous! The theater is absolutely gorgeous, the ballet itself was absolutely gorgeous... it was all-around a wonderful time. Since I couldn't take any pictures of the ballet itself, I found a link to show a few pictures of the performance: Sleeping Beauty. But I did take pictures of the theater! I was so pleased with the performance, I do plan on going again. I will let everyone know what I decide!

Chandelier. Walked up a set of marble stairs to see this.

Beautiful hallway.

These rooms are all stunning.

Some of these pictures are a little blurry. I apologize for that, I had to take some of these pictures quickly.

This is the ceiling inside of the actual theater.

There were so many statues and paintings here that were so beautiful.

This is the view from my seat. Third row. Great spot to be in.

These seats are very old-fashioned, velvet covered. Very comfortable.

And then today I had the most amazing experience at the Munich Botanical Gardens. I had gone to see the tropical butterfly exhibit (which the pictures below show how much I enjoyed it), but I ended up going through the whole place on top of it. There are no words for me to describe my pure, childlike enjoyment at being in a room full of exotic butterflies floating through the air. I had honestly expected less butterflies, as I have been to butterfly exhibits with very few butterflies. But there were easily hundreds of exotic butterflies just everywhere. I could have lived in that room for the rest of my life. Then, when I finally had taken enough pictures, I really wanted to see the rest of the gardens. Breathtaking. There were so many plant species and tropical fruits growing, plus a room that was full of flowers. Not to mention fish and turtles! Shown below are mostly butterfly pictures, but I threw in some others as well.

Munich Botanical Gardens

I had never seen a green butterfly before today.

A butterfly landed on my hand within 10 minutes of me getting in there. I was so happy.

I love that tropical butterflies feed on fruit.

My whole life, I have always wanted to see a Morpho Butterfly.

I love this butterfly.

I love bluish butterflies.

I want camouflage like that.

Blue and orange. Pretty!

I loved this butterfly because it was purplish iridescent.

I got a really good shot of a butterfly eating the fruit.

I'm going to be a butterfly farmer someday I've decided.

They grow exotic fruit here! They also have cacao pods, oranges, taro, and lots more.

TURTLES!

Beautiful flowers.

As far as what's next for me this week, since I have until Saturday to myself, I plan on going out to shop, maybe visiting a palace, and just some general exploring. I have officially decided to spend a week in Paris, France during April, probably Easter week, since I have two weeks of vacation time. For my second week I'm looking at Athens, Greece during June. I'm also hoping to find some more craft things for the children.

I will post again soon, when I have more exciting things to talk about!