I think most people that know our family have heard me talk about Minho. He was a hilarious dog: gangly, uncoordinated and also the sweetest dog I've ever met. Minho loved EVERYONE. He loved people, other dogs, and tolerated little kids climbing all over him (even if he later hid from them he would never DREAM of so much as letting a growl escape). Minho was only a year and a half old, but I'm convinced he packed more life into those 18 months than some dogs fit into 10-12 years and our entire family loved him so much. He loved peanut butter, and kiddie pools, digging holes, playing frisbee (poorly)- see video below, copying Lucy, Mia and he tolerated those bandanas that Andie made him wear.
Wednesday I was a mess and even though my birthday was Thursday, I wasn't really happy or excited since I was grieving the loss of such a great dog. Still, my friends here in Prague and everyone back at home went out of their way to make sure I still had a wonderful birthday. The day started when I got to the bus stop for school around 7:30 and was immediately greeted with a "Happy Birthday" and a box of chocolates from Jena. Then, I got to school and Tamela came in with another box of chocolates, a bottle of wine, and a lotto ticket. Then my bosses came in with wine, more chocolate and flowers.
After school, I went home and opened my gift that Andie had sent with me to Prague. She got me a gold necklace with a flat gold disc/charm that is engraved around the edge with the coordinates of Madison. As she said, we are both far from home now and so she has a necklace like that too. That way, no matter how far from home we go, we'll always remember where we are from. It was incredibly sweet and thoughtful and the necklace itself is gorgeous... I teared up when I opened it.
After that, I baked brownies to take to Munich the next day as a thank you to Greg and his roommates for letting me stay (especially during Oktoberfest since they had several guests and people have to rearrange and bunk with each other to all fit). Then, I grabbed a shower and headed out to a small dinner that Tamela had organized. It was small, and although I really missed some of the people who couldn't make it, it was a great group and the perfect place. The group was Tamela, Will, Katy, Lauren, and me and we went to a place called Sudicka in the Vinohrady area. The place is downstairs (below ground level with windows up towards the ceiling) and it's lit almost entirely by candles... they've let the wax from huge candles make cool drippings down the brick walls and there are giant bookcases everywhere. It's really beautiful and the food and wine was really good. Katy continued the thoughtfulness by showing up with hilarious fake mustaches for everyone and Will paid for my dinner which was really nice.
As a side note, I wore my fake mustache home and I have never been hit on so much in my entire life. Seriously. I guess wearing a mustache makes me seem fun and it's an easy conversation piece but it makes me wonder about the guys who like girls with mustaches. Anyway, once home I skyped with Mom (who told me that she and dad had renewed my NYTimes subscribtion for my birthday which is much appreciated since that's how I stay up to date on U.S. happenings!) and then with Greg, and then I hit the hay since I had a big birthday/travel weekend ahead.
Friday I went to work as usual and when I arrived, my co-teacher had the most thoughtful gift for me. She'd found a kitten Wednesday afternoon which had sidetracked her from having it on Thursday, but it was one of the most thoughtful things I received. She made me earrings from gorgeous green sea-glass and bought me ginseng and lemon tea because she's noticed that I drink absurd amounts of tea. After work, I headed to Florenc (metro stop/bus station) to catch a bus to Munich. The bus was scheduled to leave at 6:00PM and didn't pull in until 5:50, but amazingly we left on time. I had the seat next to me empty so I was able to stretch out and sleep a bit which was much needed and appreciated. The ride was exactly 5 hours, but that included a 40 minute stop at McDonalds (it was supposed to be a 15 minute break but some guy wandered off and it took the driver forever to find him... I personally would have left him but we all know how I feel about people being late... and we also know that I'm not very patient with it).
Greg met me at the bus station and we headed back to his place. When we got back, only his roommate Stefi was there (he lives with several people), but we chatted with her for awhile before heading to bed around 1:30 since I had to be up by 6 to meet friends at the Oktoberfest tents (on opening weekend you have to be there by 7AM to get into a tent if you're with a group of people). Despite setting an alarm, I must have turned it off because I have no recollection of anything going off and I didn't wake up until 8:30. There was no way I was going to make it to even meet up with my group of friends before 9 when the tents actually opened so I took my time eating breakfast, meeting Greg's roomies, and just relaxing. Finally, Greg walked me to the metro and sent me off with very good directions (he had work to get done and I was meeting friends from Houston).
When I arrived at the actual Oktoberfest, it was different than I expected. It's a beer festival and I expected the huge tents (more like actual buildings) and the lederhosen and dirndls, but I didn't expect it to be more like a carnival/fair than anything. There were food vendors everywhere (selling everything imaginable), souvenir shops, games, fun houses, and rides. I made my way towards Hofbraeuhaus (one of the German Beer companies that sponsors a tent) but when I got there I realized I would need to cross the street to get to the entrance and there was a parade going down the street. It took about an hour and it was hard to see much of the parade, plus I was by myself and it was pouring rain. Needless to say, I was really ready to get to the actual tent. When I was finally able to get across the street, I still had to wait another hour or so before I could get inside (the doors are all ropes off and security stands around and decides who to let in... generally only people who have connections or a reservation). I finally convinced a guard that my friends inside had a reservation (even though they didn't) and he escorted me inside and to a random group that I pretended was mine... thankfully the people at the table went along. Once the guard left I thanked the people and then headed off to find my friends... not an easy task among 3,000-4,000 people. For those of you who want to see what it might be like, check out this link: http://news.yahoo.com/photos/beer-flows-as-oktoberfest-begins-1348360496-slideshow/waiter-carries-beer-opening-179th-oktoberfest-munich-photo-115913995.html
Believe it or not, I did finally find my friends around 12:30 and they had a tall table in the standing area. I ordered a beer and a pretzel and just hung out and talked and drank. The beers only come in "masskrug" which are 1 litre glasses... it's a LOT of beer. Before I knew it someone had bought me another which I also drank... 2 beers doesn't sound like much until you take into consideration that it's really over a half a gallon of beer. Although I had fun with everyone and it was great to see Houston friends... people were getting sloppy and the place was loud and crowded and I'd already had way more than enough to drink, so I decided to head back to Greg's. He offered to come pick me up from the metro station but my phone stopped working and even though I was pretty tipsy, I found his apartment just fine. Greg gave me lots of water, bread, and soup and then I went to take a nap.
When I finally woke up, sober and thankfully not hung over other than still being really tired, Greg and I decided to head back to the festival to walk around and see it at night and maybe sit outside and enjoy a pretzel (me) and a beer (him). When we were leaving, another guy who was staying at Greg's apartment didn't have evening plans so we invited him along. The festival during the day was not truly my thing, but at least fun for a bit... Oktoberfest at night is not something I ever care to see again. Anyone who knows me well knows that I am super sensitive to smells, I detest drunken crowds (okay, crowds in general but especially drunken ones), dirty places (not dirty as in outside dirty, but as in city grime-y), fair/carnivals (especially rides), and that I hate vomit even more than the normal human being... combine all of that and you get Oktoberfest at night. If you are one of those people who love the fair, Oktoberfest would be a blast. Alas, I am not.
Even though it really wasn't my thing, Greg and I had David with us and I didn't want to be a spoilsport, so we went to the Augustina tent (less touristy and more actual Germans... which also means slightly less drunken). We sat in the outside area and ordered roasted chicken and I got a water while the boys got beer. As soon as we sat down we realized that one of the guys at the big table we were at was the reason the seats were available. Every 3-5 minutes he would turn to us and say: "I had sexy time with my step-mother. She was 57. She had a great ass." Then he would go back to his beer. It was really weird. Anyway, that guy finally left and we were joined by some German men who talked business and politics. We finally left when Greg realized that I was turning into an icicle.
We headed to bed when we got back and then slept in on Sunday (didn't get up until 11AM... it was wonderful). Then we went to a bagel shop around the corner and had brunch and then wandered Munich a bit... saw some gorgeous gardens and ate some apple strudel. We finally headed back for a lazy Sunday afternoon watching a movie before we headed to the bus station so I could catch the bus home. The bus was super late leaving because there was some sort of confusion with these 3 girls who wanted on but had standby tickets and some guy who had a ticket but couldnt find the hard copy, only the email confirmation. All of them were clearly drunk and being super obnoxious. The whole bus was annoyed b/c we left 45 minutes late, but it got worse when one of the really drunk girls threw up all over the bus bathroom... not exactly a pleasant trip home. Thankfully, I was sitting far away from the bathroom and the drunk girls next to a really nice girl from New Zealand and I slept most of the way.
I didn't get home until around midnight but I had MAIL waiting on me... a birthday card and present from Pepops (thank you!) and a postcard from Hilary (also thank you!). Getting mail in a foreign country is even better than getting it in America because I'm so far from home.
All in all, it was a great weekend. I have a 3 day weekend ahead (no work on Friday!) but I'm looking forward to more sleeping in, exploring, and just being lazy. This weekend was amazing, but I'm still pretty tired and it's great to have a short week ahead.
I'll keep you posted!
I've read this several times before, but you captured a lot of life in this piece. It still makes me weepy when I read it.
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