Last week before holidays!!

Well, it's almost there!! After having made the Proficiency exam, this last week is being very, very relaxing. No more study, but meeting friends, going together for diner, giving nice walks with all this snow... It's certainly cold (-10°C), and of course I still have to do some work at the office, leaving everything ready before the end of the year, but the rhythm is already different.


But at this point I just realized of big "problem". Which one?? Yessss, I didn't buy anything for Christmas yet!! Well, I certainly have no more time here in Munich, since today I have to prepare my luggage, tomorrow evening I'm going to a big Christmas party and I'm leaving on Saturday morning. But I still have some hope!!! I will spend some days in Spain before Christmas/Epiphany, so I hope I'll be able to find some time (and ideas) to help the Three Wise Men, Olentzero or Santa Claus, whoever is bringing the gifts :)

These holidays are going to be quite long, I'll be in Spain longer than three weeks! But as I usually try to do, I won't spend much time at the same place. I will be (at least) in Laredo, Zaragoza, Madrid, Córdoba and Granada, not that bad, and of course, I will visit some days Bilbao and Santander. I also planified some hiking if the weather is good enough. My parents always "complain" when I go home, they claim that even being at their home I hardly stay there, but you know, parents always complain about these things.


And another very important thing now at Christmas is, of course, taking care of what I eat... My capacity to eat a lot is quite big, jeje, so I have to be very careful. In last months I got some 3-4 kilos, too many journeys, exams, bad weather outside and therefore less sport... and now Christmas, the "worst" period of the year, coming in just some days. What can I do?? I usually get some 3-4 kilos every year during this time. Is there any way not to do it?? I think there isn't, at least visiting my mother!! Well, all mothers are like this, aren't they? And after Christmas I have plenty of time to lose what I gain, don't I? :)

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to taking the holidays this year. Having a relaxing time, visiting as many people as possible, eating good food (but not too much, jeje), travelling around a little bit, staying at home with the family... All this kind of stuff you always think about when the year is about to finish, don't you? And it's just in a couple of days!!! :)

English exam

After several weeks preparing the Proficiency exam, I finally made it yesterday. So this was the second time in six weeks I had to spend a whole day making a language exam! Well, I was certainly not lucky with the dates. A business travel in June made me postpone this one, and therefore, almost have it at the same time as the German KDS. Too much for such a short time, I think.

I find really stressing spending a whole day in a big classroom, with many other people, repeating once and again different exercises for hours... wouldn't it be better just to talk with an examiner who could test you in all the different aspects (reading, speaking, listening...) for a couple of hours?? Well, I understand it'd be too many people, not that easy to implement!

My biggest concern was not to think in German. English is certainly easier than German, and I have been learning for many more years. I think my background is better in English, but now I'm in Germany, which means a strong influence in the daily tasks, apart from having been preparing the KDS for months. Too many languages for my little brain, I guess!!

But it was OK, even if I'm not completely happy with my performance in the exam (I've never been in my whole life, I think), but I think I should pass the exam. The results will be published on January 25th. A little bit latter, in mid-February the KDS. I hope I will pass both of them, it'd certainly be a great relief for me!

But if I do so, what will be the next?? I can't be without doing anything!! :)

Snow is already here!!

It had already been snowing during this last weak, but very slightly. But yesterday was finally everything white. Well, I really love snow, it's something I always link with my childhood, but last year it was like this for almost four months, and that's maybe too much...

Anyways, December is a nice month to have some snow. The streets have plenty of Christmas markets, giving a nice atmosphere to the city. They have been opened this weekend, so perfect timing in that sense!

We'll see how this Winter is, but since you always have to think of the positive side, here I have my first "Winter picture" from this year, just taken from my home!

Harry Potter and the deathly hallows

I watched yesterday the last part, or rather "half of the last part", of the series of Harry Potter, "Harry Potter and the deathly hallows". I watched it in English, the original version, which is much easier to me than the German version. Maybe at Christmas I will watch the Spanish version, we'll see.

The film is pretty different from the previous ones, as the last book is. This "year" Harry Potter and his friends are not attending the courses at Hogwarts anymore. The situation has worsen and Volvemort has retaken his powers and the control of the situation, and Harry and his friends must stay hiden to avoid him, while searching the Horcruxes... I don't tell anymore...

The film is pretty dark now, no more "childish" stories, naive situations and so on. The story has become "adult", and the children have taken a very different role. Death and relationships are now important. The atmosphere is dark, the landscapes and nice and well filmed, and like in the book, the story is good. I never liked very much the actors, but they do it a little bit better in here (they are getting much older than their own characters).


The film is about 150 minutes long, but it really doesn't seem that long. And this is the worst, when it finishes, even having read the books, knowing the end and that it was just "half" of the story, you really feel disappointed! Do I have to wait now for another year?? Well, I guess it was necessary for such a long and complex story... but also in order to earn twice the money of a single long film!

Anyways, from my point of view, the film is worth watching, specially if you have read the books, I highly recommend it. And Now, well, just one more year for the final "half" part!!

Trip Teruel/Soria

I was visiting for some days two of the most "in-the-middle-of-nowhere" places in Spain. The regions of Teruel and Soria. I know it's not the most usual place to visit, but this makes it also nice. Plenty of small and very little known villages and towns seem to be spred all around these areas. These two provinces are likely those with the least inhabitants, and the landscape shows clearly that very few people live and move around there.

However, the visit is worth. Several small villages show quiet clearly how life used to be, not so much time ago. Travelling was difficult, and the orography was determinant for people life. History is anyways very present in these places, as they were all ancient borders between the Christian and Muslim Spain. Some little and so far unknown villages take the name "del Cid", for instance. Castles are everywhere, very small but ancient churches, together with huge and very historical cathedrals that don't "fit" with the present towns (Burgo de Osma has a cathedral that many, many big cities don't!!)

Gastronomy is also worth. In Southern Aragon the traditional desserts, with strong arab influence, are really great. Meanwhile, in Castilla, a region with plenty of sheep everywhere, lamb is extraordinary. A visit to any of these places must have also this "culinary" contribution.

As conclusion, places that maybe are hard to live in, very isolated, not good weather condition and very little population, but really worth to visit for some days!!

NBA

Tonight starts again the NBA! I have been waiting for a long time, I really miss it! I already paid my subscription to the ILP of the NBA (http://ilp.nba.com) and I can watch every single game at home, whenever I want within 24 hours, I love it. I recognise it's somehow a "vice", but everybody needs them, right? :)

In Germany it's not that easy to watch the games, and the interest is basically limited to Nowitzki and no more. In Sky the broadcast some games, at least the y did so last season, but usually just "live", that is, from 1am to 5am. No way...

Let's see what happens, I'm looking forward to seeing how Heat is playing with James, if Lakers keep on being the team to beat, if Thunders are improving even more... The regular season is apparently not such a great show, but I like it as well. But of course the Playoffs are great!

I don't like Heat or Dallas, I love Celtics, Bulls and San Antonio. Not that much Lakers, but they are likely the best team. Personally I would like that the final of 2010 were repeated, but I think it's pretty difficult...

Tip-off tonight in your a few hours!!! We'll see what happens!!!

Busy week

I have spent the whole week attending an Intelectual Property course at work. It's been interesting, since you can see very different people related with this matter, patent attorneys, judges, politicians... but I was really exhausted on Friday. Besides, apart from that, I keep trying to study a little bit German in the evening, the exam is in a couple of weeks, so I'm pretty much tired altogether.

Apart from that, weather is getting worse and worse. Temperature is falling down, we are around 6-8 degrees now and it's raining. I just checked and I saw the weather forecast for the next week... and it could already snow on next Saturday!!

This week there were holidays in Spain... of course not in Bavaria! The celebrations are basically in Zaragoza, since the patron saint of this city is Pilar and the holiday is on this day. There is an offering of flowers to the Virgin, and of course, people from Laredo were also in there in the offering! As you see, people in Laredo are everywhere (whenever there is party!)

Weekend without Oktoberfest

Well, this is certainly true, it's the first weekend without Oktoberfest in about a month... but not in Laredo!! Don't you believe me? Just check this picture!


So not only Oktoberfest in Laredo, but the Emperor Charles V himself in there to inagurate it! Well, it's funny to think about it, I can't figure out how Oktoberfest in Laredo could be! I guess it's not like in Munich, at least not that big, jeje, but this is the second year they celebrate it and, apparently, it has been a great success. Well, I think party, alcohol and fun are always a great success everywhere, aren't they?

On the other hand, this weekend I did nothing special apart from preparing the KDS, but I went this morning to run for a while, and I just realized that today was the Munich Marathon, because when I was coming back home I saw Rosenheimer Straße with the runners.

Well, I guess I'll never run a Marathon, but I usually run a very nice path along the Isar that is not that bad. I just checked the length using, of course, jeje, Google maps, and it states that it's 3.2 km long, which means that every time I run around 5.8-6 km.

Taking into account the time I need to run this distance, it means I could maybe run the Marathon in around 4h:45m... could I?? Well, I guess my knees would complain, and not only my knees, jeje, and I'm probably very optimistic, after several kilometers your rythm always drops... You need training and motivation and also being a little bit crazy. Well, I'm probably more than a little bit, but not (so far) in this way! But who knows, maybe one day in the future! :)

Buying an appartment in Germany

Well, I'm pretty sure it's the same in any country, but my first experience with buying an apartment has been in Munich, and since I somehow don't feel 100% sure with my German, I always feel I could have missed something, made a mistake, forgotten a detail...

Actually my German is more than OK, but the specific language used for bureaucratic stuff drives me crazy sometimes. And of course, every country has different regulations, procedures... it's not only a question of language, it's also a question of finding out how it works in here.

Right now I already received a "Meldung" (communication) from the real estate telling me that works already started, by the way, with four months of delay (bureaucratic problems, they claim). No problem, it's fine, but they tell me to make the first payment before the end of October, and what happens? I should also receive a communication for the notary to confirm that everything is fine... but I didn't so far!!

I just gave a call and they told me it could take long, later than in October (bureaucratic problems... again) and it could even be solved in longer than a month. I'm not in any hurry to pay, at all, but I'd rather be said just one thing and not have to talk to the real estate to explain this situation!

Well, as you see, these stories are basically the same everywhere, and somehow all these situations make life "funny". What could I speak about if not?? :)

Oktoberfest is over, Fall is already here...

Yesterday it was the last day of the Munich Oktoberfest. Weather was pretty good during these last weeks, which helped a lot the Oktoberfest to get new records in attendance... and beer! But as though somebody had planified this, the Oktoberfest was yesterday over and weather has already changed today. The day's been rainy, it already seems to be much shorter, plenty of leaves are lying on the floor, no more crowds walking around in the street... Fall is already here! The worst is still to come, at the end of October we'll get again the Winter time, days will get extremely short and in some more weeks snow will likely arrive... C'est la vie... à Munich ! Well, one must always be optimistic, it's not that bad, even nice when it's not that long. And you can always keep nice memories from these last days!!

German exam

I'm pretty busy these last weeks, since at the end of October and beginning of November I will do the KDS (Kleines Deutsches Sprachdiplom) exam, a German exam from the Goethe Institut, equivalent to Proficiency in English. I hope this will be my last German exam, there is nothing else apart from exams for language specialists, it's not my case.
And the funny question that arises is, when can I practice my German?? Yes, I live in Germany, but at work most of the tasks are done in English, and most of my colleagues are also foreigners, so we can speak either English or French, even Spanish! And outside, most of my friends are also foreigners, or Germans who speak Spanish, same situation!
Of course I can watch TV, read newspapers and, being surrounded by the language, you get a lot every day without notice, but you really have to make an effort to read, watch TV and speak German. Nowadays it's so easy to keep in touch with other places and people, to have access to international channels, newspapers, books... You can really forget that you are living abroad, not good if you want to improve the language!
Doing these exams has somehow become my only way to force myself to do so :)

Back again!

Well, here I'm again. It's been almost a year since I last wrote anything. Just my fault, I have always something to write, I can't say "I have nothing to tell"... I'm just lazy...
Today I was just changing a little bit the appearance of the blog, trying to make it a little bit more beautiful, using a very nice picture of mine, taken last year in Laredo. I hope you like it.
I also decided to write only in one language, basically in English. Too much work if I have to translate everything I write. It doesn't mean I won't write anymore in Spanish or any other language. Just a question of being practical!
I will also try to link it together with the facebook, so that people can access from one to the other. I have to adapt myself. I don't like very much the facebook, it's kind of "big brother" to me, but it became the best way to keep in touch or catch up with many friends.
Well, we'll see if I'm not lazy again in some weeks, I'll try to keep it updated!!