Prost!

Cheers!

Well we are back from Oktoberfest and are now fully recovered!

We headed off last Thursday avo, crossing the ditch to France on the ferry and driving through the night, passing through France, Belgium, (though it was almost into Holland instead when our dumb and dumber drivers Phil and Phil got us lost in France!) and down through Germany. Only highlights of this 20 hour drive, made that long due to the 2 hourly smoke breaks for 20 mins, were being reprimanded at the border for speeding and trying Spag Bol flavoured chips in Belgium. Dull.

We arrived into Munich and we're dropped at our hotel around 10am. Ryan and I were the only two of the 24 odd people on the bus staying at the hotel. The others were split into a group of 7, 13 and 2 unlucky sods got to go to the hotel with Phil and Phil. Needless to say, our impression of the tour company was plummeting, given their booking of us into 4 different hotels across the city!

After being dropped off, we found our way to the nearest supermarket, grabbed some food for lunch and then figured out our way into the city centre and Beerfest grounds at Thereienwiese, thanks to the directions of our b&b owners.

The grounds were massive. Kind of like Mystery Creek back home if you've ever been! But instead of tractors and farm equipment, this was beer halls and carnival rides, food stalls and the like! We wandered round taking it all in the avo before opening day and the crowds. Did a spot of sightseeing, taking in Munich's St Paul's church and an enormous statue which was the symbolic figure of Bavaria. Or some such thing.

Turned out our hotel was in Pasing (west Munich) so after we'd had enough wandering round, we trammed back to our b&b. Found a cafe/restaurant where they could understand I was asking for the menu, and made out enough of the German on the menu to order a pasta dish and pizza (Italian in Germany, go figure!) Had some delicious beers with dinner, a Radler that you could drink like lolly water and a VERY nice beer (better than speights???) rated by Ryan, a HefeweiBbier naturtrub. Mmm.

We hit Opening Day of Oktoberfest bright and early to be able to get a table. We joined the line for the Lowenbrau hall (supposedly popular with Antipodeans) and were let in at 9am. Then we waited and waited. Until 12pm for the keg to be tapped and the festival to start and a beer to be set down before us. We chatted to the aussie couple and two German couples who had sat down with us at the table. We ordered a large pretzel, mainly for the novelty factor. We spotted several people we knew in the crowds and caught up with them. And finally it was 12. After a rousing speech, of which we couldn't understand a word, the festival was opened and our beer wench turned up. Oh dear. Ryan was hoping for a busty local gal, but lucked out badly!! She must be the oldest, ugliest beer wench out. Short and dumpy and no cleavage. But she brings us beer! We prost each other and settle in. Feck those steins are heavy! Ryan made short work of his first and I get to the bottom of the litre eventually! One of the German gals is drinking lighter coloured beer, so we question her and she owns up to be drinking, how you call it... Shandy! So I promptly ask her if she can order me one for my next drink. We dine on hot chickens and sing and dance on our benches. We learn the drinking song:

Ein Prosit, Ein Prosit, der Gemütlichkeit

Ein Prosit, Ein Prosit, der Gemütlichkeit

Oans! Zwor! Drei! Gsuffa!

It doesn't translate exactly but generally means this:

A toast, a toast, to happiness (or good cheer/the good atmosphere/fellowship/sociability/cosiness)!

A toast, a toast, to happiness (or good cheer/the good atmosphere/fellowship/sociability/cosiness)!

One, two, three, drink!

Its played VERY regularly, and is followed by Prosting steins with everyone around you within reaching distance of clanging your great stein with and drinking.

We meet lots of new people and have a fabulous, fabulous time! We satisfy our munchies by grabbing a 50cm long Bratwurst sausage on our way out of the grounds and head home to sleep it off!

On Sunday we head to Dachau concentration camp, Germany's first camp and spend several hours there taking it in. Very sobering place, and mad to think people could put their fellow man through such violence, indignities and atrocities.

Then we head to Munich Olympic Stadium for a bit of a wander round and then the BMW museum/factory. We wrap up the sightseeing and our drivers get us lost again getting us back to our various hotels, (they maintained their perfect record on getting us lost every time they drove us somewhere, by getting lost leaving Munich the following night)!!!

On Monday, we kill time waiting for our luggage to be picked up by watching some great cartoons, The Smurfs, Goofy, Tom and Jerry and Sesame Street. In German of course! Watching The Cosby's in German also gave us a laugh! We head into the Beerfest for a second go. We were hoping to do some of the carnival rides, but the day is a shitter, raining and miserable, so instead we head into a hall from the get-go and order steins. Twist our rubber arms! We drink in several tents, and late avo find ourselves drinking with some more aussies and a dutch couple. We run into our bus tour buddies and find out we are in the tent where if you're a chick and don't want your panties ripped off you, best take a chaperon to the toilets! By 7pm the giant figurine hanging from the ceiling of the tent is draped in ripped undies and panties - chaos! We move to another tent later in the night before leaving around 10.30pm to catch our bus back to London. One of us is definitely the worse for the wear, after about 5 steins. Needless to say, it is not a fun bus trip back to London for this bloke. I have a delicious breakfast somewhere in France, while Ryan sips on water. 17 hours after leaving, we are back in London, and shortly after that, crashed out in bed!

Fun times all round, and would definitely go again! Just not on a bus with Phil and Phil and not with our tour company European Encounters! Check out our pics on Facebook!

Started new job at Hounslow Council the next day, and yawned my way through it. Really like it so far, so think am going to enjoy my time there. Ryan's still working away at White City Westfield.

Will leave it there,

Rach and Ryan

A new 9 to 5

Hi everyone! You've probably heard the latest news which was worthy not only of a between blogs email, but also one very excited, high pitched call to me ma and pa. The news being that the interview I had on Wednesday was a success, with them offering me the post. I was several hours into my 3rd day at Kathmandu on Thursday when I was given some paperwork to fill out, bank details, National Insurance number (like an IRD number I guess) etc. Nipped downstairs to the staff room to fill out the paperwork and checked my phone to find a message from the agent. Gave him a quick call and he told me they were offering me the position! Yeeeeaaaahhhh! Told him I would tell Kathmandu and see how soon they could let me go, as the Council wanted me to start next Tuesday. I hoped they'd let me go at the weekend seeing as they'd only invested 2 days in me so far. So went into the managers office, and gave her the news that unfortunately for them, I'd been offered a new position which I had accepted and how soon could I finish....I'd like to point out that I don't make a habit of resigning a couple of days into a job! We agreed my last day would be Wednesday before Ryan and I go off to Munich on Thursday. So phoned my agent and let him know I couldn't make the Council start day of Tuesday and that furthermore, because of our Munich trip that I wouldn't be able to start until a week later than the Council wanted, on the 24th. However, I wasn't going to risk losing the job, after having taken 3 months to secure a contract, so said if it came down to it and the Council weren't prepared to wait for me, I would forfeit the trip and also simply not turn up to Kathmandu on my last 2 days there so I could start at the Council on time. Spent a couple of nervous hours wondering if would have to give up trip for job, but then in my next break managed to speak with my agent again and heard that the Council were going to hold the position for me and I could start on the 24th. Everything had fallen into place! So after 3 months of applying for planning positions and despairing of ever breaking into the UK planning industry, it has finally happened. But not before I'd decided to do something else in the meantime. Just so happens that Murphy's law kicked in as soon as I started something else and I got an interview and was offered the position. It was almost like I had to force it to happen, you know, like get something else lined up and started so that I'd then get a planning position. Kinda like a watched pot never boils...maybe. My contract is for a Planning Officer position in the Development Control team for 3 months (and likely to be extended) with the London Borough of Hounslow. I am required to work 36 hours per week, starting between 8 and 10 and finishing between 4 and 6 at my discretion. I am going to be in the Chiswick area team, which is great as Chiswick is the next suburb to the west of Hammersmith on the way to Hounslow town centre. So will be able to do my site visits on the way to or from work. Hounslow town centre is around 20 mins on the tube to the west of Hammersmith and handily is on the same tube line, so I can catch the Piccadilly line from Hammersmith to Hounslow Central. The Council offices are only a couple of minutes walk from the tube station. Here's a quick run down on what I've picked up on Hounslow when I studied the website (and wikipedia!) in preparation for my interview: Hounslow borough has 220,000 people, is 60% white and 36% ethnic minorities including 18% Indian (Bend it Like Beckham was based/filmed in Hounslow!) and has 140 langauages spoken. The borough covers 23 square miles and includes town and green belt areas. Hounslow abuts Heathrow and 90% of the residents are against Heathrow expanding. Fair enough too. Aside from securing a contract to work, we went to the TNT winter travel show which was free to get into and small but good. There were some tour operators there, some with discounts on tours, including a couple that we'd been looking at using for Anzac Day next year. We booked a 10 day tour of Turkey, including Anzac Day at Gallipoli and got 20% off. We'll be going from Istanbul to Cappadocia in central Turkey before heading back to the coast and making our way up the western coast of Turkey to Gallipoli. We're starting to think about some plans for New Years, and are thinking about hiring a car and spending 10 days to 2 weeks in Scotland and Ireland over Christmas and New Years. Probably try and be in Edinburgh for New Years and do the Hogmanay thing. That's about it for now though. Only 4 days until we leave for Munich....

The 9 to 5 Grind

Hi all, Here's a quick update (well quick for me!) on what we've been up to since the last blog... The weekend before last we had a party at our flat which was a blast. Don't know how we partied til 3am without the neighbours complaining, because there was bad dancing and worse singing to be had which can't have pleasant for them to put up with lol! Our flatmates are a pretty cool bunch and are neat to chat to at the end of each day and hang out with watching tv. Last Saturday Ryan and I went along to a double header at Twickenham for the Guinness Premiership with the four London teams playing. Went with ourold Pommy flatmate James, his gf Katie and some others. Fun day out all round even if the weather was average (as per). We saw two games for £15 each - bargain! First up was London Wasps (reigning champs from 2007) vs London Irish, who we we're supporting just cos they were the underdogs. There were a few familiar faces in the team line-ups, including Southland's own Clarke Dermody as prop for the Irish, ex-Highlander Seilala Mapusua, Mark Robinson as halfback for the wasps. London Irish supported by their drummers in the grandstand (like the Warriors back home) won out on the day. In the second game up, our adopted team, Harlequins (just because they're closest team to where we live) took on Saracens. Again more familiar faces with Nick Evans at 10 for Harlequins and Chris Jack at 6 (I know, I know, he's a lock, but they're playing him at 6, so go figure) for Saracens. Scrappier game than the first and who should be the ref, but the man die hard AB fans love to hate, Wayne Barnes! (He does know how to stick his arm out for advantage and what the signal is for a penalty shot at goal. You may beg to differ, but I have photographic proof). Our team eventually came out on top in a close game, 24 - 21 (or thereabouts). There was a big crowd of 52,000 for the first game up in the Guinness Premiership and was a good atmosphere. When the Mexican wave started up I thought the wee kids in front of us were going to wee themselves with excitement! I took note of somethings that the NZRFU should jot down for The final in 2011. 1) Twickenham is in the middle of suburbia. This is not a valid excuse for Eden Park. 2) They didn't shut off the main road near the stadium, but the smart Londoners largely stayed off the roads. They did shut the smaller roads so the crowds could walk down them to and from the game. 3) Twickenham is ugly on the outside but pretty darn functional - they have stairs AND escalators to get the masses up to their seats. At the end of the game, they reverse the escalators to get everyone down and out of the stadium. 4) Some smart bugger has put lids on the plastic beer cups for when you carry 4 back to your seats at once in one of those coffee cup holder thingys. 5) They had trains leaving the nearest station every 4 minutes after the game. Now it may be too late to retro-fit Eden Park with escalators but I reckon we can give the rest a shot, especially seeing as the final will have only another 8000 people than what were at the games we went to. Food for thought. On Monday I officially gave up that lady of leisure lark. And am back into a Monday to Friday, 9 - 5 grind. Actually its more like 9.30am - 7.30pm. Which is a long day on your feet for most of it. Am so outta practice at standing all day in a retail position! Have done Monday and Tuesday so far and then was rostered off today. Learnt lots of management, KPI's, financial reports, etc on Monday, but didn't get shown how to put through a transaction on the til computers, and haven't been given my training on the products Kathmandu sell, so am as useless as tits on a bull when a customer asks me which jacket/footwear they need for a super windy island off Britain/walking on the Inca trail for 4 days and they expect me (and rightfully so) to be an expert and to have an opinion or suggestion for them. On Tuesday I got shown how to open the store, keys, alarms, lights, music, fans, opening safe, running reports and updating ledger from previous days sales, sorting til floats etc etc. Then at end of (long) day got shown how to close the shop up. Opening again tomorrow. Bit nervous about pending first day on my own when Myriam (manager) wont be there to hold my hand! Staff discount is heaps, will be brilliant for getting some gear for Egypt/Turkey for absolute peanuts. Working Thurs, Fri, Sat and then have Sunday off. Today on my rostered day off, I had a job interview with one of the Council's in west London (good for commute from where we live), the London Borough of Hounslow (on the way out to Heathrow). My agent who got me the interview at Dartford Council, also got me this one. He put my CV forward last Thursday quick smart so it was one of the first CV's they saw, and called me on Friday to say they wanted to interview me. One day to make this shortlist decision is speedy by anyone's standards probably, but is truly outstanding for one of the London borough Council's given the convoluted recruitment process they have! Murphy's law that as soon as I start a job, I get an interview with a Council. Lucky I was rostered off or would have had to make an excuse such as a 'doctors' appointment to get off work which would not have been a good look 3 days into the job! Feck, oh well. Council job is paying twice that of the retail assistant manager. Which makes me not feel so bad if I have to leave Kathmanud after only a week. Waiting to hear if got job. Should hear by end of Thursday. Ryan is still slaving away on 12 hour days at Westfield. They think now that the job may last until December. I'm glad he's getting a break this week coming, cos on Thursday we're off to Munich! Woop woop!! Exciting!!! Back 6 days later on the Tuesday. Expect a big blog sometime after that! But this is it for now. Love to you all, Rach and Ryan