- Change. Transition and transformation.
- Feeling like a proud mum during my first graduation class' final exam. They're all gonna leave the nest so soon.
- Meeting my colleagues at Michi's own "Isar beach". Ordering truffle pizza. Watching the storm clouds coming closer. Retreating to Michi's flat. Talking to the dude with the guitar about life-changing travel experiences. Making fun of the stalkers across the street. Psychedelics-talk with Lorenz. Having a last drink at Rosi's. My first time in a bar in many many months.
- Tapas with Lena and Maike. Walking in linen shoes in the pouring rain. Listening to Knorkator on the subway.
- New clothes. Loose, high-waisted pants, jeans shorts, a lemon print dress. A graphic, artsy Monki dress. A new hat and a bargain from COS (a sweater for only €5,85, wow).
- My spontaneous meet-ups with Manu at the Asian take-away restaurant. Last time I started smiling brightly when a little kid walked past us very proudly with their brand new Schultüte.
- Rest. A clean apartment. Cleaning in general (weird obsession atm; I even cleaned Manu's whole kitchen when I was making veggie stew for him during his ear infection; but also I sang Soft Kitty for him). Gardening. Cooling down with water spray, après sun spray and cool-packs from the freezer.
- Leoni's essay actually made me laugh out loud. We had a bet going on. If she managed to use the word turkey in her essay I would have to give her €10. Well, she did it. Also, she invented and app called Teenage Mutant Karate Cats and signed off with Love, Karen. Such a gem.
- That feeling when you put the pen down and the work is finally done. So liberating (after grading the final exams).
- My blackroll. The only thing that helps after working at a desk for a few hours. My back hates grading papers. And using the kitchen as a temporary workspace. The smell of coffee, the humming of the dishwasher, sitting right by the window. Using all the colours to mark the essays. I love highlighter pens.
- The smoke alarm lady's charm. I only see her once a year when she comes to check on the smoke alarms but I kinda like her.
- Staying late. Singing in an empty school. Not having to be quiet for once.
- People standing in for gay rights and diversity. Which is why I loved the Circus of Books documentary. And the Netflix series POSE. Blanca and Pray are my favourite characters, of course.
- I was satisfied with the Dark series ending. Couldn't have hoped for more.
- Raspberry plants for only 1€. I couldn't resist.
- Teaching some English lessons in other classes. Not actually facing any resistance, they really liked working with me. They asked questions and were interested, what the heck? In the final lesson with the 9d ladies we actually carved out some time to learn the cup song and sing karaoke on full volume. The girls showed my a Dua Lipa song I hadn't heard before, I really liked it. And they wanted to hear My Heart Will Go On. Just imagine blasting the Titanic song and a whole group of teenagers singing along as dramatically as possible.
- Manu feeding me with Toffifee while watching a brainless rom-com.
- A day trip to Chiemsee with Sash. We were ON A BOAT, had Aperol Spritz in the sunshine right by the lake. Lots of walking, talking, inspecting flowers and eating good food. In the end we went swimming (for the first time this year?). How I had missed the water. Browsing magazines on the train. Talking about hair care and secret dreams. Coffee with ice-cream for dinner.
- Making snack berries. Dipping blueberries in Greek yoghurt, rolling them in grated coconut and off to the freezer. A great healthy snack. (But of course I'm also obsessed with actual Raffaellos this month.)
- A day at the lake with Verena, Silvia and Nicole. Great picnic lunch, 90's revival music. Spotting huge fishies underwater. Taking photos of Verena in order to work on some ideas for her back tattoo. Low point: stepping into a bee and the worst sunburn ever.
- The Karlsfeld train underpass. Lots of interesting underwater creatures that actually look like vintage illustrations.
- Westpark. One of my favourite green spots in Munich. Lunch at Gans am Wasser (veggie seitan kebab), walking over to Rosengarten, ice-cream for dessert. Cycling home. Stopping to pick some flowers.
- BBQ with some colleagues. Playing some weird trampoline volleyball game. Chasing Luise (the weiner dog) around. Being the DJ. In the end I sat there with Michi, Laura and Nicole. Drove home with a quite drunk Michi who didn't stop talking.
- A picnic with the kids and their parents to say our final goodbyes. Culinary presents from the parents, a graduation T-shirt from the students. Taking lots of photos, talking until it got dark. On the next day I had to go up on stage for the graduation ceremony. I was super nervous but so glad when it was all over. I went home with arms full of flower, wearing my constellation dress. On the parking lot Nicole and I even had a little fun with a helium balloon.
- I went straight home to visit my mum on the last school day so I enjoyed a weekend there. Singing with my mum and my brother, healthy meals, inspecting the garden, making a gorgeous bouquet with some sunflowers I had brought with me and buddleja twigs from the garden. Walking through the neighbourhood with my mother, feeding chickens (my mother is just as crazy as me, the video I made of her talking to the birds is proof), going to the fleamarket (also for the first time this year). Meeting Michi U., Sash, Julia, Lena and Obi at Yvonne's vegan cafe. Iced almond coffee, two full tables filled with vegan food. Talking to the owner about creative projects. Meeting Catrin and Andi at Brillengalerie (Birkenstock inspiration!).
- Learning about resonant breathing, medicinal mushrooms and the psychological origin of illness.
- Salt with smoky paprika and lemon-infused olive oil.
- Harvesting pea pods on my balcony.
- Talking to a body therapist. A morning walk through Schwabing. Treating myself to some Bircher muesli and fresh juice. Walking through some stores I had never been to before. Discovering a mirror gallery. Later some vegetarian sushi, Pho and a massage appointment. Lying in bed with Manu, right in front of the ventilator. Eating sinful cookies'n'cream magnum, talking about sex, health, music, life. Making late-night pizza.
- Talking to Franzi on the phone. Reading a graphic novel set in Munich. Great drawings of the city. I loved the interior of Pimpernel club. Really well done.
- Meeting Laura at her osteopathy practice for the first time. I really like her. Later it turned out that she's friends with Becky! Laura taught me how to sit and stand and felt her way into my scoliosis.She has such a soft approach, let's see how happy I'll be with that treatment. But I obviously need to join her Cantienica class.
- Hardware store, heavy plant transport. Finding a lot of cheap flower pots in the antique store.
- Eating my first home-grown tomato. Just a little herbal salt. So nice. You can actually taste the sunshine.
- Gute Laune herbal tea. In the middle of summer. With the doors closed to keep the heat out.
- This tie-dye idea.
- I sat on the balcony when a sudden thump made a tiny little bird fall right in front of me. It had collided with my living room window. Its wing was twisted so I put it right and the bird hopped off, resting in a dark corner, closing its eyes all the time. I looked up how to help and was really sad because the internet warned me that most birds would die a few hours after a collision but after ten minutes the bird hopped onto a twig, some more hopping, and flew off. I really hope you made it, little friend! Have a nice summer!
- Watching The Expanse with Lena and Obi. Watermelon-Feta salad with mint. Drinking homemade lemonade, sparkly bloodorange wine and coffee with ice-cream.
- An electric blue summer dress.
- The Russian-themed Sjöden autumn catalogue.
- Taylor Swift and Bon Iver - Exile. Such an incredibly beautiful song.
- Making a fantastic Indian eggplant/chickpea curry with coriander, paneer and tofu. Delicious.
- And the last crazy thing I need to talk about this month is Becky. She texted me during the graduation ceremony on the last day of the school year and told me that she'd be one of my colleagues from now on!! Crazy. The trio is back together. I met her at our usual Italian restaurant and we talked for hours. So much to catch up on. She is still a person I vibe and click with. However, I'm also a little scared because somehow she represents a chapter of my life I have closed. So she seems a little out of place in this new little corner of the world I have created for myself. But I'm sure it's gonna turn out great!
jul 31 2020 ∞
aug 3 2020 +