The art of surviving a German Sauna

First time I went to the Sauna here, i thought "I am going to die". I am not a prude, those who know me know that, but back home (my happy place) people just don’t walk around naked in front of others (when they don’t sleep with each other).

In Germany, it is different. Here it is ok to walk around naked in the English Garden (Munich Hyde Park) when in France, we would DEFINTELY call the cops for exhibitionism. Here it is ok to see your colleagues or the friends of your Boyfriend penises. And it is fine if they saw your breasts. Except that I am absolutely not ok with that, most of the French would not be. Either seeing nor being seen is a no go, so I do all I can not to be put in such a situation.

I learned what FKK means (and if you are French living in Germany, you definitely want to google it). I avoid some parts of the park… and now it is winter anyway. So I kinda let down my guard, I thought I was safe but avoiding the FKK places is not enough to avoid seeing naked people. Indeed, I forgot the Sauna. Yes, these crazy German kids go to the mixed sauna, naked. Really naked. Not even with a towel. No matter who is there.

So I almost went blind last week, when I got in the Sauna at the fitness Studio and that the guys were all laying there ….naked. Including my fitness teacher. I restrained myself for screaming OH MY GOD, MY EYES MY EYES but that s basically what was going on in my head. I do love Sauna and it is awesome to have one in the fitness club but from now on I go in staring at the ground, with my towel tightly wrapped around myself and there is nothing that could make me raise my eyes to the other benches.

So to all the Frenchies in Germany, DON’T GET TRICKED if you get invited to the sauna with your mother-in-law (oh yeah, they do that too), you should always remember: standard sauna in Germany is a full thing, and to them, you are the weird one.

Having a bathing suit is also a no-go, first because it is incredibly unhealthy, second of all you will look ridiculous and finally it does not stop you from seing the OTHERS naked.

My advice: take a huge towel for yourself, ask your friends what they plan to do and if they could maybe stick to the towel too for you but mostly just get psychologically ready: there is actually few you can do to stop the German love for what they call "the most natural suit".

Bonne Chance mes amis!

Expatwomen.com

I just registered my blog under a new blogging community: http://www.expatwomen.com/ The name is pretty self-explaining: Women + Expatriate.

The website is actually pretty cool, first of all it is pink, second it is helpful, finally it is pink.

The structure of the website is a bit weird but you do find what you look for. There are two main points:

1. Blogging - a lot of Expat Women blogs registered for A LOT of countries)

2. Helping - some tipps for travelling, your career, your family, dating abroad, how to improve business skills, etc.

I liked the book section a lot, because you can find specific literature. Now i really wanna read “The Grown-Up's Guide to Running Away From Home: Making a New Life Abroad”…sounds so relevant somehow ;-) Take a look there.

Pisa Test: Viva Bavaria... nope, sorry. Viva Sachsen.

If you have ever been to Bavaria, you have at least once heard people bragging about having done their Abitur (highschool graduation) in Bavaria. Because of course it is the best. Right after this, usually comes a mention as the ultimate proof of the Pisa studies results, where Bavaria has been ranked first for years.

God did that get on my nerves! I love Bavaria, I really do and usually i love Bavarian people, but there are three topics which I need to avoid if I don't want to lose it:
1. FC Bayern (except if we are talking old games with Ballack shirtless),
2. the bavarian Abitur
3. the Solidaritätszuschlag (solidarity tax everybody has to pay in order to finance reconstruction and renovation in the former East Germany)

Now, I am gonna be able to get back to topic 2 relaxed because the Bavarian pride got seriously hit there, and mean as I am, I am a little happy with that.

I had to hear a thousand times, Bavarian young people (some of my friends even) despising de facto the rest of Germany, especially the former East. The hitting points are always economy and education, and I just can't help but getting pissed of by so much permanent badly hidden arrogance.

Bavaria is better, blablabla PISA study Blablabla.

I actually saw people wave with a sign of the hand some other students better grade by a simple "yeah well, but I did MY abitur in Bavaria". Trust me, this can be pretty mean and/or particularly annoying - especially to the other 70 Million Germans, the non-bavarian ones, that are often treated like morons because they did their Abitur somewhere else.

And now, these 70 Million (and I) can laugh a little at the reaction of the good bavarian people, getting upset at the coffee machine this morning: "Have you heard????" Indeed, Bavaria got its behind kicked at the ultimate study it used to prove itself superior to the rest of the world: the very serious Pisa Study.

The Pisa people put Bavaria only second. Yeah bouhouhou, that's sad...wait, no it is not. It's actually a little funny. Funnier is that the Land that got first at the Pisa ranking is...

...Saxony! The other Freistaat, the own neighbour actually of Bavaria, which for those who don't know, belonged to former Eastern Germany (gasp!) and THAT is for Bavaria the utlimate kick.

Gavin DeGraw concert in Munich - Club Ampere

I discovered Gavin DeGraw too late. One week to late to be exact. I was in Sweden and a friend of us went to "some guy" 's concert in Stockolm. And a week after he came back, he made us listen to it, the guy was called Gavin De Graw... and the music was so good we all wished we were more spontaneous people and had just jumped in the bus with him the week before.

Happily for me, God is a loving God. He let Gavin do a second album, and therefore, another European tour for its self-titled "Gavin DeGraw" album. With a stop in Munich. YEAHHHHHHHHHHH!

So i jumped on the tickets and called my we-love-Gavin-DeGraw friends and off we went for a girls night out.

We waited 20minutes under the rain in front of the Ampere (Muffathalle) but did not even mind. We were all three mentally screaming Gaaaaaaaaavin like groupies.

When we got in, surprise. The Ampere club is even smaller than we thought. Maybe room for 300 people. 400 max. From where we stand, the 2 most important features were 2 meters away: bar and stage. Cheers.

Two drinks later, the pre-band shows up. usually, preband are boring because even if they are ok, you are not here to listen to them anyway. Sometimes, on top of that, they suck. Well the pre-band was actually a pre-guy, Jack Savoretti, absolutely adorable, with a great voice, eye-lashes so long that you can't help thinking it is a waste on a man, great songs and a huge potential to become an international heart breaker with his charming smile (ladies, with dimples!!!!).

He is not exactly what the Germans would call a Party-lion, and most of his songs would easily get you to spend a tear or two, but he had enough charisma and put enough of himself in interpreting the songs, that one could not just look somewhere else. And of course, we immediately bought his cd. Songs are pretty deep and fit with the "tortured artist" image. Listening to him was nothing close to boring and we can only hope hearing more of him soon.

And then came Mr. DeGraw: more groupies screaming, this time out loud and just for the love of screaming. It was just perfect. In the beginning, he told us to "sing as much as (we) want, as loud as (we) want", so we did. The small club allowed a pretty personnal contact (actually he was so close to us that now i feel like i could call him Gav') and Gavin is a real stage man. Funny, looking good, anything but standing still, holding hands, smiling, jumping, actually talking to the public, and most of all looking like he really enjoyed singing for us.

There's nothing i hate more than an artist singing bored. If you wanted to hear the songs exactly like on the cd, you'd just stay home and save 30 euros. But Gavin DeGraw did not just sing, he actually interpreted all his songs, and that was great. We all felt great and wished it would have lasted longer.

Among others he interpreted: Chariot, Cheated on me, I don't want to be, Follow through, in love with a girl, Nice to meet you (anyway), Crush, Chemical party, She holds a key, Next to me, I have you to thank, Untamed, We belong together.
Then I am not sure anymore.

Anyway, it was a great evening and obviously, as a groupie, I went home with the Tour poster.

Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaavin!!!!!!

Reporters without borders - Annual Report 2008

"Reporters Without Borders criticises lack of public commitment to press freedom and expresses fears of anti-media violence in coming months, as it releases its annual report today."

Reporters Without Borders

Reporters without Borders published its annual report regarding freedom of press. If you re interested in knowing what is the reality of journalism across the world, please help yourself: the report is available in several languages.

And for those who think that we are not concerned at all in the "old" Europe.

"Attacks on the right of journalists to keep their sources secret increased in the major democracies in 2007. Journalists were arrested and questioned and their offices and homes searched in France, Germany and Italy. Legal officials tended to approve this kind of behaviour especially when legal confidentiality had been violated."

That's in Europe, where we are lucky enough to have real rules. Then you have Russia, Somalia, Turkey, etc. Anna Politkovskaïa's story is spread enough these days to show there's a reality there.

Take a look at the website: http://www.rsf.org/

P!nk – Funhouse - Tour 2009- One more concert to look forward to.

P!nk is coming in Munich on the 6th of April for her new album tour and I of course bought the tickets right away and I am taking Boyfriend with me. One of the few pop stars that actually has a brain, good music AND real boobs, I am not gonna miss it. What I can say? I love the music, I love the energy and the fun that you can feel and I love this capacity to make fun of herself in an honest way. Mastering self irony as well as an acute sense of criticism …she does deserve her exclamation mark.

Funhouse was just released, and of course it is awesome. Even “awesomer”: the main Single “So What”, which is a reference to her divorce from husband and bestfriend Carey Hart. Note: in the (great) videoclip, it IS Carey Hart.

so just five months to go…

So What - Pink

Na Na Na Na Na Na Na

Na Na Na Na Na Na

Na Na Na Na Na Na Na

Na Na Na Na Na Na

I guess i just lost my husband

I don't know where he went

So i'm gonna drink my money

I'm not gonna pay his rent (Nope)

I got a brand new attitude

And i'm gonna wear it tonight

I wanna get in trouble

I wanna start a fight

Na Na Na Na Na Na Na

I wanna start a fight

Na Na Na Na Na Na Na

I wanna start a fight

So so what?

I'm still a rock star

I got my rock moves

And i don't need you

And guess what

I'm having more fun

And now that we're done

I'm gonna show you tonight

I'm alright, I'm just fine

And you're a tool

,

So so what?

I am a rockstar

I got my rock moves

And i don't want you tonight

Uh, check my flow, uh

The waiter just checked my table

And gave to Jessica Simp- Shit!

I guess i'll go sit with Tom boy

At least he'll know how to hit

What if this song's on the radio

Then somebody's gonna die

I'm gonna get in trouble

My ex will start a fight

Na Na Na Na Na Na Na

He's gonna start a fight

Na Na Na Na Na Na Na

We're all gonna get in a fight!

So so what?

I'm still a rock star

I got my rock moves

And i don't need you

And guess what

I'm having more fun

And now that we're done

I'm gonna show you tonight

I'm alright, I'm just fine

And you're a tool

So so what?

I am a rock star

I got my rock moves

And i don't want you tonight

You weren't there

You never were

You weren't all

But thats not fair

I gave you life

I gave my all

You weren't there

You let me fall

So so what?

I'm still a rock star

I got my rock moves

And i don't need you

And guess what

I'm having more fun

And now that we're done (we're done)

I'm gonna show you tonight

I'm alright(I'm alright),

I'm just fine (I'm just fine)

And you're a tool

So so what?

I am a rock star

I got my rock moves

And i don't want you tonight

No No, No No

I Don't want you tonight

You weren't there

I'm gonna show you tonight

I'm alright, I'm just fine

And you're a tool

So so what?

I am a rock star

I got my rock moves

And i don't want you tonight

Ba da da da da da