A Journey to Narnia, er... Munich!

Yesterday morning I woke up early and walked down the hall to go check the community information board to find out when and were church services would be held. As I was staring at the board, Renee, a new friend of mine, walked passed. She said she would be going to the 11:00am protestant service at the Army Chapel. I invited myself along.

Renee was getting a ride to church with her friend, Jennifer, and I was able to join them! The service was nice - it was non-denominational but it might as well have been Methodist (it was very similar). They close every service at the Army chapel with a benediction sung to the tune of Edelweiss from "The Sound of Music". Um, yeah - I think I may have found my place on the first shot!

After church there is a free meal - this week it was Subway sandwiches! At lunch I learned that Renee and Jennifer were going to be driving to Munich to go see a movie at the English language cinema. They had reserved tickets so, I couldn't go. I decided I wanted to just ride along with them and that I would explore Munich while they were in the movie. Two other girls, Vandi & Jenna, went with us as well. When we got to Munich, Jennifer and I went to park the car while the others went in to pick up the movie tickets. They ended up getting one for me too so I went to see the new Chronicles of Narnia movie in 3D. I haven't seen the first two Narnia films so it was a bit confusing, but it was enjoyable none the less.

I enjoyed seeing all of the commercials/previews before the movie.  Many of them are the same as they are in the US but with German actors. For Example, the Windows commercial for their "Cloud" software/functionality where there is a family trying to take a picture and they can't get it right. Then, the mother says "To the cloud" and goes and edits the picture. Yeah, they had the same thing, same set, everything accept the family is more European looking and they speak German.

After the movie, we walked about half a mile to a Medieval Christmas Market. Bavaria (southern Germany) is famous for its Christmas Markets. They are outdoors and have lots of little stalls where merchants set up shops with gift items, food, crafts, and Gluhwein. Gluhwein, or Mulled Wine, is basically hot wine. I tried it - it was really sweet and not very good, in my opinion. Some people love it, others not so much. It's as traditional as hot chocolate here though - a winter must! This Medieval market was very interesting. Merchants were selling bows and arrows, instruments from the middle ages, lots of leather goods and furs... you know, medieval stuff.  Christmas markets are usually "modern" and sell hats & scarves, ornaments, artwork, jewelry and other normal things. It was a very interesting experience at the Medieval market - it was packed with people and we got to see a fire spitting contest and a mini parade with Medieval street dancers.  After about an hour at the market, we headed back to Garmisch via the autobahn.

See the Images below of us at the The Propylaea gate in Munich and then at the Medieval Christmas Market. It was dark so you can't see much but I tried to capture it!

Serendipities and the Food Service Weight Loss Plan!

Today was full of small serendipities! Some have asked what I mean by "A Series of Small Serendipities" - my blog title. Well, serendipity is the development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way (Thanks Webster's). Serendipities are blessings, God things and divine interventions on my behalf. My life seems to be filled with small serendipities. Big ones come along from time to time, but almost daily there are small chance happenings that work out in my favor. Charmed life? Maybe. Too blessed? Most likely. Sometimes I do think it's too good to be true!

I've heard it said that having a positive attitude breeds positive outcomes.  I don't always have a positive attitude or positive outcomes but, on the whole, I'm pretty optimistic! Today I was feeling particularly cheerful - positive results ensued. Here's what happened to me today: 

I was up early this morning to go to a child abuse prevention training class in preparation for my volunteer work. The walk to the meeting was going to take me about an hour, considering I had never walked it before and had little clue where I was going! So, I was heading out of the guarded staff quarters where I live and had walked about a block when I stopped to let a car pull out of a driveway. The lady in the car rolled down the window and asked if I would like a ride. She was British and looked a little like Christiane Amanpour from CNN. I'm a fairly good judge of character and she seemed really great so I got in the car. Turns out I was right - she was awesome!  She saved me from a  long walk and from getting very lost and potentially being late for my meeting. Turns out she works in the conference center at the Resort (where I think I might like to transfer later). She gave me lots of helpful suggestions about future career moves, at Edelweiss and beyond, as well as some tips on life here and travel. Her name is Sue and she's my new buddy! It was definitely a small serendipity that I ran into her this morning!

So, Sue dropped me off at the hotel. Since I was much earlier than I anticipated I was able to get breakfast - this was great because in my rush to grocery shop yesterday, I didn't buy any breakfast food - oops!  Then I walked over to the base/garrison for my meeting. There were only three of us in the class and the other two guys have been here for more than 2 years. After the class, they showed me around and offered lots of advice. And one of them offered to teach me how to snowboard and to give me a tour of the mountain on skis - score! Serendipitous meeting, I think so!

This afternoon I went in for my first day of work. This is a little less positive but, I'll put a spin on it at the end, don't you worry! Remember, I'm a consummate optimist! Alright, so the first day of work started at 3:30pm with a meeting with the Restaurants manager of the resort. He went over the basic HR stuff - time off, leave, harassment policies, etc - and gave us a tour of the kitchen. Then we went to work and now  I'm in so many kinds of pain I don't know where to start! Want to hear me complain a little? Continue reading otherwise skip this paragraph:
<Rant> Today Ashlinn and I, the two new girls, were scheduled on the dinner shift. 2 people called in sick leaving one person on the floor who wasn't new. Talk about flying by the seat of your pants! Luckily, I worked in a restaurant the summer after my freshman year in college. I really thought this experience would never come in handy (Other than the understanding I gained of how difficult the food service industry can be). Well tonight I felt a little like I knew what I was doing. I already know the lingo and understand the pace and the fact that yelling isn't a bad thing at certain points in the evening. HOWEVER: we were basically doing two people's jobs since half the staff called in sick.  I feel bad for our supervisor and the one guy who wasn't new. I'm sure we really stressed them out - not our fault, we are new but still!  I guess this will make my next shift seem pretty easy! All of this was in addition to the fact that I couldn't sleep last night. The jet lag finally caught up with me - or maybe I'm just getting back on "Kacey Time" (Kacey time is the freak time zone where staying up until 3am every night is normal). So now I have aches in all kinds of new places! It will get better but it's not going to be a fun first few days! Also, I'm suffering a little from walking in the snow! You know how after walking on the sand at the beach for a few days your legs begin to feel a little sore in weird places because you are using different muscle groups. Yeah - the snow is just like that. I need a yoga class stat! </Rant> So what's the upside? Well, I think I did really well! Or maybe the supervisor is just really nice? It went swimmingly for sure. Though I'm a little sore from standing on my feet for 6 hours, I'll get used to it soon and, if I can do well in this position, it will be easier for me to be moved to another position that is more desirable. Also, I'm thinking working on my feet like this will be a good weight loss program! No eating for 6 hours while walking, bending, lifting... it's going to be good!


When leaving work, the one guy who wasn't new who had been working with us, offered to drive us home. His roommate is out of town for the week and let him use his car. Thank goodness for this! Otherwise it would have been a 45 minute walk back to my room at 10:00 pm in 4 degree weather. Again with the serendipity!

To sum it all up: My life is stinkin awesome right now, I'm happy as a lark and am certain that I am in the right place at the right time with the right intentions.

I'm not working on Saturday or Sunday so I'm trying to come up with something to do this weekend. I could continue to get acquainted with Garmisch but I could also go up to Munich or to Salzburg or something... oh the possibilities! I don't want to waste any of my free time! I have a to-do list I need to start hacking away at! Leave some comment love about what you think I should do this weekend!