A is for Augustiner

A is for Augustiner Bräu, Augustiner Bräu is a brewery located in Munich, Germany. Established in 1328, it is Munich's oldest independent brewery and produces some of Munich's most popular brands of beer. Among them they produce Helles (my favorite), Dunkel, weiss beer, Dunkel weissen, and edelstoff. During Oktoberfest they produce a limited amount of Marzen, and for lent they produce Maximator. Maximator sits a 7.5% ABV damn!


Sticking to history, when most German breweries changed their bottle to a slim and more modern design to give their beer a more classy and less old fashioned appearance some ten years ago, Augustiner stuck with the "classic" older form, nicknamed the "Bauarbeiterhalbe" (construction worker's half liter).


This message is from Donavan, because Katie leaves all the cool parts out. Oh and at the top of the Wank they got this...

Location:GAP

Das alphabet in Deutschland...

Hey there! Today is the first installment of the A,B,C's of Germany :)

The letter Ää in German actually translates to 'ein' meaning one. The 2 dots are most commonly used to represent vowels. Here are a few things we found to represent the letter A in our experience so far...

Adolf...yea, yea Hitler and Germany we get it! But he has a specific connection to the town Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Garmisch and Partenkirchen were separate market towns for many centuries with very unique identities, which are still seen today, Garmisch is a bit more modern as where in Partenkirchen the streets are cobblestone. It wasn't until 1935 when Adolf Hitler forced the two mayors to combine their towns in anticipation for the 1936 Olympics that it became known as Garmisch-Partenkirchen!! In the picture below you can see the train line runs horizontally through the town...the top portion is Garmisch (West) and below the tracks is Partenkirchen (East)...we took this picture on top of the Wank (last week's post) and it was cool to see it this way, instead of the street view.







Apfulstrudel is a type of layered pastry originally from Austria. It is filled with sliced baking apples, sugar, cinnamon, raisins and bread crumbs...the filling is laid onto the extremely thin rolled out dough, then the dough is rolled up and placed in a baking dish arranged like a snake....after it has baked, it is sliced and served either sprinkled with powered sugar or vanilla ice cream, yummm!








Ausfahrt (owws fart)...meaning an Exit for vehicles, not to be confused with an Exit for pedestrians (Ausgang). The American kids here try to use the word as much as possible, oh who am I kidding?! I use the word as much as possible too, occasionally calling Donavan an Ausfahrt, just cuz I can!








Auf Wiedersehen (owf veeder shin)....goodbye! I finally got comfortable saying this term, not that I didn't want to say bye to people, it was just an intimidating pronunciation!

So, there you have it! A few "A" things/terms we see/use/eat (jk about the eat) daily! I'm sure a whole bunch of really cool "A" things will come along this week while I'm working on "B", that's usually how it happens, right? A real quick updat on us: Donavan is still studying for the board, the other night I lit some relaxing candles, turned on classical music, gave him a slice of carrot cake...and told him to get studying!! He sat at the table for 3 hours :) Hoping and praying it pays off! On Saturday I volunteered for the Anti-Terrorism Force Protection Drill here on post. It is a real life scenario exercise that both our MPs and the German Police are able to work together. The set up was at the school on post, an angry husband of one of the teachers stormed into the school and began a shooting spree. The guy acting as the shooter was very convincing and took his role seriously, he took about 15 hostages (volunteers) and held them for 5 HOURS! The Polizei were able to respond with the MPs and use their negotiator, there were real gunshots, the Red Cross came and did make up for the shooting victims with fake blood and wound prosthetics (they looked so real, gross!). I played a distraught witness who was able to escape...I ran out into the street to flag the MPs down...hahaha funny because I see them everyday and I was trying to work up some tears! The second exercise was a kitchen fire...I played an unconscious woman on the couch, the building was full of 'disco smoke' as the Germans would say, I couldn't see 6 inches in front of me! So basically I was reduced by some cute German firefighters, not a bad way to spend my Saturday ;) We're going to London!!!!!!! Yep, October 6th-10th...we figured we better go before I start working, the only problem is Donavan took off work and planned it the same week our household goods are supposed to arrive :) Oh well, it's London! Planning the train/flight/tube/bus routes is proving to be the most challenging...I want to have it all planned before we go. I told Donavan I'm trading the time of frustration there on vacation for now on the Internet! I am excited...getting to visit places I'd never thought I'd be able to, such a blessing to be here!

Hope you all have a great week ahead and lots of love to you all!






-D & K

Adventure on the Wank...

Wank (vonk) is a mountain in Southern Germany, close to the Austrian border in the southwestern Ester Mountains range near Garmisch-Partenkirchen. It rises from about 700 meters (2,300 ft) above sea level up to 1,780 meters (5,840 ft) at the summit. Saturday afternoon we rode the Wankbahn (a cable car system) to the top of the Wank for a cloudy, but spectacular view of Germany on one side and Austria on the other.
This picture shows the route of the cable system, when we reached the Mittelstation I thought we we finished, nope. The 2nd picture shows the view from the middle to the top...



Just past the end of the green strip is the top!




This was pre-sweaty, I can't breath in this box paranoia...







Once we got to the top there is a hotel and restaurant with a patio and lounge chairs to enjoy the view. We also hiked around to all 4 sides to get a 360* view...



The Swiss Alps...


Garmisch & Partenkirchen behind me....



Over looking Farchant...



I need to learn how to say " will you take our picture?" in German!!




We chose not to eat at the restaurant, but we're going back after it snows...a maß for €4,99 is a steal!! Oh and the schnitzel too!



The next few pictures are of our descent....I was cool as a cucumber this time :)











We made it down just before the rain...




To finish the day off we headed to the gym, then had a fun, impromptu Skype session with my grandparents and a dinner date :) Like my new earrings? Thanks Aunt Tracy!!




By the way this is what Schnitzel mit pommes looks like....




A few other updates...I got a job! Yayy! I had an interview last Monday, then a follow up interview on Thursday and got the call today! I will be working in the conference center doing events and such, I'm super excited and thankful ...I really didn't want to clean hotel rooms :/ I don't star until October 18th which will allow me to unpack our household goods and settle in. Please, please keep Donavan in your prayers...he is going to the promotion board on the 29th to become promotable to Staff Sergeant (long over do and very much deserved) he has a ton of studying to do!! I am so proud of him and I want to continue to see him succeed. We spent the last 2 night looking for dogs at the Tierheim (animal shelter)...I am not so enthusiastic about having a large dog in our small, third story apartment...especially when we travel. So we'll see what happens with that! Thanks again to everyone who follows our blog...we appreciate your support and encouragement! Stay tuned for a 'Sunday Special'...we'll be going through the A,B,C's of Germany one letter and week at a time :) We love and miss you all!!

Enthusiasm is the baking powder to life. Without it, you are flat, with it, you rise!

Hello there, I read that quote this morning and thought it was the perfect reminder to keep a good attitude! On Monday I had an interview with Edelweiss Lodge and Resort, now I'm waiting on the background check and should hear from them in about a week...keep your fingers crossed for me! It was also Donavan's day off so we took full advantage of the nice weather, after a trip to the auto part store (where we spent half of our car's value on parts) we took the Blue Oyster Revival out for some fresh air! It would be our first journey outside of Garmisch together and I was a little hesitant, I wasn't wearing the proper footwear had we needed to start pushing ;) Donavan assured me that it would make it on the 30 minute trip to Mürnau, a town just North West of us. Here are a few pics of our drive...












We wanted to do a tour of the brewery there but the timing didn't work out, so instead we wandered into town to find a bite to eat...



I decided to not order my go-to schnitzel and try something new, now don't get too excited, it was just the soup of the day!! When I asked what was in it the waitress struggled to find the English words " bread soup".... okay.
HOLY GOODNESS!!!! It was...bread & soup. A delicious broth, sliced green and white onion and slices of dark bread...that's it! This picture doesn't look too appealing (I am not a photographer) but it's so yummy!!



We also shared a gelato cone, Snickers flavor, but by then Donavan was over me taking pictures of him eating ;) I can't tell you how nice it is to FINALLY have the opportunity to share an ice cream cone with him...such a small thing, but it means the world to me!

Today is Wednesday...last night I set out my bowl, spoon, coffee mug, box of cereal, set the coffee pot ready to brew, studied for my driver's test and popped a Tylenol PM....today was set up to be a good day!! Well my alarm didn't go off (something about the volume being on mute?!?!) and I missed the 8am test!!! Ugh! Now i have to wait til next Wednesday to test. But now I am enjoying a cup of coffee and some Fiber One...tomorrow I am going to a Newcomers Brief and a German Etiquette Class, hopefully I'll hear some interesting things to share with you!

Until then, thanks again for following us...we love and miss you all!




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Two days off and anywhere to go....

Donavan worked all weekend and I missed being at home for a BBQ, but with two days off we were determined to make the best of it! Sunday night after a long day of work for Mr. Valenzuela and a particularly frustrating day for me, we headed to Peaches for a cocktail :) Next thing you know, we were in a private party for a new clothing store opening up, sweet!!



Monday morning we woke up to the sound of rain, again, not that I really mind! We headed into town in the Blue Oyster Revival to do some shopping (yayy! But it wasn't for me!) and have lunch...it was there I was introduced to Döner Kebap, yummy in my tummy! It's a warm pocket stuffed with marinated chicken, lettuce, tomato, pickled cabbage and a creamy dill sauce...



Chicken on the kebab...



Too busy chowing down, I forgot to take a picture :)



After lunch we went H&M (*sigh...) now that my man is back the desire to wander around a store touching all the wonderful fabrics and take in the colors is gone! What?! I know I know, it's a shame...I was SO bored as Mr. GQ was having a ball! We finished up with some errands and a cruise around town...we ended the night cuddled on the couch in an Angry Birds tournament!

Tuesday...Rise and Shine, well not so much...we got woken up with a phone call saying the T-Mobile guy was on his way to the gate...a whole 2 days early! But now we have WiFi and didn't sleep the day away...it worked out. We've been wanting to go to the Partnach Gorge and Olympia Skistadion since we got here but haven't had the time. We stopped by a fish market and bakerëi (bakery) to gather some picnic supplies, loaded up our backpack and headed out! The 1936 Winter Olympics were held here and the long jump stadium is still used for training and the Annual January 1st Long Jump Competition...which I am going to make a point to see in person while we're here! The stadium is aaaamazing...I looked at historical pictures, looks exactly the same!







Donavan got this great panoramic view with an App on his iPad!!!



Then we walked along a river and through the countryside to the entrance of the gorge...€3 a person, but everything here costs money, so why not a hike, right?! I would give you some details of the gorge, but I can't read any of the signs :)

Here's a pic of my handsome guy...the scenery isn't so bad either...











Inside the gorge was realllllly dark and cold, water was dripping on us from the inside of the rocks and I kept imagining I would slip off the 3 ft wide path and get swept away by the rushing river....needless to say, I didn't but no way would I bring my kids...the German's don't seem to have that fear.





The super dark 'tunnel' we walked through...I had to use my flash to see!



These pictures don't do it justice, there was no way to fit the river up to the sky in a frame....




We finally made it out....to this....Totally worth it!




We ate our picnic lunch and created our own 'rock tower'....







Another panoramic shot...



It took us about 3 hours round trip and was a relaxing way to spend our day, we can't wait to go back when the river is frozen and ice sickles are hanging along the path! Here's one last pic from our day....



Okay, I lied...just cuz we're so cute...ha!



Donavan made me 'pose' with this lonely berry...



Okay, THIS is the last one, I promise...it looks like were standing in front of a green screen and the background is digitally added....it is not....this is the real thing!!



Thanks for reading and following us as we journey through the next 3 years...we are so happy to be together and enjoying every minute! Love to you all and we miss you!

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