Oktoberfest Day 1 (Bierleichen)

One of the biggest attractions to me starting my life in Munich was of course the possibility to live near the worlds biggest beer festival and party. This is now my first Oktoberfest, and I was and am so excited!

The Oktoberfest starts with the tapping of the keg at 12 noon, but if you try to get there around or just before that, then there is absolutely no chance you'll get a seat! It's for that reason I met my friend Alex at 8:30 so we can get into one of the big tents as soon as they open. Even then it was difficult but we found a nice spot in the Paulaner Winzerer Fähndl (big) tent. The problem is that means you are waiting in a beer tent for 3 hours before you  have your first beer. Hence the other guys didn't look that excited:

The party and the atmosphere started kicking up around 11:30, and then the brass band started walking around the hall playing some Bavarian drinking songs. Then the owner of the tent took a microphone and started talking and counting down the seconds to 12 from 45 seconds! That was a bit boring.


The first beer was served at 12, but we didn't get ours for another 40 minutes. Once it arrived the mood got really good. I drank mine a little faster than I should, causing problems later in the day (more on that later). The Paulaner Oktoberfest beer was quite nice, but too Lagery for my tastes, does the job though at 6.5% alcohol!

The mood improved a lot when the beer arrived

Inside the tent was really nice, the people were nice. I'll put it this way, there was a lot of eye candy everywhere!

And on to the name of this post (Bierleichen). It is a term used by Germans, or experienced Oktoberfest visitors, it means "Beer Corpses". It refers to the youngsters that don't realise the strength of the beer, get too drunk and pass out. While technically this didn't happen to me it kinda did. On the way home I either tripped, slipped or plain fell and broke my finger! It needs an operation and everything, my first visit to Oktoberfest!

The last 2 posts have been typed one handed because of this lol, but anyway it was so fun, and can't wait to get back there! 


Viel spaß homies!

Ausländer in disguise (Lederhosen!)

A lot of non-Germans I have met in Munich are hesitant to get a pair of Lederhosen for reasons such as they "just don't get it" or they think they don't know or feel part of the culture enough to partake. I'm not one of these people so I decided to get a pair to try and disguise myself as a Bavarian (until I spoke obviously). On the topic of speaking; I'm now 10 months into my Munich adventure, and I would say my German is not bad, but still a long way to go. I think I might write a post in German (ohne Übersetzer).

Anyway, here are my Lederhosen:

If you were to come visit me during Oktoberfest would you get a pair of Trachten (Traditional costume, in this case Lederhosen or Dirndl)?

Viel spaß homies!

Housewarming party (edited)

Ever been to a party where the host wears a blanket and dog bones and swings a cannon ball between his legs? Yeah? Well you were probably at my house party then!

So my party celebrated 6 things; 3 birthdays ( mine, Adi & Adi's), my moving into a new flat, and the aforementioned Adi's leaving the country parties. So it had to be a big one! I think it didn't disappoint :-)

So, the highlights then. It had a theme of Barbarians and Bavarians, so we had lots of oddly dressed people, some with weapons and some in Leather trousers (pants for my american readers :) ) I discovered that my pointless corridor is actually perfect for playing Beer Pong, which was played all night.

Hell, i'll be damned if I can remember any more than that but I know everyone had a good time! I haven't got many pictures, i'm waiting for Aditi (below) to upload some of hers from her kick-ass camera.

Sporting an Augustiner Dunkel beer label on her head

But here are some that we do have from a different camera. Stay tuned for updates, and if you have some funny pics let me know!

Land Ho!

I wonder what she's drinking

EDIT!
Adi uploaded some pictures to Facebook :) Here are some of my favs....

Permalink to the album (maybe you  need to be friends with Adi on facebook). http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2146757382844.2116136.1063560098&type=1

And one thing that I saw the next morning...

Someone left a knife in the oven, so I now have a spatula with a very sharp handle

So, more will be up soon, post a comment if you remember something that I have clearly forgotten.

Viel Spaß homies.

Greeting God

In Germany I greet god on a daily basis - no before you ask not in prayer!

The customary "formal" greeting in Standard German (Hochdeutsch) is Guten Tag, that's the one we learn in school and the one you would use in most parts of Germany. The Bavarian German is somewhat different. In fact, Bavarians themselves believe it to be a different language! Their formal greeting is "Gruß Gott", which literally means "Greet God".

This is peculiar. Why would you greet god when you greet someone? It seems a little blasphemous if you ask me. Does it mean you are greeting this person as an equal of god? Or that you are greeting god instead of the person you are talking to? I honestly don't get it, perhaps I am being an ignorant atheist. If anyone can explain it post a comment.

The first time I heard Gruß Gott was quite interesting. When you say it out loud it sounds like "gru - Scott". I was well confused, I looked very shocked and asked the girl "Wie wiessen Sie mein name?". Then it was her turn to be confused! Suddenly all my German had left me but luckily she spoke English so we had a good laugh at the misunderstanding.

Warum wurde man Gott grüßen?

Viel Spaß homies!