name that produce

is time for one of my favorite games, called "name that produce". fun game to play while at the market, grocery store, or out to dinner. curious...

MIS Back to School BBQ

our school, Munich International School, had its annual Back to School BBQ last weekend. this was such a great way to meet new parents and students as well as reconnect with old students i haven't seen all summer. the international expat community is a travelin' bunch, so in the summer, families migrate elsewhere and come back just in time for school to begin. we start our weekly meetings with high school and middle school kiddos friday, sept. 8 and from then on we are in full swing with weekly meetings, monthly acvitities, sporting events, spending time with kids, weekly Bible studies, and more. I had a great summer of refocusing and remembering the greater vision. please pray for our hearts and minds and bodies, that we will overflow with God's big big love and grace. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for that.
"What matters most to me is to finish what God started: the job the Master Jesus gave me of letting everyone I meet know all about this incredibly extravagent generosity of God." Acts 20:24

my bizarro site

so i have a seinfeldian bizarro blog site: www.tarynglidewell.blogpsot.com. weird-o. this is not me. i don't even know what all they say on this site, but i wonder if people have gone there accidentally and thought i wrote it... what are the odds?

"A mega-site of Bible, Christian and religious information and studies; including, audio and written KJV Bible, churches, doctrine, links, news, prayer, prophecy, sermons, spiritual warfare, statistics & tracts. Features Chronological 4 Gospels, Prayer Book, Prophecy Bible, and a photo
tour of Israel. By God's mercy, one of the largest Bible-centered sites on the web (app. 6000 pgs). If it's in the Bible, it should be on this site."

Germany 101: Holidays

funny thing about germany, it completely shuts down in august. i was on my way into the city the other day and was doing some planning. i called my chiropractor to find out he was on vacation until september. then i called my haircutter, and guess what? also on vacation or "urlaub". germans are serious about their vacations. they automatically get 6 weeks a year - 6! this doesn't even count the many holidays sprinkled generously throughout the year. once school gets out in july, these people take their families on month-long excursions anywhere but germany. that's why they're everywhere. can i repeat, 6 weeks?! many companies simply do not operate in august. when my friend, tara, ordered her funiture from IKEA they told her it would be 2 months before she would get her furniture because it was august and there was no one to deliver it. crazy.
this all makes shopping a whole different experience. all shops are closed on sundays - period. quite a few shops close early on saturday. and all shops are definitely closed on holidays. the twist here is that, seeing as how i am not german, these holidays creep up on you and you don't even know it's a holiday and you are stuck at home with nothing. shopping must be a planned event. do not expect to drop by the price chopper for your dinner that night. and don't expect to do anything last minute because all stores will be closed by 8pm for sure, if not earlier; no 24 hour anything... you have to plan ahead so that you can go to the 3 or 4 different grocery stores that will have that one thing that no other store has in order to make your master creation. or some weeks we have speciality foods at the store so you have to capitalize that week on "asian foods" or "grilling". you may not see these items for another year. no pressure...
i will have to say, however, that germans know how to vacation. they are off. they are not so concerned with having everything so accesible or that the world will stop spinning if they don't go to work. it is okay to put it aside and breathe. ahh...

these boots weren't made for walkin...

so, feet and their appropriate coverings differ depending on where you reside. if you live in hawaii your standard flipflops will suffice, in russia a good pair of boots is a smart investment, and out to a club for a few hours cute heels will do... perhaps you might assume that we walk a lot here in europe, none of this straight from automobile to building business. and i was already a shoe weakling back home. i enjoy being comfortable. i couldn't do heels for very long before i wanted to throw them across the room. here, you could easily be out all day and comfort is key, thereby rendering many of my cute shoes useless... apparantly i do not have said appropriate coverings. case in point: i went to a street fair a few weeks ago and bore a few holes into my heels from the shoes i was wearing. awesome. these weren't your usual, "oh, poor baby" blisters. literally, holes and my heels are just now healing about one month later. so i walked around with bloody heels all over munich because i wore straight through several "plasters" as the brits refer to them (better known as bandaids). here is the culprit and the proof: (keeping in mind that this does not even look bad, i am slightly upset that you aren't getting the whole picture here)



second case in point: you take your shoes off when you go to someone's house here, so i forget and love to wear my favorite all-occasion shoes which stink to high heaven - it is embarrasing people - and i have to ask the host/ess if i can wash my feet in their tub everywhere i go when i arrive at their house. it's either that or evacuate the room... maybe one day i will remember that they don't do things the way we do them in the states...

Munich is mucho expensivo!

"It's official. Munich is the most expensive German city to live in. Frankfurt is the second most expensive city to live in. According to the UBS 2006 "Prices and Earnings" Study , Munich ranks top of Germany and on position 18 globally. The study took the price of a basket of 122 goods and services European consumers would favour as a base for their index. The figures do not include rent. If rent were included, Munich would probably be on position 10 or something. According to the study, Oslo is the most expensive city to live in. "