August 31, 2009
So as you may have noticed, we are in Germany. I love it here! When we got off the train, I turned to a giant blond man and said, “Excuse me. Ummm, gutentag?” He looked at me. Said nothing. And walked away.
I felt at home, like I was back in Chile. 
All kidding aside, the Germans we’ve met, except that one, have been extremely kind. I learned how to say the basics, “Hi, how are you, do you speak English?” And almost every single person I’ve asked has responded with, “Only a very little bit.” Then, they bust out with perfect grammar and a minimal accent — even the guy at McDonald’s. Yes, we did do Mickey D’s while traveling through Europe, and I’m not ashamed. The one thing that isn’t cool about Munich is that everything closes down at 8pm on the dot. So we got back from a palace sight seeing trip and it was literally the only thing we could find on the street that was still open.
Aside from that, I LOVE Munich. We were walking to the bus today and an old lady LET ONE RIP soooooooooo loud. I have NEVER heard anybody fart like that in public. It was AMAZING. I think maybe she was going deaf because she didn’t look embarrassed or anything. Seba and I cracked up so hard! It was a hilarious contrast to the pristine, perfect streets of the city.
A few other random observations about Germany:
*They really do say “Yaaaah,” all the time and it sounds just like the stereotype of Germans talking.
*In regular clothing stores, multiple times I’ve seen typical dirndl dress sections. Sophia, our host, said that they’re larger right now for Oktoberfest, but that stores really do carry them year round. Funny.
*Germans drink beer the way U.S.Americans drink pop, out on the street, at McDonald’s, everywhere.
*There are a lot of castles. They are all amazing. Pictures to come.
*Germans don’t dress as flashy as the Swiss. They do however, drive incredibly flashy cars — BMW convertibles all over the place.
*I haven’t seen one person who was impossibly Europeanly skinny like the girls in Switzerland. The Germans seem to be a little heartier. Not fat, by any means, but compact, like me. I’m with my people in this country.
PS. Tomorrow is voting for the free wedding photography, and I would REALLY appreciate if you would participate!
Meet our incredible couchsurfing hosts in Munich, Germany, Winni (pronounced Vinny) and Sophia. This is AcroYoga. We went to their class and tried it. HA! Not as easy as it looks, not even close.
August 28, 2009
Yes, the country of Switzerland is now mine.
We have been in Geneva for the past week and it’s been lovely. The city is beautiful and so historic I almost can’t believe it. In the U.S. we simply don’t have anything that can even compare to the ancient-ness. Is that a word? It is now.
I mean, today, my cousin took us to a little town on the coast of Lake Geneva called Yvoice. It’s basically a medieval village that has been so well preserved or restored that you can practically feel the villagers walking around with the bubonic plague.
Anyway, I’ll have more on that with photos later. If you’ve noticed, we’ve been posting quite a bit lately. I say “we,” because Seba’s been helping me do pictures and videos, which means everything takes me way less time than it used to. Half to be exact. We’ve just been taking uploading the photos and pre-publishing them so that I feel like anyone who wants can keep up with the trip, I can share all the beauty that we’re seeing, yet we don’t have to be on the computer all the time. This is really the first time, aside from the tattoo post which I put up on spur of the moment (thanks for all the genius ideas, by the way), that I am coming to you in real time.
Yes, I am sitting here, right now, in front of the computer to tell you — I <3 Switzerland — and Europe in general, it seems.
A few things I’ve noticed about the Swiss people that I’ve seen in my few days here:
Swiss are sporty! Everyone bikes all over the place and you see ridiculous amounts of fit people jogging all the time. Seba and I took one bike ride while we were here, and while we were coming back, dripping sweat, wheezing, struggling up a humungous hill, a 40 year old passed by us, wearing high heels and a pretty dress, not exerting herself at all. Start this Scrubs video at minute 2:50 and you will get what I mean. To have an idea of the ridiculosity you HAVE to see this video.
Imagine that we are JD and this Sporty Swiss is Elliot. Except that Elliot is steering her bike with one AND SMOKING AT THE SAME TIME! These Swiss are out of control.
The next big thing both Seba and I noticed — as the Diet Coke campaign in Chile would say, “La vida es una pasarela,” or life is a runway. Everyone dresses incredibly well. And everyone looks like they should be on TV. I can’t even count the number of people we’ve seen where one of has said, “WOW. That girl should be a model.” I’ve never felt more like a giant, fat, frumpy American in my life. And we’re not even to France or Milan Fashion Week yet. AHHHH!
Oh, and going back to the way these Swiss people look — in case you were wondering, they’re not all blond. They seem to have an incredibly diverse population, although in large part that may be because we’re in Geneva which is home to the headquarters for a ton of major international organizations.
What else? Well, people are friendly, but not extremely. They’re polite. Most are nicer when I try to speak the miniscule bit of French that I know. Seba knows a lot more than me but he doesn’t speak. To people of the human race. Ever. Not even in Chile. So I guess I couldn’t really expect him to start gabbing with complete strangers in a language he hasn’t truly been exposed to since he was three.
Well, we are off to Munich tomorrow on The World’s Most Expensive Fastest Train. Scratch that. It’s not one of those speedy trains or anything. I just wanted to have the chance to point out how much the damn thing cost. Since the bus line that used to go from Geneva to Munich shut down, we were forced to pay the exorbitant sum of $339 dollars for both of our train tickets. That’s more than we spent on flights around Europe for the rest of our trip for 5 different cities. Ridic, I tell you. Europe is expensive. But, I am prepared. I have it all budgeted out so we’re ok as long as we don’t have to take too many more stupid train trips.
August 27, 2009
I need some help!
I want to get another tattoo. So does Seba. I want mine on the back of my neck. Victoria Beckham and the lovely K inspired me. I want mine written horizontally though, not vertically like Posh. Theirs are both in Hebrew. V.B.’s says, “I am my beloved and my beloved is mine,” which I absolutely LOVE but how trashalicious would it be to get the same tattoo as a Spice Girl???? The hebrew language has no meaning to me, yet I would love to have something beautiful written that people wouldn’t be able to read and know the meaning of unless they asked me, or unless they actually spoke Hebrew.
However, I don’t know what to write. I want an expression about love or travel or karma. I don’t know, something lovely but not hippy or cheesy.
And Seba doesn’t know where or what to get a tattoo of. He already has one on his right shoulder blade. But he wants one too.
So help us out! Any inspiration would be greatly appreciated. What should my tattoo on the back of my neck say? And where should Seba get his?
New York City from Kyle Hepp on Vimeo.
Song: Diner by Martin Sexton
Here’s a quick little video of some of the stuff we did in NYC. I’m in it a few times, but Seba doesn’t make a guest appearance because he’s always the one filming. He put it all together too so all credit goes to him.
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- @dregonzrob, hahaha, eating wall paper, that's a new one. Dog whisperer dato coming your way :)
- @lanapuckett, when we get back I'll have to introduce you to @gabrielrodriguez, @sebamilla and @sebastiankaulen!
- @dregonzrob, you need the dog whisperer!!!
- Brian McBride is announcing his retirement from the game today. He will go down in history for me as my favorite U.S. player ever. LOVE him.
- Caroline and Tommy should probably stop being this hot or somebody's going to catch on fire. http://tinyurl.com/2feozcy
- Writing w/ @imnotobsessed tomorrow early! Love catching people up on their daily dose of gossip and I <3 @inosherry, my online co-worker :)
