Expats and bloggers invade Regensburg

Saturday we headed to Regensburg to spend the day at the expat meet-up organized by Christina. Regensburg is a cheap (on a Bayernpass) and easy 1.5-hour train ride from Munich, so it makes for a good day trip.

After wandering around on our own for a while, we joined the group for a guided tour of the city in the afternoon. It's been a while since I've taken a guided tour of any city, and it was quite fun, even though the overarching theme (Regensburg might not look like much today, but in the past we were super important! really! Oh, and we're very, very Italian, too!) was a little depressing.



Then it was off to a lovely biergarten for drinks in the shade before our herd of expats headed to dinner at a local Italian restaurant. It was fabulous to meet Cliff and Sarah of Regensblog, Tammy and Matthias of Coffee from a Cardboard Cup, and Tim and Heather from the Sprocket Spot, and several other non-blogging expats, too (it only seems like all of us blog...).



Us big city folk (ie., the four in attendance from Munich) left dinner on the early side hoping to catch a certain train, failed, and ended up watching most of the second half of the Russia-Netherlands game in a sports bar near the station. We were the only ones there over the age of 18, but at least we recognized the 80s music that was playing too loud for our delicate old ears.

Want to whine with the best of them?

This year's Whiny Expat Bloggers Meet-Up is being planned as I type... hop on over to J's blog to vote for a location. For a reason I can't seem to grasp, Wiesbaden is currently in the lead, despite the fact that it has no one to show us around and is apparently overrun with American military types. Nice.

So go vote! I chose Bremen, mainly because 1) I've never been there, 2) it sounds more interesting than Wiesbaden, and 3) it appears to be one of few non-Wiesbaden cities that still has a chance of winning.

No matter what city wins, I'm looking forward to attending for the first time. What could be better than whining with fellow expat bloggers?

Europe String and Veggie Chic looking for bloggers

So I've decided to give up my professional blogs Europe String and Veggie Chic at the end of May. I've enjoyed writing for them, but I feel it's time for me to move on.

Thought I'd mention it here in case any readers are interested in taking over... b5media is looking for replacement bloggers for both blogs. Europe String is about traveling Europe on a budget, and Veggie Chic is 'all things vegetarian'. Contact me or leave a comment and I can put you in touch with the right folks.

Save the date: expat fun in Regensburg this summer

I've been trying to come up with a good title for Christina, organizer of many a get-together for the Bavarian expat blogger crowd. Social coordinator? Den mother? Cruise director?

Anyway, she's at it again, this time with a whole weekend full of Regensburg-style fun. There'll be food, a city tour, baseball(!?!), and if you're lucky, some beer, too. So if you'll be in this area, mark your calendars for June 21-22 and join in on all the expat revelry.

Expat blogger poised to take German TV by storm

This Friday evening, March 14th, Ian in Hamburg will dazzle the German TV audience with his American (well, Canadian posing as American) pizza-baking skills on the Pro7 show Galileo. Groovy, huh?

I read Ian's account of the taping (parts 1, 2 and 3) with delight, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the finished show compares with his behind-the-scenes stories.

I'm usually not such a fan of the show Galileo, which claims to be a science show while performing such groundbreaking experiments as 'Who's really superior, men or women? We put this age-old mystery to the test in our ultimate smackdown to prove once and for all which sex is the best by... timing a man and a woman washing dishes. You won't believe the stunning results!' I wish I were making this up. Oh, and at least once a week the show features gratuitous footage of a meat-processing plant.

But all that aside, I'm really looking forward to finding out who wins the ultimate international pizza-baking contest. Then we can finally all stop arguing about it.

Do I look like a weatherman?

I have been getting more and more emails these days from readers of this blog. For the most part, I welcome these messages (which is why I choose to have my email address posted at all). I have met some interesting people and even made a good friend or two because someone reading this blog decided to contact me.

Usually I get contacted by other expats, or people who are thinking of moving to Zurich and want to know more about my experiences here. Most have turned out to be perfectly nice people, although a couple have turned out to be a little rude, treating me like I'm some sort of government employee obligated to sit here and answer their questions.

Side note: if a stranger goes out of her way to answer some questions for you via email, you owe that stranger at least a simple thank you in a return message. I don't care if your original message said "thanks in advance"- that doesn't count. Acknowledge that you received the email, and thank the person for her time. You don't have to get all gushy or weird about it, but there's no reason to be rude to someone who just did something nice for you.

Yesterday I received an email from a reader that completely cracked me up. This reader was wondering if I could tell him what the weather is like here. OK, not here, but in Davos. And not now, but during the World Economic Forum. Here's the thing: if you are contacting me via email, I am going to assume you know how to use the internet, and therefore you are fair game for ridicule if you contact me to ask me to look up something on the internet for you. Google is your friend. I may or may not be.

By the way, in Zurich it is currently overcast and unseasonably warm, with winds coming from every conceivable direction (including, but not limited to, the north, the south, the east, the west, straight up, and straight down). Dangerous storm warnings have been issued for the vast majority of Switzerland for later this afternoon, so get your ass inside. I'm pretty sure a small tree just flew by my window. Or was it a cow? (Did I sound like an authentic weatherman just then? Huh? Huh? My point exactly.)

Roving band of expat bloggers takes over Basel

The first big Swiss expat blogger meet-up took place in Basel today. About 25 bloggers and significant others were there to mix, mingle, and learn each other's real names.
After several hours of eating, drinking, and musical chairs, we were led on a little walking tour of downtown Basel by The Big Finn, who made up some city history to share with the group.


So much fun was had by all that we decided we must do another such meet-up. It was decided the next one will be in Zurich, possibly the weekend of March 24th to correspond with this.

It was great to meet you all! The experience was kind of like going to Disney World for the first time and seeing all your favorite characters come to life. Except at this thing, they were all wearing pants.

Your chance to meet real live Swiss bloggers is less than a week away!

That's right, folks, S.Ex.B.U.F.F.A.L.O. (or whatever we're calling it these days) is just around the corner - on Sunday, January 14th to be precise. Starting at noon, we'll be gathering at Zum Braunen Mutz in Basel for drinking, eating, and general blogger camaraderie (or whatever else it is that bloggers do when they get together).

It's your big chance to meet all your favorite Swiss bloggers! So far we have twenty-something people coming, from all over the country. Meet the Expatters and their lovely little spawn. Find out what Ali really thinks of all those German in-laws. Ask Sara what it's like to be both a girly girl and a physicist. Learn the secrets of finding your very own sugar mama from The Big Finn... and so much more!

All bloggers (in Switzerland or not, expats or not) and their friends and family are welcome to join us. If you're planning on coming but haven't told anyone about it yet, please send me an email or leave a comment. This will help us make sure we have enough room reserved in the restaurant. Also, if you are a Swiss blogger, feel free to spread the word by posting on your own blog. Bis bald!

Who knew?

Since I wrote this post a mere month ago, “peeing” has become one of the 20 most frequently-used search terms for finding this blog. Usually it’s in a combination of search terms, such as “peeing often after drinking”, “peeing art”, or the ever-popular “Japanese peeing”.

Now I’m not some naïve farm girl or anything… I’ve seen Avenue Q and know perfectly well what the internet is for. But peeing? Peeing? Come on, people, you can do better than that.

And yes, I realize that by posting this, I’m going to be getting a whole lot more “peeing” hits in the near future. For those of you who came here for that particular bodily function, I offer you this:

Hey you bloggers in and around Switzerland!

The Big Finn, Sara and I have organized a blogger meet-up in Basel for January 14th. Bloggers in and around Switzerland are welcome to join us and bring spouses, family, friends, etc. More details can be found in this post on TBF's BB.

If you're interested in coming, let us know (by, say, leaving a comment on this post or sending me an email). We need to get an approximate head count so that we have enough space reserved for everyone. I think we're up to at least 20 or so people already, and we don't even have a name yet.

Which reminds me, if you can think up a name for our big Swiss blogger meet-up, let us know that too. TBF is favoring SExBOMB (Swiss Expat Bloggers Out to Meet in Basel, which, for the record, I came up with), but we're thinking perhaps we should come up with something more... wholesome. Because we're nothing if not a thoroughly wholesome group of bloggers.

Expovina (and my first sighting as a world-famous blogger)

Fellow blogger Ali and I (and our husbands) spent the afternoon checking out Expovina (see here for a little info in English). In case you missed my post about the spring edition of Expovina, here’s a brief overview of the idea: you pay CHF 15 apiece to get into a giant wine expo, where you get to sample wines from all over the world until you can no longer stand up. It would be easy to attend every single day of the 2-week-long expo and not run out of new wines to sample. And as if thousands of wines weren’t enough, one can also taste fun things such as Kirsch and Williams and other essential Swiss after-dinner drinks.

The fall edition of Expovina takes place aboard 12 ships that are docked downtown on the lake right at Bürkliplatz. The atmosphere aboard the ships is quaint and cozy, and perfect for sampling a bunch of wine.

After we had drunk our fill of vino, the four of us headed out to dinner. As we were about to leave, a couple walked by our table and started to talk to us. At first I was worried we were about to be reprimanded for being loud and obnoxious (we had been having way too much fun making fun of German health problems), but as it turns out the couple just wanted to say hi. They recognized Ali and I from reading our blogs. It felt like we were celebrities for a moment - not movie starts or chart-topping singers or anything, but more like contestants from some b-list reality show.

Expovina runs through November 16^th, so we might even try to go back for a second round. But if we do, for the sake of my circulation, I will be staying far, far away from the cabernet sauvignon (story for another day).