Guess who has a job?

The CHO (Chief Home Officer) of '26 Corneliusstr' has secured a new position at the offices of Allmann, Sattler and Wappner Architekten and has not stopped grinning since. She starts on the 5th of March and has consequently given notice to her current position which she has declared will end on the 4th March. In a weak act of compromise, the management has requested that she continues to fulfill 50% of her duties (remaining 50% to be completed by management) till a permanent solution can be found. Thankfully the jobhunt did not take that long and Priyas was able to get into a firm she was targetting. In other interesting news, a colossal squid was caught of the coast of New Zealand. To get an idea of the size of a colossal squid, think tractor tire sized calamari rings! We had Marion and the crew over for dinner yesterday for her unofficial send-off to Brazil. She seemed to warm up to the idea of us visiting, so maybe we will do South America this year :) Another send-off tommorow for friends moving to Basel, these guys we will sorely miss as they usually figured in our weekend social circle. Everyone seems to be leaving Munich just when we getting to know people here!! Got to the English garden before dark for an ice cold Weiss beer with a few colleagues from work and salubriously enjoyed the warm weather and fresh air. Leg is feeling much better now, so walked around a little bit. Ever tried a spaghetti ice? Its not at all as disgusting as it sounds. Toby ordered some in the evening so of course I had to taste and I must add with no regrets.

Barcelona

It feels like springtime here in Munich. Yesterday was carnival season here in Munich, it actually looked like New Orleans of yesteryears replete with broken glass and drunken gals. Walked around town a bit, got my hair chopped at my favourite Turkish barber and went for North Indian grub. Had too much drink because Toby was in tow and had too much to eat because I was greedy. Priya overate too :) Barcelona was excellent, great place to celebrate your birthday. The Bario Gothic is a like a maze with plenty of gastronomical suprises and abundant watering holes. Siggi, Priya's friend from Madrid, came over the weekend and hence I was subject once again to the architecture torture tour of Gaudi's Barcelona. Some of his work is quite intriguing but his grand finale , the Sagrada Familia, was disapointing inspite of its gigantic size. We have lots of tips so do write us if you plan to visit. Spain still seems to be under construction like when we were there 2 years ago. Changes at work seem perenial, everyday seems to have some sort of unsettling news but as usual I am quite oblivious to most of what transpires simply because I am not in the office long enough. Went to the bone doctor today, the verdict is that I have to get surgery ASAP because my ACL is kaput. I go on the carving table on the 19th of March. The operation is an hour long, will need about 6 weeks to recover, 3 months before I can do any active sports and probably 6 months before I can do anything extreme. Almost looking forward to getting my knee fixed because I have long list of things that I want to do once my knee is stable again. For now, I will continue to limp around till I can walk right. A big thank you to all that called on the 16th!!

Ooops, I did it again!

Our Skiing vacation was fairly eventful- we learnt to ski (atleast stay on skiis), ate well, played Mafia, relaxed and I busted my knee (again). Stuart and Young (friends from school) had rented a chalet near Flims & Laax and organized the trip. Weather was great, though the hard core skiers were hoping for more flakes. Learning to Ski was a lot of fun except for that fateful turn that I made and the freezing cold. Ironically I had already setup an appointment with an orthopeadic surgeon before we left so that I could get my knee examined. It was also nice to get away from work for a couple of days, things are again heating up so I am glad I got away while I could. The Swiss Alps are beautiful, and certainly not as extreme as I thought them to be. The cold mountain air did leave most of us with sore throats and for some with feverish nights. Some of our friends brought their kids along, so I have a new found respect for parents - its a lot of hard work. All the men- Johannes, Stuart and Young, were all excellent cooks and played a key role in bringing to us the gourment food experience we had. Young prepared a fondue meal complete with the sherry kirsch and boiled potatoes. Johannes brought out the baker in him by whipping up some extra ordinary desserts and Stuart makes an awesome Lasagna. We ate well. I was also pleasantly suprised at how quickly Priya picked up Skiing even though she does not do any other sports (brownie points....) I am leaving for Barcelona today, looking forward to seeing all the new fancy gadgets on display at the 3GSM. Priya joins me there, we stay back for a couple of days in a relentless quest to finish my holidays from last year. So some more days of rest and relaxation! Oh yeah, I broke my non-alcoholic vows!