Leaving Munich

My last days here have been pretty hectic, and I haven't been able to enjoy the things I like so much...for example, the beer gardens! Not that I have spent lots of time in them! But a few weeks ago I went on a long bike ride along the Isar River with a friend (you should see the amazing network of bike paths here), and we ended up at this beer garden, called the "Waldwirtschaft" in Grosshesselohe. The atmosphere at each beer garden is different. At this one they had a jazz band playing, and it was very roomy and had an open feel.

Greg, the Prime Minister, Saying Good-Byes

Greg recently sent me this photo of the prime minister of New Zealand's visit to his ward. He thought it was amusing the way everyone got into the act, even the cleaning lady. The prime minister is the guy with the tie behind the cleaning lady.

Greg and I are both returning home soon! I arrive the end of July and Greg three weeks later. I'm in the midst of saying sad goodbyes here to students, friends and acquaintances and of trying to sell or give away everything in my apartment. It's all a lot harder than I expected.

Various Ways of Crafting

The anthology in the picture has just come out, and it contains three poems I translated into German. I have been the English native speaker consultant in a poetry translating workshop here in Munich, and I got so caught up in the project that I had to try my hand at translating into German, a very difficult endeavor for a non-native speaker. I couldn't have done it without the help of my German friend Ulrike. Thank you, Ulrike!

The poems we translated were written by contemporary British poets who write and publish a great deal of award-winning poetry. You can read more about them and read some of their poems here. Eleven of them came to Munich for a Literatur Festival that we organized and hosted for them. It was a super-intense 3 day exchange of creativity and poetry, and all involved enjoyed the experience a lot.

In knitting news, I have a crochet scarf to show off, made of self-striping sock yarn. I made something similar before, but I wasn't completely satisfied with the result. This new one is made of Schoppel Wolle Zauberball, a fingering weight, mostly wool blend. The pattern from ravelry, is called "Cascading Stylish Shawl" (I did the scarf version).