The Christmas edition

Christmas this year was wonderful. The GerMann and I flew to Dublin a few days beforehand, and spent ten days there. My brother was also home from Australia and it was lovely having the whole family around. I also managed to meet up with most of my friends at some stage while we were back.

On the day itself we all pitched in to prepare the food which was a very traditional Irish Christmas dinner; turkey, stuffing, roast potatoes and vegetables, gravy, cranberry sauce and all followed by plum pudding, mince pies and custard. Delicious! After eating till we were totally stuffed we played some board games - cluedo and monopoly. The latter was just going on forever so in the end we just decided to count up who had the most money to decide on the winner (my sister's boyfriend).

We left Dublin with suitcases full of presents and returned to the freezing weather here. I found out the hard way that dragging suitcases through the snow is not easy! Luckily all our flights, buses and trains went as scheduled, not like a few years ago when my flight on christmas eve was cancelled due to the snow and I ended up missing Christmas with my family and not arriving back to Dublin until Stephen's day!

I was a little sad saying goodbye at the end of our visit as usual but I know we will fly to Dublin again in only a few months. It has also been quite nice here since we've been back. The snow is very pretty and I only had one easy day of work, since the office was quiet and now two days off. The GerMann picked up a cold in Dublin though and is suffering with a sore throat so we decided to stay in for New Year's Eve and have a nice evening zu zweit (just the two of us). We'll watch the fireworks in our neighbourhood.

There was a LOT of eating in Dublin and plenty of wine, so I think this month I will have to start going back to the gym to reduce some of the Weihnachtsspeck, which literally translate to 'Christmas bacon'. Haha, those Germans certainly have a word for everything!

How was your holiday season?

Christmas is nearly here #MicroblogMonday

I've already been to two Christmas markets so far this year and of course had some Glüwein, mulled wine which is perfect on a cold day. Flying to Dublin in a few days. Only a week till Christmas. Seriously, where has the time gone? As usual I feel so disorganized for Christmas! I still have a few presents to buy, haven't sent all the Christmas cards and I had also hoped to have created our wedding photo book by now but there just wasn't time and now it's too late!

I'm looking forward to spending time with family and friends in ireland and celebrating my birthday.

I've been to the christmas market and drank Glüwein- check!

I need to get organized! At least we finally put our Christmas tree up at the weekend. Can't wait to go back to Ireland for the holidays!

Book lovin' #MicroblogMonday

The idea of being in a book club always appealed to me and earlier this year I set one up with other English speaking ladies living here. Anyone can make suggestions what to read, then we have a poll and whatever gets the most votes wins. The aim is to meet up about every six weeks to then discuss the latest book over a few too many glasses of wine!

The great thing about being in a book club is that I get to discover other books and authors that I probably wouldn't have come across otherwise. That said, everyone's tastes are very varied and there have been a few books that may have won awards but we just couldn't get into or ones that some people loved and others didn't at all! This leads to some interesting conversations though.

Our most recent book is "Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn which I just finished reading. I had heard quite mixed reviews with some people loving it, others hating it. It's about a woman who goes missing under suspicious circumstances and is written alternating from her point of view to that of her husband's.

There are some great twists in Gone Girl which I'm not going to go into as I don't want to spoil it for anyone but I will say I really enjoyed reading it and found it original and full of suspense. I could barely put it down and I'm looking forward to watching the film! It's usually better to read a book before watching the movie adaptation, I find.

Have you read Gone Girl? Are you in a book club? Any good book recommendations?

Thanksgiving #MicroblogMonday

One of the things I love about being an expat is that you also get to experience traditions from other cultures within the expat community. For instance, I always bring my American friends out with me to party on St. Patrick's day and they invite us to celebrate Thanksgiving with them.

And since the GerMann and I have lots of American and Canadian friends here we sometimes even end up getting invited to two Thanksgiving dinners! I love getting to try new dishes such as sweet potato casserole, corn bread and pumpkin pie which we don't typically eat in Ireland and it's also just a lovely evening hanging out with friends.

Happy Thanksgiving if you are celebrating where you are!

Acupuncture fail #MicroblogMonday

A few friends had recommended acupuncture to me and I decided to give it a go last week. It began with a consultation where I was given lifestyle and dietary advice. Normally I eat a big dinner at lunchtime in the canteen with colleagues and then in the evenings I just have something smaller like a salad or Abendbrot (Bread and cold cuts, a typical German supper).

However, my chinese acupuncturist told me that I'd been doing it all wrong, that I should be eating a warm meal in the evenings (her suggestions: soup or noodles) and that I need to cut out dairy completely (milk, cheese, yoghurt and even chocolate).

After the consultation she put the acupuncture needles in (some painfree, some hurt) and left me in the room for about 20 minutes. One of my friends had told me that acupuncture makes her feel like she's floating so I was expecting some sort of amazing experience but I didn't find it particularly relaxing. (And I couldn't help being reminded of that time Charlotte from Sex And The City tries acupuncture but can't quiet her mind).

Afterwards I went to work and at the end of the day I felt a bit itchy under my top below my neck, and while scratching I realised that the acupuncturist had forgotten to remove one of the needles!! So that also didn't exactly warm me up to the whole experience!

To be honest I suppose I just feel a little cynical about the whole thing and wonder if it's actually worth doing or if it's all just a placebo effect. I know some people rave about it but I think it's not for everyone. Spending the money getting a massage would be a lot more enjoyable and relaxing! I guess I could cut down on dairy a little but there's no way I'm giving up chocolate!

The spookiest night of the year #MicroblogMonday

Traditionally Germans don't celebrate halloween at all. However recently with the influence from other countries I've noticed this is starting to gradually change, but it's still not a big event here. Some kids might dress up and a few even go out trick or treating (in German Süßes oder Saures) but it's not something that they all do. There also wouldn't be any firework displays, bonfires or other halloween traditions such as bobbing for apples, pumpkin carving or barnbrack.

Halloween first originated in Ireland and then all the Irish immigrants introduced it to the States from where it became even more popular and widespread. When I was a child I always looked forward to the 31st of October when you would dress up and go around to your neighbours' houses collecting goodies.

I think it's a shame that it's not celebrated that much here but I guess the Germans have Fasching which is enough for them! We had visitors over from Ireland last weekend and we all got dressed up and went out to a halloween karaoke night in the local Irish pub, which turned out to be really fun! Where else would you get to see zombies rocking out to Bon Jovi?

How do you celebrate halloween?

A little Liebster love

I was recently nominated for a Liebster award by Nearly Irish. If you haven't seen her blog yet, you should really check it out!

A liebster award is a way for smaller blogs to get some recognition in the blogging sphere. It's also a little like chain mail - someone nominates you and at least 4 others and they each answer questions made up by the initiator and then nominate at least 5 more bloggers in turn sending them new questions to answer and on and on it goes around the internet world! Liebster actually comes from the German word for "beloved". I was also nominated two years ago, but back then I didn't realise I was also meant to answer the set questions (I think an alternative seems to be just listing 10 facts about yourself). So this time I'll do it properly!

1. Name one thing that you always bring back from a holiday in your native country (and why)

Just one thing? Then it would have to be a box of Barry's tea bags. German tea just isn't the same or as good so it's comforting to have a taste of home! If I have lots of room in my suitcase then I also pack Tayto's cheese & onion crisps and McCambridge's irish soda bread. And recently I've also been bringing over Odlum's brown bread and scone baking mixes.

2. What is the most unusual question you've been asked about your expat experience? And what did you answer?

That's a tricky one actually. Nothing too crazy springs to mind. The questions I hear most frequently are; why did I come here? Why did I leave Ireland? Do I get homesick? How long am I staying? Am I a student / studying here? I suppose I always find the student question a bit unusual, as it surprises me that so many Germans assume I'm only over here to attend university and don't consider the fact that I could be working and living here.

3. What do you miss most from your home country?

The people! I miss being able to see my family and meet up with my friends more often. From living in Dublin I miss the fact that there's always something going on - shows, musicals, festivals, concerts and new interesting restaurants and bars opening up. And also that you don't need to go that far to see lovely sights - a walk along the Dun laoghaire pier, Killiney Hill, or the Wicklow mountains. And I miss just being near the sea, even though it's often too cold to swim! And even the small towns have stuff going on, a local pub at the very least. Here a lot of the suburban areas don't have much so you need to go into town for pubs and restaurants.

4. What cultural or lifestyle aspect of your host country did you embrace straight away?

Beer garden culture springs to mind. I love that there are so many outside places where you can sit and have a coffee or a beer in the sun. Also there are more outdoor activities in general such as cycling and hiking. It's a healthy lifestyle.

5. What local custom or tradition surprised you the most?

Hmmm. That they celebrate Christmas day on Christmas eve! I'm still getting used to that! Instead of celebrating Christmas on December 25th like we do with the presents under the tree which Santa put there the night before, here the Christkind comes on the 24th of December in the afternoon to leave the presents. That took some getting used to. Fasching was also totally new to me. That's a festival which takes place normally around February or March when people dress up and there's a big parade.

Ok, now I would like to nominate the following blogs for a liebster:

• Kaffee und Kuchen
• Ellie goes to Germany
• Leather and Abel
• Confuzzledom
• Crafty Tails
• Expat life with a double buggy
• The Airing Cupboard

Any my questions for you are as follows (if it's too many, just pick 5 from the list to answer!):

1. What do you mostly blog about?
2. What do you love about blogging?
3. What is your favourite movie?
4. What makes you happy?
5. Tea or coffee?
6. Do you have a favourite song?
7. What's the last book you read?
8. Name three places you would love to travel to, if money were no object.
9. Why did you start blogging?
10. What’s your favourite post that you’ve written? (Link, please!)

We're not joined at the hip, you know!

Arriving at my gym the other night, I was immediately asked "Wo ist Ihr Mann?" (where is your husband?). The question took me by surprise. I would have liked to have answered something along the lines of; "we're not joined at the hip, you know!" but I couldn't figure out how to say something like that in German quickly enough so I just mumbled something about him having to work.

It struck me as an odd question. I know that we often go to the gym together when it works out with our schedules but we're capable of going there without each other! When I mentioned it to the GerMann later he said he often gets asked at the gym where his wife is when I'm not there! We're not the kind of couple that feels like we have to do everything together. We both enjoy our independence and have our own friends and interests. I also think it's good for the relationship. That way you have more stuff to talk about when you do spend time together and a little absence now and then makes the heart grow fonder!

I couldn't help being reminded of a time in the late 90s when I ended up being on the same flight as Andrea Corr, from the well known Irish folk music group, The Corrs. We got talking on the shuttle bus from the plane to the airport and were having a lovely chat until I made the silly faux pax of inquiring where the rest of The Coors were. I'm pretty sure I didn't even mention them by name! The question naturally didn't go down well and she answered a little frostily, "we're not joined at the hip, you know." Whoops!

I totally get it though. if I were her and being constantly asked where the rest of the group are whenever I actually ventured out alone, it would bug the hell out of me too!

Anyone else have any awkward celebrity encounters? Do you spend lots of time with your significant other or also enjoy time doing your own thing?

Black Forest for the weekend

The great thing about having visitors when you live abroad is that it forces you to go on trips. Not that I need forcing as I love to travel and see new places but you know how it is, unless you actually make plans to go do stuff time passes quickly while you're busy with day to day life and you suddendly realise you've been living somewhere for ages and still haven't gotten around to go see the local tourist attractions or nearby cities.

So when my family came over last weekend we took the opportunity to explore some of what the Black Forest has to offer. We choose Triberg which is home to one of the highest waterfalls in Germany.

It was beautiful! Just to warn you though, the walk up to see it is very very steep! Wear comfortable walking shoes and be prepared. Then afterwards we had a nice lunch in a beer garden followed by some Black Forest cake, the local speciality.

My sister was hoping to do some shopping while she was over but I don't think these were the sort of stores she had in mind! The black forest shops were mainly full of traditional clothes and trinkets. If you are looking for wooden ornaments, Christmas decorations or cuckoo clocks though, this is the place to go!

When you are staying in the Black Forest region you get a guest card from your hotel which also gives you discounts at tourist sites and enables you to travel for free on buses and trains in the area. We bought a so called 'Baden Würtemberg ticket' for travelling there which covers you for all journeys in the region, just not on the really fast trains and it only cost 39€ for 5 people. The views from the train were also fantastic.

Apart from the hiking and walking around, eating cake and relaxing, there isn't actually loads to do in the black forest so for us two days was the ideal amount of time.

What to wear to Oktoberfest #MicroblogMonday

Oktoberfest season is nearly here so it's time to dust off those dirndls and lederhosen! Actually you can pretty much wear the gear to most German festivales, even the Spring and Summer ones. And we recently went to an Oktoberfest themed birthday party where the dress code was tracht, meaning traditional German costumes.

In other words Lederhosen with checkered shirts for the men and dirndl for the women. Although in recent years it has gotten a lot more casual and I've even seen girls wearing cute lederhosen shorts or skirts.

Married or attached women are meant to tie the bow of the apron on the right hand side, and single ladies wear it to the left. Guys often wear hats and girls wear their hair in intricate plaits.

The outfits don't come cheap though and a nice dirndl normally sets you back somewhere between 70€ and 200€. Which is a lot considering you might only wear it once a year. They are lovely and flattering though and it's fun to get dressed up and get into the whole Oktoberfest atmosphere. And if you don't wear one you'll be the odd one out!

Dublin in August

In August the GerMann and I went to Dublin for what I always call a flying visit, which is basically when we only go for a few days meaning I don't have much time and end up racing around here there and everywhere trying to meet as many people as possible! It's always great to be home and see everyone but those visits are not exactly relaxing! We did manage to eat in some great places and I took lots of food pictures. And of course we managed to go for afternoon tea and scones. This time we weren't so lucky with the weather though and got caught in the rain more than once.

I also attended a ten year anniversary meetup with my university friends which was fun! Can't believe it's been ten years already since I completed my degree. Everyone looks the same, just better dressed and now with impressive careers - go us, haha! Some of us are married, a few also have kids and several from the course are living abroad like me. It was great catching up!

Initially after college we all did try to get together often but gradually people went their seperate ways and it had been several years since the last meetup. We all said we would try to not let it go so long next time and we'll plan to get togther again in Ireland over Christmas. I'm the only one from our course who ended up marrying someone I met during the Erasmus year (two semersters spent in a university aborad). I wonder what path my life would have gone down if I hadn't done that particular degree which included the year spent on Erasmus in Tübingen.

One of my best friends, who was also my bridesmaid, recently had a baby boy so we also got to visit her which was lovely. It seems like loads of my friends are having babies these days, my facebook news feed is full of it! Hopefully it's also in the cards for us. Our next planned Dublin trip is not until December but for ten days which should be less rushed. There might also be some time to take some trips outside of Dublin and show the GerMann more of the lovely island I call home. This year the plan is to spend Christmas in Ireland with my family and then New Year's in Germany, sharing our time between both sides of the family.

So I joined a gym #MicroblogMonday

Wouldn't it be great if you could just skip all the hard work and get straight to the results part, like in a cool movie montage? A few weeks ago the GerMann and I joined our local gym. Joining was the easy part! I'm aiming to work out twice a week and still go for occasional jogs.

It's going well so far though it probably hasn't helped that I haven't changed my diet much and still indulge my sweet tooth - who can resist those lovely German cakes? It also always seems to be somebody's birthday in work which means cake in the office every day!

So far it's going well and I'm enjoying the health kick and feeling good. What do you do to keep fit?

Mallorca #MicroblogMonday

Where was I this time last week? Drinking cocktails after a day on the beach probably! The GerMann and I booked a last minute one week trip to Mallorca and it was amazing - a sunny 30 degrees by day and still warm in the evenings, delicious seafood with sangria and long sandy beaches with turquoise water.

We purposely avoided the crazy party area of Mallorca which gives the place a bad reputation. The rest of the island has so many beautiful spots. It seems to be especially loved by German and British pensioners - I'd put the average age of our resort at about 60! The last time we were in Mallorca, this time two years ago, the GerMann proposed, so it was also nice to go back as a now married couple!

Some Irish blog recommendations

Through the Irish blogging awards this year I have been introduced to lots of new blogs and I have been really enjoying reading all the entries in the best blog category. They cover a wide range of subjects from the more serious themes such as post natal depression and living with MS, to the more funny and light subjects such as thoughts on pregnancy and dating.

There are lots of really good ones and it's hard for me to pick just one to vote for, but the following are the ones that stuck out for me in particular, for one reason or another and are worth reading if you have a few spare hours on your hands!

There are a lot of posts from Irish Mum bloggers;

• An unexpected home birth story: The Clothes Line
• Very honest post about what it's like to have post natal depression: Beating myself in to a Dress
• A touching pregnant Mum's post to her unborn child, whose first child is special needs: Minis and Mum
• An unplanned pregnancy aged 21: Where is my Mind gone
• Going back to work after maternity leave: Bumbles of rice
• All the strange things that come with being pregnant: A little Londoner

Some of the more serious topics;

• What it's like to live with bipolar: All the buzz
• From the victim of sexual abuse: Glitter Mama wishes
• On living with multiple sclerosis: Multiple Stupidness
• On just feeling down sometimes: Theresa Rock
• On the loss of her grandmother: The Sequin Cinderella
• About the day everything changed: Hospi Tales

Irish relevant subjects;

• The job bridge scheme, what's wrong with it and how it can be improved: Under the Job Bridge
• Thoughts on being an Irish emigrant these days compared on what it used to be like: The Reluctant Emigrant
• A satirical piece on the Irish Catholic church's treatment of unmarried mothers and their children: Waterford Whispers News

On various other topics;

• On why body shaming is damaging and not ok: Irish Fashaholic
• The objectification of women in the media these days: Zee Railed
• A reminder of why you shouldn't judge people when you don't know their story: My Thoughts on a Page
• An interesting and humorous in depth review of Disney's The Lion King: The Unshaved Mouse
• The strange appeal of bad boys: Dolly Rach

There's still time to Vote for your favourite blog post.

Another year here

I've recently had my four year anniversary of living in Germany. In the Summer of 2010 I packed my suitcase and flew over not knowing whether I would later regret the decision and also not sure how long I would end up staying. Looking back I would say that the first year was definitely the hardest. Not initially - the first few months I was in the "honeymoon" phase in my relationship with Germany - but once I removed my rose-tinted spectacles and took a hard look at the place, I did have a lot of low moments and at times strongly considered moving back. I've since learned this is all part of culture shock and a totally normal part to adjusting to life in a foreign country.

But I stayed and the homesickness eventually passed and things got much much better! I gradually built up a network of friends - mainly other expats - I found a new job where I didn't have a long commute, my German level improved to where I was able to get by and handle more situations, and I felt settled and even at home. Four years on, I'm not sure where the time has gone, but I'm happy living here!

Of course there are still highs and lows, things I like about living abroad and things I don't. Let's start with the positives. What I love most is meeting new and interesting people and making friends that I would probably never have met had I stayed living in Ireland. There's also a great expat community here supporting and helping each other and it's nice to be a part of that.

I also get to enjoy the benefits of living in Germany such as the lovely long Summers, lots of vacation days (it's common to have as many as 30 days off a year), great health care, good transport and it's central European location to name a few. Yesterday afternoon we cycled to a pretty nearby lake for a swim and today we hung out in one of the many beer gardens enjoying the sun.

I've also gotten more opportunities to travel which I love. It's a lot easier to go and visit other European cities at the weekend as you just need to pop on a train!

Another plus is that living abroad has gotten me out of my comfort zone and I've grown from the challenges. It feels good that I was brave enough to leave Ireland and create a life for myself in a foreign country and to work entirely through German! I've had to put myself into difficult situations such as doing job interviews and presentations auf Deutsch and I think that deserves a pat on the back!

What is also nice is I now get to experience Ireland as a tourist. Because I'm not working there any more whenever I go back I have the time to go on trips, eat out and enjoy myself... It's like a fun holiday. Since I often travel over with the GerMann I'm also more inclined to take trips to show him the beautiful country I grew up in.

So what are the things that make me homesick? The hardest thing is missing the people back home. If my family and friends were to all emigrate over here, it would be perfect! I do wish I could see everyone more often. That said, I do try to make it back about three or even four times a year which is pretty good going! I know it's a lot harder for my American friends to get back home as often.

I also miss Ireland itself - the friendliness, which I notice even more after living in Germany, the beautiful scenery, feeling like I belong, comfort foods and just the craic and the banter! Maybe I'm biased but I think there's just something about the Irish people - their sense of humour and positivity. Like they often expect the worst outcome - such as rain, but then when it doesn't happen they are delighted.

The next difficult thing is definitely the language - it can be frustrating sometimes not knowing the right words to adequately get your point across and I know that even though I've been here four years I still speak German with an Irish accent! So sometimes I will be ordering something in a restaurant or cafe and the waiter will answer me in English, which I find a bit disheartening (isn't my German good enough?!) but I have learnt that Germans just love to practice their English! Also I find chatting with small groups of Germans no problem but if I'm in a big group and it's a noisy environment such as a pub with loud music, it can be hard at times to keep up with the conversations! Still the longer I live here and the better my German gets the less the language issue bothers me.

Just being a foreigner itself can sometimes be hard. No matter how long I live here I will probably never really completely assimilate and feel like I totally belong. I don't mind that too much though. Germany is quite international with lots of different nationalities and people are normally excited to hear I'm from Ireland as they don't meet that many Irish people here. That's something I often wonder about actually, why don't more Irish people consider Germany as a good emigration destination?

Once you settle in the foreign country, a lot of the time it's just day to day living. It's not all super glamorous even though it might seem that way when you look at the facebook pages of people who are living abroad! People don’t tell you about the hard days.

I like my life here now and I'm happy, though the thought of staying forever scares me a little! For some reason the idea of me getting old and at some point having lived here longer than I've lived in Ireland seems so strange to me. What's difficult about being friends with other ex-pats is most of them move on at some point - normally back to their home countries and I hate having to say goodbye. It isn't definite that our future will always be in Germany, maybe at some point we might move to Ireland or somewhere else, but at the moment it just makes the most sense for us.

I also have another big anniversary coming up soon by the way, our one year wedding anniversary, which I also plan to write a little about!

Greece

We decided that this Summer we would go on a family holiday - sort of a mini reunion since we are spread out around the world (Germany, Australia and Ireland). It took some planning to settle on somewhere but we felt Greece would have something for everyone - beach, culture, activities. And we were right.

After my recent stint in hospital I really needed a holiday! Unfortunately the GerMann and I had to miss the original flight and travel over a few days later, but we made it there in the end and had a lovely time. It was also really great to see my family again.

There were no direct flights from any airports near us to Kalamata, so we had get the train to Düsseldorf airport. There had been really bad storms there the previous day and most of the trains were cancelled so we had a very stressful day trying to make it to the airport in time for our flight! But we eventually made it to the resort. We stayed in a lovely hotel beside the beach which also offered lots of activities - sailing, windsurfing, tennis, cycling, gym and fitness classes. I spent most of my time relaxing by the pool though and catching up on my reading - pure bliss!

We ate very well on the holiday! I loved the greek salad in particular, but some other Greek dishes I tried and enjoyed were Moussaka (quite similar to shepherd's pie, made with lamb mince and potatoes) and Pastitsio (reminded me of lasagne but without the tomato sauce). What seemed to happen to us a lot though was we would give our order to the waiter only to be told that they only had a few menu dishes available that day. No idea why they couldn't have told us that before we had spent several minutes perusing the menu and deciding what to order?!

We rented a car one day and went to Ancient Messene to see the ruins. It was definitely worth the trip, even though there wasn't much shade from the hot Greek midday sun! Sometimes I think it's a shame that they don't reconstruct more of the ancient ruins so you don't have to always use your imagination to picture how it used to look back in the day.

The people in Greece were friendly and the beaches were lovely. In the evenings we would get a bus or a taxi to some of the nearby towns and explore. A lot of places did seem quite run down and you could tell the recession has hit Greece hard. All in all, it was a great trip and I wouldn't hesitate to go back to again someday - maybe to the islands next time.

Have you been to Greece? Apparently it can also be a fun honeymoon destination.

Blog Awards Ireland

I'm delighted to have made it onto the longlist for the diaspora category (Irish bloggers living abroad) in this year's Irish blog awards. Blogging is a very time-consuming but thoroughly enjoyable hobby! In fact I often get ideas for new topics and start writing them and have tons of partially written drafts but don't get around to actually finishing, editing and publishing them. But I am trying to make the effort to blog more often and give an insight into my expat life.

I also love reading and following other people's blogs (there are so many great ones out there!) in all sorts of various categories (travel, interior design, style, beauty, parent, cooking, technology and just personal everyday life ones). Feedly and bloglovin are both great ways of keeping up with blogs you like. You just find one you like the look of and add it to your account and then any new posts will show up in your news feed.

Deutschlaaaaaaaaaaaaand!

Unless you live under a rock, you probably heard that Germany won the World cup on Sunday for the first time since 1990. The GerMann remembers that year well. As do I since that's the last time Ireland even qualified. I would never have thought when I watched those matches as an 8 year old that I would go on to marry a German man and emigrate to Germany!

Before I continue I obviously have to say something about the Brazil vrs Germany game! We watched it at home - ok I was half watching and also half surfing the internet on my laptop - when Germany scored their first goal at 11 minutes. Yay, go Germany! Then.. just a few minutes later, another goal. Oh my gosh, did that just happen? Then I thought I was just watching the replay of the previous goal only they had scored again. It was hilarious! After that I was glued to the screen. I was also wondering at one stage if someone had paid Brazil to lose or if it was some kind of joke since weren't they meant to be contenders to win? How on earth were they getting beaten so badly!

I think the poor Brazilians were just in shock at the first two goals and then after that were totally demotivated or something. I felt bad for their fans though- seeing them all crying and looking heartbroken! But obviously I was delighted Germany won, and enjoyed reading all the funny facebook comments and tweets about the game.

We watched the Germany - Argentina finale at home. Yep, we're getting old! We had been hoping to go to a local pub to watch it there but we phoned up a few nearby places and they were either closed on Sundays or not showing it so in the end we just got comfy on the couch with a bottle of wine. During the game there were lots of goal attempts but still nothing, it could really have gone either way. Then there was 30 minutes overtime awarded and it was looking like it would end in a draw with a penalty shoot out when finally in the last 7 minutes a goal was scored for Germany! And then a few minutes later it was all over, Germany had won the world cup!

Afterwards people were outside in singing in the streets, driving around, waving flags, playing loud music and there were even fireworks! It's a pity it was late on a Sunday night at that stage and we had to work the next day otherwise the GerMann and I would surely have been out in town partying and celebrating properly with the rest of them.

Everyone was in high spirits at work on Monday, talking about the game. Which beats the normal Monday blues, haha! So now that all the World cup fever of the previous few weeks is over... what now?! If you are having World cup withdrawal symptoms, you might enjoy reading an account of the World cup games written by an American living here with his German wife. Even though I really enjoyed the excitement of the past few weeks, I'm happy to have a break now from all the non stop football talk!