Bavarian Dance Party!

14.7.10

Today we went to a dance hall, where we drank beer, ate butter pretzels, and watched lederhosen- and dirndl-clad people dance traditional Bavarian dances.  We learned about the dances, as well as the costumes and their uses from an old Bavarian man with a very harsh Bayerisch dialect.  After watching a few intense dances, some of which were performed by small children, they invited us to stand up and taught us a few, with beer breaks every so often.  Some were fairly easy, especially if you had a German partner leading you, but others, especially the Schuhplattern, were quite complicated.  For those Monty Python fans out there, the Schuhplattern is what the fish-slapping dance was based on.  Basically, its a long string of hitting random parts of your body (mainly your legs) to the beat.  Quite complicated, especially when you get into the long strings.  The last dance was the most exciting looking, but sadly, I did not get to dance the whole thing, for I was not with a German partner, and my partner gave up because we were so lost =(  I got quite a lot of the evening on video, but my battery ran out a few times, so I missed some parts.  All in all, it was an amazing night; probably one of my favorites so far.


15.7.10

Today was pretty unexciting, basically just school, a movie (Rama Dama--pretty good and not as tragic film, until you get to the end, which is pretty nonexistant. No closure, whatsoever.), and a short trip to Munich to try and figure out my plans for this weekend.  By the way, I am going to Crimmitschau to visit my dad's cousins, and they are going to show me around Dresden.  Should be pretty fun.  Right now, I am waiting for my clothes to dry so I can pack.  All I really want to do is go to bed, because it is 1 am, but I must do this tonight, because I have to leave shortly after school tomorrow, so I can buy my train ticket and hop on said train.  Haven't decided if I'm bringing my computer with, so I might not update until Monday night, at the earliest.