Lost in lyrical translation

A couple of days ago Thomas and I booked our first event in Munich. Shortly after we arrive next month, we'll be attending the Fantastischen Vier (a famous German hip hop group) concert here:

Olympiahalle in Munich

Fanta 4 (for short)  has been around since the early 1990s and still has a strong following. I fell in love with their music several years ago (pre-Thomas) when a German friend started playing the song Troy on a road trip to Mexico. Even though I had no idea what the lyrics meant, I found myself rocking out to it and hopelessly trying to sing along.

I started to like German hip hop so much that I went out and bought tons of songs from other German artists like Fettes Brot, Glashaus, Celina and Esther & Sepalot. And the list goes on. In fact, right now I'm camped out on the empty living room floor, ghetto blasting some Fünf Sterne Deluxe on my iPhone.

Back then, it didn't matter that I had no idea what they were singing about. Unlike my favorite English songs, the lyrics didn't matter one bit. I just picked songs based on how they sounded. That is, of course, until I came across this hilarious Dutch commercial for language training (note: totally NSFW). Yeah, that was the day I decided to start learning German.

Apartment camping

dining table / computer desk / extra moving box

It's day three of apartment camping. Our 1,000 sq. foot apartment is currently "furnished" with:

• a half-inflated air mattress (which I doubt will last long knowing my cats) 
• an empty moving box for a table 
• two cat litter boxes for chairs
• and a few throw pillows

Classy, I know.

I don't even have a real computer anymore. Just a 7-inch tablet PC with a bi-polar keyboard and mouse.

It's sort of like real camping...but without delicious BBQs, toasted marshmallows and inviting campfires. Well, I could try the campfire, but I doubt the smoke alarm would appreciate that. Plus, I'm pretty sure there's a "no open flames" clause in our rental lease.

We even have some of the "wonders" of nature right here in our empty, temperature-controlled abode. I caught a few spiders and other creepy-crawlies before we moved out our stuff, but now they've returned with reinforcements...and their extended families. Awesome.

That old phrase "there's no place like home" just lost a bit of its charm...