Memories are timeless treasures of the heart. 記憶是心靈永恆的財富

After Salzburg, I boarded another train to another new city and country for me; Munich, Germany. I was planning to stay for two nights with an Indian couple on couchsurfing who offered to host me. As soon as I arrived in Munich, I noticed how busy and bustling the city was, which was quite different from all the other cities I had visited on this European train journey. Actually it made me think of the city, Taipei, where I used to live but gradually grew out of the longer I lived there. I never really liked Taipei so much because of the busy and fast-paced lifestyle. I had a strange feeling about my first impression of Germany and wasn’t sure if I would like my experiences there.

離開薩爾斯堡之後，我坐上了另一台火車去一個新國家和新城市；德國的慕尼黑。我準備入住在沙發衝浪網站上提供我兩晚住宿的印度夫婦的家。當我一抵達慕尼黑，我立刻注意這個忙碌又熱鬧的城市，和我在這次旅行途中參觀的城市很不同。事實上讓我想到以前住過一陣子城市–台北。因為它忙碌又快速的生活形態，我從來沒有真正的喜歡台北。所以德國給我的第一印象給我一個十分奇異的感覺，我不確定我是否會喜歡在這裡的體驗。

I arrived at Vivek’s house. It was after their dinner time on a Friday evening, and Vivek and his wife Swati greeted me with warmth in their living room. Their apartment was basic but I had a couch that they had prepared for me to stay on. They had just been married for a year and moved to Germany because of work. They started using couchsurfing to host people from around the world because they’d found this could actually spice up their mundane routine life after work. I could sense they were both very intelligent people and they were interested in my experiences in making podcasts, as they were interested in starting their own. So I hosted a mini exploration workshop to help them find topics for their podcasts, right there in the living room.

我抵達了Vivek的家，已經是超過了他們晚餐時間的星期五夜晚了，Vivek和他老婆Swati在他們的起居室溫暖的招呼我。他們的公寓非常基本，但是他們有一個沙發提供我當晚的住宿。他們才剛結婚一年，然後因為工作搬到德國。他們開始使用沙發衝浪是因為這個活動幫助他們在工作後的平淡生活常規帶來些趣味。我可以感覺到他們兩人都是非常聰明的人，而且也對我做Podcast播客的經驗非常感興趣。他們也有興趣開始自己的Podcast播客。所以我就在他們的客廳開始了一個小小的探索工作坊來幫助他們來找到Podcast播客的主題。

This interest was very nice to find out about because although they were both engineers in a prestigious German company, they had many interests away from engineering and science. Swati was passionate about handcrafts and helping women back in India, and Vivek really loved walking and connecting with people. They also taught me how to play UNO, the card game, which I lost many times and we laughed a lot. It was a great night.

非常有趣的發現這對夫妻，雖然他們都在德國非常有名的公司擔任工程師，然而他們擁有很多與工程和科學並不相關的興趣。Swati非常熱衷手工藝和幫助在印度的女性，然而Vivek很喜歡走路還有與人連結。他們還教我玩UNO牌，然而我卻一直輸搞得大家都笑成一團。真是一個美好的夜晚。

The next day I met up with Sebastian, a local guy who I also connected with through couchsurfing and he suggested that we walk around Munich. It was great since I didn’t feel like navigating through the hustle and bustle of Munich alone. Sebastian was an amazing guide and planned a route which showed me some of the most enjoyable places in Munich and also how distinctive Bavarian culture is within Germany. At lunch, we ordered a pretzel, white sausages, and beer together. I learned the right way to eat German white sausages. If I didn’t have Sebastian’s instructions, I’d never have known how to eat one! The wrap was actually plastic, and I had to peel it with my knife and enjoy cutting it into small pieces to pick up with my fork. I really enjoyed the flavor and thought that it was the best sausage I ever tasted. Unlike the German sausage I had tried before, it had just the right amount of saltiness and tenderness. However, due to my inexperience cutting the sausage, it slipped off my plate and onto the floor whilst peeling it away from the wrapping. Sebastian later teased me about my clumsiness cutting a sausage.

隔天我和Sebastian一起見面，他也是我在沙發衝浪連接上的當地人，他建議我們在慕尼黑到處走走。因為我並不想要一個人走在繁忙又熱鬧的慕尼黑，所以我覺得他的提議真的很棒。Sebastian是個很棒的嚮導，才一上午他就帶我走了一個可以展示我慕尼黑最宜人的景點路線，然後又告訴我巴伐利亞的文化是有多麼特別。午餐時，我們一起點了咸脆餅、白香腸和啤酒，我學習如何用正確的方法來吃德國的白香腸。如果我沒有Sebastian的指點，我還真的不知道怎麼正確的吃德國香腸呢！香腸的腸衣是塑膠的，所以我必須要用我的刀剝它的皮，然後要慢慢的把它切成小塊，再用叉子送到嘴裡品嘗。我真的好喜歡它的