Make your month different

Welcome back to another episode of A'lil Hoohaa's monthly photo blogging challenge.

After having made the past months colorful, loving, fun and "ours", May is supposed to be different. 

While, in theory, I can think of plenty of ways to make a month different, I seemed to be a bit uninspired, a bit tired, or perhaps both. I mean, I could have gone for a walk in the pouring rain. That would certainly have been different.

Or...

Inspired by the protagonists of Yes Theory, I could have challenged myself to ask strangers for help. According to them, strangers are just friends you haven't met yet.

That is so far outside my comfort zone that if I were abandoned in a city without money, I am fairly certain I would starve and spend the night on the street rather than ask anyone for assistance.

Nevertheless, I managed to come up with five pictures. Here goes.

After far too long, we finally managed to arrange dinner with a couple we're friends with. We met at Halle 5, a lounge style restaurant housed in what used to be a major manufacturing facility for machinery and equipment.

Although the menu is dominated by Italian dishes, it also offers burgers and specialties from the Balkans. To make the atmosphere feel a little more international, the owners apparently decided to place this gentleman at the entrance instead of a Buddha.

This was our first visit, but given the delicious food and reasonable prices, it certainly won't be our last. That qualifies as "something different," right?

This is our meeting room at work. Normally, the screen is used for presentations. During the month of May, however, it may have been tuned to the sports channel once or seven times.

This was the first game of the Ice Hockey World Championship hosted in Switzerland, no less. Canada versus Sweden ended 5:3.

I wish I could tell you that the Swiss national team did something different this year and won the final game of the championship.

But no.

We seem to have perfected the art of finishing second. Heartbreaking.

As you may have learned from my video A Day in the Life, I ran out of coffee one day. Normally, I would have made a quick trip to the mall, but since we were trying to do things differently this month, I turned it into a mini outing to Aarau's Old Town, home to the nearest Starbucks.

Once there, I discovered this charming little produce shop where I purchased local strawberries and asparagus. The price may have been roughly double what I would have paid at the supermarket, but I got to support a local farmer. Besides, everything was absolutely delicious.

This year, I have spent far more hours at work than I probably should have. On my rare days off, I usually try to catch up on chores and personal maintenance such as hair appointments, dentist visits and other obligations.

Not one Thursday, though.

For quite some time, I had this picturesque medieval town called Meersburg on my bucket list. Located on the German side of Lake Constance, it can be reached by ferry. A single photo hardly does it justice. Consider this more of a teaser than a proper introduction.

I told you about the end of school year festival at a local international school around this time last year. This year, I went back.

Both the booth owners and I did a few things differently. 

I brought a container with me so I could purchase lasagna to take home. Dinner: sorted.

The ladies at the French booth, and this will surprise absolutely nobody, spoke French. Completely unbothered by the international nature of the event, they carried on exclusively in French. Fortunately, I understand and speak French, so ordering my crêpes was no problem.

I also ended up bringing home cinnamon rolls from both Denmark and Sweden, and Colin kindly volunteered to conduct a taste test.

These were my five - thank you for joining me to make May different.

As always, don’t forget to check out the posts from my fellow bloggers participating in this month’s challenge!