Good times, Germany, Part V

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August 12th, 2010
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The rest of the pictures for this post. :)

My borrowed office:


The storks (my camera doesn't zoom far enough) in the rain:


And scenes from our no-utensils Medieval meal at Der Wallensteinkeller. Please note how wet and bedraggled we look.

First, we have the menus in old German, next to our delicious mead:


Here are Ralf from Norway, Georg from Germany, Dustin from Dartmouth, and Simone from Germany:


Here is my COMPLETELY DELICIOUS AND AMAZING and not really meant to be eaten without utensils meal of rabbit, Knödel, and cabbage:


Here I am, eating my rabbit, with Eva from Poland looking on:


Here is Eva from Poland laughing at my attempt to eat rapidly-falling-apart potato balls:


Our darling server washed all of the boys' hands for them...



...and made the boys wash OUR hands! Here Dustin takes care of Stephanie:


The restaurant was in a basement (Keller=basement) and had sweet decor:






Knight, I shall name you Fritz.


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August 13th, 2010
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The last couple of days, I'd been feeling overwhelmed by being totally surrounded by German and depressed by my lack of understanding. I was in a shy mood, and feeling intimidated by the group of physicists on my floor who briefly spoke in English to me for an introduction and ignored me (I felt) and spoke in fast German all through tea time and lunch. Boo. I was also a bit lost in my research and needed to see my collaborator again, but still hadn't heard from him.

THEN. Friday the 13th dawned. I woke up happy and cheerfully arrived at work. Half an hour later, P showed up! Yaaay! We had a good chat and he set me off in a new, productive direction. Excellent.

At lunch, they actually talked to me! We had a good English conversation, and then I understood a good bit of the German (but didn't participate :)). I think physicists are just shy. But we are slowly warming up to each other.

I biked downtown after work to get more Quark und Heidelbeere Eis and hang out in a bookstore. I found a short, easy-looking novel which was on (German newspaper) Der Spiegel's bestseller list: Der Geschmack von Apfelkernen (the Taste of Apple Seeds). I also bought a present for Mom (one of her favorite kids' books in German) and a history book of Greifswald.

That evening, a sweet Swedish couple invited Karla and I over for tea and cookies. They are moving back to Sweden and were saying goodbye to Karla; they kindly included me. :)

Edit:
I FORGOT one of the most important parts of the day. I got fed up with my gear shifter thingy falling off every three minutes, so I got out my pink duct tape (yes, which I brought from home, for perfectly good reasons) and fixed it:


It's held for many, many miles and through much rain. :)

Pictures for Germany, Part IV

Pictures for this post!

They are all, naturally here; many more than I'm posting below.

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August 8th, 2010
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This was my rainy Sunday alone! First, chiefly for Mom and Dad, I cleaned (mostly) my apartment and then took pictures:

I'm fond of my stairs and coffeemaker:


This is the top view of my living room:


THIS is my awesome present to myself from Berlin!!


I'm so excited about it. 100 German cake recipes. In German. With metric measurements. I'm going to buy a kitchen scale once my bank account recovers and then bake up a storm. Be prepared, Friends.

My other reading material:



Front of my friendly building:


I'm awed by their recycling:


Berry on my walk:


The handy trail to the shopping center and IPP:


The power station has a painting of W7-X! :D (The twisted yellow and blue doughnut thing)


Painting on the side of the shopping center, showing locations of this electronics store in a very distorted map of the earth:

It shows you where I am, though! :D

Shopping center Sunday ghost town:


It sure is nice to have so close by.


And there is IPP!

ALSO nice to have so close by. :)

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August 11th, 2010
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Here are pictures from my lovely run in the direction of Wieck and the beach, which never found Wieck and the beach! Ha!

These are all taken with my Droid. :)

My first thatched roof cottage:


This is where I finally turned around and headed back:


Another pretty power station (?) and wheat:


It reminds me of Morocco:


My path:


The inlet which turns into the Baltic Sea!


Green field of somethin':


Lastly, the wonderful bike-and-pedestrian-only trail:


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I owe you pictures of IPP, the baby storks, and our medieval-style dinner. I am exhausted from a terrific but long day in the rain out on Usedom, an island near here with beach resorts, a nature preserve, and (my destination) Peenemünde: the birthplace of the rocket and Wernher von Braun's test site for the V1! :)

Til next time,
Jess

Life! Germany, Part IV

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August 8th, 2010
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Sonntag! Sunday is the day in which everything (except restaurants) is closed in Germany. You know, in principle, it's nice that there's a day for everyone to have a rest. But for a girl on a rainy Sunday who didn't have time to go shopping on Saturday because she was in Berlin and still doesn't have a bike and lives at least a 45 minute walk from restaurants? Leetle inconvenient. I am planning better for this weekend. I did have the foresight to buy two extra bagels in Berlin when I got one for dinner! [So I ate: coffee, bagel and nutella, fruit, bagel and cheese, ice cream. Almost balanced.]

Sunday consisted of: sleeping until 11am, playing online and watching German cartoons on TV, doing laundry, reading Anna Karenina, and taking a walk around my rainy neighborhood whilst taking pictures. Yes, I'll post them. Sooooon.

The gang changed beach plans to Kaffee trinken ins Café plans, but as I said: rainy+bikeless. I enjoyed my lazy day thoroughly. :)

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August 9th, 2010
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I woke up early and ran for the first time in over a week! It was my first official day of marathon training--for the Seattle Marathon on November 28th (also my dear parents' 29th wedding anniversary). The schedule called for an easy six miles. This was the perfect distance to run to the city center and around its circumference to see the harbor (on the river Ryck), past the University of Greifswald, by the cathedrals, and back down the long straight road to my building. Cobblestones do not make for the best running surface, and the long stoplights make for frequent breaks. That's ok! It was easy day!

That evening after work, IPP finally had a bike for me to rent! Yaaaaaay! I biked the half a mile home, left it, and walked half a mile to the shopping center (bike has no baskets, I had long list). I bought REAL FOOD. Like, spaghetti ingredients, sandwich fixings, bacon and eggs, chocolate, and Schwarzriesling (who knew there was black Riesling?). I walked half a mile home, laden with a backpack and three bags full of food. I cooked myself an amazing dinner and relaxed.

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August 10th, 2010
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Upon biking to IPP, I discovered that part of the bike--in fact, the part that somehow shifts gears (it's an internal-gear system and has an important piece on the rear hub)--FALLS OFF WHEN I SHIFT GEARS. Or bump over a curb. Or look at it funny. Thankfully, the bike still WORKS without it, but it feels as if there's only a minuscule bit of resistance and thus my efficiency plummets until I fix it. At least I know how to put it back on. Maybe if I duct tape it...

That night, K and I biked to A's house for movie night with the gang! A (a delightful Syrian man) made chicken curry sandwiches with peppers and onions (like fajitas, but on fresh rolls), Y made apple pie, J brought popcorn, and we had chocolates and ice cream and peanut butter cheetos.

Yes.

Peanut butter cheetos.

Or "Erdnuss Flips".

When you expect fake cheese, peanut butter gives one's mouth QUITE the shock.

We watched The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, which was visually STUNNING (and not just because it starred Heath Ledger, Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, and Jude Law) and all-around perplexing.

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August 11th, 2010
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I was supposed to run, but woke up tired, grumpy, and a bit ill from the party's junk food. I decided to risk running in the forecast rain that evening.

The day was a bit tough. Work wasn't going well, P was out for the day, and I wasn't understanding German. It comes in waves. Wednesday was not a German-understanding-day.

Hence, I was SUPER excited when the rain stopped and I was able to RUN! I had a 5.5 mile route in mind: out to a bike-and-pedestrian only trail, through cute neighborhoods, across a bridge over the Ryck, into Wieck (another fishing village), and along the river to the sea! This would be 2.75ish miles straight out and directly back.

I started running steadily. It was perfectly cool (around 65 F?) and clear. I found the bike trail (Pappelallee) and ran through dark green woods. It connected to a cobblestone road lined with adorable houses--one even had a THATCH ROOF. I was smiling. I found the next road, which would lead me to a left turn, which led off to the bridge. I ran. I ran. I noticed fields of short green leafy plants. I smiled at bicyclists and one or two runners. I saw wheat fields, which reminded me of Morocco. Yaaay! I saw water to my left. "Sweet! Wait...I shouldn't see the water...until it is in FRONT of me. I *have* been running for quite a while..." I checked my watch. It had been 30 minutes. At my pace, this means I waaay overshot that left turn. I laughed. "Oh well!" At the next crossroad, I turned around. On the way back, I stopped every so often to take pictures. YES. I WILL POST THEM. SOON. I found the correct turn about a mile on the way back. Next run, I'll make it to Wieck. :) I mapped it at home (this is why I ran to the crossroad!) and ran 6.34 miles instead of 5.5.

I ate spaghetti for dinner and read. I completely felt better.

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August 12th, 2010
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Again no P at work. Another kind of so-so day. But! I decided to see if Steph and Jerry, postdocs from lab here at that summer school, wanted to join me for dinner at one of the restaurants downtown. They invited me to join their conference friends at der Wallensteinkeller: a medieval-style restaurant in a basement in the main square. That gave me something to look forward to!

Plus, we had a fantastic thunderstorm. Buckets of rain, loud thunder, bright lightening! We were a bit worried for the baby storks: there are two black-and-white adolescents in a big nest on a metal pole high above all trees. Heh. [Thankfully, they were STILL here this morning when I arrived.]

I got quite wet biking home from IPP. But, when I started to bike to the city center later that evening, it seemed like rain was breaking! Hallelujah!! Only a few minutes into my 2.5 mile ride, however, the monsoon started. Buckets and buckets poured down, soaking me to the bone. Nothing was ruined--I put everything in my purse into a plastic bag. I was just wet. Naturally, when the gear-shift-thingy gets wet, it falls off. After fixing it three times in this torrential downpour, I gave up and left it clanking. Naturally, everyone I met for dinner was also soaked, as they had to walk from their hostel. :)

Dinner was AWESOME. I took pictures [YES WHICH I WILL POST SOON]. Our group had four Americans, two Germans, a Spaniard, a Norwegian man, and a Polish gal. The menus were in old German, the decor medieval castle (a knight in shining armor watched over our group), and the utensils quite non-existent. I had Langohr (rabbit), Knödel (balls o' potato), and rotes Kraut (red cabbage). We all drank much Hönig Wein (Mead!), and had Ringe von Apfel (fried apple rings in cream) for dessert. SO GOOD. Our delightful waitress washed our hands for us in a big bowl of soapy water afterward. :)

The bike home was much more pleasant. It only barely drizzled, and biking through puddles about half a foot deep was fun. :)

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August 13th, 2010
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Today was a GOOD day. I'll post about it later. With all those pictures. Promise.

Berlin! Germany, Part III

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August 7, 2010
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Early Saturday morning, Karla knocked on my door (she lives a floor above me) and we shared a cab to the Greifswald Bahnhof. You-shan met us, and we caught the 8:30am train to BERLIN! YAAAY! For the first couple of stops, the train was FILLED with Germans and their bikes: it's holiday time, and an island with beaches and trains isn't too far from Greifswald. Once they exited, we settled into our comfy Deutsche Bahn seats for the three-hour ride. Even though we were all tired from being out late the night before, we chatted the whole way to the city. :)

The main point of our visit was to see Inception in 3D and "in its original language!" (Greifswald apparently only offers it in 2D and German.) So, we left the train at Potsdamer Platz, to buy our tickets before continuing on with the day. SADLY, it was no longer in 3D. Boo.

Potsdamer Platz is a big, open-air area with restaurants, movie theater, film museum, and circus-tent roof:


Karla wanted us to choose activities until the movie, as she's been there more often. SADLY (?!), You-shan and I had seen everything she suggested (I only spent 1.5 days in Berlin on my other Germany trip, but I COVERED GROUND, BABY)! Finally, we decided to see how awful the line was to visit the glass cupola of the Reichstag (capitol building).

On the way, I saw the green walking men with hats! Ich liebe den grünen Ampelmann!


We passed the Brandenburg Tor:


And saw the Reichstag:


The line was, sadly, epically long. Yes. Epically. So I just got a picture with it:


We found a delicious little Asian restaurant um Mittagessen zu essen und ein Bier zu trinken.

Afterward, we took the S-Bahn over to the East Side Gallery, the longest standing portion of the Berlin Wall. It's been turned into an art gallery and memorial. It was quite impressive and beautiful! Some were serious, some were funny, some were just strange. Here are some of my favorites, with many more on Flickr:






"He who wants the world to stay as it is, doesn't want it to stay at all":




Buddies for the day, You-shan and Karla:




And finally, why is SHE here? Ah Lady Liberty...


Back at Potsdamer Platz, we were thrilled by the Magnums at the concession stand in the theater and the neighboring espresso bar...IN THE THEATER.

Karla wonders what exactly is in the Magnum GOLD?! "paint" on the chocolate coating:


It's underneath a fountain:


We all loved Inception. This was my second time, and it was still fantastic. Yaaay!

We had about an hour to kill before the train to Greifswald, so we wandered. We saw a Lego Giraffe (advertising Legoland). I was amused by the lone blue Lego on his behind.
Prank? I hope so:


We ended in a bookstore, in which I bought a wonderful gift for myself. I will have a picture of it in the next post. :)

Once again, we chatted the whole ride home, although I wasn't exactly lucid for much of it. ;) We were home by 12:30am!

I Skyped with Mom and Dad around 1am (my time; 4pm their time). Then I crashed!!

More pictures, as always, on Flickr.