Sorry...this is turning out to be a boring set of posts. Nothing too eventful, at least nothing that makes for a good story. Just your standard conference day, filled with presentations and conversations.
The one somewhat amusing part is that there was a poster session in the evening, during which they provided some beer. The beer was in a number of kegs, 2 of which were tapped at a time. However, the rate at which the beer poured out was incredibly slow. So the line for the beer got so long that I think more than half the people in the conference were in it...just waiting for beer. Here we were, supposed to be looking at people's posters, and instead everyone was waiting like they were at a baseball game...
More of the same today...
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Bastille Day
Do I know how to party or what? Bastille Day, independence day for France, was a bit of a bust. It rained all day. Not just rain, torrential downpours and big lightning bolts and loud thunder. So I spent all day in my room writing a paper. In a way, it’s good—it’s less I’ll have to do when I get back home. And actually, the writing went really well…to the point that it may have been my most productive day in terms of work in months…maybe I should come to France more often. The isolation and lack of internet likely helped significantly.
The work was interrupted periodically by getting together with Gareth who was doing the same thing as me. We went and got breakfast and lunch, then at 6:30 PM, when we had enough, took his PhD student and got some beers and dinner. Sitting and drinking beer under an umbrella in a thunderstorm…that’s the way to spend the evening.
Fortunately the rain let up and we made our way east for the Bastille Day fireworks show. Here it was, French Independence, a day of pride and celebration of all things French. The countdown begins, they launch the fireworks and start blaring music to celebrate. The first song? Desire by U2…also on the play list, Oasis, The Bangles, Amy Winehouse, and some other non-French artists. Not bad, though.
It was an impressive fireworks display though. In the US, it’s usually one firework that goes up, goes off, then fades. Then another does the same. Here, it was 30 minutes of continuous launching, with the grand finale being a bit sensory overload. It was very nice.
Now off to bed (as I write this…I’ll post tomorrow morning from the conference). Adieu.
The work was interrupted periodically by getting together with Gareth who was doing the same thing as me. We went and got breakfast and lunch, then at 6:30 PM, when we had enough, took his PhD student and got some beers and dinner. Sitting and drinking beer under an umbrella in a thunderstorm…that’s the way to spend the evening.
Fortunately the rain let up and we made our way east for the Bastille Day fireworks show. Here it was, French Independence, a day of pride and celebration of all things French. The countdown begins, they launch the fireworks and start blaring music to celebrate. The first song? Desire by U2…also on the play list, Oasis, The Bangles, Amy Winehouse, and some other non-French artists. Not bad, though.
It was an impressive fireworks display though. In the US, it’s usually one firework that goes up, goes off, then fades. Then another does the same. Here, it was 30 minutes of continuous launching, with the grand finale being a bit sensory overload. It was very nice.
Now off to bed (as I write this…I’ll post tomorrow morning from the conference). Adieu.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Day 4
End of the workshop and then registration for the conference in the evening. Registration is always good—drinks and food and getting to catch up with lots of people. Found Gareth and Tom, my collaborators for the project that I am presenting this week and headed down to the town hall where the reception was held…An absolutely stunning building. As Gareth, a Londoner said, buildings like this only survive when you give in during the war….Saw lots of people, chatted a lot, and then went to dinner with Gareth, Tom, Jay Melosh, and his wife. Had a very nice prisciutto salad and realized other than the 2 croissants I had grabbed at the bakery on the first morning I was here, it was really the first time food wasn’t provided for me this week, or bought from a store.
Tomorrow (or today as I write this) is Bastille day in France—the equivalent of their independence day. My plan is to work—yee haw! Well, for the morning anyway. Gareth and I will then walk a bit, if weather permits, and then sit and have some drinks and catch up for a bit. There’s supposed to be all sorts of celebrations this evening with fireworks and the such, which would be quite nice to see.
Tomorrow (or today as I write this) is Bastille day in France—the equivalent of their independence day. My plan is to work—yee haw! Well, for the morning anyway. Gareth and I will then walk a bit, if weather permits, and then sit and have some drinks and catch up for a bit. There’s supposed to be all sorts of celebrations this evening with fireworks and the such, which would be quite nice to see.
Day 3
More workshop, this time I was merely a spectator—again lots of interesting stuff.
That evening, we had a party as part of the workshop, with dinner, drinks and music. Again, it was a lot of fun and very good food. Again, not much to tell in the way of stories.
That evening, we had a party as part of the workshop, with dinner, drinks and music. Again, it was a lot of fun and very good food. Again, not much to tell in the way of stories.
Day 2
Day 2 was the first day of the workshop. I gave my talk to open up the conference and chaired the session that morning. Overall it was a very interesting set of talks and discussion. I’ll spare you the details….
That evening I was invited to dinner and drinks at the house of one of the faculty members of the Nancy University. Again, a very pleasant time, but not one that makes for very good stories on the blog…sorry!
That evening I was invited to dinner and drinks at the house of one of the faculty members of the Nancy University. Again, a very pleasant time, but not one that makes for very good stories on the blog…sorry!
Bon Jour Mes Amis
Ok, I apologize for not updating the blog here…things have been hectic. Not in a bad way, just overall, busy.
I left Chicago on Thursday to arrive in France Friday morning. It was an uneventful flight, to be honest. I slept for about 4 hours and was feeling pretty rested when I arrived.
The plan was to then take the train down to Gare du Nord, walk to Gare del Est, and take the train to Nancy, where my workshop and conference are. Figuring out how to get the train down to Paris was a bit of a challenge, and I was not alone in that regard. Everything I had read said that you could get a ticket at a machine in the airport and then head into the city. Many others apparently read the same thing. And in theory, it’s probably true. However, most American credit cards do not have the little chip in them that is needed here, so everyone’s credit card kept getting rejected. Eventually we figured it out, found a line to wait in and were able to buy tickets at a stand.
I made it down to Gare du Nord without issue and then made the 10 minute walk down to Gare del Est. I checked my bag as I had 4 hours before my train and walked due south to the Louvre. It was a very nice walk and the end was fantastic, as from my vantage point I was overlooking the Louvre and Notre Dame, with the Eiffel Tower in the background. I’m very much looking forward to spending next week there with Nina.
I walked back to Gare del Est to get my train ticket—well my boarding pass as I had bought my ticket online. I went to the electronic kiosk and entered my reservation number to claim my pass…”Invalid code.” Tried it again. “Invalid.” Ok, I had an hour, so I needed to find someone to figure out what was going on.
I found the ticket office and the woman who greeted me there told me to stand in a line with 25 people in front of me. At that point I had 55 minutes until my train arrived. I got to the front of the line in 45 minutes…My train left in 10. I explained that for some reason my pass wasn’t printing and that I had bought my ticket, here’s my receipt, here’s my code, I don’t understand what’s going on. The woman looked at me, looked at my receipt, spent 5 minutes just looking at her computer, and then printed my passes. I was grateful, but would have thought at some point she would had said something to me…hell, all the ticket people were chatting with the customers, whether it was in French, English, German, or what have you.
Anyway, I had my ticket and 5 minutes before my train left. I ran, got my suitcase, and then booked it to my train, getting on just a minute before it departed.
The train ride to Nancy was uneventful…I fell in and out of sleep for a while. I arrived, got to my hotel, grabbed a quick bite to eat, and worked on the talk I had to give the next day. Then I passed out.
I left Chicago on Thursday to arrive in France Friday morning. It was an uneventful flight, to be honest. I slept for about 4 hours and was feeling pretty rested when I arrived.
The plan was to then take the train down to Gare du Nord, walk to Gare del Est, and take the train to Nancy, where my workshop and conference are. Figuring out how to get the train down to Paris was a bit of a challenge, and I was not alone in that regard. Everything I had read said that you could get a ticket at a machine in the airport and then head into the city. Many others apparently read the same thing. And in theory, it’s probably true. However, most American credit cards do not have the little chip in them that is needed here, so everyone’s credit card kept getting rejected. Eventually we figured it out, found a line to wait in and were able to buy tickets at a stand.
I made it down to Gare du Nord without issue and then made the 10 minute walk down to Gare del Est. I checked my bag as I had 4 hours before my train and walked due south to the Louvre. It was a very nice walk and the end was fantastic, as from my vantage point I was overlooking the Louvre and Notre Dame, with the Eiffel Tower in the background. I’m very much looking forward to spending next week there with Nina.
I walked back to Gare del Est to get my train ticket—well my boarding pass as I had bought my ticket online. I went to the electronic kiosk and entered my reservation number to claim my pass…”Invalid code.” Tried it again. “Invalid.” Ok, I had an hour, so I needed to find someone to figure out what was going on.
I found the ticket office and the woman who greeted me there told me to stand in a line with 25 people in front of me. At that point I had 55 minutes until my train arrived. I got to the front of the line in 45 minutes…My train left in 10. I explained that for some reason my pass wasn’t printing and that I had bought my ticket, here’s my receipt, here’s my code, I don’t understand what’s going on. The woman looked at me, looked at my receipt, spent 5 minutes just looking at her computer, and then printed my passes. I was grateful, but would have thought at some point she would had said something to me…hell, all the ticket people were chatting with the customers, whether it was in French, English, German, or what have you.
Anyway, I had my ticket and 5 minutes before my train left. I ran, got my suitcase, and then booked it to my train, getting on just a minute before it departed.
The train ride to Nancy was uneventful…I fell in and out of sleep for a while. I arrived, got to my hotel, grabbed a quick bite to eat, and worked on the talk I had to give the next day. Then I passed out.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Sunday, June 21, 2009
WTF?!?!!?!?!??!
So my itinerary for this trip was to fly from O’Hare to JFK at 12:50 PM and arrive at 4:00 PM, then catch the 5:25 flight from JFK to Zurich. Not a lot of time to make a connection, but since I was going straight through, that’s fine.
Things started badly and got worse. The flight I was on kept getting delayed—weather in New York made traffic control there bad so flights couldn’t land. Our take off got pushed back to 1:45 then 2:15. We’d get in 10 minutes before our other flight was scheduled to leave.
Eventually the time came for us to board—only for them to not let us board because a “foreign substance” was found on the plane. No details other than they were putting us on a different plane at a different gate. We march over, to have our flight delayed until 2:30, with a scheduled landing at 5:40. Crap.
Fortunately a colleague of mine was on the same flight, so we were in this together. We go ask what the people at the gate recommend we do. The woman who helped us said that our Zurich flight may be delayed as well since everything is so bad there. And if not, they’d put us on another flight, even another airline, so we could get to Zurich. Good enough…we board and fly to JFK.
We land at 5:25. I immediately pull out my iPhone and see the Zurich flight was delayed as well…until 5:45. JOY! Not only that, it was 2 gates over from where we would deboard. So all we have to do is run 200 feet and we’re there.
Except we couldn’t…the gate we were going to wasn’t ready, so we sat in the plane for 20 minutes. We get out of the plane, run like hell, and find out that our Zurich flight just pulled away from the gate without us…at this point we realize there were roughly 10 of us who were trying to make that connection from Chicago. Ten! And they couldn’t wait 5 minutes.
We walk to ticketing to see what they can do. One person gets on a Delta flight 3 hours later that gets him to Zurich 3 hours later than he would have otherwise…good for him.
Not us, though. We talk to the ticket agent for 1.5 hours as she tries to get us to Zurich. The best she can do is get us to London, leaving JFK at 9:15pm and arriving at 9:15 am (or something like that) and then have us fly from London at 7:50 PM and arrive at Zurich at 9:55 PM. Now remember, Zurich is not our final destination…we have a 3 hour train ride to Davos for this conference…and the trains stop running at 9PM. She says to see in London if they can get us on an earlier flight, but she said, our bags may not make it. “They can’t pull them?” we ask…no apparently. “They can’t ship them to Davos for us?” No she says. Crap….
Oh, and our Zurich flight sat on the runway until 7:15...so was there for most of the time we were trying to get rebooked.
We get to London and talk to a ticket agent who immediately gets us on a 1:15 PM flight to Zurich, arriving at 4:00 PM. This is now British airways. She says no problem getting the luggage and that we’re all set. Hallelujah!
We get some food and then get on then get in line to board the plane. They scan my ticket and a red light goes off. The woman asks to see my luggage claim ticket. I show her, she scans it, and then says “You’re set.”
“Does that mean my bag is on this flight as well?” I ask.
“Let me double check.” Pushes keyboards…confused look. Not good. She calls over another agent. She says she’ll call down to see if the bag is there and asks me to sit before boarding the plane.
“You are set, Dr. See-eh-sla. Your bags are on board.”
“Great. Thank you so much.”
I tell my colleague we’re set and we head to Zurich. We arrive without issue and head down to claim our bags.
We wait.
We wait more.
We see the same ugly green plastic suitcase pass by 5 times. Our bags are not there. A baggage agent comes over and asks our names.
“Oh, you are not on the list.” “The list” is the list of bags in their office. He takes us back to take our information.
“According to the computer, your bags are at JFK.”
Blank stares.
“When they arrive, we will send them to you in Davos. Should take less than 24 hours once they arrive. In the meantime, would you like an overnight bag of shampoo, toothbrush, toothpaste, etc ?”
This guy was really awesome. I can’t imagine anyone in the US being as courteous as he was in this same situation. In fact, the times I’ve had baggage issues in the US, the agents tried to turn it around like it was my fault. This guy really tried to help. That was the one bright spot.
So I go buy some underwear, socks, and a t-shirt and travel to Davos. Here I sit, hoping my bag shows up tomorrow. It is cold and rainy here….my jacket is in my suitcase. I am set for clothes for tomorrow, but will have to do more shopping if I don’t get my bag then. I’m not happy. I’m tired. The end.
Things started badly and got worse. The flight I was on kept getting delayed—weather in New York made traffic control there bad so flights couldn’t land. Our take off got pushed back to 1:45 then 2:15. We’d get in 10 minutes before our other flight was scheduled to leave.
Eventually the time came for us to board—only for them to not let us board because a “foreign substance” was found on the plane. No details other than they were putting us on a different plane at a different gate. We march over, to have our flight delayed until 2:30, with a scheduled landing at 5:40. Crap.
Fortunately a colleague of mine was on the same flight, so we were in this together. We go ask what the people at the gate recommend we do. The woman who helped us said that our Zurich flight may be delayed as well since everything is so bad there. And if not, they’d put us on another flight, even another airline, so we could get to Zurich. Good enough…we board and fly to JFK.
We land at 5:25. I immediately pull out my iPhone and see the Zurich flight was delayed as well…until 5:45. JOY! Not only that, it was 2 gates over from where we would deboard. So all we have to do is run 200 feet and we’re there.
Except we couldn’t…the gate we were going to wasn’t ready, so we sat in the plane for 20 minutes. We get out of the plane, run like hell, and find out that our Zurich flight just pulled away from the gate without us…at this point we realize there were roughly 10 of us who were trying to make that connection from Chicago. Ten! And they couldn’t wait 5 minutes.
We walk to ticketing to see what they can do. One person gets on a Delta flight 3 hours later that gets him to Zurich 3 hours later than he would have otherwise…good for him.
Not us, though. We talk to the ticket agent for 1.5 hours as she tries to get us to Zurich. The best she can do is get us to London, leaving JFK at 9:15pm and arriving at 9:15 am (or something like that) and then have us fly from London at 7:50 PM and arrive at Zurich at 9:55 PM. Now remember, Zurich is not our final destination…we have a 3 hour train ride to Davos for this conference…and the trains stop running at 9PM. She says to see in London if they can get us on an earlier flight, but she said, our bags may not make it. “They can’t pull them?” we ask…no apparently. “They can’t ship them to Davos for us?” No she says. Crap….
Oh, and our Zurich flight sat on the runway until 7:15...so was there for most of the time we were trying to get rebooked.
We get to London and talk to a ticket agent who immediately gets us on a 1:15 PM flight to Zurich, arriving at 4:00 PM. This is now British airways. She says no problem getting the luggage and that we’re all set. Hallelujah!
We get some food and then get on then get in line to board the plane. They scan my ticket and a red light goes off. The woman asks to see my luggage claim ticket. I show her, she scans it, and then says “You’re set.”
“Does that mean my bag is on this flight as well?” I ask.
“Let me double check.” Pushes keyboards…confused look. Not good. She calls over another agent. She says she’ll call down to see if the bag is there and asks me to sit before boarding the plane.
“You are set, Dr. See-eh-sla. Your bags are on board.”
“Great. Thank you so much.”
I tell my colleague we’re set and we head to Zurich. We arrive without issue and head down to claim our bags.
We wait.
We wait more.
We see the same ugly green plastic suitcase pass by 5 times. Our bags are not there. A baggage agent comes over and asks our names.
“Oh, you are not on the list.” “The list” is the list of bags in their office. He takes us back to take our information.
“According to the computer, your bags are at JFK.”
Blank stares.
“When they arrive, we will send them to you in Davos. Should take less than 24 hours once they arrive. In the meantime, would you like an overnight bag of shampoo, toothbrush, toothpaste, etc ?”
This guy was really awesome. I can’t imagine anyone in the US being as courteous as he was in this same situation. In fact, the times I’ve had baggage issues in the US, the agents tried to turn it around like it was my fault. This guy really tried to help. That was the one bright spot.
So I go buy some underwear, socks, and a t-shirt and travel to Davos. Here I sit, hoping my bag shows up tomorrow. It is cold and rainy here….my jacket is in my suitcase. I am set for clothes for tomorrow, but will have to do more shopping if I don’t get my bag then. I’m not happy. I’m tired. The end.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Now is the time on sprockets when we dance!
One story from yesterday that I forgot to relay:
The first room on the tour of the castle yesterday was the entrance room, which had the family tree of the owners (who historically were the kings/emperors of Prussia/Germany) painted on the walls. The woman leading the tour described much of the history--who followed who to the throne, dating as far back as the 11th century. Then she went on to say:
"Then the final emperor left the throne at the end of the first world war when Germany briefly became a democracy."
That was followed by some giggles and laughters until we all remembered why that democracy was so brief. Then there was about 10 seconds of nervous, awkward silence.
Anyway, today was back to the conference--an interesting day overall, but again, little to report. After the conference, I wasn't up much for walking around, largely because it was raining/snowing pretty good and I didn't want to get wet, and I wanted to get a bit of work done as I have a conference to go to 2 weeks after I return to Chicago. So I must prepare for that.
I decided to grab a quick dinner on the way home. Realizing that I had been in Germany for 6 days and that I hadn't had a bratwurst yet, I decided to go find one. I walked around a bit and found a manned window where I could get a variety of sausages. I ordered two: a bratwurst and a currywurst. The currywurst is in essence a bratwurst chopped up, smothered in ketchup and curry powder sprinkled all over it. Now by "smothered" I mean ***SMOTHERED***! Wow..not a huge ketchup fan, but I had to try it once.
I got the bratwurst with mustard. Interesting way of cooking it--they roll the brat in dough and then fry it, so that instead of a bun, it's almost like a giant pig-in-a-blanket. It was quite nice. I enjoyed it.
I then came back and have been working. Sorry for being so boring. However, to make up for it, I leave you with this video that I saw on tv. It's not German, but it was on German tv, and I enjoyed it.
The first room on the tour of the castle yesterday was the entrance room, which had the family tree of the owners (who historically were the kings/emperors of Prussia/Germany) painted on the walls. The woman leading the tour described much of the history--who followed who to the throne, dating as far back as the 11th century. Then she went on to say:
"Then the final emperor left the throne at the end of the first world war when Germany briefly became a democracy."
That was followed by some giggles and laughters until we all remembered why that democracy was so brief. Then there was about 10 seconds of nervous, awkward silence.
Anyway, today was back to the conference--an interesting day overall, but again, little to report. After the conference, I wasn't up much for walking around, largely because it was raining/snowing pretty good and I didn't want to get wet, and I wanted to get a bit of work done as I have a conference to go to 2 weeks after I return to Chicago. So I must prepare for that.
I decided to grab a quick dinner on the way home. Realizing that I had been in Germany for 6 days and that I hadn't had a bratwurst yet, I decided to go find one. I walked around a bit and found a manned window where I could get a variety of sausages. I ordered two: a bratwurst and a currywurst. The currywurst is in essence a bratwurst chopped up, smothered in ketchup and curry powder sprinkled all over it. Now by "smothered" I mean ***SMOTHERED***! Wow..not a huge ketchup fan, but I had to try it once.
I got the bratwurst with mustard. Interesting way of cooking it--they roll the brat in dough and then fry it, so that instead of a bun, it's almost like a giant pig-in-a-blanket. It was quite nice. I enjoyed it.
I then came back and have been working. Sorry for being so boring. However, to make up for it, I leave you with this video that I saw on tv. It's not German, but it was on German tv, and I enjoyed it.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
I'm as happy as a little girl.
The 3rd day of the conference ended up being a short one in terms of science, but a long one in terms of goings-on. I did the usual--woke up and showered, checked things online, and then went and had breakfast. I then decided to walk a bit around Tubgingen, as I had a bit of time before the conference started. After a while, I headed up to campus.
The morning session was good, with me managing to avoid hurting myself in anyway. During the coffee break, somebody asked if he could take my picture for a Finnish astronomy magazine--look out, coming to a newsstand nowhere near you! We then adjourned for lunch.
In the afternoon, though, we all gathered at the bus stop and traveled off to Hohenzollern Castle. (Note: This says webcam, but I think the camera has not updated in 6 months or so.) It was a beautiful setting--castle up on the mountaintop, overlooking the surrounding valley. The bus drove us up about half way...the rest we were left to climb. That took some effort. Despite it all, it was a very nice visit.
We then headed back to town, dropped our stuff off at our hotels, and then headed to the Casino am Neckar for our conference dinner of "Traditional Swabian food." There were about 100 of us attending, and the room was well decoarated, with a jazz band playing. They decided to serve us drinks before dinner, which was nice, but poorly handled. There was a single door leading from the bar to the banquent hall. A single waitress would load up a tray with beer, then walk into the banquet hall where we were all standing (we hadn't sat down at this point) to pass out the drinks. The poor woman would get mobbed every time she came out--she could only cary about 8 at a time, and people kept moving closer and closer to the door so that they could get to her before she handed her beer to someone else. Eventually a crowd just started encircling the door she was using, throwing elbows and pushing one another to get better or maintain good position. It was amusing and sad at the same time.
Eventually, though, everyone got their drink, and we sat down for our food. It was a buffet style dinner--though with what seemed to be a very small selection. I loaded up on lettuce and vegetables, a small slice of turkey, and some fish--and that was essentially all that there was. We all sat down and ate...going through it pretty quickly, figuring we'd go back for seconds. However the waitstaff hurriedly cleared all the food, leaving bare tables. Fortunately, though, after about 5 minutes, they came back with the second course--the "hot course" as we finished our "salad course." We then had some pork and beef, some potatoes and some steamed vegetables. We then had ice cream for desert. Overall it was very good.
The only downside was that we did not start eating until about 8:30 or so, and the pace of the meal was pretty slow. Things were still going on when I left the banquet hall at 11. I wanted to get back to the hotel and get some sleep, though the coffee I had with dessert had me a bit wired.
Unfortunately, I haven't been sleeping too well since I got here. Usually in trips to places like this, I am sufficiently jet lagged that, come nighttime, I pretty easily am able to fall asleep--largely due to the concentration of the day ending and the exhaustion taking over. Here, though, I've struggled a bit. I've got no good explanation, though--I am tired, the bed is comfortable, there's no noise issue. I dunno...oh well, woe is me. I'll deal though.
I've reached that point in the conference, though, that I am growing more and more ready to head home. Two more days. The conference ends tomorrow at lunch time, after which I'll spend some time shopping for the girls at home. Found toy stores and chocolate stores, so I think I have all the bases covered. Still need to double check that it'll be easy to get to the airport Saturday morning...I don't want to let that one slip.
Until next time...
The morning session was good, with me managing to avoid hurting myself in anyway. During the coffee break, somebody asked if he could take my picture for a Finnish astronomy magazine--look out, coming to a newsstand nowhere near you! We then adjourned for lunch.
In the afternoon, though, we all gathered at the bus stop and traveled off to Hohenzollern Castle. (Note: This says webcam, but I think the camera has not updated in 6 months or so.) It was a beautiful setting--castle up on the mountaintop, overlooking the surrounding valley. The bus drove us up about half way...the rest we were left to climb. That took some effort. Despite it all, it was a very nice visit.
We then headed back to town, dropped our stuff off at our hotels, and then headed to the Casino am Neckar for our conference dinner of "Traditional Swabian food." There were about 100 of us attending, and the room was well decoarated, with a jazz band playing. They decided to serve us drinks before dinner, which was nice, but poorly handled. There was a single door leading from the bar to the banquent hall. A single waitress would load up a tray with beer, then walk into the banquet hall where we were all standing (we hadn't sat down at this point) to pass out the drinks. The poor woman would get mobbed every time she came out--she could only cary about 8 at a time, and people kept moving closer and closer to the door so that they could get to her before she handed her beer to someone else. Eventually a crowd just started encircling the door she was using, throwing elbows and pushing one another to get better or maintain good position. It was amusing and sad at the same time.
Eventually, though, everyone got their drink, and we sat down for our food. It was a buffet style dinner--though with what seemed to be a very small selection. I loaded up on lettuce and vegetables, a small slice of turkey, and some fish--and that was essentially all that there was. We all sat down and ate...going through it pretty quickly, figuring we'd go back for seconds. However the waitstaff hurriedly cleared all the food, leaving bare tables. Fortunately, though, after about 5 minutes, they came back with the second course--the "hot course" as we finished our "salad course." We then had some pork and beef, some potatoes and some steamed vegetables. We then had ice cream for desert. Overall it was very good.
The only downside was that we did not start eating until about 8:30 or so, and the pace of the meal was pretty slow. Things were still going on when I left the banquet hall at 11. I wanted to get back to the hotel and get some sleep, though the coffee I had with dessert had me a bit wired.
Unfortunately, I haven't been sleeping too well since I got here. Usually in trips to places like this, I am sufficiently jet lagged that, come nighttime, I pretty easily am able to fall asleep--largely due to the concentration of the day ending and the exhaustion taking over. Here, though, I've struggled a bit. I've got no good explanation, though--I am tired, the bed is comfortable, there's no noise issue. I dunno...oh well, woe is me. I'll deal though.
I've reached that point in the conference, though, that I am growing more and more ready to head home. Two more days. The conference ends tomorrow at lunch time, after which I'll spend some time shopping for the girls at home. Found toy stores and chocolate stores, so I think I have all the bases covered. Still need to double check that it'll be easy to get to the airport Saturday morning...I don't want to let that one slip.
Until next time...
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Shocking...
The room where we have the workshop is a nice room in the new theological studies building on campus. It’s in essence a lecture room, with wooden chairs and big tables. It’s nice as we can plug in our laptops into outlets that are underneath the surface of the table, so they’re open in front of us all day. As I brought my outlet converter thingy with me, I’ve been doing exactly that.
Before getting too far, let me start off this next paragraph by saying, “I am ok.” Really, I’m fine…just an idiot.
So before lunch, I reached under the table to unplug my laptop, but my computer plug starts coming out of the outlet converter…my thumb brushed the contact on my plug before it was fully out and…ZAP. A very strange, tingly, painful sensation went up my left arm, into my chest and my head. Fortunately, I felt it quickly and let go very rapidly…but it was odd. And scary. The guy next to me gave me a funny look and asked, “Did you zap yourself?” “Yes,” I said.
Ok…I don’t know if I have ever shocked myself like that before…it scared the crap out of me to be honest. It was quick and left no damage, but man…not something that I was looking to do, and not something I’m proud of. Particularly at a conference…Remember what I said about Kepler having gone to school here? He’d have laughed at me and called me an idiot.
So, I walked down and grabbed a quick lunch to take back to the conference room as I had the first talk after lunch. I got a slice of pizza and a butterbretzel…a baked pretzel, sliced in half, with butter spread throughout. Not too bad. Along the way, I made sure I could move all my extremeties and that I could remember how to talk and my vital information (name, wife’s name, child’s name, home town, etc.) I concluded there was no damage from the electric shock and was relieved.
The rest of the day? Not as exciting. I gave my talk and it went well…then we had a reception with the mayor of Tubingen, where he gave us German wine and more pretzels.
That’s about it. Now I’m typing this blog and have some work I need to do. That’s about it. I’m hoping to walk around a bit tomorrow morning and take some pictures and to check on how to leave this place come Saturday—you know so that if I have any questions I can get answers before risking being late for my flight come Saturday morning. We also have an afternoon excursion and reception in the evening…so that should be enjoyable.
Before getting too far, let me start off this next paragraph by saying, “I am ok.” Really, I’m fine…just an idiot.
So before lunch, I reached under the table to unplug my laptop, but my computer plug starts coming out of the outlet converter…my thumb brushed the contact on my plug before it was fully out and…ZAP. A very strange, tingly, painful sensation went up my left arm, into my chest and my head. Fortunately, I felt it quickly and let go very rapidly…but it was odd. And scary. The guy next to me gave me a funny look and asked, “Did you zap yourself?” “Yes,” I said.
Ok…I don’t know if I have ever shocked myself like that before…it scared the crap out of me to be honest. It was quick and left no damage, but man…not something that I was looking to do, and not something I’m proud of. Particularly at a conference…Remember what I said about Kepler having gone to school here? He’d have laughed at me and called me an idiot.
So, I walked down and grabbed a quick lunch to take back to the conference room as I had the first talk after lunch. I got a slice of pizza and a butterbretzel…a baked pretzel, sliced in half, with butter spread throughout. Not too bad. Along the way, I made sure I could move all my extremeties and that I could remember how to talk and my vital information (name, wife’s name, child’s name, home town, etc.) I concluded there was no damage from the electric shock and was relieved.
The rest of the day? Not as exciting. I gave my talk and it went well…then we had a reception with the mayor of Tubingen, where he gave us German wine and more pretzels.
That’s about it. Now I’m typing this blog and have some work I need to do. That’s about it. I’m hoping to walk around a bit tomorrow morning and take some pictures and to check on how to leave this place come Saturday—you know so that if I have any questions I can get answers before risking being late for my flight come Saturday morning. We also have an afternoon excursion and reception in the evening…so that should be enjoyable.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Would you like to touch my monkey?
I could not sleep last night. Have no idea why. Yes, I was working late, but even still...I stopped working, read a book for pleasure for a while, turned out the light, and just sat there, trying to sleep. So I read some more...until 2 AM. Finally I was able to sleep.
I intended to wake up early and work on my talk a bit, but that didn't happen--too tired, surprise surprise. So I got ready later and headed down for breakfast. Again a good one--sausage, sausage, yogurt and granola, sausage, and some pretzel bread. Yummy.
Then I headed to the conference center. There was a slight mist this morning, but nothing too bad. Got to the conference center, chatted with some folk, did the conference thing...nothing really exciting there.
Know what is exciting though? Two things:
1) Johannes Kepler studied here at the University of Tuebingen, where I'm speaking. I know he's been dead for 400 years and isn't going to hear a word that I say, but still, it feels like some sort of honor.
2) I had the beer that Nina's friend Judy (who spent a semester here at the university) had recommended. I went to dinner with a friend at the Ratskeller and had a Dunkel Hefeweizen. It was mighty good.
After that, I came back to my room, and here I sit, not working on my talk for tomorrow. Motivation isn't high. Partly probably due to being so tired...I dunno.
Anyway, that is all for now, meine freunde.
I intended to wake up early and work on my talk a bit, but that didn't happen--too tired, surprise surprise. So I got ready later and headed down for breakfast. Again a good one--sausage, sausage, yogurt and granola, sausage, and some pretzel bread. Yummy.
Then I headed to the conference center. There was a slight mist this morning, but nothing too bad. Got to the conference center, chatted with some folk, did the conference thing...nothing really exciting there.
Know what is exciting though? Two things:
1) Johannes Kepler studied here at the University of Tuebingen, where I'm speaking. I know he's been dead for 400 years and isn't going to hear a word that I say, but still, it feels like some sort of honor.
2) I had the beer that Nina's friend Judy (who spent a semester here at the university) had recommended. I went to dinner with a friend at the Ratskeller and had a Dunkel Hefeweizen. It was mighty good.
After that, I came back to my room, and here I sit, not working on my talk for tomorrow. Motivation isn't high. Partly probably due to being so tired...I dunno.
Anyway, that is all for now, meine freunde.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Your narrative has become tiresome...
Slept solidly last night, waking up around 7 AM local time. I’m sure that’s an anomaly, though, reflecting how tired I was from jet lag. I expect to start getting up around 5 AM or so starting tomorrow.
I showered and got dressed and headed downstairs to get some breakfast. The hotel has a breakfast buffet that is included in your stay. I was curious what it was going to be like. Turns out it is fantastic. The selections included eggs, sausage, more sausage, priscutto, cheeses, breads and rolls, jams and jellies, cereal, fruit salad, and whole fruit. Plus coffee! (By the way, the Germans love their coffee. Love it—coffee and espresso shops abound. You wonder if I am displaced…) After stuffing my face, I set out to walk around a bit and see what this place is like in daylight.
First thing first, I walked out to find the entrance to this old castle (schloss) about 150 feet to my right when I stepped out of the hotel. Gorgeous. It’s at the top of the hilltop and overlooks the whole city. It now serves as a museum, but you are able to walk around the grounds a bit—I may explore more in the next day or so. I was still able to enjoy the view and take in a large brass band that was playing at the university on the hilltop across town. Quite loud, but quite good.
I then set out down the hill and into the large square where the pub I visited last night was. As I walked down I saw a familiar face—Sasha Krot from the University of Hawaii. Now, Nina usually gets quite nervous when I mention that I saw Sasha, because it’s usually followed by “and I’ve got another conference to go to.” Not the case this time, though—for now… ;)
We chatted for a bit and decided to walk around and check out the sights. We walked to the university and through the streets, seeing the different shops and restaurants that were there (and closed—most places are on Sunday, apparently). We talked science quite a bit, then stopped for some coffee before heading back to our hotels. I needed to work on my talk and rest a bit before the conference reception in the early evening.
(Side note: just saw a commercial for “Deutschland’s Next Top Model mit Heidi Klum” that had Heidi Klum yelling at some woman in German. It was amusing.)
I then went to the reception for the conference. Pretty uneventful, to be honest—not necessarily a bad thing, mind you. We had different finger foods: meatballs, cheese, croissants stuffed with pork product, etc. Also drinks—though no beer! I was disappointed, though I did get to have German Riesling, which is never bad and then some espresso at the end of it all.
Overall, I’d have to say it was a pretty uneventful day, for which I apologize…it meant no interesting stories, no getting lost, no lugging suitcases all over town, no horrible language issues leading to eating questionable food. And for that, I apologize. I’ll try harder tomorrow.
I showered and got dressed and headed downstairs to get some breakfast. The hotel has a breakfast buffet that is included in your stay. I was curious what it was going to be like. Turns out it is fantastic. The selections included eggs, sausage, more sausage, priscutto, cheeses, breads and rolls, jams and jellies, cereal, fruit salad, and whole fruit. Plus coffee! (By the way, the Germans love their coffee. Love it—coffee and espresso shops abound. You wonder if I am displaced…) After stuffing my face, I set out to walk around a bit and see what this place is like in daylight.
First thing first, I walked out to find the entrance to this old castle (schloss) about 150 feet to my right when I stepped out of the hotel. Gorgeous. It’s at the top of the hilltop and overlooks the whole city. It now serves as a museum, but you are able to walk around the grounds a bit—I may explore more in the next day or so. I was still able to enjoy the view and take in a large brass band that was playing at the university on the hilltop across town. Quite loud, but quite good.
I then set out down the hill and into the large square where the pub I visited last night was. As I walked down I saw a familiar face—Sasha Krot from the University of Hawaii. Now, Nina usually gets quite nervous when I mention that I saw Sasha, because it’s usually followed by “and I’ve got another conference to go to.” Not the case this time, though—for now… ;)
We chatted for a bit and decided to walk around and check out the sights. We walked to the university and through the streets, seeing the different shops and restaurants that were there (and closed—most places are on Sunday, apparently). We talked science quite a bit, then stopped for some coffee before heading back to our hotels. I needed to work on my talk and rest a bit before the conference reception in the early evening.
(Side note: just saw a commercial for “Deutschland’s Next Top Model mit Heidi Klum” that had Heidi Klum yelling at some woman in German. It was amusing.)
I then went to the reception for the conference. Pretty uneventful, to be honest—not necessarily a bad thing, mind you. We had different finger foods: meatballs, cheese, croissants stuffed with pork product, etc. Also drinks—though no beer! I was disappointed, though I did get to have German Riesling, which is never bad and then some espresso at the end of it all.
Overall, I’d have to say it was a pretty uneventful day, for which I apologize…it meant no interesting stories, no getting lost, no lugging suitcases all over town, no horrible language issues leading to eating questionable food. And for that, I apologize. I’ll try harder tomorrow.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Hello, and welcome to Sprockets...
Ok, so I have always wanted to go to Germany...maybe not always, but for a long time. There's lots that has attracted me, with one of them being the idea of being in a country where there's an entire month where the country shuts down to drink beer. Ok...that's not really what happens, but the idea is cool anyway. Also, Germany is filled with history, and great food--in my mind anyway: meat, meat, and meat, with sauerkraut. How does it get any better than that?
So anyway, I finally got my wish, and here I sit in Germany. I was invited to a workshop here and am giving a talk on Tuesday. Given the effort that goes into such a trip (changing 7 timezones and sitting on a plane for long periods of time) I decided to combine the Germany trip with a quick visit with some friends in London. The London trip was very good, catching up with my friends Gareth and Jess, and talking with Gareth in some detail about a project we are working on together. The visit probably would've been slightly better had I not been so exhausted from jet lag...while I was able to stay awake the whole time, having arrived in London at 6:15 AM and getting to bed at 10:30 PM, my mind was definitely not nearly as sharp as it normally is. Nonetheless, I had a productive and fun visit...I just wish it was for longer and that I hadn't made the visit alone.
Anyway, after just over 30 hours in London, I departed for Tuebingen, Germany. I must admit, despite wanting to go for years, I was very nervous about the trip. The main reason being, I had no idea what was going to happen when I landed....
Ok, first things first, I really get nervous about traveling to a country where I don't speak the language...I feel so ignorant and like I'm playing the role of the American stereotype--you know the one who sits there and goes to a foreign country and constantly asks for things in English louder and louder as if the problem with people in other countries is that they're hard of hearing. So it always makes me feel guilty that I never learned a foreign language so that I could get over that feeling. Of course, I have now traveled to Germany, Japan, Taiwan, Switzerland and France, so it's not like having become proficient in Spanish would have helped me in any of those cases. So traveling the world and being able to communicate everywhere is not a realistic expectation. Nonetheless, I feel crappy showing up some place and hoping that everyone I need to communicate with speaks English.
So in preparation of my landing, I tried planning my route to my hotel so that I could at least get to a bed without much difficulty. In order to get to Tuebingen, I had to fly to Stuttgart and then take a 1 hour bus ride to the main train station at Tuebingen. Fortunately, I printed out maps from google that showed how to walk from the train station to my hotel (500 m, or roughly a third of a mile) and then from my hotel to the place at the university where the conference was to be held. Upon arriving at the bus station, I pulled out my map and started to make my way to my hotel.
Problem was, as I was trying to figure out where to go, I could not make any sense of the map. In looking at the train station on the map and make sense of the roads around me, they were not matching up at all. The direction that I seemed to need to go was one way, but based on how the sun was setting (oh yes, did I mention I was particularly nervous as I was arriving at sunset so I was worried about navigating a city I didn't know in the dark?) it seemed that west was in the wrong place. So I started walking where I thought things made sense...that brought me to some places that eventually fell on the map and made sense, so I started following the path that the map had. After a while, I was getting tired--I had definitely walked more than a mile, not just a third of a mile, but I still had a good distance to go to reach my destination. This made NO SENSE...
Of course, then I realized that I was looking at the map that had directions from the hotel to the university, not the train station to the hotel. This put me about half a mile away from where I wanted to be, and made the time that I was arriving even later than I wanted to be. I walked back the way I came, until I reached a point on the OTHER map that matched up with the directions and was able to find my hotel, though with a wrong turn along the way. But I finally arrived, about an hour later than I should have.
At this point, I was *STARVING* and *THIRSTY*. I sat in the hotel, sent a few e-mails to say that I made it, and then headed out to find some food at 7:45 PM local time. At that point, most of the normal restaurants had closed, so the only place to get any food was at a pub. Of course, again, my nerves started kicking in--this meant going in, ordering food off a menu that I likely could not read and hoping that I got something that I liked. I wandered a bit and eventually found a place whose menu was posted and had a dish with some things I didn't understand, but included "tomate" and "olivena" which I figured was tomato and olive...why not? So I went in, sat at the bar, and the bartender came over and said something German to me. I just pointed to a glass and said, "Biere?"
"No problem," he said.
THANK GOD! He spoke English!
"Can I get food?" I asked.
"Yes, let me get a menu," he said.
I could cry.
I looked at the menu, and it was the same as the one outside--lots of German, with some words that maybe easily translated into English. So I pointed to the "tomate and olivena" dish. When I pointed to it, the bar tender said that it was "Sheep cheese" with other things. "OK", I said, and drank my beer--which was about 3 oz. in size...it was tiny.
Eventually my food came out and it was a flat bread pizza with cheese (the sheep cheese), olives, tomatoes, and...sauerkraut! It was very good. As I finished my tiny little beer, the bartender asked if I wanted another. This time though, I tried to break out the little German that I *DO* know.
Ok, all of the German I know revolves around beer. I mean, really, doesn't it make sense? Anyway, I nod my head and ask, "Weiss?" The bartender gives me a big smile and a big nod....then pours me a BIG glass of heffeweizen. It was very nice.
Then came time to pay the bill...and I froze. I couldn't remember if I was supposed to leave a tip or not. I tried to remember, but I never looked it up as to what the etiquette was in Germany. I decided not to...turns out to be the right decision. However, because I wasn't sure, I booked it out of that pub very quickly.
So I came back to the hotel, because I'm tired, don't know my way around, and there's very little that is opened right now. So here I sit, typing this blog post, watching the German version of "American Idol" called "**SOMETHING** Superstar." It's weird because all the interviews are in German, but then they sing songs that are from American artists...I heard Rhianna, Beyonce, and others who I don't know, but definitely Americans.
So I leave you with this final question...why do non-Americans have accents when they speak English but don't have accents when they sing? It's really weird...
Til next time
So anyway, I finally got my wish, and here I sit in Germany. I was invited to a workshop here and am giving a talk on Tuesday. Given the effort that goes into such a trip (changing 7 timezones and sitting on a plane for long periods of time) I decided to combine the Germany trip with a quick visit with some friends in London. The London trip was very good, catching up with my friends Gareth and Jess, and talking with Gareth in some detail about a project we are working on together. The visit probably would've been slightly better had I not been so exhausted from jet lag...while I was able to stay awake the whole time, having arrived in London at 6:15 AM and getting to bed at 10:30 PM, my mind was definitely not nearly as sharp as it normally is. Nonetheless, I had a productive and fun visit...I just wish it was for longer and that I hadn't made the visit alone.
Anyway, after just over 30 hours in London, I departed for Tuebingen, Germany. I must admit, despite wanting to go for years, I was very nervous about the trip. The main reason being, I had no idea what was going to happen when I landed....
Ok, first things first, I really get nervous about traveling to a country where I don't speak the language...I feel so ignorant and like I'm playing the role of the American stereotype--you know the one who sits there and goes to a foreign country and constantly asks for things in English louder and louder as if the problem with people in other countries is that they're hard of hearing. So it always makes me feel guilty that I never learned a foreign language so that I could get over that feeling. Of course, I have now traveled to Germany, Japan, Taiwan, Switzerland and France, so it's not like having become proficient in Spanish would have helped me in any of those cases. So traveling the world and being able to communicate everywhere is not a realistic expectation. Nonetheless, I feel crappy showing up some place and hoping that everyone I need to communicate with speaks English.
So in preparation of my landing, I tried planning my route to my hotel so that I could at least get to a bed without much difficulty. In order to get to Tuebingen, I had to fly to Stuttgart and then take a 1 hour bus ride to the main train station at Tuebingen. Fortunately, I printed out maps from google that showed how to walk from the train station to my hotel (500 m, or roughly a third of a mile) and then from my hotel to the place at the university where the conference was to be held. Upon arriving at the bus station, I pulled out my map and started to make my way to my hotel.
Problem was, as I was trying to figure out where to go, I could not make any sense of the map. In looking at the train station on the map and make sense of the roads around me, they were not matching up at all. The direction that I seemed to need to go was one way, but based on how the sun was setting (oh yes, did I mention I was particularly nervous as I was arriving at sunset so I was worried about navigating a city I didn't know in the dark?) it seemed that west was in the wrong place. So I started walking where I thought things made sense...that brought me to some places that eventually fell on the map and made sense, so I started following the path that the map had. After a while, I was getting tired--I had definitely walked more than a mile, not just a third of a mile, but I still had a good distance to go to reach my destination. This made NO SENSE...
Of course, then I realized that I was looking at the map that had directions from the hotel to the university, not the train station to the hotel. This put me about half a mile away from where I wanted to be, and made the time that I was arriving even later than I wanted to be. I walked back the way I came, until I reached a point on the OTHER map that matched up with the directions and was able to find my hotel, though with a wrong turn along the way. But I finally arrived, about an hour later than I should have.
At this point, I was *STARVING* and *THIRSTY*. I sat in the hotel, sent a few e-mails to say that I made it, and then headed out to find some food at 7:45 PM local time. At that point, most of the normal restaurants had closed, so the only place to get any food was at a pub. Of course, again, my nerves started kicking in--this meant going in, ordering food off a menu that I likely could not read and hoping that I got something that I liked. I wandered a bit and eventually found a place whose menu was posted and had a dish with some things I didn't understand, but included "tomate" and "olivena" which I figured was tomato and olive...why not? So I went in, sat at the bar, and the bartender came over and said something German to me. I just pointed to a glass and said, "Biere?"
"No problem," he said.
THANK GOD! He spoke English!
"Can I get food?" I asked.
"Yes, let me get a menu," he said.
I could cry.
I looked at the menu, and it was the same as the one outside--lots of German, with some words that maybe easily translated into English. So I pointed to the "tomate and olivena" dish. When I pointed to it, the bar tender said that it was "Sheep cheese" with other things. "OK", I said, and drank my beer--which was about 3 oz. in size...it was tiny.
Eventually my food came out and it was a flat bread pizza with cheese (the sheep cheese), olives, tomatoes, and...sauerkraut! It was very good. As I finished my tiny little beer, the bartender asked if I wanted another. This time though, I tried to break out the little German that I *DO* know.
Ok, all of the German I know revolves around beer. I mean, really, doesn't it make sense? Anyway, I nod my head and ask, "Weiss?" The bartender gives me a big smile and a big nod....then pours me a BIG glass of heffeweizen. It was very nice.
Then came time to pay the bill...and I froze. I couldn't remember if I was supposed to leave a tip or not. I tried to remember, but I never looked it up as to what the etiquette was in Germany. I decided not to...turns out to be the right decision. However, because I wasn't sure, I booked it out of that pub very quickly.
So I came back to the hotel, because I'm tired, don't know my way around, and there's very little that is opened right now. So here I sit, typing this blog post, watching the German version of "American Idol" called "**SOMETHING** Superstar." It's weird because all the interviews are in German, but then they sing songs that are from American artists...I heard Rhianna, Beyonce, and others who I don't know, but definitely Americans.
So I leave you with this final question...why do non-Americans have accents when they speak English but don't have accents when they sing? It's really weird...
Til next time
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