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
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Monday, July 28, 2008
Eat it
Ok, I have no idea what I had for dinner tonight and I think I want to keep it that way. Actually, I do have an idea and I’m not entirely proud of what I ate, but there you go.
The day started simple enough: conference, talks, lunch, more talks, then the SITTING AROUND began. This is the period where you find people you know and hope that someone presents a plan for dinner that includes you. This often isn’t too big of a deal, for example, in Houston every year it’s pretty simple as there are lots of people you know so if something falls through or you miss an opportunity, another one comes by.
Here, it’s more difficult. Not only do you hope you can find someone who wants to go to dinner with you, you hope you find someone who knows where there is a place to go, and you hope that one of the people going is Japanese, knows Japanese, or knows someone who is Japanese. I failed in the latter part. Instead I went to dinner with two folks from Washington DC, one from Chicago, and another from Albuquerque. We wandered a bit, finding one place that looked really good, whose name in Japanese we don’t know, but the English sign called it “Authentic Japanese Restaurant.” Descriptive, if not original. Anyway, I guess the Japanese word for “Authentic” is amazingly close for “Ridiculously expensive” for the meals on the menu started at 10,000 yen, or 100 dollars. No thanks.
We wandered a bit before finding a place called “Tori Tori” which was a yakitori restaurant. Fine, barbecued food, sounds good. We asked for “10 sticks of meat” and waited to see what they brought (keep in mind one of us was a vegetarian).
First was some chicken. Very good.
Next…Chicken gizzard? Never had it, never desired it. Well, I’ll try it. I don’t know what it tasted like, because I just remember being completely surprised by the texture…it was incredibly hard. Ok. Had it. Never will again.
Next was fish. Whole fish, of some sort. It was actually very good—cooked with lemon and salt. Yummy.
After that? Chicken skins with cabbage. Ok. Looked weird, but tasted very good.
Following that? Something. I don’t know what. I’m not proud I ate it. Let’s just say it made my soft-shell crab experience look tame. “Soft boned chicken” I think it was called? It’s pretty much as it sounds…lots of cartilage.
After that there were a lot of vegetables, thank goodness, and quail eggs. I don’t know, it blurs together. There were other things I wouldn’t eat normally. Oh, the soup which was “potato and chicken liver and other things stew” from which the vegetarian happily grabbed a potato, ate it, and then looked up at me only to say “That wasn’t potato.”
In the end, it was an experience. I tried new things. I didn’t enjoy all of it, but what I did enjoy, I actually enjoyed a lot. And thank god for beer. That washed away a lot of unpleasantness—both on the palate and in the mind.
Full day tomorrow—lots to do and I need to work on my talk.
I must now digest what happened today....in more ways than one. Later.
The day started simple enough: conference, talks, lunch, more talks, then the SITTING AROUND began. This is the period where you find people you know and hope that someone presents a plan for dinner that includes you. This often isn’t too big of a deal, for example, in Houston every year it’s pretty simple as there are lots of people you know so if something falls through or you miss an opportunity, another one comes by.
Here, it’s more difficult. Not only do you hope you can find someone who wants to go to dinner with you, you hope you find someone who knows where there is a place to go, and you hope that one of the people going is Japanese, knows Japanese, or knows someone who is Japanese. I failed in the latter part. Instead I went to dinner with two folks from Washington DC, one from Chicago, and another from Albuquerque. We wandered a bit, finding one place that looked really good, whose name in Japanese we don’t know, but the English sign called it “Authentic Japanese Restaurant.” Descriptive, if not original. Anyway, I guess the Japanese word for “Authentic” is amazingly close for “Ridiculously expensive” for the meals on the menu started at 10,000 yen, or 100 dollars. No thanks.
We wandered a bit before finding a place called “Tori Tori” which was a yakitori restaurant. Fine, barbecued food, sounds good. We asked for “10 sticks of meat” and waited to see what they brought (keep in mind one of us was a vegetarian).
First was some chicken. Very good.
Next…Chicken gizzard? Never had it, never desired it. Well, I’ll try it. I don’t know what it tasted like, because I just remember being completely surprised by the texture…it was incredibly hard. Ok. Had it. Never will again.
Next was fish. Whole fish, of some sort. It was actually very good—cooked with lemon and salt. Yummy.
After that? Chicken skins with cabbage. Ok. Looked weird, but tasted very good.
Following that? Something. I don’t know what. I’m not proud I ate it. Let’s just say it made my soft-shell crab experience look tame. “Soft boned chicken” I think it was called? It’s pretty much as it sounds…lots of cartilage.
After that there were a lot of vegetables, thank goodness, and quail eggs. I don’t know, it blurs together. There were other things I wouldn’t eat normally. Oh, the soup which was “potato and chicken liver and other things stew” from which the vegetarian happily grabbed a potato, ate it, and then looked up at me only to say “That wasn’t potato.”
In the end, it was an experience. I tried new things. I didn’t enjoy all of it, but what I did enjoy, I actually enjoyed a lot. And thank god for beer. That washed away a lot of unpleasantness—both on the palate and in the mind.
Full day tomorrow—lots to do and I need to work on my talk.
I must now digest what happened today....in more ways than one. Later.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
I'm turning Japanese-a
Sunday morning, after breakfast, I headed out for Matsue for the Meteoritical Society Conference. Fortunately, there were other folks from the workshop I was at on my same flight, so we headed out together. Good thing because it required some advanced research that I hadn’t done.
In order to get to Haneda airport for the flight to Izumo, we needed to take the train to Hamamato (or something like that) station and then switch to the monorail which takes you to the airport. Fine, in theory. Problem is when you buy a ticket for the train, you don’t pick a destination, instead you pick a price, pay it, and then hope that price is good for letting you in and out of a given station. If you do this on a regular basis, you’re set. Completely clueless foreigner? Well, they probably make a profit somehow. Fortunately, somebody knew the fare, we paid it, and made our way.
Getting to the airport was no issue at all, really. We gave ourselves plenty of time to allow for any short bits (or extended periods) of cluelessness, but we didn’t need it. We checked in, checked our bags, went through security, and then had 2 hours to wait.
Security was…interesting. Let’s just say it’s different here. About 30 minutes before boarding the plane, one of the folks we were traveling with was called up to the gate agent, and then pulled aside by a security guard. They went behind some barrier, chatted, and then he returned. Turns out he had put a lighter in his checked bag, which they saw upon scanning his luggage. So they asked him to remove it from his bag (which they had brought up to the gate) AND THEN ASKED HIM TO HOLD ONTO IT FOR THE FLIGHT! The logic being, “if something happens and it catches fire, you’ll be right there to put it out.” To say that’s different from the US philosophy is an understatement.
We had a big 747 to load for our flight—8 seats across and probably something like 40 rows…so a flight of 300 or so. 15 minutes before scheduled departure, they opened the gate for boarding. For everybody. All at once. No “board from the rear” or “by group number.” Just, “Hey, get on board.” And you know what? It worked. We were set in 15 minutes and in the air maybe 5 minutes after our scheduled departure time.
So there we were, 300 some odd folks on a flight to Izumo, one of maybe 8 or 9 for the day. So I figured this must be a major destination or popular travel spot. Coming in for landing, I saw cars parked about 5 feet from the runway, and when we taxied up to the airport, I realized that it only had one gate. I felt like I just landed at the airport that was down the street from us when we lived in Maryland. Seriously. The only thing missing was us getting buzzed by a Cessna. I half expected to see a Japanese version of Emma sitting inside eating blueberry pancakes. Only they don’t offer nearly as much food as the airport in Maryland does.
We then hopped on a bus, drove for half an hour and arrived in downtown Matsue. I walked to my hotel and checked in. Room 510. Great. I head up and walk in. The bed has no sheets or blanket. It’s hot as hell. The tea cup is sitting in the bathroom sink. I’m not happy. There’s a knock at the door, and it’s the woman from the front desk apologizing profusely because she gave me a room that hadn’t been made up yet. Phew. I go downstairs, wait 10 minutes, the whole time worried about the fact that it was hot as hell in the room. I didn’t see an air conditioner control. I’m scared. It’s very hot. VERY humid. AC is needed. My room is made up, so I go up and it’s very similar to my room from Tokyo…just no internet.
And no AC that I can find. Bad. I start hunting for the controls. There are vents in the wall…that’s good. I start looking under the desk. I start looking in the bathroom. I look on the floor. Nothing. This is not good. I then sit down on the bed to think…and as I lean back, I bump my head on a control panel on the bed where the clock is, which also has the controls the AC. Thank goodness. I start that baby up and begin to recrystallize.
At this point, it was 2 in the afternoon and the conference reception wasn’t until 6. So I decided to walk around the city a bit. I think I got half a mile before my clothes were soaked through. I think it was more hot and humid than Tokyo. I don’t know for certain since I didn’t go out in Tokyo at the same time of day—I limited myself to early morning and evening. I really was just drained by it all here and decided sitting in the hotel with my clock/ac was a better option.
So I came back and did some reading. I then headed to the reception which had a giant buffet of food. It was huge and delicious. Among the attractions was a fully carved tuna and sashimi. As part of the display, they left the head on the cutting board. And the tail. And when the sashimi was gone, some of the more experienced members of the group begin pulling pieces of meat from the head and tail… I’m not that experienced.
Anyway, enough adventures for now. I’d say I’m pretty much adjusted to the time change here as I was up at 5 AM. I call that a victory and will be happy to keep that schedule for the rest of the week. Now it’s time to get to work and do the requisite schmoozing, chatting, etc. Good times.
In order to get to Haneda airport for the flight to Izumo, we needed to take the train to Hamamato (or something like that) station and then switch to the monorail which takes you to the airport. Fine, in theory. Problem is when you buy a ticket for the train, you don’t pick a destination, instead you pick a price, pay it, and then hope that price is good for letting you in and out of a given station. If you do this on a regular basis, you’re set. Completely clueless foreigner? Well, they probably make a profit somehow. Fortunately, somebody knew the fare, we paid it, and made our way.
Getting to the airport was no issue at all, really. We gave ourselves plenty of time to allow for any short bits (or extended periods) of cluelessness, but we didn’t need it. We checked in, checked our bags, went through security, and then had 2 hours to wait.
Security was…interesting. Let’s just say it’s different here. About 30 minutes before boarding the plane, one of the folks we were traveling with was called up to the gate agent, and then pulled aside by a security guard. They went behind some barrier, chatted, and then he returned. Turns out he had put a lighter in his checked bag, which they saw upon scanning his luggage. So they asked him to remove it from his bag (which they had brought up to the gate) AND THEN ASKED HIM TO HOLD ONTO IT FOR THE FLIGHT! The logic being, “if something happens and it catches fire, you’ll be right there to put it out.” To say that’s different from the US philosophy is an understatement.
We had a big 747 to load for our flight—8 seats across and probably something like 40 rows…so a flight of 300 or so. 15 minutes before scheduled departure, they opened the gate for boarding. For everybody. All at once. No “board from the rear” or “by group number.” Just, “Hey, get on board.” And you know what? It worked. We were set in 15 minutes and in the air maybe 5 minutes after our scheduled departure time.
So there we were, 300 some odd folks on a flight to Izumo, one of maybe 8 or 9 for the day. So I figured this must be a major destination or popular travel spot. Coming in for landing, I saw cars parked about 5 feet from the runway, and when we taxied up to the airport, I realized that it only had one gate. I felt like I just landed at the airport that was down the street from us when we lived in Maryland. Seriously. The only thing missing was us getting buzzed by a Cessna. I half expected to see a Japanese version of Emma sitting inside eating blueberry pancakes. Only they don’t offer nearly as much food as the airport in Maryland does.
We then hopped on a bus, drove for half an hour and arrived in downtown Matsue. I walked to my hotel and checked in. Room 510. Great. I head up and walk in. The bed has no sheets or blanket. It’s hot as hell. The tea cup is sitting in the bathroom sink. I’m not happy. There’s a knock at the door, and it’s the woman from the front desk apologizing profusely because she gave me a room that hadn’t been made up yet. Phew. I go downstairs, wait 10 minutes, the whole time worried about the fact that it was hot as hell in the room. I didn’t see an air conditioner control. I’m scared. It’s very hot. VERY humid. AC is needed. My room is made up, so I go up and it’s very similar to my room from Tokyo…just no internet.
And no AC that I can find. Bad. I start hunting for the controls. There are vents in the wall…that’s good. I start looking under the desk. I start looking in the bathroom. I look on the floor. Nothing. This is not good. I then sit down on the bed to think…and as I lean back, I bump my head on a control panel on the bed where the clock is, which also has the controls the AC. Thank goodness. I start that baby up and begin to recrystallize.
At this point, it was 2 in the afternoon and the conference reception wasn’t until 6. So I decided to walk around the city a bit. I think I got half a mile before my clothes were soaked through. I think it was more hot and humid than Tokyo. I don’t know for certain since I didn’t go out in Tokyo at the same time of day—I limited myself to early morning and evening. I really was just drained by it all here and decided sitting in the hotel with my clock/ac was a better option.
So I came back and did some reading. I then headed to the reception which had a giant buffet of food. It was huge and delicious. Among the attractions was a fully carved tuna and sashimi. As part of the display, they left the head on the cutting board. And the tail. And when the sashimi was gone, some of the more experienced members of the group begin pulling pieces of meat from the head and tail… I’m not that experienced.
Anyway, enough adventures for now. I’d say I’m pretty much adjusted to the time change here as I was up at 5 AM. I call that a victory and will be happy to keep that schedule for the rest of the week. Now it’s time to get to work and do the requisite schmoozing, chatting, etc. Good times.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
I'm leaving on a jet plane...
So tomorrow morning up and out of here at 8 AM to catch a train to Haneda and then fly down to Izumo, yadda yadda.
It was a good finish to the workshop today. Interesting stuff throughout and my talk went...ok. Not the best I've given, but people were interested in what I had to say, so I'm happy.
After the session, a colleague and I went to Akihabara, which is the electronic center of Tokyo--it's where people go to get computer parts, new electronics, and apparently lots of manga and anime (comics and cartoons). It was....interesting. Can't say I saw anything there that I wanted, but it gave you that "Tokyo feel," that is the one where you are one of a hundred thousand people moving among a mob of people with completely different agendas than the one you have. It was interesting, but we could only take so much.
We walked back to Ueno, stopping at a sushi joint along the way. Now, I like sushi. I like it a lot. But I tend to limit myself to things like salmon, tuna, crab, shrimp, and things I eat normally. The sushi joint we went to had no english menu, just a waitress who spoke a bit of english. Andy and I decided just to get the "fixed plates" where they give you a variety of sushi and you don't have to worry about what your saying or anything. Mine came with tuna, salmon, tuna roll, and others. The others were the things I normally don't order....however, not wanting to look like a wimp, I ate it all: salmon roe and lots of fish I could not identify.
And you know what? I was fairly disgusted by it. Actually, it wasn't too bad, though I'll pass on the salmon roe next time--the texture just wasn't right for me. I drank beer--just a mug--but it washed down the mystery fish while I savored the known tuna and salmon pieces.
After dinner, we had sake, which was amazingly smooth. It was a bit like lightly flavored water, but was very nice. We then headed back to the hotel.
I went out again to find the Hard Rock Cafe so I could get the old roommate the shirt he asked me to pick up. (I'll have you know, Terry, I got made fun of quite a bit when I asked at the workshop if someone could tell me where the Hard Rock Cafe was. You owe me.) I'm now back in the hotel room.
I know I could stay up a bit if I so choose, but I'm not sure I will choose so. My options are to watch tv in a language I don't understand, work, or read. None sounds appealing to me right now. Lying down does. So I'll likely call it a night soon and see if I can sleep beyond 5 AM tomorrow. That'd be nice. Then it'll be breakfast in the morning, then off to Matsue.
Oh and by the way, the humidity here is horrible. I stink, my clothes stink, and I don't know how to get through all this week with my limited wardrobe. We'll see.
It was a good finish to the workshop today. Interesting stuff throughout and my talk went...ok. Not the best I've given, but people were interested in what I had to say, so I'm happy.
After the session, a colleague and I went to Akihabara, which is the electronic center of Tokyo--it's where people go to get computer parts, new electronics, and apparently lots of manga and anime (comics and cartoons). It was....interesting. Can't say I saw anything there that I wanted, but it gave you that "Tokyo feel," that is the one where you are one of a hundred thousand people moving among a mob of people with completely different agendas than the one you have. It was interesting, but we could only take so much.
We walked back to Ueno, stopping at a sushi joint along the way. Now, I like sushi. I like it a lot. But I tend to limit myself to things like salmon, tuna, crab, shrimp, and things I eat normally. The sushi joint we went to had no english menu, just a waitress who spoke a bit of english. Andy and I decided just to get the "fixed plates" where they give you a variety of sushi and you don't have to worry about what your saying or anything. Mine came with tuna, salmon, tuna roll, and others. The others were the things I normally don't order....however, not wanting to look like a wimp, I ate it all: salmon roe and lots of fish I could not identify.
And you know what? I was fairly disgusted by it. Actually, it wasn't too bad, though I'll pass on the salmon roe next time--the texture just wasn't right for me. I drank beer--just a mug--but it washed down the mystery fish while I savored the known tuna and salmon pieces.
After dinner, we had sake, which was amazingly smooth. It was a bit like lightly flavored water, but was very nice. We then headed back to the hotel.
I went out again to find the Hard Rock Cafe so I could get the old roommate the shirt he asked me to pick up. (I'll have you know, Terry, I got made fun of quite a bit when I asked at the workshop if someone could tell me where the Hard Rock Cafe was. You owe me.) I'm now back in the hotel room.
I know I could stay up a bit if I so choose, but I'm not sure I will choose so. My options are to watch tv in a language I don't understand, work, or read. None sounds appealing to me right now. Lying down does. So I'll likely call it a night soon and see if I can sleep beyond 5 AM tomorrow. That'd be nice. Then it'll be breakfast in the morning, then off to Matsue.
Oh and by the way, the humidity here is horrible. I stink, my clothes stink, and I don't know how to get through all this week with my limited wardrobe. We'll see.
Friday, July 25, 2008
It's a 5 o'clock world...
After the workshop last night, we had a welcome reception, which included a buffet and drinks. The food was very good and included Japanese curry, rice, spring rolls, salmon sashimi, and a steamed fish which nobody could tell me the English word for, other than "It's like tuna." Whatever it was, it was very tasty. I also had about 6 glasses of beer, though they were the Japanese 2 oz variety (maybe I had the equivalent of one American bottle...we'll never know).
I stayed up later last night, getting to bed around 10:30 PM. The night ended very well with another computer call to the wife and kid back home--what a perfect way to end the day and go to sleep.
It was one of those nights where I didn't feel like I'd be able to fall asleep, and once I climbed into bed I tossed and turned for about 20 seconds before passing out. I woke up a few times through the night again, and finally climbed out of bed around 4:30. So I got about as much sleep as the previous night, so we'll see how today goes.
Around 5:30 I decided to go for a walk and check out Ueno. I really wanted a coffee and got very excited to see "Mister Donut" but alas, they don't open until 8 AM. I also found a Starbucks that wasn't open until 7 AM. So I wandered a bit and realized that 99% of the businesses were closed. Along the way, I was approached by a Japanese woman who was either asking me a question and trying to be nice or was a hooker. Really, in my mind, it's 50-50 which it was. Not sure what to do, I just kept walking.
I wandered a bit up Ueno park, and found a full on baseball game being played with umps and everything. Pretty interesting see as it was 5:45 AM. I wandered by the "Grand Fountain" and saw a guy picking earthworms off the sidewalk with chopsticks.
I wandered by the zoo as well, but it was gated up and couldn't see anything. So I'm back in the hotel now, about to get ready for some breakfast.
My talk is today and the workshop ends sometime around 3:30 or 4. Not sure what I'll do this evening, but I've got some ideas. We'll see. More later.
I stayed up later last night, getting to bed around 10:30 PM. The night ended very well with another computer call to the wife and kid back home--what a perfect way to end the day and go to sleep.
It was one of those nights where I didn't feel like I'd be able to fall asleep, and once I climbed into bed I tossed and turned for about 20 seconds before passing out. I woke up a few times through the night again, and finally climbed out of bed around 4:30. So I got about as much sleep as the previous night, so we'll see how today goes.
Around 5:30 I decided to go for a walk and check out Ueno. I really wanted a coffee and got very excited to see "Mister Donut" but alas, they don't open until 8 AM. I also found a Starbucks that wasn't open until 7 AM. So I wandered a bit and realized that 99% of the businesses were closed. Along the way, I was approached by a Japanese woman who was either asking me a question and trying to be nice or was a hooker. Really, in my mind, it's 50-50 which it was. Not sure what to do, I just kept walking.
I wandered a bit up Ueno park, and found a full on baseball game being played with umps and everything. Pretty interesting see as it was 5:45 AM. I wandered by the "Grand Fountain" and saw a guy picking earthworms off the sidewalk with chopsticks.
I wandered by the zoo as well, but it was gated up and couldn't see anything. So I'm back in the hotel now, about to get ready for some breakfast.
My talk is today and the workshop ends sometime around 3:30 or 4. Not sure what I'll do this evening, but I've got some ideas. We'll see. More later.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Good Morning Starshine
Man, did I call it or what? 3:30 AM, wide awake and nothing to do. Actually, plenty to do.
I woke up almost every hour throughout the night after getting to bed at 9PM (BTW: you've got to love Skype--being able to make a phone call with your computer to your wife and daughter on the other side of the world, for free, really demonstrates that Al Gore knew what he was doing when he invented the internet). After waking up at 3:30, I decided to just climb out of bed and start the day. Surprisingly, the outside was relative bright. As they don't observe Daylight Savings Time here, it was dark at 8PM here and bright at 4 AM--it was odd.
I just puttered around my postage stamp of a room for a bit, checking e-mail and then taking a nice hot shower. I then sat down to work on my talk for tomorrow, which didn't go so well because I found a number of ways to distract myself. However, many of those distractions involved other aspects of work, so I didn't feel so guilty. Also, I got to chat with the wife on gmail for a bit, which I won't call a distraction as it'll get me in trouble. Instead we'll call it "the highlight of my day." ;)
Anyway, I then went downstairs for some Japanese breakfast, which included french fries (those big, thick steak fries), a poached egg, miso soup, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, salmon (with lots of bones), other stuff I don't know what it was, and some much needed coffee.
I then wandered around outside for a bit, taking pictures of the giant lily pads across from my hotel. After a while, I started feeling incredibly sticky due to the incredible humidity here, grabbed my bag from my room and wandered up to the University here for my workshop. That's where I sit now. So far it's interesting, though, I'm exhausted and continue to require coffee to make it through the day. Hopefully tomorrow will be a more rested day...it'd bad to fall asleep during my own talk...
I woke up almost every hour throughout the night after getting to bed at 9PM (BTW: you've got to love Skype--being able to make a phone call with your computer to your wife and daughter on the other side of the world, for free, really demonstrates that Al Gore knew what he was doing when he invented the internet). After waking up at 3:30, I decided to just climb out of bed and start the day. Surprisingly, the outside was relative bright. As they don't observe Daylight Savings Time here, it was dark at 8PM here and bright at 4 AM--it was odd.
I just puttered around my postage stamp of a room for a bit, checking e-mail and then taking a nice hot shower. I then sat down to work on my talk for tomorrow, which didn't go so well because I found a number of ways to distract myself. However, many of those distractions involved other aspects of work, so I didn't feel so guilty. Also, I got to chat with the wife on gmail for a bit, which I won't call a distraction as it'll get me in trouble. Instead we'll call it "the highlight of my day." ;)
Anyway, I then went downstairs for some Japanese breakfast, which included french fries (those big, thick steak fries), a poached egg, miso soup, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, salmon (with lots of bones), other stuff I don't know what it was, and some much needed coffee.
I then wandered around outside for a bit, taking pictures of the giant lily pads across from my hotel. After a while, I started feeling incredibly sticky due to the incredible humidity here, grabbed my bag from my room and wandered up to the University here for my workshop. That's where I sit now. So far it's interesting, though, I'm exhausted and continue to require coffee to make it through the day. Hopefully tomorrow will be a more rested day...it'd bad to fall asleep during my own talk...
Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto
Well, another summer, another trip to Asia.
This time around I've made it to Japan. I've just arrived in Tokyo for a workshop at the University of Tokyo that starts tomorrow (Friday) and ends on Saturday. Sunday morning I catch a plane to Izumo and a limousine-bus (whatever that is) to Matsue for the Meteoritical Society Conference, which goes until Friday. Friday afternoon, I fly back to Tokyo, stay over night, and then fly back to the States on Saturday.
So I have a talk to give on Saturday and another to give on Thursday. Neither is finished and I'll be relying heavily on this internet thingy to get things completed. I should be ok...I hope.
The flight here was not too bad. I left Chicago at 12:50 PM Wednesday (2:50 AM Thursday in Tokyo) and flew 12.5 hours and arrived here about 3:15 in the afternoon. The flight was relatively uneventful. I hoped to sleep just a little to make sure I was tired enough to get a decent night sleep here at the hotel--given that I arrived here at the equivalent of 4 AM Chicago time, I have to adjust to jetlag and fast. Should be ok. The flight was full, but not too bad. I read about parallel programming, which, surprisingly enough, was actually interesting and I have some ideas of things to do when I get back to work that will make my computer codes run much faster--in theory anyway. I also played some poker and blackjack on the personal tv screen at my seat, and let's just say that it was good that I had no layover in Vegas otherwise I would have returned home a very poor man.
Once we landed in Tokyo, customs was no hassle, I bought a train ticket to Ueno (the neighborhood--if that's the right word--where the University is) and rode 45 minutes to the train station here. While I had a map that pointed out where my hotel was with respect to the station, getting my bearings was a bit of an effort (fortunately 2 others were in the same boat as me and we made it as a team). So now I'm checked in, relaxing a bit, and about to head out for some seafood (I hope) and some sake (or a nice Sapporo). Then I plan to pass out and will probably wake up sometime around 3 or 4 AM here--if this is anything like my trip to Taiwan last year.
I hope to write a good amount while I'm here, and while posting pictures would make sense, forgetting the cable that connects the camera to the computer will not allow that. Sorry. You'll just have to wait.
Ok, sitting on the bed for a good 15 minutes awaits, as does some dinner afterwards. I'll be in touch.
Best wishes to all.
This time around I've made it to Japan. I've just arrived in Tokyo for a workshop at the University of Tokyo that starts tomorrow (Friday) and ends on Saturday. Sunday morning I catch a plane to Izumo and a limousine-bus (whatever that is) to Matsue for the Meteoritical Society Conference, which goes until Friday. Friday afternoon, I fly back to Tokyo, stay over night, and then fly back to the States on Saturday.
So I have a talk to give on Saturday and another to give on Thursday. Neither is finished and I'll be relying heavily on this internet thingy to get things completed. I should be ok...I hope.
The flight here was not too bad. I left Chicago at 12:50 PM Wednesday (2:50 AM Thursday in Tokyo) and flew 12.5 hours and arrived here about 3:15 in the afternoon. The flight was relatively uneventful. I hoped to sleep just a little to make sure I was tired enough to get a decent night sleep here at the hotel--given that I arrived here at the equivalent of 4 AM Chicago time, I have to adjust to jetlag and fast. Should be ok. The flight was full, but not too bad. I read about parallel programming, which, surprisingly enough, was actually interesting and I have some ideas of things to do when I get back to work that will make my computer codes run much faster--in theory anyway. I also played some poker and blackjack on the personal tv screen at my seat, and let's just say that it was good that I had no layover in Vegas otherwise I would have returned home a very poor man.
Once we landed in Tokyo, customs was no hassle, I bought a train ticket to Ueno (the neighborhood--if that's the right word--where the University is) and rode 45 minutes to the train station here. While I had a map that pointed out where my hotel was with respect to the station, getting my bearings was a bit of an effort (fortunately 2 others were in the same boat as me and we made it as a team). So now I'm checked in, relaxing a bit, and about to head out for some seafood (I hope) and some sake (or a nice Sapporo). Then I plan to pass out and will probably wake up sometime around 3 or 4 AM here--if this is anything like my trip to Taiwan last year.
I hope to write a good amount while I'm here, and while posting pictures would make sense, forgetting the cable that connects the camera to the computer will not allow that. Sorry. You'll just have to wait.
Ok, sitting on the bed for a good 15 minutes awaits, as does some dinner afterwards. I'll be in touch.
Best wishes to all.
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